Her Forbidden Marine (Hearts Ablaze: Men in Uniform Book 2) (3 page)

“Hell, I don’t feel sorry for you, Becky,” he said, glancing down at her as she slowly met his gaze. “I feel guilty every damn time I’m around you.”

“Because of Brody?”

“Yes!  No, I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, which is it?” she asked sarcastically.  “It’s no secret that you don’t like me—God only knows why not.  But Brody’s gone, so why the hell are you pretending to care about me now?”

Matt’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped closer.  Becky backed up against her car, her back coming into contact with the metal, and her breathing hitched.  Interesting.  She wasn’t scared, of that much he was certain.  Her mouth parted slightly as she gazed up at him, her eyes were wide with arousal, and it was all he could do not to rest his hands on the top of the car, pinning her in, and bend down for just one kiss.  Her sweet vanilla scent was filling the air even now, driving him completely crazy.  Would she taste as sweet as she looked?  The way she was looking at him was almost as if she
wanted
him to kiss her.  Which was completely insane.

***

Becky’s eyes widened as Matt leaned closer.  She’d had a fun night catching up with Jade and was finally leaving to head over to her parents’ house when Matt had practically chased her down the street.  Matt, who never wanted a damn thing to do with her.  Who’d barely spoken to her even tonight.  Sure, he was a Marine and probably had that protective instinct engrained in his DNA like all the rest of them did, but did he really need to walk her one block to her car?  Even though it was late there were other people around.  It was Friday night for heaven’s sake.  Now he was gazing down at her with almost a hint of interest in his eyes.

Not possible,
she thought.  Matt didn’t even like her.  There’s no way he’d be out here…
lusting
after her.  Sure, he was attractive in that tall, dark, and brooding type of way.  Short cropped hair, chiseled features, deep brown eyes.  No doubt he had a rock-hard body beneath that uniform.  She blushed, remembering bumping into him earlier at the bar.  Not the smoothest way to get reacquainted.  He’d looked almost angry that she’d said that he didn’t like her.  Did he think he was being subtle all those times in the past when he’d avoided her?  When he practically ran from the room the moment she arrived?  He didn’t just make himself scarce, the guy simply vanished.  Now he suddenly thought he had to chase her down the street at night, escort her to her car, and be her protector?

The air between them felt thick, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out if some underlying sexual tension was brewing between them or if their past history was just rearing its ugly head.  They never really fought before, they just didn’t talk.  Period.  It had almost been easier to ignore him than to discuss the elephant in the room.  And the elephant wasn’t really in the room, was it?  It was sprinting away from her as fast as it possibly could. And elephants didn’t sprint.

“You should probably get home,” he said in a low voice, eyes never leaving her face.

Her heart pounded as her eyes ran over his chiseled features, the hardened planes of his face. She nervously swallowed.  Man, that guy was intense.  She could practically get lost in the depths of his brown eyes, which was…
completely crazy.

“Yeah, probably so,” she agreed, finally breaking eye contact to reach into her purse to dig out her keys.  Heat bloomed over her skin, and she wondered what, if anything, he’d seen in her expression.  He’d looked like he’d been moments away from kissing her, which was ridiculous.

She clicked the key-fob and the lights on her rental car flashed.

“Allow me,” Matt said, his voice gruff, reaching toward the door handle.  His hand brushed against her arm, and she swore she felt sparks, even through the layers of her sweater and coat.

Becky stepped to the side as Matt pulled open her door.  “Where’d you park?” she asked.

“Just across the street,” he said, nodding in the direction of the bakery she’d been looking at earlier.  She followed his gaze, unable to see which car exactly was his in the dark.

“Matt,” she said just as he started to say her name.  She cut off abruptly, and he ground his teeth together, jaw ticking.  “Go ahead,” she said, wondering what it was he was having so much difficultly saying.

“Maybe we can get together sometime while you’re in town.  To talk.”

She nodded uncertainly, a nervous fluttering in her stomach.  What was she nervous about?  She’d wanted to talk to someone, anyone, about what happened to Brody all year.  Now Matt was finally offering her that chance.  Would it give her whatever closure she’d been looking for?  Or just make things harder?  He gazed at her, and she realized he was still waiting for an answer.

“I’d like that.”

“Great.  Um, maybe you can give me your number?”

“Oh, right,” she said, suddenly feeling those butterflies again as he pulled his phone from his pocket.  It’s not like he was asking her out.  They were going to talk about Brody.  And the reason her heart was pounding and her palms were sweating had nothing to do with giving this man her phone number.  Still, an unexplained thrill shot through her at the idea of Matt calling her.  Oddly enough, for the first time in a long while she found herself looking forward to something.  It must just be because she needed some answers, she mused.  It had nothing to do with seeing him again.  Nothing at all.

She rattled off her cell number as Matt keyed it into his phone.  He fumbled as he put it back into his jacket pocket, and she looked at him, puzzled.

“All right.  I’ll be in touch,” he said, stepping back so she could climb into her car.  “Drive safely.”

“You too.  Goodnight.”

“ ‘night,” he said, stepping onto the sidewalk but not leaving.  She realized he was waiting for her to drive away, and a feeling of pleasure she couldn’t quite explain coursed through her.  The man had chased her down the street for God’s sake.  Of course he wasn’t going to just walk off without making sure she’d safely driven away.  But where had he been a year ago when she’d been falling apart?  She shook her head and started the engine, then gave him a small wave before pulling out onto Main Street, heading to the other end of town.  As she glanced in the rearview mirror, she saw Matt still standing there, watching her drive off into the distance.

Matt swiped through the photos on his smart phone later that night, pausing when he finally got to the one of his unit in Afghanistan.  There were all his buddies, lined up in front of a Humvee: fun-loving Jake, grinning from ear to ear in a goofy pose; Bryan, stern and serious as always; Eric, flexing his muscles as he flashed a smile for the camera, and last but not least, him and Brody.  Ironically the photo had been snapped a week before their ambush in the desert.  The fighting with insurgents had gotten worse, and he and Brody had an uncharacteristically serious chat that afternoon.  Matt didn’t have anyone special waiting for him at home, so he hadn’t been as concerned with the fragility of life.  Brody had a lot more to lose, and he’d made Matt swear that he’d watch out for Becky if anything ever happened to him.  And damn it all to hell, he’d failed at even that.  Sure, he’d been there at the funeral, but in the year since?  He’d been too busy trying to make sure his own head was on straight to contact her even once.

Between nursing his own wounds, getting over the loss of his best friend, and trying to ignore the feelings for Becky that had slowly simmered beneath the surface all this time?  He’d stayed the hell away.  Maybe he hadn’t been there like his best friend had wanted, but didn’t not going after his girl count for something?  Matt sighed as he tossed his phone down on his bedspread and headed for the bathroom.  Becky was a graduate student, so since she’d returned home for the holidays, she was probably here on her winter break.  That was, what, a couple of weeks?  An entire month?  The thought of having her so close and not seeing her was eating him up inside.

Matt stripped down to his boxers and after brushing his teeth, collapsed into a heap on his bed.  Sleep was the only reprieve he’d had over the past year, and amazingly it usually came easily every night.  Grueling workouts and early morning hours on base would do that to a guy.  His mom would probably say he was burning the candle at both ends, but his father, a fellow Marine, would understand.  Matt shifted in his bed and tried to relax, willing sleep to overtake him.  What was usually easy seemed evasive tonight, as thoughts of a brunette with luscious curves and a vanilla scent wafting around her invaded his memories. 
Becky,
he mumbled, before finally falling into a deep sleep.

***

Matt groaned as his alarm went off the next morning, and he fumbled with it for a moment before the incessant beeping stopped.  Why had he set it for zero-dark-thirty on a Saturday again? 
Ugh. 
He sat up as he tried to shake off his deep slumber and suddenly memories of agreeing to an early morning run with Sam came crashing back to him.  Why he agreed to it had him questioning his sanity.  Then again, he wasn’t usually out so late the night before.  He’d just been in the middle of the best dream, too, kissing a gorgeous woman who tasted of vanilla, his hands tracing the curves of her ass as he pulled her closer and closer….
Awww hell
.  He’d been dreaming about Becky?
  For fuck’s sake.

He jumped up quicker than he thought possible a moment ago, shaking off the memory of his vivid dream, and walked over to his dresser to grab some running gear.  Sam always showed up in shorts, even though it was winter.  Being California born-and-bred, Matt was not about to jog around without pants in thirty-degree weather.  Just because he was a Marine didn’t make him bat-shit crazy.  And maybe a little pounding of the pavement this morning would keep his head on straight and his dick in line.  He had no business dreaming about his buddy’s girl, and as soon as he got that shit straight in his head, the better off he’d be.

A few minutes later, Matt climbed into his black Charger, listening to the engine roar to life.  It was a sweet ride, and now that he was stateside again and not deployed in the middle of nowhere, he intended to enjoy it all that he could.  He’d be here a couple of years on his tour of duty and then probably deployed back to the desert again.  Maybe his parents could garage this baby for him while he was gone.  Once his twenty years in the Marines were up, he didn’t know what he’d do.  His father had stayed in the Marines, eventually becoming a General, but Matt imagined eventually finding a defense contractor job for himself where his life didn’t revolve around PCSing and TDYing all the freaking time.  All those companies up in Washington were always looking for former military.  Why not him?

Someday,
he thought as he backed out of the parking lot of his apartment building and took the road to the edge of town.  He revved the engine, enjoying the feel of all that power under his control.  He’d have to make sure he didn’t get a speeding ticket zipping around like this.  Were cops even out this early? 
No one
should be up at this ungodly hour on a Saturday, he thought with a groan.  He’d rushed out so fast he didn’t even eat anything.  He sure didn’t have time now, but hell if he hadn’t slept like a baby last night.  That more than made up for the growling in his stomach.

Matt pulled into the parking lot down near the park where he and Sam usually ran.  A paved trail traced alongside the river, which made it awesome for running most of the year but brutally cold in the winter as the wind blew off the water.  He thought back to his early days in the Marines when they’d trained at Camp Pendleton.  What he wouldn’t give for some California sunshine right about now.

“Shorts again, man?” Matt asked, eyeing Sam questioningly as he climbed out of his car, which he’d parked right next to Sam’s motorcycle.

“Hell yeah!  Only way to do it.”

“That’s not how we West Coasters like it,” Matt ribbed him as the two took off running and fell into a steady rhythm.

“Yeah?  You cry like a little girl or something when it’s cold?”

Matt guffawed as they ran along.  “Something like that.  I’d like to get your ass on a surfboard someday.  Then we’ll see who’s laughing.”

“Do I look like a surfer dude to you?  Nah, snowboarding is more my style.  That’s what we gotta do this winter, man.  Hit the slopes.”

“Snowboarding wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the damn cold.”

Sam laughed.  “You are hopeless, Bro.”

Matt shrugged as they ran, the cold wind biting into him.  He hadn’t worn nearly as many layers as he liked because he knew his body heat would warm him soon enough.  He didn’t want to carry around an extra layer because they’d put in a good ten miles or so.  Man if the beginning of their runs weren’t a killer though.  His minded drifted back to saying goodnight to Becky last night.  He sure as hell was warm enough then, and it had nothing to do with the winter coat he’d had on.  Just seeing her had sent blood coursing through his veins.  He was used to situational awareness from all his years of military training, always being aware of who and what was around him, but hell.  He’d never been as aware of anything—or anyone—as much as Becky.  It was enough to drive a man crazy.  And he’d…what?  Asked for her number last night?  I mean,
goddamnit
, he was doing it for Brody, right?  Just making sure she was okay.  It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to see her gazing up at him like she had last night.

“So, are you up for it or what?” Sam asked.

“Sorry, man, wasn’t paying attention.  What was that?”

Sam burst out laughing.  “I asked if you were up for hitting the town again tonight.  I thought we’d head up to DC, maybe check out some bars there or in Arlington.  There’s some sweet spots not too far from the Pentagon.  Lots of hot chicks.”

“God, I don’t know,” Matt muttered noncommittally.  Man, he’d gone out once with the guys from base and now they thought he’d be a regular with them.  “Once in a weekend might be enough for me.  I’m an old man now,” he joked.

“Shit, if that isn’t true, Beckett.  It’s taken us months just to get you into one of the local bars,” he added with a laugh.

“What happened to your lady friend from last night?  She’s not up for round two?”

“Oh, hell, she was mighty fine, a real wildcat in bed.  But I’m not looking for a relationship right now.  She wrote her number in lipstick on my bathroom mirror this morning though.  Said to call her if I was ever lonely.”

“So she can go with you up to DC tonight,” Matt joked.  “No chance of you being lonely then.”

“No way.  That would be too much like a date, and I’m playing the field right now.”

“If you say so.”

“I know so.  You haven’t been around women too much lately, have you?  Calling them the next day, asking them out—that is a date my friend.”

The two continued running along the water, and Matt inwardly groaned.  He was getting too old for those games.