by J. Lynn
“I don’t know. I think he wants to talk to you first before he makes that jump.” He sighed softly. “Seriously, Roxy, you hanging in there?”
That wasn’t an easy question to answer. So much was going on and hanging between us, and everything we needed to talk about I wasn’t ready for. “Charlie’s on a feeding tube,” I said finally, raising my gaze to the blue, cloudless sky. The color was much like Reece’s eyes. “He hated being on that before, so they have had to restrain him, and it’s so hard to see him like that.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Genuine sympathy radiated from his voice.
I nodded. “The last time he wouldn’t eat, he ended up having a seizure.”
“I remember that,” he said quietly.
Surprised, I looked at him. “You do?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I remember you talking about it, and I know how close you came to losing him.”
Pain rose as I leaned back in the chair. “I’m so afraid.”
“For Charlie?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, and I bit down on my lip as he reached between us, curving his hand around my arm. It felt like my heart doubled in size. “I’m afraid I’m going to lose him. I really am.”
He squeezed my arm gently. “I wish there was something I could say.”
“I know.” I swallowed the knot in my throat.
His gaze held mine for a moment and then he moved his hand. I wanted to climb into his lap and wrap myself around him like an octopus, but knew that probably wouldn’t be the greatest idea. “I want to ask you something again. I’m hoping you’ll answer differently than before.”
Oh God, I wasn’t sure I was ready for any of this. “Okay?”
“Why didn’t you tell me what was happening at your place, Roxy?”
At first, I didn’t know how to answer that question. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want anyone to think I was crazy for believing in ghosts or making it up, looking for attention. I mean, how many women come to the office with fears they’re being stalked and it gets written off? That’s the kind of fucked-up misogynistic crap that happens.”
Reece shook his head. “Not when I take the call.”
“You’re different,” I pointed out, unfolding my legs. The cement was cold under my bare feet.
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
I chewed on my lower lip as I gripped the arms of the chair. “I really didn’t know what was happening, and when I found my . . . my stuff in the dishwasher, I just didn’t think it was right to bring it up then when . . .” Unable to sit, I stood and walked to the railing. “I mean, you know what was happening.”
His gaze held mine for a moment and then he looked away. Rubbing the heel of his palm over his heart, he frowned. “When I realized this morning I was there when you found that and had no idea, I wanted to punch myself in the nuts.”
My brows flew up.
The muscle along his jaw popped. “I’m serious. What has been happening to you has to be some scary shit. Finding your panties in a dishwasher? Not knowing how that happened, wondering if your place should be on Ghost Adventures or if you need to get your head checked had to be driving you crazy. And you went through that by yourself—by yourself when I was there.” He scooted to the edge of the chair and leaned forward. “I fucking loathe the idea of you going through that.”
I drew in a deep breath but it got stuck. “You were angry . . . and you had every right to be angry.”
“I was.” He looked up at me through thick lashes. “But I should’ve been there for you. You should’ve been able to stop me and show me what happened. That’s not your fault that you didn’t. I put you in that position and I’m sorry for that.”
My mouth opened, but I didn’t know what to say.
“It’s time to have that conversation,” he said, his voice brooking no argument. “And we really need to be up front with one another. Both of us. No more bullshit.”
I leaned against the railing, feeling a little weak, but I didn’t run or try to hide from this. I wasn’t a coward. At least, I tried not to be one. “You’re right,” I said, but I wished he’d put a damn shirt on, because that body was super distracting.
“You know that I was pissed. You know why I’m pissed.”
“You hate lying above anything else. I know it’s because of your dad,” I said, and I rushed on before I stopped. “Knowing that made it hard to come clean about that night. Not that I’m excusing it, but just so you know where I’m coming from.”
“Lying isn’t what I hate above all else, Roxy. I hate fucking predators who stalk women and people I care about. That’s pretty high up there. So is murder and rape,” he continued, and I think I got his point. “But yeah, I was pissed. I’m still kind of pissed.”
I cringed inwardly. Here it comes . . .
“That’s why I left. I wish I didn’t. Gotta be honest with you, it probably was a good thing that I did, because the last thing I wanted to say was something I regretted and couldn’t take back, but knowing what you were going through, I wish I was there. That I stayed and maybe you would’ve opened up about what was going on.” He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Let’s take that shit and put it aside for a moment, because we’ll be dealing with that when Colton gets here.”
“All right,” I replied, stiffening.
He lowered his head as his chest rose with a deep breath. “I needed space. I needed to clear my head of the anger I was feeling. I’ve learned more than once that trying to hold an important conversation when you’re pissed isn’t the smart thing to do. It usually fucks things up and the last thing I wanted to do was go down that road with you.”
But wasn’t it already fucked up?
Reece’s eyes were such a deep, startling blue when they met mine. “I wasn’t ready to talk to you on Thursday, but I knew then where this was heading.”
My chest rose and fell sharply as I braced myself.
“I thought about it. I do get why you were upset and I know you get why I was upset. We both fucked up in this, one way or another.”
“We did,” I whispered, wanting to cry. I started to turn away, but his hand snaked out and caught mine. I faced him, eyes wide.
“I think we did this wrong,” he said, threading his fingers through mine.
I had no idea where this was heading, but he was holding my hand, so I was going to go with him somewhere where I didn’t want to pitch myself off the balcony. “We did?”
Reece nodded. “No bullshit, right? I have something I need to tell you.”
“No bullshit,” I repeated.
One side of his lips kicked up. “The first time I noticed you—like really noticed you—was when you just turned sixteen, and you were out in the backyard with Charlie. I had no fucking clue what you two were trying to do with a Slip’N Slide and honestly didn’t care, because you were wearing the tiniest bikini I’d ever seen.”
“I have no recollection of a Slip’N Slide,” I murmured.
He tugged me a step forward. “I do. It was in June. It was around two in the afternoon, and I was watching you from the kitchen window. I kept telling myself you were way too young to be thinking the things I was thinking.”
Interest piqued, I couldn’t let that go. “What things were you thinking?”
“Things a teenage boy thinks when he sees a hot chick in a bathing suit that barely covers her ass,” he replied. “I don’t think I moved from that window until I couldn’t take anymore, and I don’t think you want to know what I did when I left the window.”
My lips parted. “What did you do?”
He arched a brow. “Give you two hints. Shower. My hand.”
“Oh.” My skin tingled as a sharp sensation swirled through me.
“Yeah,” he murmured, and tugged me another step forward. My leg pressed against
his knee. “Then it was when you were seventeen and you made me a homemade birthday card. I don’t know why, but when you smiled at me and handed that card over, you came onto my radar and you never left.”
I totally remembered that card. I’d spent days on it, drawing a picture of the Statue of Liberty, because I knew he was into the whole Marines and America stuff. And I’d felt so goofy giving it to him, but he had smiled and he’d given me one of those awkward one-arm hugs. I’d thought he saw me as a silly kid.
“When I came back from overseas and I saw you . . .” He shook his head. “That hug you gave me. Never been hugged like that before. I didn’t understand why you were the first person I really wanted to see when I got back. I didn’t get it for a long-ass time why I started going to that shit hole that used to be Mona’s. And when I did finally put two and two together, and came up with the fact that I wanted you, then the shit happened with the shooting.”
I swallowed hard. I knew Reece had taken the officer-involved shooting hard and he’d been drinking a lot around that time, but before I could open my mouth, he went on. “My head wasn’t in the right place to act on it. The reason I came to Mona’s became more about getting shitfaced than seeing you, and then . . . yeah, that night happened between us.” He tilted his head to the side. “That’s why I regretted it. Because I was drunk and my head was in a bad place. I didn’t want anyone around that, especially you.”
“Reece,” I whispered.
His eyes searched mine intently. “By the time I figured out what I was feeling for you, we weren’t talking and as always, shit just gets out of hand.”
My heart was pounding as I looked down at him. “What are you saying, Reece?”
That crooked grin appeared again as he curled his arm back. I gasped as he hauled me right into his lap, my hip cradled between his strong thighs. Still holding my hand, he wrapped his other arm around my waist as he leaned back into the chair. Having no choice, I went with him and ended up stretched out across his chest, my free hand landing on his shoulder. My body immediately warmed to being so close to him.
We were face-to-face. “And because of that—all of that, we did this wrong. Not that I regret getting in you. Fuck. No way. Looking back, I’m a hundred percent glad that was our first time.” The arm around my waist shifted, and his hand slipped over my hip, to the edge of my shorts and then splayed across my bare leg. A wave of goose bumps traveled across my flesh. “But I should’ve done more for you. The dinner. The movie. All of that. You deserved that. I think after all this time, we deserve that.”
“We do?” My voice squeaked. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Yeah, we do.” His eyes drifted over my face, settling on my mouth. “How about we start over? You want that?”
I still had no idea what to say.
He arched a brow. “The way you’re rubbing my neck tells me you do, but babe, I want to hear it from that pretty mouth.”
My hand? I glanced at it. Hell, I was rubbing his neck. “I didn’t expect this,” I admitted. “I thought you’d tell me that we’d be friends . . . or something like that.”
“Roxy, I already told you I was looking for more than that.”
“But—”
He tipped his chin forward, resting his forehead against mine. “I was pissed, but that hasn’t changed.” A heartbeat passed. “But has it changed for you?”
Part of me wished it had, because this with Reece was dangerous to my heart and common sense. I could really fall for him, but I . . . I wanted him and—and I wasn’t going to finish that train of thought. “I would like that.”
“Figured.”
My heart flipped. “So damn cocky.”
“Just truthful,” he teased, plucking up the purple streak in my hair and twisting it around his finger.
I drew in a deep breath as his warm breath danced over my lips. My mind was literally blown. So was my heart, but in a way that was both good and concerning. This really was the last thing I’d expected. I suddenly had my present and future with him altered.
“Wait,” I said, drawing back. “If we’re starting over, does that mean, like, no sex until the third date or something?”
“Seriously?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s a valid question.”
“Come on, babe.” His hand slid up my leg and curved around my rear, and everything in me turned to liquid heat. “I think you know the answer to that.”
“I think I’m getting the picture, but maybe I need—”
His mouth silenced me. Kissing me softly, he sent my senses spinning. Just a kiss, and my breasts already felt heavy and an ache spasmed between my thighs. Well, the hand on my rear probably also had something to do with it, especially when a finger unerringly found the center seam in my shorts. He traced that seam, sending an illicit shiver through me.
“I bet you got the picture now, right?” he said, voice rough.
Running the tip of my tongue along my tingling lower lip, I wanted to wrap my legs around his hips, press against where I really wanted him when he groaned. “Are you sure this is smart?” I asked.
The hand left the seam of my shorts and slipped under the sweater and tank top, gliding over the bare skin of my back. “Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?”
I drew back, cupping his cheeks. I liked the way the bristle along his jaw tickled my palms. There was really only one good reason I could come up with. “I’m not going to fall in love with you.”
Reece’s grin spread into a full-fledged smile that wrapped around my heart. “Sure you’re not.”
Chapter 19
Colton showed up shortly after I showered and dried my hair. Dressed in jeans and a shirt that said THIS GIRL NEEDS A NAP, I dragged myself out to the living room. Seemed fitting as I plopped down on the comfy couch and watched Colton who watched his brother sit next to me.
Like sit waaay close to me.
Reece’s leg was touching mine and his arm was draped along the back of my couch. If we were any closer, we’d be joined at the hip.
Colton’s shrewd stare missed nothing as he sat in the chair opposite the couch, near the French doors. “What’s going on, little brother?”
“What’s it look like?” Reece replied.
Truth be told, I had no idea how to answer what was going on between us. Even though we’d cleared the air and we were “starting over” or something like that, I wasn’t sure if we were at the stage where we were willing to announce whatever it was we were doing.
“Looks like my hand is about to do a meet and greet with the back of your head,” Colton retorted.
Reece chuckled deeply, and I couldn’t repress the shiver in response to the deep, rolling sound.
“Is he doing good by you?” Colton directed that question at me.
I glanced around, like someone would pop out from behind the couch and answer the question for me. “Yeah?”
“He better.” His voice dropped low as he shot a warning look at Reece, who in return simply smirked. “Or I’m sure your father and either one of your brothers will kick his ass.”
My lips twitched as I tried to picture my younger brother fighting anything that didn’t involve a hand controller and an Xbox.
Colton reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a small notebook and pen. He flipped the notebook open, and just like his brother, Cop Face appeared. Time to get serious. “I need you to tell me everything that has happened, skipping no details. Okay? Even if it’s small, it could be something huge.”
I clasped my hands together, drew in a deep breath, and I told him everything, starting with the remote in the fridge and ending with the picture of me on my phone. Through it all, Colton scribbled it all down and Reece remained silent by my side and when I got to the undies in the dishwasher part, he moved his hand from the back of the couch to my shoulder,
where his fingers sought out the tense muscles there and worked them over.
“Anything else?” Colton asked, pen hovering over the notebook.
I couldn’t help but feel like I’d forgotten something. I racked my brain, but couldn’t quite put a finger on what was prompting that feeling. “No,” I said finally.
“Has anyone been causing you problems?” he asked.
I almost said no. “I went on a date with this guy. His name is Dean Zook. I mean, I don’t think he’s a psycho, but he’s kind of persistent.” I dared a quick peek at Reece when he stiffened. “And there’s Henry Williams. He came to the bar Friday night, but Nick ran him off.”
Colton scribbled down those names. “I’ve got Henry’s info. Is Dean’s on your phone?”
I nodded. “If it’s not them, do you think this is related to what’s been happening?”
He glanced at Reece before he answered. “Right now, there’s no way to be sure. I’ve got to do some interviews with the vics, but as far as I know, they haven’t reported anything like this.”
“I’m not sure if I should be relieved by that or not,” I admitted.
“No matter what, you’re safe.” Reece slid his hand through my hair, curving his fingers along the nape of my neck. My gaze met his. “I’ll make sure of that.”
“Even if it doesn’t have anything to do with the serial rapist, what’s happening can’t be taken lightly.” Colton slipped the notebook into his jacket as I sucked in a harsh breath. He’d said it. A serial rapist was here, targeting women. My stomach twisted. “Someone is obviously stalking you, Roxy. They’ve been doing it for a while, and taking that picture . . .”
“Means the fucker behind this is escalating.” Reece withdrew his hand and rocked forward. His eyes were like chips of ice. “Before, he was doing things that didn’t really alert you to his presence. Now he is.”
“Agreed,” said Colton. His eyes, which were so much like his brother’s, met mine. “This is serious, Roxy.”
“I know. Not like I don’t think it is. Trust me.”
