Chapter 27 #2
“What about when I found you in my apartment that night, alone and in the dark? Or when you hauled me into Mr. Votaw’s office? You were already working me over then, weren’t you?”
“No.” He grits his teeth and grumbles something to himself that sounds like a death threat against . . . Morgan Freeman? The actor?
And I thought I was confused before.
“Reed, your story doesn’t add up. If it wasn’t for a case, then why did you start hounding me way before the night Kenzie faked the headache and we had our first fake date?”
“I saw Elliot Riddick near your table. And you looked mad as hell, which set off alarm bells. When I followed him, he fled, proving he was guilty of something. And as for pulling you into your boss’ office, that wasn’t my idea.”
He seems sincere, but I don’t trust him. My wounds are still raw. “Whose idea was it?”
“After Riddick ran off, I consulted with the head of casino security. Once he saw the video footage of Riddick leering at you, he and your boss insisted we confront you to see what you’d say. I tried to keep you out of it, but you were involved no matter what I told them.”
I was an inch from prison this entire time.
And Reed tried to keep me out of it?
Did I get this wrong? Did Kenzie really break us up? Or is this more of Reed’s game?
I don’t know what’s real anymore.
Dejected, Reed stares at his hands. “Lila, I’d never lie to you about how we ended last time. Especially not for a case.”
I let my vision fall to the floorboards. “I’m unsure what to think. I’m confused.”
“What’s confusing, Lila?” Hints of frustration seep into his pained tone. “I’m trying my best to be clear with you.”
Still unable to face him, I stumble through a meaningless response. “You’re constantly demanding answers. I don’t know what’s happening right now. But it’s like I-I-I . . . I feel like you’re manipulating me.”
“If I’m manipulative for telling you the people behind this are violent killers, then so be it. As long as you’re safe, I don’t care what you call me.”
My body shifts toward him on its own accord. “That isn’t the only reason I feel manipulated.”
“What is it? What specifically did I say to make you think I would use the worst heartbreak of my life against you?”
He captures me in his penetrating stare, so deeply entrenched in agony. For a long time, I can’t speak.
All I can do is feel.
I feel his pain and mine, how they mingle together in the tortured space between us.
I feel his hungry gaze raking over my skin, leaving heat in its wake.
The oxygen surging in and out of my lungs.
And the pulsing need between my legs.
With all that as the backdrop, I can’t comprehend what his words convey. It’s sensation overload.
However, I caught one thing he said, and it’s waving a yellow caution flag behind my eyes. My skeptical words come out in a shuddery breath. “Worst heartbreak of your life? Surely you don’t mean—”
“More than my first breakup and any other breakup that followed. More than my dad dying. More than when I found out what my birth mother did to us. And maybe even more than when they ripped me out of my brother’s arms to send me to a new home I didn’t want.”
His pain floods me as if it’s my own.
“What?”
Seriously, what is he talking about? What did his birth mother do? And he has a brother? Why hasn’t anyone ever mentioned that?
Before I can ask any of my rapidly mounting questions, he grabs my cheeks and lowers his face to mine. Possessive and cherishing at the same time. “As much as those things hurt—and some of them nearly destroyed me—I’d relive them all if it meant never losing you.”
The pressure from his confession threatens to suffocate me, cutting off my words. I blindly paw at his hands and forearms, frantically searching for a way to reciprocate the passion of his hold on me and what his words mean.
I need to communicate with my body what I can’t with words.
How does someone respond to something that beautiful and tragic?
My searching hands wrap around his shoulders, allowing me to drag him closer. “Reed,” I whine.
It’s all I can say. Four letters. One syllable.
A wish. A promise.
An anthem.
“Lila, I swear I didn’t lie about what happened. I’m done denying what this is between us.” His heated eyes flay me, but no more than his words. “I cannot go on for another day pretending I don’t fucking love you. I won’t do it.”
He loves me?
Tears obscure my vision, so I close my eyes and press our lips together. I don’t need to see him to know he’s being truthful.
The only thing I need is to kiss this man.
And so I do.
His lips are warm and supple, beckoning me to drown myself in him.
With our mouths fused, our tongues and hands roam greedily.
Even our body parts are determined to make up for lost time.
I grope his shoulders and arms. His neck.
His face. His air. His back. If I had access to it, I’d grab his dick too.
Like he’s a guest in my thoughts, he rasps, “All these years spent not touching you. Tasting you. Pleasing you. All that wasted time.”
Nodding my agreement, I dive back in, kissing him with fervor.
Even though I’m holding him to me with all my might, he isn’t close enough. I can’t stand the idea of anything separating us for another second. Not even air.
There are five long, torturous years to make up for.
Reaching down, I unbuckle my seatbelt and rise onto my knees, preparing to crawl onto his lap. I don’t give a flip if my butt is too big to fit in between him and the steering wheel. I’ll make myself fit. Just like the ugly stepsister with Cinderella’s shoe.
Proving once again that he’s aligned with my thoughts and desires, he releases me to recline his seat and remove his own seatbelt. “Get the fuck over here, cookie.”
“I’m coming.”
“Not yet. But you will soon.”
A nervous giggle jostles my shoulders as I hoist myself over the armrest. Although it’s the furthest thing from graceful, my journey to his lap is quick and effective.
And that’s all that matters right now.
That and plastering ourselves together.
My thighs spread to straddle him, making my shorts ride up. He wastes no time in caressing the newly exposed skin. With a fervent touch, he digs his fingertips into my outer thighs and uses his grip on me to drag me closer.
On the night we shared, he was exceptional at maneuvering my full-figured body into whatever position he wanted.
Looks like he’s still able to handle me.
I can’t wait to find out what else he can do with me when we have more space.
A bed would be nice. However, I’d take the hood of the car at this point.
Once he’s yanked me forward so our pelvises are crushed blissfully together, he delves around my hips to squeeze my bottom with both hands.
A primal growl reverberates from his chest as he reclaims my mouth. His touch is simultaneously brutal and cherishing. If I didn’t feel equally as feral, I might be a tad frightened by his intensity.
My nipples stiffen to impossibly hard peaks, and I involuntarily grind myself against his erection.
Not that I could’ve avoided it if I tried.
Reed’s blessed in the size department, which I guess means I’m blessed by proxy.
He pulses his hands around my bottom, encouraging me to writhe harder. “Fuck, cookie. Keep rolling those hips like that.”
Then his lips are back on mine. Our tongues twist and tease while I indulge in more of that delicious grinding. He’s so hard his cock hits my clit with each flex of my hips. One thrust becomes two and three. Until I lose count.
Faster and faster, I pulse on him, allowing him to guide me with his possessive hold on me. My clit throbs and tingles with each pass of his cock.
“Mmm. Fuck, I’ve missed this with you,” he rumbles before placing wet kisses along my jaw and neck. “Do you still make that sweet sound when you come, my cookie?”
“I don’t know,” I answer, too blissed out to offer anything sexy or quippy in return. All the energy needed for witty responses has been redirected to the pleasure unfurling between my legs.
Reed moves to the other side of my neck, giving my hair a tug at the roots to guide my head. “Guess I’ll have to find out for myself.”
Between shaky breaths, I pant out some semblance of a retort. “If you keep pressing against me like that and talking dirty, you’ll find out all right.”
He tightens his grip on my hair, tugging just shy of pain. I grind on him harder. His next kiss is barbaric and commanding.
I love it.
Odd how I’ve spent so much time disliking his stern side and longing for the softer version I once knew. But now that we’re in this moment, I want him harder and rougher. I need him to take me savagely.
After driving his hips upward twice more, he releases my hair and goes to work on the button on my shorts. “I need to get my hands on that pretty pussy.”
“Why stop with your hands?”
Yes, I said that out loud. No regrets.
Without conscious thought, I help him by lowering my shorts’ zipper. Before I have a chance to feel shy about my belly pouch or recall which panties I wore today, he has two thick fingers plunging under the embarrassingly wet satin fabric concealing my pussy.
My eyes snap shut, and I toss my head back when he makes contact with my slippery flesh. “Oh god, Reed. Yes, touch me like that. Please.”
“Love the sound of you begging, Lila.”
“I know you do.” Eyes shooting open, I tease him some. “If you make me come, maybe you’ll hear more of it later.”
Air hisses through his teeth with his sharp exhale. “Fuck yes.” Using his free hand around my nape, he pulls me toward his face. His lips are on mine with my next breath.
I was wrong before when I said his earlier kiss was barbaric. That was nothing compared to this one. Nothing.
Nipping teeth, a sharp, demanding tongue, and a punishing suction with those full lips. It’s wrathful perfection. I could probably come from this kiss alone.
But I won’t find out because his fingertips find my clit in the next second. I break the kiss to utter an appreciative moan and gasp for air. He doesn’t let me retreat from him for long, reclaiming my mouth in renewed intensity.
No objections.
Air? Psh. Unnecessary.
All I need to sustain life is Reed touching me like this and stroking his tongue against mine.
Those nimble fingers play me like a symphony, his touch sending pulses of euphoria throughout my core. Every flick, pinch, and roll of my clit sends me higher into a pleasure spiral. This man is a maestro at knowing exactly how I like to be touched.
A coil of light tightens inside me as he kisses me deeper and intensifies his movements on my sensitive bundle of nerves. Tingles of light and warmth explode from deep inside me, making me quiver and cry out.
“That’s it. Yes, baby. Fucking come for me. Just like that.”
Tiny shards of light behind my eyes flash and shoot in all directions as I ride out my climax. Still pulsing his hips under me, Reed maintains his ministrations against my clit until he senses I’ve crested the peak, then he backs away at the perfect place.
This man.
A vibrator could never.
And believe me. To no avail, I’ve tried them all over the last five years to find one that could come close to making me orgasm the way Reed just did. And he wasn’t even inside me this time.
His kiss softens, and he removes his hand from my sweet spot.
I moan and whimper into his mouth, sounding like I’m pained.
But this is the opposite of pain. It’s an exquisite pleasure, still washing over me in gentle waves.
And the way he’s kissing me like I’m his whole world has me wanting even more of him.
Inside me.
Now.
I reach between us to fumble with his fly, determined to free his cock. After that, we’ll let nature take its course.
Suddenly, the car jostles, and a loud whoosh makes us flinch. I break the kiss to see a tractor-trailer passing us at cruising speed.
Oh. My. God.
We’re in a car on the side of the road, and I was a half-second from figuring out how to get his cock inside me, despite both of us being fully clothed. And he just made me come.
What is wrong with me? The girl who can’t even cuss shouldn’t be getting banged on the side of the road in broad daylight.
This is bananas.
“Shit. I was two seconds from coming in my pants.” He flops his head back onto the headrest. “Fucking hell, woman. I want to bury myself inside you right now so damn bad. But we should stop.”
My cheeks burn with what I’m sure is a midnight ruby blush, bordering on maroon.
Unable to meet his eyes, I pull my hair off my neck and twist it to one side.
“Yeah-yes-yeah. We should stop. I’m sorry.
” I need to move off his lap. What the heck came over me?
“I’m probably crushing you. Let me just—”
He sits all the way up, bringing his chest to mine. His firm hands lock around my hips, preventing my dismount. “Hey, look at me.”
After all he’s shared today, I’m unsure why I’m bracing myself for rejection. But I am doing precisely that. I steady myself with a few deep breaths and finally force my eyes open to look at him.
From this distance, he’s so striking. He steals the breath I worked so hard to recapture a moment ago.
The chiseled edges of his cheekbones blend into the smooth planes of his face, pink from our exertions.
His eyes are hypnotic spheres that ensnare me in their depths.
I wish I could stay there for eternity, curl up, and make myself feel whole again.
He offers a tiny grin, and it’s so perfectly Reed. Just a small bit of happiness for me, breaking through his gruff demeanor. “We’ll finish this later, okay? I need to get you to a safe place and head to work.”
Oh yeah.
Work. The case.
Silas, Riddick, and murder.
Then there’s me.
I offer a fake smile, feeling anything but happy at his reminder. “Sure.”
“When I get back tonight, we’ll talk about everything. Okay? I’ll do whatever I can to protect you. I swear.”
Despite wanting to object, I nod.
We’ve solved nothing.
He cups my cheeks and gives me a delicate kiss. For one more moment, I pretend I can have him forever.
When I open my eyes again and shuffle to my seat, a ball of barbed wire unfurls inside my gut.
This thing with Reed won’t last. It was a fleeting moment. Like it was five years ago. This time, our fallout will be permanent.
Forever? No chance.
I can’t have him that way. Because I’m a . . . criminal. And he’s the FBI.
He only thinks he loves me. I know the truth, though. He loves the old Lila. The woman I was a few years ago. Once he finds out what I’ve done, he’ll have to turn me in. There’s no way a man who rises each day intending to deliver justice could love the Lila I’ve become.
That old adage said it best. A bird and a fish can fall in love, but where would they make their home?
Perhaps he’ll visit me in Cell Block D.