Chapter Five

Raven stomped around the house for hours, cleaning what didn’t need cleaning, cursing men, their arrogance and their damned alpha, dominant, gung-ho, hero complexes.

She had cursed both Reno and her brother Clint for years for the very things that made them so special. They were warriors, determined to protect, to make a difference. And they did make a difference. But he was still being arrogant. Relationships weren’t war zones.

“There is no relationship, dammit,” she muttered furiously, stepping out of the shower and drying off quickly before fluffing her hair.

She was not going to sit around tonight and wait for him. She had waited for him too many nights, pacing the floor with Morganna, chewing her fingernails if they knew he was on a mission, shedding tears when he was later returning home than he had told his sister he would be. She and Morganna both waited for that black government car that would bring the horrifying news of a death.

Now, she was supposed to sit around the damned house and torture herself over feelings and emotions she knew she was never going to be rid of.

She loved him.

Dammit, she did love him but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

She jerked the red silk and lace thong panties and bra from her drawer arid pulled them on, knowing they looked good on her. Sexy and hot. They made her feel wicked and wild. Almost as wicked and wild as Reno made her feel.

Biting her lip, her hands moved slowly, cupping her swollen breasts as her thumbs rasped over her distended nipples. She closed her eyes, and could almost feel him touching her, making the heated burn ignite fiercely in the depths of her womb.

He wasn’t supposed to do this to her. Make her miss him so desperately, make her wish she could accept as easily as he did. But he wasn’t the one who would be left to pace the floors, to fill with anger. And that was the part that terrified her. She didn’t want to be like her mother, always angry or depressed, terrified when she heard the sound of a vehicle coming up the drive.

Reno and Morganna’s parents had died six years before in a car accident. Together. There had been no government condolences, no questions were ever answered regarding how they died. Where they died. The questions Raven’s mother had asked every day until her death.

She plucked the sexy little black dress she loved so much out of her closet as the past ate at her soul with a hollow ache. It fell halfway down her thighs, the thin straps barely covering the bra straps as the bodice draped over her breasts. The shimmery black silk felt good on her, looked good on her.

She paired it with the high-heeled, black strappy sandals and drew in a deep breath before shoving keys, cash and ID into a minuscule purse and headed downstairs.

She wasn’t married. She didn’t have to sit at home and pace the floors and she damned sure didn’t have to worry about Reno Chavez or his perceptions and arrogance. Let him sit and brood if he wanted to. She was going to play.

She was bored out of her ever-loving mind, but she wasn’t going to admit it to Morganna, who had joined her on her little evening adventure.

“Reno’s going to be pissed,” was Morganna’s only objection to the night’s activities as they walked into the small club, the pulse of the music surrounding them, the smoky atmosphere dim and not nearly as appealing as Raven tried to pretend it was.

“He’ll live,” she snapped. “Your brother is entirely too dominant, Morganna. And I’m still pissed at you for letting your friends use his bed.”

“Of course he’s dominant,” Morganna laughed as they made their way through the crowd to the back of the club and a lone empty table. “He wouldn’t do what he does if he wasn’t. Admit it, Raven, it’s one of the things you love about him.”

It was one of the things that terrified her about him.

“No, that’s what you love about Clint.” She took her chair and looked around impatiently for the waitress. “I like my men a little safer. You know, Morg, the ‘stay at home and hearth’ type of guy?”

She waved the waitress over, impatient to get on with forgetting about Reno and his arrogant my-way-or-no-way attitude.

“You like fooling yourself is what you like,” Morganna laughed after they gave the waitress their drink orders. “But you go right ahead. I like watching Reno in action. He’s smooth. Clint should take lessons.”

Raven directed a dark look at her friend.

“Drop the subject. I’m here to have a good time, not to talk about Reno.”

She danced with the first man who asked, not the up close, slow and sway, but a fast hard beat that filled her veins and allowed her to ignore the memories threatening to overwhelm her senses.

She sat out the slower dances, a rare occurrence for her, which only made her angrier. But she couldn’t stand the thought of another man holding her, not yet. God, how pathetic was that, she wondered as she moved to the hard beat echoing though the club.

She swayed in time to songs, her hair flowing down her back, caressing her upper shoulders, reminding her of Reno’s touch. She closed her eyes and saw his face, only to snap them open and glare at her present partner.

She glanced across the room and her heart shuddered in her chest as she swore she caught a glimpse of him moving through the crowd. No one could move like Reno, with a male predatory grace that drew the eye and had women panting to rub against him like cats.

Shaking her head, she pushed the suspicion away.

She didn’t know why she was letting this affect her so drastically. The physical attraction had bloomed between them for years now. She had known that she would eventually end up beneath Reno in bed; she just hadn’t expected the raw power of it.

She moved back as the rawboned, broad young man she was dancing with reached out to clasp her hip, flashing him an irritated frown when he pouted back at her. She wasn’t in the mood to be groped. She wanted to dance, expend the energy pulsing in her body and forget about the one man she knew would be cemented in her brain forever now.

As the band paused, preparing to strike up another number, a hard hand suddenly gripped her wrist, pulling her around as she gasped in surprise.

Oh hell. Reno was pissed.

She stared up at him, aware of the immediate hardening of her nipples and their ultrasensitivity against the lace of her bra. Between her thighs, her clit began to throb with the same furious, hard beat of her heart.

“Well, fancy seeing you here,” she yelled out above the music as he began to drag her across the dance floor. “Let me guess, Morganna called you.”

“Morganna shows good sense at the oddest moments.” His head turned, eyes narrowed on her as he began to pull her out of the crowd. He stalked across the room, heading for the shadowed corner of her table. Rather than being pushed into one of the chairs there, she found herself flattened against the wall as his head lowered, his lips at her ear.

“What are you doing here?” She stared up at him defiantly. “I don’t remember inviting you.”

“No, you were too damned busy running away from me,” he snapped.

She should have told him then and there she didn’t want him, didn’t need him, but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

“Jealous, Reno?” She was breathing harder, her nipples pebbled and pressed tight against her dress.

“Not jealous at all,” he assured her tightly. “You wouldn’t let another man touch you, would you, Raven? You know who that sweet little body belongs to, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” She smiled slowly, aware of the drowsy passion that reflected in her expression. “Me.”

He nipped her ear firmly, sending shudders racing through her. “I’m going to paddle your ass for that one.”

“Oh, spank me.” She gave a mock shiver, her voice sarcastic despite the tremors of trepidation skittering up her spine.

She gave a startled jerk as he imprisoned both wrists in one hand, holding them above her head as the other moved to the back of her thigh, running up the skirt of the dress to cup one rounded cheek of her ass firmly.

The feel of his hand, callused and warm, had her breath catching in her throat. The implied threat in the action should have pissed her off, at the very least should have made her more nervous than aroused.

“Oh baby, I will spank you.” To prove his point, his hand moved back before delivering a light, warming tap to her flesh. “You have no idea how well I’m going to spank that pretty little ass. If you wanted to play the vixen, sweetheart, then you knew where I was. You could have come to me.”

Her head fell back against the wall as his fingers slid beneath the edge of her panties and trailed down the narrow crevice separating her buttocks.

“I wanted to forget about you, not run to you,” she snapped breathlessly, fighting herself and the weakness that struck her knees as his fingers probed ever closer to the slick curves of her cunt.

She could feel her flesh heating further, the thick juices coating her pussy, preparing her for him as her mind filled with the erotic images of the night before. Reno coming over her, parting her thighs as he slid between them.

Her breath hitched in her throat as her vagina spasmed in greedy hunger.

“We’re going to discuss that one as well, darlin’,” he growled at her ear, pressing his hips against her lower stomach, letting her feel the thick erection behind the fly of his jeans. “We’re going to discuss all your little bad habits, in depth.” Two fingers plunged inside the weeping entrance of her cleft, stretching her sensitive flesh as he pushed her to the edge of climax.

The music surrounded them, the awareness that anyone could be watching. Not that they would see much the way Reno had positioned her.

“Reno . . .” Her gasping wail was low, a throttled cry of need as his lips slid to her throat, his teeth raking as he took gentle nips, then soothed the little fire with the warmth of his lips and tongue.

“Damn you, Raven.” His voice was rough, the edge of control apparent in the husky baritone. “You’re pushing me too far, baby. Only you would refuse to settle back and see where the hell this could go. Why do you want to push me?”

He thrust his fingers in her weeping pussy, holding her on the edge of sanity as she fought to keep from screaming out her demand that he take her. There and then.

“I’m not pushing you,” she gasped. “You keep pushing. . . . Ah God, Reno.” She had to bite her lip to keep from begging as he slid his fingers from her, panting as his lips continued to caress her neck, his breathing heavy and labored.

She stared up at him as he pulled back from her, lowering her arms, but still holding her wrists prisoner with his powerful hand.

“Show-off,” she accused darkly as her gaze flickered to her bound wrists. “Why didn’t you just bring the handcuffs?”

“Don’t tempt me.” His smile was all teeth. Predatory, intent. “Now come along like a good little girl, Raven.”

She frowned at the heavy mockery in his voice. He might be a bit more than pissed, she thought, which only caused her own temper to rise. He had no right to be angry with her; it was her choice how she spent her time, not his. And she would be damned if she would put up with this attitude because she decided to spend time dancing rather than waiting around on him.

“Hey, dude, you got no right to be hauling her out of here.” The big boy from the previous dance stood in their way, bringing Reno to a slow stop.

Raven glanced over his shoulder, wide-eyed. The younger man wasn’t as tall as Reno, but he was thick and heavy, built like a damned linebacker and staring at Reno like a bull on a rampage.

“Sorry, dude, but the lady belongs to me.” A normal rational man might have paid attention to the warning in Reno’s voice, not to mention the savage look on his face.

“I didn’t see no brand, asshole,” the younger man swayed drunkenly in front of him, causing Raven to stifle a groan of mortification.

Reno would never let her live this one down, and neither would Clint, once he got wind of it. Dammit, why did these things have to happen to her?

“You just didn’t look in the right place,” Reno informed him, his voice deep, deadly. “Count yourself lucky. If you had, I’d have to rip your throat out.”

Raven’s eyes widened. This Reno was scary. He looked ready to fight, to defend, to claim.

“Uhh, Reno, let’s just go.” She pushed at his arm, aware of the grip he still retained on her wrists.

“Tough little man, aren’t you?” the boy laughed, and Raven groaned miserably. The other man had to be drunker than she thought, to even consider insulting Reno so rudely. Besides, Reno was at least six inches taller than the other man. Sometimes wider did not mean better.

Before she could do more than gasp in surprise, she was free, and Reno had the boy by the throat. Slowly, he took the younger man to the floor as beefy hands wrapped around his wrists and brown eyes began to bulge at the lack of oxygen.

“Don’t mess with me, boy,” Reno growled mercilessly. “Or my woman. Period.”

When he released the younger man, Raven glared at him.

“You’re insane,” she said, slapping at his arm with enough force to sting her hand as he stared back at her in surprise. “Your woman, my ass! You are a bully, Reno. A macho, self-serving, arrogant SEAL bully and I’ll be damned if I’m going anywhere with you.”

She turned and swept through the crowd, her face flaming in embarrassment and fury, even though her body was still heated, throbbing.

My woman.

Something inside her had melted when he rasped the words, his tone thick with possessiveness and male fury, while another part screeched in horror. He had claimed her. It wasn’t just sex to him, he was serious about this, and that point had just been driven forcibly home. Not that she hadn’t been aware of it already. But now, she knew it down to her soul. All her dreams, hopes and fears were tied up with one man. With Reno.

She was screwed.