Cade knelt beside Daphne and brushed his fingers over her sunken cheek. “You okay, Daph? What do you need?”
“Need my pills,” she sobbed, making small whimpering noises in her throat. “Something. Anything. I hurt so bad.”
“What were you taking before you came here?” Cade asked her.
“Everything,” she wept.
Audrey felt sick to her stomach. What kind of trouble was her twin in?
“What did you need to have, though? Which ones could you not live without?”
“Coke,” Daphne sobbed, and wiped her running nose with the back of one hand. “And my pills.”
“What were your pills?”
“Xanax. I need them,” she said in a trembling voice. “They keep me calm.”
To Audrey’s horror, Cade produced a prescription pill bottle and held it out. As she watched, Daphne’s hands formed small claws and she reached for the drugs, only to have Cade hold them out of reach again. “Just one, Daphne.”
“Just one,” Daphne agreed, breathing heavily. She held her hands out, and Audrey was horrified to see how much they were shaking.
“Cade, no—” Audrey began, but he shook his head at her. She pursed her lips and sat in silence as Cade carefully fished one pill out and handed it to Daphne, who gobbled it down like it was candy. Then, she lay her cheek back down on the side of the toilet and sighed, closing her eyes.
Audrey was not so happy, though. “Can I talk to you, Cade?”
They left the bathroom and walked away a few feet, and Audrey had to clench her fists at her sides to keep from shaking him. “What are you doing, Cade? We brought her here to get clean!”
“I had a talk with her manager,” Cade said in a low, easy voice. “She’s been taking a lot of Xanax over the last year or two, and it’s dangerous to stop her cold turkey. Her manager keeps a supply at hand, and I talked with a few of my doctors about the side effects. They feel that weaning off her slowly is safer than stopping outright.” When Audrey continued to frown at him, he added, “I’ve also flown in my personal physician to stay at a nearby cabin in case we have any emergencies. I want what’s best for her, too, Audrey. You know I do.” He reached out and rubbed her shoulder. “Trust me.”
That hand caressing her through her sweater was so comforting. “I do trust you, Cade. I’m just . . . really concerned about her. It’s so hard to see.” A sudden rush of tears flooded to the surface, and she pressed her palms to her eyes. “I’m just so worried.”
“I know it is,” he said softly. “But I’m here to help.” He glanced at something behind her and nodded. “Why don’t you go take a walk with Reese? Get some fresh air?”
She glanced behind her and, sure enough, Reese was hovering nearby. The ever-present smirk was gone from his face. He looked somber. She didn’t want to go anywhere with Reese, though. She needed to stay right here, especially when Cade was touching her. She wanted to throw herself in his arms for a hug, but she forced herself to stay right where she was. “I can’t leave. My sister . . . Daphne . . .”
“I’ll take care of her,” Cade said. “Go on. You look rattled.”
“Yeah. Come on, Audrey.” She felt Reese’s arm settle at her waist. “We’ll go for a walk around the lake and you can give me that kiss you promised.”
Horrified, she stared up at Cade and twisted out of Reese’s grip. “I did not promise him that!”
Cade only chuckled. “You two have fun.”
“We will,” Reese said with a smirk. “And she did promise me that. Or don’t you remember, Audrey? I seem to recall a conversation we had—”
She clapped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up!”
Something warm and wet stroked over her palm—Reese was licking her hand. A bolt of sensation shot through her body, and Audrey jerked her hand away, dazed.
That had felt . . . good. A little too good. Her eyes narrowed and she waited for Reese to say something now that she’d retracted her hand, but he only smiled down at her.
“You have your phone on you? I can call you if something comes up,” Cade said easily, ignoring her reaction to Reese.
“Mine’s in the hot tub,” she said, lowering her hand and glaring at Reese. “Someone threw it there earlier.”
“Do I want to know what you two were doing in the hot tub?” Cade asked.
“Nothing!” Audrey retorted.
“I don’t have my phone, either,” Reese said. “It left with my date. Don’t worry, though. We’ll be fine.” He looped an arm around Audrey’s shoulders and grinned. “I’ll take good care of her.”
***
Reese was pretty sure that this weekend was a recipe for disaster. He could just see it now. Mix one junkie pop star with a do-gooder billionaire who’s hiding a secret crush on her. Add in the lonely twin sister crushing on the billionaire, and make all three parties completely unaware of the other’s interest. Stir with that giant stick up Audrey’s ass. Watch fireworks explode.
At any other time, he’d find the combination utterly amusing. Hell, Cade was a big boy. His buddy could take care of himself. And he figured that if Daphne was old enough to get hooked on all the drugs that the tabloids said she was on, she was responsible for her own fate. He didn’t have much sympathy there.
But the factor that was bugging him in this was Audrey, and he wasn’t quite sure why.
Maybe it was the fact that she got so flustered when he flirted with her. Maybe it was the way she carried herself, so incredibly stiff and rigid that sometimes he wondered if she even knew how to relax. Maybe it was the way her full mouth thinned out at the sight of him, and it only encouraged him to be even naughtier.
Hell, it was probably all of that.
But sympathy for the little ice queen who was bound to get her heart broken in multiple ways? That one had been harder to explain to himself. He told himself that he liked a challenge, that he was simply bored and looking for a diversion, and her prickliness was definitely a diversion. But when she looked up at Cade with those wide, shining eyes and that soft smile? Like he was Sir Galahad reborn and had arrived to save the day?
Reese had to admit, he got a little jealous. Not of Cade, of course. Cade was oblivious to Audrey’s devotion, seeing it only as the affection of a friend, or worse, a little sister. It was the way she gazed up at him as if he were her hero. As if, now that Cade was there, everything in her world would be all right. Like everything was good again, simply because he’d arrived.
And Reese had realized that no one ever looked at him like that.
Which was not to say that he didn’t get female attention—the opposite, really. Women had ceased to be a challenge long ago. Throw a little flirtation their way, laugh at their jokes, flatter them, pay attention to them, and he’d have a woman eating out of the palm of his hand within hours.
It was no challenge whatsoever. And once they found out he had money? It just became even easier. He was good looking and knew how to charm. Women often looked at him as if they wanted to devour him whole, or test out how he was in bed.
No one ever looked at him like Audrey looked at Cade. Like he was a motherfucking hero.
And for some reason that bothered Reese and challenged him all at once. Audrey cast him withering glare after withering glare, but because Cade helped her put away groceries and rubbed Daphne’s back while she barfed, he was worthy of adoration and blind devotion?
The competitive side of Reese made him want to see if he could get Audrey to look at him the same way. And it had been that competitive side that had made him speak up and insist on the kiss she’d promised him.
Audrey had turned bright red of course, the freckles standing out on her skin. And she’d huffed and blustered, but had been quick to escape once Cade turned his questioning gaze on her. Yeah, she didn’t want to explain that one to Prince Charming, did she?
Oddly enough, it made him feel protective of stiff little Audrey. Perhaps she had a naughty side after all, and was doing her best to hide it fr
om Cade. Not to worry, Reese thought to himself. If there’s a wicked side to you, I’m just the man to find it.
Even her steps down the dirt path to the lake were jerky and irritated, he noticed with amusement. She walked a few paces ahead of him, arms crossed over her chest, back ramrod straight. It was cute, much like the way a pissed-off rabbit would be cute. Fluffy and harmless.
He let her continue on for a few minutes, and when they got to the dock at the edge of the lake, she turned to glare at him, shivering a little. She hadn’t worn a jacket and it was bitterly cold outside with the night wind. “Is this enough of a walk for you? Or should we go back to the house and see if you can humiliate me again?”
“Here.” Reese shrugged off the jacket he’d borrowed from Cade’s closet and offered it to her.
She took it, giving him a wary look. “You’re not cold?”
“Nah.” He watched her as she shrugged it over her shoulders, holding it tight to her body. “It’s a little small for me.”
“All of Cade’s clothing is a little small for you,” she told him, her gaze straying to the too-tight fitness club T-shirt he wore.
“Yeah. These jeans are seriously crushing my balls. I’m gonna be gelded before the weekend’s over.”
She got that weird look on her face that told him she was probably blushing in the moonlight, though it was too dark to tell. “Well, maybe you being gelded wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” she told him in that prim little voice, “considering your reputation.”
“I’d be depriving the world of greatness if that happened,” he drawled, enjoying when her posture got just a little stiffer.
“You have a very high opinion of yourself.”
“Someone should.”
“Yes, I suppose someone should,” she said, and gave a haughty little sniff.
Time to wipe that smugness from her face. “So, you ready to give me my kiss now?”
Even in the shadows, he couldn’t miss the withering glance she shot at him. “Do you know how much I hate you right now?”
“Don’t know, don’t much care, but I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
She was mutinously silent.
“It won’t be that bad,” he teased her, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning up against a nearby pier beam. “I’m told I’m quite a good kisser.”
“You do have quite the ego,” she muttered. “Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want to kiss you? That I’m not bowled over by your so-called charm?”
“Is it because you think you won’t be any good at it? Performance anxiety?”
She sputtered.
“That’s it, isn’t it? I can give you lessons, you know. So you’re good and ready by the time Cade pulls his head out of his ass.”
Audrey’s gritted teeth flashed in the moonlight. “I despise you.”
“So, lessons?”
“Not in your wildest dreams,” she bit out. “That wasn’t part of our negotiation. Our agreement was one kiss in exchange for your silence.”
He rubbed his chin as if pretending to consider this. “I’m pretty sure we didn’t give specifics.”
“We should have!”
Reese gestured at her. “Let’s set the groundwork, then. You tell me what you thought our kiss should entail and I’ll tell you what I thought, and we can meet in the middle.”
The look she gave him was wary, but hopeful, and she clutched the borrowed jacket tighter to her shoulders. “That sounds reasonable.”
“I’m a reasonable man.”
She snorted with disbelief, and he had to grin at that. Perhaps that stick wasn’t crammed so far up her ass after all.
“A kiss on the cheek,” she offered.
“Get real,” he told her. “We both know that wasn’t the bargain. I’m talking an honest to goodness kiss.”
“You didn’t specify where. I should get to choose where I’d want to put it, and I’m saying there.”
“Well, since we’re picking body parts out of the air, I’ll say that I want the kiss on the head of my cock.” At her outraged gasp, he continued blandly. “So I guess we can meet in the middle and settle on the mouth.”
“You’re despicable.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re the one who started the bidding low, sweetheart. I had to go high to counter it.”
“I’m not your sweetheart! Fine. On the mouth. But no tongue!”
“Oh, there’ll be tongue,” he told her. “But if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll lead.”
“You’ll lead?” There it was again, that weird, half-startled, half-mortified look on her face that told him she was probably blushing again. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean my tongue can do all the work. You can just let me be in charge of any tongue action.”
She shook her head again. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t agree to tongue.”
“It’s not a kiss if there’s no tongue.”
“Gee, you sure didn’t seem to be thinking that when you suggested I plant a kiss on your dick!”
He laughed, surprised and amused by her retort. He liked her, stiff shoulders and all. “Now now, how do you know I wasn’t referring to tongue?”
She made a choked sound of fury.
“Don’t distract me from our bargain,” he teased. “Let’s keep things on track here. How long?”
“How long, what?”
“How long should the kiss be?”
“I don’t have a timer!”
“Should you get one?” He gestured at the cabin up the hill. “I can go back to the house and tell Cade that we need one to make sure we get the kiss right—”
Her hands went to his chest, stopping him as he pretended to get up. “You’re not going anywhere.”
A smile tugged at his mouth. “Whatever you say.”
“I sincerely wish that were the case,” she told him pertly.
He laughed again. “So we agree to three minutes on the kiss?”
“Three seems like a long time.” She gave him a skeptical look. “I vote one.”
“Three.”
“We’re settling on two, then.” When he didn’t challenge that, she added, “What about hands?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You want to start the bidding on that one?”
“No thank you. I learned my lesson with the lips bargaining.” She put her hands on her hips, challenging him. “I just wanted to know where hands factored into this equation.”
Reese grinned. Quick learner. “I suppose we can leave hands off the table for now. Unless you object.”
“Hardly.” She contemplated for a moment, and then gave him a narrow-eyed look. “Did we leave anything out?”
“You tell me.” He was enjoying this far, far too much.
“I feel like if I miss something, you’re going to use it against me.”
He laughed. “Double entendre?”
“See, there you go again.”
“Hey, I’m ready whenever you are.” He gestured expansively. “Just waiting for you to get a move on.”
“Me?” She sputtered again. “Why do I have to make the first move?”
“Because you lost the bet. Those were the rules.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Now quit stalling.”
“I’m not stalling!” Her shoulders rose in a huff.
“Aren’t you? Because I can go back inside if you want to call this whole thing off. It’s clear to me you have no intention of going through—”
His words cut off because she surged forward and put her hands on his cheeks, pulling his mouth in against hers. Her lips brushed his, and then he felt the barest flicker of tongue against his mouth.
And holy fuck, that was hot.
Reese had been so surprised at her impulsive move that he hadn’t had time to anticipate the feel of her mouth against his. He was surprised by the utter softness of her lips, the sweet, delicious give to her mouth as it parted against his own. Her hands were cold against his cheeks, which made the warmth of her lips
even more of a contrast. And those impressive breasts were pressing up against his chest, right where his arms were crossed.
He’d been so startled that he hadn’t been able to respond at first, and she took his lack of response as some sort of challenge, he guessed, because she gently sucked on his lower lip, coaxing his mouth open. “Lips,” she reminded him in a whisper.
He parted for her, and her tongue slipped into his mouth, dancing against his own. Delicate but determined, she stroked against his lips with the tip of her tongue, outlining the seam of his mouth before sliding the tip inside and rubbing it against his tongue.
Goddamn, Audrey’s mouth was amazing. He was shocked that the prim woman could kiss. More than that, she kissed like a demon. Like she knew she was in charge and she was putting him in his place.
Her tongue stroked against his once more, boldly, and then retreated. “Tongue,” she whispered.
“Mmm,” he groaned when she gave a small sigh of pleasure and began to stroke her tongue into his mouth again. He slid his tongue along hers. She gave a little start when he began to respond, but then she yielded against him, and their mouths began to meld in a sensual interplay.
The kiss was incredible. Her soft tongue dancing along his, her sweet mouth parted, her lips joined to his. She tasted delicious, too—warm and like honey. Reese needed more of her. He let his arms fall to his sides and then his hands moved to her hips, close to her ass but not quite touching it. He knew if he grabbed at her, she’d flee, and he wanted more of this.
This sexy, confident Audrey that kissed like a fiend was at total odds with the sour, too proper woman with the stiff back who he had such fun teasing, and fuck if it wasn’t making him hard as all get out. It was a surprise and a turn on all in one. His hands anchored at her waist, holding her against him. His cock had stirred at the wet thrust of her kiss, and within moments he was as hard as a rock. The press of those full breasts against his chest were almost as distracting as the slide of her tongue into his mouth.
After a moment, she pulled away with a small whimper, her mouth gleaming wet in the moonlight. She looked up at him with dazed eyes. “Pretty sure that was two minutes.”
He groaned, leaning in toward her mouth again. “Fuck the two minutes.”
The Wrong Billionaire's Bed Page 6