Page 38 of Freedom Fighters
One large mark scored the side of his flat stomach, close to the left hip. It disappeared inside his jeans. The part she could see was a pink, crooked ridge of scar tissue, that zig-zagged across his flesh. Over hispectoral muscle on the right side was a white, mottled disk of flesh the same as the one on his face. The one on his face was smaller and all but invisible under the four day growth on his cheeks. There were more round scars on his belly, on his arms and shoulders. The pectoral one was the largest.
The scar that started at the base of his neck, that was always visible inside the open collar ofhis shirts, petered out just over the breastbone. It looked like someone had taken a cheese grater to the skin there.
Carmen swallowed. “There are some people who don’t qualify as human in this world.” She lifted her gaze back to his face.
“That’s not all of it,” Garrett said, his voice low. He turned his back to her.
Carmen caught her breath and tried to smother the sound. There were morewhite circles on his lower back. The flesh over his shoulders writhed with healed cuts and slashes. Some of them were an inch across and thick with scar tissue. Others were fine white lines. They laid over each other, a mishmash of lines.
Carmen didn’t need to ask what they had done to his back. She could see it in the way the scars laid over it. Someone had beaten him. She didn’t know what theyhad used. From the range of sizes and thicknesses, she could tell more than one implement had been wielded.
She drew closer. Gently, she touched one of the biggest scars.
Garrett flinched, then grew still again.
“The scar is just as warm as the rest of you,” she whispered. “I thought it would be cold. Dead flesh.” She stepped around him, to stand in front of him. “I can understand why you wantto hide them.” She pushed up onto the balls of her feet and kissed him. “But if you don’t fuck me now, I will find Angelo and take care of business with him. I’m horny, Garrett. Stop teasing me and do something about it.” It was crude and challenging.
Garrett’s eyes narrowed and his scowl returned.
That’s better, Carmen thought, with satisfaction.
He moved fast. With a surge of power, he pulledher up against him with one strong arm behind her back. “Don’t tease unless you mean it,” he growled and kissed her. Hard.
She liked it hard. She liked any way Garrett kissed her. It made her body throb again.
He lifted her. Her shoes dropped from her feet. He lowered her onto the bed as he pushed the covers to the end of it. His mouth barely broke contact with hers. His leg tangled with hersand he leaned over her.
Carmen slid her arms around his neck and her fingers found puckered skin on the back of his shoulder. Curious, she traced the elongated scar and Garrett tore his mouth from hers and shuddered.
“Not good?” she asked quickly.
“Sensitive,” he said. His mouth picked up in a faint smile. “Goodsensitive,” he added.
That gave her an idea. Carmen sat up, leaning on one elbow,which forced Garrett to sway backward. She pushed on his shoulder, forcing it even farther back, until he lay on the bed next to her.
“Stay there,” she commanded and flipped her knee over his hips, so she straddled him.
Garrett’s eyes narrowed. She saw his pulse, beating heavily at the base of his throat. He didn’t protest.
She licked the edge of his chin, tasting salt. The scrubby beard scrapedagainst her tongue. Then she worked her lips down the underside of his chin, where the skin grew softer and the beard sparser, until she touched bare skin. She kissed her way down his throat. She felt his growl against her lips.
“Tell me to stop if you don’t like it,” she murmured, then deliberately ran her tongue over the pale, scarred flesh at the base of his throat.
He hissed, sucking inhis breath between his teeth. His hips shifted beneath her thighs.
Smiling, Carmen pushed her knees farther back along the length of his thighs and rested upon him. She licked and stroked every single scar and the flesh in between, exploring the ridges and dips with her tongue and her lips.
Garrett squirmed, his chest rising and falling quickly. His breath grew ragged and from the corner ofher eye, Carmen could see his hand fisted in the sheet, straining the cotton.
She moved backward, as she made her way down his long torso. His pelvis thrusted in reaction. She paused with her mouth over the button on his jeans. Then she got off the bed and looked down at him. “You’re wearing way too much clothing.”
She undressed him, taking her time. Then she studied him.
The scars were allover his body. His thighs had more of the same elongated ridges as his back carried and there were white disks everywhere. Not even the fine, delicate skin over his pelvis had been spared. The long, jagged scar on his left hip ended just above the pelvic ridge.
Garrett watched her, wariness adding more tension to his already taut body.
So, Carmen seduced him. She took her time, letting her fingersexplore every little ridge and crease, as Garrett writhed beneath her, his breath harsh and loud.
