Chapter 2
—Kasey—
“Then he had the audacity,” I enunciated with my fingers pinched in the air, “to not only leave me hanging, but to issue me a fucking speeding ticket! One hundred and fifty-five bucks later…”
Simone threw her head back and laughed until tears formed. “Only you can get yourself into situations like this, Kase.”
“From almost-orgasm to a fine. I’m pissed, Sims. To the point I probably won’t visit him tonight,” I huffed, folding my arms over my chest.
She pished me. “That’s a lie, and we both know it.”
I paused for a second, then waved her off. “Yeah, you’re right. I am totally visiting him later. For revenge, mind you.”
“Uh huh,” she drawled into her cocktail while her hazel eyes remained trained on me.
A cool breeze came off the lake, and I turned my head to the evening sun, soaking in its rays as I plotted. I liked it here. With Simone. At Gatlin Falls.
It had been over a year since my bestie had moved here, and from the first time I visited her, I knew this place would become her home. It was a world apart from Denver, but Gatlin Falls grew on me a little more each time I drove through the welcome sign at the edge of town.
Thinking of the sign threw me back to earlier this afternoon and triggered an idea.
“Withholding orgasms,” I declared. “Many of them. His face is going to be as blue as his balls by the time I’m finished with him.”
Banks chose that moment to reappear from inside his mansion lake house. “Who and why is someone blue-balling?”
“Your brother,” I sassed.
“Ha! Reed?”
“Of course.”
He laughed, then got comfortable in the outdoor lounger adjacent to mine. “Ooh, do elaborate, ladies.”
My sister from another ballsack hastily swallowed her mouthful while waving a hand. “I’m not going to explain. This is on you, Kase.”
“Fine.” I turned to Banks and gave it to him straight. “Reed pulled me over coming into town—”
“She was speeding,” Simone cut in.
“Semantics,” I snapped. “He had the gall to withhold my welcome orgasm on the side of the road—”
“Bastard,” Banks spat before taking a quick swig of beer.
I ignored Simone’s snicker and continued, “—then he handed me a fucking speeding ticket. I mean, what the fuck!”
Banks barely swallowed down his mouthful of beer before roaring with laughter. “Fuck, that’s playing with fire.”
My voice pitched. “I am outraged!”
Amusement lit in his eyes, and he shook his head. “You’re absolutely perfect for Reed. He’s finally met his match.” Snickering, he kicked back again and took another sip of beer.
I lifted my cocktail to my mouth while plotting all the nefarious plans.
From the moment we locked eyes through the steel bars of the Gatlin Falls police station cells, Reed and I had embarked on a somewhat salacious relationship. We’d started purely wanting hot, casual sex with no strings—the best kind of sex. Somewhere between one weekend and the next, we became more. Now he meant something to me. A lot of somethings, in fact. He’d become my life, and my love.
Still, that didn’t make him exempt from cold, hard payback.
Setting down my glass, I snickered at all the dirty and underhanded tactics I’d use to get retribution.
Banks snorted. “I actually feel bad for the dude. Judging by the look on your face, he’s gonna be blue-balling for months—worse than he already is. And yes—before you ask, he complains every fucking Friday night while he’s crying into his beer. Do us both a favor, Kase: put him out of his misery.”
I feigned a pout. “That’s no fun.”
A smirk quirked one side of Banks’s mouth as he shot a glance at Simone. “I beg to differ.”
Simone’s cheeks colored a little as she made eyes back at him. Damn, I was happy for her. She found her second chance the day she rolled into Gatlin Falls after a ten-hour drive and got harassed by Banks. He was the best damn thing to happen after she lost Reagan.
I waved a hand. “I’ve heard it all before—girls talk, you know.”
Banks’s chin tucked back, and his gaze narrowed. “Like, how much?”
Simone tittered as I widened my eyes. “Like, a lot.”
“Christ,” he hissed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“That’s what he said,” I crowed, tilting my glass Simone’s way and hovering it until she clinked hers against mine.
With that in mind, and after we took a matching sip, I turned to Banks.
“I’ve had two too many to drive, do you mind dropping me off at Reed’s soon? It’s time for some mind-fuckery.”
Laughing, Banks hastily set down his beer and launched into action. “I love fuckery. Let’s go!”
~
Banks pulled in at the curb outside Reed’s place and kept the engine running. While keeping one wrist slung over the steering wheel, he twisted to look at me in the backseat.
“I would say take it easy on him, but I wouldn’t mean it.”
Simone scoffed before grinning at me. “Have fun, babe.”
“We won’t wait up,” Banks added.
“Ha!” I said as I exited the car. “You might have to if Reed kicks me out.”
Banks smirked wickedly. “He won’t. He’ll eat up every punishment you give him.”
I ducked back into the car and wiggled my eyebrows. “That’s the plan. See you tomorrow.”
Simone laughed. “See you on Sunday when you come up for air.”
Who was I to argue? She was right. I’d be walking like a saddle-sore cowboy tomorrow and not wanting to get off the D-train while it ran hot.
I said a quick, “I’m not even gonna lie or argue,” before flicking the door shut and waving at them through the tinted windows.
Banks pulled away from the curb and left me standing there with my overnight bag slung over my shoulder. I pulled my shoulders back, pivoted on my heels, then marched toward Reed’s contemporary lake house like I meant business.
When I rounded into the enclosed entry way, one side of the over-sized front doors was already open wide, adorned with a shirtless Reed casually leaning a shoulder on the door frame.
The corner of his full lips quirked in a way that drove me crazy. “Knew you’d show up. Still angry at me, Quinn?”
“You know I am.”
His rumbling chuckle washed over me as I laid a rough kiss on his cheek, then shoved past.
Reed’s hand whipped out and snagged my inner elbow, stopping me dead in my tracks. “It’s mutual then.”
I tugged, testing his grip. It held strong and formidable, so I raised my chin. “It is.”
Fire in my veins heated my body, and each beat of my heart pulsed in time with Reed’s ticking jaw.
“Good,” he snapped, overly sarcastic.
On the inside, I cussed him out—called him all the colorful names under the sun. On the outside, I kept that all neatly tucked away, intending to use the heightened tension to my advantage.
My gaze flicked back and forth between his dark irises.
“Great,” I retorted in a bitchy tone.
His subtle smirk had me believing I had the upper hand, and the first licks of arousal came to life as amusement continued to play across Reed’s mouth.
Without warning, I lost my footing. My chest hit the closed half of the door and my initial gasp got pushed from my lungs when Reed’s chest hit my back.
“You’re cute when you try to power play, darlin’.”
I bucked, completely fruitless in my efforts.
“Admit you were in the wrong, Kasey, and I’ll pay the fine myself.”
Reed’s hissed demand turned my insides molten as he tugged my arms higher behind my back.
I lived for this; the angst and the drive to nettle him into an animalistic sense of arousal.
“Get rid of the fine and then I’ll think about it,” I hissed.
“Not fucking happening. Submit and admit it.”
I gritted my teeth against the increased strain. I wouldn’t give in. I’d rather pop a shoulder out of joint than give him the satisfaction of tapping out.
“Nope.”
“Gah, you’re a stubborn bitch,” he growled.
A sinful smile wove across my mouth. “Thanks.”
“It wasn’t a goddamn compliment, Kasey.”
“Well, I took it as one.”
I tried to buck free without warning, but Reed had me locked down harder than his dick grinding against my ass. His hips pinned me against the solid wood as he reached for his work kit hanging on a hook not far from my head.
“Last chance to change your answer, Quinn,” he warned.
“I like my answer just the way it is.”
The telltale click of cuffs made the hair on my arms stand on end. Reed never used his handcuffs on me—apparently work gear shouldn’t be soiled by dirty deeds… until today.
“Don’t you dare cuff me, Reed!”
Without warning or so much as a grunt of effort, cold, hard steel circled my wrists, and as those loops clamped together, I officially entered my handcuff era.
“Still thinking you’ve got the upper hand, darlin’?”
“You have no idea,” I drawled. Cuffed or not, I was suddenly here for it. All of it.
My obligatory snarls of sass turned into a whoop of surprise, then laughter, when Reed spun me and threw me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing. Hanging upside down with my hands locked behind my back and the blood rushing to my head, I grinned to myself as Reed slammed the front door closed, then marched to his bedroom with purpose.