He reached back, holding one of her thighs tight against his side, and propped up on his elbow, slid his fingers into her hair, holding her immobile before pressing his mouth to hers. His tongue thrust inside, and she kissed him back just as hard. Groaning into his mouth when he slammed into her harder, deeper.
“Oh, God.” She arched as much as she could with his body pinning her to the mattress, sparks of fire, of unbelievable pleasure radiating from her core. Her body tightened, bearing down on him, and she came apart for the second time. Unintelligible sounds flew from her mouth as he rode her through it. Then with one last thrust and a shout, he came, his cock pulsing hard inside her, his shaking body rocking against hers.
Finally, he stilled, his weight pressing into her, still pinning her to the bed. God, she loved it.
His lips brushed her jaw, then moved to her neck, and she loved that, too. So much. With a groan, he rolled to the side, removed the condom, and threw it in the trash by the bed, then rolled back and pulled her in tight against him. “You good?”
“I’m good.” Yay! Words actually came out of her mouth.
“Knew it’d be great, but fuck, Foxy, I wasn’t expecting that.”
She understood completely. “I know what you mean,” she whispered. Then she turned to face him, running her fingers over his whiskered jaw. “I need to apologize to you.” He frowned, and she quickly carried on before he could interrupt her. “I came up with some wild assumptions about you, about where you came from, how you got where you are. I was wrong, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” She slid her thumb over his bottom lip. “You’re not the man I first thought you were, Reid Parker.”
He cleared his throat, held her gaze. “No?”
She shook her head. “You’re so much more.”
His eyes flashed, and he sucked in a sharp breath through his nose before he pulled her closer and rested his chin on the top of her head. “Could say the same about you, sweetheart.” He ran a hand down her back, kissed her hair. “You sore? You want me to run you a bath or something?”
“I’m fine where I am.”
“Yeah.”
It was one word, but the way he said it, pulling her tighter against him as he did, she knew it meant so much more.
She was completely and utterly screwed.
Chapter Thirteen
Reid slid out from under the Cadillac he was working on. “That should do it. Take her for a test run.” Law gave him a chin lift and another sideways look before climbing into the Caddy and firing it up.
Reid scowled at his friend to cover his ass. He’d zoned out several times that morning, and every damn time Law had been the one to catch him staring into space. Which included holding a wrench suspended in one hand and staring into the engine of the Caddy with “a pussy-assed, vacant expression”, Law’s words. He had to pull it together. This was not him. He did not get all twisted in knots over a woman.
But then Rusty wasn’t just any woman.
When the car rolled out for its test run, he went to this office and shut himself in, since he was apparently useless in the workshop.
Walking to the window, he stared out at the street. He’d tried, Jesus, had he tried to keep emotion out of it. In the past he’d never had to. Fucking was fucking. It was easy to keep his brief encounters only physical. But not with Rusty. The feisty redhead had gotten under his skin, and she’d dug deep. She hadn’t let him pull back the night before, no, she’d made it clear what she wanted—him—and then she’d proceeded to blow his mind.
Last night, she’d shown him the sweet trusting nature she kept hidden, and today it was tormenting the hell out of him. Because the way she saw him, it reflected back through those outstanding green eyes, and God help him, he wanted to believe in it. He wanted her to be right so bad it hurt. What if there was more to him, more than his shitty past? What if he was more than the screwed-up result of the nightmare he’d grown up in?
He’d never wanted to believe anything more in his life. To be more for her, to fight the tainted blood running through his veins and be the kind of man Rusty deserved…
Shit, he’d do anything to be that, to have that.
He knew now, he could never go through with his messed-up plan to take her business. He’d known it almost from the very beginning, despite his attempts at convincing himself otherwise. He’d tried to fool himself, telling himself that was the only reason he was pursuing her, but he knew the truth. It had never really been about that, not totally.
He moved to his desk and sat heavily in his chair. Could he really allow himself to have her?
She knew where he came from, some of what he’d been through. Hell, she’d seen it with her own eyes, and she hadn’t run the other way. No, she’d comforted his distraught mother and given herself to him. Had let him take her the way he’d needed last night, hadn’t shied away from the filthy shit that poured from his mouth, his need for control. Instead, she’d wrapped those long legs around his waist and clung to him, begging for more, taking it all and loving every damn minute of it.
He shoved his fingers into his hair.
What the hell am I doing? Put an end to it. Before it’s too late.
His phone rang, and he glanced down at the name flashing on the screen. Nina.
He blew out a breath, chest tightening. He had plans with Rusty tonight, but in his current frame of mind, he didn’t think seeing her again this soon was the greatest idea. Some distance might be for the best. He needed a distraction, a way to get her out of his head, get some much needed perspective. It looked like he had his distraction.
An unwanted emotion hit him hard, an emotion that felt a lot like guilt. He ignored it, shoved it down, and hit the call button. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself.”
“You got business in town?”
“Yep, and I’m here for one night only. You wanna meet up?”
“Love to. Where you staying?”
“No way was I going to let you sit at home pining,” Alex said, grinning as she drove Deke’s Mercedes into South Beach. It was late, but the good clubs would only be warming up about now, and apparently dancing was supposed to “cheer her up”. Though, why she needed cheering up she had no idea.
“I’m not pining. Jesus. We’re not joined at the dammed hip. He’s busy, I’ll see him tomorrow.” She didn’t admit to Alex or her sister that she’d been monumentally disappointed when Reid had called earlier that day to cancel their plans. He’d been apologetic, that deep, sexy voice rasping down the phone making her shiver.
He’d sounded fine, if a little distracted. She’d told herself she was being stupid, overthinking. But no matter how hard she tried to fight it, doubt had crept in as soon as he’d ended the call. The voice that constantly rattled around in her head, telling her that nobody would ever want her, not beyond the pretty exterior. That now he’d gotten what he wanted, he was going to give her the brush off.
But then she’d reminded herself that Reid hadn’t exactly shoved her out of bed afterward. Quite the opposite. He’d held her as if she was precious, like he cared. In the morning he’d made her come around his fingers, had taken her again, but this time slower, as if he was savoring every minute.
Alex had picked up on her change of mood and told her they were going out, no arguments. The woman was way too perceptive.
After that, Rusty had forced the doubt from her mind and decided to trust him, something that didn’t come easy for her.
“How are you doing, though, really?” Piper said, leaning forward from the backseat. “Did you tell him about, you know, what happened?”
“We talked some,” she hedged.
“That’s good.” Her sister’s brow scrunched, concern covering her face. “Did he…did he treat you right, Rust?”
Alex snorted and glanced over at her. “Did he get you off? I think that’s what Piper’s trying to ask.”
“No, that’s not…” Rusty raised a brow at Piper, and her sister flopped back in her seat
. “Okay, well, yes, but not only that. Rusty is more vulnerable than she lets on, and I just want to make sure he treated her like he should, like she deserves.”
“I am in this car, you know. And despite what you think, I’m not some virginally challenged Pollyanna.” But if she didn’t give them something now they’d harass her all damn night. They loved her, they worried about her, and as annoying as it could be sometimes, she wouldn’t change it for the world. “But yes, he treated me right. He didn’t emotionally scar me with his giant penis, and miracle of all miracles, despite the years of celibacy, we were all wrong…my hymen hasn’t regrown.”
Alex snorted beside her. “Well, thank fuck for that.”
Rusty turned to look at her sister in the backseat. “I can’t tell you how relieved I was.”
Piper started giggling, but Alex wasn’t quite so polite. She gave up trying to hold it together and busted a gut laughing.
When Alex finally shut the hell up, she gave Rusty a light jab in the arm. “Maybe you could call him later, no way he’d turn down a booty call.”
The idea appealed, she couldn’t deny it. She’d thought of Reid all day, could still feel the man between her thighs. She was tender after their night together, but in a good way, in a way that made it impossible to think of anything other than what they’d done.
“I don’t know.” She grinned over at Alex, who had stopped at a red light.
“No more waiting, remember,” Piper added.
But Alex wasn’t looking at her. She was staring out the window, eyes locked on something across the street. “Motherfucker,” she whispered.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” she answered quickly, too quickly. “When’s the goddamned light going to change?”
Rusty followed her friend’s gaze toward the Seascape Hotel. Reid’s Plymouth was parked out front, waiting for a valet by the looks of it. The man himself stood beside it, dressed in jeans and a dark gray button-down, looking gorgeous as ever. A beautiful brunette stood beside him, laughing at something he said, then he flung an arm around her shoulders and they headed inside.
Piper reached forward and wrapped her fingers around her bicep. “Rusty, there could be a perfectly good explanation for it. I’m sure it’s not what you think.”
No, it was exactly what she thought. God, how could she have been so stupid? A horn blasted behind them several times. Alex cursed and slammed her foot on the gas.
“Rusty?” Piper shuffled forward in her seat. “Don’t freak out, not until you’ve talked to him.”
“I’m not gonna freak out, Piper.” No, she was too numb to do anything but stare woodenly out the window. Too numb to think. And she sure as hell wasn’t ready to dwell on why she wasn’t enough, why she was never enough. Why besides her brother and the two women in this car, everyone else saw her as nothing but an empty shell. That because of a genetic fluke that made her some kind of ideal, a fantasy, they assumed there was nothing else.
Alex cursed and beat the crap out of the steering wheel. Then the car wrenched to the right, and they came to a stop outside a gas station.
Her friend looked over at her, determination shining in her eyes. “No, we’re not going to freak out. We’re going to get even.” Then she climbed out of the car and stomped inside. A few minutes later, she returned with her arms full of toilet paper rolls. She made three more trips, filling the trunk with what had to be every roll in the store, then slammed it shut and climbed behind the wheel. “Address,” Alex said, eyes narrowed, steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip.
Rusty turned to Alex and rattled off the address, then hung on as they peeled out of the gas station.
Yeah, TPing someone’s place was juvenile, but right then she needed to do something, anything to get back at him. Because it fucking hurt.
Her stomach curled into a heavy knot, and she clutched the door handle in a grip tight enough to cause pain, afraid she’d shatter into a million pieces if she didn’t hold on for all she was worth. Afraid she’d crumble to dust from the inside out. She never thought anything could feel worse than that night after her senior prom, but she was wrong. This was so much worse.
Seeing him with another woman—God, it cut, so damn deep, more than it should, but she’d fallen for the asshole hook, line, and sinker. Idiot.
A short time later, they were parked in front of Reid’s house, unloading toilet paper onto his driveway. Since he was currently holed up at the Seascape Hotel screwing someone else, and fences on either side made his place nice and private, they were free to decorate to their hearts’ content.
Alex loaded up with rolls. “I’ll take the back. Piper you get the garden and the garage. Rusty, you take the front of the house and the lawn.”
Piper nodded, a grim expression on her face. “Let’s do this.”
They knew better than to throw sympathy at her, knew how much she hated that. There would be no crying jag while listening to sad songs, and no eating her body weight in chocolate. That was not her, not how she dealt with crap when it was flung her way. The fact that these women knew that, were prepared to vandalize someone’s house for her, with her, and actually came up with the idea just to make her feel better? Well, it meant everything. These women meant everything to her. Always had, always would.
Rusty grabbed some rolls, shut her mind down, and got to work, putting extra effort into the task.
The entire front of his house had a curtain of white toilet paper hanging from it by the time she finished, matching the attached garage Piper had taken care of. She was aggressively hurling rolls over his small patch of carefully maintained lawn when lights hit them from behind, full beam, followed by the deep rumble of an idling engine. An engine she knew all too well.
Piper spun around and her mouth dropped open. “Holy shit.” The roll she was holding, ready to fire over the garage, dropped from her hand at the sound of a car door banging shut. “Ah, Rusty…”
“What. The. Fuck?” Reid’s voice came from close behind her, low and dangerous.
“I’m just…I’m getting Alex,” Piper hissed and tore off around the back of the house.
“Rusty?” he barked.
Ignoring him, she reached down and picked a decent-sized rock off the ground, tightening her fingers around its hard, cool surface. A mix of emotions swam through her, hurt and anger were right up there, but right then humiliation trumped the lot. I’m such an idiot.
“You wouldn’t fucking dare,” he said, coming closer.
Hauling back her arm, she let the rock fly, the sound of smashing glass followed as it exploded through the garage’s side window. “I fucking would.”
She bent to pick up another one, but he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her immobile, and dragged her against his front. “Stop acting like a bitch and tell me what the hell’s going on?”
Fuck him. He did not get to be pissed at her. He was the one screwing someone else, not her. He was the one throwing the word exclusively around, lying to her face. “We weren’t expecting you home so soon. If you give us a few minutes to finish the front, we’ll be on our way.”
He dropped his arms and spun her to face him, staring down at her. Pissed didn’t really cover it, furious was a better description, maybe murderous. “There a reason you’re vandalizing my place, smashing the fuckin’ windows?” His eyes narrowed. “This can’t be because I canceled our plans?”
She laughed, the sound bitter to her own ears. “I’m not that goddamned precious.”
“Why?” he gritted out.
She imitated his stance, but only because she needed some kind of barrier between them. “I don’t like being lied to, and I sure as hell don’t like being treated like a brainless piece of ass.” She shrugged. “I thought you knew that about me—big surprise, I was wrong. You’re just a pig, same as all the other pigs I’ve had the displeasure of crossing paths with.”
Before she knew what she was doing, her hand was in the air, heading for his cheek, but he w
as faster and grabbed her wrist before it made contact with the side of his face. She tried to pull free. “Let me the hell go.”
“I don’t react well to being hit. I wouldn’t try that again if I were you,” he said, voice deadly calm.
She wrenched out of his hold and turned to Alex and Piper, who had just rounded the corner. “Let’s get out of here.” She went to push past him, but one of his hands wrapped around her upper arm and stopped her in her tracks.
“Talk to me, and I mean now, Rusty.”
Alex stormed forward. “Let her go, you cheating piece of shit.” Piper grabbed Alex around the waist before she launched herself at Reid.
“Cheating?” he repeated.
“We saw you with that skank outside a hotel. Don’t try to deny it,” Alex fired at him.
His gaze slid from Alex to Rusty and held. “That skank, though I wouldn’t say that to her face if I were you, was my cousin. She was here for one night on business. We had dinner. I dropped her back at her hotel.”
“Oh, a likely story,” Alex said, struggling to get away from Piper.
Jaw clenched, Reid pulled his phone from his pocket, and holding it up so Alex could see as well, scrolled down to someone named Nina and hit the call button, putting it on speaker phone.
It rang twice, then a woman’s voice sang out into the now deathly silent yard. “Yo. What’s going on? I was just going to bed. I have an early flight, remember.”
Reid held the phone closer to his mouth. “Hey, cuz, just wanted to tell you again how nice it was catching up for dinner.” His eyes were still locked on Rusty’s, and she wanted to shrivel up and die right there on his driveway. “And to make sure you say hi to Aunty Susan for me.”
“Are you high or something?” the voice said. “You already said that when you dropped me off. You going soft in your old age?”
“Obviously,” he muttered. And all the while, those eyes stayed locked on Rusty. Making her squirm. “Catch you next time, pain in the ass.”
“You, too, shithead.” Then the call disconnected.
Revved (Axle Alley Vipers) Page 11
