Turn Me On (21 page)

“Get in the car.”

She only wiggled her fingers, her temper spiking as she glared at him.

With his gaze fixed firmly on hers, his eyes gleaming, he stalked toward
her. She raised her chin as he moved so she could keep him in her sights. When
he was in front of her, he kept his eyes steady on hers as he bent down.

Seconds later she lost her breath as he banded his arms around her hips,
then hoisted her into the air and over his shoulder.

“Let me down.” Almost unable to believe he’d done it, she thumped on his
back as he strode across the tarmac. “For God’s sake, Reed.”

At the passenger side of his car, he opened the door, swiveled, bent his
knees, and dropped her unceremoniously into the seat. Before she could scramble
up, he grabbed her legs, shoved them around, then slammed the door closed.

Vital seconds too late, she grabbed the door handle to get out, but he
was already in the driver’s seat and threw the door locks.

“You can’t do this,” she protested. “This is kidnapping.”

He gave a wry laugh. “Please.”

“I’ll bring charges. Don’t think I won’t.”

He turned the ignition and the powerful car hummed to life. “Good luck
with that. Last I heard it was perfectly reasonable for a husband to take his
wife for a drink.”

“You’re not my husband,” she felt compelled to remind him, although her
heart was busy making annoying little leaps of female pleasure at his caveman
tactics. “And I’m not your wife.”

“Fat lady hasn’t sung yet, princess.”

“What does that mean?”

“Means that while it’s signed, it has yet to be sealed.”

“For God’s sake. Stop talking in riddles.”

“It’s a couple more weeks until our divorce is legal. So until then,
protest all you like. Bring charges against me. They’ll mean diddly squat. In
the eyes of the law, we’re still husband and wife.”

Her heart was still leaping like a crazy thing. “You’re insane.”

He gave a wry grin as he steered the car along the fog-laden road. “It’s
my natural state of being since I laid eyes on you.”

She cast him a glance. “I don’t know why you’re doing this. Why don’t
you just leave me alone?”

“Goes hand in hand with the insane thing.”

Lissa couldn’t for the life of her work out why he was here. Had he
decided he wanted to extend their little bedroom arrangement? Well, she had
news for him. She didn’t. Or at least she couldn’t.

No way was she going to put herself through it again. Eventually he’d
tire of the whole thing, or when his head was turned by another woman. She
wasn’t going to put herself through the sleepless nights, the lack of appetite,
the general feeling of misery she’d been experiencing these past weeks without
him. Not again.

They fell into silence until a few miles along the lonely road, the
lights of the inn glowed through the darkness like a beacon leading the way.

He parked the car in the almost full parking area and Lissa wondered why
so many people had ventured out on such a night just to have a drink or meal.
Were they also insane?

Unmoving, she watched him switch off the engine, release his seat belt,
and turn to her. “Have you eaten?”

“What?”

“Eaten. Food. Simple enough question, princess.”

“I had lunch,” she snapped. “And will you please stop calling me
princess? You know how I hate it.”

He released her seat belt. “Let’s go inside.”

She folded her arms, her temper rising. “You just don’t listen to me, do
you? You ride roughshod over everything I say.”

Leaning in, he stretched his arm along the back of her seat. “You don’t
tell me anything,” he countered. “You keep things so bloody tight to your
chest. Sure, you tell me what you’ll allow me to know, but as for the real
stuff, the things that are important to you, that are important in your life?
You just push me aside.”

Because he was right, she turned her head to face out the passenger side
window. “We didn’t have that type of relationship.”

“Well, maybe I want that type of relationship.”

Her heart banged once, stopped, then set off like a steam train. She
turned warily to face him, wondering if she’d slipped into some parallel
universe. “What did you say?”

His throat contracted as he swallowed. “I thought we could give it a
try.”

“Give what a try?”

Shifting in his seat, he huffed out a breath. “Hell, Lissa. You don’t
make things easy.”

“You mix me up, Reed. I’m never quite sure where I stand with you.”

“Maybe that was my intention. Once.” Reaching out, he touched his finger
to her cheek. “Not anymore.”

At the brief contact, Lissa’s stomach fluttered, while his words
tightened her throat. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? That he
wanted to continue their relationship, but on a whole new different level? The
very thought thrilled her, warmed her heart. But she still had to protect
herself. She couldn’t imagine Reed in a long term, committed relationship.
Sooner or later, he’d get bored with her. With them.

But wasn’t it worth the risk? Pursuing what they could have while it
lasted?

Except she might never recover from the pain of it. If she found it so
difficult to live without him now, how would she feel if they grew closer,
started to share their lives, and then he finished it between them?

As she deliberated, he opened his door. “Let’s go inside. Talk.”

Unable to resist hearing more of what he had to say, Lissa nodded. Maybe
she was a fool, but she was powerless to deny the chance of sharing even a
little bit more of Reed. It seemed that somewhere along the way she’d regained
her common sense where business was concerned, only to lose it completely when
it came to matters affecting her heart.

They chose a seat near the inglenook fireplace which glowed with
crackling wood and the scent of the embers on the stone hearth. They ordered
coffee, but Lissa refused anything to eat. Right then her stomach was doing a
rapid dance and her breath was trapped in her too tight chest.

Reed leaned back in his chair. “Why don’t you tell me about your aunt?”

Lissa eyed him warily. “How did you find out about her? About the
nursing home? And my cat, come to think of it.”

He steepled his fingers beneath his chin, a slight smile tugging at his
mouth. “You have a very friendly neighbor.”

“You were at my house?” She shook her head. “Of course you were.”

“Stop stalling.”

Perhaps she had been doing exactly that, but she still wasn’t sure of
him. He’d said he wanted a different kind of relationship, that he wanted them
to share things of a more personal nature. She needed to know if he really
meant it.

“Does this work both ways?” She waved her hand between them. “Are you
planning to tell me more about you? About your life?”

He hesitated for so long, she feared he would refuse to reciprocate.
Then he nodded.
 
“Whatever you want to
know, princess.”

Chapter Thirteen

Lissa felt a tension she hadn’t been aware of holding disperse in her
chest. If Reed was prepared to share details of his personal life with her, how
could she refuse to do the same? If there was to be any sort of chance for
them, they had to be honest with each other.

She took a deep breath. “My parents died in a boating accident while
they were on a trip to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Freak storm.”

Recalling the moment she’d been told of their deaths never failed to
make her relive the awful time, and she had to take a moment to steady herself.
After taking another breath, she let it out on a long sigh. “I was fourteen. My
aunt took me in. There was never any question that she wouldn’t. Although she
had never married, she made it clear to me that I was wanted and would always
have a home with her.”

She looked at Reed and saw understanding in the clear blue depths of his
eyes. He leaned forward slightly and tilted his body toward hers, as if
encouraging her to continue.

“When Debbie and I set up our own business, she wanted to take out a
mortgage on her house to help us with start up fees. She didn’t want us to be
in hock to the bank with all the high interest charges that an unsecured loan
from them would require. She said it would be cheaper if we did it in her name
with the house as collateral. But it didn’t feel right to have her take on such
a burden at her age, so I said we’d find another way.

“Then she went and signed the house over to me. Said that it would be
mine eventually anyway, so why not make me the legal owner while she was still
around and I needed security for the business loan? I tried to talk her out of
it, but she made it seem like I would be doing her a huge favor as I would be
taking on responsibility for the house and she wouldn’t have the worry of it
anymore. Still I argued against it, but she said that she’d made up her mind
and I wasn’t going to talk her out of it.”

Lissa broke off as their coffee arrived and waited until the server left
before continuing. “Everything seemed fine for a while. The business was
ticking over and we were starting to get good referrals. We even talked about
branching out, expanding.

“I’d been concerned for a while that my aunt was forgetting things and
was sometimes a bit vague, but I put it down to her age. Then I noticed that we
would be having a conversation and she’d stare vaguely into thin air, as if her
mind had gone completely blank. When she looked back at me she’d frown for a
moment, as if she didn’t know me or where she was. I didn’t worry too much at
first, thinking it was the age thing. But then I came home and found her passed
out on the floor and smoke bellowing from the oven. She’d put a cake in there
and it had burnt.

“She had tests. Eventually, the doctors said she would be best cared for
in a nursing home. I protested at first. After all she’d done for me, there was
no way she was going into a home. But then she burned herself one morning while
I was at work. She’d been boiling milk for my cocoa and had forgotten the pan
was on the stove. She’d tried to lift the burning pan from the stove but it
scalded her and she dropped it. I found her in the chair with blisters on her
hands and leg. She kept crying and apologizing that I wouldn’t have any cocoa
that night because she’d spilled it all over the floor.”

Her throat tight, Lissa reached for her cup and took a fortifying sip of
caffeine. “After that I knew I couldn’t look after her properly, so I agreed to
the home. I felt guilty, still do, that she signed over her home to me and a
short while later she’s turned out of it.”

“You had no choice.”

His firm but soothing tone wrapped around her like a comforting cloak.
“I know, and she seems happy enough. To be honest I don’t think she knows where
she is half the time, but I still feel like I failed her. Not only by sending
her to a nursing home, but by allowing Debbie to embezzle from the business and
ultimately putting her home in danger of repossession.”

Lissa pushed her hand through her hair. “Debbie left me with huge debts.
In retrospect, I know we were both guilty of trying to take the business too
high before we even got a secure footing beneath it.”

“You didn’t steal money from it.”

His fierce scowl made her want to smile. It had been a long time since
it felt like someone was on her side.

“No I didn’t steal money from it,” she agreed. “But as you know, I
wasn’t exactly savvy in my dealings with my business partner.”

“You’ve learned your lesson.”

Now she did smile. “Certainly have. There’s no way I’ll let anything
like it happen again.”

While she was laying everything on the line, she knew she had to bring
one more thing into the open so there were no lies, no deception, and no
misunderstanding between them.

“After Debbie took off, I met with the accountant and found out the real
depth of my financial problems. I didn’t know what to do or how I was going to
cope.” She held his gaze. “That was the night I went to Marco’s bar, intent on
drowning my sorrows. I wanted an escape, a release for just a few hours before
I started working out how I was going to deal with everything.”

Reed’s jaw went tight, a muscle jerking in his cheek. He said nothing as
he looked at her with an impenetrable expression. Her stomach trembled, but she
wasn’t about to back down now. He had to know, and hopefully accept, her
reasons for indulging in that ménage.
 

“I had a couple of drinks, got hit on a few times, but I wasn’t
interested in anything other than blurring things around the edges, dulling the
reality with the help of several glasses of house white. Then Ethan came over.”

Almost imperceptibly, Reed’s shoulders drew back. But she ignored the
fierce look on his face and, with a glance around to make sure she couldn’t be
overheard, forced herself to continue. “Marco joined in the conversation and,
well, after a while they were joking about which one of them should back off
and which one of them I’d choose.”