Touching Scars (9 page)

He leaned over so he was eye level with me. “I suppose I was. But if I were
really
flirting with you, I’d make sure you knew it.”

I swallowed hard. It was already in the upper nineties outside and him being this close made me feel like my skin was on fire. Desperate for an excuse to move away from him and cool off, I stood abruptly and announced, “I’m going for a swim.”

Looking down at him, he was leaned in towards my beach towel, with one arm in the sand supporting his weight and the other resting across his knee. He lifted his head just enough so that I could see his pale blue eyes checking me out. I felt like I was on display. His gaze went from my face, down to my breasts that were very much out there for his viewing pleasure, and then moved further down to my stomach that I felt was too pudgy but I still worked out enough to keep thin. He swept his eyes down my legs and back up again. He was breathing harder, and I couldn’t take the intensity of his stare. I quickly shimmied out of my shorts and moved down the beach to the water. The Gulf during the summer months was like stepping into bath water. It stayed at a steady eighty-five degrees.. When I was completely submerged to the top of my breasts, I turned around in time to see that Timber was standing up to remove his grey wife beater.

Fuck. Me.

He was perfect. Wading out here in the water far enough that he couldn’t tell exactly where my eyes were trained, I stared at him unabashed. I’d never seen anything like him before, at least not in person or where Photoshop hadn’t had anything to do with it.

Timber was tall. Last night I had noticed that he towered over me by almost a good foot. His long, lean legs easily displayed his height. When he turned around to toss his shirt on my beach towel his firm ass was in perfect view. If I didn’t know it before, I certainly did now. I…was…an ass girl. Licking my lips, I imagined putting my hands on his firm cheeks and squeezing. When he turned back and started making his way towards where I was floating, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the way his swim trunks hung low on his hips. He had a beautifully sculpted V that made me imagine what sort of prize it led to. There was a trail of dark hair that ran from his belly button and disappeared underneath the fabric. Just above his navel I saw the most incredible set of abs I’d ever seen. I remembered seeing Timber with his shirt off in high school during football practice when I was running around the track, but his body had never been this hard or sculpted. He’d been thinner, leaner. I knew being out on the oil field kept him in shape, but I was certain he worked out too. Nobody that worked with my uncle was that ripped. My eyes continued their journey north, noticing the many tattoos that graced his body. On the left side of his ribcage was a tat that said the word ‘Faith’. There were words underneath it but he was still too far away to discern what they were. Up around his pecs were some swirl designs that looked really intricate. He had the words ‘cursed with a blessing’ written in a hard-edged script on his collarbone.
I wondered why he would put those words on his body. He had a sleeve on his right arm that I’d already seen but I really wanted to look at close up.

Speaking of close up, he had moved nearer to me and I directed my gaze to his full lips that were surrounded with dark scruff, and then to his eyes. Those blue eyes that I could get lost in. They wrinkled slightly at the corners and I realized that he was grinning at me.

As he approached me he said, “Get a good look? I can do a twirl if you’d like me to.”

I’d been caught. Fine. If he wanted to act like an arrogant ass, I’d play too. Slowly moving through the water, I got up close to him. The water was hitting me around my breasts while it was only hip level for him. Reaching up, I touched the tattoo around his collarbone. He held completely still, allowing my perusal. I wasn’t sure if I shocked him because I was touching him or if he was pacifying me. Trailing my finger from one side of his broad chest to the other, I reached his right shoulder. Adding a couple more fingers to the mix, I slowly allowed them to slink down to his elbow.
My fingertips were on fire just from touching his beautifully shaded skin. Placing my hand under the bend of his arm, I lifted it so the artwork that decorated him was almost eye level to me.

I had started this quest initially in an attempt to make him as uncomfortable as he made me. I wanted to see him squirm. Instead, I found myself genuinely intrigued by the bright colors, the meanings behind the designs, and why he decided to brand his body. Having tattoos myself, I knew they meant something. Inspecting every little inked inch, I saw an octopus, flowers, a demon, and a koi fish similar to my own. I was about to put his arm up to make him twirl and make a smart ass comment, since I had only made myself uncomfortable, but something caught my eye. Hidden in the depths of the color were small raised marks. No, not just marks, they were scars. My eyes shifted to his, silently asking where they came from.

Timber cleared his throat and pulled his arm out of my grasp. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

Not sure of what to make of his change in subject, I let him have this one. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to talk about it. I knew that if I pushed and asked him questions, it would only open it up for him to ask me questions that I’d never answer.

Turning my body so I faced away from him, I said, “Yeah, it’s perfect.”

Timber was standing off to the side of me, looking in the same direction I was. We stood there for so long that I knew I’d be all wrinkly when I got out. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, and I knew it was almost time for me to wander back in and head home. The wind was starting to pick up a bit, and the waves were becoming rougher, causing my body to sway. At one point, a strong swell pushed me into Timber’s front.

The feel of his skin on mine was, in one word,
electrifying
. A zap went straight through my heart
. His hands came up and grabbed hold of my waist to steady me.

“Whoa, easy there.” I turned my head to look up at him. “Good thing I was standing here or you would have went under.”

I couldn’t say a thing in response. I just stared at him standing behind me, holding me up. I hadn’t realized that my mouth was open until he let go of my hip with one of his hands and brought it up to my chin. He used his finger to gently push my jaw to close my mouth. I should have been embarrassed, but I wasn’t in the least. My heart was beating so fast I swore that he’d see my pulse under the skin of my exposed neck. He was breathing heavier and I watched his eyes dart all over my face. We both seemed to be lost in some sort of hypnotic trance. His hand had come up and cupped the side of my face, and it was almost shocking how tender it felt. What was he doing to me? Just when I saw him leaning in, and I knew he was going to kiss me, a massive wave hit us both and we fell backwards, catching us off guard. Going under, he reached for me to help lift me out of the water. I had sucked in some water through my nose and it burned. He must have emerged from the surface first because he as he hauled me up, I came out sputtering and coughing.

“You okay?” He looked concerned.

I wiped my nose, my eyes watering. “Christ, that one took me by surprise.”

“You? I’m grown man and it took me down.” I could hear the amusement in his voice.

I gave him a small grin and turned to walk back up on shore. “Well, I’m not going to stand out here and wait for another one to pummel me. Besides, I’m starving. I need to head home and make myself some dinner.”

He was following right behind me. I was hoping that he wouldn’t mention whatever that was that just happened out there. I didn’t want to analyze it, and I didn’t want it to happen again. I think?

When we got back up to my towel, I reached down to grab it and wrapped it around my body. With the wind blowing, I felt myself shiver.

“Are you cold?” He started to step into me, but I took a step backwards.

“No, not really.” I looked down at my feet, not wanting to meet his eyes.

Timber frowned at my retreat. He ran his hand through his soaked, messy black hair. It was sticking up every which way, which caused a giggle to bubble up.

“What?” He asked.

“Your hair is a complete wreck!” I smirked.

He shook his head, which caused little droplets to fly in my direction. I held my hands up, trying to block them. I squeaked and laughed.

When he stopped, he was smiling at me. Quirking his eyebrow up in a silly fashion, he said, “How about now. Better?”

I tipped my head to the side and tried to hide my grin by biting the inside of my cheek. “Much. You don’t look like a wet dog at all!”

He let out a chuckle and looked over my shoulder. “Wet dog… never heard that one before. I suppose some dogs can be cute wet.”

Huh uh. He was digging for a compliment and he was barking up the wrong tree. Pun intended. I wouldn’t give him one, especially when I was supposed to be guarding myself around him. Rolling my eyes, I bent down, gathered all my belongings, and started the trek towards my car. I heard the shuffle of the sand behind me.

“Hey, Kat?” He walked to his car which was parked next to mine.

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you come over to my place for dinner? I don’t have much in the way of food, but I could stop at the store real quick and pick up some noodles. I make a pretty mean spaghetti.”

My first instinct was to tell him ‘fuck no’, get in my car, and drive away. However, the look on his face said he was genuinely hopeful I’d say yes. Why was he taking so much interest in me? I still needed to find out if he had an alternative reason for being in Port O’Connor. This place is barely a pinpoint on the map. People don’t just randomly show up here. However, I couldn’t ignore that I was drawn to him. How could I let him down easy? I didn’t want him to look like a wet dog
and
look like I kicked him. Deciding to offer up something else in a place where I could control the environment, I gave him a different option. It would be a way for me to get some information out of him.

“I think I’m going to pass on the dinner.” His face fell. “But, Mel, Beaver, and I are playing Clubs after the bar closes tomorrow. We don’t bet money or anything like that, but we drink and relax.” I said.

His eye lit up. “Are you asking me to stop by?”

“No, I’m not asking you anything, just throwing it out there so you don’t have to stalk me. I’m telling you my plans. I guess if you just so happened to be there, then I suppose we could make it a four person card game instead of our usual three.” I refused to give him the satisfaction of me actually inviting him.

“I suppose I could see where I end up tomorrow then.” He winked at me before he climbed onto his Harley and rode away.

Son of a bitch! What was I thinking? I’d just invited a shark into a pool of blood. There was no way I was going to walk away from tomorrow night unscathed. He was going to start asking me questions. I was clearly vulnerable around him. My body’s reaction to him was purely lustful. But maybe I could avoid any unwanted inquiries that centered on me. Beaver and Mel would be there to act as my buffers, so I at least had that. I could be the one to mix the drinks, not have any alcohol myself, and I’d be able to stay in control. Yes, that’s what I’d do. Only one problem…my plans seem to go to shit when he’s involved.

I was wrapping up a long day at work later than I normally do. Today felt like it had gone on forever. Of course, I’d been thinking about Kat the entire time. She was consuming my thoughts and it fucking pissed me off. Somehow in the last few days I’d found myself wanting to be around her, just to know what she was doing. I’d gone from being a total hard ass to a pussy-whipped, love sick puppy. Well, minus the whole love part. Maybe I shouldn’t go to the bar tonight. I sighed. I knew that I’d end up there anyway so why even try to tell myself I wouldn’t?

Most of the guys had headed out already, but I had stuck around to fix one of the augers that had broken down last week. The part had come in but we hadn’t had time to replace it, with deadlines hanging over us to drill a certain depth every day. I was just packing up my tools when Roger came walking over to me. Shit. I didn’t know what this was about, but I could only assume it had to do with Kat. His face was impassive as he stopped and stood in front of me. I was squatting down, grabbing the last wrench off the ground.

“Nelson, I have a few things I need to discuss with you. When you get finished here come meet me in the trailer.”

I nodded, letting him know that I heard him. He turned and walked back where he came from. Great. I wonder if somehow word got around to him that I’d showed up at the bar the night after Kat’s birthday and he’s going to rip me a new one. I don’t think he’d fire me because I’m too good. Standing up, I brushed my nearly black hands on my pants and made my way to the trailer. Walking into the cool air, Roger was sitting at the desk that Slim normally occupied during the day, but he had already gone home.

“Have a seat,” he said as he finished typing out something on the computer.