Fever

by Carnal, MJ

  Did this tiny little woman just put me in my place? If it was even possible, I was even more turned on by her rant. She started to turn to walk away from me but I caught her arm, my large hand nearly encircling it. With her back to me, I bent until my mouth was near her ear. She shivered as I spoke. “You and I aren’t done. I’ll be back tomorrow with new questions that I’ll expect answers to.”

  She turned her head slightly, peering up at me. “Fuck you, Timber. I’m not answering shit.”

  I smirked, “We’ll see. And I like your dirty mouth, Kat.”

  I turned and walked away, leaving her there in the middle of the hall. One thing was for certain, I would be back. She was hiding, and I wanted to know why.

  Chapter Six

  Kat

  Lying in my bed this morning I played what happened last night over and over in my head. I had been in control of the situation, or so I’d thought until Timber approached me in the hallway. After that, there was no control. He entered my personal space, became demanding, and after he walked away I was literally a puddle of turned on, completely nervous mush. I didn’t ever let men get as close to me as Timber had last night. And if they did, Beaver was always there, ready to tear their arms off. There had only been one other man that I let touch me and that had been someone who’d been just passing through town. He had been good looking and nice enough, so I’d let him scratch my sexual itch. I had been worried that I would never allow someone to touch me again in that way after what Adam did to me, but I was somehow able to shut that emotional connection off, and sex with the traveling stranger ended up being nothing more than mechanical. I didn’t even know his name. I barely remembered his face now.

  Thinking about Timber’s hard features - his cynical, piercing blue eyes, those lips that I thought knew were softer than they looked, the feel of his body pressed up against my back, his mouth brushing my ear - my senses kicked into overdrive. I’d never felt my entire body so on alert, and wanton. When he spoke, his deep, gruff voice resonated all the way to my core. There was no doubt that if he had tried to come onto me last night, I would have given in without a second thought. That was not acceptable.

  I needed to get myself together before he showed up again. Lying there I scolded myself for acting like some silly teenager with a school girl crush. And I did have a crush on Timber back then. He was different than the rest of the guys he hung out with. He didn’t come from the same type of family that his friends did. He had worked in the grocery store, bagging groceries and helping old ladies out with their buggies. I knew his buddies gave him a hard time for it, but I’d also overheard him one day tearing them all a new one, saying he had to work for the kicks he wore, but that didn’t make him any less than them. He knew, just like they all did, that he was only accepted into their social circle because he was good looking. How sad it must have been for him to know that his looks were all he had going for him. Except I knew better. I had been a teacher’s assistant in his biology class and I often helped grade papers. Timber was smart. Very smart, in fact. He had once told Mr. Kent that he wanted to go to med school and work in biomedicine. He wanted to find cures for cancer, fix infertility problems, and make the world a better place. I mentally rolled my eyes at that thought. Mr. Perfect wanted to bring world peace. Okay, so technically I threw in the last one about making the world a better place, but really that’s what he had wanted. What teenage boy thinks about those things?

  Looking at my clock, I realized I’d been lying here for an hour longer than I normally do. It was Sunday, my beach day. Time to get up, get my bathing suit on and head out. I got dressed in my black bikini, my favorite cut-off shorts that were frayed around the edges, and grabbed a new book I’d borrowed from the library. Throwing on a pair of flip flops, and putting my hair up in a messy bun, I made my way downstairs and through the bar, locking up on my way out. Driving the few blocks to the beach, I got out, grabbed my towel that I kept in my back seat, and walked to my usual spot. It was about thirty yards away from the pier and perfect for sunbathing. When I got myself all situated, I laid on my stomach, flipped to the first chapter of my book and quickly became engrossed in the story. After some time of reading and listening to the sound of the waves rolling onto the sand, I must have dozed off. When I woke up my face was on top of the page I’d last read. My arm felt numb from being raised above my head in an awkward position for so long. Blinking rapidly, I lifted my face and saw someone sitting next to me, blocking the sun.

  Sucking in a breath of air, I saw Timber about a foot away with his arms resting on his bent knees, looking out at the water.

  “So is this what you do on your days off?” His voice was like a shock to my still dozing body. He must have seen me move, and knew I was awake.

  Pushing up with my arms, I rolled over and sat Indian style. “What the hell are you doing here? Are you following me or something?”

  He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “Or something,” he smirked.

  I shook my head, loose strands of hair falling into my face. “Stalking isn’t an attractive quality, Timber. In fact, most girls would have you arrested for such a thing.”

  He turned to face me, his blue eyes startling in the light. “Possibly, but you’re not most girls, are you, Kat?” His grin looked devilish. Tapping his head with his index finger, he said, “See, I remembered.”

  “Hmmm… yeah, I guess you did. You want a cookie or something?”

  “Are you baking them?”

  “What? No! I didn’t mean I was going to bake you cookies. Do you take everything so literal?”

  “I was kidding, I knew what you meant.”

  “Hmmph. Yeah, I bet.”

  His smile widened, with his perfectly white, straight teeth. “But really, if you wanted to bake me some cookies, I’d gladly accept. My favorite is sugar cookies by the way. Feel free to drop them off whenever you want.”

  Trying my hardest to glare at him, I said, “Yeah, sure. I’ll get right on that. Hopefully I can mix them up well enough that you won’t even taste the arsenic after they bake.”

  His deep chuckle made me feel dizzy. “Were you this much of a smartass in high school?”

  The mere mention of high school snapped me out of my Timber induced haze. I turned behind me and grabbed the book I had been reading. It looked like it was time to call it an early day and head back to the bar. As I placed the book in my beach sack and moved to stand up, Timber reached out and placed his hand on my forearm.

  “Wait, where’re you going?” He looked confused.

  “Packing up to head back home, what does it look like?” I said, with more force than I intended.

  His eyes captured mine. I saw him trying to read my expression. I worked hard to school my face, trying not to give away the fact that he was making me nervous and I just wanted to get away from him.

  “Kat, you don’t have to leave on my account. I’ll leave if you are really that uncomfortable with me being here.”

  I sighed deeply. Searching his face for any sign that he didn’t mean what he said, I saw that he was being honest. Okay, seriously, I was being the biggest bitch. Deciding that I needed to take a chill and look at his being here from a different angle, I put my bag down and smoothed my features.

  “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just not used to falling asleep on the beach and waking up to someone sitting in my light. Then you start flirting and I don’t know how to take it.”

  He chuckled. “You think that I was flirting with you?”

  Did I mistake his comments for him coming on to me? Feeling like my face was flaming with embarrassment, I said, “Yeah. Umm, weren’t you?”

  He leaned over so he was eye level with me. “I suppose I was. But if I were really flirting with you, I’d make sure you knew it.”

  I swallowed hard. It was already in the upper nineties outside and him being this close made me feel like my skin was on fire. Desperate for an excuse to move away from him and cool off, I stood abruptly and
announced, “I’m going for a swim.”

  Looking down at him, he was leaned in towards my beach towel, with one arm in the sand supporting his weight and the other resting across his knee. He lifted his head just enough so that I could see his pale blue eyes checking me out. I felt like I was on display. His gaze went from my face, down to my breasts that were very much out there for his viewing pleasure, and then moved further down to my stomach that I felt was too pudgy, but, I still worked out enough to keep thin. He swept his eyes down my legs and back up again. He was breathing harder, and I couldn’t take the intensity of his stare. I quickly shimmied out of my shorts and moved down the beach to the water. The Gulf during the summer months was like stepping into bath water. It stayed at a steady eighty-five degrees. When I was completely submerged to the top of my breasts, I turned around in time to see that Timber was standing up to remove his grey wife beater.

  Fuck. Me.

  He was perfect. Wading out here in the water far enough that he couldn’t tell exactly where my eyes were trained, I stared at him unabashed. I’d never seen anything like him before, at least not in person or where Photoshop hadn’t had anything to do with it.

  Timber was tall. Last night I had noticed that he towered over me by almost a good foot. His long, lean legs easily displayed his height. When he turned around to toss his shirt on my beach towel his firm ass was in perfect view. If I didn’t know it before, I certainly did now. I…was…an ass girl. Licking my lips, I imagined putting my hands on his firm cheeks and squeezing. When he turned back and started making his way towards where I was floating, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the way his swim trunks hung low on his hips. He had a beautifully sculpted V that made me imagine what sort of prize it led to. There was a trail of dark hair that ran from his belly button and disappeared underneath the fabric. Just above his navel I saw the most incredible set of abs I’d ever seen. I remembered seeing Timber with his shirt off in high school during football practice when I was running around the track, but his body had never been this hard or sculpted. He’d been thinner, leaner. I knew being out on the oil field kept him in shape, but I was certain he worked out too. Nobody that worked with my uncle was that ripped. My eyes continued their journey north, noticing the many tattoos that graced his body. On the left side of his ribcage was a tat that said the word ‘Faith’. There were words underneath it but he was still too far away to discern what they were. Up around his pecs were some swirl designs that looked really intricate. He had the words ‘cursed with a blessing’ written in a hard-edged script on his collarbone. I wondered why he would put those words on his body. He had a sleeve on his right arm that I’d already seen but I really wanted to look at close up.

  Speaking of close up, he had moved nearer to me and I directed my gaze to his full lips that were surrounded with dark scruff, and then to his eyes. Those blue eyes that I could get lost in. They wrinkled slightly at the corners and I realized that he was grinning at me.

  As he approached me he said, “Get a good look? I can do a twirl if you’d like me to.”

  I’d been caught. Fine. If he wanted to act like an arrogant ass, I’d play too. Slowly moving through the water, I got up close to him. The water was hitting me around my breasts while it was only hip level for him. Reaching up, I touched the tattoo around his collarbone. He held completely still, allowing my perusal. I wasn’t sure if I shocked him because I was touching him or if he was pacifying me. Trailing my finger from one side of his broad chest to the other, I reached his right shoulder. Adding a couple more fingers to the mix, I slowly allowed them to slink down to his elbow. My fingertips were on fire just from touching his beautifully shaded skin. Placing my hand under the bend of his arm, I lifted it so the artwork that decorated him was almost eye level to me.

  I had started this quest initially in an attempt to make him as uncomfortable as he made me. I wanted to see him squirm. Instead, I found myself genuinely intrigued by the bright colors, the meanings behind the designs, and why he decided to brand his body. Having tattoos myself, I knew they meant something. Inspecting every little inked inch, I saw an octopus, flowers, a demon, and a koi fish similar to my own. I was about to put his arm up to make him twirl and make a smart ass comment, since I had only made myself uncomfortable, but something caught my eye. Hidden in the depths of the color were small raised marks. No, not just marks, they were scars. My eyes shifted to his, silently asking where they came from.

  Timber cleared his throat and pulled his arm out of my grasp. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

  Not sure of what to make of his change in subject, I let him have this one. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to talk about it. I knew that if I pushed and asked him questions, it would only open it up for him to ask me questions that I’d never answer.

  Turning my body so I faced away from him, I said, “Yeah, it’s perfect.”

  Timber was standing off to the side of me, looking in the same direction I was. We stood there for so long that I knew I’d be all wrinkly when I got out. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, and I knew it was almost time for me to wander back in and head home. The wind was starting to pick up a bit, and the waves were becoming rougher, causing my body to sway. At one point, a strong swell pushed me into Timber’s front.

  The feel of his skin on mine was, in one word, electrifying. A zap went straight through my heart. His hands came up and grabbed hold of my waist to steady me.

  “Whoa, easy there.” I turned my head to look up at him. “Good thing I was standing here or you would have went under.”

  I couldn’t say a thing in response. I just stared at him standing behind me, holding me up. I hadn’t realized that my mouth was open until he let go of my hip with one of his hands and brought it up to my chin. He used his finger to gently push my jaw to close my mouth. I should have been embarrassed, but I wasn’t in the least. My heart was beating so fast I swore that he’d see my pulse under the skin of my exposed neck. He was breathing heavier and I watched his eyes dart all over my face. We both seemed to be lost in some sort of hypnotic trance. His hand had come up and cupped the side of my face, and it was almost shocking how tender it felt. What was he doing to me? Just when I saw him leaning in, and I knew he was going to kiss me, a massive wave hit us both and we fell backwards, catching us off guard. Going under, he reached for me to help lift me out of the water. I had sucked in some water through my nose and it burned. He must have emerged from the surface first because as he hauled me up, I came out sputtering and coughing.

  “You okay?” He looked concerned.

  I wiped my nose, my eyes watering. “Christ, that one took me by surprise.”

  “You? I’m grown man and it took me down.” I could hear the amusement in his voice.

  I gave him a small grin and turned to walk back up on shore. “Well, I’m not going to stand out here and wait for another one to pummel me. Besides, I’m starving. I need to head home and make myself some dinner.”

  He was following right behind me. I was hoping that he wouldn’t mention whatever that was that just happened out there. I didn’t want to analyze it, and I didn’t want it to happen again. I think?

  When we got back up to my towel, I reached down to grab it and wrapped it around my body. With the wind blowing, I felt myself shiver.

  “Are you cold?” He started to step into me, but I took a step backwards.

  “No, not really.” I looked down at my feet, not wanting to meet his eyes.

  Timber frowned at my retreat. He ran his hand through his soaked, messy black hair. It was sticking up every which way, which caused a giggle to bubble up.

  “What?” He asked.

  “Your hair is a complete wreck!” I smirked.

  He shook his head, which caused little droplets to fly in my direction. I held my hands up, trying to block them. I squeaked and laughed.

  When he stopped, he was smiling at me. Quirking his eyebrow up in a silly fashion, he said, “How about now. Bett
er?”

  I tipped my head to the side and tried to hide my grin by biting the inside of my cheek. “Much. You don’t look like a wet dog at all!”

  He let out a chuckle and looked over my shoulder. “Wet dog… never heard that one before. I suppose some dogs can be cute wet.”

  Huh uh. He was digging for a compliment and he was barking up the wrong tree. Pun intended. I wouldn’t give him one, especially when I was supposed to be guarding myself around him. Rolling my eyes, I bent down, gathered all my belongings, and started the trek towards my car. I heard the shuffle of the sand behind me.

  “Hey, Kat?” He walked to his car which was parked next to mine.

  “Yeah?”

  “Why don’t you come over to my place for dinner? I don’t have much in the way of food, but I could stop at the store real quick and pick up some noodles. I make a pretty mean spaghetti.”

  My first instinct was to tell him ‘fuck no’, get in my car, and drive away. However, the look on his face said he was genuinely hopeful I’d say yes. Why was he taking so much interest in me? I still needed to find out if he had an alternative reason for being in Port O’Connor. This place is barely a pinpoint on the map. People don’t just randomly show up here. However, I couldn’t ignore that I was drawn to him. How could I let him down easy? I didn’t want him to look like a wet dog and look like I kicked him. Deciding to offer up something else in a place where I could control the environment, I gave him a different option. It would be a way for me to get some information out of him.

  “I think I’m going to pass on the dinner.” His face fell. “But, Mel, Beaver, and I are playing Clubs after the bar closes tomorrow. We don’t bet money or anything like that, but we drink and relax.” I said.