Page 5 of Soul Deep


Font Size:

Chapter Five

He didn’t show. Every morning for the last few months he’d come in when she was working, ordered blueberry waffles, sausage, coffee, and orange juice and then proceed to watch her work, those dark eyes moving over her like a caress that always left her feeling both annoyed and oddly invigorated. She had counted on that predictably this morning and he had let her down. Just like a man… When you actually want them around, they totally flake. Of course, that meant in her preoccupation of waiting for those broad shoulders to come through the door, she’d had one of her worst days ever. She’d spilled coffee – luckily, it was cold – down the front of herself, dropped a loaded tray, and messed up numerous orders. It got so bad that the normally quiet cook, Willy, had growled, pointed his spatula at her, and told her to either get her shit together or leave.

Truer words had never been spoken. She had never been so clumsy or distracted, and all becausethat bearhad to decide today was the day he was going to break from his regular routine. Of course, that raised even more questions – now, not only did she want to know if she had invaded his space last night, but what had happened that would have kept him from his maple syrup fix… and did the one have anything to do with the other?

Coffee stained and annoyed was probably not the best way to present yourself to someone of whom you needed answers, but as her work day had already proven, Lily wasn’t actually thinking with a clear head. And as she banged on the door of Christian’s cabin with a bit more force than was absolutely necessary, she certainly hadn’t been expecting him to pull the door wide and reveal a scarred, yet very naked chest.

Her mouth fell open as she just stood there staring, taking in the spread of dark hair over golden skin, the yummy pattern of hard, well defined muscle. Her fingers twitched, wanting to reach out and touch, explore every hill and valley, slope and plain. And she had the oddest urge to want to kiss those scars that marred him, somehow soothe them and make them better…

Shaking herself free of the trance his bare torso had caused, Lily snapped her mouth closed with a determined click of her teeth while her eyes took one last breathless roam over his form. His hair was damp, finger combed back from his forehead and only a pale yellow towel around his hips kept him from being completely naked before her. The thought invaded her head that it would take merely a flick of her fingers for that towel to fall free and she’d be treated to the sight of Christian Black in all of his glory. Her mouth went positively dry at the thought and those weird tingles happened once more in her belly. Clearing her throat, Lily squared her shoulders and before she’d thought it through, demanded “Where were you this morning?”

Oh. My. God. Those eyes… They had gone from mere curiosity tinged with mild amusement at her presence to an amber bonfire of male satisfaction with enough passion to make her toes curl in her sensible shoes. “Miss me?”

Lily let out a snort of derision, but it was weak even to her own ears. There was just way too much skin showing, distracting her from her purpose. “Can’t you put some clothes on?” She snarled.

Christian let out a little chuff of laughter and straightened fully before moving away from the door. Over his shoulder he said, “I’d be dressed right now if someone hadn’t pounded on my door like there was an emergency just as I was getting out of the shower.”

Lily followed him into the cabin despite her intentions never to set foot in the place. Hell, for all she knew, she’d already been here last night and couldn’t remember. Which brought her back to the burning question…

“Did, ah, anything unusual happen last night?” Lily hedged, trying to keep her voice from betraying her anxiety. The last thing she needed was to give this male leverage to use against her.

Christian had closed the door to the bathroom behind him but she could still hear him, if a bit muffled, “Unusual how?”

Swallowing hard, Lily concentrated onnotimagining him gloriously naked as he dropped that towel to pull clothes on, and forced herself to speak. “Anything unusual,” she shrugged though he couldn’t see her. “Like anyone roaming around, strange noises, whatever.”

The door to the bathroom swung open and Christian stepped out, a frown marring his brow. He’d combed his hair, donned a bright white tee shirt and a pair of faded jeans that hung low on his hips and were a bit baggy from the weight he’d lost; his feet were bare… For some reason once her eyes had spotted those feet, she couldn’t pull her gaze away. She’d never thought of herself as having any sort of foot fetish, but they were really nice feet. Long boned, not hairy, the nails well maintained… but there was something about them being bare beneath the bottom edge of those jeans – a certain intimacy to the sight that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Oh, crap. He’d said something and now she’d missed it. Stupid gooey innards going all rock and roll over a pair of feet for cripes sake! What was wrong with her?

She was just about to ask him to repeat himself when a long fingered, slightly battered hand coming toward her face in her peripheral vision had her reacting way out of proportion. With a jump and a stumble backward, Lily let out a loud hiss as she pressed her back against the door, her fingers scrambling for the handle as a low growl reverberated through her chest.

Christian stood there, obvious shock and concern written all over his features as he held his hands in front of him in the universal sign of ‘I mean you no harm’… God, how mortifying to have such an extreme reaction in front of him. To show her fear, her vulnerability, it was almost enough to make her want to cry. Pulling a shuddering breath into her lungs to try to slow the mad pounding of her heart, Lily licked her dry lips and stiffened her spine. It may have been a bit late to try to mask her fear with bravado, but she couldn’t seem to help herself as “Don’t touch me,” tripped off her tongue with a snarl.

“Sorry, sorry,” Christian said, backing up another step for her benefit, “I was just trying to regain your attention since it didn’t look like you heard me. I apologize. It won’t happen again.”

Lily nodded stiffly, satisfied with his apology yet absolutely furious at herself. Way to go, scared-y cat. Nothing screams weak and helpless quite like the show she’d given. She contemplated just turning around, walking out the door, and returning to her own cabin to lick her wounds, but hesitated, afraid that retreat would only cement the impression that she was afraid of him when she soooo wasn’t. Absolutely not. He was big – okay, he was huge – but with the right motivation, she was sure she could take him down.

The thought was intriguing. Letting her gaze run once more over those broad shoulders, thick biceps, and powerful legs. She wanted to spar with him. How much of an ego boost would that be when she pinned that bear to the ground and made him cry uncle?

Christian took a careful step toward her and Lily nearly cringed at how cautious he was being. Not because he was afraid of her, but because of her theatrics, he now assumed she was afraid of him. Ready to challenge him and prove just how scared she wasn’t, she opened her mouth to issue the invitation but was forestalled by the bear’s next words. “I’d offer you coffee, but judging by the look of your clothes, I’d say you probably have had enough for the day.”

Lily looked down and winced. Ah, yes, proof of her spectacular clumsiness and just how deeply imbedded in her brain this pain in the ass of a bear already was. “Bad day” she grumbled. “Right now, I’m thinking I need something a bit stiffer.”

She heard the low rumble of his growl, saw his eyes heat up with the flair of unmistakable lust, and Lily could have kicked herself. The double-entendre had been completely accidental. The last thing she needed was two-hundred-some-odd pounds of turned on bear coming at her. Clearing her throat, Lily had to subdue the instinct to bolt and reminded herself that she was made of sterner stuff than that. “I meant a drink,” she clarified, her voice coming out with an appalling squeak.

Christian’s lips tightened into a grimace and he stuffed his hands into the back pocket of his jeans. “Sorry, can’t help you there. I’m an alcoholic.” Shaking his head, he let out a little self-deprecating laugh. “I’m surprised the whole town isn’t talking about it.”

Lily felt her face heat with a blush because shehadheard that about him. Rumors had been hot and heavy that he’d fallen off the wagon and was determined to isolate himself in this little cabin and kick the habit for good.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered sincerely.

He shrugged as if it was no big deal and if that’s the way he wanted to play things, Lily was right on board, relieved even. After all, this visit wasn’t a bid to get to know the bear better, just to get some answers. So she was somewhat surprised when he decided to bare his soul right in front of her.

“It was never a problem, you know? A few drinks when I got home from work, or when I went out… Everyone does. No big deal, right?”

Lily remained silent assuming the question was rhetorical, and Christian pushed on. “Seb had told me I needed to cut back, but he’s Mister Family Man now, which is pretty much code for wet blanket, not that he was ever much into the party scene,” he added the last under his breath in a low rumble.

Christian started pacing the small space and Lily pushed her back tighter to the door to keep from getting mowed over. “Do you know when I finally realized it was a problem? When the pieces suddenly dropped into place?” The volume of Christian’s voice was on an uphill climb, and again, Lily held her tongue and let him get out whatever demons were haunting him. “There was this movie that I really wanted to see – had been looking forward to it for months,” Christian pinned her to the spot with his gaze, once again filled with heat, but this time, of self-loathing. “There I was sitting in the theater when that first trumpet blast of the intro started and I realized I had forgotten my flask.” He shook his head and raked a frustrated hand through his hair, hard enough to make Lily wince with sympathy for his scalp.