Up in Flames

by Abbi Glines

  I sat on the outside end of my side of the booth, leaving him no option but to sit across from me. Why was it that when men thought they’d lost you, they suddenly wanted you? It was a game to them, and I was done with games. What Gannon was doing wasn’t a game. He was straightforward and easygoing. I liked that about him. It was refreshing.

  “Are you going to give me a chance? Or is this how the whole meal is going to be?” he asked. I was forced to make eye contact with him, which was admittedly difficult. He had the most gorgeous blue eyes on earth, and I was only a woman. Girls were powerless when it came to pretty things.

  “There’s no chance to give. If you want to eat, chat, and remain friends, I am completely on board with that, but you had your chance. You were very careful to make sure I knew it wasn’t serious or exclusive between us, and then you showed me just how uninterested you were over and over again. Guess what? I got it.” It felt good to tell him this. I’d bottled up so much that it had started eating at me. Now being able to just blurt it all out and not care if he never spoke to me again was like a weight lifting off my chest.

  “I messed up. I’m an idiot. I didn’t want to be exclusive because I don’t know how to do that. Relationships scare me. You scared me. I didn’t want to lose the friendship we have over a relationship gone bad.”

  This was an excuse I had heard before. First from Grant freaking Carter, who had met, fallen in love with, and married my half sister. Not a good playbook for Major to borrow from; he needed to do his research. He was calling some plays that had already burned me in the past. “We can be friends. You haven’t lost that. But the sex and dating stuff? That’s over. You can fuck whomever you like . . . but then again, you were doing that anyway.” I actually sounded calm when I said that. The bitterness and anger had left my body. I wanted to do a fist pump, but I knew I’d look like an idiot, so I refrained.

  “I don’t want that. I want us. I want you.”

  It was a little too late for that.

  This would be a good life lesson for him. Next time he liked a girl, he wouldn’t treat her like she was expendable. Now he knew that if she had any self-respect, she’d leave and never look back.

  “I wanted that, too, but you didn’t feel the same way. Our timing might be off, but the fact is, I don’t want it now. So let’s just do that friend thing you wanted to do,” I said.

  “What can I get you both to drink?” the waitress asked.

  “Coffee with skim milk, please,” I replied, grateful for the interruption.

  “Coffee as well. Just black,” Major said, but he kept his gaze on me.

  He really had a thick skull.

  Major

  This wasn’t going the way I had expected. She was detached. I’d never seen her this emotionally checked out. I had dealt with her playing hardball before, but usually I could see a glimmer of attraction in her eyes. Right now, I just saw annoyance. Like talking to me was the most bothersome thing she’d have to do today.

  “I want more than friendship,” I told her, wondering if maybe that was true after all.

  “I know. You want friends with benefits. I don’t. That ship has sailed.”

  OK, ouch. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I want us to be more. I won’t run anymore. I swear it.”

  She rolled her eyes, and it was like she’d slapped me. “Can you hear OK? I said I didn’t care. I’m over whatever thing we had. It’s friends or nothing, Major. Can we order our food now?”

  My ego had never suffered so many blows in such a short time. She just kept on swinging. My chest ached, and I wanted to believe it was because she’d hurt my pride, but the fact that she wanted nothing more to do with me made me sad. I had good memories with Nan. Some were pretty damn phenomenal. After each one of those phenomenal memories, though, I always ran off to get some space. I panicked if we got too close.

  This was a direct result of me being a coward and trying to keep things between us from going too far emotionally. Now she was completely done with me. How did I let it get this bad? When we had gone for a run on the beach earlier this week, it had been fun. I’d enjoyed my time with her. I liked making her laugh. Hell, I loved knowing she wanted me there for my company. It meant something. Now I’d lost everything.

  “Nan, what can I do to get you to give me another chance?” I asked, as sincerely as I possibly could. Which was pretty damn sincere, because I realized I meant it. I wanted more with her. Dammit, she wasn’t just a job.

  “Nothing. I don’t want anything from you, and I don’t feel anything for you. I’m sorry.”

  She didn’t offer any more than that. It was a simple rejection, but the emphasis carried so much weight. I had caused this, and I wasn’t sure I was going to get over it. What did you do when you lost something you had come to depend on? My time with her had been special and something I looked forward to. What was I going to do now?

  After a lunch filled with Nan’s one-word responses, I wasn’t surprised when she just finished her food, told me good-bye, and walked away. I let her go because there was nothing else I could say that would stop her. I’d tried it all. Every trick I knew had failed with her. This was a first for me.

  I leaned back in the booth and let the waitress fill my coffee cup one more time. My plan wasn’t going to work. I waited patiently for Cope to appear. Because I knew he would. I was positive he’d watched it all. He knew she was done with me and that I’d failed at the job DeCarlo had given me.

  Was that my fault? They gave me the job because of my looks instead of my talent. I could have taken on a more dangerous job that didn’t involve romancing a woman. Putting me in the pretty-boy role wasn’t exactly fair. I’d started working for DeCarlo because I wanted the excitement of the hunt. Not to pretend to have relationships with women who were part of my family circle.

  I mean, hell, it wasn’t like I was James Bond. Although that would be completely badass, but that was beside the point. They’d put me in a situation that was unfair. Most men with a heart would fail at this. Killing the bad guy I could do. Hurting a woman, on the other hand, wasn’t my thing.

  “Go back to Rosemary Beach, and give her space. I’ll continue what I’ve started here. Then I’ll send her running back home, ready for someone to mend her broken heart or ego. You need to be fucking ready this time,” Cope said close to my ear, before he straightened and walked away.

  Could he really hurt her? Did she like him that much? Damn. If so, I really needed to up my game.

  Nan

  That had been hard. Seeing Major’s sad expression had made my stomach cramp up. Looking directly at him had not been easy, and I’d limited it as much as possible. No matter how many times he’d hurt me or blown me off, I did like him as a person. I did have fun moments with him, and there were those times when he had made me feel special. Like I was the only girl who mattered.

  Then, of course, the next day, he’d run off and see some other girl and do the same thing with her. I was naive even to think that what I had just said to him mattered that much. He would be fine. There were women everywhere waiting to soothe his ego. Because that’s all this was. He wasn’t used to rejection. With a face like his, I doubted he’d dealt with it often. If ever.

  Still, I wanted to go back and hug him. Because he really looked like he needed a hug. Shaking my head at my own idiocy, I headed back to my elevator. Gannon still hadn’t tried to reach me, and my emotions were a little raw after that encounter with Major. If he hadn’t basically begged me for another chance, I would have been fine.

  Jesus, though, that begging was intense. I deserved a freaking award for being strong about it. What kind of girl didn’t want a guy like Major pleading for a second chance? Pretty sure there wasn’t a single one alive on this planet or the others.

  My phone vibrated, and I saw Gannon’s name on the screen, followed by, Good afternoon. Lunch?

  My stomach was full from lunch with Major, but I wasn’t about to turn down a chance to be with Gann
on. I’d eat light.

  Yes, I’d love to do lunch.

  I waited outside the elevator as it opened and closed. I didn’t move.

  Meet you in an hour at the elevator?

  Thank goodness. I needed an hour to make myself more attractive and let my lunch with Major settle some. Perfect.

  I bit my lip as a giddy grin spread across my face. When the elevator opened again, I hurried inside. I had an hour to look amazing.

  Three outfit changes and two different hairstyles later, I was ready to meet Gannon downstairs. All the guilt over Major was gone, for the most part, and I was excited about another day with Gannon. I still wasn’t hungry, but I’d work around that.

  When the elevator door opened, my eyes went directly to him. He was hard to miss. The sleeves of the white Oxford shirt he was wearing were rolled up to his elbows, and his biceps looked like they were about to explode from the seams. The white against his tanned skin was striking. Combine that with the messy man bun and beard he had going on, and damn, he was hot.

  My heart sped up. I hoped all my hard work at making myself look irresistible would pay off. I watched his face as he watched me. I loved the way his gaze traveled over my body. It made me feel like I was the only girl in the world.

  “Sleep well?” he asked when I reached him.

  “Yes, thank you,” I replied, remembering that he had tucked me in last night.

  “Good.” He held out his elbow for me to take. “Let’s go eat.”

  “Same place?” I asked, curious.

  He shook his head. “I don’t want to bore you. I made other arrangements.”

  As if he could bore me. The man was fascinating, and he smelled so very good. I wanted to lean in and take a deep breath.

  “On the Strip?” I asked.

  He led me out of the casino before replying with a brief glance. “That would be boring, wouldn’t it?”

  I wanted to tell him that nothing was ever boring with him. I never knew what to expect with him, and that feeling had quickly become a craving that I had developed a real taste for. The excitement of the unknown. I didn’t tell him that, though. It would make me vulnerable. “I guess so,” I said, hoping my curiosity wasn’t completely obvious from my tone.

  A low chuckle from his chest made me believe I hadn’t hidden my thoughts at all. That, or he was just incredibly observant. I could tell by the way he spoke and the way he held himself that he was intelligent. More so than any other man I had met. That in and of itself intrigued me. A man with his dangerous appeal who loved reading classics instead of watching TV? Damn.

  “I have a private meal waiting at the top of Caesars Palace. The view is spectacular, and we’ll have some privacy. It’s not the penthouse, but it’s the best I could do.”

  Wow. Not what I’d been expecting. I knew I wanted privacy. Lots of it. But so did he, apparently. This was what I wanted. Major had kept me at arm’s length for too long. It was OK for me to move on to better things.

  I wasn’t going to think about Major again.

  Major

  The waves crashed against the shore as I sat slumped forward with my elbows on my knees. A long-necked bottle dangled from my right hand, a cigarette from my left. I wasn’t a smoker. Never had been. But right fucking now, I needed it. I was lost and confused and so damn depressed I didn’t know what to do with myself.

  It had been two days since I’d left Vegas, and with each moment I spent away from Nan, replaying her words in my head, I realized my mistake. How I had messed up. How my fear of feeling too much for the unstable, beautiful, crazy bitch of Rosemary Beach had put me here in this sad pit of hell.

  She had wanted me. Now she didn’t. That was the hardest thing to accept: not knowing what you have until it’s gone. The fact was, Nan made me laugh. Her haughtiness was a mask she used to cover up the vulnerability underneath. I’d seen it. Fucking broke my heart whenever she let her guard down. I could clearly see all the ways in which she was broken. Instead of being the man she’d needed and wanted, I’d failed her. I’d failed us.

  Cope would fucking break her. He planned on sending her back to me destroyed, and I hated the idea of it. She didn’t need to be hurt anymore. She’d been hurt time and time again. Fucking bastard didn’t care, though. He just wanted the information that I had failed to get.

  “Didn’t know you’d decided that lung cancer was the way to go.” Mase’s voice broke into my thoughts. I looked up to see my cousin’s disgusted frown.

  “Fuck off,” I muttered, and took a long drag before turning my attention back to the Gulf. When did he get into town, anyway? Mase spent most of his time in Texas at the family ranch.

  “If I was smart, I would. Looks like I’m going to be a dumb-ass, though, and try to find out what’s wrong with you.”

  Great. Just what I needed. A fucking intervention. “Not in the mood. You’re in the wrong state, aren’t you?” I grunted, then took a drink.

  He sat down beside me on the bench in front of my apartment complex. “Never seen you like this. Not even when your dad kicked you out for fucking his new wife. What’s up?”

  Nan was what was up. Motherfucking gorgeous high-maintenance insecure sexy-as-hell Nan. “Go back to Texas.”

  Mase chuckled, and I wanted to beat his ass.

  If I weren’t on my tenth beer, I would have considered taking him on. But at the moment, I just wanted to be left alone.

  “Came to town for a visit. Blaire’s baby shower is coming up. Please tell me this isn’t Nan-related.”

  “Can’t,” I shot back, annoyed.

  “Shit,” he muttered.

  Shit was right. I was in deep fucking shit. I had fucked up everything. Nan would get hurt because of me. Nothing I could do now.

  “Why did you decide to tangle up with Nan? I warned you not to. She ain’t the kind of woman a man takes seriously.”

  Fucker didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Mase barely knew her. She wasn’t the half sister he had grown up barely knowing. And she wasn’t the daughter his father had half-neglected for most of her life. She was the one everyone had left behind. The one everyone hated.

  “You don’t know her,” I snapped.

  “No one does,” he answered instantly. “She’s cruel, cold, and self-absorbed.”

  I dropped the cigarette from my hand and crushed it under my foot. “That’s where you’re wrong. You never gave her a chance.”

  Mase let out a hard laugh. “Fuck that. She was a vindictive bitch to Harlow every chance she got, and she terrorized Reese.”

  I knew both stories. Grant and Mase had gone on and on about how evil Nan was when I’d first come into town and began showing interest. When they were around Rush, neither one brought Nan up, because her brother wouldn’t have allowed it. But when he wasn’t there, they bashed her every chance they got.

  It pissed me off that neither of them seemed to think about why Nan might be so cruel. Didn’t they wonder what had made her that way? Talk about self-absorbed.

  “You don’t know her. You’ve never tried to know her. So don’t fucking tell me about her. I know all the stories, and I know her.”

  “Yet here you sit, smoking a cancer stick and drinking a twelve-pack of beer because of her. What the hell does that say about her?”

  I drank the rest of my bottle. “It says that I didn’t handle things correctly. I didn’t treat her like the fragile flower she is. Now she’s gonna get shattered, and it’s my fault. I just hope I can fix it. Fucking bastard that I am.”

  Mase didn’t have a quick response to that. Surprisingly. He sat beside me quietly, and we watched the waves crash against the shore. My thoughts were on Nan and what would happen next. And if I’d even get a chance to help her heal before the rug was jerked out from under her yet again.

  Nan

  I didn’t hear him enter the large, glass-encased, walk-in shower, because my head had been under the rainfall showerhead washing the last of the shampoo out of my hair.
His large hands grabbed my waist, startling me, and my eyes flew open as I gasped.

  “Turn around, and put your hands on the wall,” he demanded. His pupils were dilated, as they often were when he was turned on. I didn’t argue with him, although I loved fighting back just enough to send him into commander mode. It made me insatiable.

  I turned and placed both my hands flat on the wet tile and opened my legs before lifting my butt up toward him. I knew what he wanted, and I was more than willing to give it to him.

  I’d never known sex like I had experienced with Gannon. He could go for hours without end. Sending me into orgasm after orgasm. I craved each delicious touch and every painful moment.

  A hand came down hard on my ass, and I cried out as the sting made my eyes water. “Sassy little bitch. Sticking your ass up to me like that. You think I want this?” he asked in a hard, cold voice, then slapped the same spot harder as I whimpered and squirmed.

  His grip tightened until his fingers bit into my hip bones. “Don’t make a sound. Take it like a good girl,” he ordered, as his hand slipped between my legs and three fingers slid inside me easily. “Fuck, you’re soaked. You like to be talked to like this, don’t you? You want me to slap this ass and tell you to take my cock. Turns you the fuck on. Damn naughty girl.”

  I moaned. Listening to him taunt me also turned me on. No man had ever talked to me that way during sex. He was so different from what I was used to. Dark and twisted did something for me. Never would have expected that, but it did.

  He grabbed the tops of my thighs and squeezed so tight I made a plea for release. “Open those sweet white thighs wider, and give me that ass,” he growled.

  I did exactly as I was told, just before he slammed into me, taking my breath away and sending waves of pleasure and pain rippling through my body.