The Summer He Came Home (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 1)

“How do you know what’s in my head? What I want and don’t want.” She was annoyed now, but he was totally okay with that. He liked that she had spunk and didn’t roll over onto her back for him.

“Woman, I just kissed you. Trust me. You don’t want to say no any more than I want you to.”

Maggie stared at him for a moment, and then her chin jutted out. “I don’t make a habit of associating with felons.”

Okay, he hadn’t seen that one coming.

“You think I’m a felon?”

“Raine told me you and your friends were arrested. I’m not sure I want that kind of influence around my son.”

Cain swore under his breath. The woman was looking for an excuse to blow him off, and Raine had just handed her one.

“Are you saying Raine lied?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She looked surprised.

“We were arrested when we were seventeen.” Cain moved closer to her, loving the way her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. Lips that he wanted to taste and kiss and do all sorts of things to. “Me and the boys: Jake, Jesse, and Mac. It was quite the crime.”

“What did you do?” Her voice was hushed, her eyes wide.

He stared at her for several long moments until her eyes widened in trepidation and her breath held, waiting for his next words.

“You have to understand we didn’t mean for it to happen.” He shook his head, his expression serious, his tone somber. “Hell, we were just kids really.”

“Seventeen isn’t exactly a kid,” she said carefully.

“No, it’s not, and we should have known better.” He sighed. “And I suppose we should have known it wouldn’t have ended up any other way than it did.” He shrugged. “Not with Jake involved. Hell, he even lured Jesse to the dark side, and Jesse was always the guy who said no.”

She bit her lip and for a second, and he was mesmerized by an image of her tongue sliding along his skin.

“What happened?” she asked softly.

“I can’t lie or sugarcoat. It’s a matter of public record that we kidnapped him in Indiana—”

“Kidnapped! You can’t be serious.”

He continued on as if she hadn’t said a word. “Like I said, it wasn’t my idea, but shit happened, and we kidnapped the bastard in Indiana, which was our first mistake, because anyone who watches Law & Order knows you should never transport a body across state lines.”

“A body?” Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Sure, you didn’t think they called us the Bad Boys for kicks, did you?” He tried to look solemn, but it was hard because she looked so damn cute. “He had one hell of a trip, that’s for sure. We showed him things…things he’d never have seen down there in Indiana. We showed him Michigan the way it’s supposed to be done. We took him all over the county, out in the boat, and then, uh, attended a few parties where he met a lot of fine local girls. Hell, he was so damn popular, Seth Daniels used up at least two disposable cameras, ’cause everyone wanted their picture taken with him. Of course, that was before we buried him.”

“Buried.” Her brow couldn’t arch any higher.

He nodded.

“You buried him,” she said again.

“Yeah, Ronald.”

A small crease furrowed Maggie’s brow. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it. She waited a moment, shifted her weight.

“You’re bullshitting me.”

“No, I’m not. Of course, if he’d have just come with us nice and easy-like, I’m sure it wouldn’t have gotten so complicated. As it was, Jake used his powers of persuasion, and it was a piece of cake.”