Baiting the Maid of Honor (7 page)

Don’t think about it, Julie. Live in the moment for once.
“Yes, I-I like it.”

At once, his hand tightened on her thigh almost painfully, then slid a little higher. When the massage

started again, he was so close to the barrier of her underwear, she had to bite her lip to keep from

moaning. God, the thought of his hand touching her there…she suddenly needed it more than her next

breath. Somehow she held her tongue and waited.

“Good. I like it, too. Too damn much.” He made a hungry sound. “The second you walked outside

last night and let down all that hair, I wanted to fuck you. If you’d stayed any longer, you’d have been

gripping the railing, screaming for God. You knew it, too, didn’t you?”

Julie gasped as his knuckles brushed over her aching core. “Yes. I knew.”

Through her damp panties, he sank a thick knuckle into her opening and twisted. Julie cried out, her

hands flying to the rafter in front of her, seeking purchase when her knees threatened to buckle. “When

you look at me, baby, do I strike you as the type of man who lets the woman he intends to fuck walk

into another man’s hotel room?”

“No.” Her voice shook. “
No
.”

“That’s why you slipped Golden Boy’s key into your purse right in front of me with all the subtlety

of a high school marching band. You expected me,
wanted
me, to stop you. How am I doing?”

She felt sweat beading her forehead. Legs shaking beneath her, she didn’t have the ability to do

anything but tell the truth. “I-I kept thinking you’d follow me. Stop me from going inside. When you

didn’t…I pictured you anyway. Touching me.”

“Goddamn right you did,” Reed growled, cupping her mound and squeezing. “You thought I’d let

someone else touch this? Not a fucking chance.”

Cool air washed over her bottom as he lifted her skirt over her hips, leaving her backside

completely exposed to him, save her cotton thong. She’d never behaved so provocatively in private,

let alone in a public place. As the restaurant didn’t open until dinnertime, they were alone in the

empty lounge area, but people would be arriving soon to prepare for the evening. The encompassing

heat turning her limbs to liquid battled with her ingrained sense of propriety. “Reed, someone might

see us. Please…”

“I wouldn’t allow anyone to look at you like this.” His deeply aroused voice sent a shiver racing up

her back. Very slowly, he nudged aside the material of her panties and sank his thumb inside her,

pressing firmly against her front inner wall. She gasped at the unexpected pressure, her thighs

tightening around his hand reflexively. “No, no. Keep them open. Let me find your spot. I’ll be the

first to touch it, won’t I?” He gave a low groan as he rotated his thumb. “I bet in college you barely

ever let anyone under those too-short skirts. Dying for a man, weren’t you?”

His thumb brushed over some hidden part of her and with a throaty cry, she nearly toppled from the

ladder, but caught herself on the wooden beam at the last second. “
Reed.
I’m…I’m going to fall.”

“No. You will
not
fall. You will stay right there until I’m finished.” His thumb found the sensitive

area again and smoothed over it, once, twice, as if coaxing it to life. Then he began to stroke it

rapidly with the pad of his thumb. Julie couldn’t form a single thought as the orgasm came hurtling

through her system, blasting her with such blissful heat she became unaware of anything but the place

Reed made contact with her body. Her head fell forward as she rambled unintelligently, eyes blind as

the area between her legs contracted and released over and over again. She felt his teeth sink into the

flesh of her ass, then his tongue lick over the spot to soothe the sting.

A door slammed somewhere out in the main dining room. Before Julie could process the sound or

what it meant, Reed pulled her off the ladder and tucked her against his chest protectively.

His mouth brushed over her ear. “Think you can stand, baby?”

The teasing hint in his voice stirred her temper. She’d just experienced an exceptionally intense

climax. With someone she had no business making time with. Didn’t even
like
. And he had the nerve

to make jokes. She squirmed out of his embrace and smoothed her dress down over her legs hastily.

“Oh, I think I can just about manage. If I swoon, there are smelling salts in my purse.”

“A few more minutes on that ladder and they might have been necessary.”

“Didn’t your mama ever teach you arrogance is a sin?”

“You love the way I sin.”

Julie opened her mouth to respond when Christine breezed into the room and came to an almost

comical halt, flushing a deeper red than her hair. “Oh. Uh…I just came to see if I could help with the

dickorating. I-I mean…decorating. Oh, God. Am I interrupting something?”

Without breaking eye contact with Reed, Julie answered brightly. “You’re not interrupting,

sweetheart. Mr. Lawson here was just about to take himself off.” When Reed’s jaw flexed in

irritation, Julie smiled, let her gaze drop for a split second to his jeans. She had the sudden urge to put

him in his place, throw him off-kilter like he’d so effortlessly done to her. “I’m guessing he needs to

go stroke his ego in private for a while,” she whispered for his ears alone.

He shook his head once, slowly. “That’s a dangerous game you’re playing.”

Feeling bold, Julie shrugged with indifference. “Yet I appear to be winning. Two to nothing.”

“Not for long.”

“I guess we’ll see.”

Reed leaned in so close, his breath fanned across her lips. “Oh, don’t worry, pixie. When this week

is over, I’ll have seen every inch of you.”

With a nod in Christine’s direction, he turned and left.

Chapter Seven

Reed sat alone in the corner of Spago, animated conversation and scraping silverware creating a

noisy void around him as he watched Julie flit about the room, practically sprinkling pixie dust

everywhere she went. She hadn’t sat down once in the last two hours, nor had she stopped to eat her

plate of duck confit salad that still sat untouched at her table. As if salad were a meal. Being in law

enforcement, he observed people for a living and he had to admit, he’d never watched someone quite

as interesting as Julie. He’d concluded during the earlier cocktail reception that she must possess a

built-in mechanism for homing in on guests who were having a less-than-perfect time. Within

seconds, she’d have them dazzled with some amusing anecdote, introducing them to another guest

with whom they magically seemed to have something in common.

She signaled waiters to refill drinks, straightened tablecloths, and gushed over everyone’s outfit,

whether or not it was warranted. She listened to boring stories from Colton’s grandparents with

nothing short of captivated interest on her pretty face. She lowered the music. She turned it back up.

Yet she refused to sit the hell down and
eat
something. For the life of him, Reed could not

understand why he cared that she was likely starving. Or that those silver high heels were surely

doing a number on her feet. Or if her face was going to crack from all that smiling. It shouldn’t make a

damn speck of difference to him. Only something continued to bother him about that phone call with

her mother he’d overheard this afternoon. The one that had filled her big blue eyes up with tears and

made her go pale.
Not everyone can be that perfect,
she’d said. How much more
perfect
could one

get? Oh, he knew what lay underneath the bright, shiny surface. He could hardly stand waiting to

glimpse it again. But this on-the-surface Julie? He couldn’t find one single imperfection. Not one flaw

that hinted at the vulnerable girl beneath. Obviously, she felt the need to keep up the illusion of

perfection around the clock. He suspected there was more to the reason than simply a desire to

decorate and make folks happy.

Damn it if he wasn’t impatient to find out the reason. So he could tell her it didn’t preclude her

from sitting down and letting everyone else fend for themselves for ten goddamn minutes while she

ate a plate of fancy lettuce.

Without a single glance in his direction, she slid into the booth behind him where an older couple

sat eating braised short ribs. Reed didn’t recognize them but he suspected they were related to the

bride. He sighed as she launched into another excited greeting wherein he already knew she wouldn’t

pause for breath once.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, is that you eating over here all alone, bless your hearts? I’ve been looking

high and low trying to find you two. Just how big are those grandbabies now? Strapping young men is

what they are. I’ll tell y’all a secret, they look just like you, Mr. Wilcox, and doesn’t that just spell

trouble for the young ladies in their class? You best keep an eye on him tonight, Mrs. Wilcox. He’s

got the look of a smooth operator if I ever laid eyes on one. A plain old fox in a henhouse. Let’s get

you a refill on that champagne.”

By the end of her speech, Reed was massaging his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. How did

she do it? Her bubbly energy was inhuman. She’d done her part by decorating the whole damn place,

which even Reed had to admit looked pretty damn spiffy. Now she had to go around making sure

everyone felt warm and cuddly, too?

Reed slid out of the booth and crossed the room to lean against the bar next to Brock, who sipped

his beer pensively as he watched Regan on the other side of the room.

“Seems I might have to make an effort with that one,” he said sourly.

“Welcome to my world.”

“Blondie causing you trouble?”

Reed grunted as he tipped back the beer the bartender placed in front of him. “I wouldn’t call it

trouble, so much as an ulcer.”

Brock laughed. “Sounds promising.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Reed responded, grimacing as he heard himself repeat Julie’s earlier words.

He didn’t like their ring of uncertainty. It had been a long time since he’d been uncertain of anything.

Perhaps it bothered him even more at that very moment, surrounded as he was by some of the only

people in the world who knew so much about that uncertain period of his life. When, as a kid, he

hadn’t known where his next meal would come from. Whether or not he’d make it through to next

week. If his father would come up with the rent money gambling, or they’d once again be forced into a

shelter until he hit another “lucky” streak.

Brock nudged him with an elbow, dragging him from his dark reverie. He jerked his chin toward a

corner of the lounge where large poster boards had been set up, cluttered with pictures of Kady and

Colton, encompassing their lives from birth to the present. Staring up at them was Sophie, Colton’s

little sister and thus,
their
surrogate sister, looking lonely and out of place in workout pants and an

oversize T-shirt. Nodding in unspoken agreement, he and Brock made their way toward Sophie,

coming up on either side.

She jumped at their sudden appearance, and tugged self-consciously at her shirt. “Oh boy. You guys

aren’t going to give me a noogie, are you?”

Brock smiled and tapped her on the nose. “Rest assured. I’m on my best behavior. I can’t speak to

Reed’s intentions, mind you.”

He felt a smile threaten when Sophie quirked a censorious eyebrow at him. He’d always had a soft

spot for the shy, slightly pudgy girl who’d shadowed them during those hot summers in Manchester all

those years ago. She’d lost the pudge sometime since he’d last seen her, but the shy had stuck around.

Like her brother and Brock, she’d never judged him or made him feel like he didn’t belong with the

well-raised children. Even though he probably hadn’t belonged, despite their assurances. “I ought to

noogie you, Miss Sophie. I thought we had a deal. You don’t tell anyone about that issue of
Penthouse

and we let you come swimming at the lake on Tuesdays.”

Her face broke into a pretty smile. “Haven’t you heard of a statute of limitations?”

“Look at you, talking real fancy now,” Brock drawled. “Besides, I thought it was a
Hustler
.”

“Does it honestly make a difference?” Sophie asked.

“Yes,” the men replied emphatically.

Sophie said something else, but Reed became distracted by a picture pinned to the poster board.

Front and center stood Kady, wearing a crown in front of a mechanical bull. In the background,

looking fresh and innocent, Julie smiled brightly at the camera. Posing in jean shorts and cowboy

boots. Long legs dangling on either side of the damn mechanical bull. Without a second thought, Reed

reached up and snagged the picture off the board, stuffing it into his jacket pocket. If the sexy photo

made him hard, he’d be damned before he left it around to have the same effect on someone else. He

felt a prickle move over his neck and turned to find Julie watching him through narrowed eyes,