Rise (Elemental Hearts Book 2) Read online

  Levi snickered. “You say that, but you take care of your hair just like a beauty queen.”

  “Fuck you. You’re just jealous.” He pushed his hand through his shoulder-blade length hair, proud of every glistening strand.

  Levi was quiet for a few seconds. “Brooke wasn’t in your business, she was concerned for you. For some reason, she doesn’t see what a dick you are.”

  His gut twinged. He liked Brooke, her strength, her bravery. Only, her presence here at the compound, her relationship with Levi, were a constant irritation he couldn’t explain.

  “Whatever.”

  Silence followed them down to the ground floor, and thankfully Levi left him alone all the way to the bar.

  But his thorn was waiting for him.

  Emory sipped her drink and tried not to look like she was waiting for someone, when she totally was.

  She had been waiting for about four months now.

  Ever since her baby was two weeks old, and things had gotten serious. She should be at home being a mother. Or barring that, getting some much-needed rest while the babysitter watched Jackson. Normal, happy things. Instead she was here again, still waiting.

  Tonight, she could barely stand it all. The dim light, the cigarette smoke. The drunk men who thought a woman sitting alone was begging for company. It was exhausting, working and taking care of her baby all day, and then spending a few hours every evening waiting for him to come through the door.

  But what else was she supposed to do? She only knew his name and that he was a soldier. And that she’d thought about him every day since the one night they’d spent together, even before it became imperative that she find him.

  Emory swirled her straw, wishing there was whiskey mixed in her drink tonight. A buzz would be welcome. She probably seemed like an alcoholic to everyone else anyway, when in reality she never touched a drop. She’d never drive with alcohol in her system. Or breastfeed that way, either.

  She rubbed her temples, trying to stave off the exhaustion headache ballooning there. How much longer could she do this? Wait for him? How long before she had to come up with another plan? She couldn’t afford the babysitting fees much longer. Her sporadic work-from-home income wouldn’t be enough to cover them once her savings were gone, which would be soon. And going back to her nursing job was out of the question. She couldn’t leave her son with a babysitter in the daytime.

  She could have a babysitter in the evenings and at night, because Jackson was calm while he was sleeping. No freak-outs, no mysterious powers. As long as she made it home before he woke for his first feeding, everything was fine.

  But the rest of the time, everything was so not fine.

  Tonight, giving up seemed like an option. Taking her son and running, going somewhere new. She’d already given up her job at the hospital, and any hope of ever going back to it. The only thing keeping them here now was her house, and her need to find Ajax. But this problem would follow them, and she couldn’t give her son any semblance of normalcy on the run. Jackson was getting worse. She needed answers, and the father of her child was the only one who could give them.

  She had to find him.

  It made her sick to her stomach, thinking of what Jackson would have to face if she couldn’t find Ajax. Who might want him if she couldn’t keep him a secret? Who might show up at her door and try to take him from her? That was what kept her coming here night after night.

  “Getcha’ another refill, Sweety?”

  Emory looked up at Christie, her waitress, and shook her head with an attempt at a smile. “No, I think I’m going to leave in a little bit.”

  “So soon?”

  “Yeah, I’m just not feeling it tonight.”

  “Okay, doll,” Christie said, but she didn’t walk away. Quietly she asked, “Who are you waiting for?”

  Emory held on to her smile though it felt like plastic on her face.

  She’d got to know many of the waitresses and bartenders the last few months. They never gave her grief and were always good for some light conversation. They never questioned her virgin drinks or her lonely table in the corner. They never questioned her, even when she asked not-so-subtle questions about the rough-looking soldiers that sometimes came here. Until now.

  And what could she say, really?

  I’m waiting on the father of my child.

  True, but terribly lame.

  I’m waiting on a one-night stand that never should have happened.

  Also true, but not something that she would change now even if she could.

  I’m waiting for a man who may be more extraordinary than even I thought he was.

  She’d thought he was extraordinary enough to sleep with after one date. That was saying a lot. She’d never done anything like that before, or since. But there had just been something about Ajax that made her behave out of character. Something that had tempted her beyond her ability to resist.

  Something unusual.

  But Emory couldn’t say any of that.

  She opened her mouth, still not sure how she was going to respond, when the door opened.

  When she glanced over, all the air left the room in a rush.

  She couldn’t speak, couldn’t blink. Couldn’t breathe.

  Face grim, jaw clenched, eyes cast down, Ajax strode into the bar behind another man.

  But when his teal eyes flashed over and met hers, he stopped and tensed, his body rigid.

  If not for a brief memory of a mysterious glow in Ajax’s eyes, Emory wouldn’t be here. Wouldn’t have been looking and waiting for Ajax these past few months when she should have been at home with her child instead. She had brushed it off at the time, told herself she was imagining things, but she’d seen that glow again since that night with Ajax. In her son’s eyes.

  And she was looking at it again.

  “Him,” she whispered, eyes following Ajax as he changed direction and strode toward her, his gaze brightening as his lips tilted up in a warm, sexy smile.

  “I’m waiting for him.”

  Ajax couldn’t believe his luck. There she was again, brick red hair in a ponytail that rested on her shoulder, her green eyes deep and stunning in the dim light. The woman that had rocked him to his core.

  As he walked up to her table, the memories of that night rushed through him. That single night that had kept him awake for hundreds more since.

  “Emory.” He slid into the seat across from her, taking in the same soft skin and red hair that had been haunting his dreams for a year.

  The waitress opened her pad, glancing back and forth between them. “Can I get you a drink?”

  He didn’t look away, absorbing the way Emory’s eyes traveled over him, the little O of surprise on her lips that she couldn’t seem to talk past.

  “Whiskey please. And another Coke for her.”

  The look on her face said she was remembering that night as well, down to their drinks, like he was.

  “Ajax. You’re here.” Her voice was exactly as he remembered it, and the sound of it affected him like a hot breath down his collar.

  He took her hand in his, a half shake, half squeeze. “I am. And so are you. Waiting for me?” he teased, the year since he last saw her disappearing into the ether. It felt as if they were picking up where they left off. Like she left his bed hours ago, instead of months ago.

  “Yes,” she said, still looking shell-shocked. She shook her head. “I mean, sort of. What are you doing here?”

  “I came for a drink with him,” he said, tilting his head at Levi. He was at the bar, staring very intently in their direction.

  And he didn’t give a fuck. Let him wonder. “And you?”

  “I’ve been… hoping to see you here.”

  She’d been waiting for him? The idea was enough to make him want to carry her off to his bed right here and now.

  If he’d had any idea she would ever come back, he would have made an effort to stick around here more. He said as much, and felt her heartbeat flutter und
er his fingers.

  The waitress came and set the drinks between them.

  “Can I get you anything else, doll?” She was clearly addressing Emory, but stared tight-lipped at him.

  He arched an eyebrow at her until Emory declined and the waitress walked away.

  He turned back to Emory. She hadn’t pulled her hand away, so he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, breathing in the scent of her.

  Somehow it was even sweeter, softer than he remembered. All of her was, in fact. Except her eyes. There was something there that wasn’t before. A certain look, and dark rings under her eyes.

  “What have you been up to, Emory?”

  She pressed her lips together as she shrugged. The shyness was back. But when she looked up at him, there was a glossiness to her eyes that made him nervous. “Is there somewhere we could go to talk?” she asked, voice thick.

  “We can talk here, can’t we?”

  “More… Privately?”

  He couldn’t tell if she was too shy to say she wanted to leave with him, or if she just wanted to talk. It didn’t matter; he was hers for the evening, for whatever.

  After a glance around the room, he stood and gave her hand a slight tug. She stood with him and followed him to the back hallway. The only thing it led to was the back door, so no one should bother them, not even a waitress.

  She leaned back against the wall, hands behind her, the red light from the exit sign making her look more fragile.

  He rested a shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms, waiting for her to speak.

  She gave him a little side smile. “I wondered what it would be like, seeing you again. If it would be weird. If it would feel the same.”

  “And is it?

  “Weird?” she laughed. “A little. It barely seems like it’s been a year.”

  “And does it feel the same?” Say yes. Say that connection we felt is still there.

  He didn’t know why he wanted to hear those words so bad, but he did.

  “I don’t know,” she said, looking up into his eyes. “Kiss me?”

  But damn, if those words didn’t work too.

  He swept a hand behind her neck and brought her lips to his, not giving her shyness a chance to change her mind.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Emory shouldn’t have asked for a kiss, hadn’t really needed to test this thing between them. It was all still there. The pull, the attraction. The sense that he was like no one else. That he saw her in a way no one else did.

  Oh, yes.

  She’d known it the moment he walked in the door and his gaze had zeroed in on her. Why had she thought a year would make any difference? Or the situation? He was the only man who had ever affected her like this. It made no sense and made everything much harder, but she still wanted him like she wanted her next breath. That same crazy feeling that had snuck up on her during their very first meeting was still there, and the time since she’d seen him last had not diminished it at all. It was just like the first night they met…

  He had sat across from her, just talking about nonsense until she had realized that she’d been there an hour past when she’d meant to leave. He shouldn’t have been able to keep her there, this cocky guy who’d sat down at her table assuming he could take the place of her date. He was so not her type.

  Hers was the business suit type, the stable job type. The nice guy. Definitely not the breathtakingly sexy type, usually. With long, straight blond hair, a goatee, and a black leather jacket.

  But she was so glad her type hadn’t shown up.

  Because from where she was sitting, Ajax seemed to have every reason to be arrogant. He was easily the most handsome man she’d ever met, a mix between a rock star and a Viking. Also funny, and effortlessly charming. And surprisingly sweet. And he had these amazing teal eyes that seemed to look into the core of her and steal her breath away. Eyes that seemed to focus on her, see her, make her feel like she was literally the only other person in the world.

  Had she ever had that from anyone? Certainly not either parent.

  All of that made the whisper of attraction she’d felt when she first saw him from across the room harder to ignore. Much harder, as in impossible. And some time in the last few hours, that whisper had grown into a gale.

  “Did you get your name from the dish soap?” She put the coke glass to her lips to hide the grin.

  His eyes flashed for a second. “No. It means ‘eagle’.” But then one side of his mouth went up slowly. “And the air is kind of my element, so…” He shrugged.

  “Oh, do you fly?” she asked, wondering if that was part of his military skill-set.

  Now he was the one covering a grin with his drink, but she caught the corner of it before he a took a sip, and it was there in the sparkle of his eyes that made them look lighter.

  “Only when I can manage it without other people seeing.”

  Emory giggled at his joke, a light sound she hadn’t heard from herself in a while.

  Her whole body was warm, her cheeks flushed. Inside, she was giddy and light and reckless. It was illogical, insane, and dangerous, but she wanted him.

  God, how she wanted him.

  Every time his eyes met hers, her heart pounded in her throat, caught there by a dizzy surge of heat through her body.

  She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she giggled drunkenly at a comment he made. No, she hadn’t been drinking; her Coke was still just a Coke. She was drunk on him.

  Most of the people there had long ago paired off and left, including the three other men he’d been sitting with earlier in the night. The bar was being wiped down, the floor mopped. It had to be two a.m., and yet here they were, still. Neither wanting to say goodbye.

  “How come you haven’t asked me to leave with you for the night yet?”

  He raised his eyebrows at her sudden question.

  She’d expected him to ask, had been wondering how she’d answer. She wanted to say yes, but didn’t know if she could. “That’s why you came over here, right?”, she questioned softly.

  “I did, yes.” He flashed her a breezy grin, but then shrugged and looked away, fiddling with a napkin. “But I gave up on that a couple hours ago.”

  “Why?”

  His eyes flashed to hers and then back down. “I can tell that’s not your thing.” He gave another shrug and met her eyes with a self-deprecating half smile. “And I was having such a good time getting to know you that I figured… If I could only have one night with you, it was still a night well spent.”

  If it was a line, it was the best she’d ever heard. That it wasn’t a line made the decision easier for her.

  “Only one night?” She couldn’t deny the little sting at the thought that there was nothing more possible in the future for them.

  “My job and—” Some emotion crossed over his face before his eyes refocused on her, “—other things, make attachments impossible. And I’m already feeling a little attached. I don’t want the night to be over.”

  She licked her suddenly dry lips as she stared at the table. He’d picked the right thing to say. She didn’t want it to be over either.

  Was she really going to do this?

  “If I asked, would you come to—” Common sense prevented her from asking him to her place. “ —To a hotel with me?”

  She held her breath while she waited for his answer, her pulse pounding in her head, blood heating her cheeks, her ears. He was quiet so long that she finally had to lift her eyes to his. She exhaled in a rush.

  His eyes were dark, his smile molten as he twirled a toothpick between his fingers. “If I could have a night with you, I’d be all in. If you’re sure.” His smile faded slightly, but the heat was still there in his gaze. “I can only do tonight, Emory.”

  All in. For one night, she’d know what it was like to be the sole focus of someone as extraordinary as him.

  “Be sure,” he’d added in a whisper, his eyes almost glowing in the dim light.

  She’d swallowe
d and held his bright gaze. “I’m sure.”

  That same chemistry that had made her act out of character at their first meeting had her breathless in his arms again now.

  Her hands clenched in his long hair as his tongue swept in between her teeth, his hips pressing in close to hers.

  A molten shiver went down her spine as she felt the evidence that all of it was still there for him too.

  Don’t spoil this yet, a little voice inside said.

  Too many nights alone, hungry for him. Dreaming of what ifs and maybes, and re-living every moment of the night that changed her life forever.

  She rocked against him, just a little, hoping to assuage the ache that was a year in the making. Instead, she moaned into his mouth, wishing she could give in just one more time. Wishing things were different. Wishing… No, she couldn’t regret her baby boy, and she couldn’t let him down either. He deserved a chance at a normal life.

  She tore her lips away from his and gasped for air as his lips traveled down her neck, her collarbone.

  “Ajax…” His mouth captured hers again, and she melted into the kiss for another minute. Then his hand swept up from her hip to her breast, brushing across her hard nipple and stealing the breath from her lungs.

  Oh. God. Don’t stop.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, the voice louder than ever.

  Guilt pricked at her. She wasn’t here to get her rocks off, she was here to protect her child. She couldn’t afford to let Ajax distract her this time, she had to focus on Jackson. “Ajax, wait. Please.”

  He pulled away, both of them breathing hard. His hand smoothed into her hair as he waited for her to speak.

  Please let this be the right thing, she prayed. Her heart clenched as she looked into his eyes.

  “We need to talk.”

  We need to talk.

  Unease snaked up Ajax’s spine. They had one night together, and it was obvious they both wanted another. What more was there to talk about?

  Maybe she was still nervous. That was okay, he could get past that again.

  “What’s up, Emory?”

  “Can we go outside? I need some…air.” Her eyes turned wary, and she backed a step away from him. She looked nervous, afraid.