Inescapable (Men of Mercy Novel, A) Read online

  He’d refused a lot of offers of sex lately.

  He’d lost his virginity at fifteen and after two decades of regular sex, he wanted it to be more than a one-time encounter with an empty-headed stranger who liked his packaging and his package. But his new resolve to avoid casual sex was problematic since he wasn’t interested in a relationship and he didn’t want to—or know how to—make space in his life for a woman. He’d always found it difficult to trust, to let anyone inside the fortress he’d built around his thoughts and feelings.

  Besides, no self-respecting woman would have anything to do with the man he was beneath his muscles and his okay-looking face. Behind the façade of being a civilized entrepreneur he was still a street rat, a teenage hustler, a double-dealing pseudo-gangster, and the special-ops soldier who’d seen, and done, far too much bad shit far too early in his life.

  They’d run like hell.

  “Stop distracting my staff, Sawyer!”

  Kai whipped his head around to find the source of the melodious voice and saw a woman holding a tray of freshly baked red velvet cupcakes. Resisting the urge to stuff his face, he looked up and saw the sexiest mouth he’d ever laid eyes on. He had a vague impression of long, tawny hair pulled back into a no-nonsense ponytail, a trim body, and light eyes, but his own eyes were having trouble moving off her mouth. It was wide and unpainted with a natural pout that had the blood in his head rocketing south. Images of exactly where he’d like to see those lips started flashing through his head and Kai forced himself to do a few rapid multiplication tables to keep from embarrassing himself.

  He stood and stared at her, knowing that his own mouth was half open and that his eyes were probably glazed. He wanted her. Under him, over him, any damn way he could get her. As soon as possible.

  This, he realized with fascinated horror, was one woman that he’d have difficulty saying no to.

  Kai felt Sawyer’s elbow in his ribs and he blinked, slowly turning his head away from her mouth and back to Sawyer’s face. “What?”

  Sawyer lifted his eyebrows. “Flick Sturgiss, meet Kai Manning, one of my partners.”

  Flick Sturgiss? This was the Sturgiss brothers’ baby sister, of whom Sawyer frequently spoke? From the way Sawyer talked, Kai had expected her to be about fifteen, plump with baby fat, and wearing braces. Not this woman in her late twenties who had him wanting to adjust his pants. Not certain that he could enunciate the right words in the right order, Kai just lifted his sweaty head in her direction. Aqua-green-blue mermaid eyes locked onto his and, once again, the room and everyone in it simply disappeared.

  His thoughts immediately went to those long legs wrapping around his waist, his hand fisted in that long hair, pulling her head back so that he could ravage her mouth, her throat, taste that flawless skin. His other hand would be on her ass, sliding up underneath those denim shorts. . . .

  Kai felt himself hardening at the thought, and only years of practicing self-control over his body kept him from tenting his athletic shorts.

  You have to keep it tidy, Manning.

  Flick looked away from him and placed her tray on the counter and Kai pulled in some much needed air. What the hell just happened? He felt like he’d just stepped on and detonated a landmine.

  “Nice to meet you, Kai,” she said in a neutral voice, her eyes looking just past his head. Neutral or not, that voice sounded like it was designed for a bedroom, for phone sex, for a bordello. “Tiff, can you put these in the display case, please?” She turned back to Kai. “Did Tiff take your order?”

  Since she was looking at him, Kai scratched the side of his head and tried to think. Had she? He had no idea.

  She lifted her eyebrows at Sawyer. “I think it’s a bit early for your friend. Order? Is it in?”

  Sawyer grinned. “Yep.”

  Flick nodded and turned in response to someone calling a greeting from the door. Sawyer’s fist shot out and nailed Kai in his bicep and he got the message: Find your balls and act like an adult. Good plan.

  He was just trying to think of something to say that would show Flick that he wasn’t a complete moron when Tiffany handed her a phone from her side of the counter. “It’s Pippa.”

  Kai heard her soft curse and watched as she lifted the phone to her ear. After listening for a minute, Flick closed her eyes and sighed wearily. “Let me talk to him,” she said before hauling in a deep breath.

  “You are selfish and self-absorbed. . . . Dammit, Rufus, why are we having this conversation again? This can’t go on, Ru. We cannot keep on running around after you, hauling you out of dives and meat markets. It’s not okay.”

  Bad boyfriend, he immediately decided. Who was he and where could he find him? And was he stupid, screwing around on her? Didn’t he realize that women who looked like she did, sounded like she did, were few and far between? She hadn’t spent hours in front of a mirror this morning putting on her makeup and she looked like she’d just pulled her long curls into a messy tail. Her outfit was eclectic too; cowboy boots and with denim shorts and a white gauzy top. Her foot tapped the floor and he could see her irritation in the clenched fist at her side.

  “You are unfaithful and disloyal and a pain in the ass. I’m sorry to be harsh but maybe this is the reason why you were dumped before. “

  Kai looked around the bakery and noticed that a number of customers were actively tuned into the conversation.

  Was she really fine with airing her dirty laundry in such a public forum? He shuddered at the thought. Another problem with small towns, he thought—everybody knew your business. His left shoulder blade prickled.

  “I can’t keep this up, Ru. You’re killing me. Behave yourself or I am going to have to call it quits and— Hi, Pips. No, do not let him sleep on your bed!”

  What the hell?

  “He is gorgeous, I know it and he knows it. And half of the female population in Mercy knows it. He can charm the pants off anyone. Do not let him do it to you. I know it’s your day off but please keep an eye on him. He’s totally untrustworthy. Bye, babe.”

  “Rufus acting out again?” Sawyer placed his hand on Flick’s shoulder and Kai ground his back teeth together, discombobulated by the swell of possessiveness that swamped him. He never felt possessive. But who was this Rufus who was treating her like crap? In the three years he’d been dropping in and out of Mercy he’d never heard of a Rufus, but since he was more out of the country than in, that wasn’t a big surprise. But he could find out—yeah, that was easy enough to do.

  Flick twisted her lips at Sawyer and sighed heavily. “He’s driving me nuts, Sawyer. I’m beginning to think he’s a lost cause.”

  Kai watched as she placed her arms on the counter and stared out of the windows behind them at the busy street. She had a great ass, round and tight, shown off to perfection in her shorts. Her legs were brilliant too. In profile, she looked about sixteen, with her high cheekbones and upturned nose. He was not surprised that she looked vaguely sad; anyone who had such a douche bag for a boyfriend would look morose.

  Sawyer shook his head in disagreement. “You can’t give up on him, honey. You’ve come so far.”

  Kai’s mouth dropped open hearing that statement from his long-time friend. Yeah, Sawyer swapped women like he did shirts but he always treated them well. And he never encouraged woman to stay with bad men. Ever.

  “What the hell?” he muttered to Sawyer.

  Sawyer ignored him, running his hand down Flick’s arm, which really pissed Kai off. And the fact that it pissed him off pissed him off more.

  God, he needed coffee. Maybe intravenously injected.

  Or a drink.

  Sawyer and Flick both ignored him and Flick pulled that luscious bottom lip between her teeth. Kai had to bite his own tongue to stop himself from telling her that he’d be happy to do that for her.

  He was thirty-four years old and he was acting like
a fourteen-year-old. Maybe three months in a sandy country with no booze and no women was about two and a half months too long.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Flick half wailed.

  “Kick his partying, cheating, stupid ass over a cliff,” Kai stated in a low voice, thinking that this wasn’t rocket science. “I mean, God, why stay with someone who gives you grief?”

  Those round mermaid eyes widened at his comment and Flick’s mouth dropped open.

  “Um, Kai?” Sawyer interjected, green eyes laughing.

  “And what the hell is up with you, Sawyer? Since when do you encourage woman to stay with morons? God, I need coffee.”

  Flick slapped her hand against her mouth. Okay, seriously, what was the joke and why wasn’t he getting it? He stiffened his back and mentally retreated, his face hardening and his eyes narrowing. Were they laughing at him? Crap, yes they were.

  It took every last iota of willpower he had to keep his discomfiture tightly under wraps. “What’s the joke?”he asked in his best don’t-fuck-with-me voice.

  Sawyer sobered up but Flick giggled again. So . . . not easily intimidated. That voice usually had soldiers, from generals to grunts, looking for cover. He looked from her to Sawyer, raising one dark eyebrow.

  Sawyer twisted his lips to keep his smile from blooming again. “Rufus is a rescue dog Flick is trying to rehabilitate. A very bad, very big, collie-Newfoundland cross.”

  Kai, normally the fastest bullet on the battlefield, took a moment for that to sink in. He groaned internally.

  A dog. Well, hell.

  Silence hovered over them until he heard another snicker from Sawyer and an amused snort from someone from the peanut gallery. Flick’s laugh, deep and dirty, followed and smacked him in the solar plexus. They thought he was hilarious.

  Kai kept his face impassive and his body loose while embarrassment nipped. He hadn’t always known how to act like a rational human being when he was the butt of a joke. That wasn’t something they taught at any of the places he’d been resident of. His default reaction to being dissed had been to let a fist or a foot fly, since handling it gracefully had been left out of his school-of-hard-knocks curriculum.

  But he was an adult now . . .

  He made himself relax his shoulders and he dredged up a grin. “Well, it’s obvious that whoever is in charge of making sure than I don’t say stupid shit should be fired. Sorry about that.”

  Flick’s smile pulled that amazing mouth up and creased the corners of her eyes. “No worries. It was sweet.”

  Hell no, he wasn’t sweet. Just like he wasn’t cute.

  He’d never been more grateful in his life than when his cell phone chirped from the pocket of his athletic shorts. Pulling it out, he looked at the screen, saw it was the number of his Saudi sheikh, and swiped his thumb to answer the call.

  “Sorry, I have to take this.” He bit out the words, turned, and headed straight for the door.

  As he spoke to the sheikh’s assistant, he didn’t know what pissed him off more: the fact that he’d had such an extreme reaction to that woman, that he’d made an idiot of himself, or that he’d left without getting his caffeine or sugar fix.

  Probably all three. Equally.

  ***

  While Sawyer turned back to the counter to pick up his coffee and the paper bag of cupcakes, Flick watched Kai’s very broad shoulders and spectacular butt walk through the open the door of the bakery and step outside. Through the windows she saw him shove his phone back into the pocket of his shorts before taking off at fast jog.

  Poetry in frickin’ motion, Flick thought.

  Grabbing the edge of the counter, Flick stared down at her boots, trying to make sense of the past ten minutes. Somehow, she felt like she’d just had a scorching sexual encounter in the middle of her bakery in front of all her customers. Could they tell that her nipples had gone hard and that her panties were damp? Could they see the flush of her neck, her torso, everywhere on her body those amazing eyes had touched?

  Holy hell.

  She’d been concentrating on carrying the overloaded tray of red velvet cupcakes to the counter and she’d nearly stumbled when she looked up and clocked that sexy face and ripped body. Kai had muscles that made smart girls say stupid things; things like “let’s go to bed,” “do me,” and, worst of all, “I love you.” Messy deep-brown hair and a scruffy, week-old beard and those eyes—dear God, his eyes! Rich, hypnotic and a fantastic shade of gold, so unusual they couldn’t be anything but real. When those eyes connected with hers she swore they just sucked her right on into their own, private porno movie. There was a big, canopied bed with white linen, and she was getting up close and very personal with that muscular body, exploring that six pack with her tongue, biting into those big biceps, making sure that his butt was as hard as she suspected.

  Not that there was anything boy-like about Kai Manning. Like Sawyer, he had a warrior’s body, but his eyes were deeply cynical and just a little sad.

  Right; pull yourself together, Felicity. You’ve had your fun, totally objectified him, and now it’s time to take your reality pill, honey.

  She could dismiss the gorgeous angles and planes of his face, sort of, and the body (a bit more effort was required, but she could do it), but those skeptical and distrustful eyes made her heart clench.

  “Oh, crap.” Flick looked up at Sawyer’s statement and tipped her head when he scrambled to put the two takeout cups back on the counter, dropping the bag next to them. He repeated the phrase when he placed his big hands on her shoulders and peered into her face. “This won’t end well.”

  Flick just looked at him, waiting for him to explain. She’d known Sawyer all of her life. He was a close friend of her older brother Jack, so he’d been in and out of her house during her childhood. And because she considered him to be another brother, she slapped his broad chest to get him to back up. He just planted his feet and stayed where he was—in her face.

  “What won’t end well?” she demanded.

  “Do not even think about it,” Sawyer warned.

  “Think about what?”

  “Having anything to do with my partner.” Sawyer dropped his hands from her shoulders and shoved a hand into his hair. Looking around, Flick noticed that everyone around them was listening to their conversation with avid curiosity—gossip must be slow in Mercy today. Sawyer grabbed her hand and pulled her into a corner of the bakery, keeping his broad back to her curious customers.

  “Please don’t do this, Flick,” Sawyer said, his green eyes worried. He had such pretty eyes, Flick thought, but she preferred the hauntingly beautiful shade of his friend’s.

  “Do what, honey?” Flick widened her eyes, knowing how innocent it made her look.

  “That hasn’t worked on me since you were five,” Sawyer muttered. “Do not get any ideas in your head about starting something, anything, with Kai Manning!”

  Flick looked down at her hands. “I have no idea what you are talking about. I thought that he was your friend?”

  “He is my friend,” Sawyer retorted, his eyes hot. “Along with Jack and Axl, my best friend. He’s a loyal, intensely smart man who has my respect and admiration.”

  Flick lifted her hands as if to ask, Then what’s the problem?

  “Don’t shrug your shoulders,” Sawyer said. “You know what I’m talking about!”

  Flick put her fists on her hips and tipped her head back to look up into Sawyer’s frustrated face. “As fascinating as you are when you foam at the mouth, do you have a point?”

  “You two will hook up, it will blow up, and I’ll be stuck in the middle,” Sawyer said bluntly.

  Good grief. This was getting far too serious. “You do realize that I only met him five minutes ago? And that we hardly talked?” she pointed out.

  Sawyer narrowed his eyes at her. “I saw the way you looked at him. The
way he looked at you.”

  There had been a little heat, a couple of sparks, some electricity . . . but only enough to power the entire East Coast for the rest of the year.

  Telling Sawyer that would not help diffuse the situation. “He’s a great-looking guy! I’m not a nun; I like to look at hot guys. Hell, nuns like to look at hot guys!”

  “He’s not interested in commitment. He spends most of the year away from home and if you hook up, he might end up hurting you and I’ll have to break him.” Sawyer looked agitated. “We work together. We’re partners. It could get really messy.”

  Flick held up her hands. “Jeez, take a chill pill.”

  “This is going to end badly,” Sawyer muttered.

  Flick rested her thumb against her bottom lip, surprised to see the normally laid-back Sawyer so worked up. She didn’t need Sawyer’s warning, as crazy and as out of character as it was. Flick knew that Kai Manning was way out of her league. She wasn’t an idiot; she’d read between the lines of what Sawyer didn’t say. She knew, instinctively, that Manning was, at best, complicated. Dangerous, mysterious, good-looking with an I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude. And that bad-boy vibe was deeply attractive. He knew it, she knew it, any woman with ovaries knew it.

  He was trouble with a Capital T, flashing in bright neon. The type of man who women fell for and made utter idiots of themselves over.

  She wasn’t always sure why her relationships tumbled off a cliff but they always, without fail, did. Maybe her choice in men had something to do with it—okay, a lot to do with it—but she was turning over a new leaf. Hell, she was turning over all the leaves in the Amazon jungle. She was keeping her distance from men, from all men, because, like Einstein said, the height of stupidity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

  So she was stopping it all.

  She was done with looking for love in all the wrong places. With looking for love, period. She wasn’t good at it and she was tired of handing over her time and affection and getting her heart stomped on.