Nobody's Hero (9 page)

Rather than look hurt, she just smiled and
walked around the foot of the bed. He expected her to continue
toward the door into the hallway. Not Karla. Instead, she surprised
him by walking to the other side of the bed, turning down the sheet
and blanket, and climbing in.

“Karla, what the f…heck do you think you’re
doing?”

“Going to bed. I’m exhausted.” She smiled
again, and he could see where she thought this was headed. Well,
not if he had anything left to say about it.

“Go to your own bed.”

“I don’t want to be alone tonight. You don’t
mind if I stay here with you? I promise I’ll stay here on my
side.”

What was this “my side” crap? Now
she
was saying it?

Without waiting for a response, she pulled
the covers over her and curled onto her side, presenting her curvy
backside to him. Adam stood and stared a moment. If his strength
hadn’t been so compromised, he’d have picked her up and carried her
to where she belonged. However, the thought of dropping and hurting
her put an end to that plan.

He glanced at his side of the bed, not
certain what to do. Maybe he should go sleep in her room. That
thought wasn’t very satisfying. Not that he planned to get any
satisfaction—or even sleep—tonight.

“Turn out the light and come to bed,
sweetheart?”

Sweetheart?

If Karla had declared war on his heart
earlier tonight, then she’d just now entered the occupation phase
of her campaign. Not just of his bed, but occupation of that cold
place inside his chest he’d vowed to never let anyone in. They
didn’t make tactical charts to deal with this kind of
battlefield.

Maybe he could think more clearly after he’d
gotten some sleep. Hell, like he was going to get any sleep with
Karla lying a few feet away.

Times like these, he wished he hadn’t quit
drinking. Or given up on pain pills. He wouldn’t get any sleep
tonight.

Fuck
.

But there was no way he’d let his sleeping
body naturally gravitate again toward the warm—and willing—woman
lying in his bed. He took the few steps to the nightstand and
switched off the light, crawled into bed, and turned onto his side,
with his back away from her.

Adam stared at the window, even though it was
still pitch black outside. He planned to stay on full alert until
she got out of his bed.

* * *

Karla smiled. She was sleeping in Adam’s
bed—and he knew it this time. He hadn’t demanded that she leave,
well, not forcefully enough to get her to obey, although he’d
clearly wanted her to do just that. She knew Adam’s resolve
wouldn’t always be compromised by the recent ordeal he’d survived,
so she needed to breach his defenses every chance she could.
Perhaps she’d win a place in his affections before he would send
her back to her parents’ home in Chicago. No, that wasn’t enough.
The mission here was to win a place in his heart.

He’d said he wasn’t going to send her home.
She believed him, but also knew that, if he became too threatened
by her, he’d put the walls of resistance up even higher. She'd only
managed to get through them this time because he had been injured
and sick. She’d never be able to batter them down again unless his
body and mind were severely compromised again. She shuddered. She’d
rather lose him emotionally than to ever have him be that
vulnerable again.

She fought to stay awake, in case Adam would
awake and need her, but soon her eyelids became too heavy to keep
open. She’d just rest them for a minute…

Karla awoke sometime later, shivering from
the chill in the air. On her bed across the hall, she had a warm
quilt and two blankets. Her body was always cold. Adam’s was just
the opposite—always warm. Tonight there was only a blanket and a
thin comforter over them, not enough to keep her warm at all.

She turned over to find Adam’s back to her,
moonlight streaming across his body from the skylights. His massive
back and muscular arms strained against the black t-shirt he wore.
The sound of his rhythmic breathing told her he must be sleeping.
Maybe if she just moved a little closer, without touching him, she
could benefit from his body’s built-in heater. Careful not to
disturb him, she rolled over very gently onto her other side, but
still found a wide gap between her and Adam’s body.

Too far to feel his warmth, she scooted
herself the last couple of feet and began to feel the warmth
emanating from his back and legs. The urge to reach out and run her
hand along his arm had to be quelled, along with the intense desire
to get him to turn toward her. To kiss her. Okay, clearly she
hadn’t thought this plan through to its logical conclusion. To be
so close and not be able to caress him was torture.

If he didn’t need his sleep so badly, she
would have pressed herself against him. Instead, she filled her
lungs with a slow, deep breath—just the kind Adam always urged her
to take when he needed to calm her down. His woodsy scent filled
her nostrils and she felt warmer already. Talking with Adam tonight
had filled a hole in her heart she hadn’t even been aware was
there. She wanted so much to get to know him better, to share
secret hopes and dreams. Did Adam even have dreams for himself
anymore? He’d been married so long and had lost his wife to cancer.
He’d served his country about twenty-five years, making a career of
the Marine Corps. Now he seemed content to run his private kink
club and live for the friends he’d brought into his life through
the club. But he was only fifty years old. Surely he still had
goals to achieve, activities to experience, places to see.

“Karla?”

Her heart tripped over itself as the whisper
of her name hung on the early-morning air. She whispered back,
“Yes, Adam?”

She watched his shoulders rise and fall with
a couple slow, deep breaths of his own. Then he turned onto his
back, now just inches from her. She remembered that military men
didn’t sleep very soundly. Once, when she’d gone in to wake Ian for
breakfast in her loft apartment in the city, he’d nearly jumped out
of the bed and tackled her when she’d touched his arm.

Thoughts of Ian put a damper on her libido
and brought tears to her eyes. Without waiting for an invitation,
she took Adam’s arm, picked it up, and burrowed against his warm
skin, laying her head against his shoulder, resting her face on his
pectoral, and wrapping his arm around her. How could something as
simple as lying against him make her feel so safe?

“What’s wrong, hon?”

She shook her head, not wanting to talk about
Ian anymore. “Just hold me, Adam.” He didn’t hesitate and wrapped
his other arm around her, pulling her closer.

“I’m here, kitten.”

She was becoming accustomed to the sweet
endearment he’d begun calling her. But how long would he be here
for her? How far would he allow their relationship to go?

Did they even have a relationship?

* * *

Adam hadn’t woken up to find a woman in his
bed in nearly a decade. Now, with Karla, it was becoming a regular
occurrence. Why was he finding it so damned enjoyable, when the
last thing he wanted was a relationship with her?

He stroked her arm, comforting her from
whatever thoughts had disturbed her sleep this morning. He couldn’t
believe he’d fallen asleep. When he’d felt her moving toward him,
he’d expected another assault on his senses, but none had come. Now
why did he regret that?

He’d be glad when he was one-hundred percent
strong again. He and Karla had turned a major page tonight. Retreat
may no longer be an option. So now what? Hell, she was half his
age. What would her parents say if they knew he’d slept with their
daughter? They’d taken him in nine years ago on Thanksgiving
morning. They’d trusted him to watch out for their daughter when
she’d come running to Denver this summer.

Hell, not only slept with her, but he’d taken
her virginity as well.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

She reached out to stroke his chest. “Are you
in pain?”

Only around my heart.

“I’m fine.”

“Would you admit it to me if you
were
in pain?”

He smiled. “No.”

“I didn’t think so.” Her fingers traced the
USMC lettering on his t-shirt, bumping into his hard nipple. “Maybe
you’ll feel like coming downstairs today. Angelina’s been stopping
by and whipping up the most wonderful meals. And Cassie’s promised
a Peruvian feast when you’re feeling better. You need to start
eating more.”

“Damned pills killed my appetite, but I’m
through with them.”

“I hate to see you in pain, Adam. Please take
one if you need to.”

She took her thumb and brushed the nail
against his hard nip. He felt his woody grow even stiffer. Taking
her hand, he moved it away from his pec and laid it on his upper
abs.

Her hand slipped from his grasp and moved
over his abdomen, then further south. His dick throbbed even
more.

“Karla, you’re heading into dangerous
territory.”

“I’ve never been one to play it safe, Adam. I
just don’t want to be there alone.”

Why he didn’t stop her, he couldn’t say. When
her tiny hand wrapped around his dick, his hips raised up to
welcome her.

“You want me, Adam. Admit it.”

“Every man wakes up with a hard-on. It’s
natural.”

Her hand stopped moving and she pulled away.
He felt her body stiffen against him and hated that he’d hurt her
feelings again, but he knew her little exploration needed to stop.
Now. He couldn’t let her know how much she turned him on, because
he wasn’t about to allow things to go too far this time—or ever
again.

“Teach me about being a submissive.”

Again? He thought they were talking about his
woody. “We’ve been over this before. You aren’t submissive.”

“Try me.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Because, when I see your parents
at Thanksgiving, I want to do so knowing I didn’t introduce you to
my world of debauchery.” There. That ought to make her stop and
think a minute. When Karla had shown up at his club and he’d called
Carl and Jenny to let them know she was okay, he’d promised he’d
bring her home for Thanksgiving if she was still working here. The
thought of sharing the meal with them knowing he’d debased their
daughter just didn’t sit well with him now. It would only get worse
if he continued.

Now maybe she’d lay off him about BDSM and
let him go back to keeping his distance from her—emotionally and
physically.

Karla began to giggle, which only made him
stiffer, if that were possible. Soon she was laughing so hard her
breasts jiggled against his chest, causing his balls to
tighten.

“What’s so damned funny?”

“You.”

Ah, just what every man dreamed of, having a
sexy woman lying in his arms laughing hysterically—at him. The very
least he wanted to know was what she found so fucking funny.

She reached up and stroked his cheek. “The
apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

What apple? Whose tree? “Come again?”

“I came home from college a day early for
Thanksgiving my sophomore year to surprise Mom and Daddy. I didn’t
find them downstairs, so I checked upstairs. I didn’t have the
nerve to knock on the door when I heard what definitely sounded
like moans of passion and what I now know was a flogger, thanks to
the education I’ve gotten here at the club. I just knew from the
sounds Mom was making that whatever was going on in there was none
of my business, so I snuck back out of the house and froze my ass
off for an hour before ‘arriving home’ again.”

Jenny? Submissive? If that were true, then
he’d have to concede that maybe…

Karla smiled, then whispered, “Try me, Adam.
No, even better,
tie
me. I want you to tie me up again.”

“Karla…”

“If you won’t, I’ll ask Damián to train me
for you.”

Like hell.
He’d have to have a talk
with Damián PDQ to make sure he didn’t touch her. She wasn’t going
to coerce Adam—topping him from the bottom and trying to control or
direct him. If she wanted him to be her Dom, he’d…

How could he convince her she didn’t want
anything to do with this? She might want him to restrain her with
ropes, but he was certain submission wasn’t a deep-seated need for
her. It wouldn’t take long for her to realize that.

Well, maybe he just needed to speed up the
process a bit—to show her how much she’d hate taking orders, even
from him. Sure, she liked restraints, but she hadn’t experienced
discipline yet. Hell, if she’d seen the orgasm-torture
demonstration he'd done on Grant in the medical theme room at the
club—showing an inexperienced Dom his technique for multiple,
back-to-back forced orgasms—she’d change her naïve view of BDSM.
All she ever saw was what went on in the great room while she was
performing.

Remembering how pissed Grant was, he realized
he’d have to make sure he didn’t mess around when it came to
restraining Karla for a punishment session. Grant would have kicked
the shit out of his balls and dick if she wasn’t strapped to the
table as well as she had been. He valued his private anatomy and
his life too much to mess with her. But Karla also had some serious
martial-arts training before college, judging by the move earlier
on the patio.

What he needed to do was make being a
submissive sound like the most onerous thing in the world to her so
she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with pursuing a BDSM
relationship with him. Yes, he knew exactly how to do that.

Adam grinned. Hell, when he was finished
spelling out the details of his proposition, she’d steer clear of
any Dom who ever came near her in the future looking for a sub.

* * *

Karla waited, her fingers playing with his
nips. God, they were hard. She wanted to remove his shirt, bend
over, and bite one, but didn’t want to break his train of thought.
Was he going to let Damián train her? She hoped not, because it
would be extremely uncomfortable for her to submit to a man who
wasn’t much older than she was. Someone she thought of as more of a
brother.