“No,” she answered, confused by his question. If she hadn’t had sex, wasn’t it obvious that she hadn’t had a sleepover either?
He removed his arms from her, and a squeak of surprise left her lips as he lifted her up to sit on his granite countertop. He laid a hand on each of her legs, opening them enough for him to settle between them. She put her hands on his shoulders, now that they were at eye level, and waited for him to continue his earlier conversation. “I’m a light sleeper, so you woke me up moving around restlessly. You were lying half under me, with my legs across the top of yours. I think since this wasn’t something—normal for you, that it might have triggered a nightmare. Feeling someone holding you down while in the midst of a dream could have changed the dynamics. Even though you were asleep, your subconscious was reacting to a threat.”
Feeling a wave of alarm, she cried, “If that’s true, this could happen again. Mac! I—I can’t do this to you again!”
Stroking her hair, he said, “Calm down, baby. I’m just thinking aloud. I think this is probably the most rational explanation for what happened. I don’t want to get into everything this morning, since we don’t have much time before work. But I think we need to discuss it tonight. Have you talked to anyone about what happened to you since that night?” When she opened her mouth to answer, he held up his hand to stop her. “I mean in detail, Avie. Not just that you were . . . violated. The whole thing from start to finish and what happened afterward.”
“No,” she admitted, feeling almost surprised herself. Of course, people knew about her past, but she’d never really sat down and gone through everything. Even right after her attack, she had glossed over some of the details. Truthfully, she could see her grandfather’s face shutting down before her eyes as she had told him what happened. After that, each time she had omitted more and more until now it was almost like a rehearsed speech. In fact, she could see that she made light of her pain. Almost as if she were talking about someone else being raped and not herself.
Mac kissed her lightly, running his hands up and down her spine. “It’s going to be fine, baby. We’ll figure it out.” Dropping his hand to squeeze the swell of her bottom, he added, “Now move it, woman. I’ll follow you to your place so you can change.”
When he started to pull away, Ava gripped his hand. “What about your . . . face? You look like you’ve been attacked.”
Raising an eyebrow, Mac said, “Rough sex?” For the first time that morning, she had a hard time smothering a grin. “What?” Mac smiled in return. “You know that’s exactly what Dom and Gage will think. Might as well let ’em enjoy it.”
In perfect sync, they finished their coffee before grabbing their shoes and keys. Mac followed her to her apartment and then insisted on walking her inside. He went through each room before leaving her on her doorstep, after a thorough kiss that left her feeling utterly befuddled. If he was trying to keep her mind off how she had attacked him in his own bed, he was doing a superb job. The problem was that once he and his magic mouth were gone, all Ava could think of was the long, angry scratches marring his handsome face. She felt a hum of dread. How could she be sure something like this would never happen again? She didn’t want to lash out at Mac while she was asleep and dreaming of the nightmare from her past. She had a sinking feeling that the bastard who had all but ruined her life was now going to take the only man she had ever loved from her.
* * *
Mac had to give his friends credit. He’d been at work for almost an hour and neither of them had mentioned his messed-up face. He was the first to admit that men weren’t the most observant of creatures, especially when it pertained to another man. A man might not notice a woman had a new hairstyle—like ever—but if the same woman got a boob job, he’d probably notice it within two minutes. The male sex just had different priorities in life. Sad maybe, definitely true. However, usually something as obvious as your friend looking as if three big-ass cats had clawed his face was at least going to get a comment if nothing else.
When they all took a seat at the conference room table for their morning roundup meeting, Gage looked first at him, then back at Dom. “Well, fuck, I’m just going to get it out there. What are you into these days, brother? I mean, we all know that the object of your affection is the demure little number a few floors above us. I don’t see her ripping your ass up like that, so who have you been playing with and does she have a sister?”
Dominic hooted with laughter, causing the chair that he’d been balancing on its back legs to wobble precariously. “I like it rough sometimes myself, but I try to limit the claws to my back. You look like you had sex with the damn female equivalent of the Lion King.”