Freaky by Nature (12 page)

“Snakes,” she m uttered.

He frowned. Sterling had a big m outh.

“Yeah, any shape, size or color,” he adm itted. “Can’t stand

those things.”

Holly tilted her head to one side. “So why did y ou hav e a snake

tattooed on y our body ?”

Brett’s gaze clung to hers as he tossed his decision to elaborate

back and forth. Only Claire and his SEAL team knew the m eaning

behind the serpent, and ev en they didn’t know the extent of the

sy m bol. Yet, he wanted to tell Holly .
Needed
to tell her.

“I spent m y m ilitary career raising hell as a SEAL under

Sterling’s com m and. And I was a pretty good hell raiser too. Until I

got caught.”

“You were discharged?”

“No. I was captured in the jungle on a m ission. They hung m e

in a tree with a boa constrictor. If it hadn’t been for Sterling and a

sharp knife, I nev er would’v e m ade it out aliv e.”

“The scar,” she said softly . She grasped his forearm and

squeezed.

“Ev ery body has skeletons. You just learn to deal. You can’t go

through life not trusting at least one person, Holly .”

“It’s for the best.”

“How do y ou know?”

She grinned. “Believ e m e, I know.”

Her fingers danced across the surface of his skin and he

wondered if she realized how intim ate her action was. He raised an

ey ebrow and took a chance, consequences be dam ned. “The

chem istry between us is powerful.”

The m uscle in his forearm gav e an inv oluntary jum p when

she continued to caress. “Explosiv e,” she agreed.

“So, we just ignore it?”

“We can’t.” She glanced down at his arm and then back at

him , a slight blush in her cheeks. “As long as we understand each

other, ev ery thing will be fine.”

She m ade no effort to break the phy sical contact between them

and he felt her flesh heat. Encouraged, he pushed further. “We

hav e a fling.”

He expected her to com e up with another half-assed excuse.

Instead, the hazel-ey ed witch gav e a sexy sm ile and winked. “Let’s

just play it by ear.”

His cock jum ped. The suggestion of pure, hot lust in her ey es

was enough to driv e him to action. In one sm ooth m ov e, he could

pin her to the cushions and m ake her scream for him to take

possession of her body . Yet, in his heart, Brett knew sim ple sex with

Holly would nev er be enough. He needed her m ind to cooperate.

So, they ’d follow her rules.
Play it by ear
. A grin creased his lips.

She had no idea how well he would m aster this gam e.

“So what about dinner?”

She squeezed his hand one last tim e before she released it and

stood. “I hav e pizza on speed dial.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Brett paced the floor of Holly ’s guest room with the nagging

sensation he’d just m ade a deal with the dev il. Breaking through

Holly ’s resistance caused his cock to quiv er, but now there would

be no secrets between them . Nam ely ,
his
secrets. A bone-

wrenching ache crept through him at the thought of her reaction.

She’d run as far and as hard as she could. And he wouldn’t blam e

her. Hell, he’d run too, if he could.

He reached behind him for the hem of his shirt and pulled it

ov er his head. The serpent wound its way around his m uscles with

ev ery m ov em ent to rem ind him how difficult his explanation

would be. For once in his life, the son of a bitch was a nuisance. One

he couldn’t do a dam n thing about. No respectable m an would ev er

expect a wom an to understand the relationship he had with the

beast.

He lay back on the bed, popped open the top button of his jeans,

and folded his arm s behind his head, reliev ed by the touch of the

cool white silk com forter against his heated skin. Tension drained

from his body and an ov erwhelm ing sense of peace surrounded

him . Like angels had floated down from Heav en to com fort him . As

his ey es drifted closed, a whisper of hope and prom ise cleared his

m ind and beckoned him to sleep.

Sweat
slid from his forehead and burnt his eyes as he crammed

the pick into the rusty lock on his hanging prison. Suspended at least

ten feet in the air and caged like an animal was not how he’d intended

to spend the last few hours. Especially with a burning gash in his left

shoulder. The pain had begun to dull, but infection now attacked the

torn flesh. He twisted the pick until he thought it would break. He had

to get out. Now. Before they came back with more of their toys.

The rustle of the trees announced his captors’ return. He slumped

over and slid the pick back inside his boot, thankful they hadn’t taken

those. Running through the jungle barefoot wasn’t something he

wanted to do.

Two dark-skinned men approached the tree, gave him yellow-

toothed smiles, and spoke to him in their native tongue. An icy

sensation coated his stomach as he watched a burlap sack wiggle

from side to side. He sat motionless as his cage was lowered to the

ground. The door squeaked open and the bag was emptied inside.

Acid burnt the back of his throat when he found himself face to face

with a water cobra. The amber-flecked bands on its neck glowed in

the sunlight as it coiled, hissed an evil warning, and prepared to

strike. He met the angry creature’s red gaze with his own, staring it

into a hypnotic trance. With lightening quick speed, he grabbed the

snake behind the neck, snapped off its head and threw both pieces at

the men. They stood in shock as the body continued to flop at their

feet.

“
Is that the best you’ve got?” He knew he was playing with fire,

but the words escaped before he could stop them.

The two rebels babbled like idiots and ran from the area. When

they were a good distance away, he got to work on the lock again.

Where the hell were Sterling and Shadow? Glancing around the

abandoned area, he threw his head back and chirped like a forest

robin. His shoulder throbbed harder and he cursed himself for

acknowledging the pain. He should have had the cage unlocked by

now.

Another rustling of the brush brought the two men back, this time

with two sacks. They didn’t even bother with the door and dumped

the contents through the rusty slats of the cage. The hair stood on the

back of his neck when at least two dozen snakes slithered back and

forth, their forked tongues seeking a target for their venomous fangs.

His shoulder screamed as he scrambled up the side to escape being

bitten. Yet, as he reached for a top rung, his heart jumped as his

fingers met a bulky, black, slimy obstacle blocking his grasp. As he

focused on the top of the cage, he had only a moment to blink before

two yellow eyes flashed a greeting and a boa constrictor wrapped

him in its life-eliminating grip
.

“Brett! Brett, wake up!”

Holly only had tim e to whim per before Brett’s ey es flew open,

full of rage and despair, and he grabbed her by the throat, threw

her to the bed, and pinned her with his burly body . Stuck

som ewhere between nightm are and reality , he seem ed determ ined

to stop the m adness. She pulled at his hand, gasped for air, and

hoped to God he’d wake up before he strangled her. A single scream

m anaged to release his hold and shake him loose of the terror.

“Holly ?” His torm ented ey es cleared. He loosened his iron grip

and m assaged the skin ov er her esophagus. “Are y ou okay ?”

“I think so,” she croaked.

“What the hell are y ou doing in here?”

She turned her head slightly to take in the tangled bed sheets.

Ev en in her shock she could think of sev eral things she’d rather
do

in here.

“You were hav ing a nightm are.” She wound one arm around

his back and traced the edges of the scar artfully hidden by his

tattoo with one fingernail. His m uscles clenched under her touch.

“No wonder y ou’re scared of snakes.”

Brett gav e her a piercing stare. “How do y ou know what I was

dream ing?”

Holly bit the side of her cheek. Another slip. Dam n him for

distracting her. She rattled off the best excuse she could. “You were

talking in y our sleep.”

The cool air conditioning caressed her body as he rolled off her

and scooted to the edge of the bed. Her heart ached when he braced

his elbows on his knees and lowered his head. Not quite sure how to

com fort him , she inched closer and laid a hand flat against the

m oist skin of his back.

“Would y ou like to talk about it?”

He shrugged her hand off his body and stood. “No. Go back to

bed. I’m going to shower.”

“Brett, I can help y ou.”

Brett ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t need help. Just go

back to bed.”

“May be if I just stay ed with y ou until y ou go back to sleep.”

His ey es shot ice-blue daggers and he gav e a v enom ous half

laugh. “Holly , if y ou stay in here with m e, y ou know as well as I do

sleep won’t be the only thing on our m inds. And rest assured, when

I get m y dick inside y ou, I won’t share y our bed after.”

Holly couldn’t stop the startled gasp that slipped from her lips.

Bold, angry , ebony blotches pulsed around him and the

atm osphere sparkled with negativ e ions. Yet, despite the blatant

warning, she couldn’t leav e him . She laid a hand against the base

of her neck and cleared her throat to speak.

Brett cut her off. “Let it go, Holly .”

She stood and walked past him , pausing in the doorway . “Fine.

Just wrap back up in the com forter. You’ll feel m uch better.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Brett opened one ey e and then groaned as a ray of sunlight

speared his pupil. Once he blinked away the m ulticolored polka

dots from his v ision, he raised his arm to focus on his watch. Eight

thirty .

Damn it to hell
.

He fought the crisp white sheets until he extracted him self

from the cocoon and stood, y anking on a pair of jeans from the

floor. There would be hell to pay if Holly had left the house without

him .

Mem ories of last night’s conv ersation and near seduction ran

through his sleep-hazy brain and he struggled to button his fly

ov er his already erect anatom y . Why had she com e to him ?

Her excuse was alm ost too conv enient. Ev en practiced. He

rotated his shoulder a couple of tim es to work out the stiffness.

May be she had changed her m ind about him . His ego scream ed I-

told-y ou-so. His brain, howev er, wasn’t so sure. And now that he’d

talked to her like a two dollar hooker, she had ev ery right to tell

him to piss off. He allowed him self a sm irk. She probably wouldn’t

hav e phrased it exactly like that.

Brett threw open the door and stom ped down the staircase

until the sight of Holly stopped him in his tracks. Sitting on the

sofa, she reached for the cordless phone beside her then drew her

hand back as if she’d been burnt.

The phone rang two seconds later.

Brett’s jaw fell open.
Fuck me
.

Why hadn’t he known before? The snakes, the scar, the

nightm are, it all m ade perfect sense. Holly harbored a deep, dark

secret she was bound and determ ined to keep hidden. No wonder

she knew so m uch about him . She had psy chic ability .

He lowered him self to the bottom step, crossed one leg ov er the

other, and leaned back against a top step to decide whether or not

to approach her with his epiphany . Instinct told him no. She’d run

like a scared rabbit and he’d inv ested too m uch tim e in earning

her trust. Then again, if he told her
how
he knew, she m ight trust

him m ore. Dam n, once again she m anaged to twist him in knots.

He exhaled in frustration. Where the hell was Claire when he

needed her? He released a barely audible groan. Claire wouldn’t

help him . No, she’d add it to her bunker of am m unition.

“No, Ev an!” The determ ined force of Holly ’s v oice put him on

full alert and he stood to brace him self against the stair railing.

“We’v e already discussed this and m y decision rem ains the sam e.”

She tossed the phone to the floor and threw her head back

against the sofa cushions. “Persistent little twit,” she m urm ured.

Brett eased him self out of his hiding place and stepped into the

liv ing room . “Ev ery thing okay ?”

Holly lifted her head and gav e a weak sm ile. “That was Ev an.”

Som ething short of panic laced her v oice. “Albert’s kids contacted

him today .”

“Why ?”

“They offered not to contest his will.”

“What do they want in return?”

“The form ula.”

Brett fought the urge to shade his ey es from the big red flag

that clouded his v ision. “They don’t want m uch, do they ?”

“Ev an wants m e to turn it ov er to him so he can decide if it’s

worth bargaining with.”