The Girl Who Cried Wolf (4 page)

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Kat slid the rack back in the oven, then closed the door and lowered the heat. Tossing the oven mitts onto the counter, she turned around, jumping in surprise when she saw Reese standing there. How long had he been standing there?

She tucked her long hair behind her ear and gave him a smile. “I didn’t hear you come in. I hope you don’t mind that I made dinner. It’s nothing fancy, just meatloaf, baked potatoes and a salad.”

Reese glanced over at the kitchen table she’d set. “No. Meatloaf sounds great.”

When she’d been thinking about what to make for dinner, she’d decided on meatloaf because she knew it was Reese’s favorite, and because it was one thing she was actually pretty good at making. Taking out the bottle of dressing, she set it down on the table next to the bowl of salad. When she turned around, Reese still standing in the doorway watching her.

“Dinner will be ready in a bit if you want to wash up,” she said.

Reese nodded, but made no move to leave his post. She went back to the fridge for the pitcher of water he kept there.

“Kat, we need to talk about what happened last night.”

Oh, God. Was he talking about the spanking he’d given her? Well, it had damn well better be to apologize.

“What about it?” she asked, trying to sound casual as she walked over to the table.

Reese ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t mean this to sound harsh, but the fact that we slept together doesn’t change things. I take complete responsibility for what happened last night, and I can certainly understand how you might make the mistake in thinking that sleeping together means everything is back to the way it was, but you know as well as I do why that can’t happen.”

Her hand tightened around the pitcher. He’d made that abundantly clear last night, so she didn’t know why he had to repeat it. Well, he might think it was over between them, but she knew better. She had a plan for getting him back that was absolutely foolproof. And Step One was letting him think she’d given up.

“I know,” she said softly. “I completely understand. And you’re right. We should never have slept together last night. It was a horrible mistake.”

Kat almost smiled at the startled expression on Reese’s face. He clearly hadn’t been expecting that.

Aware of him watching her, she bent over to open the crisper and grab a tomato. She’d already put one in the salad, but he probably wouldn’t notice, and she needed an excuse to reach into the bottom of the fridge. Sure, she could have crouched down, but bending at the waist made her shorts ride up dangerously high. She knew her ass was one of his weaknesses, and she planned to put it on display the entire night.

Reese was silent for so long she wondered if he’d left the room, but then she heard him mutter something about going to wash up before dinner.

Kat grinned. He might as well give up now, because he was going to be putty in her hands by the end of the evening.

Reese came back several minutes later, dressed in jeans and a navy blue T-shirt, his hair still damp from the shower. Kat had an almost irresistible urge to run her fingers through it, but controlled herself. For her plan to work, she had to give Reese the impression that she was no longer interested in a relationship with him.

Kat kept the conversation light during dinner. Deciding work was always a safe subject, she told him about the latest clients she had, a newly married couple who wanted every room in their house decorated in white.

“I’m not kidding,” she said when he lifted a brow. “They even wanted the inside of the fireplace painted white.”

“Did you do it?”

“Hell, no. I told them it was against code.”

“Is it?”

She let out a snort. “No. But they didn’t know that.”

Reese chuckled. It had been a long time since she’d heard him do that. It was nice.

After dinner, Reese helped her clear the table and load the dishwasher. Though Kat kept her movements subtle, she made sure to stand as close to him as she could while they cleaned up, brushing his arm with hers, or reaching for a plate at the same time he did so their hands would touch. If Reese was on to her little game, he made no comment, although she had the feeling he caught on when she “accidentally” splashed water on herself just so she could make a show of running her hands over her breasts as she wiped it off. The water combined with her touch to make her nipples harden beneath her bra and poke out against the thin material of her tank top. For a moment, Reese stared down at her softly rounded breasts as if transfixed before he finally dragged his gaze away.

“I picked up a cheesecake from the bakery for dessert,” Kat said as they finished up. “Sit and I’ll get us a piece.”

She’d been afraid the cheesecake might be too much, but she was trying to seduce him here. She would have gone all out and added a bottle of wine and some candles, too, but she didn’t want Reese getting too suspicious.

Cutting a skinny slice of cheesecake for her and a regular slice for Reese, Kat transferred them to dessert plates and carried them over to the table. As she set down his plate, she bent over so that her breasts were right in front of his face. From the way his gaze smoldered, Kat thought he might reach up and cup them in his hands. Reminding herself she was supposed to be playing hard to get, she straightened up and gave him a smile.

“Forgot the forks.”

Extremely aware of Reese’s eyes on her, Kat turned and walked across the kitchen, making sure to put a little extra sway in her hips. Opening the cutlery drawer, she took out two forks, “accidentally” dropping one. It fell to the floor with a clatter.

Muttering something about how clumsy she was, Kat bent over to pick up the fork. She kept her movements slow and deliberate, giving Reese a good, long look at her ass. After a moment, she straightened and tossed the dirty fork in the sink, then grabbed a clean one from the drawer.

Going back over to the table, she handed Reese a fork and sat down. Though he made no comment, she could see that her little act had put him off balance. Good.

She used her fork to cut into the slice of cheesecake, then waited for Reese to glance at her before slowly wrapping her lips around it. “Mmm,” she moaned, drawing out the sound. “This is delicious.”

Reese stared at her, his fork halfway to his mouth, his dark eyes hungry for more than cheesecake. Oh, yeah. He wanted her. Lips curving into a smile, she lifted another bite of cheesecake to her mouth, keeping her eyes on Reese as he watched her slowly lick the creamy dessert from the fork. Another bite or two of cheesecake and she’d have him. She almost giggled when she saw how much effort he had to put into concentrating on his own piece of cake.

When they’d been dating, she and Reese almost always went straight to bed and made love after having dinner, but tonight they both ended up in the living room watching television. Though he sat on one end of the couch and she was curled up on the other, Kat was extremely conscious of the glances he sent her way when he thought she wasn’t looking.

As she sat there pretending to watch TV, Kat fantasized about him picking her up in his arms, carrying into the bedroom and making crazy, mad love to her. In fact, her fantasy was so vivid that when he announced he had an early day the following morning and needed to get to bed, she found herself waiting for him do exactly that.

But instead, all he said was, “You can have the bed. I’ll take the couch.”

“Don’t be silly. Your bed is big enough for two, and it’s not like we haven’t slept together before.” She grinned. “I won’t even try to steal the blankets.”

Reese’s mouth quirked. “All the same, I’ll sleep out here.”

Resisting the urge to try and change his mind, Kat forced herself to shrug. “Suit yourself.” She uncurled her legs from the couch and got to her feet. “Good night.”

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked out of the living room to pad barefoot down the hallway and into the bedroom. Closing the door, she leaned back against it and resisted the urge to scream.

Dammit. She’d honestly thought Reese would have admitted defeat after the cheesecake, and if not then, surely when they went to bed. Time to pull out all the stops.

Stripping off her shorts, she tossed them on the bed, then wearing only her tank top and a pair of bikini panties, she walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. Ignoring Reese, she walked right past the couch and into the kitchen. Taking out a glass, she poured herself some water and stood in the light of the open refrigerator while she drank it, letting the glow silhouette her half-naked body. From his position on the couch, Reese would be able to see her perfectly.

When she was done, she set the glass in the sink, then retraced her steps through the living room. She gave Reese an apologetic look. “Sorry. Just needed some water before I went to bed.”

He made no comment, but instead watched with dark molten eyes as she walked past. Once in the bedroom, Kat waited for a few moments before carrying out the next part of her plan. She had to time this perfectly or it’d look like she was up to something. She probably should have waited at least five minutes, but couldn’t hold out that long.

Opening the bedroom door, she crossed to the linen closet and took out the extra blanket Reese kept in there. Hugging it to her chest, she padded down the hallway to the living room.

Reese was lying on the couch, staring up at the ceiling, his arms folded behind his head. He lifted his head at her entrance, his gaze lingering on her bare legs before meeting hers.

She offered him a small smile. “As I was getting ready to jump into bed, I realized you didn’t have a blanket. I thought you might be cold and I figured that since you were nice enough to let me use the bed, I could at least bring you a blanket.”

“You can leave it on the chair,” he said. “I’ll get it if I need it.”

“It’ll just take me a second to put it on,” she insisted.

Kat walked past the stuffed chair and over to the couch, unfolding the big fleece blanket as she went. When she got close enough, she purposely tripped on the hem, which sent her sprawling across his chest. Reese’s arms went around her automatically to keep her from falling off the couch, which was a good thing because somehow she really had gotten all tangled up in the blanket.

“Sorry about that,” she said breathlessly.

But she really wasn’t sorry at all. Her plan had worked out just like she’d hoped. Not only did it bring her nose to nose with him at the perfect angle for kissing, but it also pressed her breasts against his muscular chest. It was all she could do not to moan when she felt his hard cock pressing into her tummy. She tried to resist the urge to move against him, but her hips seemed to have a mind of their own and she found herself rubbing against his erection.

“That’s it,” Reese growled.

Faster than she would have thought possible, Reese threw back the blanket, then had her back on her feet and over his knee. Remembering what had happened the last time she was in this position, Kat frantically tried to push herself upright, but a firm hand on her back pushed her down.

“Don’t you dare…” she began, only to let out a loud yelp when he delivered a sharp smack to the seat of her panties. She couldn’t believe he was actually spanking her again!

“You’ve been trying to seduce me all night, Kat, and I’m not falling for it again.” He gave her upturned ass another smack, harder this time.

Kat craned her neck to look over her shoulder at him. “I wasn’t trying to seduce you. I was just bringing you a blanket.”

He brought his hand down on her ass again. “So, all that bending over you were doing wasn’t for my benefit then? And going to get that glass of water from the kitchen when the bathroom is right beside the bedroom was completely necessary, too, I suppose.”

She squealed as his hand connected with her derriere again and again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. Then I guess losing your balance and falling on top of me just now had nothing to do with trying to get me into bed again.”

She bit back a squeal as he gave her another smack. “I tripped.”

“Sure you did.”

She struggled to free herself. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. Let me up, dammit.”

But he only wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her more firmly in place so that he could spank her ass some more. “I’ll let you up when I’m finished. Until then, you’re going to damn well stay right where you are.”

Kat opened her mouth to tell him exactly what he could do with himself when his hand came down in a flurry of hard spanks that had her squealing and squirming around so wildly she would have fallen off his lap if he hadn’t been holding onto her so tightly.

Why the heck hadn’t she kept her shorts on? They were skimpy, but at least they would have offered more protection than the bikini panties she was wearing. Every time Reese’s hand came down on the exposed parts of her ass, it stung like crazy. He especially liked to pay attention to the tender area of her sit-spots. Ouch, that hurt! Crap. This wasn’t working out the way she’d planned at all. They were supposed to be in bed by now, with him gently caressing her ass, not spanking the hell out of it.

“Reese, please.” She bit her lip as he administered another series of hard spanks to her already very sore sit-spots. “That really hurts!”