The Mark of Cain (17 page)

When he came back and she was again lying in his
arms, she asked, “Don’t you need to watch where we’re going?” It hadn’t
occurred to her before how he had steered the boat when he had been with her
the whole time….

“Nope. This yacht is crewed.”

“
What
?! You mean other people are here with
us?” she asked, tightening the towel around her chest to make sure that her
soaking wet white lacy bra was hidden.

He seemed to notice her movement because he said,
“Don’t worry. They didn’t see anything that took place between us. They stay in
their part of the yacht unless I ask them to come to ours.”

“But during dinner you went and turned it off?”

“No. I went and told the Captain to anchor it.”

“Oh….”

“Next time we’ll take out one of my smaller sailboats.
That
will
be just the two of us,” he said as he gave her waist a light
squeeze. She liked that he was making future plans with her.

But was she his girlfriend now? They had made-out
and she considered him her boyfriend. She just didn’t know how it worked….

When they were once again docked at the harbor, she
started grabbing her shirts to put them on. It was then that she realized she’d
ruin both her blouse and camisole if she put them on with her wet hair and bra.

“Um…Inac?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m still damp and my shirts are silk….”

Without a second’s hesitation, he threw his T-shirt
to her.

“Thanks,” she said with a grateful smile.

“No problem.”

As she put it on, she couldn’t help but smell Inac’s
salt air, forest, and spices scent all over it.

“You going to smell that all day or are you going to
come with me?” he asked after a few moments.

She was embarrassed that he’d caught her so she
chuckled, trying to pretend like it was no big deal—maybe if
she
thought
it wasn’t, he would feel the same way.

They stuffed her shirts and skirt into the storage
compartment with her keys before they got on his bike. They were both soggy
messes, but that didn’t matter. This time, though, she felt adventurous and
didn’t want to wear the helmet, so instead, he threw it on the yacht.

As they were riding, her wet hair whipping behind
them like the tail of a shooting star as she laid her cheek on his bare back,
she noticed how light the traffic was—for Los Angeles standards, at least. It
must be pretty late. She was lucky that she was ahead in her classes and didn’t
have anything due tomorrow.

“What about my car?” she asked when Inac turned off
the bike in her apartment parking lot.

“Just leave your keys with me and it will be here
when you wake up tomorrow,” he said with that smile of his that always made her
heart pound.

After grabbing her clothes, they walked hand in hand
up the flights of stairs.

“Do you wanna come in?” she asked once they made it
to her door.

“Do you want me to?” he asked with dark, intense
eyes that spoke of his desire for her.

Even though she knew it was late, she didn’t want
the night to end.

“Yes.” Thinking of a plausible excuse, she said,
“Then you can get your shirt back.”

“I’m not worried about that.”

She didn’t really want to give it back anyway. She
wanted to keep it forever as a reminder of tonight.

Looking up through her eyelashes as shyness took
over, she said, “Well, I’d still like you to come in for a little bit.”

“Okay,” he answered as he opened the door for her.
He was such a gentleman.

They walked into the family room together, still
hand in hand. She’d expected to find Crystal there. She
hadn’t
expected
to have her joined by Tracker. A very
hostile
looking Tracker….

“Hey. I’m home.”

“And you’re both half-naked…and soaking wet,”
Crystal said, her eyebrows almost in her hair.

“Inac taught me how to swim, but we didn’t have
swimming suits so we had to do it in our clothes,” she explained before
Crystal’s mind could go where she knew it was going.

“Really?” she asked with a sardonic brow.

“Yup. And I’m not half-naked,” she answered, lifting
the shirt enough to show her shorts underneath—Inac’s shirt was huge on her,
acting like a mini-dress.

“Your first pair of shorts and they’re Daisy Dukes,”
Crystal teased.

“Well, they were really just to wear under my skirt
so that I could ride his bullet bike.”

“Wow. Tracker said he was worried about you, and now
I can see why.”

She could tell that Crystal was joking so she asked
with amusement, “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”

“You’re riding bullet bikes with a shirtless hottie,
as well as swimming with him in skank shorts.”

“What can I say? With him, I’m a wild woman,” she
said, using his nickname for her as she gave Inac a sly glance speaking of the
intimacy they’d shared that evening. After he squeezed her hand in acknowledgement
and gave her a grin that spoke of just how much he’d enjoyed it, she said, “A
wild woman who’s majorly chafing. I’m gonna go change into something dry. I’ll
be right back.”

With that she skipped down the hall to her bedroom,
embarrassed when she saw the two wet spots on Inac’s shirt in the exact places
as her breasts. After changing back into the dry skirt she’d worn to school
that day and a dark cotton tank that could get wet if her hair dripped on it,
she went back to the living room. Crystal and Inac—who was standing there in
his wet jeans and no shirt as though he walked around half-naked every day—were
talking, but Tracker was getting more and more angry by the minute. She could
tell by the vein bulging in the center of his forehead.

“You and your boyfriend should come with us next
time,” Inac was saying to Crystal.

“We’ll definitely have to take you up on that,”
Crystal said with an excited smile as she obviously checked Inac out—his pants
were really low to the point where it was embarrassing Hara to look. She could
almost see
everything
of his, which she knew Crystal was appreciating because
her smile had changed into the one she used to come on to guys at the club.
Hara was surprised to find that she could see Inac’s hipbones but couldn’t see
the band of his underwear. He did wear underwear, didn’t he?

“You can come too, Tracker. It can be a triple
date,” Inac added, barely glancing at Track.

Tracker’s scowl just deepened into the Grand
Canyon—she should know, she’d seen photographs of how big and deep the canyon
was.

Hara begrudgingly handed Inac’s shirt back to him.
“Sorry it’s a little wet,” she said as he slipped it on.

“That’s okay. But, speaking of chafing…” he said as
he pulled at his jeans and made a face. “I should probably get home and change
too.”

“Oh. Okay.” She really didn’t want to say goodnight,
but she understood completely.

“Can I pick you up at lunch and take you out?” he
asked.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure. I get lunch at one-thirty.”

“One-thirty it is then. I’ll meet you where you
always park your car.”

“Okay.”

He leaned down, kissing her a few times in front of
everyone—he even slipped the tip of his tongue in her mouth for a second as if
to remind her of what they’d shared. And, even though she was embarrassed to be
kissing in front of her friends, as well as she knew she’d get plenty of flack
for it after he was gone, the kisses felt really good. So good that she didn’t
want them to end.

“Tomorrow then,” he said, winking at her as he left.

As soon as the door closed behind him, she turned
back to her friends.

“So we got our first kiss, did we?” Crystal teased.

Hara couldn’t help but smile. “Yes we did.”

“From the looks of it, you got much more than that,”
Tracker said with disgust. It was the first time he’d said a word since she’d
come home. “You both have hickeys all over you.”

“So?” she asked with defiance. His protective bit
was getting really old.

“So that isn’t you. Making out? Or did you two have
sex?”

“Of course not! And, even if we did, it wouldn’t be
any of your business. Besides, you’ve hated him for no reason since day one.”

“That’s because he’s playing with you!” he said,
walking straight up to her.

“Really? How I see it, if he was playing with me, he
wouldn’t have been as sweet as he was tonight. He was a gentleman all night.”

“Of course he was. Until he gets in your pants.”

Hara was so angry that she had slapped him before
she even thought about doing so.

Tracker put a hand to his reddening cheek and said,
“See who you’re becoming? Being around him is only gonna take you farther and
farther down that path.”

She had been about to apologize until he’d said
that. Now she’d had enough.

“Whatever,” she said, whirling around, her wet hair
slapping him where her hand had just done the same. “I’m going to bed.”

“Hara, wait,” Track said with such desperation that
she stopped mid-stride to turn back to him.

“What?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t want anything bad to happen
to you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She just couldn’t stay mad at Track.

“I know. But you don’t need to be so worried. Tell
you what, why don’t you hang out with us sometime. That way you can get to know
him. He really isn’t how you think he is.”

Track seemed to think for a moment before saying,
“Okay. Maybe I’ll take you up on that.”

“Great. Now, if you don’t mind, I really am
exhausted.” Learning how to swim had really taken it out of her.

After saying goodnight, Hara changed into her
nightgown, got into her bed, and was asleep within moments, dreaming of Inac’s
touch.

***

When Hara walked outside her apartment to go to
school the next morning, she found the flowers from their date the previous
evening on her doorstep, gently arranged in an expensive-looking crystal vase.
With them, she felt a familiar warmth; Inac was just so sweet and romantic. She
knew that she was in love with him.

After setting them on the kitchen table, she ran
down the steps to also find her car in its space, just as Inac had said she
would.

For some reason, she just couldn’t stop thinking
about him and all that had happened last night. She built him up in her mind
until her first few classes began moving way too slowly in anticipation for
lunch. She just hoped that Inac didn’t regret yesterday. She knew that
she
should because of how hot and heavy they’d been, but she didn’t. She just had
to make sure they didn’t get to that point again, because she didn’t think she
would be able to stop it the next time.

***

Inac waited by Hara’s car, allowing the bright
sunshine to seep deep into his skin; he was in a very good mood. His plan was
going exactly as he intended. A few more days and she would be entirely under
his spell.

As it was, she was already acting completely out of
character. She now had a temper, was drinking alcohol for fun, and gallivanting
in the ocean in her bra; not to mention their heavy make-out session. Of
course, none of these actions were bad in the least, but
she
believed
they were, and that’s what mattered. During their next make-out session, he was
going to let his hands wander until her mind wouldn’t be able to say no. Until
then, he was going to lay the romance on thick.

It was going to be her own fault when she died. He’d
warned her last night with the white and purple lilacs. She’d even joked about
her first love being the death of her. If she only knew….

“Hey, beautiful! Did you get your flowers this
morning?” he asked as she walked up to him, a broad smile on her face. She was
a vision today in a simple white ribbed tank top with thinner straps than usual
tucked into a shiny navy tulip skirt with a high, thick black stretchy
waistband and her usual black flats.

“I did. Thank you.”

“Good.”

He then pulled her into his arms to give her a kiss.

“So what are we doing for lunch?” she asked when he
pulled away.

“I figured that it’s a nice day, so I brought us a
picnic.”

“That sounds perfect,” she said with stars in her
eyes brighter than the sun above.

Man. This was seriously too easy. He really needed
an added challenge to this….

With one hand he picked the basket up that had been
resting on the grass and put his other around her waist as they walked to a
shaded area on campus. After spreading a red, velvety blanket over the freshly
cut lawn, he began pulling out containers full of food to dish up for the both
of them—the containers had all been in cases that kept them either hot or cold
so they would taste the same as though they had just come out of the kitchen.