Naughty but Nice: A Best Friend's Dad Christmas Romance

by Rye Hart

  I found her pacing in the hall with big tears in her eyes. “Kayla, talk to me.”

  “I should have listened to that first woman, the one at the club. She was right all along.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw his phone this morning. There was a call from another girl. I asked him about it, and he tried to tell me it was nothing.” She raked her hand through her long hair, and I stepped up and put my arm around her.

  “It’s okay. Are you sure he’s messing around with her? You have to give him the benefit of the doubt. She could be someone trying to start trouble, or she could be someone who just wants him back.”

  “He said he hardly knew her, but she had his number. Her picture was on his phone too, and I know she’s called before. I looked at the log.”

  “I’m so sorry, Kayla. What do you want to do?”

  “I’m going home. I want to leave as soon as possible.”

  I thought about Reed, and my heart broke. I didn’t want to leave him, and I surely didn’t want to cut my vacation short and go back to where Gavin was. But I had to go with her. She was not a good flyer, and she needed me to see her home.

  “Okay, I’ll tell Reed and gather my things. Get your bags together. But make sure you’re sure you want to leave, Kayla. This is a big decision. Make sure it’s what you really want before you go.”

  “I need to go home. I’m not going to sit around and let him talk to other women right under my nose.”

  Rick and Reed came up the stairs, and Reed walked over and put his arm around me as Rick tried to talk to Kayla. She, in turn, locked herself in the bathroom. Rick glanced back at Reed who nodded like something had been communicated between them.

  Then Rick turned around and popped the lock on the door and pushed it open. I started forward to protest him going in on her, but Reed tugged my hand. “Stay out of it, trust me.”

  “She needs her space!” I felt his arm tighten around me.

  “She needs to listen to him. He’s not seeing anyone else. I’d know. He’s head over heels for her. Besides, if she leaves, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going where she goes. I’m not letting her go home all alone. She was with me when I ended things with Gavin, I owe it to her to be there.”

  “So, you’re just going to leave and go back home? What about us? I have a company to look after. You could take her home and come back. Maybe you could stay here with me from now on.”

  “I have a job back home, and friends. I wasn’t planning on relocating my entire life.”

  “Bella. Tell me you’ll stay.” He wasn’t asking. He was demanding that I give him his way, and now that I think about it, it was how he’d managed to get me to do everything he’d wanted. Staying with him, sleeping with him, and now he was doing it again.

  “No, Reed. If she leaves, I’m going with her. I’m sorry.”

  He turned and stormed away, and Kayla came out and left Rick standing in the doorway.

  “I swear it, Kayla. I love you!” She stopped, her back him as she faced me and her eyes sparkled with tears.

  “I want to believe that, Rick. If it’s true, you’ll let me go. You’ll realize I need some space to figure this out.”

  “There’s nothing to figure out. I love you, and we have another whole week together. Don’t go!”

  I turned to see Reed in the doorway, his eyes pleading with mine. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN - REED

  Rick was my best friend, and I knew him better than I’d known anyone in my life, so I took some time to talk to Kayla to try and convince her to give him another chance.

  “I’m not leaving him for good, Reed. Things have been amazing, but I want to be his only. I need him to give me a little time is all. And I understand that you don’t want Bella to leave. I’ve tried to convince her to stay, but she’s dead set on going with me. For that I’m sorry, but I’m not staying.”

  She’d been adamant about their departure, and I was reluctant to ride to the airport with them because I didn’t want to be around for any emotional goodbyes.

  I kept a dark expression the entire time, but Bella took my hand for a final goodbye. “I’ll call you the minute I land, and since I’m going back to work, I’ll still have an extra week off. We’ll make plans, I promise.” I leaned in and kissed her, and Kayla turned around and gave me a sad expression.

  “I’m sorry, guys. I hope you don’t hate me, Reed. I know that this was a bit sudden.” I didn’t hate Kayla, but I wished that she’d been able to trust Rick for who he was and not what she was afraid of him being.

  “It’s okay, I’ll add it to the list of things you owe me for.” I gave her a wink, and she turned around and faced the front as Rick gave me a dirty look in the rearview mirror.

  He’d asked that I not torment her, but I think I’d earned a bit of teasing for the damage she’d done to my car.

  We got to the airport in plenty of time for them to board, and we made our goodbyes quick and painless. Bella and I promised that we’d get together for a weekend the following month and as soon as she stepped on the plane I had my secretary book a few weekend flights for her.

  Rick and I finally had a bit of time alone for the first time in a week without the girl’s around to talk for an extended time. “You got lucky meeting Bella. I’m glad Kayla brought her along.” He headed toward the freeway, and I eased back in my seat and glanced out the window.

  “Yeah, it was the one thing Kayla did right. You think the two of you are going to be okay?”

  He let out a whistle. “I hope so. I erased all my contacts and blocked the ones that I thought might try to contact me on a whim. I showed Kayla. Hell, she helped me, but I couldn’t convince her to stay. She said it was all too serious for her. Too much too soon.”

  “I wonder if that’s why Bella went along with her. Even though she didn’t want to say, I think she needed some space. She’d just left that asshole to come here, and then here we go. I know it was a lot and that’s why I didn’t protest too much.”

  “You still haven’t told her, have you?” he asked. “I mean, I’m assuming since I didn’t hear dishes breaking or see her slap the shit out of you, that you didn’t?”

  I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “No, I didn’t.”

  Rick shook his head and looked at me sideways. “Waiting isn’t going to help man. It’s only going to make it worse.”

  I nodded. “I know that, but I’ve been thinking.”

  “Uh oh. That never leads anywhere good,” he teased.

  “Shut up man. What I mean is, maybe I don’t have to tell her. I’m falling for her hard Rick. At this point, I don’t even care if she gets pregnant or not. Sure, it’ll suck to lose out on my inheritance, but I just want to be with her. For the first time in my life, I want an actual relationship. Something real and solid. She’s so smart and so talented. I’ve never felt the way I feel about her for anyone else.”

  Rick tried to hide his smile, but then he turned and gave me a sympathetic look. “She reminds you of your mother, doesn’t she?”

  “Painter, photographer, they are both creative spirits, with stories to tell through their work. You know, my father was always jealous of mom. When they’d go out to a party, and people would praise her work instead of his, it would rub his ass red. He’d get drunk and bitch about it all the way home. What a waste of time art was. How her painting room was a cluttered mess, just like her mind. He drove her to those damned pills. If he had lifted her up, just one time, maybe she would have been okay.”

  Rick nodded. “You want to save her. You know, you haven’t been your grumpy self. I mean, you’ve been grumpy, but not as abrasive. It’s kind of nice.”

  “Watch it. My muse if gone. I’m liable to unleash all my stored-up anger at any moment.”

  He let loose a soft chuckle. “She does make you a little more bearable is all I’m saying.”

  “If I’m so bad, wh
y do you put up with me?” I heard a ping from my phone and glanced down to see a message from work. An instant scowl crossed my face. I hated my job. I hated any connection to my father and even though he was long dead, dealing with my uncle, who he’d left in charge, was just as bad.

  “Because you make me look like an angel.” He turned and saw the hard expression on my face. “Damn, that didn’t last long. What’s the matter?”

  “Work.”

  “You hate that job. Why don’t you just quit? You know, you get away from that place long enough, and you’re a totally different person. It’s not just Bella who makes you better. You’re hindered by that fucking place.”

  “I agree, but I can’t do anything until I get my money.”

  “But you just said you didn’t care if she got pregnant or not-”

  I shook my head and smiled. “She might be anyway. I mean, I did what I was supposed to do to make that happen.”

  He looked at me, incredulous. “So, you might not have to tell her about the stipulation.”

  “Hopefully not,” I answered.

  Rick shook his head and I could see that he disapproved. “It’s wrong, man. You’ll always know you’ve deceived her. How can you live with that?”

  “As a fucking billionaire? Pretty comfortably. But how do I tell her that? She’ll always question if I care about her, which I do. She’ll always have it in the back of her head that she’s some baby machine, and that what I feel for her means nothing.”

  Rick just looked at me like I’d finally lost my mind. I didn’t care. I loved Bella and I was going to have it all.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN - BELLA

  I had messaged Reed as soon as my plane landed, but I wasn’t about to call so soon. I needed a moment to think about what I’d left behind and to what I was returning. So much had changed since I’d left Phoenix and despite my new relationship, which I was determined to take super slow since it was a bit unexpected, I had to find a place to live. Staying with Kayla was temporary, and I had a feeling that she’d be leaving to go back to Dallas for Rick before all was said and done.

  She’d talked about him nonstop on the flight home, which was fine with me. It kept her from asking me too much about Reed and even better, from comparing him to Gavin.

  As Kayla and I walked into her apartment, my phone let out a ping. “Welcome home.” I read the message aloud, and Kayla’s eyes narrowed.

  “What’s that?” Kayla was the first to drop her luggage to the floor and mine soon followed.

  “Not what. Who. It’s Gavin. He knows I’m back in town somehow. That’s impossible, right?” I flipped through my phone and scratched my head. He’d never said anything about where I’d been in his past conversations.

  “Does he have you on his GPS? He might have a locator on you through your phone.” I’d never thought of that, and the confirmation came through in the next message.

  “How was Fort Worth?” I glanced at her sideways not quite understanding how Gavin knew.

  “Reed’s house is technically in Fort Worth, not Dallas, so that has to be it.” She crossed the room and took my phone and swiped through it. “Look. This is the ap that he’s using. Let’s delete it.”

  “Please. I had no idea. Though now I know why he used to question me so much about my whereabouts; he was trying to catch me in a lie” We sat on the couch as she looked through my phone.

  Kayla’s thumbs moved on the screen as she let out a breath. “What a controlling asshole. You’re so much better off with Reed. Even though he’s a bit hard too.”

  “He has a soft, gooey center.” I thought of the way he could make me melt inside and warmed a little as the heat of needing him washed through me. He could be very attentive.

  “I bet you had a taste of it too, didn’t you?” She gave me a wide smile, and my cheeks reddened as I nudged her.

  “You’re disgusting.” I giggled as she nudged me back. “We’re not going there.”

  “Oh, we so went there. Rick’s got a nice creamy—”

  “Enough, you little freak, I don’t want to know about Rick’s creamy anything.” It was good the two of us could laugh, but I was still aggravated that Gavin knew where I was and had been.

  “There, all set.” She handed me the phone, and I let out a long cleansing breath.

  “Thanks. I didn’t want to deal with Gavin, and now he knows where I’m staying and where I’ve been. And after Reed’s blow up, he’s probably really pissed off, and this is his passive-aggressive way of letting me know he thinks he knows what’s up.”

  She leaned back against the soft sofa and kicked her feet up on her coffee table. “Surely he doesn’t think you were cheating on him. I mean, if he had you on this GPS and he was looking at your phone, then there’s no way he ever found any proof. He must think you’re clever if he believes it.”

  “No telling what he thinks, Kayla. All I know is if he tries to start anything don’t tell Rick about it. If Reed finds out, there is no telling what he’ll do to the guy.”

  A slow smile spread Kayla’s lips. “That might be fun to watch. Gavin always did piss me off.”

  I shook my head. “You can’t sic my new boyfriend onto my old one.”

  “Reed is your boyfriend, huh? That’s so cool. He’s filthy, stinking rich and hot. If I weren’t so hung up on Rick, I’d fight you for him.” I knew she was only kidding around. She was head over heels for Rick.

  I reached across the distance where we sat and placed my hand on her arm. “You know I owe you a thank you. I know you said things were getting a little deep for you there, but think how they were for me? I needed to get back home if only to cool things down a bit. Reed’s like a locomotive going full speed. And as soon as I’d get my head on straight he’d seduce me. I was no match for that man.”

  “Yeah, I think I was scared with Rick. He has so many other women in his life, and I was afraid I couldn’t match up. I want to be the only one for him.”

  “You are. He worships you, not to mention he’s extremely handsome and filthy, stinking rich too.” She met me with a wide smile and nodded.

  “That he is. How’d we get so lucky?”

  She wasn’t kidding. The two of them were so down to earth for a couple of rich boys, and I couldn’t help but wonder what made them who they were. I didn’t know a whole lot about Reed or his family, and I was going to have to remedy that. The longer I sat there, the more I missed him.

  “You’re going back to work tomorrow?” Kayla got to her feet and glanced back at me as she crossed the room.

  “Yeah, I may as well. I promised Reed in a week to come see him.”

  “Rick is going to come here when you do since we’ll probably still be living together by then.”

  I felt bad that I had imposed on her in such a hurry but thankful she’d offered. “About that, I’ll try and hurry up and get out of your hair.”

  “No worries. I’m glad I can help.” I knew she was genuine, but I didn’t want to take away her privacy while she and Rick were getting deeper. It was her place, and he shouldn’t have to wait until I was gone to stay.

  “I think I’m going to go to my room and unpack. I have a ton of photographs to go through, and I think I better check my phone for anything else that psycho might have downloaded.” There was no telling the lengths he’d go to.

  “Make yourself at home. I’m going to my room to call Rick.” She gave me a wink, and I wondered what the two of the would get up to. She’d let it slip on the plane that they’d had lots of cyber-sex and that she couldn’t wait to finally meet him and do it in person. I knew one thing, I wouldn’t go into her room without knocking, even if I knew she was in there alone.

  I sat on the bed and went through the memory card from my camera and flagged a few pictures that were keepers. While I was going through the images that I’d taken after the storm, my phone sounded out a song, and Reed’s name shown on the screen.

  “You can’t miss me already.” I let out a long breath and
leaned back against my pillows.

  “Of course, I can. I got used to having you around. Did you have a nice flight?”

  “Yes, but—”

  I pulled my lips in tight to keep from finishing that sentence, but he wasn’t having it.

  “But what? Did something happen?”

  “No, it’s nothing. The flight was wonderful.” Crap. I didn’t need him being over protective on me.

  “Did you see your ex?”

  I let out a sigh. “No.” I was content to let it end there, but I couldn’t lie. Maybe he wouldn’t lose his mind as he had before. “I didn’t see him, but he messaged me. It seems he had put a tracking GPS app on my phone. He knew I was in Fort Worth and he knew the minute I got home, and I’m sure he knows where I’m staying.”

  “Did he threaten you?” His voice was low and rough.

  “No, but I can’t believe he put that on my phone without asking me. No telling how long he’d been tracking my every move. So much for building something on trust.” I had caught myself before I said too much. I didn’t want to vent about Gavin to Reed.

  “Right.” He was quiet after that for a moment, and then he changed the subject. “So, what are you wearing?”

  A slow smile parted my lips. Kayla wasn’t the only one who could do the long-distance thing, and I let out a soft laugh and answered him.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN - REED

  Ten minutes into our conversation and Bella already had me hard as diamonds. “I’m wearing red lace panties and a silky white bra.”

  “I’d peel those panties down nice and slow, slip my tongue right across that hot little slit.” I kept my voice nice and low, breathy as I took my cock into my hand. “Touch it for me, Bella. Touch that little slit for me. Rub it like you want me to.”

  She let out a moan, and I could only imagine her doing it. It was a hot daydream, the perfect image in my head of her spread and ready for my cock. “It feels so good, Reed.”