Chapter Twenty-Nine

Carrie

I change into sweats and Reid and I drop my stuff off at his apartment with time to spare, which we don’t spend naked. We walk to the coffee shop and back again. “How many days a week do you run?” he asks.

“Every workday,” I say, “and I go to the gym in my building three days a week. What about you?”

“Same,” he says, “but I have a gym in my apartment.”

“Of course you do,” I say. “Right along with the perfect sunrise view.”

“Both of which you can share,” he says, sliding his arm around my shoulders.

“In between fucking me out of your system?”

“Exactly,” he says, laughing. “In between fucking like rabbits, we’ll watch sunrises and work out. What more could you want for a weekend?”

Not much, I think, especially if he’s going to laugh like that. I like that he laughs. It feels like a goal I need to achieve more often. Make Reid laugh. His cellphone buzzes with a text and he glances down at it and types a reply, grimacing. “My damn brother,” he murmurs as we step onto his elevator. “I need to run by my office and deal with him before work.”

“I don’t know how you run your company and mine, too, or, well, it’s not mine.”

He pulls me in front of him, his hands on my shoulders. “It will be again.”

“I know,” I say. “And not because I think you’re on my side. Because I’m going to go in there today and find a better version of Elijah.”

“I am on your side. You know that, right? This thing between us, it’s not some way for me to read you or control you.”

I push to my toes and kiss him. “I know.”

He molds me close and cups the back of my head. “Just don’t forget, and yes, that’s an order.” He kisses me and the elevator dings. “Come on,” he says, lacing my fingers with his as he leads me out of the elevator to his door.

Not long later, we’re in the shower, and I’m pressed against the wall with him inside me, that ends with us on the shower floor, me straddling him. I have a moment when we manage to stand with me still in his arms that I remember telling him that he’s taken over and consumed my whole life. And he has. Completely. He’s taken over my life completely.

That feeling only grows as we step out of the shower and I slip on my robe, and I end up at a sink next to him getting ready for work. At one point, he’s shaving and I just watch him, but I don’t feel nervous or uncomfortable. One thing I decided years ago is that I’m me. I can’t be anyone else. I can be a better me, yes, but still me.

I’m still flat ironing my hair when he steps out of his closet in a three-piece gray suit with a red pinstripe that matches his tie, looking like sex and sin and every woman’s fantasy, when his phone buzzes on the counter. He grabs it and glances at the number, smirking as he answers. “Mr. District Attorney. You’re early this morning.” He listens a minute and then says, “You’re closer. You’re not there.” He hangs up.

I blanch. “Did you just hang up on the district attorney?”

“I did.”

“My God, Reid. That takes balls.”

He steps behind me, his hands on my waist, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror. “Yes, Carrie, it does. Just like you making me your bitch in that hotel room.”

I laugh. “You are no one’s bitch.”

“You beat me that night, Carrie. That’s why I convinced the board we should rethink the future. No one beats me. That’s not arrogant. It’s a fact.”

His cellphone rings and he grabs it from his pocket, winks at me in the mirror, and then answers the call. “Yes, Mr. District Attorney?” He listens a minute. “That’s closer and yes, I’ll come meet you, but it won’t change the number. I’ll be there in half an hour.” He disconnects and turns me to face him. “I’ll meet you at the office.”

“You’re leaving me in your apartment?”

“Yes. I am. I trust you.”

“Just give me a minute and I’ll leave with you.”

“Stay. Take your time.”

“You don’t even bring women here, Reid. You can’t leave me here alone.”

He pulls me to him and kisses me. “I’ll see you at the office.”

He releases me and heads for the door. “Reid!” I call out.

He turns at the door.

“The settlement is for the families of the murder victims, right? In the serial killer case?”

“Yes.”

“Destroy him.”

His eyes sharpen. “I plan to. And you—have a look around, Carrie. That’s an invitation.” He turns and leaves me in his bathroom, in his home. I’m overwhelmed with the trust he’s given me when I believe this man trusts no one. When just last night he questioned my loyalty, or maybe that’s what’s behind the hate. He expected of me what he expects of himself with anyone but me, he’d said. Something is happening between me and this man, and I react.

I rush after him. “Reid!” I exit the bathroom and he stops at the bedroom door, turning to face me and my God, the man is hotness personified.

I cross to stand in front of him, push to my toes and kiss him. “What was that for?”

“Because. Just because. Good luck. That’s all.”

He cups my head and kisses me, a real kiss, deep, sexy and fast. “You, woman,” he says and then, reluctantly it seems, he sets me away from him and heads down the stairs. I follow him and stand at the railing, watching him depart, his stride confident, predatory even, but underneath his killer persona, he’s human, he’s damaged. He’s a man surrounded by a stone wall meant to hide that damage and keep everyone away. And yet, I’m here. I know this man could ruin me. I know he could hurt me. I know he controls much of my future and that I need him. And yet, for reasons I can’t explain, I feel like he needs me, too.

***

Reid

I step onto the elevator, leaving Carrie behind in my apartment in my private space where I want her. At some point last night, I accepted that my obsession with Carrie isn’t going away. This isn’t about her perfect ass, or how much I want to fuck her. It’s more. This woman is under my skin in ways I didn’t think any woman could be under my skin. Beyond reason, I need her with me when I know all the ways this could end badly, but I can’t seem to care. I’ve never walked away from anything I wanted, no matter how hard the challenge, and I’m not starting with Carrie.

She was right. I want to own her, all of her. She’s mine. That very premise defies the way I’ve lived my life and all the reasons that being alone serves me well, but it’s too late to cut this off. Those reasons don’t matter now. It’s too late for me to walk away. But I’m done trying to save Carrie from me. Everyone else, yes, but not me.