Turn Me On (18 page)

Her eyes almost popped out of her head as she stared at the amount. It
would cover the entire mortgage and keep her aunt in that nursing home for the
best part of a year. She stared at it for another moment then thrust it back to
Jack. “I can’t accept this. I won’t. I’m satisfied with things as they stand.
It’s what we agreed.”

With a quick glance at Reed, who had stood and moved across to gaze out
of the window, Jack said, “Reed wants you to start fresh, Lissa. He’s grateful
for what you did for him and wants to show his appreciation.”

So many emotions stormed through her, but anger smothered them all.
“Does he? Well, perhaps he’d like to tell me that himself rather than get you
to do his dirty work for him. If Reed wants to show his appreciation, maybe we
can get the damn divorce papers signed and let that be an end to it.”

Reed spun back from the window and snatched up the file. He pulled out a
clip of papers and dropped them down on the coffee table in front of her. “There
are the damn papers.”

As Lissa stared down at them, Jack took them calmly and handed her one
set. “You’ll want to read through this, but I can assure you it’s pretty
straightforward.”

Lissa shook her head. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Haven’t you learned a damn thing?” Reed almost spat it out. “Read the
document. Make sure your interests are protected.”

She knew he was right, but her heart told her that it was a futile
exercise. Reed would already have protected her interests. At least
financially. She trusted him. Knew that he would never do anything to hurt
her…except break her heart.

Lissa opened the document and began scanning the contents. It was hard
to concentrate. Her head spun; her heart ached. They were about to end things
between them in a fairly acrimonious manner. How had it all gone so wrong?

Barely able to remember a word she’d read as she’d scanned the document,
she pulled a pen from her bag and started to scrawl her name across the crisp
bonded white paper.

“We’ll have to complete the transaction in my office,” Jack said gently
as he leaned toward her. “We need to have the signatures witnessed.”

Of course. How had she overlooked that? Probably because she felt so
stupidly miserable she didn’t know what to think. Closing the file, she slipped
it into her bag.

“I’ve asked Jack to join us for supper.”

“I can’t stay,” Lissa said quickly. She wasn’t sure she could get
anything down after handling the divorce papers. She should be rejoicing in the
fact she was almost free of a supercilious bastard like Reed. But she just felt
empty and…lost.

“That’s a pity,” Reed said, but there was no remorse in his tone. Just a
vague threat. “I was hoping we could enjoy supper then maybe kick back for a
while. Mix things up a little. She likes to mix things up,” he explained to
Jack, while his eyes burned fiercely into hers. “Likes to push back the
boundaries, test out new experiences.”

Mortified, Lissa glanced up at him. Was he suggesting what she thought
he was suggesting? One look at his hard glare and she knew it to be true.

How dare he? How could he humiliate her like this in front of Jack?

Lissa’s face burned and she couldn’t look at Jack, but she was aware of
him replacing his cup on the table and trying to pretend he wasn’t smack bang
in the middle of this conversation. Had Reed told him about her past?

Pain merged with anger and she grabbed her bag.

She began to get up when Jack stood too. “I think I’ll also pass on
supper.”

Lissa looked up into Jack’s warm brown eyes as he held out his hand.
“Good luck with the new business, Lissa. I hope it’s everything you want it to
be.”

He kept his hand in hers for a moment longer than necessary and squeezed
it lightly. From the simple smile and the warmth in his eyes, she knew he was
offering her a gesture of support, comfort even. He obviously realized his
friend was being a complete asshole.

“I’ll make sure of it.” She trembled him a smile. “Thanks for
everything, Jack.”

As Reed accompanied his friend out into the hallway, Lissa hovered by
the sofa. She wasn’t sure what to do now. All she knew was that she intended to
stay only long enough to give him a piece of her mind. She heard the feint
muttering as the two men exchanged words and then the click of the apartment
door closing.

She steeled herself, the blood pumping through her and fueling her
anger.

As Reed stepped back into the room, Lissa raised her chin and met his
hard gaze with one of her own. “How dare you insult me like that?”

“It wasn’t an insult.” He moved leisurely toward the drinks cabinet. “It
was an invitation.”

Red hot fury spiked through the hurt. “Why are you behaving like this,
Reed? It can’t matter to you if I slept with one man or fifty. What we had was
a temporary fling while we both got what we wanted out of this mockery of a
marriage.”

“And had I known you liked the group sex scene maybe I would have upped
the ante. Made it even more pleasurable for you.” He splashed whisky into a
tumbler. “As it is, you’ve done me out of the satisfaction of pushing you
harder in the bedroom. And beyond.”

“Harder?” It actually made her laugh. “Dear God, Reed. If you’d pushed
me any harder—”

“Don’t start with the protests. It wasn’t like you weren’t up for it.”

She tightened her grip on the strap of her bag. “I don’t deny it. But
neither will I apologize or make excuses for my past. I’m a woman with my own
mind, making my own choices, and I’m not scared to go for what I want. Why else
would I have agreed to climb in bed—physically and metaphorically—with a man
like you? If my choices offend your delicate sensibilities, then you can go
screw yourself.”

His shoulders went back and after taking a swig of whisky, he put down
his glass with a snap. When he turned to her there was such a gleam in his
eyes, she actually thought about running from the apartment. But her pride
wouldn’t let her. She stood her ground as he walked toward her.

“I think I’d prefer to screw you, princess.”

She backed up and her legs hit the edge of the sofa. She actually
toppled back but managed to steady herself by throwing her arm out to the back
of the seat. It left her in a precarious position and as she tried to
straighten herself back up, Reed snagged his arm around her waist and
maneuvered them so that she half lay beneath him.

“Don’t you dare try anything with me.”

He laughed, his face centimeters from hers, but the lack of humor sent a
shiver through her. “It wasn’t that long ago you were begging me to try just
about anything with you.”

When he started tugging her blouse from the waistband of her skirt,
Lissa clamped her hand over his. “That was before you insulted me and starting
acting like a jerk. I’ve got no interest in you now.”

“Really?” That gleam was back in his eye as he slowly brushed his thumb
over her already pebbled nipple. “Why do I not believe you?”

She shifted and pushed at his chest. “Let go of me. I despise you.”

His thumb worked across her nipple.

Oh hell, she was actually turned on. What sort of insane person did that
make her?

The hand she had pressed to his chest moved up to his shoulder. He took
advantage of the diminishing pressure against his chest and lowered himself to
her. His mouth found hers in an almost brutal kiss that she returned in kind as
her blood raced and her pussy wept with the need to have him inside her.

She hated herself for responding to him almost as much as she hated him
right then. But her body had other ideas and her arms swept around his neck.

“You want me,” he ground against her mouth. “Almost as much as I want
you. I always fucking want you, damn it.”

Again he took her mouth with a fierce possession that grabbed her breath
and made her dizzy, but she couldn’t give in to this. Couldn’t allow him to get
away with the insult he’d aimed at her.

She broke the kiss, but Reed claimed her neck. She wanted to close her
eyes against the onslaught of his mouth, but she fought it. “You want me enough
that you would offer me up on a plate to your friend,” she grated as she
momentarily lost the battle with her eyes. “Or was I mistaken in assuming the
entertainment you had planned didn’t involve me as the meat in your friendly
little sandwich?”

He growled. “That wouldn’t have happened.”
 

“That’s not how it sounded.”

“I told you before.” He tugged the blouse from her skirt and slid his
hand to cup her bra-covered breast. “I don’t share.”

With his eyes on hers, he grabbed the edges of her blouse. With one
yank, he ripped it apart and buttons popped as it gaped open.

Lissa gasped in shock as Reed scowled. Nudging away the torn material,
he pushed her bra up over her breasts and took greedy possession with his
mouth. His tongue flicked over her nipple, while his hands kneaded her flesh
until she squirmed beneath him.

While he continued to possess her breast, he slid his hand down her leg
and reached under her skirt. He grabbed for her panties, hooking his index
finger beneath the damp panel covering her drenched pussy. With a deep groan he
yanked down the silk.

While her panties lay halfway down her thighs, he pushed a finger inside
her.

Lissa bucked and tried to protest, but her heart wasn’t in it. She wanted
Reed. Wanted him so damn badly that her hands got busy tugging the shirt from
his trouser waistband until she could touch his hot naked flesh.

“Tell me you want me,” he demanded as he sucked hard on her breast.
“Tell me.”

Lissa swallowed as his teeth scraped her hardened bud. “Damn you, you
know I want you.”

He straightened, hoisted up her hips and reached beneath her skirt again
to tug at the panties. He yanked them off, pushed her skirt up around her
waist, then kneeled on the floor in front of her. With his hands on her hips,
he pulled her off the sofa and together they fell to the floor. He used his
foot to shove away the coffee table, and pressed her onto her back. Kneeling
between her legs, he pushed up her knees until her feet left the floor and she
was fully open to him.

Lissa lay there panting. Her blouse torn in pieces, her bra pushed up
exposing her breasts, her skirt bunched around her waist and her pussy in full
view of Reed’s hungry gaze.

With his hands on her knees he pressed them down, further exposing her
to him. “You think I’d ever be willing to share you?” he said, baring his
teeth. “Watch some other man’s cock drive into you? Hear you gasp his name,
scream your release as he pumped inside you?”

With his chest heaving, he reached for the waistband of his trousers and
unhooked the button before sliding down the zip. He worked the top of his
trousers down to his hips until his erection sprang free.

Lissa couldn’t remember when she’d ever felt so turned on. She knew she
should stop him, knew that she needed to protest against his insulting
treatment of her, but she felt incapable of denying herself one last time in
his arms—seeing how much he wanted her reflected in the dark gleam of his eyes,
hearing him speak those heavily erotic words in a menacing tone, feeling the
tension in his incredible body as he barely kept it contained, scenting his
desire in the air as it buzzed around them.

She felt powerless against the strength of her desire, her need for him.
Defenseless as he yanked up her hips and drove inside her.

She jerked against the unexpected force of his possession, the air
leaving her lungs on a moan. With his hands either side of her ribcage, he
anchored himself as he thrust harder and harder, deeper and deeper.

The tension in his body was evident in his face as he pumped ruthlessly
into her. A sheen covered his forehead, the muscles in his throat flexing as he
grit his teeth.

Lissa felt the heady rush of climax. She pushed her hands beneath his
shirt and grabbed at his back, her nails digging deep into his flesh as the
incredible friction intensified.

She came, rushing over the magnificent edge into a void of space and
endlessness that she ached to get lost in and never return.

As she continued to spin, Reed groaned loudly and the first spurt of his
semen shot deep inside her. She clamped down with her internal muscles,
squeezing him, wanting to drain from him everything he had to give her even as
she pushed away the dark warnings echoing inside her head. She wanted this.
Just once. She wanted it. Nothing between them. No barriers—physical or
emotional. She wanted to experience it. She wanted to experience it with Reed.

As he continued to empty himself, Lissa fought against closing her eyes.
The sight of his muscles bunching and tensing, those dark blue eyes, the
tension in his jaw as he clenched his teeth—she wanted to remember it all.

But all too soon it was over, leaving her to face the reality of their
reckless passion.

Reed panted, his hard body still tense as he stared down at her. He said
nothing, but she wondered if the stunned look in his eyes meant that his
thoughts resembled hers. She dismissed the possibility. The sex for him was to
prove a point, stake his claim. A payback for Ethan and Marco.