The Girl Who Cried Wolf (5 page)

“Good,” he ground out. “Then maybe you’ll think twice before you try to trick me again.”

Kat wanted to throw a snappy comeback his way, all she could do was squirm and protest as he spanked her over and over.

Then, as quickly as he had put her over his knee, she was back on her feet. She would have reached back to rub her throbbing ass cheeks, but Reese swung her up and over his shoulder. Kat was torn between beating her fists on his strong back and being submissive as he strode down the hall to the bedroom. Was it too much to hope that her plan had worked after all? Her pulse skipped a beat at the thought.

But instead of setting her gently down on the bed and kissing her passionately, Reese unceremoniously dumped her in the middle of it. That was a little bit more caveman-like than she was used to, but she could live with that. Ignoring her stinging ass, she scooted back on the bed to make room for him, but then stopped when she realized he was scowling.

“You can stop with the games, Kat, because you’re wasting your time. We’re not getting back together, and you need to start accepting that,” he told her firmly. “Now, go to sleep.”

Hot tears stung Kat’s eyes as Reese stormed out of the room. With a strangled cry of frustration, she picked up one of the pillows from the bed and threw it at him, only to watch helplessly as it thumped against the closed door and fell harmlessly to the floor. Reese didn’t even look back at her as he slammed the door behind him.

Dammit. She’d almost had him. That’s why he’d spanked her again. It was the only way he could keep from giving in and making love to her. Yeah, well Reese could spank her every night if he wanted to, but he wouldn’t be able to fight his feelings for her forever. Sooner or later, he’d realize that he was the one wasting his time and admit he wanted her. And when he did, she’d be waiting.

Chapter Three

Reese didn’t sleep at all that night. Every time he tried, all he could think about was Kat lying half-naked in his bed. It didn’t help that she’d been squirming and wiggling around all over his lap a minute ago. Or that her firm, little ass had jiggled invitingly whenever he’d brought his hand down on his target. He had been so hard all he’d wanted to do was yank off her tiny panties and fuck her right there. It had taken every ounce of strength he possessed not to say to hell with his good intentions and make love to her. But he refused to fall into her trap again. So, instead, he’d tossed and turned on the couch all night with the hard-on from hell.

But he could only resist temptation for so long. If Kat continued to stay at his apartment, he knew he would end up making love to her again, and that wouldn’t be fair to either of them. Unfortunately, there was no way Kat could go back to her apartment without her brother knowing, and Dylan wouldn’t let her go back until he was sure it was completely safe. Which meant Kat might be staying at his apartment for a long time. Reese groaned. God, he was so screwed.

Finally giving up on sleep altogether, Reese got up to get ready for work around five. He swore under his breath when he realized he had to go into the bedroom to get some clothes. He really didn’t want to have to deal with Kat right then.

But to his relief, Kat was sound asleep and didn’t so much as roll over the whole time he was in the room. All the same, he found himself drawn to the bed. She was lying on her side, one arm under the pillow, her lips slightly parted. He could just make out the outline of her slender form under the blanket. A strand of hair rested against her cheek and he had to clench his hand into a fist to keep from reaching out and brushing it back. God, she was so beautiful it hurt.

Reese swallowed hard and forced himself to leave the room. Grabbing his holster from the coffee table, he shrugged it onto his belt, then scooped up his wallet and badge before throwing on his jacket and quietly slipping out of the house.

Dylan was already at the station when he arrived. His partner looked up from pouring a cup of coffee as Reese walked into the break room.

“You look like you didn’t sleep at all,” Dylan said. “Rough night?”

Reese frowned as he picked up the coffee pot and filled his own mug. “You could say that.”

“Kat wasn’t being that much of a pain in the butt, was she?”

If Dylan only knew. “There was this movie on television that she wanted to watch, and I didn’t get to bed until late.”

His partner nodded. “Forensics didn’t get any prints off the lock on Kat’s back door except hers, but I’d still prefer if she stayed with you for a while, just until I’m sure it’s safe for her to go back to her place, if that’s okay?”

Reese wasn’t surprised to hear there hadn’t been any prints on the lock other than Kat’s. It just reinforced the growing suspicion he had that she’d made up the attempted break-in. But he couldn’t say that to Dylan. So, while having Kat stay with him wasn’t okay at all, Reese forced himself to nod as he stirred sugar into his coffee. “That’s fine.”

Thankfully, Dylan changed the subject, switching gears to talk about the latest lead in the homicide they were investigating. Reese needed something to take his mind off Kat.

* * * * *

“Grant finally worked up the courage to ask me out,” Becka said. “We’re going to dinner on Friday night.”

Kat nodded absently as she stared down at the salad she’d ordered for lunch.

“And then he’s whisking me off on his private jet to Monte Carlo for the weekend.”

Kat pushed the leafy greens around with her fork. “That’s nice.”

Across the table from her, Becka let out a sigh. “Kat, you haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said, have you?”

Kat jerked her head up. “What?”

“It’s Reese again, isn’t it?” her friend demanded.

Kat felt herself flush. As much as she wanted to talk to her friend about Reese, she couldn’t confide in Becka about her scheme to get him back. Becka would only side with Reese and tell her she was wasting her time.

“No,” she lied. “Just thinking about the job for that couple up in Napa.”

“Uh-huh.” Becka regarded her thoughtfully. “I’ve got an idea. Grant has a brother, a twin no less, so I’m thinking we should make it a double-date. What do you say?”

Go out with someone else when she was still in love with Reese? The idea made her stomach churn. “I can’t.”

Her friend frowned. “I’m not saying you have to marry the guy. Just go out to dinner with him. Come on. It’ll be good for you.”

Kat started to shake her head, but before she could say anything, her cell phone rang. Giving Becka an apologetic smile, she picked up her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Her pulse quickened when she saw it was Reese.

“Hello?”

“Hey Kat, it’s me. Can you come over to my place? I need to talk to you, and it can’t wait.”

Had Reese finally come to his senses and realized they belonged together? Maybe he wanted her to come over so they could put their heads together and come up with a way to tell Dylan everything. Then again, maybe he just wanted to get together for a quickie and keep their relationship secret. She’d be okay with that, too.

“I’ll be right there.”

Dropping her phone back in her purse, she took out enough money to cover the salad and iced tea she’d ordered and tossed it on the table. “I have to go,” she said as she pushed back her chair. “Tell Kim that I might be back a little late from lunch.”

Kat could barely contain her excitement as she drove to Reese’s apartment. Quickly finding a parking space, she hurried along the walk and up the front steps, only to stop in her tracks when she saw that the front door was ajar. No, not ajar. Busted in. The doorknob was bent to the side and the jamb was cracked, as if someone had kicked in the door. She slowly pushed it open and cautiously stepped inside.

“Reese?” she called hesitantly, pausing in the entryway.

“In here,” he said from the kitchen.

Relieved, Kat started in that direction, only to stop yet again in the living room. The cushions from the couch and the matching chair were on the floor, and the coffee table was on its side, as were the two bookcases that were normally against the wall. The only thing that looked as if it hadn’t been touched was the television.

Kat hurried into the kitchen to find Reese leaning back against the counter, arms folded and a scowl on his handsome face. She looked around the room, stunned.

Half of the drawers were open, as were most of the cabinets, and though she couldn’t tell for sure, from what she could see, it looked as if someone had rummaged through them.

Her gaze went to Reese. “What happened?”

He regarded her coldly. “You tell me.”

Kat stared at him in confusion. “You think
I
did this?”

“I know you did.”

She blinked. “You honestly think I broke into your apartment and ransacked it? Reese, the door looks like it was kicked in. There’s no way I could have done that.”

His jaw tightened. “With the right tools, you could. Or maybe you had someone do it for you.”

She gaped at him. “Do you even know how crazy that sounds?”

“It’s no crazier than pretending there was someone following you home from a club and lurking outside your apartment. Well, you wasted your time, Kat, because all this latest stunt of yours did is convinced me that you can’t be trusted. It also earned you another spanking.”

The sudden change in the direction of the conversation caught her completely by surprise, and for a moment, she thought she hadn’t heard right. But then he took a step toward her with that determined look in his eye, and she knew she was in trouble.

She took a step back, holding up a hand to ward him off as she tried to put the table between them. “Reese, don’t you dare…”

But Reese ignored her, moving around the table so fast it made her gasp. Grabbing her arm, he dragged her over to one of the straight-backed chairs and sat down, then jerked her over his knee. Was he out of his mind? The front door was half-open for heaven’s sakes. From where she was draped over his lap, she could see right outside. Which meant someone could see right in. Before she could point that out, however, he wrapped his arm around her waist, flipped up her skirt and yanked down her panties to mid-thigh.

Kat’s face flamed. Being put over his knee was bad enough, but being in that position bare-assed was even worse. She didn’t think she had ever been so embarrassed in her life.

“Reese…”

That was all she could get out before the spanking started, and from the very first smack on her ass cheeks, all Kat could was squirm and kick in an effort to evade his hand. It did no good.

Over and over his hand fell, back and forth from one cheek to the other until her ass felt like it was glowing. She couldn’t even cry out because of the door was half open.

Kat thought Reese had spanked her hard the other two times, but that was nothing compared to how hard he was spanking her now. Or perhaps it was the fact that her bottom was bare. She stifled another squeal as he delivered a sharp smack to her sit-spots. Much more of that and she wouldn’t be able to hold back her cries of protest.

Just then, Reese turned his attention to the rounded part of her ass again. Kat couldn’t believe it when she actually heard herself let out a sigh of relief. But she was back to biting her lip a moment later when he administered another set of well-aimed spanks to her already sore cheeks.

Then, finally, it was over and she was back on her feet. Reaching back with both hands, she vigorously rubbed her throbbing ass and glared up at him.

“I can’t believe you did that again. And I didn’t even do anything.”

“I’m not buying your innocent routine anymore, Kat.”

“But it’s true.”

Jaw tight, Reese opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of a man’s voice coming from the entryway interrupted him.

“Anyone home?”

Abruptly remembering her panties were still down around her thighs, Kat frantically pulled them up, wincing a little as the material came into contact with her red-hot ass cheeks. She smoothed her skirt back down, then stood in the kitchen rubbing her bottom while Reese went to see what the man wanted.

Reese came back a few minutes later, car keys in hand. “That’s the locksmith. Since what happened with the door is your fault, you shouldn’t have any problem waiting until he’s done. I have to get back to work.”

“But I…” she began only to have Reese cut her off in mid-sentence.

“And I want this mess cleaned up, too.”

With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the room. Kat didn’t know what bothered her more, that Reese had spanked her again or that he really thought she was capable of breaking into his apartment. He was so blinded by his anger, he hadn’t even considered calling in a crime scene team to dust for fingerprints and look for evidence.

She was so furious she almost walked out and left the locksmith there by himself, but she couldn’t do that to Reese. So, she stayed and straightened up while the man worked. Not because Reese had ordered her to do it, though. She did it because she’d had to wait for the locksmith to finish and had nothing better to do. Besides, the place was a mess.

It hurt that Reese thought she’d ransacked his apartment, but it also alarmed her. As she folded one of his shirts and put it in the drawer with the others, she couldn’t help but wonder what the intruder had been after. Nothing looked like it was missing, which didn’t make any sense. Who broke into a place and didn’t take anything?

Becka was out with clients for the rest of the day, so Kat couldn’t even run it by her. After work, she stopped by the mall on the way to Reese’s apartment. Shopping always made her feel better.

She did feel better for a while. But then, in the middle of one of her favorite shoe stores, she got the strangest sensation that someone was watching her. When she turned around, though, there was no one there. She told herself she was being silly, but even after going into another store, she couldn’t shake the feeling.

Telling herself that she was just creeped out from the break-in at Reese’s place, she went into her favorite lingerie store and headed for a rack of sexy babydolls. But as she searched for her size, she could still feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

She casually looked over her shoulder, but none of the other customers in the store were paying attention to her. She let her gaze drift across the mall to the bookstore opposite the lingerie shop. There were several men by the rack of magazines, but they all seemed to be engrossed in whatever they were reading.

Not being able to identify anyone watching her didn’t make Kat feel any better. Forgetting about the babydoll, she left the store and practically ran for the mall exit and the parking garage. Why the heck hadn’t she parked closer? Because it had been a lot more crowded when she’d gotten there and she’d taken the only space she could find. Even though there were still a lot of cars around, there didn’t seem to be any people to go with them. She tightened her hold on her shoulder bag and quickened her step.

Unfortunately, what had seemed like a short walk on the way into the mall, now took forever. Hadn’t she parked in Section F? Apparently not, she thought as she got to the end of it and still hadn’t found her car.