Beautifully Damaged (3 page)

His voice was so deep and hypnotic. I could listen to him all day, stare at him, too. I pulled myself from those thoughts before I started to drool or whimper or both.

"Maybe, but I really appreciated you stepping up so thank you, Trace."

I noticed a flash in his eyes and I had the sense that he was surprised I remembered his name. The man was unforgettable; surely he knew that.

"You're welcome, Ember." We just stood there looking at each other and then he asked, "Do you mind if I join you?"

I was surprised and ridiculously happy in response to his question before I answered.

"Please."

He started to warm up, the muscles of his torso bunching and cording under his tee. I noticed the slight coloring along his jaw. Clearly, the man had been in a fight since the last time I saw him but considering he knocked my would-be-attacker on his ass with very little trouble, I wouldn't be surprised to learn he was some type of fighter.

I watched as he continued to warm up with his face in profile, and what a face it was. His tattoo was on the arm opposite from me so I still couldn't make out what it depicted but I did see lots of flames. I was pulled from my silent study of him when the announcer called us to the starting line. Trace's eyes turned to me.

"Shall we?"

I smiled as we joined the masses. When the gun sounded I expected Trace to take off considering his legs were so long. He surprised me though and paced himself to run at my side. I had butterflies in my stomach every time I looked over at him. At one point when I looked, he was looking back, which had my heart nearly beating right out of my chest. I smiled before I turned my head but knew my face flushed as red as an apple. I knew he saw it, too, if the wicked grin he threw me was any indication. I didn't know what it was about this guy but I felt like a teenager with a crush when I was in his presence. About halfway through Trace moved a bit closer to me.

"I'll see you at the finish, Ember."

My eyes found his and damn they were pretty before I replied, "Okay."

He held my gaze for a moment and then he took off. He was not only beautiful but the man was in prime physical shape as he moved himself through the masses. In only a short time I couldn't see him any more. I didn't really expect to see him at the finish. I assumed his parting words were a farewell of sorts. I was disappointed because I could have spent the entire day with the man and it still wouldn't have been enough. I didn't know anything about him but I wanted to. I found that I was very interested in Trace Montgomery and that kind of interest in a man had never happened to me before. Of course, leave it to me to develop a crush on a man who was so out of my stratosphere.

I finished the race beating my personal best time and started to warm down. The sky was an amazing blue and the clouds were like cotton balls so I took a moment to lay down on the grass and stare up. I remembered as a kid looking for shapes in the clouds with my dad. I always loved looking up at the sky because I couldn't help but wonder what was beyond it? I think it was why I loved
Star Wars
so much. We got a glimpse into what could be out there in that vast open and unknown space.

A shadow fell over me and when I looked there was Trace looking down at me with a smile. It was a nice sight but also a figment of my imagination so even as I smiled back I closed my eyes and willed myself awake. His deep voice had my eyes snapping open.

"Are you okay?"

"You're really standing there."

His smile was more a grin when he replied, "As you see."

"That's just it, I don't trust my eyes," I muttered.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Nothing."

There was a devilish gleam in his eyes as he offered to me his hand and as I took it, I felt heat burn up my arm. One look at his face and I knew he felt it, too. We just stood there, his hand still wrapped around mine, as we stared at each other.

He seemed to recover before me when he offered rather softly.

"It was nice to see you again, Ember."

"You, too."

He started away from me and I heard myself calling after him.

"Trace?"

He stopped and looked back at me.

"I run here every morning at nine starting at the Gapstow Bridge and after my runs I go to the Starbucks on Fifth Avenue near the Park. If you're ever in the mood for a run I'd welcome the company."

His smile was sheer perfection before he replied, "I'll keep that in mind, Ember."

And then he was gone, disappearing into the crowd as I stood there staring after him.

I arrived at home a short time later fantasizing about a nice hot bath. As soon as I closed the door I heard the sounds which should have clued me in but I wasn't really paying close enough attention since my thoughts were preoccupied with the race and seeing and talking to Trace. It was only when I turned and looked into the living room that I blushed and quickly averted my eyes because Lena and Todd were having sex on the sofa. I rushed down the hall to my room when I heard Lena's cry of outrage directed at me.

"Ember, really!"

"Aren't you supposed to put a sock on the door, Lena."

"You weren't supposed to be home until later."

I couldn't actually believe we were having an argument while Todd was still thrusting. Perhaps I had stepped into an alternate universe because today was just full of surprises.

"Well go, Ember. Are you going to stand there and watch?"

She was pricking my temper so to be belligerent I walked around the sofa and just stared at her. The fact that I got to see more of Todd was an unpleasant side effect of my anger-induced move.

"You aren't really giving me shit for walking into my own apartment, are you Lena? If you and Todd want to get naked that's your business but if you choose to do so in the living room when you have a perfectly private bedroom, then you're going to have to expect interruptions."

I started down the hall and though I couldn't make out what Todd was saying I knew that he was talking about me.

I took an extra long bath so when I finally climbed out I looked like a prune but at least my temper had fizzled. I changed into some sweats, dried my hair and headed out into the kitchen. Lena was there, sitting at the table eating my leftover Chinese food. It was something she did all the time and usually I let it go but I was beginning to observe a pattern with Lena that I never saw before. She was selfish.

"You're eating my lunch, Lena."

She looked up at me and I could see she was still angry so I cocked my hip and held her gaze.

"Sex on the sofa, Lena, with a man you barely know."

She tried for haughty when she replied, "One thing led to another."

"Well, next time lead it down the hall to your bedroom because walking in and seeing your boyfriend's pasty-white ass is not high on my list of must sees. Hell, it isn't even on my list."

"You're just jealous." She said as she stood, leaving her plate on the table, as she started to her room.

I stood there watching her and realized that my best friend was turning into a bitch.

The following morning I went for my run and I won't lie; I was disappointed when I arrived and Trace wasn't there. I didn't really think that he was going to join me because, well, I wasn't all that interesting but I really wished he had. After my run I went for my coffee and then headed home. Todd was over again; I could hear them but at least they were in Lena's room so I won that argument. I showered and changed before settling in the living room to read. I didn't really like Todd because the man never spoke to me -- not even a hello or a goodbye. I didn't understand what it was that Lena saw in him. Yes, he was attractive but he had the personality of a dead fish. Another negative about Todd: Lena being with him was turning her into an uber bitch. I didn't want to think about them any more so I grabbed my book and lost myself in the world of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester.

A few days later I decided to blow off running since I felt like an idiot telling a man like Trace that I'd welcome his company on my runs -- as if he'd want to spend time with me. I blushed every time I replayed that conversation in my head and it was for this reason that I avoided interacting with men since I sucked at it.

I walked into the kitchen to brew some coffee and realized I was out of beans -- not cool. I changed into some sweats and headed out to Starbucks.

I was just down the street from coffee-heaven when I felt that odd shiver down my spine and knew that Trace was near. I looked across the street and saw him which had me feeling a ridiculous amount of joy because I thought that he was coming to see me. This delusion lasted for only a moment because a stunning woman stepped up next to him and linked her fingers with his.

My interest in him was silly because that man together with me would be as comical a notion as Brad Pitt and the little old lady from the "Where's the beef" commercial. Still, a girl could dream and did I ever about Trace. To be able to touch every inch of that body, to feel as those beautiful arms wrapped around me, to pull me close, the touch of his lips against my skin and to be the one to make him lose control as he moved so deeply inside of me, over and over, again...

Someone knocked into me, disrupting my very erotic daydream, which was a good thing since I was dangerously close to pulling a Meg Ryan. I didn't realize that I was staring at Trace during my entire fantasy so I quickly moved it along on legs that had grown surprisingly weak.

Since I wasn't going to get the man, I decided to settle for the most decadent chocolate coffee concoction Starbucks could think up. In addition to my drink and coffee beans, I tacked on four of their cake-pops to my order and, yes, I knew the whole purpose of those devilish delights was to enjoy the sin in moderation, but to hell with that.

I was just leaving the place, coffee in one hand, pop in the other, when the door opened and in walked Trace with his beauty. Ah hell, and here I just shoved the entire birthday cake-pop into my mouth. I tried to hide in the shadows, motionless, hoping that Trace was like a t-rex and that his vision was based on movement, but when his voice spoke my name, my shoulders slumped as I turned, looking very much like a cow grazing in a pasture. He was in his favorite outfit of faded jeans and a tee but, honestly, when you looked that good in something, hell yeah, wear it all the time. My eyes traveled up his arm, because that tattoo called to me and what that meant, I didn't know, but when my eyes finally found his I was surprised to see tenderness looking back at me.

"How are you, Ember?"

I put up my finger, giving myself a moment to finish my cake-pop, and noticed that though Trace was looking at me kindly, his date, not so much.

"Hi, Trace."

There was something intimate about the way his lips curved up as he held my gaze. Clearly, his friend noticed it too when she wrapped herself around him and pressed her very feminine body up against him."

"Come on, baby, let's go."

Trace's arm moved and, being so fixated on that fabulous appendage, I couldn't stop from watching as he wrapped it around her thin waist before his hand came to rest on her ass. It wasn't until he squeezed her and she moaned deep in her throat that I managed to pull my envious gaze from that back to his eyes only to find that he was still watching me. It was painful looking at the man you wanted more than a cake-pop and knowing you'd never have him because to do so would mean becoming one of many other notches on his bedpost. He must have seen something in my expression because his changed, ever so slightly, but standing near him was becoming too difficult so I smiled as I started around him.

"It was nice to see you again, Trace."

I walked out of Starbucks battling disappointment and stuffed another cake-pop into my mouth. I didn't feel like going home so I found a bench and sat down. There was a part of me -- a rather large part -- that sat there waiting to see Trace. It was stupid and very juvenile; I know, but I was crushing on the man. Yes, I was being immature and later I would have a stern talk with myself about acting my age.

Sooner than I would have thought he and the beauty queen appeared on the curb outside of Starbucks. I watched as Trace hailed a cab and felt my stomach drop just imagining where they were off to. A yellow cab pulled up to the curb and Trace opened the door for the woman but instead of following after her, he closed the door behind her. He didn't even wait for the cab to pull from the curb as he started down the street. Before I could argue with myself one way or the other, I was up and walking down the street after him. It could be argued that I was technically stalking him but I was just too damn curious about him. Based on his performance in Starbucks, I thought that he and beauty were getting ready to go horizontal for a while so the fact that he put her in a cab only moments after I left -- I couldn't deny it; I was intrigued.

I clearly was not cut out for undercover work since we hadn't even gone two blocks before Trace realized he had a tail. It was mortifying to lose him in a crush of people only to have him sneak up behind me a minute later. He spoke my name and I almost jumped ten feet off the pavement. I turned, knew I was the color of a fire truck, and was greeted to the most devilish smile that I'd ever seen.

"Are you following me, Ember?"

I tried to look outraged but was clearly as good an actress as I was a private investigator based on Trace's amused expression. "No, of course not. I was just walking. It's a wonderful form of exercise -- walking."

There was the slightest of grins pulling at the one side of his mouth before he offered, "I've heard that about walking."

I didn't know how I managed to hold his gaze since I knew that he knew I was lying. And then I shocked even myself. I blamed the sugar from the cake-pops or the caffeine or the adrenaline when I opened my mouth and asked, "So what happened to your friend?"

I paled and then blushed beet red. Trace's reaction was interesting. He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and rolled back on his heels. He held my gaze and I swear I saw humor dancing in his eyes before he said, "She was tired."