Dead Ink: A Karma World Romance (Karma Series Book 4) (15 page)

They walked up to his apartment, still silent after his admission and her acceptance. She walked over to the kitchen and he followed slowly. She grabbed a water out of the fridge and held it up to him, thinking maybe he was looking for the same thing.

He shook his head and she cracked off the top, drinking that one instead of reaching for another. He didn’t budge, just stood staring at her. She turned to toss the lid, but could still feel his eyes on her and knew he’d moved in closer before she turned around.

She took a nervous gulp of water and then he took the bottle from her hands and placed it on the counter.

“So, maybe we should just squash this for once and all.” His hand reached out and his fingers hooked into the waist of her jeans. He slowly towed her forward while she was still trying to digest what was happening.

“What are you doing?” Faith asked, her breath hitching along with her heartbeat. The closer she got to him, the quicker they both went.

“You need me to spell it out for you?” He didn’t stop tugging her forward until their thighs were touching. His other hand came to join the first at the front of her jeans and she felt the button release. When his fingers moved to the zipper, her hands flew to his, stalling him.

“Is this a good idea?” She swallowed, wondering why she was having such a hard time keeping her breathing even.

“It’s a great idea.” His conviction was clear in his voice. His eyes only broke contact with hers to look briefly at her lips. He didn’t have to even touch her; that look alone was enough to do her in.

His one hand lifted from where it was covered by hers to curve around the back of her neck, the other one also came around her but moved lower, cupping her ass and urging her up onto her tiptoes until his lips were grazing hers.

Faith knew if she did this, there’d be no turning back. It was true that sometimes she didn’t always like him, but she found she always craved him. She couldn’t look at him without wondering what being with him would feel like.

His lips feathered over hers with the slightest nip at her lower lip, retreated, and then repeated the action, as if to draw her into the kiss she was still trying to resist.

He leaned forward, his lips grazing her ear before he spoke. “I know you want this too. I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

“And what about tomorrow?”

“Fuck tomorrow. We could all be dead. Lots of people count on a tomorrow that never comes. If you want something, you need to take it today.”

His mouth came back to hers and his tongue darted into her mouth again, trying to cajole her own into joining. He felt so good against her and she could feel his arousal as his arm snaked around her back, arching her into him.

If she didn’t pull away soon, there would be no choice left to make, as she was slowly being overwhelmed by his scent, the feel of his hands on her and the taste of him. His arms tightened around her until she felt almost weightless on her toes. His lips moved along her neck and she heard the soft sigh of pleasure escape her lips and realized there was no choice for her to make. She’d already made it the day she’d met him.

She knew it was stupid. Her life was already so messy; this was the very last thing she needed to add to it. And yet her hands slowly moved up his body, because right now she felt like she needed this more than anything else. The more her life spun out of control, the more she found herself clinging to him as if he was the last anchor, or the only one she cared to have.

As if he sensed her acquiescence, his kiss deepened and his hold tightened, forcing her body to arch closer into his.

He walked forward, moving her along with him, as his lips never broke contact with hers. She felt her calves hit the back of the bed. They fell upon it together but she feared when it came to her heart, she was falling alone. But this wasn’t the time for regrets. She had him in this moment, every ounce of his attention and desire focused on her, and she’d keep it as long as she could.

His legs moved in between hers as his erection pressed into the heart of her, and she arched upward, needing more. His hands were on her jeans as he moved back, yanking them off along with her panties.

He stood before her, shedding his own clothes and staring at her the whole time. Everywhere she looked, he was male perfection, from his thick muscled arms to his ridged stomach to the large erection that jutted forward.

“Take off your shirt and bra,” he said, his eyes not moving from her, his voice husky.

She did as he asked while he watched her, and his erection seemed to grow even larger. He came down on one knee on the bed and with his hands on her waist, shifted her to the center of it.

As he kneeled beside her, tan skin over muscled abdomen and black inked tattoos curving this way and that, she realized that no man would ever live up to him and she hadn’t even slept with him yet.

He leaned over her, his fingers following the line of her collarbone before trailing farther down to the mound of her breast and cupping it, his thumb flicking over the tightened bud.

His mouth moved to her breast, licking and nipping at it while his hand reached in between her thighs, his fingers slipping inside. His mouth moved lower until his tongue flicked over her clitoris before sucking on it softly, all the while his fingers keeping pace.

She cried out as he played her body like someone who’d had plenty of practice, bringing her to the peak but not setting her free.

When he moved upward, she reached for him, wanting to bring him to the same fevered pitch as she, but he covered her body instead.

“It’s too late for that. I want to feel my cock inside of you.”

He moved over her and she felt his erection pressing into her. He was so large he was stretching her as he went, and her body still couldn’t get enough.

Her fingers clawed into him, trying to drive him in faster and closer, but he moved at his own pace until he was fully inside her. He hooked her leg over his arm, as if wanting to plant himself as deeply in her as possible, and then he started the most beautiful rhythm. So slowly at first, it was almost an unbearable tease, and then faster, as if he needed it just as much as she did. It didn’t take much before her body was clenching around him as she rode wave after wave of pleasure and heard him groaning above her.

He rolled off her and they both lay there on their backs, still sweaty. She’d never felt so tranquil in her life, a small smile on her lips as she turned her head towards him, then lifted her fingers to trail over his chest.

She looked at his profile, where he was staring up at the ceiling and the force of her smile dwindled a bit.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, fine,” he said without looking at her. “You want a water or something?”

There was a strange formality to the question. As if some switch had been flipped and they’d gone from the comfort of twilight to a blaring harsh desert sun. “No. Thanks.”

“I’m going to take a shower.” She watched as he got up and went into the bathroom and tried to figure out where all the heat of a minute ago had gone, because he’d become cold as ice.

She’d been afraid she’d regret this. But she thought she’d at least have until dawn before the feelings came hammering down upon her.

***

Lars blasted the radio in the bathroom so Faith couldn’t hear his curses. Good advice, Cutty. Just fuck her. He couldn’t lay it all on his shoulders, though. He’d thought the same thing. Fuck her and get it out of your system. He’d known as soon as he’d finished that it was worse. Much worse.

This was supposed to be a one and done. Less than a minute had passed before he had wanted to get inside of her again. He’d barely managed to keep his dick soft before he made it out of the room. He wasn’t letting some chick, even if she was like him, make him go all soft and domestic.

He should never have had her move in here. Now she had nowhere else to go. What if he never got her out again? He wasn’t cut out for a relationship. She needed to understand that. He stood under the steaming hot water, deciding he was going to stay in there until she’d probably have fallen asleep.

He crept out into his own apartment like he was doing the walk of shame. She was lying still on the bed. Her eyes were closed but she was awake. He headed toward the couch. If she asked in the morning, he’d tell her he hadn’t wanted to wake her up. She’d know he was lying but it was better than the truth—that he was afraid to go near her again because he might spend the next ten hours banging her and then how fucked would both their heads be?

When Faith woke, there was a note on the pillow next to her.

Had to start early. Call me if you want me to walk you downstairs.

Lars

If you want
, not
I’d like to
. He slept with her last night and this is the first morning she woke to an empty apartment without the smells of cooking. She guessed he didn’t think it was necessary anymore?

She stared at the stupid note and told herself it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t like he’d moved out of state. He’d only gone downstairs. It shouldn’t bother her that when he’d left the bathroom last night, he’d gone and slept on the couch. It was his place. He could sleep wherever he chose.

But it did bother her. She wasn’t an idiot. He’d slept with her, and now he was done with her. She crumpled the note and tossed it in the trash before she went to get ready.

She showered and then dug through the bag she was living out of for the cutest outfit she could find. As she did, it struck her that he’d never even offered her the loan of a drawer. She dug her stuff out of a bag each day while he looked on. That might have been a good thing to have pondered last night before she’d slept with him.

She pushed away the thought of coveted drawers in off-limit bureaus as she continued to try and find something suitable to wear. He might be discarding her but damn if she wouldn’t try and make him regret it.

She finished getting ready and stopped to stare at herself in the mirror and wondered if maybe she was overreacting. So he slept on the couch? Was it that big of a deal? Maybe he didn’t like sleeping next to someone. He’d given her a place to live, and a job to earn money at, so that she didn’t feel like she was a beggar. That showed caring. Maybe all he needed a little time.

Either way, she didn’t call him when she was ready to go downstairs. She knew this place was safeguarded up to the sidewalk. How was she planning on moving out if she was going to be too scared to walk out the door by herself?

She grabbed her phone and her purse and stiffened her spine. A couple of minutes later she walked into Dead Ink, determined to be pleasant, no matter what. She might feel like a discarded ragdoll but she refused to act like one.

***

Lars glanced up in acknowledgment when Faith walked into the room, expecting hell to follow. Faith smiled his way and when their eyes met, he nodded in greeting then looked back down at his client. She was smiling, like nothing was wrong. As if he hadn’t abandoned the bed last night or left without saying a word this morning.

It was a good thing. She wasn’t a teary eyed mess. She realized it was just sex and wasn’t going to make a big thing about it. It was exactly what he wanted. It was. He was positive it was.

“Ow,” the client he was working on said.

“Toughen up, you wuss,” Lars said but did lighten up the pressure of the tattoo gun, realizing he’d drawn a sizable amount of blood with the force he’d just applied.

He kept sneaking glances at her as she moved about the place. She pulled a stool over to the counter and appeared to be settling in. She flipped open the books, which had been left there from the other day, and started tapping away at the calculator.

She sat like that for the next two hours, not once looking over at him. As one client left and another replaced them, she’d look up and offer a friendly greeting but it was as if he weren’t in the shop. She didn’t look when he dropped a tray of supplies on the ground or cursed his client loudly. When he
accidentally
knocked into a large bottle that crashed loudly, breaking into a million little bits, she finally turned and said, “You need some help over there?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

She walked over and swept up the little pieces while he grabbed the larger chunks but still didn’t look at him. Then she started humming. She had to be faking this Cinderella act but if she was, she was damn good at it. And the more she hummed, the more he wanted to growl.

Didn’t she know how normal women acted? He had just snubbed her right after they’d had sex. Why wasn’t she throwing a fit like the rest of them? Making him have to call in Cutty, his emergency backup for chicks out of control? She’d pitched a bigger fit over him checking out her phone messages.

She walked away after she’d helped him clean up his mess. She stashed the broom back in the closet and settled down in front of the mound of papers. She leaned on the table and all he could think of was the way she was arching her back.

Her phone vibrated on the counter beside her and he watched her answer.

“Hi,” she said then leaned her elbows on the counter as she listened. “That sounds great. I’ll see you later,” she said and hung up a second later.

It was one of the guys. He knew that.

“We’re done,” he said to his client. The guy looked at the rough sketched lines.

“We are?”

“What, are you deaf? That’s what I just said.” Lars stood up and walked out of the shop, letting the door slam as he did, leaving the client to his own devices.

He guessed she didn’t care as much as he feared she would. That was a good thing. The fact that he cared so much wasn’t.

***

Lars was over at Fate’s, helping watch his place, which she’d been told was a prime target at the moment. She knew this because it was one of the handful of words they’d said to each other today before she’d left with Cutty to go have dinner with the guys.

She had the feeling that his disappearance tonight had much more to do with what had happened last night than Fate needing him there. She wasn’t sure what his problem was. She should be the one who was angry.

As it was, she had to force herself to stay present while she sat around the table with Cutty, Bic and Angus.

“I thought we were going to lose this food for sure after you moved in with Lars,” Angus said in between shoveling bites of lasagna into his mouth.

“No, I like cooking for you guys.” She toyed with her own plate of food, losing her normal enthusiasm for the dish she loved.

“Or just refuse to cook for us, considering,” Angus rattled on.

Faith wouldn’t have thought anything of that statement if she hadn’t seen a guilty look pass between Cutty and Bic for just a fraction of a second.

“Considering what?” Faith asked. “Why would I all of a sudden stop cooking for you guys?”

Angus looked at Cutty and Bic, who shrugged in innocence, leaving Angus to fend for himself. “Um, you know, just the little things.”

“Like what?” she pressed.

“Well, I mean considering Lars and Fate still act like you might somehow be with Keith or working for Malokin.”

“I know, Fate thinks I’m evil incarnate,” she said, trying to laugh off the sting she felt.

Faith had no delusions about what Fate thought of her. She could see his distrust every time she had the unlikely pleasure of running into him. Malokin only had interest in the lowest of the low. If you had anything to do with him, you were pure evil—except for Karma, who seemed to have reached some exempt status when she fell into Fate’s bed.

And she knew that Lars hadn’t trusted her but the timeline was off. They didn’t know he’d just slept with her. He wouldn’t have done that if he thought so poorly of her. Would he?

Her mind ran back over her recent memories with him. She tried to think of anything he’d done that might have seemed untrusting, but there was nothing that came to mind, not since their lunch and silent truce.

She took a bite of lasagna and was just starting to feel better about things until Angus spoke again. “When you think about it, it’s only natural that he’d want to hire someone to check out your past. No one could blame him for that.”

Cutty dipped his head down and Faith heard his audible sigh.

“Who hired someone?”

Angus cleared his throat like his lasagna wasn’t going down so hot. “Um, Lars?”

She got out of her chair and dug out her phone on a hunch. She looked at installed programs but didn’t see anything but she knew it was there.

They all avoided her gaze when she turned back to them.

“You’ve got spyware on my phone, too, don’t you?”

“You have to understand where it’s coming from,” Cutty said.

“I do.” And she wasn’t lying. But it still hurt like hell. And they didn’t know she’d just slept with Lars. The guy didn’t trust her enough to not track her phone and she’d just slept with him? It was humiliating.

And right now, she was stuck with them—with him. She didn’t have anywhere else to go, and as much as she’d like to let her pride dictate her actions, Keith was still out there.

She sat back down at the table but the mood had gone south like a plane into the Bermuda triangle, not knowing for sure if they’d make it out in one piece.

She forced a couple more bites down, trying to keep up appearances, until she just couldn’t do it another moment. “When you’re done, can one of you guys give me a lift back?”

Cutty stood right away. “I’ll take you now.”

She nodded and thanked him as he went and grabbed the keys.

“Faith…you know—” Angus said, shaking his head.

“Shut up, you moron, you already did enough damage. Who knows what stupid shit you’ll say next,” Bic said.

“I don’t have a beef with you guys. I get it.” And she didn’t. If she were them, she wouldn’t trust her either. What did they have to go on? But they hadn’t slept with her.

She said goodbye to Bic and Angus as she followed Cutty out towards his car.

She rode back to Lars’ with her head still reeling from the recent revelation. How the hell could Lars sleep with her if he thought she was such a horrible person? He was kissing her, putting his dick in her, and the whole time he thought she was the scum of the Earth? Who could do something like that?