Page 8 of Fear the Reaper
“Swede?” She asked.
“Hey, this deal is between the two of you.” Swede raised both hands.
“You trust him?” Star asked.
I tried not to be offended. My logical brain knew it was a valid question—an intelligent one too. But my body was like a poked bear.
“With my life,” Swede replied.
“Okay, then.” She walked over to me with an extended hand. “Deal.”
I shook her small hand in my larger paw, wondering what the hell I was getting into. I didn’t know if I could trust her as far as I could throw her. She was a reporter. For all I knew she was pretending to be in danger so she could get a story. But, she was a friend of Swede’s. How I saw the whole situation was like this—I couldn’t care less about trusting her. I was giving the Brotherhood Protectors and Swede a chance.
With our deal in place, I managed to get Swede and Star signed out of the bed and breakfast and brought them back to my place. Since arriving in Climax, I bought the place then set to work rebuilding everything. It had taken me a year and a half but I finally had a nice little four bedroom house—the master, my private shower and my office took up the entire top floor.
I showed her where she could wash up and the room she would be using until I could figure a few things out. When I was alone with Swede, I leaned forward and inhaled. “Okay. Who did she piss off this time?”
“You know her?”
“Everyone knows her.” I laced my fingers. “This won’t be easy, Swede. She’s spent her career making enemies. Are you surprised one of them wants to shut her up?”
“No. But I don’t want that to happen, clear?”
I said nothing. Instead, I eased back in my chair. When her footsteps sounded on the hardwood floor, I rose and walked into the open concept kitchen to put a premade lasagna in the oven. “First thing first,” I said once she’d entered the room. “I’ll put my ear to the ground to see what I can hear. But in the next few hours, Star, I’m going to be asking you some hard questions.”
She eyed me mischievously. “You’re going to ask me hard questions in a town name Climax? Very well.”
“Star.” Swede warned.
“This is the kind of relationship we’re going to have, then?” I asked.
Star walked to stand across from me in the kitchen and braced both her hands on the island. I fought to keep my glare on her face and not dip to the soft, caramel swells of her breasts.
“I didn’t know we were going to have a relationship, Reaper,” she said, haughtily. “But if we are, you have to take me to dinner first. I may be easy but I ain’t cheap.”
I growled, set the timer for the lasagna and stomped from the kitchen. “I can’t work with her.” I flung over my shoulder.
“Reaper, come on!” Swede called. “I’ll throw in a bottle of Black Bush for you.”
“Make it a bottle of Monkey Shoulder and you have a deal.”
Swede sighed. “You’re killin’ me here!”
“That’s the deal, take it or leave it.”
Swede exhaled loudly, and I knew I’d won.
Nova “Star” Shuman
The first nightunder Reaper’s roof was unsettling. I wasn’t afraid. That wasn’t it. And the bed was the best thing I’d slept on in a long time. Still, I tossed and turned all night. The thought of Reaper being somewhere in the house, made my body hot. I’d stoke anger in him and watched as it blazed through his gaze. Right then, I’d never been more turned on in my life. I wanted to poke him, prod at him and see if his fire would consume me completely.
I sat up in the darkened room wondering what had come over me. Everything I had done with Reaper had never been me. I was never the kind of woman who anyone would call freaky. My sex life had been anything supernatural. Yet, as I thought of Reaper, his dark skin tangled with my mine, his large palm fisting my hair and his body over mine like an Olympian god, things happened to my body, my mind.
With a sigh, I pushed the sheets away and climbed out of bed. I tip-toed to the bathroom just outside my bedroom and locked myself in. After using the facilities and flushing, I turned on the cold water and splashed my face. Sure, it wouldn’t make me sleep, but I was hoping the cold shock would slap some sense in me.
Reaper hated me. He tolerated me because of Swede and the others but nothing more.
Sighing, I grabbed a fresh towel and patted my face dry. When I opened the door again, I could hear hushed voices from above me. I checked Swede’s room and he wasn’t there, so I assumed the two of them were talking about me. Knowing sleep would continue to be an elusive tease, I wandered into the kitchen and cut off a piece of the lasagna.
