Hell Bent by Becky McGraw Read Free Book Online

suspect he must mean something to you,” Keegan said, his grin blinding, but definitely forced.
    “ Meant —he’s nothing to me now.” 
    Why the hell did her voice sound so unconvinced? 
    Speaking of tattoos, something else occurred to her right then.  At the compound a few weeks ago she’d seen Cade shirtless out in the yard at the compound working on his monster truck.  She hadn’t been able to keep her eyes from covertly drinking in his rock hard body, it was just too damned beautiful to ignore. 
    What she failed to realize at the time, though, was that her name, which used to curve along the inside of his pec near his heart, was now hidden under those thick bands of black tribal art that snaked over his biceps, shoulders and chest. 
    The night they’d gotten the tattoos replayed in her mind and blood rushed up to her head to make her dizzy.  A little too much beer pong at a frat party led them to a twenty-four-hour tattoo parlor to make things ‘official’ between them after dating six months.  It also led them to cement their relationship in other ways too—sex on every flat surface in his efficiency apartment. 
    Their first time, and her first time ever.  The next morning they woke up naked together, permanently branded and worn out.
    “Tattooing a man’s name on your ass kind of means you’re stuck with him.”  Keegan’s words and laugh dragged Cecelia back to reality.  She felt his intense eyes on her, studying her as if trying to read her mind again.  He did that a lot, and she hoped like hell he wasn’t reading her mind at that moment.
    “No, it means I need to go have that taken care of as soon as possible.”  Maybe she should go have a nice big frog drawn to cover it.  That definitely fit Cade Winters and the situation.
    “So the devil is ice-skating in hell and your brother finally hired you, huh?”
    Keegan evidently remembered that she told him that David said it would be a cold day in hell before he ever hired her, which spurred her enlistment in the Army.
    “No, his second-in-command hired me.  I’m still frozen out, but at least David is tolerating me as the team secretary.  Sitting at that desk is driving me insane, though, and I’ve thought more than once lately I should’ve just re-upped,” Cee Cee admitted.
    “Bet that was a helluva fireworks show when your brother found out that guy hired you.” 
    “Not as much as you’d think, but some, yeah.”  She dragged her eyes away.  “I’m—ah—sorry I left without saying goodbye, but Slade said he needed me here as soon as possible.  Probably so I was in place before Dave and Susan got back.”
    “I was gone, so it wasn’t your fault.  You didn’t know when I’d be back stateside,” he murmured into her hair, then sighed.  “I just felt like something was left hanging with us, so here I am trying to figure out what that is.”
    She shoved back from him to look into his eyes, fought hard to push words past the knot of emotion threatening to choke her, but before she could speak, he put his finger over her lips. 
    “I’m not pressuring you, Ceese.  I just want to spend some time with you to see where this goes.”  His eyebrow lifted, along with the corner of his mouth.  “Unless, I’m too late?”
    Cee Cee shook her head from side to side because she still couldn’t speak.  Too late?   About eight years too late, and it was a damned shame.
    “Good, then we are going to hang out, do fun things and other things if you’re inclined.  When you tell me it’s time to leave, I’m out.”
    Cee Cee knew where things were going here.  She also knew covering that damned tattoo on the back of her hip with a frog wasn’t going to do the job of cutting Cade Winters from her heart.  She and Cade were the ones who’d left things hanging between them for six years.  Until they finished those things, she now realized she would never be able to move on, or connect with another man in a permanent