Reilly's Wildcard (3 page)

The kitchen was no less impressive with the beige granite counter tops, pinewood cabinets and a giant steel refrigerator. The spacious room had all the latest gadgets. “I’m not a terrific cook, but I could sure have fun in here.”

“I like to putter around.” He winked at her and grinned. Lucy’s heart skipped a beat. “Not sure how great I am, but I do okay.”

Lucy strolled around, touching the smooth, shiny surfaces, and hummed her approval. She spotted the coffeemaker and remembered his question. “Coffee sounds nice, if you don’t mind.”

Reilly moved to the coffeemaker, grabbed the glass carafe and went about making a fresh pot of coffee. “Have a seat,” he said, motioning toward the table. “This won’t take but a minute.”

Lucy pulled out a chair and shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m here.”

Reilly didn’t reply, and Lucy thought maybe he hadn’t heard her. She was only too glad. She felt like a nervous schoolgirl, and that wasn’t at all the way she wanted Reilly to view her. Alluring, sophisticated and even a little mysterious, but definitely not immature.

Lucy watched as Reilly hit the power button and started the coffee brewing. When he stepped away from the counter, moving closer to her, and cupped her chin in his palm, forcing her to look at him, Lucy’s heart nearly stopped.

“Already regretting it, huh?”

Lucy couldn’t lie to him. She didn’t know why, but she needed him to know that she wasn’t having regrets. Not exactly. “I’m just a little out of my depth here. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent time with a man.”

Lucy stared into a pair of the greenest eyes she’d ever seen. She wondered if maybe Reilly wore colored contacts. The shade seemed a little too unreal. But that didn’t fit with the man she was coming to know. Every part of Reilly Jennings appeared to be the real deal. There didn’t seem to be a single thing phony about him.

Reilly pulled out the chair adjacent to her and sat down. “A beautiful woman like you? I find that hard to believe.”

Lucy laughed, feeling a little less nervous. “Thank you, but it’s true.” David’s image sprang to her mind, and Lucy looked down at the table. “I was married,” she admitted. “It was short and…not so sweet. Since the divorce last year, I haven’t much felt like dating.”

“Do you still love him?”

She snorted. “God, no.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he murmured, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. “I’d have a problem with that.”

“What about you? Anyone ever get a ring on your finger?”

Reilly shook his head. “Nope. There have been a few…close calls, but for one reason or another, it never seemed right.”

Lucy fiddled with the round black placemat in front of her and asked, “All the Jennings men are single, though, right?”

“Actually, Sammy is about halfway down the aisle. He’s been all smiles ever since he met Julie. She used to waitress at the restaurant, but now she’s more like a business manager. And Vance recently got back together with his high school sweetheart.” He shrugged. “You’ve seen the way Brodix looks at Sarah. I don’t think he’s too far behind the other two.”

“Hmm, I guess that leaves you and your twin.” She bobbed her eyebrows. “The last two single Jennings brothers. I bet you don’t have any problem finding a date.”

“Honestly, I’ve been too busy with the restaurant lately. Between that and my day job, there really hasn’t been much room for fun.”

Curious to learn more about the man who had captured every last drop of her attention, Lucy asked, “What is your day job, exactly?”

“That’s a little hard to explain.” The coffeemaker dinged, and he stood to pour them each a cup. “Do you take anything in yours?” he asked.

“Nope. I prefer mine black, thanks.” He handed her a mug that had a picture of a zombie on the front and boldly stated:
Bite Me
. Lucy chuckled. “A fan of that popular zombie show, are you?”

Reilly winked as he picked up his own steaming cup, brought it back to the table and sat down. “What can I say? I’m hooked.”

“Me too,” she said, pleased they had something in common. “It grosses me out, and yet I can’t stop watching it.”

“I know what you mean.” They both fell silent for a moment as Reilly blew on his coffee. “You asked what my day job is.” He paused before saying, “I’m sort of a jack-of-all-trades. Mainly I sell baseball cards, but I also work the occasional remodeling job, and in the winter I plow snow.”

“Baseball cards? Really? You make enough to keep a roof over your head with that sort of thing?”

“You’d be surprised. Collectors will pay a pretty penny.”

Lucy couldn’t imagine it, but she’d never been a big fan of the sport, so what did she know? “I’ll have to take your word on that one. Baseball isn’t really my thing.”

He chuckled. “To be honest, I tried the nine-to-five work routine, but I tend to get bored too easily, so I went from one job to another before I realized I needed to make a change. This way, I get to set my own hours, and it never gets dull. River tells me I have the attention span of a gnat.”

Lucy took a sip of her coffee and hummed her approval. It was strong, just the way she liked it. “You love your brothers very much, don’t you?”

Reilly sobered instantly. “Yes. For a long time, we only had each other. Our biological mother was a drug addict. Never knew our real father. We ended up bouncing around in foster care until Wanda and Chet took us in. Everything changed for us after that, for the better. They gave us something we’d never had—love and family.”

Her thoughts turned inward as she imagined a young Reilly, no loving mom to tuck him in at night. No dad to toss a ball around with. She understood that sort of abandonment all too well. “I have a sister,” she said in a quiet voice. “She’s three years younger and pretty much means the world to me too.”

Reilly cocked his head to the side and leaned a little closer, as if riveted to her every word. “Yeah?”

He didn’t push her into talking about herself, but Lucy had his full attention nonetheless. She appreciated that in a man. David had only ever wanted to talk about himself. Selfish to the core. “My sister and I are all we have in the world. It’s pretty much always been that way. My mom died in a car accident when we were both very young. Dad raised us. He wasn’t…” Lucy’s words trailed off as she struggled to describe the way she’d grown up. “Dad had issues.”

Reilly reached across the table and took her hand in his. “What’s your sister’s name?” he prompted her.

“Annabelle. Well, Beatrice is her first name, but if you call her that, she’s liable to black your eye. Annabelle is her middle name.”

He grinned. “Feisty like you, no doubt.”

She tugged her hand from beneath his and sat back. She missed his warmth at once. “Eh, she’s nothing like me. She’s beautiful. Like, breathtaking, to be honest. When we were little, I used to tell her she was an angel who came down from heaven. She has a strong sense of right and wrong, and she’s loyal to the core. She looked a lot like our mom, a fact that often sent Dad into a rage.”

“Was he abusive?”

She nodded. How had they gotten into such an emotional topic? Lucy wasn’t sure, but she was in too deep to turn back now. “He drank. Dad wasn’t a happy drunk either. I tried to shield Annabelle, and we did our best to stay out of his way.” She shook her head. “I suppose I’m a little protective of Annabelle.” Her face heated as she realized she was pouring out her heart to him. “Sorry, I’m not sure how I got into all that.”

“It’s okay. And I can understand being protective, believe me. When we were in foster care, they split me and River up. I went to the Snyders. They were okay, not bad people, just in over their heads, I think. River went to a real dirtbag. Scum-of-the-earth type. I didn’t know what River went through at the time, but later, when I learned the truth, it messed with my head a little. I hated that I hadn’t protected him,” he groused, his voice rough with emotion. “That I hadn’t been there for him.”

This time, Lucy reached out to him, and a familiar warmth seeped into her. What was it about Reilly that made her feel as if she’d known him her entire life? “Annabelle was too young to go through what she did. The older I got, the angrier I became. At first I was mad at my mom for dying on us and leaving us with Dad. Irrational, I know.”

“I think it’s a natural reaction, given the circumstances.” A beat of silence filled the air before he asked, “Where is your dad now?”

Reilly’s calm, gentle voice and feather-light touches over her fingers relaxed her the way nothing else ever had. She couldn’t remember a time when she and David had talked like this. Why was it so easy with Reilly? It scared her that she was opening herself to him so quickly.

Lucy thought of his question and cringed. “We don’t really speak. After Annabelle joined the army and I went off to college, Dad pretty much washed his hands of us. I tried to reach out at first, but you can’t make someone love you. They either do or they don’t.”

Reilly frowned. “His loss, if you ask me.”

“That’s pretty much the way I look at it.” Her voice trembled. The emotional topic or Reilly’s nearness? She had a sneaking suspicion it was a little of both.

He leaned closer and murmured, “I’m glad you came to the restaurant tonight.”

“Me too,” she whispered as her breathing increased and her temperature spiked.

Reilly angled his head and touched his lips to hers. It was a barely there caress that had Lucy craving so much more. She moaned and pressed more firmly against his mouth. A growl emanated from his chest; then his tongue teased at hers. Lucy closed her eyes and drifted into the kiss, tasting the delicious flavor of Reilly. She cupped his lean jaw in her hand, relishing the roughness of his five o’clock shadow against her palm.

He lifted an inch and said, “God, you are so beautiful, Lucy.”

She wanted to reply, but he stole her words with another scorching mating of lips. Her pulse beat a wild rhythm, and she suddenly took control, sliding her tongue into his mouth, licking at the wet warmth she found there. Reilly groaned and pulled away. Had she done something wrong? When he stood and stared down at her, dark desire etched into the rugged features of his face, a thrill of excitement raced up and down Lucy’s spine.

“Are you sure about this?” Reilly asked, his hands fisted at his sides.

As an answer, Lucy took hold of the right strap on her dress and tugged it downward. The left one went next. Soon her lace-covered breasts were exposed.

“I must be dreaming,” Reilly murmured as his hot gaze traveled her length. “That’s the only explanation.”

“That goes for both of us,” she replied. As Reilly licked his lips, Lucy’s nipples tingled and pulled into tight peaks beneath the see-through fabric.

She stood and slid the side zipper down, watching as Reilly froze in place. A blazing inferno roared out of control inside her. For the first time in her life, Lucy felt desirable and uninhibited. She let the dress fall to the floor and stepped out of it. Reilly slowly moved closer. He reminded Lucy of a great, prowling leopard.

“How can you say that your sister is breathtaking when you’re standing in front of me in nothing but a pair of baby-blue lace panties and bra? Sexy high-heeled shoes and all that dark, shiny hair spilling down your back, caressing your pretty ass?” He shook his head. “Not touching you is killing me here, sweetheart.”

His words tore away the last of her reservations. “So touch me.”

He cursed under his breath and seized her hips, pulling her close. Lucy lost her balance and tipped forward, landing against him.

“I want you so bad it hurts,” he groaned.

“It’s the same for me,” she confessed as she flung her arms around his neck and nestled her pelvis into the rigid length beneath his jeans. “But I don’t even know where to start. It’s been too long, and I’m…” Lucy didn’t know how to put into words the fact she felt that this was all so new to her. The relationship she’d had with David had never been terribly passionate. The sparks flying between her and Reilly now were in a class all their own.

He hummed his approval. “That’s okay, because I’ve got plenty of ideas. Hell, you have no clue what I want to do to you right now,” he whispered against the shell of her ear. “Be sure, Lucy.”

“Please,” she protested, “if you stop now, I just might clobber you.”

He chuckled. “Not a chance.” He dropped to his knees in front of her and rubbed his face against her belly. “Mm, your skin is silky soft.” Reilly slipped his arms around her and cupped her ass in his hands, squeezing and fondling. He effectively held her still while he plied her tender flesh. “You’re so goddamn sexy.” He reached up and pinched her nipple. Lucy whimpered. “I could come in my pants just staring at you.”

As he looked up at her, Lucy’s cheeks heated. Reilly slipped his fingers under the waistband of her panties and inched them down over her hips. When they pooled at her feet, she stepped out of them, her thigh muscles quivering as her need mounted. She released a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding and asked, “Shouldn’t we take this to the bedroom?”

“Soon,” he answered. “First, spread your legs for me. Show me how much you want me.”

Lucy did as he commanded. There was no possible way she could deny him. When Reilly touched a finger to the dark curls at her cleft, Lucy nearly exploded.