Master of the Abyss

undoubtedly notice his effect on her, she muttered, “Hi, Jake,” to his chest without looking up.

“Kallie.” His voice rumbled across her like a mountain avalanche and had the same effect, knocking down every one of her resolutions. Her heart picked up speed, and even worse, she could feel her breasts contracting, her skin absorbing the heat of his hands. She might tell her mind to forget, but her body well remembered the feel of him against her. Thick inside her. His powerful hands-

She tried to step around him.

He put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. “Are you not talking to me, Kallie?”

His eyes were too blue in the tavern light, and the warm look in them made her long to burrow closer. But he didn’t want that. She didn’t want that. Okay, don’t lie. She shouldn’t want that. And she really, really didn’t know how to handle this. She forced a smile. “We’re having a girls’ night out, dude, and you don’t have the proper equipment.”

She yanked away and continued to the bar. If he touched her again, she’d plant a fist in his gut. Maybe that was excessive, but, hey, he was into BDSM, right? What was a little pain between friends?

Next round, she’d send Serena to fetch the drinks.

When she reached the bar, David had an odd expression on his face. “Is he bothering you, Kallie?” He put his arm around her again.

Is this what a chicken between two hungry dogs feels like? She stepped out of reach. “Nothing I can’t handle.” She lifted the two last drinks so quickly that beer sloshed over the sides. “Well-”

“I had fun at the barbecue,” he interrupted. “How about tomorrow night? There’s a-”

“No.” The word was out before she thought, the bluntness rude enough to make his mouth thin. But she meant it. “I like you, David, but not-Dating isn’t-” Hell, could she be any more tongue-tied?

He scowled. “It’s him, isn’t it? Jake Hunt.”

Kallie glanced over her shoulder and sucked in a breath. Jake stood beside Verne-undoubtedly listening to one of the old guy’s interminable jokes-but his eyes were focused on her. No chill there tonight; his stare was like molten silver, hot enough to burn. She turned to the bar and could still feel his intense gaze on her back.

David caught her arm. “Don’t be with him, Kallie. You’re better with me. We’re good together.”

“Ah…thank you, David.” She pulled away, unsettled at his show of emotion. He had always been reserved. Polite. No fire like Jake-who didn’t want her. The thought sat in her stomach bitterly. “I don’t think I’m right for anyone.”

She headed back to the table, giving Jake a wide berth, and thumped one of the two beers down. “Here you go, Rebecca.”

After dropping ungracefully into her chair, she lifted the last beer and drained half of it in one long pull. A covert glance showed Jake still talking with Verne. Kallie shook her head, remembering Verne’s story of how Jake had jumped into a flooding river to rescue him. Dammit-like she needed to hear glowing tales of the jerk’s bravery?

When David walked past the two men on the way to the restroom, the glare he directed at Jake’s back should have put a smoldering hole in Hunt’s black T-shirt. Well, she felt the same way.

Serena and Gina were chattering about the gorgeous star of a new TV show and- thank you, God-hadn’t noticed the interlude with Jake. Rebecca, however…

“Very interesting.” Rebecca sipped her beer, her gaze on Jake. “You know, I’ve never seen him watch anyone like he does you. He’s always so easygoing; very little upsets him. When he does a scene with a woman, it’s like his emotions are switched off. But not last week at the party, or tonight.” She raised her eyebrows at Kallie.

Kallie kept her back turned to the asshole and her voice low. “Don’t look at me like that. There’s nothing going on.” She drank the rest of her beer and scowled. “We played one night, and he gave me the ‘this is only tonight’ lecture. Repeated it, even.”

“A one-nighter lecture?” Rebecca snorted a laugh. “He’s so honest I can just see him doing that. And it’s true; I’ve never seen him with any woman more than once in a row.” Rebecca tilted her head and regarded Jake. “He isn’t acting like a one-nighter right now. I don’t think he’s taken his eyes off you.”

“I don’t give a damn how he acts.” Dipwad. If he’d wanted to see her, he knew where the phone was. He’d barely said hello in the grocery store. But tonight, yeah, he’d probably had a beer or three and now wanted a quickie as a chaser. And then he’d go back to ignoring her again.

Rebecca tapped a finger on her lips. “Maybe if you flirted a little? Wore something sexy?”

“I don’t know how to flirt or be sexy.”

“No way. How can you grow up without learning the essentials?” The horrified expression on the redhead’s face made Kallie snicker.

“Three older cousins and a conservative uncle. I wanted to fit in, so I dressed like them… And they got so used to that, they’d harass me if I wore something provocative. Or looked at a guy.” Kallie smiled ruefully. “I didn’t even date until I got to college, and then it was too late to change.”

“Girl, it’s never too late to change.” Rebecca tilted her head and assessed Kallie. “I can guess your size. And then maybe a little-”

God help me. “So how did you meet Logan?”

The diversion worked. Rebecca flushed a light red and leaned closer so only Kallie could hear. “You know how wide-eyed you were last weekend? Well, you should have seen me the night I met Logan. See, my boyfriend had talked me into a holiday at Serenity.” She hesitated and glanced at Serena and Gina, who were now debating whether a man’s size could best be determined by the length of his thumbs or his feet.

Interesting. Kallie’s gaze slid to Jake and his- oh, yeah-big, big boots.

Rebecca’s eyes followed, and she burst out laughing, drawing the attention of every guy in the place, including Logan. The look he gave his fiancee was hot enough to spark a forest fire, and it sent a spike of envy right through Kallie’s heart. No man had ever looked at her like that. She took a slow breath and tried to remember what they’d been discussing. “Okay, you went to the lodge with your boyfriend. Go on.”

After checking again that the other two weren’t listening, Rebecca said, “With my boyfriend and his swinger’s club.”

“Swingers…that’s when everybody kinda sorta does everyone else, right?”

“Oh yeah. All out in public.” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Major mistake on my part. So when my boyfriend brought someone back to our cabin to…enjoy, I couldn’t say anything since-hey, swinger’s club, right? Anyway, I stomped out. Logan found me freezing to death on the front porch…and took me upstairs to his rooms.”

Kallie snorted, remembering the commanding way he’d wrapped his hand around the back of Rebecca’s neck. “I just bet he did.”

“Shy, he’s not.” Rebecca gave Kallie a mischievous look. “He discovered I was submissive, and sucked me right into a whole new kink. I would never have thought I’d do anything out in public, but being watched adds a certain…something.”

Kallie averted her gaze, the words bringing back more than she wanted to remember. Light glinting off muscled arms, calloused hands holding her legs apart, her whimpering, even knowing others could hear the sounds she made… Warmth seared her cheeks. Then she remembered she’d never do that again with Jake. She drained her beer.

He stared at the bitch from across the room. So rude. A ballbuster who would