Night Heat (Forged of Steele 2)

“You can take me on home and I—”

Before she finished whatever she was about to say, Bas leaned over and brought his mouth down on hers, effectively snatching both breath and words from her throat. She responded and when his tongue darted into her mouth, she captured it with her own, sucked on it before he could pull back.

When he straightened up in his seat, he smiled at her. “You’re coming up with some pretty masterful skills yourself.”

She chuckled as she raked her fingers through her hair. “Only because I have a good teacher. I was just following his lead.”

Bas’s pulse rate increased and he couldn’t wait until he got to her place. His goodbye kiss would be one she remembered for a long time. Well, maybe not, he thought moments later when he pulled into her driveway and saw the two vehicles parked there. She had left her car for her sister to use and he recognized the truck as Reese’s.

“Looks like you have company.”

Jocelyn glanced up. When she saw the two vehicles, a deep frown settled on her face. “Oh, no,” she said, unsnapping her seat belt before Bas brought the car to a stop. “What are the two of them doing here together?”

Her question, as well as the worried expression on her face, confused Bas. “Maybe they’re trying to patch things up.”

Jocelyn shook her head. “It won’t be that easy.”

He lifted a brow. “Why?”

“Because it won’t. Please stop the car, Bas.”

Upon hearing the panic in her voice, he stopped the car and the minute he did she threw open the door and raced toward her house. Not knowing what the hell was going on, he took off after her.

Before she could use her key to open the door, it was snatched open and an angry Reese came out and glared at Jocelyn. “Dammit why didn’t you tell me, Joce?”

She didn’t answer. Instead she tried to move past him to go into the house. “Where’s Leah?”

He blocked her path. “She’s asleep, but I want to know why you didn’t tell me.”

“Not now Reese, I have to—”

“No! I want to know why you didn’t tell me.”

Bas heard the anger in Reese’s voice, anger that was directed at Jocelyn. He also noted that Reese was blocking the way into her own house. Bas stepped forward. “Calm down, Reese. What’s going on? What has you so upset? Is something wrong with Leah?”

Reese’s glare left Jocelyn and moved to Bas. “Yeah, something is wrong with her all right, something I didn’t know about until today.”

He then moved his gaze back to Jocelyn. The eyes that looked at her were filled with a mixture of rage and anguish. “My God, Jocelyn, why didn’t you tell me that Neil Grunthall had raped her?”

Chapter 13

Jocelyn’s eyes widened. “Leah actually told you?”

Having his suspicions confirmed was like a kick in Reese’s gut, and it took everything he had not to ram his fist into the nearest post. “She didn’t tell me willingly,” he said with fury lining his every word. “I confronted her about why she left and when I told her about this house she started shaking uncontrollably. I reached out to calm her down, and when I did all hell broke loose. She went berserk as if she was reliving those moments with Neil and actually thought I was him.”

Reese paused long enough to rub a tortured hand down his face. The eyes that looked at Jocelyn again were hard and angrier than before. “Why didn’t you or your dad tell me?”

Jocelyn inhaled deeply, hearing the hurt, pain and despair in his voice. “Dad never knew and I only found out myself a few weeks ago, Reese,” she said softly. “And she made me promise not to tell you.”

Reese’s head fell back against the wooden post and he looked up at the sky as if the clouds held some kind of comfort for him. Then he looked back at Jocelyn. “Tell me what happened. Please. I need to know.”

Jocelyn slid her gaze from Reese to Bas. He was staring at her just as intently as Reese, although he hadn’t said anything. She knew Leah was still in love with Reese just as Reese was still in love with Leah. If anyone could break through the barriers Leah had erected, it would be Reese.