Begging for Bad Boys

by Willow Winters

  “What are they about?”

  “Did you at least put on some coffee?” He asks with one raised eyebrow. “What the hell kind of host are you, ya wily bastard?”

  “Keep your voice down.” I lead him to the kitchen and point to a chair at the table. “Have a seat. Fill me in on the emails.”

  I start the coffee machine and sit opposite him at the table.

  “Those HR people at Mason Industries sent over a list of seventeen names. It’s not the shortlist we were hoping for, but I think Geoff was able to whittle it down to six names based on a few criteria. I thought I’d run it by you.”

  “What were the criteria?”

  “We started off with the senior managers with access to the Mason farm. Everyone unaffected by the last two years of workforce changes was immediately dropped from the list. Ditto for those affected where HR and the executive approved for their requested transfers. That left seventeen managers. We cut that down some more by looking at location analysis.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Comparing the recent incident dates and times with their workstation computer active usage times. If they were active at their desk computers at the time of the incidents, we took them off the list. Then we dropped a few more based on the distance between their office locations and the incident sites.”

  “Good,” I agree with a nod. “If it’s impossible for them to get from one location to the next, you dropped them.”

  “Exactly. That gets us down to six names.”

  “How many of them are female?”

  “Three.”

  “Drop them from the shortlist for now.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Did the person in the baseball cap look like a woman?”

  “No.”

  “Drop them. Besides, the stats don’t lie. Less than twenty percent of convicted arsonist are female.”

  “Maybe women firebugs are just better at not getting convicted,” he grins out.

  “Focus, kid. Did HR send over the entire employee files?”

  “Not yet. It’ll be couriered over tomorrow.”

  “Make sure they send over photo and staff ID information.”

  “Will do.”

  I tap on the tabletop. “Wait. What are the names of the three men?”

  He checks his Blackberry and scrolls through a file while I get us two steaming cups of coffee. “Wendell Morrison, Davison Walters and Larry Claiborne.”

  “Ages?”

  “Hang on…fifty-four, twenty-seven, and thirty-eight.”

  “Drop the old one.”

  He takes a sip of coffee from his mug and stares at me as he does it. “Seriously? You got something against young people?”

  “Do you see a fifty-four-year-old kicking up a stink over a shitty lateral transfer or demotion? He’d be so close to retirement that he’s more likely to toe the line, not raise hell.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Okay. Get their pictures, and when you do, let me know what you think. And be sure to compare them all to the composites Geoff got from the video feeds.”

  “Will do.”

  I tap on the tabletop. “Anything else?”

  “Just the question of anticipated targets and likelihoods if the arsonist is planning to strike again.”

  “Go on.”

  “There’s a list of potential events, landmarks, and sites,” he tells me.

  “How many?”

  “Forty-seven.”

  “That’s way too many. Sort them by event date, their latest physical security threat-risk assessment results, and by any high-value assets on site. You should be able to get that list down to one or two possible sites per day, if that many. But check the timeframe between each of the prior incidents. Let me know if there’s any pattern.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  “And give me a call during business hours. Save the early morning house calls for emergencies.”

  Jared smiles. “There you go, knocking a dude for enthusiasm.”

  “Save it. We both know you just came by to see Robin.”

  “Bullshit,” he grins. “Well maybe. So, where’s the pretty little singer who knocked you down a few pegs the other night?”

  “Mind your own damn business.”

  He raises his Blackberry to his lips. “Why why why Hero,” he sings out in falsetto, eyes closed as he mimics Robin’s song from that first night I saw her.

  “Get the fuck out of my place,” I tell him. I can’t encourage this kid because I won’t hear the end of it.

  He drains his cup of coffee and puts the mug in the sink. “I’ll be back.”

  “No, you ain’t invited.”

  “Stop busting my balls, son,” he tells me as he heads back to the front door. “Tell Robin howdy for me.”

  “Just keep me posted. Get those photos to me ASAP.”

  “Will do. Later.”

  Chapter 16

  Reid

  We came out to the kitchen to start dinner, but food ends up being the last thing on our minds. Robin’s lips meet mine and everything changes. Is it me or her that has created this need to have more of each other? Is it some type of reverse hero infatuation, one where I fall for her because I’ve helped her out of one too many ordeals?

  Do I even care how this happened?

  I’ll figure that out later.

  For now, I want to enjoy the way her touch makes me crave her more. She crosses her wrists behind my neck, tracing fingers through my hair as she kisses me, which is cut too short for her to tug on. I match her kiss with fierceness, parting her lips, and exploring every contour of her teeth and mouth with my tongue. It’s sure to leave both our lips swollen. Robin lifts up on her tiptoes and grinds against my groin as her breasts rub against my chest. I pick her up by the waist, placing her to sit on the countertop, and with one arm, I pull her legs apart and wedge my body between them.

  Gripping her ass, I jerk her toward me and press her heat against my cock. It’s hard as granite, throbbing and wanting nothing more than to drive into her and feel her tightness around it. I reach my other hand up to the back of her neck, eyes filled with lust, looking on as Robin unwraps the condom and slowly rolls it up my cock. Once it’s in place, she leans her face in toward mine and kisses me again. With a tilt of her hips and a tightening of her crossed ankles, she welcomes me home.

  Robin pulls from our kiss as I sink into her. Her head falls back, her hands hang on to my biceps, and she matches each and every stroke I deliver head on. I lift up her t-shirt to admire her nakedness. As I pound into her, I lower my face to her chest. Latching on to one nipple, I tug it into my mouth, circling the hardening bud with my tongue. She’s whimpering and rolling her hips in response, adding to the pleasure around my shaft, allowing me deeper inside of her, so deep that I don’t think my cock will be content again unless it’s connected with her.

  She whispers a simple plea into my ear, and I smile.

  “More.”

  It turns out that where Robin and I are concerned, more is better. That has never been the case for me with any other woman. But I need to be realistic. She’s here with me temporarily. Eventually, she’ll go to her parents, or find herself a place, and in all likelihood, there will be no more between us. I’ll face that reality when it happens. At the moment, while she rocks her hips and her tight core pulls more of me inside of her, I’ll give her more.

  I move up from her gorgeous breasts to her collarbone, and to her neck, relishing her response to my every decadent bite on her sweet skin. The moans, the breathy whimpers are almost too much, and when her body tells me she’s about to come, I almost can’t wait to send her to her peak. She relaxes her knees, leans back some more, and snakes one hand down between us until she has two fingers over her clit.

  Fuck.

  The image drives me out of control, and all I can do is piston into her at a punishing pace. Her body begins to quake as we come together. We’re both weak and overflowing with our rel
eases, but Robin reaches up and kisses me hard. We’re far from over.

  I find a reserve of strength to carry her back to the bedroom.

  More is coming.

  Or maybe not.

  Robin moves out of my arms and kicks her legs over the side of the bed. “We shouldn’t have done this.”

  I sit up, looking at her as she collects her clothes. “What? Are you kidding me? Tell me you’re joking, Robin.”

  Glancing over at me for a moment, she pulls the t-shirt over her head and puts on one that’s less wrinkled. “I’m serious. What we did…what we’ve been doing…it’s wrong. You’re my sister’s ex-boyfriend. I can’t anymore, okay?”

  “I don’t see what’s the big deal.”

  “What?” she shouts.

  “It was almost ten years ago. Your sister and I weren’t that serious.”

  “I can’t believe you could say something so hurtful…but maybe this is the real you, huh? Selfish, arrogant and mean-spirited. You didn’t just break her heart, Reid. You killed her spirit and her will to live.”

  “I’m sorry that happened. I couldn’t tell her I was leaving, Robin.”

  She steps into her sweatpants and drags them up her legs in a huff, taking her anger out on her clothes. “Why not?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “No it’s not. It’s simple. You left because you’re a coward.”

  “You don’t know anything about me!”

  “I know enough! You left because it was the easy way out!”

  “That’s not true.”

  “It is!”

  “It’s not!” I thunder out so loudly, I’m sure the neighbors hear. “I left because I couldn’t tell her, all right? I couldn’t tell anyone. I was still a minor. The only way I could enlist at seventeen was to get parental consent. I had to forge my father’s signature, and I couldn’t take the chance that someone would try to stop me from getting the hell out of Dad’s house. You think these cigarette burns are bad? They’re nothing compared to the hospital visits for fractured ribs, broken arms, a separated shoulder… I can go on, but the point is, I couldn’t stay there one more day. All along, Danielle kept trying to convince me to stay. I just… couldn’t.”

  “So you knocked her up and left her without manning up instead?” she screams.

  My head snaps like a whip in her direction. “Sorry, what?” I ask, because I did not just hear what I think I heard.

  “That’s right,” she spits out like venom. “You took away her virginity, got her pregnant, and then you left. Just like that.”

  I shake my head. “She was pregnant?”

  “Yes.”

  A million questions are going through my head, and they’re coming out haphazardly. “Did she have the baby?”

  “She miscarried, Reid. That’s what caused her downward spiral. That’s what made her try to kill herself twice with prescription pills. She almost succeeded the second time. It landed her in a coma for three weeks. And when she woke up…Danielle hasn’t been the same.”

  “I didn’t know. I’m sorry she went through something that painful, but there’s just one thing wrong with all of it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I make sure Robin is looking into my eyes before I say another word. Somewhere along the line, she was misled, probably by Danielle. “You have to actually have sex to produce a pregnancy, Robin.”

  “What?”

  “I never slept with Danielle.”

  “No. That can’t be true.”

  “We messed around in high school, but she was insistent that she wasn’t ready. We never went all the way. Not once.”

  “You’re lying. That’s not possible. She was pregnant.”

  “Not by me.”

  “She told us you were the father.”

  “I said it already, and I’ll say it again. I never slept with your sister. And I’ll gladly confront her with it face to face.” I get out of bed, take Robin’s hand and put it over my heart. “There’s only one Sparrow sister I’ve had my way with, and she’s right next to me.”

  Robin snatches her hand away. “Bullshit,” she shouts, and jumps back a few feet. “Danielle and my parents should be home by now. I hope you don’t mind letting me use your car. I have to talk to her. She’ll probably have another breakdown because of this… this outrageous lie. I can’t believe you’d make up something so ridiculous. But at least I won’t have to waste another second hearing this craziness from you.”

  “Yes, of course you can still use the SUV. Look, I’m not lying. Danielle must have had her reasons for telling you that I was the father, but it’s not possible.”

  “Save it for someone who cares,” she shrieks. In almost the same breath, she lowers her voice and adds, “Oh, and thanks for letting me use the car.”

  “Be safe getting out there,” I say. “Maybe I should come with you.”

  “No. I can’t be in the same room with you right now, let alone the same vehicle. I’ll… I won’t be coming back here. Josh or my dad will return you SUV and phone during the day tomorrow. And I’ll pay you back for any costs you incurred.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I will. Thanks for your hospitality, and for helping my while my family was away. I just can’t take this road. Not after what Davison did.”

  Davison. Why does that name ring a bell? I tilt my head to one side in confusion. “Who?”

  “Dave.”

  “Wait,” I tell her. “What’s Dave’s full name?”

  “Why on earth does that matter to you right now?”

  “Humor me for a moment. Please. What’s his full name?”

  “Davison Grant Walters. He goes by Dave Walters, but sometimes he uses his mother’s maiden name.”

  “Davison Grant,” I repeat. All the hairs on my neck stand on edge, and the proverbial lightbulb goes on in my head.

  “Yes. Goodbye Reid.”

  With her arms at her side, and my phone and keys in her hand, she leaves. I don’t follow.

  First of all, I have a murderous firebug to catch.

  Robin may be the first person that I see myself having more than a casual thing with, but she has taken a side. At this point, I don’t expect to see her again.

  If Danielle lied to Robin and her family for all these years, she has even less reason to tell the truth now.

  Chapter 17

  Robin

  I’m riddled with guilt and embarrassment. My parents’ cars are not in the driveway, so I can skip a welcome home greeting with them until they get back home. I go to see Danielle at her apartment above their detached garage. It’s hard to hug her right now, but this conversation we’re about to have will bring up the past. Big, tight hug it is.

  “How was the trip?” I ask her, warming her up before I drop a bomb.

  “Amazing,” she chirps. “But don’t worry about that. How are you? I’m so sorry to hear about the fire. God, you must have been so terrified.”

  “It was truly tragic, sis. Everything’s gone. They won’t even let me enter the premises yet. I feel like I’m in limbo right now. Everything is surreal. Hey, let’s talk about your trip.”

  Her face is beaming as she goes on about their visit to the Space Needle, hiking in the Mount Rainer National Park, and navigating the trails of the Hoh Rainforest. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen her this happy. The temptation to forget all about telling her anything to do with Reid crosses my mind. Is it worth it to raise the topic of Reid’s accusation? Can she handle yet another world of pain? Do I really want to let Reid come between us? I have no answers.

  Danielle points at her suitcase at one side of the bed. “I got you something. Look in the top corner.”

  I don’t deserve a gift. God, I hate feeling guilty. She sees me hovering over her half-zippered suitcase and comes beside me.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks. “I guess I should stop asking that question. I hate when people ask me that. And you jus
t lost everything. I’m so inconsiderate.”

  She’s inconsiderate? Good Lord.

  She pulls the zipper to the main compartment the rest of the way, rummages around the upper half of the clothes, and retracts a pale pink top. “It’s a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt!” she squeals with delight.

  “Awww, thank you so much,” I tell her, trying to conceal some of the flat-out misery I’m feeling.

  Danielle has always been intuitive. She senses something is wrong, and assumes I’m disappointed. “I know he was an electric guitarist and that you’re more into acoustics, but it thought you’d love it since he’s such a legend.”

  “I do love it,” I stress. “It’s gorgeous. Perfect. And my favorite color too.”

  She’s still not convinced. “Maybe I should have bought a few of those snow globes Mom and Dad brought back as souvenirs.”

  “No, hun. I love this. I wouldn’t know what to do with trinkets. Especially now. And I’ll actually wear this t-shirt. It’s great, hun.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” she says with a smile, finally satisfied that my weirdness has nothing to do with her gift.

  With Reid’s car in the driveway, if Mom and Dad show up now, they’ll come up here while we’re talking. I can’t risk having to turning this into a super-awkward family meeting, so I bite the bullet.

  “Danielle?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m so sorry to have to bring this up, but can I talk to you about something that I know you’ll be upset about?”

  She shrugs her shoulders, and her lips form a thin line. “Go ahead.”

  “It’s about…you and Reid.”

  She flops back into bed. “He’s back in town. I know.”

  “Okay. I was also going to tell you that although he’s been a big help while you, Mom and Dad were out of town, I also think he’s a low-down, dirty liar.”

  “Some men lie. I would say Reid is more secretive than a liar.”

  “Hmmm. Well, he lied about you, and I’m mad as hell.”

  She lifts her torso off the bed, holding up her weight with her elbows. “About what?”

  “Um…” I start, but can’t bring myself to say it.