service years in combat and saw no reason to bring it into his personal life. Or more specifically, his sex life. And yet, Sierra Donovan was the most combative, argumentative, independent woman he’d ever met. And he couldn’t get enough of her.
One too many hits to the head, he figured. And he’d get over it, just as soon as he got her out of his system. But he’d come to realize that to do that, he’d have to get her into his bed to work through all the wild fantasies he had.
She was proving a mite uncooperative on that front.
Of course, uncooperative seemed to be Sierra’s M.O.
“You gave the cops all these men’s names?” he asked, his words featherlight. No point in letting on that she’d got to him. She’d just poke harder if she knew.
“The cops have a full roster of my sexual encounters,” she returned with a roll of those pretty blue eyes. “They also have a list of all the people I’ve pissed off in the last few months.”
Her look made it crystal clear he was on both lists.
Reece grinned. Good, he liked being front and center in her mind.
“I’m guessing they didn’t plan to follow up,” he commented when she was silent.
“Well, they did praise me on my dexterity. And one of them complimented my ability to type with my mouth that full. But like me, they weren’t overly impressed with the list itself.”
She shoots. She scores.
Reece ground his teeth to hold back his growl of fury. Her offhand comment about the explicit nature of the pictures sparked an angry flame in his gut. He didn’t like anger; things always got ugly when he lost his temper. But the implications, the message those pictures were sending, infuriated him.
“The cops have the pictures?” he asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
“They made copies,” Sierra admitted with a shrug as she took her empty margarita glass to the sink. Belle handed her a glass of iced tea, the move so easy and natural, he could tell this was their norm.
“But you still have the originals?”
“Why?” she asked, lifting one of the overflowing platters of vegetables from the counter. “Were you looking for something to replace your Hustler collection?”
“Well, you have to admit, Hustler doesn’t feature farm animals.”
“And you’re such a country boy, you miss that?”
“There ya go,” he agreed easily, not bothering to hide his amusement. Taking his cue from her and Belle, who was carrying the bowl of black beans in to dinner, he grabbed the last dish and gestured to the ladies to precede him.
Belle’s gaze was shooting back and forth between him and Sierra as if she were following a tennis match. Mitch, though, had his serious CEO look on, which told Reece his cousin was worried. About the stalker pictures or the potential disaster if Sierra cut loose with that temper lurking in her eyes, Reece wasn’t sure.
But Sierra didn’t say anything. Instead she shot him an unreadable look as she headed toward the dining room.
Was she keeping their hot little encounter a secret from her best friend? Maybe. It’d been two months since they’d had wild closet sex at Mitch’s resort and she’d been trying to pretend he didn’t exist ever since.
“Let’s eat,” Belle suggested, obviously trying to break the tension as they all took their seats. “Maybe you can give us some security advice over dinner? Nothing major, just a few ideas on what we can do to deal with this.”
From her sigh and the look she shot him, he figured Sierra thought he was a bigger problem than any kinky pictures.
Reece took off his hat, shoved his hand through his hair and made a mental note to get it cut soon. He tossed the hat onto the oak banquette behind him, then took his seat. Belle passed the delicious-smelling platter of fajita fixings to him with a smile. The little blonde was a sweetheart. Perfect for Mitch. Reece hadn’t been sure when they’d hooked up again, but now he was. Too bad she’d done the altar dash six years ago, but apparently she and Mitch had both needed time to grow a little.
He sat opposite Sierra and considered the intense brunette. Had she ever been young? When they’d met for the first time, she’d been just as confident, just as cynical and just as sexy as she was now.
Well, he considered, letting his gaze travel over the smooth lines of her bare shoulders and sleek throat, maybe not quite as sexy then. But she definitely had the air of a woman who’d always had her shit together and never struggled with self-esteem issues. He tried to imagine Sierra as a kid or a teenager, but couldn’t. Even under an onslaught of dirty pictures, she just didn’t come off as vulnerable.
In other words, she was everything his ex-wife had wished to be but never quite pulled off. And Shawna, his classy and ambitious ex, was everything he’d thought he wanted, until he’d realized what he wanted was Sierra, and his ex was just a poor substitute. That flash of insight had come right about the time Shawna had maxed out his credit cards, sold his car and filed for divorce.
“So,” Sierra said as soon as everyone dished up their meal, “why exactly are you here, Reece?”
“The pleasure of your company isn’t reason enough?” He piled more spicy salsa on his meat-filled tortilla, hoping nobody would comment if he ignored the vegetables. Belle had that same look in her eye that his grandma got, the kind that said she didn’t tolerate slacking when it came to balancing the food groups.
“Belle knows how much I enjoy your company,” Sierra shot back over her veggie-filled plate, “yet she invited you to dinner anyway.”
Reece tipped his head in acknowledgment of the verbal dig. Usually Sierra was smoother. She must be a lot more upset over the picture deal than he’d thought.
And have a lot less respect for his skill than he’d realized. He frowned at the thought. He’d never set much store in other people’s opinions, so he couldn’t say why that idea bothered him so much. Yet it did.
“I’m guessing the police told you to start keeping the envelopes?” he asked in an even tone as he passed the fajita platter to Mitch. “That if you do open them, to wear gloves so you don’t contaminate the evidence. Maybe to take a few personal precautions, make a list of any more names that occur to you. Print up a list of your competitors, note which ones you’ve outbid for jobs recently. That kind of thing.”
Her blue eyes got harder with each sentence. He didn’t bother grinning. He just took a big bite of the fajita and waited.
Again, she surprised him. After a quick glance at Belle, Sierra just shrugged and took a vicious bite of her own fajita. Watching her assault the rolled-up tortilla added another image to his dossier of Sierra-inspired sex fantasies.
“Maybe I should step aside for a while,” she finally said. For the first time, he saw a hint of fear and worry lining her brow. “If I’m going to jeopardize business, I could work from home. Focus more behind the scenes than out front, you know?”
“Are you bailing on me?” Belle asked.
“No,”
