To Woo A Warrior (Southern Sanctuary)

by Jane Cousins

  She’d never felt hotter, ached so much, been so acutely aware of how much her partner desired and needed her in kind. It was Vaughn for pity sake, the golden god and she felt if she didn’t have him here, now, she’d explode in a fiery ball of unfulfilled anguish. She loved the feel of his mouth on hers, his big hands moving up and down her back, clutching at her insistently as if he intended to never let her go. She was seconds away from ripping his t-shirt down the back when the crash of several plates hitting the floor broke them apart abruptly. Looking down she noted the mess on the floor from where they’d knocked several of the trays left on the trestle table to the floor.

  Breathing hard she looked up into Vaughn’s eyes and there was something in those depths that made her breath catch and hold. He was looking at her with passion, as if she were the woman of his dreams and that was a lie wasn’t it? She was a warrior. She didn’t know how to flirt, tease or fulfil a man. As a woman she was a notorious failure. And Goddess help her she didn’t want this man to know that. With a hard steady push against his chest she managed to create enough room to slip out of his hold.

  It took Vaughn a deep couple of steadying breaths to realise that Hadleigh was pushing him away. By the time sanity returned she was standing a few feet away looking rumpled and slightly breathless herself but those clear grey eyes of hers were cool and remote. He didn’t know what had changed but suddenly she looked untouchable.

  “Rafe’s waiting for me.” She issued the words casually as if the last ten minutes of passion had never happened.

  “We should talk.” He felt the anger he’d experienced earlier at watching her laugh and smile with Flynn begin to build once more.

  “There’s nothing to talk about, what just happened … shouldn’t have.” She squared her shoulders. “My apologies.” She shifted and the corners of her mouth lifted but it wasn’t a happy smile. “All I seem to have done since I’ve got here is apologise.”

  “Hadleigh.” For some reason he wanted to comfort her.

  “It must be the corporate environment, I’m more of a slash and behead move on to the next kill kind of girl.”

  “Sweetheart.”

  Her eyes lifted and for a brief moment he saw a flicker of pain in their depths at the use of an endearment.

  “Please Vaughn.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Let me go.”

  As if he had some physical hold on her keeping her in place.

  Once again she confused him. He needed time to think about what had just happened between them. To analyse everything she had said. He knew there was an answer in there somewhere to understanding her behaviour. Why she blew hot and then froze him in place with a blank look. Clenching his fists he gestured for her to go. “Rafe will be in the equipment room waiting on you.” At his words she hurtled towards the exit like he’d pulled the pin on a grenade. “Hadleigh.”

  She stopped at the doorway but didn’t look back.

  “Stay safe out there.”

  The muscles in her back visibly tightened for a split second then she was gone, leaving Vaughn frustrated but determined to get to the bottom of what made Hadleigh Valhalla flinch when the going got hot.

  Chapter Ten

  Vaughn was in trouble, his arms, neck and shoulders were on fire. His stomach muscles were so tight he swore any moment they’d snap like rubber bands. Okay he admitted to himself at this late stage, as a river of sweat dripped down his face burning his eyes, working out whilst angry had been poor judgment on his behalf. Trying to lift this amount of weight, even with the strength imbued upon him by a Goddess had been utter madness. He should have asked one of the guys to spot him but since they were essentially why he was so freaking angry he’d hit the gym solo.

  As a result of his stupidity the weight bar visibly wobbled above him, inches away from the rest hooks, but the way his arms were trembling those inches might as well be miles. As he faced imminent injury he might as well put the blame for his anger on the root cause, Hadleigh Valhalla; six foot six inches of gorgeous frustrating trouble.

  It had been three days since they’d kissed in the canteen and the woman had managed to duck and weave being alone with him ever since. Maat, when they were in the same room she barely did him the courtesy of making eye contact. In over a hundred years he’d never dealt with such a challenging female. Yet even now, as his arms visibly trembled, the bar above his head noticeably swaying he still ached for her.

  “Problems Cupcake?”

  If Vaughn hadn’t been struggling with the massive weights about to crush in his skull he might possibly have jumped at the sudden appearance of a Goddess bending over him.

  “No, I’m good.” He managed to get out between gritted teeth.

  Maat threw back her head issuing a hearty chuckle. Reaching over with one hand she grabbed the bar and placed it safely back on its resting hooks. Vaughn collapsed back onto the bench, gasping, willing the muscles in his upper body to stop screaming.

  “Punishing yourself Sweetling?”

  With monumental effort Vaughn managed to sit up, grabbing his gym towel he swiped it over his face, rubbing hard. Lifting his head he found Maat seated directly opposite him on a clean bench, studying him intently with bright eyes that shimmered like rivers of sand shifting in the wind. Her long black hair was tied back in a loose plait and she was wearing loose white yoga pants and a matching top. His Goddess looked like a woman in her sixties who took exceptional care of herself, her dusky coffee coloured skin glowing with rude health. Except for her eyes she might have passed for human.

  “No, I’m not punishing myself.”

  “Then who are you punishing?”

  He sent her a hard look meant to shut down her line of inquiry but being Maat and a Goddess she just laughed and gave him a knowing serene look. “No one but a woman could put a look like that on a man’s face.”

  He tried ignoring her, instead focusing on wiping the bench down on either side of him. Sometimes if you refused to play her games Maat grew bored and went on her merry way. Unfortunately as he noted her intense look out the corner of his eye, today was not going to be one of those days.

  “So tell me about her? No doubt she’s blond, petite with big blue eyes that gaze up at you in adoration as she clings to your mighty muscular arm for protection.”

  The very thought made Vaughn laugh. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

  “Ohhh.” Maat continued to smile, the shifting sands of her eyes beginning to swirl and cascade. “She sounds…”

  “Frustrating?” He provided.

  Maat laughed again. “I was going to go with intriguing but for you I think frustrating would be good.”

  Vaughn chuffed a laugh. “You would see me punished My Lady?”

  “Not at all Toots, not at all. But I’ve known you for over a hundred years, a woman who was predictable … easy ... she would bore you to tears. This one she sounds … interesting, and you are interested, you fairly vibrate with it.”

  Vaughn allowed himself a shrug, pleased to note the feeling was starting to return to his shoulders.

  “I’d like to meet this woman, where is she?”

  “She took an extra shift. She and Nate are tracking down a Lure in Florida.”

  “She’d rather spend a day in the swamps than in your bed?”

  “It’s not like that. I mean we’re not like that.”

  “Ahhh you’re taking things slow, how very old fashioned of you.”

  Vaughn grit his teeth. “Hadleigh is just a work colleague. A temporary one at that. She’s only with us for four weeks.”

  Maat raised a fine dark eyebrow for a moment. “So you have no problem with her spending the day with Nate? Now there is a man who knows women. I sometimes think the man flirts in his sleep and he always knows the perfect words to win a woman’s heart, if only for the night. But I’m sure if he put his considerable talents to the test he could win a woman for eternity, if he so chose.”

  “Hadleigh’s already shut Nate down once.”<
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  Maat laughed again. “She sounds like an extremely smart woman. Nothing would catch Nate’s attention more than a woman who failed to recognise his charms immediately.” Maat pursed her lips for a moment looking thoughtful. “Though now I come to think about it her actions sound rather calculating. Is she a tease?”

  “No!” Vaughn didn’t even have to stop to think about that question.

  “Perhaps her interest lies elsewhere and she is baiting her hook for silent but oh so sexy Drum or mayhaps one of our delectably naughty Flyboys.”

  Vaughn shook his head in exasperation. “I’m pretty sure that’s not her game plan, unless you count stabbing Flynn with a fork or besting him on the challenge mats as a come on.”

  Maat’s eyes shon with merriment. “Well I don’t but knowing Flynn he’s probably half way in love with the girl by now.”

  “They’re all halfway in love with her.” Vaughn couldn’t stop the flow of words issuing from his mouth.

  “And what about you, Pumpkin, are you halfway in love with her?”

  “Of course not.”

  Vaughn shook his head in bemusement at the very idea of being in love with a woman he’d known less than a week. But how else to explain the way he felt about Hadleigh from the first moment he’d seen her emerge from the elevator and the word ‘mine’ had burst from his lips? That word had come from somewhere deep inside him and he needed to face the fact that from the moment he’d laid eyes on Hadleigh Valhalla she had somehow claimed a piece of him. He tried to look casual and unconcerned, wondering if his Goddess would call him on his flirtation with an untruth.

  “Then if you have no feelings for the girl take my advice Gumdrop and send her away. She sounds like more trouble than she’s worth.”

  The thought of Hadleigh leaving caused his stomach muscles to clench as if he were still trying to get that massive amount of weight tucked safely away. “No it’s good, we need a replacement for Serena on the show and it is only for four weeks.” Again his stomach muscles spasmed, maybe he’d done some internal damage. “Speaking of, have you seen Serena? Do you know if she’s okay?”

  Maat gave him one of her cool enigmatic smiles. “I’m sure the little witch is fine.”

  No one did unperturbed like the Goddess of truth and balance.

  “So there’s no reason for me to worry about her?”

  “You? No.”

  Vaughn didn’t particularly like her answer but Maat never lied, although that never stopped her from bending the truth when it suited her.

  The Goddess rose gracefully to her feet. “Well I’m late for my mediation class.” She stopped abruptly and cocked her head to the side as if listening to something unseen.

  “Problem?” Vaughn tensed, ready to face the threat.

  Instantly Maat relaxed again, the amused smile once more teasing the edges of her lips. “Just the usual Lambchop, I sense chaos trying to nibble away at the balance of the world.”

  “Give me a direction and I’ll gather the team.”

  Maat shook her head. “You know I’m forbidden from giving away the secrets of the future.” Her pupils swirled like sand being swallowed into a whirlpool. “Danger is coming.” She smoothed back a few stray hairs. “But when isn’t it circling? Try not to get distracted Dumpling over the coming days, you’re going to need all your wits to defeat what is coming.”

  Between one blink and the next his Goddess was gone; leaving him with nothing but a few cryptic clues and an uneasy feeling stirring in his gut.

  * * *

  The smell hit Vaughn as he entered the open shower area and as much as he’d been sweating in the gym the stink wasn’t emanating from his own still slightly shaky ass. No that hideous smell could only be coming from one source, Nate, who stood under one of the showers frantically shampooing his hair whilst at the same time scrubbing hard any piece of flesh he could reach with a loofa.

  “Maat, what is that smell?” Vaughn waved a hand in front of his face as he yanked off his t-shirt and shorts before kicking off his shoes and stepping under a stream of water of his own as far across the tiled floor as was possible.

  “That smell would be me!” Nate growled. Picking up the shampoo bottle and dousing his head with what looked like half the contents.

  Vaughn dunked his own head under the water for a moment before reaching for the soap. “You had problems with the Lure?” He queried, wondering if Hadleigh was in a similar state.

  “Hardly. That was a twenty minute re-location exercise. Some developer asshole is putting up a golf course in its territory. We moved it inland, very swampy, isolated, shouldn’t have any more problems.” With gritted teeth Nate commenced trying to scrub a particularly stubborn patch of slime behind one shoulder.

  “So how did you get so ... fragrant?” Vaughn rinsed the soap away reaching for his own shampoo.

  “All I said.” Nate spat out some shampoo. “All I said, I swear to Maat, is that her hair reminded me of a fire in a frozen winter landscape and that her eyes were like a summer storm. Next thing I know she turns, gives me this really cold look, says I warned you and wham, I’m flying over the side of the hovercraft into the swamp. And not just any part of the swamp mind you, it’s the most stagnant, slimy nightmare you could imagine.”

  Vaughn fought back the urge to laugh. “Well she did warn you to knock it off.”

  “That’s all you have to say?”

  “On the bright side it could have been worse.”

  “Worse! Worse! Can you not smell me? I’m on my second bottle of shampoo and my eyes are still burning from the fumes emanating from my own hair.”

  Vaughn couldn’t help but shrug, biting on his inner cheek to halt the laughter that threatened to erupt from his throat. “Nate, she carries like twenty knives on her, it would have been real easy to paralyse you with one. She kicks you overboard, out there in the swamp, just the two of you alone … glug, glug, glug. She returns with a sorry tale of how the Lure got you. I’m just saying it could have been worse than a black eye.”

  “It was just a compliment! A little harmless flirtation.” Nate was reaching for the shampoo bottle yet again. “Please Maat on the golden sands tell me what I did wrong exactly?”

  Vaughn just shrugged again. “She did warn you, witnesses and everything.”

  “She’s not normal.” Nate was muttering to himself now. “It was a compliment for Maat’s sake. Every woman loves to be complimented on how she looks.”

  Vaughn ducked his head under the water for one last rinse before grabbing a towel and heading out to the locker area. Tying the towel around his waist as he went he thought on Nate’s last words. What woman doesn’t like to be complimented on how she looks? Hadleigh, that’s who. And it wasn’t that she wasn’t normal, it was just that she was a warrior first. What had she said before she’d exited the canteen that morning they’d kissed? That she wasn’t a flirt? No, that wasn’t right. She’d said that she didn’t know how to flirt.

  Maat he’d been going about this all wrong. How did you win a warrior? No not win, because that would mean someone would have to be defeated. How did you woo a warrior? Not with pretty words that was for sure. Grabbing fresh clothes from his locker he started dragging them on, pondering his dilemma. A gift maybe, yeah a gift and the more he thought about it the more he liked the idea. In fact he had the perfect thing.

  Time to woo a warrior.

  * * *

  Once Hadleigh had finished checking back in all the mission equipment she was in desperate need of a shower herself. Heading back to the roomy luxurious apartment she was assigned she forced herself to be brutally honest. It wasn’t the tropical strength bug spray and sunscreen she was hoping to disappear in the privacy of her shower it was the all-consuming frustration that had been eating away at her for the past three days she was hoping to take the edge off of.

  Avoiding Vaughn certainly hadn’t proven to be of any use. Even her normal go to of out and out violence barely took the edge off of the itch …
or was it more of an ache. Grrr, she stomped through to the gorgeously appointed marble bathroom, tugging off her clothes as she went.

  In the past few years when she’d felt the vague itch of need she’d by-passed the bad unfulfilling sex and gone straight to her faithful shower head. So that’s what she’d do now. She was a fully grown woman who knew how to take care of her own needs. Spinning the taps she watched the water fall, steam beginning to fill the room. This was going to be easy.

  Five minutes later she groaned and it wasn’t in release. All she could think about was Vaughn, his hands sliding over her wet skin, his tongue licking moisture off her neck, his lips kissing hers. And no Goddess darn release. Indeed if anything she felt more wound up than ever. What in blazes was going on with her? Maybe she should just face the truth that she was defective. She certainly wasn’t acting like herself lately.

  Stepping out of the shower she grabbed a towel dragging it roughly through her hair. Take today for example and hitting Nate. Goddess that man could talk and if he was talking he was flirting. She’d been so distracted for most of the day with her thoughts on Vaughn that she’d barely registered anything Nate had said. Until finally he’d made some comment about her hair or maybe it had been about her eyes and she became suddenly irrationally angry.

  Not at the flirtation and not really even at Nate but at herself. At the sudden realisation that she was such a failure as a woman. Why couldn’t she smile at Vaughn? Ask him out for a drink and just be normal? Why couldn’t she be fun, flirty and feminine?

  Suddenly she couldn’t bear to listen to Nate’s fake flattery for a second longer, POW, she’d punched Nate and watched him sail over the side of the hover. She wasn’t particularly sorry she’d punched him but nor had there been any satisfaction in the violent act, which was really unlike her.

  Using the towel to wipe the mirror she stared at her own reflection and sneered. Grabbing a comb she dragged it through her wet hair. Wondering for what must have been the millionth time why it had to be so … red? And curly! Why couldn’t she have long straight dark hair? And while she was whining she might as well moan about her height. From the age of twelve through to about fifteen she had gone to sleep praying to the Goddess every night that she would wake up and be normal, petite even. But no, every morning when she got up the ceiling was ever closer. It was hard enough being tall so young, but add being a girl to the equation and things began to take on a nightmarish cast.