Tracker’s Sin (24 page)

She took a step toward the tub. It was his turn to say “don’t.” If she had her mind on a pity fuck, he didn’t want that, either. When she

looked at him and that ful bottom lip slipped between her teeth, he explained.

“You don’t owe me anything, Ari. What I did for you, I would have done for anyone.”

She shook her head and took a smal step. “Please.”

“What?”

She reached the side of the tub. “Shut up.”

Her fingers slid over the rim to touch his shoulder. A butterfly caress that could have meant anything. At the moment, he was too stunned at

the novelty of being told to shut up to figure it out.

“What did you say?” It came out a low growl. She merely frowned at him and waved aside his question.

“I told you to shut up. I can’t think with you always throwing new obstacles at me.”

He stal ed. “You need to think?”

She nodded.

“Why?”

She cut him a look. He raised his hands in surrender. “I’l be quiet.”

A half step was al it took for her to flatten her hand against his shoulder. She’d said he couldn’t talk, but she didn’t say he couldn’t touch.

He reached across his body and curved his fingers around hers, bringing them to his lips before placing her hand back on his shoulder and holding it

there.

She stared at their hands as if the words she searched for hid there. “I’ve always trusted you.”

What did a man say to that? “Good.”

“I want to trust you now.”

“But you can’t?”

She shook her head. “Everyone looks at me. I know what they’re thinking, what they see.”

“Honey, not only are you a twin, you’re a legend. Not many women get returned after being stolen by the
Comancheros.
”

“But they
know.
”

He couldn’t blunt that truth. “Yes. But what you don’t understand is, they don’t care.”

“They look at me and they imagine—”

He cut her off. “They imagine how much they’d like to cut the bal s off the men who hurt you and Desi.”

She shook her head. “You don’t see—”

“Cover your eyes, I’m standing up.”

He needed to hold her. Her hand on his shoulder kept him where he was. “Please, don’t.”

“Why?”

“You scare me.”

That settled him back down in the tub. “How the he—heck am I doing that?”

“You look like
them,
but you feel like my Tracker.”

My Tracker.

He had to stop holding tight to those things she said that implied this was more than for now. “I’l stay seated then.”

She picked up the soap and lathered it in her hands. She slowly rubbed the lather across the skin on his shoulder above the waterline.

The scent of cloves fil ed the air even as his cock fil ed with desire.

“What are you doing?”

“Touching you with love.”

“You don’t love me.”

“You may be able to make me do a lot of things, Tracker, but you can’t tel me how to feel.”

“You love me?”

“I think so.”

“Think?” He shrugged his shoulder away. “Am I supposed to be flattered?”

She removed her hand. “I know I’m not the kind of woman a man like you—”

Shit.

He grabbed her hand and tugged her into the tub. Ari shrieked and tumbled. It was easy to catch her, easier to direct her body to slide

down his. He moaned as the plump cheek of her ass cushioned his cock in a different heat. Water sloshed over the sides as she struggled for balance.

He let her wiggle about until she ended up splayed across his chest, cradled in his arms. He could feel her blush against his skin. Putting

his arms around her, he held her close. As always when he did so, she seemed to relax. Her breath expel ed in a smal sigh as the last of the tension left

her muscles.

He rested his chin on top of her head. “Comfortable?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I’m about to tear a strip off your hide.”

She hummed in her throat.

“You don’t seem nervous.”

“I’m pretending.”

“What?”

“That this is real.”

Running his hand down her side, he enjoyed the slick glide of her skin under the roughness skin of his palm. The rise of her hip caught his

attention. Placing his palm there, he stretched his fingers over her ass. The ful flesh welcomed the pressure he applied. “Feels pretty damn real to me.”

Was she not fighting because she was scared, or because she’d given up?

“But it won’t last.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I heard you and Desi talking. She’s forcing you to be nice to me.”

It hurt his brain, just trying to think about how to deal with that. “Ari?”

“What?”

“Shut up.”

“Why?”

He leaned his head back against the rim and closed his eyes. “Because I’m in a tub ful of water, which constitutes the first real bath I’ve

had in two weeks. I’ve got a gorgeous, sexy woman in my arms, and final y the time to just enjoy the way she feels there.”

Ari sighed and nodded, understanding. “You don’t want to fight.”

“Sweets, I’m so tired, I don’t even want to think.”

Her hand crept up his chest. She pul ed herself up until her head rested against his shoulder. His cock flexed, touching her hip briefly.

God, he loved the way she made him feel inside, calm where he was usual y restless, peaceful where he was usual y looking for a fight.

“Me, neither,” she murmured.

“Then can we just sit here and feel good?” he asked, his body aching with exhaustion. “Just for a while?”

Just for a while, so he could store the memory.

She leaned forward, trying to see over the tub side. “The floor…”

Damn the floor. “If I promise to cherish the water stains, can we forget about it?”

He could have sworn that was almost a chuckle she gave as she settled back in. The scent of cloves intensified, mixing with the subtle

scent of her skin. “I’l think about it.”

“Take a long time thinking.” He rubbed his chin along her hair. “Have I mentioned I do like your sass?”

“That’s because you’re contrary.”

He tentatively stroked her hair. “You’re not feeling scared?”

She shook her head. “You want the truth?”

“Yes.”

“I’m so tired, too, Tracker. Way down deep, where I just can’t get rest. I’m so tired I can’t feel…anything.”

He kissed her head. There wasn’t a good response for that, so he murmured, “Al right.”

“I just want to lie here with you and…float.”

“So that’s what we’l do.”

She didn’t answer, just rested against him until he thought she was asleep. And he held her, giving her the peace she wanted. There’d be

time enough later to deal with the demons. Right now they were both tired.

The water was cold. Ari woke up to the knowledge that she was, too, despite the warmth against her side. A warmth that was moving

steadily up and down. Tracker. She’d fal en asleep on Tracker’s lap.

Water sloshed as she moved. Fal en asleep in the tub! Who would have thought it was even possible?

Tilting her head back, she looked up. Tracker was sleeping, too, his thick, black lashes lying like shadows on his cheeks. She’d never

seen him asleep before and couldn’t real y see him now, the room was so dark. Very careful y, she hitched herself up. A hint of the child he’d been ghosted

his face in repose, softening the harsh planes, providing a glimpse into his past, when he’d been vulnerable. She reached up and rested her fingertips

against the edge of his cheekbone, where that little boy lingered.

I’ve never been touched with love.

What a sad statement. For al the awful things that had happened to her, for al the shame heaped on her soul, she’d been a cherished

child. Constantly hugged and kissed. Her days had been fil ed with fond touches and smiles. She had that foundation to lean on, to hope for again. She

knew what it felt like to be valued. She might not feel as if she had any value left outside of Tracker’s arms, but she knew what it was like to be special.

Whereas Tracker… She dropped her thumb to the scar on his cheek, a legacy of his lifestyle, a warning to those who would chal enge him. A vicious

badge of honor, it was wider than her thumb, much lighter than his dark complexion, and pressed against her skin in a reprimand.

“I have no feeling there,” Tracker murmured.

Ari jumped. His hand on her back steadied her. Or was it keeping her put? She tried to remember the first loving touch she’d ever

received, how it’d felt in her heart. She couldn’t. There’d been so many, starting so young, and she’d taken them for granted. But what if she’d never

experienced one? Lived a childhood devoid of that security? How would that feel? She couldn’t imagine it, but she could imagine how it would sound to

someone when people talked of it. Tracker was right—it would be like a cruel fairy tale. She opened her palm across his cheek, cradling it, caressing him

gently with her fingertips.

“Can you feel that?”

“Yes.” His cock rose against her behind.

Beneath her ear, his heartbeat accelerated. He wanted her.

“Good.” She did it again, shifting position so that his cock pressed between her thighs, before settling delicately over him. Tracker had

known enough aggression. He needed someone to bring him softness. Love.

“What are you doing, woman?”

The growl in his drawl was just for show.

She rocked her pussy on his cock. “Touching you with love.”

He moaned. She liked how he didn’t hide how she made him feel. It wasn’t as easy for her to be so open, but she tried.

“Now, that is an idea.”

Before she could ask what he meant, he stood. There was an awkward moment when their bodies separated, skin clinging until the last

moment, and then she was lifted up into his arms and they were once more skin to skin.

“You feel so good,” she moaned as her nipple scraped across his chest, sending a jolt of pure lightning through her body. Such a heady

feeling to be carried in his arms, to be surrounded by his strength. To know for this moment nothing could touch her and she was safe to feel what she did.

That Tracker, who knew everything, wouldn’t turn away.

She rested her head against his shoulder and wrapped one hand around his neck. The other she busied playing with his nipple. So

different from hers in looks—smal and brown—but so similar in responsiveness. She flicked it with her nail. He grunted. His cock flexed again.

“You’re playing with fire, woman.”

She flicked it once more. “Where are we going?”

“To bed.”

A shiver went down her spine. Outside the windows it was dark. Inside the house was warm and humid. In Tracker’s arms it was heaven.

“Any complaints?” he asked when she didn’t respond.

Yes, that she hadn’t met him first. Thought gave birth to speech. “That I didn’t meet you long ago.”

His answer drifted above her head. “Sweets, I’d be a damn greedy man to quibble with the when. I’m just glad I’ve got you and a bed.”

“You don’t ask for much.”

Turning sideways, he carried her through the bedroom door. “Don’t get disappointed much, either.”

But he hoped. He had to hope. He was human.

“I’m not the prize you think I am,” she whispered.

He laid her gently on the bed. She thought about protesting because the sheets were getting wet, but when she looked up, she could just

make out his expression, and what she saw there held her enthral ed. He was looking at her as if he had the world’s greatest treasure laid out in front of

him. To heck with the sheets. A woman could wait her whole life for a man to look at her like that. A woman like her, two lifetimes.

“Now that’s where you’re wrong. You’re
my
prize.”

The emphasis on “my” sent a thril whispering across her skin.
Tracker’s.
He came over her, blocking the faint moonlight from the window.

And that fast fear swamped her and she was once again trapped in that dark place where there was only pain and taking and nothing good. Lights

flickered behind her eyelids.

Fingers touched her cheek. “Ari?”

Tracker. It is Tracker.
Shaking her head to dispel the last doubt, she rol ed to her side and drew in hard, deep breaths while her heart

thundered in her chest. The pil ow was wet against her cheek. From her hair or her tears? She didn’t know. Didn’t care. “I can’t do this.”

She dug her nails into the pil ow, wanting to scream. Goddammit, why couldn’t she do this?

The mattress dipped as Tracker sat beside her. Her body rol ed toward him. His arm came around her back, pul ing her against him so

she was wrapped like the letter C around his hips, her head resting on his thigh. In front of her his erection rose proudly. Thick and hard, the flared crown

darker than the rest. Al she had to do was reach out and she could touch it, convince him to overlook her flaws through the force of passion. He wanted

her to touch him; she knew he did. It’d be so easy to distract him. One touch. One stroke. One kiss, and he’d forget al about her lapse, and she could stil

please him. She ran her tongue over her lips as his cock bounced with his movement, imagining how he’d taste. She wouldn’t do it, because it’d be a lie,

and she’d promised no lies. But the temptation lingered. It was just too hard to lay her flaws out on the table like curiosities at a sideshow.

Tracker tapped her cheek. “Why?”

Please don’t ask me that. Please don’t make me to say it.

The silent plea went unheard. “Is it because of what you remembered, or something else?”

She pinched the inside of his thigh. He didn’t even grunt. “Of course it’s because of what happened. What else could it be?”

“It could be because you’re home now, safe, and not looking for a protector anymore.”

The careful y worded statement sat so heavily in the silence, exposing so much with so little.