“How long have you lived here?”
He put the dishes in and shut the dishwasher door. Pulling off a paper towel, he dried his hands. “Since I moved back from D.C.,” he said. “I was actually born in this house, but my parents moved to Riverton right about the time I entered school.”
Kinley looked around her general area, surprise on her features. “You were born in this house?”
Reed gave her a lopsided grin. “Literally,” he said. “Every generation of my family going back for two hundred years was born in this house. Actually, I was supposed to be the first hospital birth in the family but my mom went into labor so fast that there wasn’t time. I was born right in that room you were sleeping in.”
Kinley laughed softly. “Conceived and born in the same bed,” she said. “That doesn’t happen much anymore, I would think.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Conceived. Like sex. He had turned around by this time, finishing up the dishes, and the more she sipped her wine, the greater his ass began to look. Well, it had been a long time since she’d last had sex and she was a normal, virile young woman just like any other. As the wine loosened her inhibitions, she was starting to think of ways she could get him into bed. Oh, my… my shirt fell off. No, too obvious. How about, I’m not wearing any underwear beneath my pants? Still too obvious. She wondered how he would react if she just walked up to him and laid a big kiss right on him. They’d kissed before and the sparks had flown hard and fast. That wasn’t the only thing she wanted hard and fast from him.
But she kept her mouth shut, watching his butt as he finished with the dishes. She was content just doing that as he rattled on about the house back in the days of the Indian Wars. Something about arrowheads still embedded in the exterior walls, but Kinley wasn’t really listening as she mentally undressed him. When he put the last one into the dishwasher, he pulled a paper towel off of the roll and turned to look at her.
“How about that tour now?” he said.
Kinley was all for the tour. And possible all for watching his great ass as it walked in front of her, pointing out the home features. Pouring herself a third glass of wine, she followed him through the house as he explained that the living room had once been the entire downstairs living space. It had a massive stone fireplace, made from river rock, and wide pine floors.
There had been a loft upstairs that had eventually been turned into two bedrooms and a bathroom. Then there was the dining room that used to be part of the porch and the master bedroom which had been added on sometime during the mid-part of the last century. All in all, it was a great house with some great features and Kinley liked it a great deal. She was also coming to like Reed a great deal. All of her reservations about the man seemed to be vanishing, dashed away by his persistence and kindness. She’d never known anyone like him. He was incredibly hot and a good cook to boot. The wine was pumping through her veins at this point and her self-control was gone. She wanted Reed in the worst possible way. As he paused to point up at the beams in the exposed dining room ceiling, Kinley put her hands on his face and attached herself to his lips.
It was a swift and bold move from the woman who had never, since Reed had known her, taken an aggressive or proactive stance when it came to him. He’d been the one to do all of the chasing. When she slanted her wine-tasting lips over his, he didn’t even hesitate; maybe in hindsight, given her fragile mental state, he should have. He really should have. But his lust had the best of him and he wrapped his big arms around her, matching her kiss for kiss, taste for taste, as they explored each other as they’d never done before. Reed was caught up in the tornado of passion just like Kinley was and when she went for his belt buckle, it never occurred to stop her. He didn’t want to stop her. She unfastened his belt as he loosened her top.
Things began to fall to the floor. His belt, her top, then his shirt left a trail from the dining room, through the kitchen, and into the master bedroom. By the time he lifted her up and put her on the bed, her bra was coming off and he tossed it aside, latching on to her hard nipples and listening to her gasp. The pants were next and he slipped them off of her as his came next.
She was warm and soft and sweet, everything he knew she would be. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had sex but even if he could, it didn’t compare to what was happening at this moment. It was as if everything he’d ever hoped for and dreamed about was here, right in his hands, and he took it happily. He’d wanted this woman since nearly the moment he first met her and the rewards of those wishes were greater than he had imagined.
When he finally joined his body to hers, it took lust, ecstasy, and passion to an entirely new level.
Chapter Seven
OH, GOD… WHAT have I done?
Kinley was staring up at the ceiling of Reed’s master bedroom, listening to him snore deeply and evenly. He was in a dead sleep, his arm around her torso possessively, a hand still on her breast. Every so often he would squeeze it, gently. It was those squeezes that had invited non-stop sex for the past three hours. He loved her breasts and it was obvious. Being that the wine had made her extremely horny, Kinley had given in to every touch, every kiss, and Reed wasn’t shy about sharing his. He was a generous lover and Kinley was fairly certain she’d had five or more orgasms in that three-hour period. It hadn’t been hard with him. It had been some of the best sex of her life.
But now she was lying awake as he slept, absolutely terrified of the man because she was quite sure she’d fallen in love with him. What wasn’t to love? He was handsome, sweet, kind, and had the patience of Job. He’d done all he could to be compassionate and patient with her as she worked through her many fears and phobias. He could have walked away at any time; he should have walked away at any time. No man in his right mind would have kept pursuing her after the crazy things she had done.
But Reed had.
Which made things worse. He was a sweet, normal guy without any hang-ups and she was a basket case. Well, at least she had been, but the past couple of days had seen vast improvements in that area thanks to Reed. He’d helped her grieve in a way she hadn’t wanted to, openly and painfully, but he’d been there to hold together the pieces when she was in danger of falling apart. What kind of guy did that? A very special one. A very special guy who didn’t need a woman with the kind of baggage she had.
But she loved him and that thought was terrifying enough. The last people she’d loved had been killed, ripping her guts out and leaving a great big hole in her. She was terrified to love, terrified to feel, but Reed had made her feel something she thought she’d lost. Turning her head slightly, she could see him as he lay on his belly, his face half-buried in the pillow. He looked so peaceful. Very carefully, she disengaged his arm from her torso and climbed out of bed.
Her clothes were all over the house, it seemed. She found her bra and pants in the bedroom but her shoes and shirt outside in the hall. The big dogs were sleeping in the hallway outside, lifting their heads to look at her as she tiptoed by. Her clothing was back on, she found her purse in the kitchen, and the house phone, and quietly called information for a taxi service. There was no local taxi service but there was a ride-share service, so she called that number. A driver was promised within a half hour, so gathering her things, she crept out of the house, into the dead of night, to wait by the main gate for the driver.
As she waited in the cold and darkness, she tried not to feel guilty for leaving Reed without telling him why. I’m in love with the guy, she thought. I can’t love him and burden him with all of this baggage I have. It isn’t fair. She’d been avoiding him and sneaking out on him since they’d first met, so this wasn’t any different. Maybe this time he’d finally get the hint and leave her alone for good. It was better for him that way. But something told her to expect a visit from him in the morning.
She was right.
After an hour of sleep, maybe, Kinley was at The Coffee Cakery before dawn, opening it up for her employees. The sous chef and
the line cook and a couple of the kitchen workers went inside, into the kitchen, to begin preparing for the day, as Kinley went back to her office.
She was settling down to do some paperwork when she heard some voices in the front of the house. It didn’t concern her in the least because she knew the cooks were up there and people would soon be arriving for work, but suddenly, the cooks were all in her office and there were two men with shotguns following close behind. Her heart sank at the sight.
It was a robbery.
It was pretty early in the morning for this kind of thing which told Kinley that the robbers must have been staking the place out. This time, however, she didn’t have a rifle underneath her desk that she could use to defend everyone with. She had a hand gun in the bottom drawer but couldn’t get to it without them seeing her move. But there was a gun in the safe. If she could only get them to have her open the safe, she might have a chance. The man who seemed to be doing all of the shoving and talking had on a baseball cap, a bandana over his nose and mouth, and a sawed-off shotgun.
“Stand up, lady,” he told her, pointing the gun in her direction. “I hate to ruin your morning, but we need something from you.”
Kinley put her hands up slowly as she rose from her chair. “Okay,” she said steadily. “But don’t hurt anyone. There’s nothing here worth anyone dying for.”
The other guy with a shotgun, wearing a military-looking knit hat pulled down over his ears, reached out to grab her by the arm.
“That depends on how you look at it,” he said. “Where’s the safe?”
Kinley didn’t like being yanked around. “It’s here in my office,” she said. “In the closet over there. But if the manager followed protocol, he took yesterday’s receipts to the bank last night. There will only be a couple of hundred dollars in it.”
The guy let go of her hand and jabbed the shotgun at her. “Open it.”
Kinley sighed faintly and opened the closet, leaning over to get a better look at the combination lock on the safe. She tried to position her body so that the robber with the shotgun pointed at her back couldn’t get a look at what was inside the safe because once she got the gun in her hand, he was the first one she was going to take out. The robber, however, had other ideas; he was rather turned on by the woman’s ass in his face and he reached out to put a hand on it.
“Nice,” he commented, snorting lewdly.
Kinley kicked back at him, right in the knee, and the guy grunted in pain as he nearly dropped the shotgun. Kinley spun around with the intention of grabbing it but the robber was a hair faster than she was. He held the end up into her face and Kinley literally found herself looking down the barrel.
“Don’t do that again!” the guy yelled. “I swear to God I’ll kill you next time.”
Kinley didn’t back down, angry and frightened now. “Then don’t you touch me again, or the next time I kick, it’ll be aimed at your balls,” she snarled. “Get it?”
The guy shoved the barrel closer to her face. “Open the fucking safe!”
Furious, Kinley turned back to the safe, knowing she had to get her hands on that gun right off the bat. If she didn’t, she suspected things might go very badly for them all. But she remained cool, her hand steady, as she began to work the combination of the safe. The guy behind her with the shotgun aimed at her head spoke quietly.
“You and I are going to spend some time in this office when this is over,” he said suggestively. “Hurry up with that safe.”
Kinley knew exactly what he meant. Heart pounding against her ribs, she dialed the last number on the safe and it popped open. As she pulled the door open, she could see the handle of the gun tucked against the side of the safe and she immediately grabbed for it, throwing herself to the floor of the closet as she spun around, hoping to avoid most of the shotgun spray. She knew at this range, however, she was bound to catch some of it so she simply tried to keep her head down.
Lifting the gun, she fired off one round when the entire world exploded.
SHE’D LEFT HIM. Again.
After what was inarguably the best sex of his life, Reed awoke to an empty bed unless he wanted to count the dogs that had crept in to sleep with him when Kinley opened the door. His German Shepherd was snoring very happily next to his head, but no Kinley.
Goddammit!
Now he was just plain angry. Angry because he knew they had something wonderful going last night, one of the best nights of his life, and he knew she felt it, too. They’d had such a great time sharing dinner and conversation, and then the sex… she had instigated it and as he got up out of bed, he suspected she left because she was ashamed and frightened of having been so wild. Maybe she had awoken to a bad case of regrets. In any case, he wasn’t going to let her get away with it. He wasn’t going to let her get away.
So he took a quick shower and shaved, and pulled on his uniform that was still hanging in the dry cleaners bags in the closet. All the while, he was thinking about what he was going to say to Kinley when he showed up at The Coffee Cakery. Hi, honey… I love you? Well, it was to the point because he did. He had been in love with the woman since nearly the day he’d met her even though she had been a basket case and continued to be.
So what made him love her? He wasn’t exactly sure, but it had something to do with the look in her eyes on that day at the Hi-Way Café that seemed so long ago. She had been cool, steady, calm, and brave. So maybe it was the bravery that he loved. Or maybe it was the silly giggle she had, or the moments of brilliance he saw when she came out of her shell. Or maybe it was just the feeling of her in his hands last night when they had made love. It still made him hot to think about it and, like it or not, they were going to explore it together. Frightened or ashamed, he didn’t care what she felt. He was going to soothe it, smooth it over, or whatever he had to do in order to work her through this.
He wasn’t about to let her go.
So he put on his Sam Browne and pulled on his duty jacket, set the alarm, and left the house to the patrol car that was still parked outside. He couldn’t imagine how she got a ride back to Riverton but she somehow must have because there were tire tracks in the dirt outside of his security gate that he didn’t recognize. Throwing the car into drive, he took off to Riverton.
The sun was just starting to come up as he entered the town. He thought about stopping to get coffee at his favorite coffee house but decided against it; he was going to have coffee at The Coffee Cakery and make Kinley pay for it in punishment for running out on him. For running out on them. He just wasn’t going to let her run any longer.
So he pulled up to The Coffee Cakery in stealth, like he usually did, because the sight of his unit might send her into hiding. He pulled up across the street where he normally sat, beneath the trees that camouflaged his vehicle, so he could see most of the parking lot towards the rear and the front door at the same time. When he first arrived, there was no one there, but soon Kinley’s non-descript Toyota pulled up, followed quickly by two more cars that parked near her.
Kinley got out of the car and his heart leapt at the sight of her; only an idiot in love would feel like that over a woman who had been running from him since the moment he met her. He grinned to himself as he watched her cross the parking lot with a few employees, disappearing from his view when she went to the back door to open the place up.
Another employee arrived and he saw Kinley as she unlocked the front door of the restaurant. He figured now would be a good time to go in and hash it out with her, before her day officially began and before more employees arrived, but just as he began to pull his car out of his hiding spot, another car pulled into the parking lot and he saw two young men get out. He thought they were more employees until one young man pulled a shotgun out from beneath his coat. Both young men were heavily dressed, one with a shotgun, as they headed for the back door and disappeared from sight.
Startled by what he had just seen, Reed had a split second of disbelief before his training kicked in. He imme
diately called for backup but he knew he couldn’t wait for them. Whatever was going down, Kinley was inside and he couldn’t sit by while she faced an imminent threat. He had to get in there to help her.
He had to save her.
Bailing from the car, he ran across the street.
Reed ended up in the shadows of the building, peering around the front to see if he could see any movement. He caught the tail-end of the robbers moving the people in the front of the restaurant towards the back, now both of the robbers with shotguns. They were moving towards the back door where Kinley’s office was. He then moved swiftly down the side of the building, waving off a few more employees who just arrived, signaling for them to get back into their cars and leave, which they hurriedly did. Whenever a deputy with his service weapon out gives an order, the command is not meant to be disobeyed. The employees scattered.
With the employees gone, Reed peeked around the side of the building and could see the back door, but there was no movement. The door remained shut. He paused a split second longer to see if the door moved at all, but it didn’t, so he raced to the back door, keeping his back pressed up against the side of the building. There was a glass panel in the door, protected by safety bars, and he rolled slightly in the direction of the door so he could catch a glimpse inside. Kinley’s office was right by the back door and he could see that her door was partially open. He had two of her cooks in his line of sight and they had their hands up.
So it goes down in her office, he thought grimly. He could hear some yelling at that point; someone was unhappy. Unhappiness during a robbery was never a good thing. He could hear sirens coming in the distance and it infuriated him; he specifically told dispatch to roll officers Code Two. If the robbers heard the sirens, it would spook them and he feared what would happen. He had no choice; he had to move.
Romancing the de Wolfe Collection: Contemporary Romance Bundle Page 8
