Ruthless: Contemporary Military Romance (15 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Foreigner’s
Hot Blooded
was playing on the bar radio. And that was exactly how Matt’s blood felt—hot, boiling. But not from desire or sexual energy, like in the song. It was rage that ran in his veins. It taken him a little while to get over Holly’s unexpected reaction, and when he had, he had followed her. He didn’t expect to find her in a bar, but something had told him to walk in when he found himself passing by the one near their motel. The scene that presented itself to him immediately made him see red with anger. Holly was backed up against the counter, trying to disengage herself by the insistent advances of two young men. She looked scared and uncomfortable, and they looked leery and arrogant.

If any of the patrons in the bar had noticed anything was amiss, they sure didn’t look like they were going to do something about, which only served to piss Matt off even more. Still, army training plus three tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan had taught him to maintain a level head even when extreme emotions threatened to take over. Matt took one deep breath and put himself into a focused, cool, killer state of mind. He was ready to act and react, but he wouldn’t let his fury dictate his moves.

He strode up just in time to hear Holly ask the men to leave her alone…and to hear the black-haired guy’s response. He clenched and unclenched his fists at his side. He needed to stay calm. He was trained in combat; if he didn’t keep control, he could seriously hurt these two, and he was pretty sure that being charged with assault was the last thing he needed.

“Is there a problem here?” He said, fully knowing that indeed, there was.

The men turned as one to stare at him. Holly’s frightened gaze snapped over to him. He could read the relief in her eyes.

“No problem,” the blond-haired guy said, flashing him a nauseating smile.

“The lady seems to think there is,” Matt argued coolly.

The blond-haired man sighed, exasperated. “Look, man,” he said, “this is none of your business. There’s nothing to see. Move along.”

“Oh, but it
is
my business.”

“Why?” The black-haired man snorted. “You her boyfriend or something?”

“Or something,” Matt said.

Next thing anyone knew, his fist was connecting powerfully with the black-haired guy’s jaw. He crashed to the ground like a rock and was out as a light.

“Don’t worry,” Matt said to the blond-haired guy, who was looking in shock at his fallen friend. “He’ll be fine, he’ll just have to deal with a killer headache when he wakes up.”

“You son of a—”

The man lunged at him, but Matt was quicker. In the blink of an eye, he had the guy immobilized with an arm twisted painfully behind his back and his face squished against the counter top.

“You were saying?” Matt twisted his arm further and the man cried out. “If I
ever
see you so much as looking in her direction again, I’ll break every single one of your bones. Same thing if you’re ever an asshole again to any other woman. Understood?” He gave the guy a shove.

“Understood!” The man cried, his voice having risen an octave or two.

The bartender picked that moment to rush out from the back of the bar. “What’s going on here?”

Matt impaled him with one look. “What’s going on is that you allow scum in your bar. You should look out for your customers.”

The man had the good grace to look halfway between embarrassed and terrified of the fury he could read on Matt’s tense features. “I…I was in the back…I didn’t notice…”

Matt’s eyes flashed at the stammering excuse. “You noticed. You knew. You were just too much of a coward to do anything.”

The bartender swallowed visibly. “What…uh…what about the other guy?” he asked in a scratchy voice, nodding towards the man sprawled unconscious on the floor.

“He’ll be all right,” Matt drawled. “Give him some ice and an aspirin when he wakes up.”

The bartender nodded numbly.

“As for you,” Matt said, giving his blond-haired victim one more shake. “I’m going to let you go now. I don’t want any trouble, all right?”

“All right,” the guy said immediately. “I won’t give you any, I swear.”

Matt nodded. He released the man brusquely and watched his satisfaction as the bastard sank to his knees. Satisfied that the situation had been taken care of, he turned his attention back to Holly.

“Are you okay?” He asked, walking up to her and scanning her figure for any bruise or other sign of physical distress.

Holly nodded. She stared at him with wide gray eyes. “I…that…that was very badass of you,” she proclaimed.

Matt stared at her. Given the terrified state in which she had been when he had walked in, that was definitely
not
the kind of answer he would have expected. He watched her closely for a few moments, and that was when he finally noticed her slightly glazed-over stare, her flushed cheeks, and her general unsteadiness on her feet. He all but gaped at her.

“Are you
drunk
?” He asked in shock.

“I think so,” Holly said. She giggled.

Matt stared at her some more, stunned. “Just how much did you have to drink?”

Holly shrugged. “I don’t know. A bit.”

“Four glasses of bourbon,” the bartender helpfully put in.

Matt’s eyes widened. “
Four
?” He had never seen Holly drink anything but beer. She must be wasted. He shook his head and couldn’t help an amused grin. “Let’s get you home.”

“Home?” Fear immediately washed over Holly’s features, and Matt mentally kicked himself at the poor choice of words.

“I mean to the motel,” he clarified quickly.

Holly relaxed instantly. “Oh,” she said. “Yes. Okay.”

She stumbled over to him. Matt caught her easily and snatched up her purse, which lay forgotten on a stool. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and led her out. He threw one last look behind his shoulder. The bar had emptied, the patrons probably having scattered when he began throwing punches. The bartender was staring at him with a mixture of amazement and fear, while the blond-haired man watched him leave with a still terrified look on his face. As for the black-haired guy, he was just beginning to stir.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Somehow, Matt managed to maneuver a very drunk Holly into the room. He kicked the door shut behind him and tossed her purse on the floor, his whole attention focused on keeping her upright. During the walk from the bar to the motel, the alcohol she had ingested seemed to have caught up with her completely. She was
very
unsteady on her feet, and her emotions were raw. So far, however, she seemed to only want to giggle at pretty much anything that was said or done.

Calling upon all of his patience, Matt led her to the bed and had her sit down on the mattress. He began to unzip her jeans.

Holly stared at him with an amused grin on her flushed face. “Really, Matthew? You’re going to take advantage of a drunk woman?”

Oh, God.
Again, if Matt had been prone to blushing, he would have. “No, I’m not,” he said immediately. “I’m just going to put you to bed.”

“And then what are you going to do to me?” Her gray eyes clouded over with something that had nothing to do with alcoholic gaze.

Matt swallowed hard. He could feel his cock stirring within the confinement of his pants, and he willed it to behave. “Nothing,” he said again. “You’re going to sleep it off.”

“I don’t need to sleep it off,” Holly said. She reached out to tug at the V-neck of his T-shirt. “I only need you.”

Oh,
good
God.
Matt swallowed past his suddenly dry throat. He licked his lips.

“You’ve no idea what you do to me,” Holly whispered. Her face was very close to his. He could smell the liquor on her breath, but he still wanted her.

Appealing to whatever strength of character he had left, Matt took her hand and gently pulled it away from his neck. She had begun to toy with his hair, and it was driving him mad in a
very
positive way. “I really don’t,” he admitted. “But this isn’t a good time to find out.”

Holly pouted. “Oh, Matt. What’s the matter?”

Matt sighed. “The matter is that you’re drunk.”

“So? I still want you. Don’t you want me?”

Fuck.
Matt exhaled slowly through his nose. “I want you, Holly,” he said sincerely. “I want you very much. In fact, I want you all the time. But it wouldn’t be right to do this now. You were very upset when you left earlier, remember?”

Holly stared at him. To his utter dismay, her eyes lost their playful twinkle and filled with tears at record speed. “I’m sorry,” she said, sniffling audibly. “I’m so sorry I stormed out like that. I just needed some time to myself.”

“I understand,” Matt said immediately, trying to avoid the crisis that having a drunk woman sobbing uncontrollably in his arms would bring. “It’s all right, really. Don’t worry about it.”

“No, but I do,” Holly said. “I
do
worry about it. You’ve been nothing but wonderful to me, and I’ve been a bitch.”

Matt blinked. Holly rarely cursed out loud, and every time was a bit of a shock to him. He smiled in amusement. “Seriously, it’s okay,” he said. “Don’t think about that right now. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

“In the morning, I may be too hungover to have a decent conversation,” she confessed.

Matt laughed. “Maybe,” he conceded. “But if we talk about it now, in the morning you won’t remember a thing.”

Holly laughed, too. “Touché,” she said.

He sighed in relief. Crisis averted…for now. “Listen, why don’t you finish taking off your pants, and I’ll get you some water?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to have sex with me right now?” Holly asked, casually enough that he did a double take.

“Seriously, Holly,” he said after a moment in which he had to regain his composure. She looked
so
damn inviting, sitting on the mattress and looking up at him like that. “I’m good. You, on the other hand, are not.” He winked. “Get yourself into that bed.
To sleep
,” he emphasized.

Holly huffed. “You’re no fun.”

Matt shook his head and walked to the tiny kitchen. He grabbed the biggest cup he could find and filled it up with water from the tap. By the time he got back to the main area of the room, Holly was snoring softly. She had managed to take off her jeans and sandals and was laying sprawled on the sheets. Matt sighed heavily. He put the cup on her nightstand and then gently maneuvered so that she was snuggled up under the thin sheet. He gently pushed the hair off of her face. He let his fingertips linger over her cheek for a moment before he pulled back.

Unable to even think about sleeping, he retreated to the kitchen area and made himself some coffee, which he later nursed as he sat at the tiny table. The warm feeling of the hot mug nestled between his palms was oddly comforting. It was a clear night, and the air was slightly chilly. Matt inhaled the fresh scent coming from the ocean and was very grateful that the kitchen’s table had been conveniently placed by one of the room’s two windows.

From where he was sitting, he watched Holly sleep. He wondered what had gotten into her. Holly was normally a level headed woman. Despite her sheltered background, she was responsible and down-to-earth. It wasn’t like her to storm off like she had done earlier that evening, and it sure as hell wasn’t like her to go off to a bar and get drunk alone.

He shuddered as he thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t walked in when he did. He curled his hands tighter around the mug as a renewed wave of anger washed over him. He watched as his knuckles turned white. All in all, he figured he should be proud of himself tonight. He had showed incredible levels of self-control—first by somehow managing to avoid killing or, at the very least, inflicting serious damage to those two asshole at the bar, and then by finding the strength to refuse Holly’s advances.

I deserve a fucking medal,
he thought.

Holly was irresistible. She did things to him no woman had ever done before. And it wasn’t just about her body, her…although it was a damn fine body indeed. It was about her mind. It was about her,
all
of her.

Matt sighed and shook his head. He had lost his determination to push her away. He simply loved her too much to make concrete steps in that lonely direction. His sister needed him; that was true. But after tonight, he realized that maybe, just maybe, Holly needed him too. He still had no clue what was bothering her, but whatever it was, it must be something serious indeed. She had reacted like a wounded animal to his earlier prying, lashing out in order to push him as far away from her as possible and be left alone to lick her wounds. Matt had no intention of leaving her alone. Whatever her wounds were, he would tend to them.

He took a long sip of coffee and relished the sensation of the dark bitter liquid sliding down his throat. He knew it was all just temporary. He knew that, sooner or later, reality would come a-knocking again and he would have to answer the call. Before he did that, however, he had to make sure Holly was all right. At the very least, he had to make sure she would never do something as stupid as what she had done tonight. It had been too much of a close call, and it had made him realize just how inexperienced Holly was. She was so carefree that he tended to forget that she had absolutely no life experience at all. She didn’t know how the world outside of her parents’ house worked. Matt knew only too well, and he resolved right then and there to provide her with some survival skills before he said goodbye.

Provided that he would ever work up the nerve to let her go.

Eventually, Matt forced himself to go to bed, but he did not sleep. Still, he pretended to be doing just that when Holly got up in the middle of the night to throw up noisily in the bathroom. Matt cringed, but he never said a word and pretended to be snoring softly when she stumbled back to bed. He figured she must be embarrassed enough.