The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) (22 page)

He sat down at the breakfast bar. It wasn’t fair to leave Chase to finish the brake job, but he needed some professional advice. With Winston back on the scene, Reid was worried whether he might be in legal trouble for the deal he’d made prior to Harper’s trial, should anybody ever find out about it. And the best person to tell him was the person who had helped his family through it. Only she was in Chicago, a place he still wasn’t sure he could go back to.

Before he changed his mind, he dialed the number.

“Brewster, Grayson, and Ross. How may I direct your call?”

Reid rubbed his hand across his forehead before pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m looking for Lydia Grayson, please,” he said.

“Can I ask who’s calling, please?”

“It’s Reid Kennedy,” he replied.

“One moment please.”

He took another sip of his coffee and debated the relative merits of hanging up the phone. If he did, nothing would change. Or not in the short term, at any rate. If he didn’t, at least he would know for sure what he might be on the hook for.

“Hello, Mr. Kennedy,” the phone operator said. “I’m afraid Ms. Grayson is in court today. Would it be okay to put you through to her voice mail?”

Voice mail was tricky. He didn’t want what he had to say recorded in any way. Perhaps it was a sign that he wasn’t meant to have this conversation yet. With a very heavy emphasis on
yet
.

“No, thank you. I’ll call again later in the week.”

A small part of him was relieved by the outcome, even though it was a totally cowardly move. Yes, he’d just dodged a bullet, but he had a feeling that when it finally caught up with him, it would hurt twice as much.

A fucking Impala. Again. Happy birthday to me.

Lia laughed at the nondescript car outside the building.

“Is everything okay, miss?” The car rental employee handed her the clipboard and pen.

Lia rested the clipboard on the hood of the car and quickly signed her name. “Everything is great, thank you. I appreciate you delivering this.”

It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision based on a momentary flash of genius from Trent. She’d called him about returning to work, but he was having none of it. They’d brought in a freelance tattoo artist they knew to fill in her spot on the schedule because Trent was adamant that she have time to fully recover. When she’d complained that she was bored, Trent had suggested she go spend the time with Reid. When she’d raised her braced arm in a
How the fuck am I supposed to drive a stick?
action, he’d pointed out that she was more than capable of driving an automatic and that she could just rent one.

She’d started her birthday celebrations by having breakfast with Pixie and Dred and had laughed so hard at Dred’s attempt to get runny cereal into Petal’s mouth. Pixie had cooked and baked all of her favorite things and then presented her with a skirt she’d sewed herself—thick black-and-white stripes in a wonderfully structured satin.

In the past, she’d made the trip over to Star Island for lunch, but this year would be different. She’d had no contact with her mom since Grace had sided with her father. It was hard to be angry, because Lia understood her mother’s reluctance to step out from under her father’s control after all the years they had been together, but hurt surrounded her like a wet mist. Instead, she was going to celebrate with her friends and focus on the good she had going on in her life.

Two million dollars had been deposited into her account that morning, the last of her trust fund from Granny Emmeline. The money had done nothing except make her sad. The condo she’d loved since the day Granny Emmeline had given her the keys suddenly felt too large. Perhaps it was because having Reid there had felt so right. Or because her prediction had come true and her family was now much smaller, limited to her brother. He was in theater. She’d always thought that term for being out in a war zone with every possibility of incident was an odd choice. He’d been able to patch through the previous evening to wish her happy birthday, and for the briefest moment she’d considered sharing the problems happening at home. Knowing that he didn’t need that kind of distraction, though, she kept her thoughts to herself.

The drive to Fort Pierce took twice as long as normal. An accident on the highway, road work that narrowed the number of lanes, and a fucked-up arm that demanded she take two breaks en route. But she was on her way to see Reid, and that more than made up for it. The day he’d left her condo, she’d realized that there was no point in pretending that she wasn’t falling in love with him. Hell, she was already there. And while she couldn’t explain it to anybody else, she knew this time was different. All her relationships in the past were tepid approximations of what she felt around Reid.

It was midafternoon by the time she reached the Fort Pierce exit, and a few minutes later she pulled onto Kenny’s forecourt. All of the large roller-shutter doors were wide open, and there seemed to be a lot more people working there than she remembered. She stepped out of the car and patted the roof of the Impala. It might be a bit on the bland side, but it had served her well. Like the term
babe,
it had grown on her.

Lia rubbed her hand over her shoulder. Her posture was screwed, her back was tight, and the weight of the brace was heavy on her arm despite the sling she still occasionally wore.

One of the men she’d been introduced to the day her car had needed towing walked toward her. “Hey. Red Plymouth, right?”

“That’s me,” she replied with a smile. “Good memory.”

“Hard to forget a car like that. It isn’t broken down again somewhere, is it?” he said, glancing past her toward the Impala.

“Oh, Lord, no.” She could only imagine having to explain to Reid what had happened to the car if she’d had another incident, but at least she knew he’d fix it for her. “This happened,” she said looking down toward her brace. “It’s pretty tough to drive a stick with only one arm.”

“Ah. Well, what can we do for you?”

“I’m here to see Kenny,” she said, remembering to use his nickname.

“Well, let me go get the boss man for you.”

Realizing her presence had garnered her some additional attention, she played along, lowering her chin and her sunglasses to peer over the top of them. “Hello, boys,” she said with a smile.

Reid stepped out of the darkness of the garage into the brilliant sunlight wearing a pair of overalls over his jeans, the top half tied around his waist by the arms. Goddamn, she needed to ask him what his views were on role-play, because she’d love to drive into his garage and be manhandled by a dirty-talking mechanic.

“I can’t decide whether I’m mad that you drove all this way with that arm, slightly pissed off that you seem intent on distracting my boys, or three . . .” Reid said as he came to a stop in front of her, leaning forward to whisper in her ear, “horny as fuck because I haven’t been inside you for six days and you look spectacular in that skirt.” He bit the lobe of her ear gently. “Happy birthday, babe.”

Embarrassingly, at thirty years of age, she still giggled. “Thank you. And for what it’s worth, I think you are entitled to feel all three, although I have to admit I prefer horny to mad and pissed.”

He grinned in return and held his hands up, palms facing her. They were smeared with streaks of black, as was the side of his face. “How much do you like that skirt?” he asked, echoing the question he’d posed to her the night she’d shown up at the garage after the tattoo expo.

“Unfortunately for you, very. It’s my birthday present from Pixie, and it’s the very first time I’ve worn it.”

“Damn. Then I should probably go wash my hands before I molest you in it.” He pulled a set of keys out of the pocket of his jeans. “It’s the silver one. The alarm isn’t on. Make yourself comfortable, and by comfortable I mean lose the skirt and everything else. And be naked in my bed at five o’clock. Because, for once, I’m finishing on time, locking these doors, running up the stairs, likely taking an item or two of clothing off as I run, and then, grease-covered or not, going to fuck you until every ounce of horny, mad, and pissed is gone.”

Lia shivered at the growl in his voice. She knew him well enough by now to be confident he would make good on his promise, and every part of her tightened a little. Lifting up onto her toes, she pressed her lips to his, savoring the gentleness that belied his words. It was over too soon. She placed the keys to her car into the palm of his hand and leaned in to whisper in
his
ear. “Cases are in the trunk, I’m not wearing panties, and I can’t wait.”

She kissed the side of his jaw, unable to resist a grin when he groaned.

“God, Lia. Do you know how hard it is to change brake pads with a fucking boner?”

She began to walk in the direction of the apartment and turned her head to look over her shoulder. “I don’t,” she said, “but I look forward to a full report at five oh two precisely.”

* * *

“Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?” Chase said as Reid practically shoved him out of the garage. “The sudden attention to mandatory working hours and closing time doesn’t have anything to do with the beauty you let into your apartment earlier, would it?”

Reid had been doing his best to avoid thinking about Lia, who, if he’d played his cards right, was currently naked right above his head. “Not that I really want to discuss it with you, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. I think that’s pretty fucking obvious.”

Jarod walked by them with Shaun. “Want me to plan to open up in the morning, Kenny?”

“Brilliant idea,” he said with a grin. “I might be late. Busy commute and all that.”

“This has the makings of that romance drivel the missus reads,” Shaun said. “Stranded heroine rescued by car mechanic, who then introduces her to his rocker shaft,” he said, making a jerking-off motion with his hands.

Reid grinned. “For fuck’s sake, can you just get out of here?”

The guys laughed and made their way off the lot.

Quickly, Reid killed the lights, set the alarm, and locked up the doors. He took the stairs two at a time, pulling his polo shirt roughly over his head. Never had he so anticipated entering his own apartment. Another few seconds and he’d be able to do some messy combination of wishing her a happy birthday while fucking her senseless. Reid kicked open the door and closed it just as fast behind him. He ditched his boots by the door and strode purposefully through the apartment. His belt landed somewhere near the dining room table, and his wallet skimmed straight across the breakfast bar. Both jeans and underwear were gone before he stepped into the bedroom.

He’d died and gone to heaven. There was no other way to describe the vision lying on his bed. She wasn’t naked as he’d requested, but it was hard to complain about the tiny scraps of bright red lace she wore, complete with stockings. And no panties, just as she’d promised. He’d never wanted her more.

“One of these days I’m going to take you on your knees. Just grab those hips of yours and pound into you.” He moved to the foot of the bed and simply drank her in.

Lia lifted to her knees in a move that melted his heart. “Like this?” she said confidently over her shoulder. The perfect white globes of her ass faced him, and her back arched perfectly, but she was balanced on one arm, her brace lying on the bedside table. She’d moved how he wanted her to without question, and a warm river of contentment ran through him.

“Babe,” he said, running the tips of his fingers between her cheeks. “It’s taking Herculean effort to not jump on the bed behind you, but not today. Not with your arm like this. There are a million other ways I’ve thought of while I’ve been fixing cars this afternoon, and none of them involve you hurting your arm.”

“Tell me,” she whispered breathily.

He’d get to that in a moment. But for now he needed to kiss her. Needed to feel her tongue tangle with his. In seconds, he was on the bed, helping her lie flat. He pressed his lips against hers, silently begging them to open. Relief flooded him as she welcomed him in. It was probably fucked up to miss her taste as badly as he did, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to care as she stripped his emotions bare. Their kisses were wet, messy, and open-mouthed, punctuated with gasps; they kept their eyes firmly focused on each other.

He felt her chest rise and fall shallowly beneath him as her breasts pushed against him. Reid crawled farther onto the bed.

“You want me to tell you? Well for one, I want to look at you right now, because I have missed those beautiful eyes of yours.” He reached over to his side table and pulled out a condom. “Most nights I’ve dreamt about them. You haunt my dreams every night, Lia. And two, it’s your birthday, so it’s not right for you to have to do any of the work. At least not yet,” he said with a wink. “So no going on top to begin with, either.”

Lia’s eyes, so expressive, flared wide in anticipation. He ripped open the condom and covered himself. “And three, I want to feel those ankles of yours wrapped around my waist.”

Lia slid her hand up her body and teased one of her breasts through the red lace. “You need to help me take all of this off first,” she said.

“My pleasure, Red.”

He kissed her again before he moved to open the clasps of her garter belt. “You should take these off, babe. My hands are pretty ripped up. I’ll ruin them.”

“No. You taking them off for me is my birthday present to myself. I want to see you rolling them down my thigh, perhaps kissing the skin you see exposed.”

“We’ve talked about you telling me what we’re going to do in the bedroom, babe. Not gonna happen.”

Lia attempted to prop herself up before gasping out loud. “Fuck,” she winced.

Reid grabbed a couple of pillows and lifted her head gently. “Better?”

“Yes.” She sighed in relief.

“I just want you, Reid. Please.”

“Well here’s the deal, Lia. I’m working my way up to that, but first I gotta do a little reconnecting with some of my favorite places. So you can beg all you want, but it isn’t gonna make this mouth of mine go any faster.”

Slowly, he dragged the nylons down her legs, exposing the creamy smooth skin of her thigh. He planted kisses as he went until he was able to pull the stocking from her foot. Then he repeated the same with her other leg, all the time hyperaware of every little moan and every time she tightened her thighs in anticipation.

He crawled between her legs to the place where she was already wet . . . another thing he’d missed. As he ran his tongue through the sweetness of her lips, finishing with a hard flick against her clit, he gripped her hips hard to prevent them from bucking off the bed. Her responsiveness drove him crazy as he sucked, and kissed, and licked, desperate to send her over the edge.

“Reid,” she cried out. “Oh, God.”

The way she called out his name, so needy and desperate, threatened to be his undoing. He slid his body farther along hers, careful to keep his weight off her, only stopping when the tip of his cock brushed up against her warmth. Her injured arm lay out to one side, and she looked . . . vulnerable. Bringing out a protective side of him he didn’t know existed.

“Want to know how many times I’ve thought about you this week?” he asked, surprised by the gruffness of his own voice. He reached down and bit her lip before she could answer, then released it just as quickly. “I thought about you when I woke up alone in this bed. I thought about you when I ate breakfast by myself. I thought about you when something silly happened at work and I wanted to share it with you. I thought about you in the evening as I ate dinner alone. And you have no idea how many times I jerked off in my shower because I was thinking about the last time I was alone with you in yours. Worst of all was at night. When the apartment was dark and quiet. I found myself needing you, reaching for you, for comfort and for this.”