Hard to Handle (Caine Cousins #2)(81)

“My pleasure, boss.”

“Max!”

“I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“Son of a bitch,” Kelly screamed.

Ace nodded and Max stepped out of the room.

Max’s head appeared around the door once more. “Sucks, don’t it?”

“What?” Kelly asked, his voice trembling.

“Not having any options.”

Kelly frowned.

Max’s smile was menacing. “Now you know how they felt.”

And with that, Max was gone.

The bald man moved around behind him and Kelly jerked against the chains holding him down.

“Don’t worry. No one can hear you, so feel free to scream,” the scratchy voice said from behind him. Ace’s head appeared beside Kelly’s face. “I like it when they scream.”





34


__________


“You wanna go out?” Reagan asked Copenhagen when she forced her tired body out of the bed at first light. She grabbed Lynx’s T-shirt and pulled it on.

Lynx was still asleep, his breaths even, the hard lines that had been around his eyes last night gone.

Smiling, Reagan pulled the door closed, hoping he could sleep a little while longer. They hadn’t slept much last night, but for some reason, that didn’t seem to matter to her. She felt lighter this morning and she knew why. It was her heart. It was no longer heavy.

“Come on, boy,” Reagan urged Copenhagen, leading him to the front door.

She stepped outside onto the porch, her gaze straying to the rocking chairs sitting there. Reagan moved to the closest chair and sat down while Copenhagen sniffed around. Pulling her legs up, she tugged the shirt over her knees, covering herself completely.

The cool morning breeze caressed her skin and she heard the cows in the distance. A rooster crowed from somewhere down the road.

Reagan sighed, enjoying the moment.

This was what contentment felt like.

It wasn’t something that she was used to. Not in this capacity anyway.

Sure, she’d been happy from time to time. She loved her bar, loved her family, but she had never felt as though she truly belonged.

With Lynx, she felt that.

In fact, she felt everything with that man. Safe, loved, cherished even.

Copenhagen found his way back to the porch, curling up beside her chair as they sat there in the quiet of the morning.

Reagan had no idea how long she’d been out there when she heard the screen door squeak behind her. She glanced over to see Lynx leaning against the doorjamb, his eyes on her. Without his shirt, the man looked like the bad boy everyone knew him to be. But Reagan knew a side of him they didn’t know. The sweet, kind, gentle man who … loved her.

“Mornin’,” she said with a smile.

“Mornin’.” He still looked tired.

“You okay?”

He nodded. “Please tell me you have coffee.”

The way he said it sounded like a plea. As though he wasn’t going to make it through the next few minutes without it.

“I actually don’t.”

His eyes widened and she couldn’t help but laugh.

Launching out of the chair, she skipped over to him, going on tiptoe to kiss his mouth. “But we can change that right fast. Just let me get dressed and we can go to the diner.”

Lynx glanced down at his watch, then back up at her. He smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

Reagan went to move past him, but he grabbed her around the waist and spun her back around.

“Although, I might have a little time to spare.” Lynx pulled her into him, burying his face in her neck. “Because Lord have mercy, woman, seein’ you in my shirt…”

She laughed, unable to help herself.

“Later,” she said, playfully pushing him away. “First coffee. Then work. Then…”

“So mean,” he grumbled, laughing into her neck.

Yeah, so Reagan could totally get used to this.

Turning to head to her bedroom, she was pulled up short when Lynx reached for her hand. Once again, she was pivoting around to face him.

“I’m never gonna get dressed if you don’t—”

“I love you,” he rasped.

Her heart turned over in her chest. A full flip, which stirred the butterflies in her belly.

“I love you, too,” she whispered back.

“Makin’ sure you know I meant what I said last night,” he clarified.

Reagan nodded. “I know.” She did. Again, she wasn’t sure why that was, but she believed him.

“Good.” Lynx released her wrist. “Now go get dressed so I can get my coffee, girl.”

Laughing, Reagan raced to the bedroom to find clothes.

Half an hour later, after they had taken Copenhagen over to the store, Reagan and Lynx were sitting in the diner when Amy and Wolfe walked in.

“Well, if wonders never cease.” Wolfe’s smirk said as much as his statement.

He was giving Lynx a hard time already.

Wolfe pulled the chair out for Amy, and Reagan greeted the other woman, noticing she was as pale as she had been the night before.

“Everything okay?” Reagan asked, keeping her voice low.

Amy nodded.

Concerned, Reagan shot a look at Wolfe. He shook his head slightly, as though telling her he couldn’t fix the problem. And she could only assume he had tried.