“Yeah. Time.” Cain lovingly watched as Faith filled a couple of beer mugs and pushed them across the bar to a couple of the older regulars. He didn’t deserve easy, he thought unhappily. His breath caught in his throat as her gaze lifted and collided with his for an electrified moment. His dick jerked in his jeans as her eyes quickly skittered away from his, but he knew she’d felt something in those few seconds. He’d seen her cheeks flush and her eyes dilate.
“Cain? Earth to Cain?” Abel called, tapping his fingers against the table between them.
Watching as Faith hurried toward the café’s office, he stood. “Later, bro. I think it’s time I went and faced the music,” he said before following in the direction his woman had disappeared. He barely heard his brother wish him luck as he rushed after her.
Chapter Eleven
Faith raced toward the office as quickly as her shaking legs would carry her. Slamming the door closed behind her back, she pressed her icy palms against her burning cheeks.
How could one man make her heart break and panties melt with one look?
She’d purposefully avoided him all night, carefully keeping away from the table where he sat by the door as she waited on her customers. For hours, she blocked him from her thoughts, waiting on her regulars and casually making small talk with new folks that had made their way into the bar tonight. She’d almost had herself convinced that she could do this…work with his eyes following her every footstep.
Until in one unguarded moment, her eyes had accidently clashed with his.
Then, all the memories – the indescribable joy and the overwhelming pain -- had all come pouring back to her. She’d seen his face and stared into those hypnotic eyes and been lost. His stare had always been able to mesmerize her. It was as though he could look inside her soul and see all her secrets.
Looking in his face was like taking a sucker punch to the gut. It robbed her of breath and nearly brought her to her knees. Still achingly handsome, his face was now scarred. Instead of making him unattractive, those scars only added to his allure. She wanted to touch them, to stroke the raised skin underneath her fingertips and press tiny kisses to the marred flesh.
The sexual chemistry between them had always been off-the-charts-hot, but tonight it felt nearly incendiary. She’d felt the heat in his stare all night as he’d watched her, burning her flesh with its intensity and making her pussy weep bitter tears as she’d steadfastly tried to deny her reaction to him.
Facts were facts, however.
Her mind and heart might still have issues with the sexy man sitting at the back of her bar, but her pussy recognized its lover instinctively.
Releasing a shaky breath, she moved to the chair behind the desk and sagged into it. Leaning her head back against the leather and closing her eyes, she willed her heartbeat to slow down. She just needed to get her body’s needy reaction to Cain’s nearness under control, and then she’d go back out there like nothing had happened.
Hearing the door open, she assumed it was Patience coming to check on her. She forced a brave smile to her lips and forced her body to relax. “I’m fine, sis,” she said without opening her eyes, “Believe me, I’m not going to let the jackass get the best of me. I just need a second to decompress without his eyes following me around like some deranged psycho stalker.”
“The jackass in question is gratified to hear that.”
Faith’s eyes popped open in a flash as that familiar gravelly voice washed over her. “Cain!” she gasped, stiffening in the chair as she gripped the desk with one hand to brace herself.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Cain greeted her quietly, stepping inside the small room and closing the door behind him. “I saw you take off like the hounds of hell were at your heels and got worried.”
“No!” She shook her head furiously and bounded to her feet, infuriated by his endearment and his concern. “You don’t get to come in here and do that!” she exploded, her voice high and irate in the tiny office.
“What?” Cain questioned calmly, watching as blood rushed into her cheeks and filled them with a warm, rosy glow. Her breaths rose and fell quickly beneath her thin shirt and he felt his own temperature skyrocket. “What did I do?”
“What did you do?” Faith fumed, stomping from behind the desk to slam the heel of her hand into his solid chest. “Did you actually just ask me that idiotic question? You know what you did, what you’ve done, and what you’re doing, Cain! You do not get to march your ass into my office and play dumb. Don’t you dare!”
“I’m not playing dumb, Faith,” Cain replied carefully, hissing in a sharp breath as the palm of her hand lifted with the speed of light and cracked against his unscarred cheek. “Okay,” he said slowly, lifting a hand to rub the stinging flesh, “I deserved that.”
Shocked that he’d incited her to violence, Faith stared into his steady eyes. “Get out,” she whispered, gesturing wildly toward the door as she took an unsteady step backward, catching the edge of the desk with her right hip. She barely felt the pain. All she could concentrate on was getting him the hell out of the office before she reached for the letter opener and carved out his heart. “Get out of my sight before I kill you, Cain.”
“Honey, I can’t do that,” he replied carefully, watching as her eyes widened slightly.
“Don’t! I’m not your honey or your sweetheart! I’m not your anything! Not anymore, Cain. You made sure of that six months ago,” Faith choked, silently cursing the tears that rose in her eyes.
Watching as those heartbreaking eyes of hers filled, Cain reached for her involuntarily. “Faith, don’t cry,” he begged. “Please, baby.”
“No,” she shouted hoarsely, hitting his chest again. “I get to cry if I want to. I’m allowed to cry and scream and curse and any other fucking thing I want to do. You left ME, Cain. In a fucking letter. You weren’t even here, and you broke my heart. What did I ever do to deserve that from you? Tell me, you bastard! Tell me what I did to deserve a fucking Dear Jane letter from you!”
“At the time, I thought I was doing you a favor, Faith. I was in a bad way,” he tried to explain, hating himself for the anguish he saw swimming in her eyes.
“After you got done with me, so was I,” she shrieked. She was angrier than she’d ever been in her life, the emotion pouring out in a tidal wave. “A favor, Cain? Really? Is that what you call it? Telling the woman you swore you’d love forever to move on with her life and find somebody else while she was busy planning your goddamn wedding? That was a favor?”
“I made a mistake. A huge, fucking mistake, Faith,” he whispered as he watched her tremble in front of him.
“No, I did! I’m the one that made an incredible fucking mistake, Cain. I gave you everything. My heart. My body. My innocence. That was my mistake. You took those gifts and threw them back in my face through a letter. You didn’t even spare the time it took for a phone call. You just wrote it down like you were making a laundry list,” she sneered at him as the first teardrop slipped down her cheek.
“I knew if I heard your voice I’d never be able to let you go,” he admitted, his voice raw and cracked with emotion. “I wouldn’t have had the strength. Faith, if I could go back, I’d do things differently. Just let me explain…”
“Fuck you,” she spat at him, wrapping her arms around herself defensively. “I don’t want to hear about your regrets, Cain. I don’t want to hear from you at all. You’ve been home a month! If you had something to say to me, you could have said it long before now. Now, it’s too damned late to explain. I no longer wanna hear it. It no longer matters!”
Oh, it mattered to her. Only a fool would mistake that. She was hurting and infuriated, but she wasn’t indifferent. Taking a step toward her, his eyes narrowed on her shattered face. “If it’s too late, why are you crying?” he questioned in a low voice. “Why are you shaking like a leaf in the wind?”
He was invading her personal space, and Faith took another two steps away from him, stopping only when her bac
k met the wall.
And the bastard just kept coming.
“I think I know the answer already, sweetheart,” he said softly, slowly following her across the miniscule office. Barely big enough for the desk and file cabinet it contained, the room didn’t offer either one of them very much room to move.
Her mouth went dry when he paused in front of her. Faith could feel his warm breath fanning her cheek when he dipped his head and put his mouth to her ear.
“You still love me, Faith, every bit as much as I still love you,” he whispered, inhaling deeply as he spoke. He was careful to keep his arms at his side, his hands clenched into tight fists to keep from reaching for her. “If you can deny that, then I’ll walk out of this place and you’ll never have to see me again.”
“Don’t,” Faith pled, turning her face away from him. “Don’t stand there and lie to me, Cain.”
Jerking his head up, he sought her eyes. “Look at me,” he insisted, waiting for her to meet his gaze. He had to make her believe him. “I’m not lying, Faith,” he said when she finally turned her eyes to his.
“No one that loved me could ever have done what you did,” she returned faintly with a sad shake of her head.
“They could if they believed they’d changed so much that they’d end up destroying you,” he countered truthfully, his eyes boring into hers as he willed her to believe that much at least.
“Then the joke is on you, Cain. In your sacrificial bid to save me, you destroyed me anyway,” she whispered painfully, looking at him with eyes that still shined with her tears. Swallowing hard, she straightened against the wall. “Now, step back,” she demanded through clenched teeth. He was too close, robbing her of the ability to think clearly. She was much too close to throwing herself against him and doing something truly stupid – like begging him to make love to her and erase her pain.
He followed her order instantly, but he refused to leave entirely. “You didn’t deny it, Faith,” he pointed out huskily. “You still love me.”
“I love shellfish, too,” she retorted waspishly, uncaring that she was beginning sound like a shrew. “And yet, they still make me deathly ill every time I touch one. I’ve learned to stay the hell away from them because I know they can and will hurt me if given the chance. I suspect, I can do the same with you.”
Damn, he’d forgotten how much he adored her grit. “I’ll tell you what, baby. The day you come to me and tell me that you don’t love me anymore is the day you won’t ever have to see me again. Until then, though I’m going to stay here and make sure nothing like what happened last night happens again.” There, he’d thrown down the gauntlet.
Now, he waited to see if she’d pick it up.
“Fine,” Faith snapped coolly. “Be here then. Just leave me alone. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to hear you. Abide by those three rules and you’re welcome to work here until Hell freezes as far as I’m concerned. I suggest you start now,” she bit out, seething with anger as she glared at him. She wasn’t sure if she was angrier with him for putting her through hell or with herself for not being able to lie to him and say that she didn’t love him anymore.
Cain’s heart expanded in his chest, and he smiled slowly. Instead of simply saying the words that would have guaranteed he left her alone, she’d just told him what he needed to do for now in order to stick around.
Translation: She wanted her space.
Fine. He could do that for her.
“Alright, sweetheart, I’ll do that,” he agreed calmly. “Just know, Faith, I can wait for you forever if I need to. When you’re ready, I’ll be here.”
“Out!” she yelled, jabbing her finger toward the door as she held her breath.
She only released it when the door clicked closed behind him.
Chapter Twelve
Seven days later, Cain could only wonder exactly how much space one woman could need. The way things seemed to him, Faith was building her own igloo on her own iceberg... and he had most definitely been frozen out of her metaphorical neighborhood.
Christ, he wished he could drink.
She was driving him insane. Over the past week, she’d grown even more distant. He wasn’t sure how that was even possible, and yet she’d found a way. While she avoided him like he’d been contaminated with the Black Plague, she made a point of snuggling up next to every man from eighteen to eighty that crossed the threshold of the bar. Married, single, gay, straight, friend and foe alike, she was equal opportunity affectionate. He’d watched her hug, kiss and fondle more men than a whore working shore leave.
And if he had to watch one more guy ogle her ass, he was going to throttle somebody.
She was doing it on purpose, of course.
He’d known Faith for years. She was friendly, but never a damn flirt. And while he personally enjoyed watching her shorts get shorter with every passing day, he was pretty sure she’d be coming to work in a thong if he didn’t act soon. Then, he really would be forced to kill somebody.
Running a hand over his face as he watched her kneel beside one of the factory workers that had come in with his team tonight, he barely contained a howl when her dainty hand lifted to stroke the man’s thigh. Okay, she was officially wandering into dangerous fucking territory with him. Inhaling sharply through his nose when he heard her throaty chuckle, he would have charged if somebody hadn’t pressed a heavy hand to his shoulder.
“Don’t do it, man.”
Glancing up at the owner of the voice, Cain frowned at Sheriff Zeke Monroe. “Why the hell not?” he snapped.
Heaving a long suffering sigh, Zeke rolled his eyes. “Because, then I’d have to arrest you, and I really don’t feel like doing the paperwork tonight.”
“Can’t you arrest her?” Cain growled, gesturing at Faith’s ass as she bent over a table to collect a beer bottle on the other side. “Isn’t that indecent exposure or some shit like that?” he griped.
“I am not looking at Faith’s ass,” Zeke retorted, plucking a menu from the side of the table and studying it.
“Why not?” Cain grunted, glaring at the men surrounding Faith as they eyed the twin spheres currently on display. “Everybody else is.”
“I like my balls where they are, Cain, and I suspect if Honor ever suspected I looked in the direction of one of her sisters’ cabooses that she’d castrate me before I could say, ‘Cain told me to do it!’”
Cain smirked. “You are so whipped.”
Raising one eyebrow as he lifted his eyes to the other man, Zeke smiled. “I’m okay with that. At least Honor lets me talk to her. Based on my intelligence, the last time you opened your mouth to Faith, you took a knee to the groin. Twice.” He wriggled to fingers for effect.
“My girl is nothing if not fastidious. She told Patience that she wanted to make sure she got both my balls.” Cain couldn’t help his grin. The shot had hurt like a bitch, but he could tell it had made Faith feel better, and at the moment that’s all that mattered to him.
Zeke laughed. “And you say that I’m the whipped one,” he snorted. “What the hell did you say to her?”
Watching as Faith straightened, he smiled. “I told her that she looked beautiful.”
“And she took exception to that?” Zeke queried, cocking his head.
“Well, she was covered in barf at the time. Old Man Simmons had one too many whiskey sours and tossed his cookies all over her when she was helping him to the cab,” Cain explained, his eyes soft as he watched Faith pause to speak to one of the elderly patrons. Whatever she said caused the man to laugh deeply.
“Besotted idiot,” Zeke muttered, shaking his head.
“Dude, you have been in love with Honor for as far back as I can remember, and you haven’t made the first move. Don’t diss my methods. Faith needs time to realize that no matter what she does to me, I’m not going to get cold feet again. If punishment includes daily groin shots, so be it.”
“Uh huh,” Zeke grunted.
“I know what I’m doing,” Cain replied, tensing as he watched a tall man approach Faith from behind and slip his arms around her waist. Her low cry of alarm brought him surging to his feet.
“Hey! Stop It! Get your hands off me!”
Both men heard the irritation and fear in Faith’s voice as Cain began to take an angry step toward where his former fiancé struggled in the redneck’s arms.
“Cain, wait!” Zeke urged, grabbing the younger man’s shoulder as he, too, stood from the table. “Watch.”
No sooner had Cain heard the words leave the Sherriff’s mouth, he watched as Faith’s elbow lifted, jerking backward to nail the ruffian in the nose. Blood poured as he man yowled in pain.
“You fucking bitch!” the drunk man growled, cupping one hand around his obviously broken nose. “You’re gonna pay for that, you little slut,” he threatened, stumbling toward Faith again.
“Okay, now you can get involved,” Zeke offered easily, giving Cain a little shove in the back for emphasis.
“Thank fuck!” Cain muttered, charging toward the guy as his fingers wrapped around Faith’s slim wrist.
Grabbing the collar of the inebriated man’s shirt, Cain whirled the drunk toward him. “I think you’re done here for the night.”
“Fuck you!” the red faced man cursed. “This little bitch has been sendin’ off fuck-me vibes all night. I was just gonna offer the bitch a little taste of what she’s been askin’ for!”
“You know, I think that might be the worst thing you could have said to me, son,” Cain replied calmly just before he nailed the pissed off drunk in the mouth with his fist, sending the man to his knees. “Now, I don’t just think you’re done here for the night. I know it,” he continued amiably, hauling the stunned ass to his feet. “I’m sure our friendly local law enforcement will be happy to see you home… or to a jail cell,” he ground out, shoving the man toward the back door where one of Zeke’s deputies waited. Stronger and meaner by far than the asshole he pushed toward the door, Cain fought the urge to pulverize the creep.
Cain's Salvation (Passion in Paradise - The Men of the McKinnon Sisters) Page 8
