24. Reid
Chapter 24
Reid
I T’S BEEN ALMOST a week since the last rabbit’s foot on my doorknob. Normally, this is exactly when I’d find something else. Maybe a head this time, or a rabbit’s foot that isn’t one from a store. I was with these guys enough to know their tactics.
The thing is, I find nothing. No strangers lurking at the diner, no one looking out of place during my patrols, and no more squatters. They’ve gone dark, and if the idea was to send me into a nervous tailspin of anxiety, wondering if they were going to target me or Willa next, then they’ve succeeded.
“You in there, Officer Reid?” Tom’s hand waves in front of my face as he and Jerry watch me with open curiosity.
I snap back to attention. “Sorry. What?”
“We were just wondering if you and Willa planned on five kids or ten,” Jerry jokes.
“Boys, you leave him alone,” Barbara admonishes as she refills my coffee.
I give her a nod of thanks and scowl at the old-timers.
Tom looks appraisingly at me. “You gonna let her mom fight your battles now, too? ”
“Come on, boys,” I say, “we all know that Willa’s gonna leave us all in the dust one day.”
Willa’s head snaps up from the grill, as though she heard me. She probably did. She’s back there making another one of my ridiculous orders—today is the Hashbrown Heaven Special, but of course I don’t want the onions, I want scallions. And I don’t want the actual hash that this one comes with; I want sausage.
She’d been put out, glaring at me from the window while I smiled like a happy schoolboy right back at her.
I absolutely love riling her up. That might be the best part of my day.
Actually, no. Making Willa come is the best part of my day.
Maybe it’s making her smile.
Good lord, what is happening to me? The only time I even remotely relax these days is when I’m with her, threat of the Bunnies be damned.
She has a chokehold on me. To the point where it’s starting to dawn on me that I might be falling for her. There’s no other way to explain the constant pressure in my chest.
Unless it’s heartburn.
But no amount of Tums is curing it, so I’m pretty sure I’m falling for her. Which is absurd, because I’m going back to Miami. Right?
I’m…not so sure anymore.
The click of a shutter going off beside me brings me back to reality once more, and I turn to find JJ inspecting his camera screen in the wake of taking a photo.
“Hand it over,” I state.
He looks up at me, startled. “I’ve got every right?—”
I slide off the stool and use every bit of my bulk against his scrawny stature. “I said, hand it over.”
His eyes wide, he hands the expensive camera to me.
I look at the screen. Sure enough, it’s another photo of me. I delete it, then hand the camera back at him.
He stares at the camera in shock. “Hey! You can’t do that,” he protests.
“I can, and I did,” I say, my voice low. I know I sound like an asshole—and, truthfully, I’m being one—but Willa’s safety is at risk. So I continue. “If you take one more picture of me without my consent, or if you print anything about me in your paper, I will make your life uncomfortable. Do you understand me?”
He blinks and takes a step back. “It’s just?—”
I should feel bad. He’s doing his job. But again: Willa. And for her, there’s no compromise. “No. There is no ‘just’ about this. There is a ‘yes, I understand’ answer, and it is the only answer.”
He nods. “Okay.”
I step forward, crowding him and making his back bow a little. “I didn’t hear you.”
He licks his lips nervously. “I said, okay, I won’t take any more pictures of you.”
I straighten and smile, clapping him on the back far harder than is necessary. “Wonderful! Have a seat. Get some lunch. I’ll buy.”
He pales. “I’ll, uh, pass.”
I grin maniacally at him. “You sure?”
He nods and backs up. “Yeah. Thanks, ah, thanks anyway.”
I watch with no small amount of pleasure as he skitters away.
“Was that really necessary?” Barbara asks, setting my order in front of me as I slide back onto my stool.
I look at my lunch, then back up to Barbara, her daughter and husband working the grill like a well-oiled machine behind her. “Yes,” I say simply.
I don’t bother fighting the instinct a few hours later to drive Willa home after her shift. She looks up in surprise when I pull up in the squad car. “Reid?”
I lean over and open the passenger door. “Get in. I’ll take you home. ”
She waves her hand at her car. “I drove. And isn’t it against the law to ride in a cop car?”
“We’ll figure your car out later. And if you want me to cuff you, I’d be happy to do so.” I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively.
She laughs as she gets in the car. “You’re insane.”
I breathe a little easier with her safely beside me.
I don’t breathe easier as she climbs out at her house and winks at me, pulling her hair down from her ponytail and swaying her hips as she walks away from the car.
Fuck. Me.
I put the car in park and radio Betty. “Taking a break, Betty. Give me twenty?”
“You got it, big guy,” comes the response.
I kill the engine and hustle after Willa. I have a diner cook to give an orgasm to.
I growl in frustration when I see she’s left the door not just unlocked, but wide open.
“Willa, dammit,” I call.
Then she appears in my view, utterly naked and grinning wickedly at me. “I’m sorry, Officer. Did I do something wrong?”
Well, hello there. I close and lock the door, then unbuckle my utility belt before stalking to her. “You naughty girl. I think you might have to pay for that.”
She squeals and makes to turn away, but I grab her by the wrist. I turn it just enough to catch her off-guard and pull her back flush against my front. “I didn’t get enough to eat during lunch,” I murmur against her neck.
She squirms against me. “I need a shower.”
I release her and point to the bed. “Get your pretty ass on that bed and give me your pussy.”
Her eyes flare, but she hesitates.
I reach down and pull her into a bridal carry before she can process what I’ve just done, then lay her on the bed. I yank her legs to bring her ass to the edge, then kneel before her.
“Reid, seriously,” she protests.
“Look at me.”
She does, a faint blush appearing on those beautiful cheeks.
“Whose pussy is this?”
Her blush deepens. “Yours.”
“And if I want to eat it, I get to eat it. Whenever I want.”
She swallows. “Okay.”
I narrow my eyes and press my fingers into her thighs. “Okay, what ?”
“Okay, Officer MacKinnon.”
“Don’t you dare look away from me, Willa. Watch me make you come.”
And once I’ve made her scream my name, I go back on shift.