Reining Her In

by Katie Ashley

  “Do you known how much a bar fight can cost in damages?”

  He slid the pitcher over to me. “Thanks,” I muttered. I grabbed the pitcher and then high tailed it back over to where Declan and Carson were fighting. Raising my arm back, I sloshed the water on the two of them. It immediately had the effect I was going for since they scrambled apart and stopped hitting each other.

  As they lay there with their chests heaving, I narrowed my eyes at Carson before chucking the pitcher at him. Steve scrambled around me to grab Declan’s arm. “Come on. They’ve called the cops.”

  With an agonized grunt, Declan pulled himself to his feet. As we scattered out the door to our cars, I couldn’t help feeling like I was back in high school and fleeing another melee Declan and his group had gotten themselves into. Usually it was a shouting match in the parking lot of an opposing school after a football game. Just like then, I had no idea what we were doing or where we were going. All I did was blindly follow Declan.

  He surprised me by leading us over to my car. As we fought to catch our breath, I glanced up at him. “You’re bleeding,” I lamely announced.

  “No shit. I just kicked Carson’s ass,” Declan grumbled.

  I motioned to his bloodied brow. “That looks pretty deep. I’m afraid you might need stitches.”

  He grimaced. “I don’t have time to sit around all night at the hospital. I promised Cam I’d pick up him before bedtime tonight.”

  Once again, Declan was only thinking of his son, and it was so damn endearing. “You won’t have to wait around all night.” At his questioning look, I replied, “I’ll take care of you.”

  “You will?”

  “I can get you patched up at the clinic.”

  Declan nodded. “All right.”

  Peering into my purse, I fished my keys out. “Why don’t I drive you over?”

  “I can drive myself.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Would you stop trying to be a macho man and just let me help you?”

  With a scowl, he replied, “I’m being practical, not macho.”

  “Just get in the car.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After I unlocked the doors, he slid into the passenger seat. As I was hurrying around the front of the car, the wail of a police siren pierced the air. I flung the car door open and hopped inside. I gunned the engine before stomping on the accelerator, which sent us flying out of the parking space.

  Declan cut his eyes over to me. “It’s a measly cut, Peyton. You don’t have to drive like I’m hemorrhaging.”

  “Didn’t you hear the police siren? I have to get you out of here.”

  Chuckling, Declan replied, “Aiding and abetting a fugitive, Dr. Beasley. Whatever will this do to your reputation.”

  “I don’t care about any of that.” Truthfully, I did, but I cared more about Declan’s safety.

  “They’re not going to arrest me.”

  “You and Carson did a lot of damage—”

  “Which I’ll pay for.”

  My gaze flickered from the road over to his. “That’s it? We just ran for our lives when all you ever had to do to avoid jail was write a check?”

  He grinned. “Did you really think you were helping me evade the law?”

  “Maybe.”

  “The place has cameras everywhere, Pey. Not to mention I just left my car in the parking lot for them to run my tag,” he replied with amusement vibrating in his voice.

  “Shit! I didn’t even think about that.”

  “No, because you’re a nurturer, not a law breaker.”

  I laughed. “I suppose I am.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Declan mused.

  When I cut my eyes over to him, my heartbeat thrummed wildly at the affection burning in his eyes. I quickly focused my attention back on the road. When we got to the clinic, I pulled around back.

  As I hurried to unlock the door and turn off the alarm, Declan lumbered behind me, rubbing his side. “Nothing is broken in there, is it?” I asked as he swept past me into the clinic.

  “Probably just some bruising.” With a mirthless grin, he replied, “Carson is too big a pussy to inflict too much harm on me.”

  “Such a man thing to say,” I muttered as I started up the hall. When I realized Declan wasn’t behind me, I turned around. “Where are you going?”

  “To peek in on Moose.”

  I pointed my finger at the exam room door. “Oh no, mister. Not until you get cleaned up.”

  Grumbling under his breath, he smacked his palms against the door before pushing it open. I followed close on his heels. After turning on the lights, I motioned for Declan to sit on the examining table.

  “You’re joking, right?”

  “Why would I be joking?”

  “Because I’m not a fucking animal.”

  “One might argue that you are considering your behavior tonight,” I teasingly replied.

  “Har, har.”

  “Look, just humor me and have a seat, okay?”

  He nodded before hopping up on the table. As he got comfortable, I got to work gathering the supplies I needed. Silence permeated the room and made me wish we were in the OR where I could at least have some music pumping in.

  I rolled my supply tray over to Declan. As I slid on my gloves, I glanced warily at Declan’s thunderous face. “Normally this would be where I offered the person a drink, but that’s out of the question with you.”

  “Just sew me up, Pey, so I can get the hell out of here.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from snapping at him not to boss me around. I knew the pain was causing him to be less than civil. Using the antiseptic, I clean the blood away from the wound. “How did he get you so deep?” I couldn’t help asking.

  “He wears this jacked up ring on his right hand.”

  In my mind, I could see exactly what he was talking about. Carson had started wearing it in high school. It had a raised version of their family crest. “Yep. That would do it.”

  Once the area was clean, I threaded the suture through the needle and prepared to sew Declan up.

  When the needle pierced his skin, Declan hissed. “Motherfucker.”

  “Sorry,” I murmured.

  “No, I’m the one whose sorry for being a pussy.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Ugh, I hate that word.”

  Declan chuckled as I continued threading the sutures through his eyebrow. “Some things never change, huh?”

  “I suppose you’re alluding to how I always hated when you wanted to talk dirty about what you were going to do to my…”

  “Pussy,” Declan slowly enunciated.

  “Yes, that.”

  “I seem to remember in the heat of the moment, it never bothered you if I talked about what I wanted to do to your pussy.”

  Oh, good lord. Was he seriously referencing not only my pussy, but our previous sexy times? “Seriously, if you don’t stop using that word, I’m going to lose my focus and plunge the needle deeper into your skin.”

  “Like a dick plunging deep into a pussy?”

  With a shriek, I released the needle and stepped away from Declan. “Enough!”

  Grinning, he held up us hands. “Fine. I’ll stop.”

  “Thank you.” As I stepped back over to him, I pushed the thoughts of his dick plunging into my pussy out of my mind.

  Changing the subject, Declan said, “Bet you never thought you’d be cleaning me up after another fight, huh?”

  “No. I thought those days were over.”

  “For a hothead like me, they’re never over.”

  “Who said you were a hothead?”

  “Seriously, Peyton? I just went apeshit on Carson in the middle of a bar.”

  “Yeah, well, he deserves a lot worse for what he said to you.”

  Declan clenched his jaw before cutting his gaze away from mine. “The bitch of it is he was telling the truth,” he bit out.

  My hand stilled against
his brow. I thought about what Steve had said about Bailey screwing most of the men in town. “It doesn’t matter whether it was true or false. He had no place bringing it up in front of you and everyone else, least of all throwing his and Bailey’s affair in your face.” I snipped the remaining thread. “Talk about not changing. Carson’s the same prick he was ten years ago.”

  “Of all the men Bailey could’ve fucked, why the hell did it have to be him?”

  “She was a fool to cheat on you.”

  Regret flickered on Declan’s face. “Maybe. Or maybe I wasn’t giving her what she needed.”

  “I find that hard to believe. It’s true you have your faults, but when you love someone, you love them completely.”

  “I’m talking about in the sack.”

  “Oh,” I murmured.

  “I mean, it would seem I wasn’t satisfying her if she had to fuck half the men in town.”

  “I know it’s been ten years, but I still remember how good the sex was between us.”

  Declan’s eyes flared at my declaration. “You do?”

  Damn me and my big mouth. “Yes.”

  “What do you remember?”

  The look smoldering in Declan’s eyes could’ve melted the panties right off of me.

  “You always took your time and made sure it was good for me.”

  “How did I do that?” he prompted, his voice deep and sultry.

  “For starters, you loved going down on me.”

  “Mm, hmm, your pussy tasted amazing.” Declan’s arms encircled my waist, drawing me closer to him. “What else do you remember?”

  “Unlike a lot of men, you always made sure I came.” Shuddering at the illicit memory, I replied, “Multiple times.”

  “I can still remember the way you sounded when you came—the little cries and moans.”

  Holy shit. Who turned the heat on in here? Sweat broke out at the base of my neck while my every inch of my skin felt afire with pure lust. It felt like an inferno between my legs. I couldn’t remember the last time a man had ever had me this turned on just from his words and from the way he looked at me.

  My tongue darted out to lick my lips, and Declan’s eyes flared. The next thing I knew he was launching himself off the gurney at me. His hands grabbed the sides of my face before he crushed his lips to mine. Ten years melted away in an instant. The moment his mouth covered mine I was back in the time before he jilted me—a time when we were blissfully in love and lust.

  When he plunged his tongue into my mouth, I wrapped my arms around his back. I fisted his shirt in my hands as he massaged my tongue with his. Declan dropped his hands from face wrap around waist, pulling me closer against him. From there, they continued south cup my buttocks. As he kneaded the globes of my ass, he drove my pelvis against his crotch, grinding his need into my core. I moaned at the exquisite feeling of him even through my jeans. God, I’d missed this man. He never every button to push on my body.

  As he moved against me, I gripped his waist, pulling his shirt out of his pants. I slipped my hands under the hem of the shirt, desperate to feel more of him. I raked my nails across his spine, causing Declan to groan into my mouth.

  Everything felt familiar yet new. His lips were still just as smooth as velvet like I remembered. His back was broader, and the muscles, that tensed beneath my fingertips, were more defined.

  Declan kissed a warm trail across my jawline as his hands dove underneath my sweater to cup my breasts over my bra. “God I’ve missed these.”

  I laughed. “Seriously?”

  “Hell yeah. They’re my favorite pair ever.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I replied, “Sure they are.”

  “I’m serious.” His fingers delved inside my bra, cupping my bare breast. When his thumb flicked back and forth across my nipple, I gasped and arched into his hand. His lips came back to mine as he continued palming my breasts and tweaking my nipples. Although his hands were nice, I wanted his mouth on skin.

  I broke our kiss to whisk my sweater over my head. As Declan’s expression darkened with lust, I reached around my back to unhook my bra. When my breasts fell free, Declan bent his head and brought his mouth over one of my nipples. My head lolled back as suckled it deeply before flicking and swirling his tongue across it.

  “Fuck, Pey. Taste so good,” Declan mumbled into my breast.

  He was not wrong. It felt divine. His hand kept stroking my other breast as his tongue worked the nipple in his mouth into a hardened pebble. Crying out with pleasure, my fingers automatically went to his hair, tugging and grasping at the strands as the pleasure washed over me.

  Declan licked a wet trail over to the other breast before claiming the nipple. The ache grew between my thighs grew. As if he could read my mind, Declan snaked a hand down my stomach. His fingers feathered across my belly teasingly, causing my hips to buck. He hesitated before finally dipping them between my legs. I widened my thighs to allow him to cup my pussy. As Declan worked my clit over the fabric of my jeans, my hips arched involuntarily. I rubbed myself against his hand for more friction, soaking my panties with my need.

  “Fuck me, Declan,” I murmured against his lips. With frantic hands, I reached to unbutton his pants.

  When I palmed his cock, Declan tore his mouth from mine. “Wait, stop.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Easing me back, he shook his head. “We can’t.”

  “Yes, yes, we can,” I panted.

  “Not like this.”

  “Do you want to go my house or yours?”

  Declan shook his head. “It’s not about where we’re doing it.”

  I furrowed my brows at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “We shouldn’t be doing it anywhere.”

  “I don’t get it. Don’t you…” Want me? “Don’t you want this?”

  His fingers gripped my chin. “I want you and this more than anything in the world. But we need to slow down a minute.”

  “I don’t want to slow down. I want you inside me.”

  With a groan, Declan said, “This is not the way I want us coming back together.”

  I blinked at him. “You want us to get back together?”

  Declan tilted his head at me. “Don’t you?”

  Not wanting to hang myself out to try, I countered, “I asked you first.”

  Chuckling, Declan replied, “Yes, Peyton. Hell yes.”

  “Really? Like since I came back to town?”

  “If I were honest, it would be long before then.”

  My heart was beating at a full gallop and threatened to burst right out of my chest. “I want to get back together with you, too. But more than anything, I want us to have sex right now.”

  Grinning Declan replied, “Trust me, I know.”

  “Then let’s go back to my house.”

  He took my hands in his. “Babe, I want to do this the right way.”

  “You always did it the right way,” I teased. And the smile that graced his face was one I’d known well. Smug. And I wasn’t lying. He really did. No other man had come close if I was really honest.

  “Just hear me out for a minute.”

  Pouting, I replied, “Okay.”

  “We both know I made a lot of mistakes in the past. This time I want to do everything right. I can’t help but think that taking it slow and honorable is the right way to it.”

  Any other woman would find his ideals endearing. It was like he was suggesting some old-fashioned courtship. But tonight I was a horndog who desperately needed the D. “I’m thirty years old, Declan. I’m way past caring about my purity.”

  “It’s not just about being honorable.” He swept a strand of hair out of my face “I want to romance you.”

  I blinked at him. “You do?” We both knew he had never been much of a romantic. It just hadn’t been his thing. With his looks and popularity, he’d never had to try hard to get female attention.

  Declan nodded. “I want nothing more than to show you just how much I�
�ve changed.”

  Although I wanted nothing more than to fuck him ten different ways to Sunday, I realized the depth of what he was saying. We’d first come together as kids. A decade had passed, and we’d become different people. It was time we got to know those people to see if we could love them as much as we did the older versions of ourselves.

  Holding up my hands in defeat, I replied, “You win.”

  “It wasn’t about winning or losing, Pey,” he argued.

  “Tell that to my vagina. It’s feeling like a pretty big loser right now.”

  With a grin, Declan replied, “My apologies to your pussy.”

  Shrieking, I pinched my eyes shut. “Do not go there.”

  “Oh, but I eventually will.”

  My lids flew open to see his cocky smirk. “It better be sooner and not later.”

  “How about we wait until it feels right?” When I started to protest that everything had been feeling right, Declan placed a hand over my lips. “When it feels right emotionally.”

  “When it’s right emotionally,” I repeated.

  Declan nodded. “Come on. I need you to take me to my car, so I can get home to Cam.”

  After our sexual melee, I’d completely forgotten that Declan was trying to get home. Hopping down from the table, I started furiously straightening my clothes. “Shit. I can’t believe I’m going to make you late to get Cam.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No. It’s not okay. He’s the most important person in your world. I can’t be the reason why you’re letting him down.”

  Declan smiled. “Stop worrying about it.”

  When I froze adjusting my sweater, Declan eyed me curiously. “What’s wrong?”

  Everything and nothing. Just the mention of Cameron had sent my mind reeling with out-of-control thoughts. It was no longer just about me and Declan. Another person had been added to our relationship equation.

  “You’re a dad.”

  “Yes, I am,” he said slowly like he was worried I’d suddenly lost my mind.

  “We want to get back together, but it’s not just about what we want. We have to consider what’s best for Cameron.”

  Declan’s brows furrowed. “Why wouldn’t it be best for Cameron?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he needs more time to get used to his mom being gone before a new woman shows up on the scene?”