The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) (13 page)

Reid stilled her wrist and took the fork from her. He placed it on her plate and put his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her toward him. “If you don’t mind me saying so, your dad sounds like an even bigger asshole than mine. And if he does run for governor, I swear on my garage that I won’t vote for him.”

“Is it wrong for me to say that’s probably the most romantic thing you could say to me right now?”

“I meant to romance you today, but my plan seems to have gone awry.” He kissed her lips gently. “And I do want to romance you, Lia, because you deserve that and more.”

“I’m such a sucker for the romantic gesture,” she said against his lips.

“Then be prepared, because I’m about to bring my A-game.”

* * *

Lia folded the dishcloth and placed it on the rail. Everything had been brought back inside, the garbage had been dealt with, and the dishes had been loaded into the dishwasher. Each time Reid had carried something into the kitchen, he’d touched her. Her skin was now on fire. Sometimes it had been as simple as the back of his hand brushing against hers as he passed her something to rinse. Other times he’d pushed her hair to one side and placed soft kisses along the side of her neck. Anticipation built now at the mere sound of his footsteps. She wondered how he would touch her next.

He stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, folding them in front of her. “So I’m curious,” he whispered in her ear. “Was the whole sending me to the spare bedroom thing to protect my modesty or yours?”

“After everything that has gone on today, I didn’t want you to feel obliged to spend the night with me. I know you have a lot on your mind.”

Reid pressed tightly against her, his erection rubbing her lower back. “When I hold you like this, and you smell as good as you do, there’s only one thing on my mind.”

“What’s that?”

“I would have thought that was obvious from the way my cock is standing at attention in your presence. But if you need a diagram, I’m more than willing to help you out, babe.”

“Or you can quit calling me babe and just show me,” she said, embarrassed by the breathiness of her voice.

He slid one of his hands down until he was cupping her, his strong fingers sliding back and forth as much as the tight skirt would allow. The other he slid up her chest and across her sensitive breasts and gripped her chin, turning her to face him.

“That will be my pleasure, babe,” he said, before crushing his lips to hers.

The kiss was aggressive, passionate, and messy. He continued to stroke her, teasing her, bringing her closer to the edge she so badly wanted to fall over. She slammed her hands onto the edge of the sink and groaned before spinning around to face him.

“Fuck, Lia. A guy could lose himself in you.”

Reid backed her up against the counter, pressing his chest to hers until she had nowhere left to move. In her heels, they lined up perfectly, his erection hot and demanding against her core. She’d thought about their lovemaking many a night since she’d seen him last, but her memories seemed dim compared to the way she felt right now.

“I’m so pleased you decided to stay,” she said as he released her chin and moved his hand to grip her breast. He squeezed it firmly, just the way she liked it, causing her knees to shake.

In a move that was way too close to the end of one of her favorite movies,
An Officer and a Gentleman,
Reid lifted her up into his arms with ease. “Which way to your room?” he asked gruffly.

“End of the hall,” Lia said. She ran the tips of her fingers along the scruff of his jaw and down his neck. It looked good on him, and she couldn’t wait to feel it on the inside of her thighs again.

Within moments, he kicked open her door and set her down next to the bed. “You wouldn’t believe how many times I thought about you naked this week,” he said, lowering the zipper of her skirt.

Lia smiled. “I may have thought about you once or twice myself.”

“Did you do anything about it?” he asked, sliding the cool silk of her blouse over her head before throwing it to the floor.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Why hadn’t she?
The memories she had of him thrusting into her, filling her so deliciously, had taken her close enough. But the truth was, she’d already known deep down that she wanted to see him again, and getting herself off would have been a poor substitute for the feel of his hands on her. “I wanted to wait for you. I wanted you to do it for me.”

“Fuck, Lia. That’s the fucking hottest thing I’ve heard you say.”

“Did you?” she asked, as he kissed her collarbone and reached his hands behind her back.

He opened her bra and slipped the straps down her shoulders. Once her lace bra was removed, he cupped her breasts in his hands. They were heavy and tender.

“You did the sexiest fucking striptease in my living room, and I’m a guy. So, yes, I did. I’ll be getting off to that memory when I’m sixty.”

A vision of him lying alone in that giant bed of his, stroking himself to thoughts of her, turned her on even more.

Reid fell to his knees at her feet. “As much as I love your ass in this,” he said, “I love it in nothing even more.”

Lia looked down and watched Reid slide the skirt to the floor. He pressed his lips to her mound and inhaled deeply. Unable to resist, Lia ran her fingers through his hair and held him close.

“Do it, please,” she encouraged. “Taste me, Reid.”

He stopped and looked up at her, his eyebrow raised. “You trying to take control, babe?”

She shook her head, willing to do whatever it took to get him to continue.

“Good,” he said and winked.

Without warning, he forcefully dragged her panties down and slipped them over her shoes. He pushed her back until she sat on the bed, and then he crawled along the floor until he was between her legs. Lia gasped as his tongue invaded her, licking her wetly. He sucked, and kissed, and nipped her, alternating between teasing her clit with his tongue and his thumb. She tried to ignore the way her heart raced in her chest as he controlled her body, first bringing her closer to the familiar sensation of orgasm, then allowing it to slip away before driving her back to the edge again. He repeated the action over and over until she couldn’t bear it. Until she gasped his name.

“Reid,” she cried, and bucked off the bed as he slid a finger deep inside her. The smooth strokes sent jolts of electricity through her, pushing her closer and closer to her limits.

She wrapped her legs around his back but quickly unraveled them when he groaned. The shoes. She’d forgotten she was still wearing her heels.

“No,” he said, lifting his head to look at her. “Leave them. I like it.”

Lia did as he said, crossing her ankles near his waist, and fell back against the bed. Reid returned to teasing her with his tongue and his fingers, and it didn’t take long until she was hovering close to the edge again. Shamelessly, she rocked her hips against him, desperate to reach the orgasm she knew was close to the surface. His fingers slid deeper and deeper, stroking the one place guaranteed to set her alight.

She lifted her hips and gripped his head, tugging at his hair, forcing him closer and deeper, until she could no longer control herself as she surrendered to Reid’s searing pleasure.

* * *

Reid continued to stroke Lia gently as he watched her. Her chest heaved, her breasts bouncing as she fought to get her breathing under control. They taunted him, and he wondered if she would ever let him fuck them. Everything about the woman appealed to him, from her sassy nature to her caring concern. But watching her fall apart at his touch was one of the most spectacular things about her. And it also left him ragingly hard.

“Jesus, Lia. I look at you and I can’t find the right words.” He rose to his feet and leaned over, placing his hands on either side of her head. Her skin looked almost translucent against the emerald-green sheets. Her eyes were hooded, and she looked up at him lazily.

“Mmm,” she answered.

He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, savoring the way she gasped against him. His balls tightened, and he stood to give his dick some relief from the zipper currently cutting off his blood supply. Reid kicked off his boots and opened his jeans. He wandered to her bedside table and turned on one of the small lamps. A warm glow filled the room, casting them in a golden light. Lia sat up and began to take off her shoes.

“Let me do that,” he said, crouching down in front of her. The scratches on his back from her heels pulled tightly as he bent forward to loosen the buckles. His dick twitched in response. He didn’t consider himself a kinky kind of guy, but the scratch of fingernails or the digging in of heels did it for him every time. As did the way she lay back and let him take care of her now.

Lia let out a contented sigh. When she had stood in his garage, picking up all of the tools and placing them back down on the bench, he’d wondered what it would be like to fuck all that nervous energy out of her. And as he crouched in front of her as she quietly and compliantly let him remove her shoes, he decided it was just as satisfying as he’d known it would be.

He placed the shoes together near the bottom of her bed and stood up.

“You know,” he said, taking her foot in his hand. He kissed her toes before biting her little one in a move that made her giggle. “It really was all about the legs. At least for the first five minutes until I brought the bike to a stop.”

“And now?” she asked, piercing him with those gray eyes that were currently the color of gunmetal.

Reid kissed his way over her ankle and along her calf, stopping to lick and suck on the sensitive skin behind her knee. He intended to savor her, to show her how much he loved her body before driving into her, no matter how much his cock ached with need. Pushing her legs farther apart, he kissed his way along her thigh until he reached her clit that was soaked from her orgasm. She shivered as he sucked on her, and he grinned in response as he wondered what it would take to keep her on the verge of orgasm.

“And now?” she repeated.

He stood and shucked his jeans and boxer briefs. Before he answered, he removed his T-shirt and retrieved a condom from his wallet, swiftly putting it on.

“And now I’ve realized I like the owner of the legs just as much as I liked the legs,” he said, lifting her and placing her in the middle of the bed. He flipped her over so she was lying on her front and knelt down between her legs. Wasting no time, he lined himself up with her wet center. Fuck. He was sliding against her heat. A desperation overtook him. “And while it is incredibly crass of me to say, what’s between them is pretty freaking fantastic.”

Lia giggled into the comforter until he slid into her halfway, at which point she cried out his name.

“Yeah, babe, I feel that, too.” He groaned against the side of her neck.

Taking his weight on his forearms, he withdrew slightly, and then pushed in farther. They were a perfect fit. She hugged him tightly, squeezed him as he slid deeper and deeper, adding a whole new meaning to the phrase balls deep. Reid paused when he was fully inside her.

“Listen to me, Lia,” he said, brushing her hair away from her face as she turned to look up at him. The vulnerability he saw in her eyes forced him to swallow the lump that lingered in his throat.

“Everything outside of the bedroom door is going to be difficult. So I want you to remember this moment. I want you to remember the feel of my dick so far in you that we feel like one person. I want you to remember how good you make me feel,” he said, sliding out of her. He pushed back in, more forcefully this time. “I want you to remember how good I can make you feel.”

Lia’s eyes flared wide as he slowly pumped in and out of her. She gasped for breath. It felt so good that he wanted it to last forever. “When it gets crazy outside, remember in here.”

“Oh, God,” Lia said, gripping hold of the sheets.

Reid slid his hand down beneath her mound, holding her firmly where he wanted her as he began to thrust in earnest. She was so wet for him, and there was a part of him that wanted to go down on her and taste her again. But he was desperate for his own release now and he wanted to make sure she went with him.

He angled his hips and thrust faster, pressing his fingers to her clit as she rubbed against him. The telltale tingling of his spine, and the tightening of his balls, told him he was close.

“Please, like that,” Lia cried out. She buried her head in the green satin. His lips found the side of her neck and he bit the skin gently.

“You want more, babe?”

“Harder,” she called out roughly. Fuck, he got off on rougher sex play, and it excited him that she did, too. “Bite harder, Reid, please.”

He found the cords of her neck and her body bucked, right on the edge.

The globes of her ass tempted him. He moved his legs so they were on the outside of hers so that they could grip him when he withdrew. The view of his cock sliding between her cheeks into her pussy revved his engine.

“Fuck, Lia. I’m gonna come,” he warned. “You need to come for me, now, babe.”

“I’m so close,” she cried.

Holy fuck. He’d never felt so close, so insanely consumed with the need to come. But he was scared that as soon as he went over the edge, he’d never find his way back to this place again—a moment so fucking perfect that it almost choked him.

“Oh. Yes . . . yes,” Lia cried out.

He felt her walls tightening around him as she dug her fingernails into the sheets and arched her back.

The moment she came sent him desperately over the edge.

Lia dozed in the luxurious state somewhere between being asleep and being awake. She felt incredibly rested, despite being awakened in the early hours of the morning by Reid’s skillful hands and insatiable appetite. Never had lovemaking felt so . . . necessary. So vital. She stretched her arms above her head and rolled over, but instead of seeing Reid’s handsome face, the covers had been messily pulled back into place and the pillows fluffed.

The sheets fell back as she sat up quickly. Lia pushed her hand through her hair. She hadn’t gotten confused, had she? No. It was definitely Saturday. She picked up her phone from the bedside table. Seventeen minutes before her alarm was due to go off. There was no message on her phone, just an e-mail from her father that contained information about his event. Reid had bailed on her. He’d crept out in the middle of the night. Lia sagged back into the pillows, confusion bombarding her brain as she tried to sift through the debris of the previous evening. Had she done something wrong? Not that she could think of. She tried to ignore the way her heart hurt a little and focused on the fact that he was a good man and would probably explain at some point later in the day.

Texting him to find out why he’d left might seem a little desperate, so instead she climbed out of bed and threw on a robe. She wandered into the living room, unlocked the door to the balcony, and padded outside. It was her morning ritual to look out over the water. Pixie, her former roommate, used to have a whole gratitude checklist that she’d run through every morning, but Lia just preferred a few moments of silence with nothing but the view to calm her.

When she was done, she walked to the kitchen. Since Pixie had moved two floors down with her rock star boyfriend and his little girl, Petal, Lia’s fridge never contained too much food. It was the one adult thing she’d never mastered. On the counter sat a sheet of paper that hadn’t been there the night before when she’d wiped down the counters.

Dear Lia,

Sorry I had to go. You have no idea how hard it was to get out of bed and leave you in it when all I wanted to do was sleep in and try to find ways to get you to join me instead of going into work.

One of my boys was involved in an accident last night, and his mom is in a mess at the hospital. Hopefully I’ll be back by the time you get off work tonight. IOU a date. A real one. I’ll keep you posted one way or another.

Thank you seems like such a trivial phrase in the context of everything you did for me yesterday. But thank you for being there for me, and thank you for sharing every sexy as hell inch of yourself with me.

I can’t wait to do it again, BABE.

Reid

Lia couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face, and even the word
babe
was beginning to grow on her. It put a spring in her step as she showered and styled her hair. She wasn’t certain how things were going to go with Trent once she arrived at the studio, but hopefully Harper had gained some peace from learning what had really happened to Reid and why he’d left. Lia carefully applied her makeup, got dressed, and walked to the studio, stopping on the way at her favorite juice bar because, health. And stopping at José’s to pick up a pain au chocolat because, chocolate. She wondered what Reid would make of her morning habit. He certainly didn’t have a problem with her curves, but a body like his wasn’t created on a diet of flaky pastry and sugar.

The rear door was unlocked when she arrived, with both Trent and Harper already there. Truly, the body modification expert, was setting up the private room at the back, which made Lia shiver a little. A private piercing meant needles through parts of the body that Lia really didn’t want holes in. People often assumed, due to the extent of her tattoos, that she must have significant piercings, but aside from the two in her earlobes, her skin was otherwise intact. She’d never been tempted to try anything else. Truly was trying to convince her that having a rook, snug, or daith piercing would look really good on her, but so far Lia wasn’t convinced.

“Good morning,” she said, placing her juice and pastry down on the counter. “First day of September and it’s still a billion degrees outside.”

Silence filled the room.
Okay . . . awkward.

“How are you doing?” Lia asked Harper.

“I’m a little overwhelmed, I guess,” she answered, and Trent took her hand in his. “Reid’s back. In my life. You guys know how much I’ve missed him. But we sure as heck have stuff to work through . . . as a family.” She paused. “I think we just need time.”

Lia nodded. It was a lot for everyone to take in. She tamped down the need to leap to Reid’s defense. To justify his actions and lay the blame at their father’s feet. Certainly, Reid had been stupid, but sending him away hadn’t actually helped anyone. “And in case you were thinking of asking—because this is really weird, right?—I didn’t know who he was. I promise.”

Trent stood up and hugged her. “It is weird, and a whole lot messed up, but I certainly don’t blame you for any of it.”

Lia tried to ignore the burn of tears. She didn’t cry. Well, at least not in public. With the amount of eyeliner she wore, tears ended up looking like oil spills on her.

“Me, either,” Harper added. “Is he okay?”

“I think you should ask him,” Lia said, not unkindly. “I’m sure he’d love to hear from you.”

“I know. It just feels weird after all this time. And after everything he said yesterday. I used to be able to tell my brother everything.”

“He’s doing okay,” Lia conceded. “Seeing you yesterday like that was a huge shock to him, too.”

“How did you meet him? Does he live here in Miami? I’ve thought of a million questions I should have asked him before I left yesterday.”

Lia smiled at the recollection. “No. He lives in Fort Pierce, and I was just a pair of legs on the highway,” she teased.

Harper laughed. “That sounds like Reid.”

“My car is at his garage. He’s the guy who saved me when my car broke down.”

“He has his own garage?”

Lia nodded and Harper smiled. “Finally. I always hoped he would do that one day. He still owes me a Plymouth. It’s not fair you two have one, and I don’t.”

Trent kissed Harper on the top of her head. “You good, darlin’, if I get started?”

Harper nodded. “All good.”

He kissed her one more time and headed into the office. Both of them watched him leave.

“Is he happy?” Harper asked.

It was a wonderful question and one that deserved a thoughtful answer. She thought back to the weekend they’d spent together. He seemed to have a successful business, a great apartment, and the respect of kids who’d grown up in a rough neighborhood. But now that she knew more, she wondered whether he was simply trying to make amends or make some kind of peace with himself. She knew deep down that he missed his family, and she’d heard the pain in his voice the previous day when he’d explained how his father had asked him to leave.

“I think he’s found his own kind of happy,” she answered truthfully. “I don’t think it’s the happy he planned for himself, but it’s the one he’s been able to make.”

“And where do you fit into all this? Because I love you almost as much as I love him,” Harper said, reaching for her hand.

Lia shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. We’ve known each other for such a very short period of time, but we get along great. Too well, sometimes.”

“This isn’t one of your things, is it? Where you fall in love this week and fall out of it next? Because I couldn’t stand to see either of you get hurt. And I don’t ever want to have to pick sides.”

“I know. And I wish I could say that won’t happen. I think both of us have our hang-ups. But I love you, too. And if you told me that me seeing your brother is too much for you to handle right now, I’d step away.”

The moment the words came out of her mouth, she realized she didn’t mean them and she prayed Harper wouldn’t ask her to make good on her offer. Of course she loved Harper. But the idea of staying away from Reid made her stomach tighten.

“You need to talk to him, Harper. He doesn’t know what happened after. He wants to know why you’re here and not in Chicago.”

“Oh, God. I never even thought about that last night when we left. Once I heard his story, I needed some space to think back to that time and to consider how my father had behaved. That’s so selfish of me, isn’t?”

“Harper, sweetie, there isn’t a selfish bone in your body.”

“Is he still at your place? I’m not working ’til later. Maybe I could go over and talk to him again?”

“He did stay over, but he had a call this morning from the mom of one of the boys he mentors . . . he has a program at the community center. Her son was involved in an accident and she asked him to go to the hospital. I don’t know when he’ll be back. Though he’s hoping tonight, he has to see how hurt the boy is.”

“Working with kids . . . volunteering . . . that was never his kind of thing,” Harper said, surprise lining her brow.

“I think you’d be surprised what six years will do to a man,” Lia replied.

* * *

Happy freaking Labor Day weekend.
Reid’s eyes burned like somebody had thrown sand in them. He ran through the job sheets and tried to figure out exactly how far behind he was but exhaustion was getting the better of him. Having burned most of the previous day at the hospital, worked had piled up at the garage.

He put his pen down and leaned back in his chair. Thirteen-year-old Donovan was finally out of the intensive care unit, but he was a long way from being out of the woods. Egged on by friends, he’d attempted a stupid skateboard move around the back of an old derelict warehouse. He’d gone airborne, lost the skateboard from underneath his feet, and landed headfirst on concrete.

The medical bills alone would cripple Donovan’s family for years to come, not to mention the potential long-term care implications if his recovery wasn’t a hundred percent. While Donovan’s mom, Sharon, had paced the hallways waiting for news, Reid had started to note down ideas for potential fund-raisers to help the family find their feet again.

In comparison to their issues, the work he had to catch up on suddenly didn’t seem so bad. He placed the manifest back on the desk and headed toward one of the bays. The parts were in for Lia’s car, and he’d had every intention of fixing it as soon as they arrived. He hadn’t made it back to Miami. Lia had ended up having to work Cujo’s shift because he’d taken the day off sick, so perhaps it’d been a good thing that he’d been unable to make it back. Sitting around her condo without her in it, surrounded by the smell of her, would have been torture.

Her car had been blocking the bay since he had stripped down the engine, and the sooner he got it finished the better.

It had seemed wrong to be thinking about her while he was at the hospital, imagining the things they had done together. But he missed her, and no amount of texting made up for the feel of her in his arms. Sure, the timing was just about as bad as it could be and the relationships were complicated, but seeing Taylor—
no,
he thought,
Harper
–all kinds of wrapped up in Trent and well on her way to marriage suddenly made his decision to stay single seem stupid.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask Harper. Like why she was in Miami, and why the hell she was going by Harper instead of her real name. He considered calling home, but it had been so long since he had left that it would be impossible to call up to simply get answers. Plus, his mom would want answers of her own and he had no idea what explanation his dad had given her. Had he told her the truth? Had she agreed with what his dad had done? He doubted it, but he wanted to know before he waded into those waters—not to save his dad’s ass, but to protect his mom.

Reid pulled out his phone and took a snap of Lia’s car with the hood up. He opened the passenger door and sat down. The scent of Lia surrounded him, sending blood rushing to his cock.

Four more sleeps until you get your baby back.

He attached the picture and pressed send.

Are we talking about you or the car?

Both, babe.

Don’t call me babe.

Never.

Reid laughed. He planned on calling her babe for a long time. Lia had suggested on Saturday that Harper might be open to a phone call. At first he’d been reluctant to push Harper, wanting any reconnection to be driven by her, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to talk to her.

Can you send me Harper’s phone number?

She sent the number and he thanked her with all kinds of promises about what he was going to do to her when he saw her again, including taking her on the countertop in the kitchen.

He called out to Chase that he was going to grab his lunch, left the garage, and ran up the stairs to his apartment. With a kick of his foot, he closed the door. He sat down in the armchair closest to the window. Swallowing deeply, he dialed.

“Hello,” his sister said. It was such a small thing, but he missed the sound of her voice.

“Hey, sis. It’s me. Reid.”

“Of course it’s you. Unless Mom had more kids and I didn’t know it, you’re the only person on the planet who can call me
sis
.”

He relaxed a little and sat back in the chair. He’d missed her wit and her natural ability to put people at ease. It was what had made her such a great teacher.

“Do you still teach?”

“I’m sitting outside of school right now, eating my lunch, but I didn’t for quite a while,” she said quietly. “I just started back full time after the summer. What made you ask
that
of all questions?”

Reid shrugged, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. “I don’t know. Just calling you and you answering and joking with me seemed so normal for a moment. It made me think about what an amazing teacher you’d been. But I guess none of this is normal.”

In the silence that followed, he watched little bits of fluff dance in the rays of sunlight pouring in through the window. Perhaps he shouldn’t have called her. What if he’d been right, that it was too soon? Maybe he should have waited for her to call him when she was ready.