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“I’m to just knock on your door, and we’ll what… fuck?”

He arched a dark brow but didn’t rise to my bait. I was trying to rile him, to see how far I could push him with this. It wasn’t working. “One of these days, princess, I’ll get inside you. When it’s time.”

His words made me shiver. I hadn’t lied when I’d told him I’d want more if I were with him. And not just sex. He was dangerous to my carefully built walls. He’d already gotten past most of it; I didn’t cry for anyone. Ever. If I let him, he’d knock it all down, and then I’d be vulnerable. I couldn’t be hurt again. Couldn’t be made worthless by those who should have cared.

I cocked my head to the side, studied him. “How do you fight in the ring when you’re so damn chill?” I asked.

That got a smile from him. Just that tilt of his mouth, and his entire look changed. Gone was the hard ass, the ruthless competitor. He was rugged and so fucking handsome. My eyes dropped to those lips, wondered what a kiss would be like.

“I figured you to be a cowboy like Gray.”

He shook his head. “I’m more than a cowboy, princess. I’m a fighter. That’s my job. But you’re not my opponent,” he t

old me. “We’ll do this together. I don’t want a quick fuck with you. I want more. You’re more, Harper, even if you don’t believe it.”

Something flipped inside my chest then, and it was in the vicinity of my heart. It had been walled off for so long that the sensation startled me. Scared me to feel it.

This time, when I tried to stand, he let me. I brushed down my skirt, thinking about how I’d been so lewdly displayed in his lap—even though I’d originally been there to fuck.

“I’m going to go.” I glanced down at him, even as I ran my hands over my thighs to smooth the fabric. “Um, well, thank you.”

He only nodded his head slightly as he stood and followed me to the door, opening it for me. I stepped out into the hallway, turned to face him.

“See you around.” What did one say to a guy who’d turned you down for sex, got you off with his thumb and let you cry on him? When the corner of his mouth tipped up and made him seem less dangerous and wickedly handsome at the same time, I knew it was the right thing.

He waited until I had my door unlocked before he closed his. Reed, although he’d probably deny it, was a gentleman. A fighter, bad boy, gentleman.

After closing my door behind me, I flipped on the light, took in my unpacked apartment and felt a wave of loneliness. It was because I’d opened myself up and been vulnerable for Reed that I felt gutted. I wanted to crawl back on his lap and stay there. It would go away, this need for someone else. To be held, comforted. It had to. But how? The man who seemed to be seeing every one of my cracks lived ten feet away. He was getting too close and not just physically. I needed space, time to regroup, and I couldn’t do it if I might run into him.

There was only one way to do it. Leave. My therapist would say avoidance wasn’t the way to go, but she’d never met Reed, never come like I had with just his thumb over my panties. I grabbed my cell to pull up my plane reservation but almost dropped it when I saw the screen. I’d missed a call, and I recognized the number. My father’s office. It hadn’t changed in all the years he’d worked as partner in the law firm in Denver. My number, though, had changed. Several times in the past two years. There was only one way he’d gotten it.

Cam.

Fuck. They were all against me. Whatever tension I’d worked out of my body by Reed’s diligent thumb or my crying jag was gone. I didn’t want to talk to them. I didn’t want to think about Cam getting out of jail or the way my parents enabled him. Fortunately, I wouldn’t be in town—or the country even—on his release day. I just needed to get away from them, from whatever Reed had stirred up.

It wasn’t fair to lump him in with my family. There was no comparison whatsoever. While my parents and brother brought up old emotions and ripped off scabs on barely healed mental scars, Reed was coming at me from a different direction, which was just as overwhelming. Perhaps even more so because I didn’t understand it. I knew my parents. I knew Cam. I knew their strategy, and I had a plan in place to defend myself from their constant attacks. I had defenses, no matter how weak they were.

But Reed? I had a feeling he was going to be hard to fight.

There was an easy solution to get away from my family, at least a temporary one. To give me some space to think about Reed. I pulled up my reservation on the airline’s app and changed it.

8

REED

I didn’t see Harper leave for work as I’d hoped. I’d barely slept, thinking about her. I’d had to take my dick in hand not once but twice to ease the ache for her. Remembering how she looked when she came finished me off in record time.

When Gray and I came back from our morning three-mile run, I noticed her car was gone from the parking lot. Yeah, I was taking note of her car like I was pussy whipped. Six-thirty was early to go to the office, but this was the last week of the semester—she’d shared that over pizza the other night—and her schedule was crazy busy.

Watching her walk in those sky-high heels she seemed to wear would have made my half hour of jump roping much more enjoyable. Instead, I’d thought about the feel of her toned thighs beneath my palms, the silk of her panties, the softness of her folds and swollen clit through that wet fabric. The way her eyes went from spitting fire to blurry passion. And the way she came for me from just my thumb, fuck, she was incredibly responsive. It had been the second day in a row I’d had a hard-on while jumping rope.

A woman’s mind was something I never tried to figure out, but Harper’s? Hell, she was complex. And she had some serious problems. Problems I wished I could solve for her, so I never had to see her cry again.

That had gutted me, and I’d had no idea how to make her feel better. One minute she was on her knees ready to suck my dick, the next she was coming in my arms then had tears streaming down her face.

I’d never had a woman sob in my lap before. For a few seconds, I’d been stunned. Confused, even. But she hadn’t been crying because I’d hurt her or touched her in a way she didn’t like. No, she’d cried because I gave her a safe place to do it. I’d pushed her just far enough to let go of the shit that she’d had pent up, to give her the release she’d really wanted. It seemed she just needed to cry, so I’d let her. She’d felt good in my arms, so soft and warm. I’d breathed in her scent. Strawberries. Fucking strawberries made me lose my mind.

She’d screwed with more than just my usual warm up routine because when I moved on to spar in the ring, the first round hadn’t gone well. I had zero focus, and my opponent took advantage of that. My left knee was reaped and swelling because I’d let him take me to the mat. After a verbal beat down by Gray, I got my head in the game and put the sound of Harper coming out of my mind until I got to my shower, stroked my dick and came hard from the memory of her breathy moan, the way the scent of her pussy had lingered on my thumb.


Tags: Vanessa Vale More Than A Cowboy Romance