Crash Into You

She laughed. “Why? You have something to hide?”

He leaned in a bit, like he was going to tell her a secret. “Only that I’ve got a mad crush on a girl who won’t even tell me the littlest thing about herself.”

The balmy notes of his voice moved over her like a caress, turning her insides liquid. She attempted a lighthearted smile. “There’s just not that much to tell. I’ve been going to community college for two years and am working to save money so that my sister and I can move to Austin in the fall. I have a scholarship to UT. That’s about it. My life isn’t exciting like yours.”

He sniffed. “You think my life’s exciting? I go to ­summer school, and then play the political game for the rest of the afternoon.”

She turned onto her side, mirroring his pose, needing to get some space between them. “You don’t seem to mind playing the role at work.”

“Being good at something and enjoying it are two totally different things. I hate the whole song and dance of politics. Drives me nuts. I just want to tell all those people who are trying to kiss Uncle Patrick’s ass via mine to fuck off. But he’s done a lot for me, so I smile and shake hands like I’m supposed to.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Why do you live with them?”

“They’re the only family I have around here.” A glimmer of sadness crossed his features. “My mom died of cancer when I was twelve. Aunt Roslyn took me in, and she and Patrick adopted me officially a year later. Hence, the Jamison last name.”

“I’m sorry. Losing your mom that young had to be hard.”

“Yeah, I didn’t handle it so well. Gave my aunt and uncle hell for a few years. I was pretty angry at the universe. But then I realized my mom would’ve kicked my ass if she saw how I was behaving, so I got my act together.” The corner of his mouth tilted into a wistful smile. “I wish she were still around. She was awesome—really got me, you know?”

Brynn nodded, although she had no idea what it must feel like to have someone like that.

“But at least I had somewhere to go when I lost her, even if it meant dealing with all that goes along with filling the role of the Jamison son.” He leaned over and tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, sending goose bumps down her neck. “That’s one of the things I like about you. You don’t seem to give a damn about who my family is, so I can just relax around you.”

She laughed. “Yeah, once I found out you couldn’t fire me, you lost all shot of me kissing your ass.”

He slipped a hand onto her hip and pulled her closer, their bodies almost touching. “So what’s your stance on kissing other things?”

Every muscle in her body strained to move forward, to close the sliver of distance between them, but she held still. “Probably not a good idea since we work together.”

He smiled and shook his head. “See, you’re always such a half-empty kind of girl. Working together means we’ll get paid to hang out with each other.”

“And everybody in the office will think I’m hanging out with you for the wrong reasons.”

He shrugged. “That’s why we don’t tell. It’s none of their business anyway.”

She chewed her lip. “I like you, Reid, but I don’t know… it’s just complicated. I’ve got a lot—”

He put a finger over her mouth, hushing her. “Stop overthinking things, Brynn. It doesn’t have to be so complex. I know you don’t bullshit, so I’m not going to either. Since the first day I met you, I haven’t stopped thinking about what it would be like to touch you.” He cupped her chin and ran his thumb over her lips. “To taste you. I leave the office every day fighting a hard-on because just hearing your voice sets me off.”

She swallowed hard, the blunt words and his finger on her lips throwing gasoline on the flickering flame of longing she’d been fighting since they’d left the office.

“So in about three seconds, I’m going to kiss you. If you don’t want that, you tell me to stop, and I’ll never try again.” He curled his hand around the back of her neck, his gaze tattooing her. “One… two…”

“Three,” she whispered.

He leaned over and touched his lips to hers, a deceptively gentle press that, from someone else, would’ve seemed sweet, innocent even. But the heated grip on the back of her neck and jolt of awareness that sizzled down her nerve endings were something else altogether. With a maddeningly slow pace, he tasted each part of her mouth—the corners, the bow at the top, the line where both lips met—like he was cataloguing every nuance of her skin, each flavor. She gave a little whimper of protest and he pulled back, holding her gaze for a moment. “Changed your mind?”

She should stop him; that’d be the smart thing to do. But her hormones claimed veto power over her brain. She reached for him, gliding her fingertips over the hint of stubble on his cheek, then down his neck to his collar. She gave it a gentle tug and pulled him with her as she rolled from her side to her back. If she was going to be stupid, why do it halfway? “Kiss me like you want to kiss me. I can feel you holding back.”

The blue in his eyes darkened as they swept over her face, her neck, lower. “Be careful what you ask for, sugar.”

She shivered beneath his hungry perusal. “I trust you.”

Something unidentifiable flickered across his features before he dipped his head and claimed her mouth again, blanketing her with his upper body. This time, there was no ­tentativeness, no teasing. Only white-hot rawness.

Just like in the fantasies she weaved in the privacy of her bedroom, Reid took control—his kiss as unapologetic as the man himself. Commanding fingers twisted in her hair, and his tongue coaxed her lips open, exploring her mouth with an adeptness that made her ache for more of him. Her nipples tightened against the thin material of her bra at the mere thought of what Reid’s talented tongue could offer them. She fisted the back of his polo shirt and arched into him.

He dragged his teeth against her lower lip and then nibbled along her jawline, making his way down to her neck. “God, you taste better than I could’ve imagined… so sweet.”

She writhed under his attention. The thought that he had imagined what she would taste like sent a ridiculous giddiness through her. Her voice came out in a whisper: “You’ve thought about this? About me?”

He groaned. “Every fucking day, Brynn. I can’t get you out of my mind. Every time you even look my way at the office, all I can think about is how bad I want you, wondering what it would be like to have you come apart beneath me.”

She shuddered against him, and a murmur of pleasure passed her lips before she could stop it. She’d never had a guy talk so blatantly about sex, but instead of offending her, it made the throbbing between her thighs more unbearable.

He chuckled, the sound low and dark. “And you like dirty talk. Sugar, you’re going to make me lose my damn mind.”

He moved lower, pressing soft kisses to her collarbone, then to the vee of skin exposed by her blouse. His fingers toyed with the first button and paused for a second, as if waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, he unfastened the top two and opened her shirt. Gentle hands caressed her over her bra, providing just enough stimulation to whet her need, but not enough to satisfy. She closed her eyes, her voice a quiet plea. “Please.”

“Unhook it for me, show me what you want,” he said, his seductive tone like warm cashmere against her skin.

With clumsy fingers, she released the front clasp of her bra, baring her curves to him and the muggy night air. A lazy smile crossed his face as he cupped one of her breasts and ran a thumb across its peak. “I could spend all night just focusing on these. Look how hard and pink they are for me already.”

He pinched one of her nipples and rolled it between his fingertips, the sensation rocketing straight down her abdomen to the swollen bundle of nerves between her legs. She bit her lip and whimpered.

Before she could suck in another breath, the hot cavern of his mouth closed over one nipple. Tongue and teeth alternately laved and nibbled, the twining pleasure/pain combination making her back arch. She threaded her hands into his dark hair, gripping hard, trying to hold on to the shred of self-control she still had.

She wasn’t this kind of girl. Despite what the high school rumor mill had said once people found out what her mother did for a living, she’d only slept with one guy. But right now, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than Reid inside her, claiming every part of her.

His head lifted as his teeth nipped her ear, his hot breath marking her neck. His hand moved to her knee and then slid up her leg at a languid pace, pulling her skirt with it. She parted her thighs, so ready for his touch she thought she would hyperventilate if he didn’t get there soon.

Recognizing the invitation, he ran his palm against the outside of her panties, rubbing the soaked satin against her clit. She rocked against his touch, and he slipped his hand below the waistband, sliding his fingers along her hot button before dipping lower.

Her head tipped back, sharp darts of pleasure ­shooting through her. “Oh, God.”

Reid groaned and pulled his hand back.

A flutter of panic seized her. Why was he stopping? “What’s wrong?”

He stared down at her, lines of strain etching his face. “Brynn, tell me to stop.”

She wet her lips, her throat going dry. “Why?”

“Because this isn’t why I brought you here.” He raked a hand through his dark hair. “And because if you don’t, I’m going to strip you bare and fuck you until you scream so loud the people flying overhead will be able to hear you come.”

“The hell you are,” said a booming, southern voice.

Brynn jumped at the stranger’s words, scrambling to pull her top closed and her skirt down. “Shit, shit, shit.”

The beam of a flashlight pierced the darkness, and Reid put a hand up to block his eyes. “Hello?”

A stern, middle-aged face peered over the side of the truck. The state trooper adjusted the brim of his hat. “What the hell do you two think you’re doing?”

Reid sat upright, scooting in front of Brynn. “Evening, Officer. We were just, uh, having a little dinner.”

“Uh-huh,” the man said, shining the flashlight on Brynn as she fastened the last button on her shirt. “I have a feeling I know what’s on the menu. Do you kids know I could arrest you for indecency in a public park? Or worse.” He turned his light back to Reid. “You didn’t give this young lady money for her services, did you?”

Brynn’s mouth dropped open. “Jesus, I’m not a prostitute. We were just kissing.”

The cop quirked an eyebrow at her. “Well, then I suggest the two of you try to conduct yourselves in a more respectable manner. If I catch either of you out here again, I’ll take you both in.”

Reid raised his hands and gave the officer a smile that dripped with sincerity. “We are so sorry, Officer. It won’t happen again. We’ll get right on out of here. Thank you for letting us by with a warning.”

The cop grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. Waiting.

They hurriedly gathered their things and climbed into the cab of the truck. Brynn’s cheeks burned so hot, she was sure she had turned a shade of purple. God, how had she let that get so out of hand? She’d never lost control like that with anyone. One kiss and she’d been ready to screw Reid until the sun came up. All the reasons of why a relationship with him was a terrible idea had evaporated from her mind the instant his lips had touched hers. Dangerous.

Reid merged onto the highway and after a long stretch of silence, cleared his throat. “You okay?”

No. “I’m fine. Just a little embarrassed.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “Sorry about what happened.”

She turned to look out the window, afraid that he’d be able to read her thoughts on her face. “Not your fault. I’m just glad he didn’t take us in.”

“No kidding. I can’t even imagine how happy the media would’ve been over that—candidate’s nephew gets arrested for public indecency. My aunt and uncle would’ve had a shit fit.”

She stared out the window as cars whizzed by, feeling like she was in some alternate universe. Reid’s biggest worry about an arrest was media coverage; hers was that she’d have no one to post bail to get her out. The contrast would’ve been laughable if it wasn’t so damn depressing.

He reached out and gave her hand a quick squeeze. “I promise less mortification and threat of arrest on our next date.”

She closed her eyes and leaned against the headrest, hoping he would take the hint she didn’t want to talk. She’d thought that maybe she’d be able to keep it light and have a little fun, but an hour alone with Reid and she’d been ready to lose herself. Something she couldn’t afford to do with someone like him. She couldn’t tell him right now, but no matter how much she liked him, there would be no second date.

FIVE

now

Reid ordered another coffee and dumped some salsa on his huevos rancheros while Detective Will Green examined the papers Reid had given him. Reid knew not to bother the man once he’d retreated into the zone—that place where cops go when trying to put all the pieces together. But he couldn’t help but watch every tick of the cop’s expression, hoping Will saw as much potential in the documents as he had.

One refill and a clean plate later, the detective looked up, lines of frustration cutting into his dark skin. “Where did you get this?”

Reid dodged the question, not ready to tell the detective he’d found the ledger—via illegal search—in a hollowed out dictionary in Kelsey’s nightstand. “Kelsey, the vic’s youngest daughter, contacted Hank about the evidence a few days ago. I think she found it when she went through some of her mother’s old things. I just got ahold of it last night, but from what I can tell, the ledger lists all of the victim’s client appointments and payments going back two years before her death. Including a big transaction scheduled for the day she was killed.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I saw that. Not sure what a hooker could do to warrant a twenty-five-thousand-dollar fee. No lay is that good.”

Reid gave him a humorless smile. “Celia LeBreck used to work in the high-end strip clubs. Not until after she had her second child did she start turning tricks on the street. Maybe she still had connections to someone she met in her glory days.” He pointed at the photocopies he’d made of Celia’s appointment book. “This J. Kennedy person listed on the last day. He’s in there a number of times before that, but only for a thousand bucks at a time.”

Will’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe she had something on him and was upping the ante.”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Reid said, nodding. “And maybe he didn’t want to pay up.”

“This definitely throws suspicion away from your client. I never did believe that kid was the guy, but I don’t know if this is enough to get you an appeal.” The detective stared at the copies again, rubbing his chin. “Unless we can figure out her code and actually get some solid suspects. Every name in here is a fake one.”

Reid sank back in the booth and sighed. “Yeah. J. Kennedy, C. Eastwood, S. Poitier, A. Lincoln. All celebrities or historical figures. Smart lady—protecting her ass and her clients.”

The waitress stopped by and refilled Will’s coffee cup. He dumped a few packets of sugar in and stirred, the contemplative look crossing his face again. “My guess would be that she didn’t pick the names randomly. If this was her way of keeping people straight, she probably had some reason to assign each name. Like Sidney Poitier probably isn’t a young white guy.”

Reid nodded. “Right. And she may have let clients pick their own code names as well.”

“Was Kelsey any help with who the names belonged to?” he asked, sipping his coffee.

Reid shifted in the booth. “Well, I haven’t exactly been able to talk to her about it.”

Will nailed him with shrewd eyes. “You have her evidence, but haven’t talked to her? How’s that work, Counselor?”

Reid cleared his throat. “Um, well, I sort of had the opportunity to get this from Kelsey’s apartment… without consent.”

Will titled his head back as if he were going to shout at the heavens. “Jamison, what the fuck? I know this case has eaten at you, but you’re breaking and entering now?”

“No, no, nothing like that. I got ahold of a key from the other daughter. She just didn’t know my intentions.”

He groaned. “Still makes the evidence inadmissible.”

“Unless Kelsey agrees to give it to me, which I think she would do—if I could find her.”

“You don’t know where she is?”

He rubbed his eyes, the all-nighter starting to catch up with him. “She’s kind of disappeared. She called her sister last night and then never showed up to meet her.”

His pissed-off expression switched to concern. “Uh-oh. You think something’s wrong?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. Kelsey doesn’t have the best track record. She’s got a drug history and from what I gather, a habit of being flighty.”

“Well, if she doesn’t show up by the forty-eight-hour mark, her sister needs to report her missing—just to be safe. Although with the overload at the department, I don’t know how much focus it will get.” Will frowned and added even more sugar to his cup, as if the sweetener could make the bitter situation easier to swallow. “That girl was still living at home when all this went down. She’s the only one who may have a shot at identifying some of the people behind these names. Without her and her permission to admit this ledger as evidence, you ain’t got shit.”

Acid burned in his stomach. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

This case had ruined Reid’s reputation and had continued to keep him up at night. There was no way he was going to let such potentially explosive evidence go by the wayside. No, he needed to find Kelsey and find her fast.

Reid’s cell phone vibrated against the table, and he picked it up to check the caller ID. Ah, just who he needed to talk to. He plunked a few bills on the table and slid out of the booth. “Will, I gotta take this. Thanks for your help. I’ll be in touch.”

“No problem.” He lifted his coffee cup in salute. “Hope you find your girl, Counselor.”

A bloodcurdling scream wretched Brynn from the depths of sleep, and she jolted upright, nearly hurling herself off her living room couch. She glanced around frantically, her chest heaving with choppy breaths, but found nothing amiss in her sunlit living room.

She sank back against the arm of the couch and put her hand to her sweat-slicked neck, the rawness in her throat confirming where the scream came from. “Dammit.”

She hadn’t had a nightmare in over a month and had dared to hope she was past them. But the blanket twisted around her legs and her pounding heart confirmed otherwise. She rubbed her eyes with her hands, the familiar images from the awful dream seeping through now that her mind was fully awake.

Unwanted hands. Being trapped. Darkness. Flashes of the ­always-faceless rapist now mixing with the image of the man who’d attacked her in Kelsey’s stairwell.

She released a groan of frustration and threw the blanket off her. “I am so sick of this shit.”

She wanted to holler the words, throw something through the sunny window, shake her fists at the fates. But she knew none of it would do any good. And right now, she didn’t have time to bellyache about her own problems.

She glanced at the clock on her DVD player. Right past noon. She’d stayed up all night, calling Kelsey’s friends, the clubs she’d worked at in the past, hospitals, and even put in a message with her police contact. But so far, she didn’t have squat and was at a loss as to what her next step should be.

Pound the pavement to talk to people in person? Report her missing?

She shook her head. Part of her wished she could just shrug the whole thing off and chalk it up to Kelsey being irresponsible. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was really wrong. Why wouldn’t Kels have called her or left a note, something? She’d sounded really freaked out on the phone. Was she using again? Was that what this was about? She hoped to God that wasn’t the case. Last time her sister had gone on a bender she’d nearly killed herself.

The memory clenched Brynn’s chest in a vise grip. Kelsey was the only family she had left. If she lost her…

She gave herself a mental shake and took a breath. No. She wouldn’t go there. Would. Not.

She grabbed her cell phone off the coffee table and checked the screen. No messages. With a sigh, she leaned forward to set it back down, but it rang in her hand. The sudden noise made her jump, but she had the phone to her ear in record time.

“Hello?”

“Brynn, it’s me.”

Reid. Even after ten years, he apparently didn’t feel the need to say who it was. Like he knew she’d be able to identify his voice from any other man’s. She could. “Hey.”

“Any word from your sister?”

“No one’s seen her or heard from her. I’m running out of people to call. What about you? Did you find out anything?”

Papers shuffled, like he was turning the page of a notebook. “I talked to someone who’s a member and found out that The Ranch does hire attendants and pays them well. A person gets a bonus of ten grand when he or she completes the intense training program, which apparently involves a few weeks of total immersion in each side of the D/s relationship.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of money.”

“Yeah, no kidding. It could be pretty tempting for ­someone like Kelsey.”

She tucked her legs beneath her. “So how do I find out if she’s taken a job there?”

He sighed. “That’s the problem. The place is like Fort Knox. The only way you’re going to find out is if you go there yourself and look for her. My friend said he could probably get you in as a guest.”

She swallowed hard. “How would that work?”

“They don’t allow doms to come in as guests, only as full members, so your only option is to go in as a sexual submissive. You would have to be willing to submit to a member.”

Her fingers curled into the twisted blanket on the couch, the material still damp from her sweat-inducing nightmare. A bone-deep shudder went through her. “Reid, I don’t… I can’t… do that.”

The line went quiet, and she wondered if the call had dropped, but then he took a breath. “I could go with you. Save you the stranger part.”

Her throat seemed to close. Not just submit, but ­submit to Reid? The idea sent her brain and body into a tailspin. Her gaze darted to the picture on her side table—the last one she and her sister had taken with their mom. Before the murder. Before the trial. Anger stirred in her belly.

“Brynn?”

“No,” she bit out, her voice finally returning. “No fucking way.”

He snorted. “Calm down, LeBreck. It was just an idea. If you’d rather hand yourself over to some stranger, I’m sure there will be many at The Ranch happy to oblige.”

She closed her eyes, bile burning the back of her throat. No way would she survive either of his suggestions. “Let me make a few more calls. I’ll let you know if I need your friend’s help.”

“You know where to find me.”

“Why’d I even bother?” Brynn hung up her office phone and rubbed her forehead, a piercing headache hatching behind her eyes. Two days with hardly any sleep, and her body was no longer responding to caffeine.

A light tap on her open door made her lift her gaze. Mel stepped into her office, lines of concern creasing her forehead. “Still no word from your sister?”

Brynn shook her head. “I just keep calling her like all of a sudden she’s going to come to her senses and answer her phone.”