Veiled Seduction (12 page)

She wasn’t certain how she came to be lying down, but Sasha was looming over her, and the new position allowed his fingers to go deeper, gave his thumb room to play with her clit. He moved his hand faster, responding to the cues of her body. She grasped his arm, and the feel of his muscles shifting and bunching there set her off. With a loud gasp she came, better than she ever had by herself, but somehow she knew it would be so much better had he been inside her.

He removed his hand from her underwear while she lay there and attempted to catch her breath. What was the proper etiquette after something like this? Did she offer a Kleenex?

He stood in a sudden movement that startled her into rising up on her elbows. Crossing the room, he stopped in front of her bookshelf and thrust his hands into his back pockets. His body language radiated tightly coiled emotion.

“Sash, I could…” Give him a handjob? A blowjob? The crude images the words invoked made her even hotter.

The muscles in his shoulders and back tensed even further. “No. It’s fine.” He turned and gave her a stiff smile. Of course, her gaze took a quick dip downward at the erection tenting his jeans.

He looked like he was in severe pain. It was stupid that he wouldn’t let her ease that. “I really don’t mind.”

“But I do.” His expression and tone was stamped with finality. “We shouldn’t have even gone this far.”

He was being overly dramatic, and she was starting to get annoyed again. “Sasha, it’s fine—”

“I’m not messing this up, Maira.”

He didn’t shout the words, but he might as well have. She looked at him, surprised. How would sex mess them up? “You won’t—”

“I need to go.” He strode out the door, leaving her stunned and disheveled on the couch. Hurriedly, she stood and tried to rearrange her clothing. She was just tucking herself back into her bra when he came stomping back in. Grabbing her around the waist, he yanked her closer and kissed her breath away.

He pulled away, looked down and groaned.

She’d only put one breast away. Before she could cover her nakedness, he leaned down and sucked the nipple into his mouth.

“Oh!”

One pull, two, as if he was seeking something he couldn’t get, and then he released her. He straightened and tucked the breast back into her bra. Slashes of red color ran high on his cheekbones, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Perhaps she said something, or maybe not. All she knew was ten minutes later she was leaning back against her front door staring at the mirror in her hallway and her disheveled appearance.

That was nice.

Just think how nice it’ll feel when you actually take your clothes off.

By the time the next weekend rolled around, Maira discovered that unrequited lust did not make her personality shine.

In fact, a kind person would even say it turned her into a real bitch.

Though in this case, Maira felt she could be forgiven a little bitchiness.

“You owe Mason for what?”

Blithely unaware of her rising anger, Sasha continued searching for a parking spot in the crowded parking lot. “For making me see what a jackass I was to you after the shooting.”

“He knew about our fight?”

“Sure.”

“Did he know what our fight was about?” Namely, her throwing herself at Sasha.

“I wonder if I could fit into that parking spot.”

“Sasha!”

“What?”

She counted to ten. And then counted backwards. “Did you tell him what happened? What I did?”

Sasha’s expression shifted. He looked like a man who had suddenly found himself walking in a minefield. “Um. No?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“I hate when people ask that,” he muttered.

“Oh, God, you did, didn’t you?”

Sasha turned neatly into an open parking space and killed the engine. “It’s no big deal.”

“How can you say that?” She folded her arms over her chest. “I can’t ever face them.”

“Them?”

“If you told Mason, it probably took him about five minutes to tell Leyla.” Leyla was almost Sasha’s mother. She did not want her boyfriend’s mother figure to know that she had practically sexually assaulted the man.

“Well, I don’t know about that…”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s bad enough that he knows.”

“Maira, it’s not a big deal. Yeah, they know we had a fight, and yeah, Mason knows that I thought some boneheaded stuff about you, but trust me when I say they were both firmly on your side. They like you. Hell, Leyla was ready to kill me for screwing things up with you.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip, barely paying attention to him. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be.”

“I can’t help it.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “I can’t possibly see them right now.”

“They’re expecting us, Maira.”

“Why don’t you just go?”

Apparently, nobody could do puppy-dog eyes like Sasha Karimi. “You’d make me go all by myself?”

She glanced out the window at the park where they were meeting Mason, Leyla, and a couple of Sasha’s friends for a barbecue. “Yes. It’s going to be a small group, right? You’ll be fine. Put on your hat.”

He exhaled and sat back in his seat. He was silent for a minute. “You know Mason and Leyla kept their relationship a secret from me?”

“What?”

“Yup. They didn’t tell me anything about it. I walked in on them fooling around.”

She thought of tidy Leyla and her devoted, respectable husband. “Huh.”

A smile tugged at Sasha’s lips. “I like to forget it ever occurred, so you should feel really special I dragged that memory out of my brain to make you feel better. Those two have gotten up to their share of shenanigans. They certainly won’t be passing judgment on us.”

Oddly enough, it did make her feel better. “You didn’t go into too much detail, did you?”

“Like, your panty color? No, Maira. Like I said, most of Mason’s focus was on the stupid stuff I said. You’ve seen him since then. Has he treated you any differently at work?”

A deep breath helped clear some of the tension from her shoulders. “No.”

“See?” He opened his door. “Come on, you were the one who told me a barbecue would be fun. You can’t make me go through it alone.”

She gave him a smile, though nerves still wound her stomach up tight. She exited the car and slammed the door shut. He paused for a moment before tossing something in the driver’s seat and closing his own door. It had been his baseball cap, she realized, when he rounded the hood of his car and joined her. He took off his sunglasses and hooked them into his shirt pocket before placing his hand at the small of her back. “Shall we go?”

“No disguise?”

He shrugged. “If you’re feeling vulnerable, it won’t kill me to do the same.”

Awwww. He was so unexpectedly sensitive sometimes. “You don’t have—”

He cut her off with a swift kiss on her cheek. “Hush. We’re already late.”

Sasha had told her that his friends had insisted they not bring anything, but she wished she had a wrapped pan or something in her hands to fiddle with as they walked to the gazebo where they had been told to meet the rest of their party.

She frowned as they approached. “Are we in the right place? There sure are a lot of people.”

“Huh. This is where the guys told me to meet them. That looks like a huge birthday party or something.” Brightly colored balloons hung from the corners of the structure. And the people. There were people filling the park to capacity, while children ran this way and that and the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers drifted through the air.

She searched through the crowd for Leyla and Mason, since she had no idea what Sasha’s friends looked like. Perhaps the group had gotten here earlier and retreated to another area in the park.

No. There was Leyla, standing next to a picnic bench with her baby in her arms and a bulging diaper bag slung over her shoulder. She appeared to be arguing vigorously with some man.

“Ow.” She bumped into Sasha’s back as he stopped dead. “I think I see Leyla.”

When he didn’t respond, she followed his gaze and caught sight of a sign hanging from the trees. A huge sign with hundreds of signatures, most of them appearing to be from children: Thank you, Lt. Karimi, for your brave service.

Lord. It’s the whole frickin’ school. The thought struck her just as the swarm of people caught sight of them. A ripple went through the crowd and shouts of “Surprise!” rang out.

There were so many people, she was overwhelmed. When she looked at Sasha, however, she snapped out of it.

Though his face was expressionless, pure panic glinted in his eyes. He opened his mouth to address the huge, now silent and expectant crowd. “I—” He broke off and looked down at her, adorably needy.

Crud, but she must love the man. She must love him more than she hated being the center of attention. Maira stepped up next to him and placed a light hand on his back. She pitched her voice loud enough to carry over the crowd. “Congratulations, folks. You’ve made Sasha speechless. Is that a first?” A light ripple of laughter flowed over the crowd. “Let’s give him a moment to process how very grateful and overwhelmed he is by this gesture.”

“Good idea,” she heard someone holler. “In the meantime, the guest of honor’s here, so let’s start the food.”

A cheer rose up, particularly from the children, and the swarm of people relaxed into small clumps.

“Let’s go.”

Maira started at his urgent whisper. “What?”

“Come on.” He inched backward, studying the party as if everyone was carrying packs of C4 strapped on their backs.

“Sasha, we can’t just leave.”

“Sure we can. We’ll leave, I’ll find out who amongst my so-called friends or family put this together, and I’ll murder them. Good times. Come on.”

Oh Lord. The man was equally mortified and furious. She knew from experience that combination boded ill for him and anyone who caused it.

“Sasha!”

Leyla’s breathless voice made Sasha’s face turn to stone as she jogged up to them. “Lee, I’m never going to forgive you.”

A lesser woman might have quailed beneath Sasha’s ruthless threat, but not Leyla. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Boy, how could you possibly think I would do something like this?”

“Because you’re a natural-born meddler.”

“I might meddle, but I wouldn’t hurt. I know very well how uncomfortable you get—” She broke off. “In any case, no, I would never ambush you like this. I only got here a minute before you did, and I was about to call and warn you when you showed up.” Leyla leaned around Sasha. “Hi, Maira.”

“Hi.” And she’d figured she’d be too embarrassed to face Leyla, Maira thought wryly. There was so much more going on now, she could barely remember the fight in the car.

“Who put this together then?” Sasha asked grimly.

“From what I understand, your captain, with your buddy Kieran helping,” Leyla answered.

“Why?”

“You’ll have to ask them. They’re right over—” She cut herself off as she raised her hand to point to a gazebo across the grass where Mason sat alone with Ash. He raised his arm in a slight wave. “Damn it, they ran away.”

Sasha’s lips firmed. “That’s fine. I know where they live. I’ll see you later.” He took a step backward.

“I’ll say you came down with the flu,” Leyla agreed promptly.

These siblings were pretty darn cute together. But this just wouldn’t fly. “No.”

They both looked at her. “What?” Leyla asked.

“I said no. Sasha, you have every right to be angry with your friends for springing this on you. But the rest of this group is filled with good, decent people who just want to thank you. They don’t know, and they don’t deserve to be snubbed.”

“But—”

Big guns time. “You’ll garner more attention if you stalk off right now. People are already looking at us.”

“She may be right, sweetie,” Leyla said quietly.

He opened his mouth and then closed it again. Maira took pity on him and took his arm. “I’ll help you. Don’t worry, it’ll be just fine. Just smile and nod.”

“You can’t leave me.”

Maira paused, caught by his intense gaze. Distantly she heard Leyla utter a slight cough and back away. “Of course not.” Never. “Come on, let’s go get some food.” It would give them something to do.

Judging by the frozen expression on his face, the grassy field that separated them from the food stations must have looked like a gauntlet to Sasha, and Maira wasn’t all that thrilled at crossing it either. Taking a deep breath and pasting on a smile, she took a firm grip on his arm and towed Sasha along as they began to make their way.

They couldn’t go more than a foot at a time without being stopped by someone. It wasn’t so bad at first, a few of Sasha’s friends, some of whom she’d already met at one time or another, but slowly, the strangers became braver and began to approach them.

Her natural inclination would always be toward shyness in social settings, but she couldn’t indulge that right now. Not if she wanted to be any help to Sasha. Every time she felt the urge to retreat to a quiet space somewhere, she pushed herself to be funnier, more engaging, carrying the brunt of the conversation so her guy could relax.

Who’s the wallflower now? Look at her go. She was both amazed and thrilled at her newly discovered outgoing self. This wasn’t so hard, she thought, as the group of teachers and administrators laughed at something she said. One of the women turned to Sasha and beamed at him. “Your girlfriend is lovely.”

His hand tightened around hers and he surprised her by pulling her close and dropping a kiss on her head. “She is. I-I-” His jaw clenched.

Uh-oh. She was about to jump in when he continued. “I’m very blessed to have her in my life.”

Tears stung her eyes and she blinked rapidly. His voice was rough. No wonder, since it was the first time he’d spoken more than a greeting since they’d started to mingle. “I’m the blessed one.” She looked away from him, fearing that if she didn’t, she’d get lost in his eyes. No need to air all their sappiness. Forcing a reluctant smile, she placed a hand on her stomach. “It’s so nice to speak with you, but I’m just starving.” Automatically the crowd parted.

Sure enough, though, a minute later they were approached again, this time by a tired-looking woman holding a frail boy by the hand. Maira cocked her head, studying the boy.

Big brown eyes filled with fear, made more prominent by the breathing mask over his face…

She sucked in a quick breath and leaned to whisper in Sasha’s ear. “I want you to forget everyone around us. That child is what matters. Pretend he’s the only one here and try to talk to him.”

Sasha gave her a confused look, but the pair were upon them before he could respond. “Hello,” she said gently to the little boy.

He swiped the back of his hand over his nose. “Hi. My name is Chris.”

She smiled. “Chris, my name is Maira. You don’t remember, but I believe I treated you when you first came into the hospital here in town.”

The fierce hug from Chris’s mother startled her. Maira returned the embrace, awkwardly patting her back. The woman stepped back and brushed at her tears. “Look at this, Chris, two of your heroes at the same time.”

Awww, man. Talk about flustering her. She glanced at Sasha, not at all surprised to see the matching blush in his cheeks. Her lips quirked. Weren’t they a fine pair? “Oh. I don’t know what to say,” Maira admitted.

“You don’t have to say anything. Your actions were enough.” The mother looked at Sasha. “More than enough.”

Despite his embarrassment, Sasha kept his gaze on Chris and dropped to his knees to get at the child’s eye level. He nodded to the soft football cradled in his arms. “Do you play?”

Yearning lit up the soft brown eyes. “Yes.”

“Maybe we can toss the ball around a little? I’m out of practice.”

Chris brightened for a second, but it didn’t last. “I can’t run or throw yet. My doctor said.”

Sasha coughed, and Maira’s heart melted. Big softie. “There’s a duck pond right over there. Perhaps you can take a walk with Chris,” she suggested, and looked to the child’s mother for permission. The other woman nodded, still crying.

Sasha straightened and took the child’s hand. He looked at Maira. “I’ll—”

“I’m just going to be getting some food. Find me when you need me.”

The touch of his hand on her cheek was featherlight, his smile almost blinding. “I will.”

“You Sash’s girl? The one we have to keep hearing about?”

Maira stared at the large scowling man towering above the picnic blanket where she sat. She chewed the last bite of hot dog in her mouth and swallowed. “Um.”

“Kieran Harrison, you are the most infuriating man.” Leyla paused from feeding a bite to her daughter to admonish the stranger.

Leyla was brave. Maira probably wouldn’t have said boo to the scary-looking guy. Even if she were standing, he would loom over her, with his height and thickly muscled frame. His bald head glinted in the sunlight. Tattoos decorated his arms left bare by his T-shirt. She could even see ink on the side of his neck.