Battlescars (21 page)

Delaying lovemaking had given them time to talk about everything that had happened. Kayla talked about how she’d felt during his fight – how she’d been puzzled by the excitement she felt as she saw him take control in the cage and how worried she’d been that he would be seriously hurt. Dyson told her how much it had meant to him to see her at the fight and how much he looked forward to spending more time with her.

Kayla confessed that she’d even been aroused by the fight, that she’d looked up at him in the ring and thought about how handsome he was, how hard his body was, and how she wanted to feel those muscles under her hands. She hadn’t expected to feel such a strong physical response to the fight, and she was surprised when it occurred to her that she wanted nothing more to take Dyson home from the fight and ride him until she collapsed.

Since the fight, sex was all she could think about, but Dyson had insisted that they take things slow. She had noticed, though, that he seemed to take a perverse pleasure in turning her on and forcing her to wait. In the weeks since the fight, Kayla and Dyson had spent nearly every waking moment together and had taken an old fashioned approach to getting to know one another before they slept together. Kayla had discovered that she rather enjoyed the anticipation.

She’d been floored when she’d brought up the topic of her apartment and the lease renewal that she needed to sign. Dyson hadn’t missed a beat as he casually suggested that she move in with him. She’d initially flat out refused, but he’d made a good case – they were hardly ever apart, and it made much better financial sense. He’d even offered her the spare bedroom, wanting her to understand that the offer had nothing to do with sex, but rather to do with their companionship. Kayla still couldn’t believe that she’d agreed, but the prospect of her very first overnight at Dyson’s was the most exciting thing she’d contemplated in a very long time.

The prospect of going to bed with Dyson was infinitely more interesting than accounting. Kayla counted the minutes until her class ended. Finally free, Kayla grabbed her books and headed for the door, her mind in the clouds. She barely heard Jasmine calling her name from a few rows behind, and her friend had to run to catch up with her in the hallway.

“Whoa, wait, where’s the fire?” Jasmine teased her, pressing her hand to her chest and acting as though she had just run a fast mile. Kayla grinned back and shrugged.

“Well, you know, today’s the day I move…there’s a lot to do. And I’m still working on talking Dyson into surrendering his virtue. I need to get back to that right away.”

“Yeah?” Jasmine gave her a wink. “You sure you’re ready for that?”

“Ready for what? The move or sleeping with Dyson? In either case, I better be,” she said, laughing. “I’m out on the street otherwise!”

Kayla had been so nervous about moving in with Dyson, but she had known that it would be good for them. She was definitely taking a leap of faith, but she was certain it was one she could afford. Dyson had proven over the last several weeks that she could trust him with far more than she already had, and now she was feeling truly ready to move forward into the future they both deserved.

“I can’t wait to see your new place,” Jasmine gushed as they walked together.

“I can’t wait to show you,” she said. “We just need some time to settle in…”

“Uh-huh,” Jasmine teased again, and Kayla rolled her eyes.

“Not like that!”

“Yeah, right, not like that.”

“Whatever.”

“Ha! You’re blushing and you know what that means.”

Kayla stopped walking and put her hands to her face. The heat warmed her hands as she looked at her friend. “Okay, maybe it is like that.”

“Oh la-la!”

Kayla punched Jasmine playfully on the arm. “He’s got a great friend, a guy named Chester. So if you’re into older guys…”

Jasmine seemed to give it some thought. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You had better get settled in soon and have a housewarming party.”

“A perfect excuse for matchmaking.”

“Exactly!”

The girls giggled and then Kayla became serious. “Jasmine, seriously…thank you for all the times you’ve listened to me. It made a difference.”

Jasmine nodded and put her hand on Kayla’s shoulder. “I’m still there if you need me. You know that, right?”

Kayla smiled. Indeed, she did.

The young women parted ways at the door. Kayla headed off toward her apartment at a healthy jog, determined to get there before the bulk of the work was done. When she finally came around the corner, out of breath from the long run, she was delighted to see Dyson and Chester hauling out a desk. The back of a moving truck was already full of odds and ends, boxes and a few lamps. The bigger furniture that Kayla had salvaged from flea markets and thrift stores was now coming out, with the help of the two men and several of their big, burly friends from the gym.

The moment Dyson saw her, he gave her a big grin and promptly lost his grip. He barely caught the end of the desk before it hit the sidewalk. His friends immediately launched into ribbing him for being distracted, and Dyson just smiled, taking it all in stride. Kayla knew how he felt: nothing in the world could possibly upset her today.

“Hey, you,” he said to her as he passed by.

“Hey, yourself,” she grinned, admiring the strength of his arms.

Over the last few weeks Kayla had become obsessed with looking at Dyson. He had gone from being handsome to the most interesting man on the planet, and now whenever he was around, she was looking. She had studied the scars on his hands, paid attention to the freckles on his shoulders and spent more than a little time exploring the shape of his mouth, with which she was becoming intimately familiar.

Dyson put the desk down on the curb and turned to give her a quick kiss with that familiar mouth, then went back to the moving. At the same time, two big guys were carrying the mattress downstairs. When they got it to the curb, Dyson turned to look at it, then looked at Kayla.

“We won’t need this, will we?”

The clear implication sent a shiver of anticipation through Kayla. The men who were carrying the mattress gave her exaggerated, lecherous grins that were somehow sweet and funny, and she blushed furiously as Chester let out a laugh that was more hoot and holler.

“Woohoo, listen to that! Somebody has plans!” Chester chortled, grabbing one end of the mattress. “Guess you kids get to sell this sucker on Craigslist!”

Kayla was blushing so hard that she could feel the heat rising up her face, flooding her chest and lighting up her ears. The thoughts running through her head about what she and Dyson could do on a mattress – his or hers – made her blush even harder. She just knew that everyone out there on that sidewalk could tell what she was thinking, and she decided that she didn’t care a bit.

What the hell was happening to her? She wasn’t the type of girl who ever made things known in such a public way. She was more of the subtle kind, the one who let the man make the first move, the type who believed that discretion was always best. But here she was, taking the teasing from the man who would soon be her lover, and she was actually reveling in it?

Love is what is happening to you
, she told herself.
You’re in love with the man
.

She sat on the steps and watched as the men brought out a few more things, then she went upstairs and gave the rooms a final once-over, making sure it looked good enough to get her security deposit back. Fortunately Kayla had never been one to acquire many useless things, so all she had was packed into boxes and there were no little surprises on the floor or tucked away in corners. The sweep of the place took all of three minutes, and then she was back outside on the curb, smiling up at Dyson in the bright sunshine.

“Are we ready?” he asked, and she gave him one more kiss.

“Absolutely.”

She climbed into the moving truck, and then they were off, Dyson’s strong hands on the wheel. His buddies followed behind them in Dyson’s car, its back seat full of Kayla’s fragile possessions. Kayla watched the world outside the window for a bit, then looked over at Dyson.

He grinned, sensing her eyes on him. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“I was just thinking how amazing this is. A year ago I would never have dreamed this would happen. Hell, just six months ago the thought that I would be moving in with some guy would have made me laugh.”

Dyson snorted. “Some guy, huh?”

Kayla reached over and patted his leg. “Some special guy.”

“Much better.”

She looked out the window as the city crept by. Dyson was taking his time, careful with the truck and with the things in the back. Every now and then they heard something shift, and wondered aloud what it might be. They placed bets on what might survive the trip and what might not.

“You are underestimating my driving skills,” he pouted.

“You’re overestimating how sturdy that furniture is,” she told him.

They pulled up to a stoplight. Dyson pointed down the street toward a large and stately church. It occupied nearly a whole city block with its imposing size and presence.

“My parents were married there,” he said, and Kayla smiled.

“Your mother is the sweetest woman ever,” she said.

Dyson had taken her to meet his mother a few days after the big fight. It meant a great deal to him, he had told her. He had never introduced any woman to his mother before, and they had both been nervous when they walked into the room. Dyson’s mother was immediately drawn to Kayla and spent the next hour talking to her about Dyson’s childhood, sometimes in colorful terms that made Kayla roar with laughter, even as Dyson blushed and shook his head in amazement.

The two women got on so famously that Dyson’s mother had taken to asking about her every time Anne and Dyson talked. Though she sometimes didn’t remember exactly who Kayla was, she knew she was that “fun girl” who made her laugh, and that she was special to Dyson. It was more than either of them had expected her to remember from one visit to the next, and so they were both quite pleased.

Kayla had developed a soft spot for his mother – so much that she’d offered to go visit Anne on her own since the visits were so good for the elderly woman. She always seemed more alert after each visit, and the nurses thought that increasing their frequency would be good for her.

“Are you sure?” Dyson had asked.

Kayla was absolutely sure. Since her mother had died she had given up on the idea of having a family, but now that she had met Dyson’s mother, she realized that he was a package deal – he was a man who came along with a sweet, kind mother who would love him, and she would love anyone that he chose to be with, too. That kind of devotion deserved something in return, and so Kayla was more than happy to help care for the woman who’d given birth to the man who was so important in Kayla’s life.

Kayla didn’t just visit for Dyson. She genuinely enjoyed her talks with his mother. Though she wasn’t the mother Kayla had lost, she was close enough to one that the elderly lady had become very special to her. She hadn’t told Dyson this yet, and she didn’t know why. She just knew that it was a pleasant little secret, a tiny joy that she fostered deep in her heart. The thought of his mother always made her smile.

She was still staring at the church when the light turned green. Dyson gently pressed the gas pedal and they lumbered on. Kayla watched him as he focused on the road, carefully navigating streets as they headed to house, their new beginning, their new life.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said, and he smiled without taking his eyes off the heavy traffic.

“I can’t believe you actually want to be with me,” he said.

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “How could I not want to be with you?”

Dyson shrugged. “Let’s see…I got bounced out of the military under a cloud of problems. I’m a fighter who likes to punch people for a living and for fun, quite frankly. I’m a guy who sometimes drinks too much and has had too many women in my past. I don’t really have a good sense of humor.” He paused. “And sometimes I eat things that nobody else will touch.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.”

“Like what?”

“Crawdads.” He grinned wickedly. “And have you ever tried fried crickets?”

Kayla stared at him. “Uh…no.”

“They’re good! I had them in Cambodia and got hooked. It became my favorite snack. Grasshoppers are good too, but they have a more earthy flavor.”

Kayla stared at him.
Who the hell was this guy and what had he done with Dyson
?

“You’re making all that up,” she finally said, and he laughed.

“No, I’m honest. I’ll make some for you.”

“How did I not know this about you
before
I agreed to share a kitchen with you?”

He made a careful turn. “You just love me that much.”

Kayla smiled. She and Dyson were so different in some ways that they might have been called complete opposites. But in other ways, in the ways that counted, they were very much alike. They wanted the same things out of life. They had the same kind of demons to fight. And they were both determined to be honest and open with one another.

But there were a few places where they definitely did not have much in common. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Too many women, huh?”

He had the good sense to look contrite. “It was before I met you. After I laid eyes on you, I was done with any other woman.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

“Not even a little bit of desire? Not even a little temptation?”

“Nope.” He shook his head with such certainty that she believed him. “Why would I want someone else? That would be settling for much less than the best.” He reached over and took her hand and pulled it to his lips, kissing it once before putting his hands back on the wheel.

Dyson had been honest about his past, and Kayla would be lying if she said it didn’t bother her. But it bothered her only because she worried that she wouldn’t be experienced enough to satisfy him. Her total of intimate moments could be counted on one hand, and none of them had been particularly satisfying.