Page 27 of Putting Out
“Okay. We’re still friends, though.”
“We’re always going to be friends, Reilly. Look, I didn’t want to lay all this on you now. You need to make some pretty heavy decisions and get through that first. Then we’ll talk and I’ll tell you what’s going on. Maybe you can help me work out a few things.”
Great. That was good. That was what being real friends meant. He could take her against a window in one breath then ask her for advice about his next wife in the next.
At least now she had something to look forward to after making what could be the biggest and most devastating decision of her life. To think she’d been worried about what came next.
“Sure,” she said in the same tone people use when they promise you they will help you move. “Night.”
“Night.”
Too distracted to concern herself with being sneaky, Reilly opened the door before checking and stepped out into the hallway.
At that same moment, Kenny emerged from the bedroom next to hers wearing nothing more than some thin pajama bottoms. They looked at each other for a second, each one trying to determine what this meant. Then his face scrunched up into confusion.
“What in the hell were you doing in Luke’s room?” he whispered.
Reilly rolled her eyes in what she hoped was an effective “get real” manner.
“He needed a pillow. As if I would be sneaking around this house to get into Luke’s room.”
Kenny’s shoulders slumped a little in relief.
“Of course. Who am I kidding? As if you and Luke would ever… you’re like a sister to him.”
Reilly stopped herself from wincing when he said it. She guessed that would be the case from now on.
“Can I assume you’re heading downstairs for a glass of milk because you have too much respect for our grandparents to go sneaking around their house to have relations with your new girlfriend without the benefit of marriage?”
“You can assume that now.”
“Excellent.” It was selfish and petulant on her part to want to share her foul mood but it was part of the little-sister code.
“You can go back to bed.”
“I could.” She smiled sinisterly. “But I’m feeling rather wide awake.”
Kenny waited but he knew it was futile. Reilly crossed her arms over her chest and met his glare. After a minute, he broke and started toward the stairs.
“Hey, bring me one, too. And some cookies,” she called to him in a whispered shout. Cookies and milk wasn’t another round of hot sex with Luke, but it would have to do.
* * *
What was she doing?He stared up at the farm house. Watching from a distance. And rage flooded his vision and he pushed the night-vision goggles off his head.
She was his and she’d let that other man touch her! That wasn’t right. Couples weren’t supposed to cheat on each other.
Shaking his head, he tried to think. They weren’t a couple yet. He couldn’t blame her. He would, however, have to punish her once she was his. Punish her for exposing herself to anyone watching. Punish her for letting that other man have what was rightfully his.
But that would come later. Right now he needed to make a plan. A plan to win her and make her his. He knew plans needed time, but he didn’t know how much he had. After the damn announcement it felt like time was running out.
He hated what the ranking meant. Hated there were more people after her, watching her. Wanting her time and her attention and her picture.
A smart man didn’t let obstacles stop him from reaching his objective. A smart man manipulated those obstacles. Embraced them, and instead, made them work to his advantage.
He was a very smart man.
“Reilly,” he breathed and watched his breath turn into a puff of cold smoke. “You do have a beautiful back.”
