Trouble Bruin by Rebekah Blue Page A

right shape and would fit back into the frame. It was a satisfying feeling, but it was overshadowed by worry.
    He knew Charlie believed him now…and that was a new and different problem. Dynamic Earth had shown they were killers. That was what he was asking her to walk into. And for what? For a fucked-up mutant who’d walked through a firefight that had killed most of his squad. His freakish strength hadn’t helped them, and it wouldn’t help Charlie now – even if he hadn’t burned the Starweed. Was he already starting to feel weak and sick, or was that just guilt and worry? This was why he needed to be alone, he reminded himself bitterly. When people were around him, they got hurt.
    Charlie crawled out backwards from underneath the plane and swept her hair from her brow with the back of her hand, leaving a black smudge. Then she blew out a breath and wiped the oil from her hands with a rag.
    “That’s about all I can do for now. At least until the team gets here with the replacement parts the old bird needs.” She looked at the ripped-off door propped beside Art. “Oh, wow, you’ve done an amazing job with that.”
    He gave a faint smile and set the door aside. “It’s a bit like trying to un-crumple a ball of paper.” He shrugged. “There’s only so much I can do.”
    “Are you kidding?” Charlie was bubbling over with energy. He wondered if it was because she was soon going to be back in civilisation, with air conditioning and running water and normal people – even if that was by Dynamic Earth’s standards of “normal”. “It’s fantastic,” she went on. “Like a circus trick or something.”
    Art winced. “Roll up, roll up,” he said. “Free family-size popcorn when you buy tickets to see the freak.”
    Charlie laughed. “I meant like the strongman,” she said. Then she bent a little to meet his eyes. “Hey,” she said in a more serious voice.
    Art gave her a wan smile.
    “Hey!” She nudged him with her foot, not particularly gently. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Big, sexy, macho bears don’t mope.”
    That surprised a laugh out of him. There was something about Charlie that seemed to make him light up inside. Even though he knew that whatever happened they were both in for a world of pain and danger and uncertainty, she just made him smile.
    He got to his feet and she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. Her adorable freckled nose scrunched up, still pink and peeling from the sun, and she said, “I’m all dirty.”
    Art gave a playful growl and dipped her backwards, kissing her soundly. “That’s just how I like you,” he told her, and ran his hands down to pull her hips against him, squeezing the soft globes of her backside and nuzzling the side of her neck.
    When they broke apart, she smiled seductively at him, then took his hand in hers and led him to a patch of shade cast by an overhanging rock. She pushed him back against the rock, then kissed him, pushing her body against his so her full breasts were crushed against his chest. She pushed her hips against him, and his cock hardened, the friction quickly arousing him even through the barrier of their clothes.
    Her tongue darted against his, quick and clever, and he tried to wrap his arms around her, meaning to turn her, press her against the rock, explore her sweet body with his hands and mouth and drive inside her welcoming warmth, but she danced backwards away from him, a wicked light shining in her big brown eyes as he reached for her. She slapped his hands playfully.
    “Nuh-uh,” she said. “I made you a promise, and I always keep my promises.”
    His brow wrinkled in puzzlement. His brain was fogged with lust and he was finding it difficult to concentrate on anything other than the humming sensation thrumming through his body and the uncontrollable urge to haul her into his arms and have her.
    “What promise?” he asked. He snagged the waistband of her pants and hooked his fingers into her