8
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For the first time in a long time, Lynx had spent an entire Friday night without getting into a brawl in the parking lot. In fact, the entire week had been relatively uneventful. Nothing more than work and sleeping in his truck out in front of Reagan’s house, anyway. Same old shit.
He figured tonight’s lack of excitement had a lot to do with the fact that Rhys was in attendance at Reagan’s. The good ol’ sheriff was hanging out with Wolfe while they chatted it up with their woman. No one seemed to be in a particularly snarky mood, and Billy hadn’t graced them with his presence, so Lynx hadn’t had to fend any dumb asses off.
Kind of nice if he was being honest.
Then again, Reagan was avoiding him again. She’d made sure to do so every time he’d seen her this past week after he’d shared dinner with her on her front porch. Once at the diner, twice at the gas station. She was polite but distant and he found it cute as hell.
And now that Amy and Reagan were closing things up, Lynx was waiting with Wolfe and Rhys near the door.
“You still sleepin’ in your truck?” Wolfe asked.
“Until you catch that asshole, I ain’t leavin’ her alone out there,” he told his cousin, his gaze swinging to Rhys to include him in that statement.
“Holy fuck, man. Why don’t you ask for her couch?” Wolfe suggested.
Rhys frowned at the man and Lynx chuckled.
“I doubt she’d be too keen on the idea,” he said truthfully.
“It’s just a damn couch.”
Right. As though Lynx could be under the same roof with that woman and not be tempted to crawl in her bed with her. Hell, he’d wanted her for so damn long he wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle having a single wall separating them. It was hard enough with a locked door.
“Y’all can go,” Reagan shouted as she turned toward the hallway that led to her safe. “I’ll be done in a minute.”
Amy joined them and Wolfe met Lynx’s gaze. He nodded once, letting his cousin know he was good. He would wait for Reagan as he had every damn night. He had nowhere else to be anyway.
“See ya later then,” Wolfe told him, throwing his arm over Amy’s shoulder. “Be good.”
Lynx smirked. “I’ll try.”
Rhys shot him a look, which had Lynx laughing out loud. “Don’t worry about your sister,” he told the man. “She can hold her own.”
That didn’t seem to settle the sheriff down any. If Amy hadn’t taken his hand and tugged him toward the door, Lynx suspected Rhys would’ve given him some sort of warning. He figured it would be coming sooner or later and he welcomed it.
When Reagan appeared again, her eyes shot to him instantly. “You really don’t have to wait for me.”
“I don’t have to,” he said, just as he did every time. “I want to.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed her keys from beneath the bar. “You’re such a pain in the ass.”
“But you like me,” he countered, following her to the door and opening it for her.
“Not really. I tolerate you.”
Right.
He stepped out of the way while she locked the door. When she started down the steps to the gravel parking lot, he followed.
“Lynx, seriously. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
She could, he knew.
“Why’re you doin’ this?” she asked, spinning around to face him. “I’m not gonna go out with you. Not now, not ever.”
For whatever reason, she sounded as though she had to force herself to say those words. And that only amused him.
When he didn’t say anything, she spun around and headed toward her truck.
He followed again.
“You’re like a damn puppy,” she grumbled. “I’m not interested, Lynx.”
He opened her door for her.
Reagan sighed heavily. “You just don’t quit, do you?”
“Not when it comes to you, no,” he admitted, meeting and holding her stare.
“Is your divorce final yet?”
He shook his head. “Couple more days.” The fucking waiting period was almost over. For all intents and purposes, he was divorced. In fact, he didn’t even talk to Tammy anymore. Thank God for that.
As he expected, Reagan started shaking her head instantly, yanking the door shut.
Lynx tapped on the window and waited for it to lower. When it did, Reagan sighed.
“What do you want?” she asked, her frustration evident. “I already told you—”
Before she could lecture him about the divorce, he held up a hand. “Meet me at the diner for breakfast tomorrow.”
He didn’t pose it as a question because he knew she would easily say no if he did.
She didn’t respond.
“Come on, girl. You gotta eat,” he said, almost the same words he’d said the last time he’d asked her to breakfast.
Lynx waited, holding her stare. It was clear she wanted to refuse him again, but to his surprise, she finally agreed. “Fine. But it’s not a date.”
“Of course not.” She could call it whatever she wanted or didn’t want. It was a date. And it was the first of many to come.
Reagan frowned.
Tapping the truck, he smiled. “Cool. See you in the mornin’. How ’bout nine?”
She nodded, then rolled up the window.
Lynx knew he’d won this one, but he wasn’t going to gloat.
That wouldn’t happen until he got the woman wrapped around his little finger. After all, it was only fair, considering he was solidly wrapped around hers.
After grabbing his phone from his pocket, Lynx dialed Rhys’s number as Reagan’s truck kicked up dust on its way out of the parking lot.
“What’s up, Lynx?”
“Do me a favor?”
“As long as it doesn’t require bailin’ you outta jail.”
Lynx climbed in his truck. “You have the power to keep me out. Why would I need you to bail me out?”
Rhys chuckled. “What do you want, Lynx?”
“Keep some patrols runnin’ by Amy’s tonight, would ya?”
Another gruff laugh. “Tired of sleepin’ in your truck?”
“Naw. Just thought I’d give Reagan some space. But only if I know she’ll have someone watchin’ the house.”
What he needed was a solid eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. At least then he might have a chance of bringing his A game tomorrow at breakfast.
“I’ll keep a deputy out there tonight,” Rhys said.
“Thanks. And I’ll talk to RT and Z tomorrow, see if they can get someone closer to her. If that bastard comes back to that house, I don’t want her alone in it.”
“Agreed. And understood.”
“Thanks.”
Lynx tossed his phone in the center console and turned the engine over. He’d give Reagan a little time to herself. After all, he wasn’t going to push his luck.
But three days from now … all bets were off.
By the time the sun came up, Reagan had been awake for at least half an hour.
And didn’t that seriously rankle? Absolutely no reason she couldn’t sleep in this morning and her brain wouldn’t cooperate.
It was Lynx’s fault.
Rather than roll over and drift back into dreamland, she’d spent all that time, plus what it took to finally nod off last night, thinking about Lynx. The damn man had even invaded her dreams. Again.
The bastard.
She should’ve been home free seeing as he hadn’t parked out in front of her house. That should’ve eased some of her tension. Instead, she had wondered where he was, what he was doing. Who he was with.
Damn man.
Why did he have to make her feel so much? Think so much? Want so much?
Reagan didn’t need a whole hell of a lot. She wanted a simple life. One that involved working and spending time with her friends and family. Not necessarily in that order. No, she didn’t have a lot of money, but she had enough to pay the bills. Sure, her truck had seen better days, but it still got her from point A to point B just fine. She had a roof over her head and food to eat. She didn’t need any more than that.
Most importantly, she didn’t want the headache of a relationship, of worrying what a man was doing or where he was all the damn time. Been there, done that. The headache wasn’t worth it.
Not that she thought Lynx would be anything like Billy. When she really thought about it, she knew that her relationship with Billy had been more about convenience. They had lived under the same roof, but they hadn’t actually been together in a really long time. It hadn’t been ideal, but it had given Reagan the independence she needed with him always gone.
She was just now settling into her new life, the real independence that she had now that she’d booted Billy to the curb.
And then Lynx Caine went and infiltrated her thoughts.
And boy, did he. Every freaking thought in her head seemed to be about him. Most of them involved the sexy man naked, fucking her, claiming her in a way she seriously doubted she would walk away from. Lynx was the dominant kind, the type of man who went after what he wanted and didn’t stop until he got it.
It certainly didn’t help that Reagan hadn’t had sex in…
God. Did she even know how long it’d been? Valentine’s Day? No, it was before that. Hell, it might’ve been Christmas. At least nine months, probably more.
Kind of ridiculous considering she’d been in a committed relationship with a man.
Well, not entirely committed. She’d been faithful, but Billy… Yeah, right.
She couldn’t remember exactly when she’d been with him last, but Reagan knew she’d put a halt to having sex with him once she’d suspected he was stepping out on her. And then she had stuck around because it had been easier than leaving. Her stubborn streak had kept her rooted in that house, refusing to move back home with her mother and grandfather. Billy had been the lesser of two evils. Again, mostly because he had been gone more often than not.
The bottom line was, she’d been an idiot.
A great big honking idiot.
Then Lynx had to go and stir up her hormones, send her libido on the fritz. Make her wish for things that were beyond her reach.
As she lay there, Reagan thought back to that night by the lake all those years ago, the first time she’d gotten a taste of Lynx, the first time she’d realized she was so far in love with him she would never be able to be happy without him. Ten painfully long years ago.
Up until that night, they’d rarely said anything more than the required pleasantries, but Reagan had always had a crush on Lynx Caine. Always. He was the tough guy no one wanted to mess with, the bad boy all the girls swooned over. Him and his cousin, both. Some of the girls considered the cousins interchangeable, but Reagan had only had eyes for Lynx.
That night, after his mother’s funeral, Reagan had gone looking for him. She’d borrowed her brother’s truck and driven out to the Circle C. Back then they hadn’t had a fancy solar-powered gate to keep anyone off the property, so she had ventured past acres of dry grass, then past Lynx’s house.
She’d found him down by the water, sitting on his tailgate, staring out into the darkness. Alone. So freaking alone it had broken her heart to see him like that. Rather than run the other way, Reagan had shored up her nerves, climbed out of the truck, and joined him. For a good ten minutes, neither of them had spoken and Reagan had been okay with that. But when he finally turned his attention on her, Reagan’s heartbeat sped up, her body igniting from the mere sound of his voice.
“What do you wanna do after you graduate?” Lynx asked, his raspy tone making her body warm significantly.
“I’ve still got two years,” she told him.
“I know.” He peered over at her. “But when you do graduate?”
Reagan shrugged. “Not really sure.”
“You wanna leave Embers Ridge?”
Reagan shook her head. That was about the only thing she knew for certain. She was a small-town girl through and through. There wasn’t enough money in the world to get her to move to the big city.
Lynx grinned, but it was sad. “You gonna settle down, have lotsa babies?”
As she stared out at the water, Reagan’s belly flipped. Only if they’re your babies, she thought.
“What about you?” she asked, changing the direction of the conversation. “You wanna leave Embers Ridge?”
“Nope,” he told her with certainty. “Plan to open a furniture store with Wolfe later this year.”
“Yeah?”
“Yep. We already got it all mapped out.”
For a few minutes, they stared at one another, sparks bouncing back and forth between them. Reagan had always felt them, but she knew it wasn’t the same for Lynx. He was the type of boy who didn’t have one girlfriend. He had several, and never anything serious.
“Why’re you here, Reagan?”
She shrugged again. “I was worried about you.”
That seemed to confuse him.
At some point during that conversation, they had moved closer, until Reagan’s thigh was pressed up against Lynx’s. They sat on that tailgate, under the stars and the full moon while country music filtered out from the cab of Lynx’s truck. It had been the best night of her life. And then, when Lynx had kissed her…
Throwing the blankets off her legs, Reagan bolted out of bed. She couldn’t lie there and think about him forever. She needed to get a move on. Not that it would take her long to get ready to meet him for breakfast, but she needed something to do to keep her mind occupied. A shower was a good start.
Two hours later, Reagan was pulling into the diner. She noticed Lynx’s big blue Chevy was already there, and the flurry of butterflies erupted in her belly. She hated those damn butterflies. They irked the shit out of her. Why couldn’t they keep themselves contained around him?
Climbing out, she kept her eyes trained on the gravel, which was the very reason she didn’t notice Lynx climb out of his truck and head her way. Before she could reach the door handle, a big hand shot out around her, opening it for her. She was mesmerized by the ink that covered his arm, the back of his hand, his knuckles.
“Mornin’,” he crooned softly against her ear.
Goose bumps prickled her skin and Reagan fought off the shiver that threatened to race down her spine.
This was such a bad idea. She should be at home, tucked into bed, dreaming about…
Yeah. Okay. So that didn’t help.
Lynx Caine seemed to be invading her thoughts. Asleep, awake, it didn’t matter.
“Mornin’,” she mumbled, stepping inside as he held the door. “Thanks.”
A warm hand gently pressed against her lower back, and she inadvertently sucked in a shocked breath, hoping like hell Lynx hadn’t noticed. She peered over at him, trying to keep her face shielded by her hair. It didn’t help. He noticed and he was smiling.
Jerk.
When he pulled out her chair, Reagan tried not to even think about it. She’d spent so long in a relationship with a man who put himself first, she wasn’t used to someone opening doors or pulling out chairs. It shouldn’t surprise her. That’s the way Lynx was. He could charm the underpants right off a nun.
“Sleep well?”
She jerked her eyes up to his. “Yes. Actually,” she lied effortlessly.
When it came to Lynx Caine, a lie wasn’t a bad thing.
It was self-preservation.