Read Online Battlescars by Ann Collins - Free Book Online Page B

nothing beneath it.
    Dyson tried not to look up again, but he knew what was happening, and so did his body. He was hard and hot within seconds of seeing it, and he spent the next few minutes trying to convince himself to calm down. He had had a few ungentlemanly thoughts about Kayla, sure, but being so turned on that it was physically obvious would not be a good way to end their afternoon.
    Kayla tried to make a point of ignoring them too. But her composure was suddenly gone, and she looked as though she wanted to bolt as she fiddled with her fork. She shifted in her chair and took a deep breath. Dyson recognized all the signs of a woman who was turned on but knew that it wasn’t appropriate. He grinned – it was nice to see a break like this in her careful façade.
    Kayla met Dyson’s eyes, and, with an embarrassed smile, glanced back up to continue watching the show above them.
    The couple still kissed, and the man had wound both his hands in the woman’s hair as he pulled her body toward his. He was clearly unable to wait a moment longer, as he shifted his pants lower on his hips and picked the woman up as she wrapped her legs around him. As he slowly thrust into her, her back against the balcony wall, the couple looked into one another’s eyes as if they were the only two people on the planet. The pace increased, and just as the waiter appeared with their sandwiches, the woman had thrown her head back in obvious ecstasy.
    Flushed and flustered, Kayla forced herself to look away and thanked the waiter as he set the sandwiches on the table. Dyson found her discomfort absolutely delicious.
    “So what do you think of your job at the college?” Kayla asked, searching desperately for a way to shift their attention away from the very public display they’d just experienced.
    Dyson opted to let her change the subject and concentrated on telling her about the work he did, how he got the job and what he thought of his boss. By the time he had finished his account and they’d started to eat, the couple on the balcony – certainly far more relaxed than Kayla and Dyson – had disappeared inside. Kayla glanced up and saw That the spectacle was over, visibly relaxed and settled in to eat. Dyson saw the way she looked at him from time to time, though, and he could see that there was a heat in her gaze that hadn’t been there before.
    “Why don’t we ditch this place and get something to drink?” she asked when the plates were almost empty.
    Dyson raised an eyebrow in surprise. “I thought you didn’t drink.”
    Kayla shrugged and for a moment she looked defensive. But then it dissolved into a winsome look. “Not often. Not much at all. But I just feel like…well, I’m just in the mood to have a little something.”
    Dyson wasn’t about to let a good thing like this slip out of his grasp. If she wanted a drink and she was inviting him to go with her, then he would be more than happy to buy her an entire cabinet of liquor. “Where would you like to go?”
    “Why not the usual place?”
    Dyson grinned. “Has that become our place, then?”
    She gave him a look that was meant to be cutting but just showed him how amused she was. “The usual place, I said. I didn’t say ‘our’ place.”
    “But you wanted to, didn’t you?”
    Kayla laughed out loud, and Dyson decided that he loved the sound of her laughter.
    ***
    Kayla was a lightweight, which wasn’t a surprise. If she never drank much, then going through a few shots and a tall fruity cocktail would surely send her spinning. What he didn’t expect was how she would start to talk when she had a few drinks in her.
    “You know, the first night we met? Here at this very bar?” She smacked the bar with her hand as if making a point. “The men that were bugging me? They reminded me of dear old dad.”
    Well, this was a surprising turn of conversation. Dyson took a sip of his beer. “Want to tell me about your dad?”
    Kayla snorted. “No, actually. I don’t