Dating Outside Your DNA (26 page)

"I'm not leaving anytime soon," he said into her hair, then rolled  to his side, taking her with him. "It's a good thing this is a long, wide  table."

She smiled. Yeah, it was, and a sturdy one, too.

"Have I mentioned how beautiful you are?"

She shook her head, enjoying the sound of his voice.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

She heard a door slam down the hall. It reminded her how near

other people might be.

"Want to get dressed and grab a soda out of the snack room?"  he said.

"That sounds good. I suddenly feel starved." They got off the  table. She knew she was smiling like a  fool, but she didn't care. She  glanced away as he disposed of the condom.

And saw the table.

It was as though an impression of her back and butt had been burned into the wood. "Oh no," she breathed.

Roan walked back to the table and looked down at it, then laughed. "This wasn't exactly what I meant when I said I'd be imagining you naked on the table."

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She glared at him as she reached for her clothes and began to jerk them on. "It isn't funny. An impression of my ass is burned into the table."

He lightly stroked the outline. "But it's a very sexy ass."

Butterflies fluttered inside her as she watched him lightly caress the burned area. An all too familiar ache began to grow inside her.  She wet her suddenly dry lips.

No, damn it! She cleared her mind of  anything remotely sexual.  "It can't stay like this. There is no way I'm going to walk in here tomorrow morning and see my ass on the table."

He grinned. One of those slow seductive smiles that curled her toes and made her pulse beat faster. It was all she could do to

concentrate.

"We have to get rid of the table," she said.

His eyebrows rose. "Tonight? Now?"

"Yes, tonight." She went to one end and tried to pick it up, but it

didn't budge. It was really solid, in fact. She gritted her teeth and tried

again. There was no way she would be able to help him move the

table.

"Heavy?"

"Yes." She frowned. He wasn't being a bit of help.

"Look. I think it's starting to fade."

She examined the area. He was right. It was kind of like resting

sweaty palms on a glass surface, then watching them slowly

disappear. She wiped her hand across the impression. Nothing

changed. If it faded, then it would have to do it on its own time.

He walked around to her side and took her into his arms. "Let's

go get something to drink. We'll talk a little, maybe walk to the small

park, then we'll return to see if the rest has faded."

She laid her head against his chest. "And if it hasn't?"

"Then I'll blow up the building and all the evidence will be

destroyed."

She smiled. "You can't do that. There are people in the

building."

"That might be a problem. Maybe I'll just get a sander and go

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over the surface."

"That might work better."

"Then it's settled."

He let go of her and started for the door, but stopped. "Oh, one other thing.  You might want to grab your bra off the back of the chair."

She whirled around. He was right. She automatically reached up to her chest, but knew she hadn't put it back on.

"Want me to check for you?"

Her nipples hardened. "Hush." She scooped up her bra, and keeping her back to him, removed her shirt and put on her bra, then followed with her shirt.

"You could've told me I'd forgotten to put it on."

He shook his head. "I loved watching the way they bounce just  a little when you walk. It's a hell of a turn on."

She wondered if she would survive his naughty talk. Even now,  she could feel warmth spreading over her.

"Later," he promised as if he could read her thoughts.

His words sent a riot of hot sexy emotions through her. She  would so hold him to his  promise. But how much later? Sheesh! She  was certainly making up for years without sex.

He grabbed her hand and squeezed after they left the training  room, and he didn't let go. She loved feeling this connection with him.

He'd said she might grow to hate him over the following weeks.  There was no way she would ever hate him. He'd opened up a whole  new world for her. Hate him? No, that would never happen.

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Chapter 21

L
yraka hated Roan. She hated the ground he walked on, the air he breathed, his family--if he had any hidden under a rock somewhere. He'd only talked about his aunt. She hated everything about him.

"Lyraka, you're not trying hard enough," Roan said.

Speak of the devil.

"I am trying. Have you ever thought that I might not be any

good at throwing knives? It's not as though I wanted to grow up and  join the circus."

Warren snickered, but stopped when Roan frowned at him.

Everyone had mastered throwing knives. Alesha and Reeka  had it down pat. Lyraka was the only one who couldn't get the hang  of it.

"Keep trying." She stuck her tongue out at him when he turned  his back to her. Warren grinned. She felt the heat rise up her face.  That had been childish--even though it had felt damn good!

She was tired all the way to her bones. They'd bee n working  everyday for the last three weeks. Every...single...day. Twelve long,  grueling hours. If they weren't running the obstacle course, they were  in the training room. At least her butt impression had faded by the  time they'd returned to check it.

But Roan had been right that she would probably hate him  before all the training was over. Hate might be too strong a word. It  was more like intense dislike.

He picked on her. Even some of the others on the team had commented on it. Roan pushed her harder.  He always rode her more.

Her forehead wrinkled. Not literally rode her. Not since that

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night in the training room. She closed her eyes and sighed as she

remembered just how well he had ridden her. Maybe that was her

problem. She hadn't had sex since then.

Major horniness. That's the word she'd picked up from Reeka.

Reeka had seen the swirls of light above the building that night and

casually mentioned it the next day, but Lyraka had kept her face

expressionless. At least, she hoped her look had been one of

innocence. She'd just as soon not shout out the fact every time she

had sex. The swirling lights were bad enough.

Hey, look, another Nerakian has had an orgasm
.

Why couldn't a bell lightly jingle when a Nerakian had sex? That

would be much easier to l ive with, except in her case it would

probably be some big-ass bell. For whom the bell tolls. Yeah, right.

"Lyraka, pay attention," Roan said.

She opened her eyes and threw the knife toward the target with

all the strength and accuracy she could muster.  It whistled through

the air, the sound clean and sharp. She held her breath. The knife

landed on the flat side against the solid target with a loud klunk.

"Bad throw."

"Ya think?" She drew her gun from the holster at her hip, aimed,  and fired. She hit th e target dead center. "I didn't miss that time." She  holstered her gun and turned on her heel.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To pee." That had been crude, but he'd really ticked her off.  He'd been pushing her all day and telling her what she was doing  wrong, but not one little word about what she was doing right. Yeah,  she was pissed.

She headed back toward the dorms. They were a mile away.  She could've run it in nothing flat, but she wanted to walk off her  anger. She heard his Jeep start, then he  was driving beside her.

"Get in," he yelled above the rattle of the engine.

"No!"

"If I have to stop the Jeep, pick you up, and put your cute little

ass in the passenger seat, I will."

She stopped. "You couldn't catch me, even in your Jeep. I can

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outru n you both."

"Please." His gaze held hers.

She faltered.

"We need to talk."

What kind of agent was she going to make if she caved this quickly when the enemy gave her one disarming look and said the please word? Please got to her every time. He was technically not the enemy so maybe this time didn't really count.

"Okay, I'll get in," she said and jerked open the door. "Stay on your side of the Jeep, though."

"Anything you say." He took off once she was inside, but rather than stay on the road to the main buildings, he turned down a road that didn't look, nor feel, as though it was used very often.

"Where are we going? Damn it, I thought you were going to take me back to my dorm."

"Did I imply that? I apologize. I didn't mean to."

Ass.

She crossed h er arms in front of her and looked straight ahead.  Well, until he hit a pothole the size of Rhode Island. She reached out to keep from impaling herself on the stickshift, lost her balance, and landed face-first in his lap, her face only inches from his zipper.

"Careful," he said.

She should bite him. It would serve him right. She could say it was an accident. Yeah, right. Instead, she pushed up, shoving her hair out of her eyes.

"You might want to hold on to the door. I know it'll be difficult breaking your stiff demeanor, arms crossed tightly in front of you and all, but it might save you the embarrassment of falling face first into my lap again."

Maybe she did hate him. But she grabbed the door just in case.

He turned off the road, pulling between a group of trees and cut off the engine. "Let's walk." He opened his door.

Fine. She climbed out. "Where are we going?"

"I'll show you. Trust me."

Trust him? Yeah, right. But she followed.

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Water flowed somewhere. She could hear it bubbling over the rocks. She began to relax. They walked deeper into the woods. The fragrance of pine hung heavy in the air. A deer looked up, startled by the intrusion, then with graceful speed, was gone.

This was what she'd needed. The woods were her solace, her comfort. The t raining had been so intense that she'd collapsed on her bunk each evening. The silence, the peace, had been missing from her life and made her out of kilter--as though two people had separated, the outer from the inner. Now they were joining back together  and she was becoming whole again.

Her mother once said that you could go through life reaching for everything you want and maybe getting it, but true happiness came when the mind and body were in perfect harmony. Only then could you find true pleasure. Th at's why her mother meditated. The woods were Lyraka's meditation.

The sound of water rushing over rocks became louder. She suspected there was a waterfall near. They stepped into a small clearing. White frothy water from higher up the mountain cascaded

over shelves of small rocks. It was a dramatic effect.

There'd been a river that ran through the woods where she'd lived in East Texas, but nothing that compared to this. The water was so clear she could see the grains of sand at the bottom.

Roan reached  down and picked up a rock, tossing it in the river.  The rock rolled and tumbled as it was swept farther downstream.  "When I first came here to train, they gave us an occasional day off.  Most everyone on the team would sleep or go into town for a beer. I

came here." He met her gaze. "Not exactly to this spot. But I would

come to the woods and just walk. One day I heard the water and

decided to find the source. That's when I found this place."

He sat down on the grass, then patted a place next to him. Her

hesitation was brief. After she settled herself on the ground, he began

to talk again.

"Sometimes I push you too hard. I know that."

"Yes, you do." She wasn't going to lie.

"It's because I care."

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"Stop caring so much, you're killing me. I know why you're

doing it, but look over the last three weeks; where I was, and where I