Crash Into You (13 page)

“Hey, yourself,” she said, dropping her legal pad and pen on her desk. “I was beginning to wonder if you were avoiding me.”

He frowned. “Course not, just been busy. But I do have to confess, I’m here to deliver a bit of good and bad news.”

“Uh-oh, why don’t you start with the good?”

He dug in his pocket, then tossed a key onto her desk. She picked it up and examined it. “What’s this?”

“It’s for a rental car. I have a friend whose dad owns a repair shop. He owes me a favor, so they’re going to try to fix your car for free. If it can be fixed, that is. In the meantime, he was able to hook me up with a loaner for you, so you don’t have to take the bus.”

“Oh, wow, you didn’t have to do that,” she said, stunned by his gesture.

“No problem, and hopefully, it will make you less mad at me for the bad news.”

She sighed. “Lay it on me.”

He sagged in the seat and blew out a haggard breath. “Something’s come up, and I’m going to have to move our date to tomorrow night.”

“Is everything all right?”

He nodded, but his frown lines didn’t match his assurance. “Yeah, it’s fine. I’d forgotten I’d promised to go to this thing tonight. I don’t want to back out.”

Brynn kept her expression smooth, though her chest tightened.
She’d seen more people bail when they found out about her mother than stick around, and Reid’s change of plans sounded suspiciously like the warning shot before the classic cut-and-run. Maybe fixing her car was her consolation prize. “What kind of thing?”

He shrugged. “Nothing you’d be interested in. Otherwise, I’d bring you along.”

Sure he would. Right. She pasted on a smile. “No problem. Have fun.”

Roslyn stepped behind Reid and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Reid, dear, stop pestering Brynn. She has a lot of notes to type up before the end of the day.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be done in a second. She’s just clarifying something from the meeting for me.”

The dark-haired woman pursed her lips, but walked off without another word. Reid leaned forward and kept his voice low. “I promise we’ll do something tomorrow night.”

Brynn propped her legal pad next to her computer screen. “All right, sounds good. And really, thanks again for my car. I really appreciate it.”

He paused as if he were going to say something else, but then apparently decided against it because he rose and headed back to his desk. Yep, no doubt, he was going to bail. His whole essence screamed guilt. She clicked her fingers along her keyboard with a little more force than necessary. Well, better now than later. At least her heart hadn’t latched onto him yet.

She glanced over to his desk and tried to ignore the way her gut churned at the thought of him returning to the status of coworker only. Okay, so maybe she was a little attached. Nothing she couldn’t handle. She’d learned long ago that everyone lets you down eventually—it was just a matter of when.

Reid sat in Jace’s living room, nursing his second beer and staring through the TV, not really seeing the baseball game. He shifted forward in the overstuffed chair, bracing his arms on his thighs. He couldn’t get comfortable. Not in the room. Not in the chair. Not in his own fucking skin.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Something nicked him in the head. “What the—?

He raised his hand in defense as Jace launched another peanut at him. “Calm the hell down, dude. You’re stressing
me
out.”

Reid set his beer down and wiped his damp palms on his jeans. “I think I’m just going to go.”

“The hell you are,” he said, lowering the volume on the television and angling himself on the couch so he could face him. “Look, she’s going to be here in a few minutes. You asked for my help, so don’t punk out on me. And what guy is going to bail when a beautiful woman is on her way over to fulfill your sexual fantasies?”

He groaned and sank back against the cushions. What had he been thinking? Jace had agreed to hook him up with a girl he knew—a girl who supposedly liked things a little rough in bed and preferred two guys to one—so that Reid could work through his shit.

Last night the whole idea had seemed like the perfect solution to his problem—a pretty girl who didn’t mind some kink, Jace there to keep Reid from crossing any lines, and no strings. But now that he was here, neither his heart nor his dick were onboard.

He needed to go.

The doorbell rang.

Fuck.

Jace grinned. “Right on time.”

Jace hustled to the door, leaving Reid with his warring thoughts
and pounding heart. Part of him wanted to sneak out the side door and not look back. But the other part was still holding on to the hope that maybe this would fix it. Fix him.

However, when Jace pulled open the door, and Reid heard
the voice on the other side, his blood seemed to halt in his veins.

Mother. Fucker.

He hopped up from the chair and crossed the room in three strides, stepping up behind Jace. Brynn’s eyes locked with his over Jace’s shoulder, her teeth tugging at her full bottom lip.

“What are you doing here?” Reid bit out, then grimaced when he realized how rude his question sounded.

“Oh, hey,” she said, shifting her gaze between the two of them, looking as unsure of herself as he’d ever seen her. “I was just telling Jace that Roslyn found your wallet on the floor in the office. She, uh, knew where you were and asked if I would drop it by on my way home. She didn’t want you driving home without your license.”

He automatically grabbed for his back pocket—of course, nothing was in there. “Damn, how did I lose that?”

She shrugged, and then stuck out her hand, giving him the wallet.

“Thanks.” His fingers brushed hers as he took it from her, and his dick—which hadn’t twitched all night despite the upcoming threesome—instantly stirred to life.

God, what was it about this girl? Seeing her there, feeling the heat her presence alone fired within him, slapped him with hard reality. He was so screwed. He could fuck his way through sorority row and then hit every whorehouse on the way home afterward, but it wouldn’t matter. Nothing was going to slake the dark desire Brynn inspired.

The realization burned an aching hole in his chest. Maybe he’d never be able to trust himself around her.

She pushed her hair behind her ears. “So, yeah, I guess I’ll get going. Y’all enjoy your boys’ night.”

“You can stay and have a beer if you want,” Jace offered. “The Rangers game is on.”

He whipped his head in Jace’s direction. Had the idiot lost his goddamned mind?

Brynn snuck a tentative peek at Reid. His horror must’ve been obvious on his face because she quickly waved a dismissive hand. “No, I’m not going to interrupt. Far be it from me to interfere on dude time.”

Headlights flashed through the darkened street, and she glanced back as another car pulled into the driveway.

Reid’s heart leapt into his throat.
Oh, shit.

“Right,” he said, stepping forward, his words tumbling out. “You’re probably not a baseball fan anyway. And the game’s a blowout so far. Why don’t I walk you to your car?”

Her brow furrowed as he took her elbow. “Yeah, okay.”

But as they turned to head down the sidewalk, Leah exited her car and sashayed into their path, looking like a teenage boy’s wet dream. Shorts hugging her ass, legs up to her ears, and non-God-given tits spilling out her top. Definitely not a baseball-watching outfit. Definitely not a dude. Facts not lost on Brynn.

She stiffened in his grasp and halted her step.

Goddammit.
And goddamn his aunt for sending Brynn here. Even without trying, Ros had managed to meddle like she had some sixth sense on how exactly to fuck with his life.

Leah’s glossed lips pulled into a seductive smile as she approached. “Jace didn’t tell me we were bringing in a fourth, but…” She gave Brynn an up-and-down perusal. “I guess I’m open to new things.”

Reid closed his eyes, wishing the sidewalk would crack open and swallow him up.
Fan-fucking-tastic.

Brynn’s fingers curled into fists, her nails digging into her palms, but she forced herself to choke down the rest of her reaction. She would not give Reid the satisfaction.

She eased her elbow from his grip and gave the supermodel-like girl a polite smile. “Thanks, but I was just leaving. I think I may be exactly one too many. Have a good night.”

Brynn hiked her purse strap further up her shoulder and traipsed past the woman.

“Brynn, wait—”

But she pretended she didn’t hear Reid and kept walking, her steps picking up speed. She just needed to get in her car, lock all of this out before she embarrassed herself. She had no claim on Reid. Had no right to feel so possessive. No logical reason to want to yank that bitch down by her ponytail and scratch her eyes out.

Two steps more.

A hand clamped over her forearm and spun her around. “I said wait, goddammit.”

“No, Reid,” she said, her voice losing its calm edge. “Let me go. I want to go home.”

“Look, just let me explain.”

She snorted and glanced back toward the house. Jace and Barbie had gone inside and shut the door. “I think I can figure it out. I don’t need a diagram. Thanks.”

“No, it’s not like that.” But the guilty shift of his eyes said otherwise.

She sighed. “Reid, it’s fine, okay? It’s none of my business. But I think it’s a good idea if we just end whatever has been going on with us right now.”

“Brynn—”

“No, seriously. It’s not like I was expecting exclusivity or whatever, but I think I’ll have a hard time scraping the image of the three of you from my brain.” A flash of the beautiful girl
wrapped around Reid’s naked body went through her mind, making her want to heave.

He latched his other hand on her opposite arm, squaring her to face him, his blue eyes fierce. “But I don’t want her, I want
you
.”

She jerked her arms from his grip, no longer able to keep the lid on her boiling anger. “Oh, right. Because cancelling a date with me to go tag-team fuck some other girl is exactly the way to show me you care. You should write goddamned Hallmark cards.”

He ran a hand over his face, his expression stricken. “No, it’s just… complicated.”

She smirked. “No, I think it’s pretty simple. Now you know why I didn’t want you to come inside my house. My life is ugly. I wouldn’t want to get involved with me either. Good-bye, Reid.”

She turned her back to him and stuck her key in her car door.

“Screw it. You want to talk about secrets?” he asked, his volume rising. “Let’s do that, then.”

She turned the lock and reached for the door handle.

“You know why that girl is here? Because I’m screwed up, Brynn. When I look at you, I don’t just want to play nice and date you. I don’t just want to fuck you. I want to
own
you. Tie you to my bed and do whatever the hell I want to you. Use you.”

Every muscle in her body stilled and some foreign emotion stirred low and deep in her belly. She couldn’t turn around; she just stared back at her own wide-eyed reflection in her car window.

“And it scares the hell out of me because I can’t keep that desire in control when I’m with you. I don’t trust myself not to hurt you, to take it too far.”

The sad current of his words made her chest ache. She swallowed past the dryness in her throat, hoping her voice would still function. “I don’t understand. Why that girl?”

He sighed, and she could picture his chest heaving with the weight of what he had revealed. “I asked Jace to help me find a way to get rid of this insane need so that I could be with you. Have
a normal relationship. That’s what tonight was about. Brynn, I’m so sorry. I just—I didn’t know what else to do.”

She should get in her car and go. Not look back. Her mother had always told her that when people told you who they were, you should believe them. If Reid thought he was dangerous, maybe he was. But the anguish in his voice tugged at her. This man wasn’t violent—every ounce of her God-given instincts told her that.

She took a deep breath, turned around, and met his stormy eyes. “What if I tried to help you?”