Man of Honor (Battle Scars) (7 page)

J
anuary flies by in a blur, with me working at the garage, fixing up my Yamaha, and then sliding into See Food every night for a drink. Or more than a drink.

But one morning, I wake up to a phone call from Mea.

“Hey.” My scratchy morning voice is in full effect. “What’s up?”

The sexy rasp of
her
sleepy morning voice lights a red-hot flame inside me. I’m instantly awake.

“We have things to do today. You’re not working today, right? I’ll swing by in a half hour.”

Sitting straight up in bed, I squint at the phone, like that’s gonna help me understand what she’s talking about. “What do we have to do?”

The smile in her voice reaches out and hugs me. “Our best friends are getting married in a couple of months. We have a party to plan.”

Sinking back down into the softness of my pillows, I sigh. “Oh, right.”

“Drake? You just laid back down, didn’t you?”

Chuckling, I swing my legs around and stretch. “I’m up, Mea. See you in thirty.”

I’ve just walked into the kitchen, freshly showered and dressed, when she knocks at my front door. When I open it, she waltzes in with two large cups in her hands.

She thrusts one in my hands. “Coffee for you, green tea latte for me.”

She settles in at the kitchen table. Sipping the bitter black liquid, just the way I like it, I follow.

“Good morning to you, too. Thanks for the coffee.” I take the seat beside her.

And the she pulls out a fucking binder. A
binder.

“This,” she says, her voice full of pride, “is full of possible bachelor/bachelorette party activities.” Her voice is pumped.

Not sure what it is with women and weddings. It’s like candy or something. They all get high just thinking about them. Trying to bite back my groan, I slide the binder toward me.

She starts chattering away, talking through the ideas she has for the event, and I get lost. In her excitement, in her energy, in the way her teeth sink into her soft lips as she scans her notes.

“See?” Her voice is all bubbles and giddiness. “They have this code-breaking place in Savannah. Wouldn’t that be fun if we had to break out of this scary room by solving clues and stuff?”

I just stare at her. “Pretty sure we’re gonna be drunk most of the weekend. Breaking codes is like work for the security guys. So I veto that idea.”

Her dark eyes narrow on me. “Pretty sure I didn’t give you veto power.”

I lean in, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Pretty sure you’re not the boss of me.”

Her eyes dart down to my lips before flashing back up to my eyes. Her small, pink tongue darts out to lick her lips, and I can’t stop the reaction my body makes. “Fuck.”

“Bar crawl.” I grind the words out, my teeth clenched tightly together just like the rest of my muscles. Her looking at my lips isn’t exactly an invitation for more.

But
damn
do I want that invitation.

“What?” She looks confused.

“Bar crawl. It’s what we should do one of the nights we’re in Savannah. Laid-back and fun. Split up the guys and the girls for the night, then meet up at the end of it.”

Her eyes light up as she turns a page in the binder and jots something down. “That’s a good idea.” Looking up at me, her bottom lip juts out just a bit.

She’s trying to kill me right here in my kitchen.

“But I still like the code-breaking idea.”

I lean in, studying her gorgeous face, taking advantage of the closer distance. “How about we save that for another weekend? One where we’re not all likely to be three sheets?”

With a smirk, she taps the end of her pen against her lips. “I might be willing to take that deal.”

“Let’s talk to Dare and Berkeley about what activities
they
want to do while we’re there, and next time we get together we’ll book some stuff. Sound like a plan?”

She nods.

I reach over and close her binder. “Good, because I’m hungry. Let me take you to breakfast.”

Her lips pull into a distracting smile. “I’m in.”

In the following weeks whenever Lenny sees me rolling in to See Food she slides my tumbler toward me and pours my whiskey neat. Sometimes we chat, sometimes she’s too busy with other patrons.

Mea works there waiting tables six nights a week, so I see her every time I come in. Seeing her whipping around the place, grabbing orders and dropping off food, chatting with the customers, makes my mouth water. I want
more
of her. She always stops by, has a seat on the stool beside mine, and we talk about life and shit. I tell her about my bike and she tells me about her studio. She’s already leased the space, now she’s saving money for licenses and equipment. It shouldn’t be long now; she’s thinking maybe early fall she’ll be able to open the place. The way her face shines when she talks about it is enough to make my heart grow a size bigger. There’s just something about the wild girl…when she’s happy she makes everything around her seem that much brighter.

One night in the middle of February, we both get to talking about the wedding, which is now just a month away.

“So we all set on plans for the bachelorette weekend, right?”

I stroke my chin slowly. “You mean the bachelor weekend?” I shoot her a wink. “Yeah, that’s coming up in two weeks, ain’t it?”

She nods, leaning onto the bar top with her elbows. She wrinkles her nose. “I still think it’s a mistake, doing it together. I mean, there’s no way I’m gonna be able to get a pack of strippers for Berkeley now that Dare will be around.”

“Oh, was that your plan?” I tweak one of her long curls. “Watching naked dudes dance?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “It’s called a bachelorette party for a reason. She’s saying good-bye to the single life. In other words, she’s saying good-bye to all the fun.”

I study her. Her lips are pouting out in a painfully adorable way and her hands are cradling her delicate chin. “That’s what you think? That settling down with someone means all the fun is gone?”

She doesn’t answer aloud, but her thoughts are written in the conviction of her expression.

“How much fun have you been having lately being single?”

She cuts her eyes away from mine, and that’s all the answer I need. Chuckling, I elbow her gently. “So, not much.”

She turns to me with a challenge in her gaze. “I’ve been busy. But I’m not too shy to take a guy home from a bar, Drake. I could pick any single guy in this place tonight and have him wrapped around my finger in a heartbeat.”

Now my dick is straining for some attention. At the same time, my blood is rushing in my ears at the thought of her bringing some random asshole home from the bar with her. “No deal. I don’t need proof. I know you’re a wild girl.”

She nods firmly. “And don’t you forget it.”

I lean in closer. “But you wouldn’t really want someone else, sweetheart, would you? Not when I’m sitting right here waiting on you.”

She visibly shivers, and I grin, pulling back just a little to see her all hot and bothered.

As I watch, she schools her face, and I realize she’s not going to show me all her cards no matter how flustered she is. Not unless I have her alone, and under me.

I finish my drink, and then I lean in again. “So you want to come home with me tonight?”

She takes a glance around the quiet restaurant and bar. It’s Thursday night, so it’s entirely feasible that the crowd went somewhere a little livelier tonight. Either way, Lenny is wiping down the bar and it’s only just after eleven, and I can see the other waitress leaning a hip against one of her male customer’s tables, clearly shooting the shit.

“Hey, Len.” Lenny raises a brow at Mea, who is placing her hands on her hips. “Are you gonna have to roll this one outta here under your arm again?”

Lenny gives me a quick glare, but I know underneath all the sass she’s worried about me spending so much time in front of her bar.

“Nope. Not tonight. I think he stopped at three.”

I give her a proud grin. “Sure did. Had some eye candy to keep me busy.” I wink at Lenny.

She harrumphs. “Don’t play me, soldier. I know the eye candy sure as hell ain’t me.”

Mea jerks her hand toward the door. “Mind if I go ahead and dip out? Silverware and ketchups are done.”

Lenny pats one of Mea’s cheeks like a grandmother might. Only Lenny is tougher and about ten years younger than most grandmothers I know. “Sure.”

I settle with Lenny by throwing a bill on the bar and tuck Mea under my shoulder as we walk toward the door. All of her curves seem to melt whenever they touch me, and I pull her just a little tighter. Peeking up at me from under my arm, she shoots me a mischievous grin. It has me so stiff and aching it’s hard to walk straight. My body answers to this girl like she’s the only one with my number.

“Huh. Didn’t think you’d actually say yes to my proposal.” My smile is aimed down at her.

She’s busy texting on her phone. “Oh, I’m not. Not yet, anyway.”

I pull up short as we reach the Challenger. “So I’m just taking you home?”

The thought brings with it a surge of disappointment. I haven’t had Mea alone in weeks, and I’ve been missing all those miles of creamy, light-brown skin laid out before me. Tonight I was planning on treating her like a dessert buffet, because that’s what it’s like when she’s naked and in my bed. Like I have the most delectable selections of sweetness anyone could ever taste. And one night with her, even though we didn’t have sex, wasn’t enough. I’m not exactly sure when I’ll get enough of her, but I haven’t had my fill, and I’d like to see how far this fascination with Mea goes.

“Nope.” She giggles as she climbs into the passenger seat. I can’t help palming her ass as I help her in, and she narrows her eyes at me as she settles in her seat. Kneeling beside her, I hold her gaze with mine. Her eyes are huge in the darkness, and that hair is pulled up into a pile of curls on her head tonight, some tumbling down around her face like some kind of dark little angel. Just looking at her sitting in my car, I feel something inside my chest shaking around a little.

“Then what exactly did you have in mind, wild girl?” My voice comes out husky because of all my dirty thoughts, and clearing my throat won’t do a thing. I watch her eyes darken as her pupils dilate in response to something I said or did. I like it.

Damn, I like it a whole lot.

I trace the rough pad of my index finger down her cheekbone. Her skin is always so soft, and I don’t want to stop touching her. She closes her eyes as my finger draws a trail down to her jawbone, sketching the curve of her face until I reach her lips. I drag my finger along the bottom one, and then she opens her mouth.

She opens her eyes, watching mine widen in surprise.

She gently sucks my finger inside the perfectly wet heat of her mouth and closes her lips around it.

Fuuuuuuck.
A rumble emits from my chest, and she allows my finger to pop from her mouth with a sinful smile on her face.

She leans forward and whispers, “Don’t put your fingers where they don’t belong if you don’t want them to end up wet and hot.”

She knows. She knows she’s undoing me, because it’s right there in her devilish eyes. Pulling back slightly, I smirk. “I like hot and wet.”

Her smirk widens, and I like the fact that she can take every single thing I give her. And she can give it right back.

“I want to go dancing.”

The sentence pops out like we weren’t just being extremely dirty, and I have to switch gears in my mind and my pants before I can answer.

“You want to go…dancing. Really?”

She nods. “Already texted Berk and Greta. They’ll be at Boots.”

Boots is a local bar with a small dance floor that plays both pop and country, and it’s not exactly my thing. But the look on her face as she thinks about spending some time with her friends and shaking her ass makes me get on board with the plan real quick. Plus I can sit and have a beer with Grisham and Dare while I watch her.

In the back of my mind, something nags at me. It might be the fact that I already downed three whiskeys here at See Food, but I drank them over time and I’m still sober. So I don’t need to listen to the little voice that tells me I’m drinking way more than I used to.

It’s irrelevant.

My mom’s dead. There’s nothing I can do about that now. There’s no going back and saving her. So I’m dealing with it, and the whole shitty situation is going to be temporary. I can handle it.

On the drive over to Boots, I offer Mea a sideways glance. “You’re not worried about what our friends are going to think when we walk in together?”

She shrugs her thin shoulders. “They’re either going to think I’ve lost my mind, or that I’ve finally found it. Either way, I don’t care.”

Smiling at that snippet of straight-up Mea honesty, I pull into the parking lot of the bar.

When we walk in, we scan the small crowd until we find our friends. They’ve snagged a table near the patio door, and we head in that direction. As we draw closer, I place my hand protectively on the small of Mea’s back, and she lets me. Melts into my side like butter. When I glance down at her, she gives me a sultry look that tells me this is going to be a good night.

Four sets of eyes are locked and loaded on us as we approach, and Berkeley’s lips tilt up in a small smile when she notices my hand on Mea’s back. Greta doesn’t even try to hide her grin.

“Hey, you two. Didn’t expect to see you together.” Berkeley is practically shining with excitement for her friend, excitement that I’m pretty sure I can’t live up to. Dare gives me a silent nod, his expression mirroring what I’m thinking.

Sighing, I take a seat beside my best friend and Mea takes a chair beside hers. It just so happens that hers is two seats away from mine, and the loss of her warmth beside me when she goes is monumental. Meeting my eyes across the table, hers turn down at the corners, and I’m wondering if she feels it, too.

I shoot the shit with Dare and Grisham, asking them how work is going. They’re both security professionals on Greta’s father’s tactical team at his company, Night Eagle Security. It’s a pretty sweet arrangement, especially coming from military Special Forces backgrounds like they both do. Grisham was a Navy SEAL until he lost his foot to a bomb in Syria. It was rough for him at first, adapting to life back in the States knowing he was going to have to leave his SEAL days behind. But then he got together with Greta and met her dad. Everything sort of fell into place from there.