The Girl Who Cried Wolf

The Girl Who Cried Wolf

By

Paige Tyler

©2013 by Blushing Books® and Paige Tyler

Copyright © 2013 by Blushing Books® and Paige Tyler

All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Tyler, Paige

The Girl Who Cried Wolf

eBook ISBN:
9781609684242

Cover Design by Korey Mae Johnson

This book is intended for
adults only
. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

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Paige Tyler

Paige Tyler is a full-time, multi-published, award-winning writer of erotic romance. She and her research assistant (otherwise known as her husband!) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their easy going dog and their lazy, I-refuse-to-get-off-the-couch-for-anything-but-food cat. When not working on her latest book, Paige enjoys reading, jogging, doing Pilates, going to the beach, watching Pro football, and vacationing with her husband at Disney. She loves writing about strong, sexy, alpha males and the feisty, independent women who fall for them. From verbal foreplay to sexual heat, her wickedly hot stories of romance, adventure, passion and true love will bring a blush to your cheeks and leave you breathlessly panting for more!

Visit her website here:

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Don’t miss these exciting titles by Paige Tyler and Blushing Books:

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Chapter One

Kat Sinclair stared morosely into her glass of wine. Why had she let her best friend talk her into going out tonight? She wasn’t in the mood for the whole club scene and everything that went with it, including fending off the opposite sex. All she wanted to do was go back to her apartment, crawl into bed and let herself be miserable. But Becka wouldn’t take no for an answer, so here she was.

“That guy over there hasn’t taken his eyes off you since we got here.” Becka looked at Kat over the rim of her glass. “He’s not half bad looking, I guess. If you like the desperate-to-get-laid look.”

Kat didn’t turn around. “God, I hope he doesn’t come over and ask me to dance.”

Across the table from her, Becka frowned. “Would it matter if he did? You’d just turn him down like you have every other guy tonight.”

Kat fingered the stem of her glass. “I told you I didn’t feel like going out.”

Becka sighed, her dark eyes taking on a look of concern. “Kat, you’ve got to get out of this funk you’re in and face facts. Reese dumped you, and you aren’t getting back together with him. Don’t you think it’s time to move on?”

Her friend made it sound so easy. It probably would be if she wasn’t already hopelessly in love with Reese Huntley. What made it even worse was that she was sure he was in love with her, too. He never would have broken off their relationship in the first place if it hadn’t been for her brother, Dylan. God, why did her sibling have to be such an overprotective jerk all the time?

Eight years her senior, Dylan took his responsibilities as her older brother very seriously. She’d appreciated it when she’d gotten picked on in school as a kid, or when she’d moved to San Francisco and needed a place to stay, but at twenty-four, she didn’t need a babysitter anymore. She was a grown woman who could make her own decisions. In her brother’s eyes, though, she was still the same naïve eighteen-year-old girl who’d come to California from the Midwest all those years ago.

Moving in with her brother, an SFPD inspector, had been the perfect solution, especially since the art institute where she’d gone to college didn’t have dorms. At first, it had been fun hanging out with her older brother again. He showed her all the sights in the Bay Area, and even took her to all the cop hangouts. Which was when she’d discovered the police department had some seriously hot guys working there. Unfortunately, her brother didn’t like the idea of her going out with any of them. He didn’t care whom she dated—within reason, of course—as long as it wasn’t a cop. Apparently, her brother wanted to save her from the heartache he was sure being involved with a police officer would bring.

Kat thought his rule was stupid, but there wasn’t much she could do since Dylan had warned practically every cop in the Bay Area to stay away her. And her brother’s reputation as a hard-ass ensured they heeded that warning. The only cop her brother didn’t mind her hanging out with was his partner, Reese. She supposed that was because Dylan trusted him to keep his hands off her.

At first, Reese hadn’t even been on her radar as possible boyfriend material. Sure, he was tall and had a great body, not to mention absolutely gorgeous, but because he was her brother’s partner, she’d never seen him as anything more than a good friend. And that’s all they’d been for years.

Until she’d bumped into him at the movie theater several months ago. Since they were both there alone, she and Reese had ended up sitting together. Afterward, they’d gone out for coffee and ended up talking for hours. They’d had such a great time that they’d made plans to see another movie together the next weekend. Then the next, and the next. They kept telling themselves they were simply two friends hanging out, but there was something else between them, and they both knew it. Because of her brother, though, neither one of them had wanted to take the next step.

But then, out of the blue, Reese had asked her to go out to dinner with him at one of the city’s fancier restaurants. She almost laughed as she remembered how tense and nervous he’d looked as he’d waited for her answer. Kat had already started to think of him as more than a friend, but she hadn’t said anything because she wasn’t sure how he’d felt. The look on his face told her he’d been having the same thoughts. She’d had to know for sure, though. She hadn’t wanted to read more into his invitation than there was.

“You mean, like a date?” she’d asked.

Reese had hesitated for a moment, but then he’d nodded, as if committing himself. “Yeah, like a date.”

The transition from friends to lovers had been easy after that. Kat had been thrilled to discover that not only were they great together out of bed, but they were great together in it, too. Things would have been absolutely perfect if they hadn’t had to keep their relationship a secret from her brother. Kat wished it could have been different, but more than anyone, she knew how Dylan would react if he found out about them. She couldn’t blame Reese for wanting to keep their relationship hush-hush. Hell, she didn’t want to deal with the hassle of it herself. But it would be worse for Reese. If it got out, it could likely mean his job. Dylan knew a lot of people and a whispered word in the wrong ear would flush Reese’s career down the toilet. She didn’t want to think her brother would do something like that, but she knew that where she was concerned, he’d do that and more if he thought he was protecting her.

But just because she’d understood the need for secrecy didn’t mean she liked it. She’d absolutely hated that they had to be so careful about where they went when they went out together. They couldn’t go to any of the places other cops frequented, or even anywhere there might be a chance of someone seeing them, which meant they had to go outside the city most of the time. That got to be a real pain after a while. She couldn’t even tell anyone about Reese, except Becka, of course, and then only because she knew she could trust her friend not to say anything. Kat’s hand tightened on her wine glass. Even worse, there couldn’t be any public displays of affection, which was really hard for Kat. She wanted to shout to the whole world what she felt for Reese. It had been like she was dating a freaking married man.

But no matter how hard it had been, it was all worth it. She could put up with it because the time she spent with Reese was the happiest she’d ever been.

Then two weeks ago, with absolutely no warning, Reese had told her they couldn’t see each other anymore. Kat had been shocked, not to mention incredibly hurt. But no amount of pleading would get Reese to change his mind. And the worst part was that she hadn’t even seen it coming.

Just thinking about it made her want to cry. Pushing her untouched glass of wine aside, Kat picked up her purse. “I’m going to head home,” she said, then, remembering she had driven with Becka, added, “You stay, though. I’ll grab a cab.”

Becka shook her head. “Don’t be silly. I’ll drive you home.”

Kat opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again. Truthfully, she’d rather have Becka drive her home. If she took a cab, she might end up doing something foolish—like going over to talk to Reese.

As Becka drove, she made conversation about everything from the latest interior designs they were working on together to the hot, new guy she had her eye on at the firm where they worked. She was just telling Kat that she was thinking of actually asking him out when she stopped in mid-sentence.

Kat looked at her friend to find Becka’s gaze trained on the rearview mirror. “What is it?”

Becka frowned. “That car has been behind us since we left the club.”

Kat turned to look over her shoulder. How could her friend possibly even tell one car from another in the darkened city streets. But between the two of them, Becka always had been the more observant one. If her friend said it was the same car, it probably was.

She turned back around in her seat. “Do you think they’re following us?”

Becka didn’t answer, her gaze still on the rearview mirror. After a moment, she let out a sigh of relief. “I guess not. They turned off.”

That didn’t keep Becka from checking behind them all the way to Kat’s apartment in Russian Hill.

“Give me a call and let me know you got home okay,” Kat said before she got out.

“I will,” Becka promised.

Once inside her apartment, Kat kicked off her high-heels and padded barefoot into her bedroom. As she changed out of her dress and into a tank top and pair of shorts, she thought about the car Becka said had been following them. The idea that some creep could have tailed them from the club was frightening. She was going to be a nervous wreck until her friend called.

Fortunately, Becka only lived fifteen minutes way, so she didn’t have to wait long for her to call. Tossing her cell phone on the coffee table, Kat curled up on the couch with her laptop to check her Facebook page. She didn’t know why she bothered. It wasn’t as if Reese was going to profess his love for her in his status. She’d been lucky he hadn’t unfriended her yet.

She sighed as she scrolled down her home page scanning her friends’ status updates. She was grinning at a funny poster Becka had shared earlier in the day when a noise outside her front door made her jump. She leaned forward to see around the column that half-blocked her view of the door only to jerk back when a shadowy shape passed in front of the frosted glass.

Kat shook her head. Since when did she freak out by someone coming to the door? When it was almost midnight and she was still creeped out about the idea of a psycho following her and Becka home from the club, that’s when.

She took a deep breath. She was being a drama queen. Someone was at the door—she should answer it.

She put her laptop on the couch and started for the door, only to hesitate. Why hadn’t whoever it was knocked? She tiptoed across the living room to the window closest to the door and peeked out the curtain. There was no one there. She scanned the street, but didn’t see anyone.

Huh. Weird.

If not for Becka and her overactive imagination, Kat wouldn’t have given it another thought. But what if her friend was right and someone had followed them? Sure, the car had turned off, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t pulled down a side street, then gotten back on and tailed them again.

Too bad she didn’t have a cop boyfriend she could call to come check it out. She supposed she’d have to settle for her brother.

But as she picked up her cell phone to call Dylan a brilliant idea came to her. Why not call Reese? It wasn’t like she was drunk dialing. This was a legitimate emergency. Okay, maybe not that legitimate. But it
was
an emergency. Their relationship was in serious danger here.

Ignoring the “tsking” sound coming from her conscience, she speed-dialed his number before she could change her mind.

“Huntley.”

“Reese. Thank God!”

It wasn’t hard to sound relieved. She’d been half afraid he wouldn’t answer when he saw her name on the call display. Though considering he’s answered using his surname, he probably hadn’t bothered looking to see who it was calling.

“Kat?” His voice was deep and sexy in her ear. Not to mention full of genuine concern. “What’s wrong?”

“I think someone followed me home from the club tonight. He’s been parked out front ever since, and when I looked a while ago, I didn’t see anyone in the car. I don’t know what to do. I’m really afraid.”

Okay, so she was exaggerating a little. But she had to make him think she was in danger, didn’t she?

Reese didn’t answer.

Crap
. Had she overdone it? What if he didn’t believe her?

“What kind of car is he driving?”

She’d expected him to be in full-on boyfriend mode, not cop mode. Then again, they were one and the same. Which was part of their problem, wasn’t it?

Kat looked out window, scanning the street. There were some four-doors and a couple SUVs in addition to her Mini. “An old, beat-up pick-up. Black, I think. Or blue. I can’t tell.”

“Stay away from the windows and don’t answer the door,” he finally said. “I’m on my way.”

Yes!
Kat did a little happy dance as she hung up the phone. She’d been going crazy trying to come up with a way to get Reese back when all she had to do was pretend to be in danger. Who knew?

She ran her hands down the front of her shorts and frowned. While her outfit might be comfy, it didn’t exactly scream seductress. Girl next door, maybe.

Going into the bedroom, she stripped off her tank top and shorts and shoved them in a drawer, then rifled through the one above it until she found exactly what she was looking for—a pair of black string-bikini panties and matching push-up bra. She put them on, then slipped into a short silk robe of the same color. She surveyed her reflection in the full-length mirror, tying the belt different ways to make sure it showed enough cleavage.

She was still trying to get it right when the doorbell rang.

“Kat, it’s me,” Reese called.

“Coming!”

Kat gave herself one last look in the mirror, then hurried out of the room. Yanking open the door, she all but tackled Reese. His arms immediately went around her, holding her close. She sighed. God, it felt like a lifetime since he’d held her.

He gently smoothed her hair with his hand. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe. I checked around before I came in, and there’s no pick-up truck out there now. Whoever it was is gone.”