Beautiful Liar (The Reed Rivers Trilogy 2)

Our shower done, I dry her off, stopping occasionally to suck her nipples or kiss her belly or thighs, and then wrap her in a thick white towel and carry her back into my room.

I place Georgina in an armchair. Change my bedsheets. Clean and put away my various cuffs and toys. I send a quick text to Owen, telling him to cancel my morning meetings. And then I bring the shades on my large windows down, turning my room into a dark cave. I carry Georgina’s sleeping frame from the armchair to my bed, crawl next to her, pull her backside into me. And, finally, I exhale from the depths of my soul.

Holy shit.

I’m sure I’ll start panicking tomorrow. Freaking out she’s going to start demanding things from me I can’t possibly give her. But I can’t be bothered to feel any of the usual shit right now. I’m too exhausted. Too relaxed. Too... happy. And so, I simply clutch Georgina to me, just a little bit tighter, and revel in the overwhelming desire I’m feeling to protect, protect, protect what’s mine... and, slowly, drift into the deepest sleep of my entire life.

***

A blood-curdling scream rips me out of a deep sleep, and my eyes fly open. In a heartbeat, my mind clicks into place. Georgina. She’s lying next to me in bed. She’s safe. Asleep. The scream came from her.

“No!” she shrieks. “No, no!”

I grasp her shoulder. “Georgie, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

Her eyes fly open, and when she sees my concerned face staring back at her, and realizes whatever was terrorizing her is gone, she crumples into my bare chest.

“You’re safe,” I whisper, holding her tight. “You’re here in bed with me. Nothing can hurt you.”

She shakes in my arms and whimpers, and with each tortured sound that comes from her, my heart feels like it’s physically cracking.

“What was your nightmare about?” I ask.

“Mr. Gates,” she says. “Telling you about him... I think it made everything I’ve been stuffing down bubble up and come to the surface.” She pauses. “After he kissed me, he tried to do more, Reed. He tried to do a lot more, but I screamed and kicked him and ran away, as fast as I could.”

I’m so full of the carnal urge to kill, I can’t speak, so I lay my cheek against hers.

“I was terrified,” she squeaks out. “I ran and ran, and never looked back.”

I turn my head and kiss her cheek. “You’re safe now, baby. You’re safe, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you, ever again.”

Chapter 26

Georgina

It’s finally here! The morning of Reed’s party. I’m so freaking excited, and not just about the party. About life! About Reed. I can’t believe how close I feel to him. How much I’ve opened up and let him in. I never would have believed it possible, but... I think I’m no longer falling for him. I think the fall is complete.

Which is so stupid, I want to slap myself silly. What sane, intelligent woman would ever let herself fall for Reed freaking Rivers—an intensely guarded, “non-committal” older man music mogul whose every third sentence is a bald-faced lie? The answer to that question is: no sane, intelligent woman would do that. Only an idiot. A felony stupid moron who’s clearly let her foolish heart hijack her rational mind.

It’s why my mind keeps shrieking at my heart to snap the fuck out of it! But my heart won’t listen. And, really, I can’t blame it, after everything that’s happened in such a short amount of time between Reed and me. How could my heart possibly hold back, after the night of the necklace, and the way he comforted me after my nightmare? I didn’t want to wake up the next morning and look at Reed’s sleeping face on the pillow next to mine and think, “My love.” But that’s what happened, whether I wanted it or not... and has kept happening, at random moments over the past couple of days, ever since.

My ruby necklace is gone now. As promised, Reed brought it back to the store the next day and used the proceeds to pay off my father’s condo in full. Which, hello, is even more reason for my heart to ignore my brain when it comes to my feelings for Reed. But I don’t need the physical necklace around my neck to feel its phantom weight against my skin. Surely, I’ll feel the power of those rubies, the power of that magical night with Reed, for the rest of my days.

I don’t plan to tell Reed any of this, of course. My feelings for him have turned me stupid, but not dumb. I just wish I could stop feeling so damned smitten with him all the time. It’s actually annoying me to constantly feel like I’m swooning, even when I’m trying to work. I spent most of the morning in my room, researching the first half of the guest list for tonight. But the whole time, I felt physically buzzed. After that, I left my room and, for the past hour, I’ve been following Reed around the house as he’s made sure the various workers are preparing for the party to his exacting standards. I figured watching Reed manage the nuts and bolts of an event like this might be a cool metaphor for his hands-on management style, in general. And it has been. I’ve made several notes for my article. But, still, even as I’ve been working, I haven’t once stopped feeling that crazy buzz—that simmering in my blood and skipping of my heart that constantly makes me swoon.