He pulled her tighter, and the kiss grew deeper and harder than before. She nipped at his bottom lip and he groaned beneath her. Her hips were pressed against his and she could feel his excitement growing.
Subconsciously, she knew they had to stop or she would let him take her right there on the bar where she served her customers. But, she didn’t have the strength to pull away yet. Everything about him felt good. The touch of his fingertips, the softness of his lips, the lack of space between their bodies. No, she didn’t want to stop.
Time passed too quickly and she was disappointed when Dan was the one to break the embrace. When he released her, they were both breathless and flushed.
“Okay.” She tried to mentally brush aside the sexual frustration. “Let’s get this finished and get out of here.”
As they cleaned up in comfortable silence, she kept sneaking glances at him and, every time, she found him staring at her. Knowing that his eyes were on her, she could barely concentrate on her tasks. She could not wait to get out of there and up to the apartment.
She hadn’t thought about that either, what was going to happen when they went up there. Oh, man, if they kissed like that again there might be no stopping something more and she didn’t want to rush him into anything.
When they were finished with the bar, she locked everything up and he followed her up to her apartment. She unlocked the door and then waited while he cleared the apartment. “It’s good,” he called out as he appeared by the front door.
“Thanks.” She offered him a smile and crossed the threshold into her home. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m a man, I’m pretty much always hungry.”
She thought she would whip up some breakfast for dinner, since that was what she was in the mood for. Reese worked bar hours, so she was never up for actual breakfast and always missed dinner. Set meals were not her thing. “I’m going to make some food, why don’t you pick out a movie and we can watch it while we eat.”
Twenty minutes later they were eating sausage and eggs while watching a romantic comedy on her flat screen. She couldn’t believe he had chosen this movie because he liked it. The choice was probably based more on what he thought Reese might like.
After the food was gone, they took their dishes to the sink and she sank down into the couch. Dan sat next to her in the corner. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t.
“What is it?” she asked. “Do I have food on my face?”
He chuckled and ran his fingers through the loose locks over his forehead. “Okay, I’m going to ask you something, but you can’t laugh at me.”
“Well, what is it?”
He somehow managed to appear sheepish as he asked her, “Will you cuddle with me?”
A laugh escaped Reese. “Cuddling, seriously? I thought you were going to ask me something inappropriate. You looked so scared.”
“It’s just that cuddle isn’t a manly word, so I wasn’t sure how to phrase the question.”
Reese had never, ever seen Dan look so uncomfortable. Normally, he was a very confident man. I guess you’d have to be to be a stripper. In any case, it absolutely melted her heart to see this side of him. “Of course I will.” She rolled her eyes. “I need a place to kick back and watch the movie anyway, so I’d totally planned on using you for a cushion.” Before he could say anything, she crawled up beside him and they positioned themselves so that they were laying on their sides facing the television.
Reese was surprisingly comfortable pressed up against Dan’s body with his arm around her waist. He didn’t try and kiss her again, which she had kind of expected and more than kind of wanted him to do. But, she was more than happy to lie there with him and have a normal few moments before they had to go back to the craziness of their lives.
Bang, bang, bang.
Reese’s eyes shot open. The T.V. had long since shut itself off and the apartment was bathed in the glow sunshine streaming through the windows. “Oh, shit.” Her eyes went to the clock and she discovered that it was only seven in the morning. “We fell asleep.”
Dan squeezed his arm tightly around her waist. “I slept good. Even if it was on a couch.”
Bang, bang, bang. “Wake up you guys!” Greg’s voice hollered from the other side of the door.
“Coming!” Reese shouted back. She peeled Dan’s arm off of her since he didn’t appear to want to let go of her any time soon.
“Go away,” Dan yelled back. “It’s too early.”
“Open up!”
Reese sighed and stood. She still wore her clothes that she had come home in the night before, so she didn’t have to worry about being decent. “Sounds like trouble or they wouldn’t be here.”
Dan nodded and pushed himself into a sitting position on the couch. “Yeah, most likely. Figures, though. Maybe someday I’ll actually get an entire night’s sleep.”
“It’s technically my fault you didn’t sleep.”
He shook his head. “No, technically mine, because if it wasn’t for the crap with my family, I wouldn’t be following you around like the secret service.”
“Fine. It’s your fault.” She flipped the bolt lock on the front door and swung it open. What she saw outside her door made her turn to Dan and say, “Yeah, definitely trouble.”
On the landing outside her door stood Greg, Jack, Lucy, Hannah, David and Aiden. “What’s going on?” she asked, holding the door wide for them to come in.
“Brandy’s Café was vandalized last night. Someone busted all the windows and trashed the entire inside,” Lucy announced as they piled inside. Suddenly, Reese felt like her apartment was smaller than it was.
Dan had risen from the couch and crossed the living room to the kitchen. “I’m going to make coffee,” he told her, catching her eye as he passed. “Then we can get on with the newest shit show.”
The look in his eye had her cheeks flaming and she knew that she was blushing. Crap, that figured. Right in front of everyone who had just invaded her apartment. She slowly turned back toward the group of people standing awkwardly in her living room and discovered that they were, indeed, staring at her with knowing looks.
“Nothing happened.” She spread her hands out. “Now stop looking at me like that. Find a place to sit if you want. You all look uncomfortable just standing there.”
“We didn’t say anything, but you seem awfully defensive.” Jack winked at her.
“Good grief, Jack, don’t do that.”
“Your coffee pot is slow!” Dan hollered from the kitchen.
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Just get your ass in here so we can tell you what’s up.”
Dan appeared at the door to the kitchen. “You already told us. So, I’m assuming it was done by Reapers or you wouldn’t be here.”
David nodded. “There is video footage. SHPD went over it and we weren’t able to identify anyone yet. There weren’t any prints anywhere either. I asked Aiden to take a look at the footage and he was able to identify one of the men. They took out the cameras so there isn’t a lot of video with them on it.
That’s right. Reese suddenly remembered that Jack and Aiden were Reapers. They didn’t seem different than anyone else, unless being more attractive than most was a Reaper trait.
“Are you sure it’s a … Reaper?” she asked, feeling as if she were asking if she was sure someone had a second head or something.
“I’m sure,” Aiden told her. “I worked with this guy before.”
“This is awful. We should go down and see if there is anything we can do to help clean up.”
Hannah nodded at Reese’s suggestion. “We were actually going to do that as soon as we were done here.”
Lucy paced the length of the living room with her arms crossed over her chest. “This isn’t good. The only reason they would want to destroy a random business in Summer Hollow would be to get to us. To hurt the people we care about.”
“Yeah,” Reese agreed. “They probably found out at the fight in the bar that this
town protects their own. It’s such a small town that everyone here is like family.”
“Agreed,” Hannah mumbled.
Jack marched over and slid his arm around Lucy, probably to get her to stop pacing back and forth. She glanced up and smiled at him and then turned to the group. “So the question is, what do we do now?”
David, who had taken a spot on the couch, leaned forward a little and spoke up. “Well, Sheriff Davis has called for extra patrols of the town and surrounding area. So, that will help some. I think that these guys knew that our department is tiny and we don’t have that many officers on night duty.”
“Good.” Lucy nodded. “This is bad. If they are straying away from the rules and involving innocents, then we are looking at some very serious issues that surpass everything we’ve ever dealt with.”
Reese glanced at Dan, who had been silent the entire time. He was leaning on the doorframe between the kitchen and living room. He looked angry enough to beat the hell out of someone just for speaking to him. “They already strayed away from that rule when they attacked Reese.”
Aiden stood. “All we can do is wait and see what happens, but keep our eyes open for anything strange. I have a feeling this isn’t the end of whatever they are planning.”
Jack nodded. “Agreed. Maybe if they see more cops out and more of us hanging around they won’t do anything else like this.”
“Let’s hope,” Dan muttered.
“Just be careful,” David warned. “If law enforcement sees you they might think that you are the one acting shady, especially if you’re just milling around town for no reason. Seriously you guys, the last thing we need is for the cops to stop you and catch you guys with guns and knives. You don’t need any more issues than you already have.”
“That’s for sure,” Hannah agreed. “I don’t want to go back to jail for something stupid like that.”
“You won’t,” David assured her. “You guys just need to be careful not to look suspicious if you’re roaming around town, since the police will be looking for strange activity.”
The group nodded that they understood and fell silent for a moment. Finally, Hannah clapped her hands together and said, “All right, we have to go down to Liv’s and let her know what’s going on and then we’re going over to Brandy’s to help with clean up. So, we’ll let you guys get back to your … coffee.”
Dan pushed his sister on the shoulder as she strolled past him. She only laughed as she stumbled and then regained her footing. “Touch me again and I’ll give you the worst wedgie of your life.”
“Go ahead and try it,” he dared her.
Reese shook her head at their childish antics and watched them all file out the door. She hated that she felt so relieved that they were gone, but her tiny little apartment was not made for that many people.
“Now, we can have coffee,” Reese announced to Dan, making a beeline for the kitchen.
CHAPER TWENTY-ONE
DAN
Dan watched from the doorway as Reese poured them each a cup of coffee. Her hair was loose and the waves were tangled into knots from sleeping, but she didn’t seem to care. The bruises had begun to fade and looked much better, but the one on her neck appeared worse as the purple finger prints healed. It was turning a yellowish blue that made Dan want to throttle whoever had done that to her.
She filled the mugs and handed him one, filled to the brim with the steaming black beverage. “We’ll go down to Brandy’s after we get dressed.” She sipped her mug and leaned against the counter. “Do you have anything planned for the day … or tonight?
He shook his head. “Just hanging out with you.” He had cancelled the appearance they had him scheduled for that night. He had actually told his boss he was sick, which was a total lie and they both knew it.
“Cool.” Reese sipped more coffee, looking down into her cup.
He was also silent for a moment and then joined her at the counter. “Are you … upset about yesterday?”
Her eyes grew wide and she shook her head. “No, of course not. Why … why would you ask me that?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I guess I’m worried that you’ll regret it or something.”
She turned and he did the same. Now facing each other, he was able to look into her eyes and see that she was telling the truth. “I have zero regrets and I immensely enjoyed kissing you.”
“Even the cuddling?”
She nodded. “Especially the cuddling.”
It had been a very long time since he had slept with his arms around a woman. It wasn’t that long ago that he hadn’t been able to even think about being with someone else other than Anna. But, Reese, she was different. He had known her forever, but now he was wondering why it felt like he was only just now really seeing her. “Good,” he told her. “I liked that too. I’m going to hit the shower. I’ll be quick so you can get in.”
She nodded. “Go, get ready. It’s going to be a long day.”
An hour later they were standing on the sidewalk outside Brandy’s Café. The huge windows in the front had been shattered, though the glass had been removed from the sidewalk and a professional window repair service was working on the glass that protruded dangerously from the frame.
Anger coursed through him. He reached into his coat and felt for his flask. When his fingers touched the cool metal of the container, he froze. He shouldn’t. He hadn’t made the actual decision that there would be no more. But, in that moment he realized that as soon as something made him feel angry, reaching for the flask was his automatic response.
He held onto the flask for a moment more and then withdrew his hand. One step at a time, and passing it up one sip this time may be a small step, but it was one, nevertheless.
“I can’t believe this,” Reese whispered, staring at the wreckage of the little restaurant.
Dan agreed, but didn’t say anything. His emotions were all over the place. On one hand, he would have loved to get ahold of the reapers who did this. On the other hand, he was upset because, like the incident with Reese, this wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for the conflict between his family and the Reapers.
“Let’s go in and see what we can do to help,” Reese suggested.
“Okay,” he agreed, leading the way. Everyone that was at her apartment earlier was already inside helping sweep up glass, throw out broken furniture and artwork, and making lists of things that needed to be replaced.
Lisa, one of the servers, stood at the entrance to the kitchen with Mr. Thompson. Ed Thompson was the owner of Brandy’s. Brandy was his late mother. The man himself was around fifty years old and the Café had been around about as long as he had.
Dan felt bad. Mr. Thompson gestured with his hands as he spoke with Lisa, and the expression on his face was just plain defeated. He could imagine. It was probably hard enough keeping the place afloat in a town this small, then to have some jerkoff come and destroy practically everything.
Mr. Thompson glanced up as they entered, the bell jingling merrily as the door slammed shut behind them. He waved and offered them an appreciative look, then went back to his discussion with Lisa.
For the next two hours they helped out with whatever needed done, and then Reese told Dan she had to head over to bar to prep for opening. He agreed and they bid farewell to everyone, then headed out the door.
They strolled silently down the couple of blocks it took to get to Knight’s Bar. Was it weird that he wanted to put his arm around her? He wasn’t going to, though. He had no idea how she felt about what happened between them except that she wasn’t angry about it. She had told him that she enjoyed it, but he felt like things needed to progress organically. They both needed time to see where they stood.
They arrived at the bar and Reese used the keys to open the door. When they stepped inside the dark interior, Reese suddenly turned to him and the next thing he knew she was in his arms, her lips crushing against his.
He accepted the kiss and returned it ten-fold. He
r arms curled up around his neck, bringing him close. He wove his hand into her hair, feeling the silky tresses against his skin. He walked her forward as they kissed, until her back came into contact with the edge of the bar and they were forced to stop moving. He pressed himself against her, wanting their bodies to be as close as possible.
It wasn’t long after that Reese pulled away, breathless and panting. “I … oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry.”
Dan trailed a fingertip over her cheek. “I’m not.”
“I’m so mad, Dan.”
Confused, Dan arched an eyebrow in question. “You’re mad that we made out for a couple of minutes?”
She shook her head. “No, not at all. I’m mad about Brandy’s and these assholes who tried to kill me. I’m angry and I needed something. It was either break some stuff to release that bad energy, or kiss you and get an even better result.”
Dan rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his hair nervously. “Well, if that is how you need to take out your aggression, I’m available anytime of the day or night.”
She laughed. “Thank you, I will probably take you up on that.”
Taking a chance, he bent down and kissed her again. This time, soft and slow, taking in the feel of her mouth under his as his palm rested on her cheek. He didn’t let it last long enough to wet their hunger again, but only enough time to allow Reese to know that his affection was genuine.
He pulled out of the kiss and stared down into her shimmering dark eyes. “I want you to know that I haven’t been with anyone, not even kissed anyone, since Anna. You don’t have to say anything, I just want you to know. I don’t want things between us to go to shit because of this. So, moving slow is fine with me.”
She nodded and he saw that she understood completely, “Okay,” she acknowledged.
“Now let’s get this place ready to open.” Dan released her completely. Reese’s arms slid reluctantly from around his neck and groaned. “The last thing I want to do today is work.”
“That’s because you never take days off unless someone tries to kill you.”
Keeper of Spirits Page 14
