Page 97 of Chasing Lynda

She pushes me away and I let her go but follow her on the wet sand at the water’s edge. “Lynda, I didn’t mean to offend you or remind you about a painful past. Please, talk to me.”

Her eyes are full of barely restrained fury, and maybe I should be concerned about it, but that look goes straight to my cock.

One of the things that made me notice Lynda—aside from her tits, I admit it— is the constant fire in her gaze. She’s someone who faces life head on and that, combined with her beauty, is an irresistible combination.

“Lynda, where the fuck are you going?” I ask, grabbing one of her hands and pulling her to me. “Why are you mad at me?”

Her answer is a fast, dry snap as she crashes against my chest. “I’m not mad!”

I smile. “Let me call bullshit on that. Something I said made you walk away from me. I need to know what it is, so I can make it right.”

She pushes me away, and again, I don’t do anything to keep her in my arms. “Carter, you can’t solve everyone’s problems!”

I’m not letting this go. “I know. Trust me. My therapist says that it’s a coping mechanism to feel needed. Because my parents have ignored me since I can remember. I was more of an accessory they needed because all their friends had kids, but they’ve never even cared or paid attention to me. So my therapist says that I overcompensate by trying to fix everything in the hope that people will stick around.”

She slows down and I stop close enough that I can feel her body heat but I do my best not to touch her. “Whatever! Do you think that’s something we have in common? Is that why you and the others are so nice to me?”

I shrug. “Maybe it’s a part of it. But we’re nice to you because we like you.”

She utters her next words so softly that I almost miss them. “Yeah you like me, but not enough not to treat me like a broken toy.”

I act on instinct, grabbing her hand again and pulling her closer. “What the fuck are you talking about? Who’s been treating you like a broken toy?”

This time she yells her words in my face. “You! You and Zane! You treat me like damaged goods.”

I’m confused. “How?”

Her voice is about to break and I feel terrible that I’m making her cry. “Lynda, please tell me what I did wrong. If I don’t know, I can’t fix it.”

I only realize that I’ve said the wrong thing after my words leave my mouth. I swear I’ll never give Bennett shit ever again for not thinking before he speaks.

“My ex raped me!” she says, looking straight into my eyes. “And I know that Zane must’ve told you.”

I let go of her hand. “No, he didn’t tell me that. He hinted at it maybe but he didn’t betray your confidence. I think I guessed it after your panic attack and it was something you said the other night at the club. I wasn’t completely sure I was right, though. Now I am going to kill your ex, if I ever lay eyes on him!”

That must’ve been the wrong thing to say again, it seems that tonight I’m on a roll. “So that’s why you’re disgusted with me.”

I shake my head, more confused and slightly panicked with every word she says. “I’m not disgusted with you! I’m the total opposite of disgusted. Why would you think that?”

Her voice becomes small again. “Because since last week, you’ve been ignoring me.”

My eyes almost bug out of my own head. “Ignoring you? How? We’ve been talking until late every night; I’ve walked you to your bedroom every single night you’ve stayed with us.”

“Exactly! You’ve walked me to my bedroom! You’ve never even tried to get closer to me, the same way Zane stopped kissing me the first time we hung out, after he learned what happened to me!”

Oh, fuck! I seriously always get it wrong with women, no matter what I do. “Beautiful, what are you talking about? I walked you to your room hoping that you’d invite me in or something. I thought you weren’t there yet.”

She looks at me as if she doesn’t believe me. “If you aren’t attracted to me or if you think I’ll break because of what happened to me—”

This time, I close my arms around her. “You must be kidding me. I just asked you out a second ago, right? And last week at the club, I told you clearly that I’m interested in getting to know you better; right before I kissed you, remember?”

She nods and I’m relieved to see a little bit of doubt creeping into her intense blue eyes. “Yeah. But then why didn’t you try to get closer?”

Yup. It’s official, I’m a loser whenever I like a woman. Hookups? No problem. But as soon as I’m remotely interested, I fuck it all up one way or the other. “Lynda, I’ve just been trying to do it right. I guess I completely fucked up. I was worried about going too fast because the more I talk to you, the more I like you. Plus, there’s the others. I saw you get closer with Dodge and Bennett, and I thought that maybe you were beginning to make a choice and I wasn’t it.”

She finally looks at me. “Really? It wasn’t because you knew what happened to me and you thought I was dirty and—”

“Fuck, no!” I say, cupping her jaw. “What do you think I was trying to do five minutes ago, when I was kissing the shit out of you? I was definitely hoping to get a little luckier than that.”

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