by Jenny Penn
Prison had defined that need better for him. That was when he realized that if he really wanted to make a difference, he needed to use his talents to help kids, help them before they ended up lost in a judicial system that sucked the life out of them. So, he’d built the camp from the ground up.
That made him the boss.
“You.” Nick leveled a finger at GD, causing the big man to lift a brow, but he didn’t issue a complaint as Nick ordered him to go find the rope before turning on Kitty Anne and more politely offering to escort her to the bungalow.
She stuck her tongue out at GD before allowing Nick to lead her away. Only once the other man had muttered over his complaints and turned to go do as he was told did Nick bother to offer Kitty Anne any real chastisement.
“I told you not to go chasing off after him.” Not that it had done any good. Kitty Anne didn’t tend to heed the advice of others. That was one of the things that made her so entertaining.
“Do you know where I found him?”
“I don’t really care.”
“He’d broken into somebody’s house,” Kitty Anne answered herself as if Nick hadn’t even spoken. “That’s just insane.”
“No, what is insane is following him into the house,” Nick corrected. “GD is a trained investigator.”
“That doesn’t give him the right to just break into people’s house,” Kitty Anne shot back with a half-laugh as if Nick had made a poor joke. “The man is going to get caught one day and then arrested, and I’m sorry, but I draw the line at taking my kids to jail to see their daddy.”
“He’s not going to end up in jail,” Nick assured her.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because I can afford a lawyer to keep him out.”
“Really?” Kitty Anne didn’t sound impressed by that either. “Because you couldn’t afford to keep yourself out.”
“I was young.” And he hadn’t listened to his lawyers. “And not smart enough not to get caught.”
“Neither is GD, or did you fail to notice that I caught him in the act?”
“Yeah? How did you find him?”
Kitty Anne’s smile turned smug as she shrugged. “A woman’s got to have some secrets.”
“So does a man, beautiful,” Nick warned her. “Especially one who is paid by others to keep them.”
“GD’s not paid to keep them,” Kitty Anne contradicted him, pausing to step back as they reached the bungalow’s doors. She waited until he followed her into the airy cabin before finishing that thought. “He’s paid to find them out.”
“He’s paid to be suspicious, too,” Nick pointed out. “So you might consider cutting him a break on having snooped around in Rachel’s office.”
“Especially since you sent him there?” Kitty Anne shot back.
“Kitty Anne—”
“Save it,” Kitty Anne cut him off. “We all have our trust issues, including me.”
“What do you mean including you?” That brought Nick to a stop as he cast a hard look in her direction. “Are you saying you don’t trust us?”
“Does it smell like old lady in here to you?”
“Kitty Anne—”
“Not exactly a turn-on…is it?”
Nick waited another long moment before he pressed once again. “Are you done ignoring the subject?”
“Are you going to yell at me?” Kitty Anne retorted with an innocent stare that Nick didn’t buy for a second.
“Are you saying you don’t trust me?”
“Does it really matter?”
“Yes!” Nick shouted before catching himself. Kitty Anne might be the most infuriating woman, but he wouldn’t allow her to break him. So, he took a deep breath and tried not to growl too much over his words. “If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t have been upset yourself earlier when you found out about our trust issues.”
“Oh please.” Kitty Anne waved that consideration away as she strolled over to pull a chair out from the table and arrange it just so. “Like I care about that.”
“Excuse me?” Nick blinked in confusion, utterly amazed at her shift in attitude. “Weren’t you just yelling at GD about that matter?”
“I was simply making a point.”
“A point you don’t even care about!”
“Well, I don’t have to care about a point to make it, do I?” Kitty Anne asked with such sincerity he couldn’t help but be confounded. The woman really was crazy, and the only thing to do with crazy was roll with it.
“Nope, I guess not.” Nick let the matter go. “Though I don’t know what you’re planning to do now.”
Kitty Anne didn’t answer him.
She just smiled as the door opened behind him and GD sauntered into the bungalow, never realizing he was walking into a trap.
* * * *
Kitty Anne watched GD strut in through the front door, his swagger full of arrogance and his grin full of promise. He chunked the rope down onto the table and cast her a smug look that left no doubt of what he was thinking. He was certain of his victory, as certain as Kitty Anne was of hers.
“Don’t give me that look,” Kitty Anne shot back. “We’ll get to your ropes after we get to my five questions. Now, have a seat.”
“A seat?” GD snickered as he eyed the plastic chair she’d arranged in the middle of the room. “Is that supposed to intimidate me? Because I have no secrets.”
“We’re about to find out how true that is,” Kitty Anne warned him. “Sit and answer. If you fail to, then you might as well get up and walk away because I’m done playing games. You want to be with me, you got to trust me. Understood?”
“Um, excuse me,” Nick spoke up from where he’d leaned back against the front door. “Didn’t you just say—”
“Shut up, Nick.” Kitty Anne shot Nick a fleeting glare for that obnoxious interruption before turning back on GD. “Sit.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
GD saluted and plopped down in the chair that was clearly a little small for his frame. He slouched back, kicking out his legs and crossing his arms behind his head as he eyed her as if she was a cute little pet he was indulging. That big-man attitude had to go. Kitty Anne knew just how to wipe the smirk off his face. She came out hard, with a question she knew he wouldn’t want to answer.
“What were you doing at Gwen’s?”
It didn’t shock her in the slightest when GD hesitated and then dodged her question with his serious tone. “There are some things that I can’t talk about.”
“Oh? You know, that’s amazing because there are some people I can’t talk to,” Kitty Anne informed him, knowing she was putting everything on the line as she smarted off to GD. “Namely the people who won’t talk to me.”
“Kitty Anne.”
“GD.”
“Fine.” GD held his hands up in defeat. “You want to know what I was doing? I’ll tell you. Gwen Harold is pregnant.”
“And you’re the father,” Kitty Anne whispered, feeling the earth shift under her feet. She wasn’t ready for kids. She was still getting used to the boys at the camp. Not to mention having to put up with Gwen…whoever the hell she was.
“No!” GD snapped in exasperation. “The woman’s slept with more men…and she’s blackmailing almost every one of them.”
“Really?” Kitty Anne’s eyes rounded. Now that was interesting. “Hmm.”
“And I’m trusting you not to run off and tell Rachel,” GD pointed out, ruining Kitty Anne’s momentary glow.
“I would never,” Kitty Anne swore, though she knew she probably would have if he hadn’t told her not to. Rachel would have loved that story, which caused her to have a sudden thought. “And why were you worried enough to search Rachel’s office?”
“Nick—”
“No, not Nick.” Kitty Anne cut him off, not about to be bullshitted by any easier answer. “You. You could have lied to Nick.”
“That wouldn’t be my style.” GD dismissed that consideration, but Kitty Anne wasn’t so convinced
.
“You were worried about something, too.”
“I wasn’t,” GD denied, but she wasn’t listening to him anymore.
Kitty Anne’s thoughts were churning, and she couldn’t help but start to see a problem. “You found out Rachel knew that Seth was likely Patton’s brother, and you know that Kevin is as well, but you’re not concerned…which means you don’t really care that she knows that.”
“Kitty Anne—”
“No. No. No.” Kitty Anne held her hand up, refusing to let Nick interrupt. “I think I’m on to something here because you’re in a panic too.”
“Of course, I’m panicked!” Nick snapped. “If Patton finds out about Kevin, she’ll probably try to take him from the camp and this is where he needs to be.”
“No.” Kitty Anne shook her head. That might sound reasonable but that didn’t make it true. “You’re afraid of something else.”
“What?” Nick asked as if the idea itself was absurd.
“You’re afraid that Kevin set the Davis brothers’ barn on fire.”
There, that was it. There was no hiding the fact that she’d hit the nail on the head. Neither GD nor Nick appeared surprised by her declaration. Just the opposite. They exchanged a look that spoke volumes.
“And you both knew.”
“Kitty Anne.” Nick sighed but clearly didn’t know what else to say.
“You know if you told me what was going on with Kevin, I’d have to keep it to myself, but if you don’t…then I’m under no obligation to keep a confidence.”
That was a threat that had the men sharing another look, but this time it was GD who spoke up.
“No, you aren’t,” he agreed. “But you will, and you know how I know that?”
“How?” Kitty Anne asked reluctantly, knowing she was about to get some pious lecture.
“Because I trust you,” GD emphasized nobly.
“Then tell me the truth. Tell me what the big secret with Kevin is,” Kitty Anne insisted, causing both men to exchange another look. It quickly became clear that GD was waiting on Nick to make his decision. When he came to it, Nick didn’t appear pleased by it.
Heaving a deep sigh, he nodded. “Fine. You want to know the truth, I’ll tell you. One of the sheriff’s deputies picked Kevin up not but a few miles from the Davis ranch the day of the barn fire with an empty gas can.”
“So, he did do it,” Kitty Anne whispered, shocked to her core.
“No.” GD shook his head. “That is not evidence. It’s circumstantial. A point that Kevin’s lawyer made to both the sheriff and the district attorney, which is why he’s never been charged.”
“Then what is the secret?” Kitty Anne demanded to know, completely confused by what they were trying to hide.
“Seth confessed to setting the fire.”
“What?” Kitty Anne blinked, not expecting that quiet revelation from Nick. “So he set the fire?”
“We don’t think so. He’s just afraid—”
“—for Kevin,” Kitty finished for Nick, seeing the logic now. “He’s trying to cover for his brother.”
“Yes.”
“And?” There was still more, she could sense it but the tale did seem complete.
“And,” GD began slowly, “the Davis brothers are very powerful. We’re hiding not only the suspects from them but the brothers of the woman they’re in love with. When the truth comes out, do you know how pissed they’re going to be?”
Kitty Anne could, but she couldn’t figure out why they were hiding the truth from the Davis boys in the first place. “So just tell them. They’re going to find out eventually.”
“Yes, eventually,” Nick agreed. “And that time will be decided by Kevin and Seth. They’re not ready to meet Patton yet and we’re not pushing.”
“And now you know the truth.” GD pushed out of his seat as his phone started buzzing. “I’ve proven my trust in you, and when you trust me, you’ll wear my collar.”
With that grand declaration, he brushed past her as he reached for his phone. but Kitty Anne watched GD saunter away and rolled her eyes. She knew what he was doing. He was making a scene and a point. He didn’t just want her in his collar. He wanted her on her knees.
Kitty Anne would go there for him, but she wouldn’t chase after him. Instead she’d plot his downfall, so that when she finally slipped on his collar it would be a moment so magnificent Kitty Anne wouldn’t be the only one humbled.
Right then, though, she had another man to humble. Turning her gaze on Nick, who was frowning at the door GD had disappeared through, Kitty Anne pinned him with a hard look.
“Kevin is innocent. You know that, right?”
That drew Nick’s gaze in her direction. He offered her a quick smile before shaking his head.
“It’s admirable that you believe that,” Nick assured her with a patronizing tone that had Kitty Anne’s teeth grinding together. “But you got to remember, beautiful, that these kids don’t end up here because they’re all angels.”
“I know that.” God, did Kitty Anne ever. It hadn’t even taken two short weeks for her to figure out that a lot of these boys had some serious flaws, Kevin included, but this wasn’t one of them.
“He’s innocent,” Kitty Anne insisted. “And I’m going to prove it.”
“You really are such a sweet thing,” Nick murmured, smiling at her in that special way that made her melt, and he knew it. He was there to catch her, crossing the room quickly enough that Kitty Anne didn’t stand a chance of fending him off as he pulled her into his arms and waggled his eyebrows at her.
“What do you say we put the ropes to good use and go mess up the bed?”
That was an invitation Kitty Anne didn’t have the power to resist. She wound her arms around his neck and lifted her lips to meet his as he stole her ability to object with a kiss that only ended after they’d stumbled their way through the bungalow. Desperate hands had clutched and torn at the clothes in their way until a trail of fabric led from the living room straight to the edge of the bed.
Kitty Anne felt the mattress bang into her legs, and then she was falling. Nick toppled down on top of her. All heated hardness and strength, he pinned her to the mattress with a hand capturing both of her wrists and his knees shoving her thighs apart. She spread them eagerly, twisting in his grip as she arched her back.
The motion had her breasts lifting in a blatant invitation he didn’t hesitate to accept. Kitty Anne panted with the pleasure winding through her as he nibbled and licked his way from one puckered peak to the other. Nick treated each of her nipples to the same rough caresses, dragging her sensitive tips past the hard ridge of his teeth and into the warm, suckling depths of his kiss, but he was too eager to linger there for long.
Kitty Anne stilled, her whole body drawing tense as Nick’s lips dipped over the curve of her breast to trace the quivering muscles stretched tight across her tummy. He paused there to tease her belly button before scraping the smooth plane of his cheek down over her mound to nuzzle the swollen folds of her cunt.
Unable to help but to laugh at the ticklish caress, Kitty Anne lifted her hips, offering herself up to his kiss. The one thing Nick did better than any man she’d ever had before was kiss. He had a wicked tongue and strong lips and was adventurous enough to put both to good use. Flicking, nibbling, sucking on her clit, he had her crying out and begging for more.
Nick didn’t deny her.
Capturing her swollen bud under the heavy weight of his callused thumb, he continued to torment the sensitive bundle of nerves, even as he fucked his tongue deep into her cunt. Over and over again, one slow stroke at a time, his tongue danced up the walls of her sheath, tickling her with a light touch that made Kitty Anne only ache for a rougher one, but her cries had turned incoherent.
The words falling from her lips were melted into endless moans and mews by the heat of lust and want searing through her. Words, though, were not necessary. Nick knew exactly what she wanted, what she needed, because
he needed it, too.
* * * *
Nick was in a frenzy, a desperate one that never seemed to fade no matter how many times he took Kitty Anne. He always needed her that much more. Without thought of anything other than the glorious rapture that filled him whenever he fucked himself into the tight clench of her body, Nick rolled her over and yanked her hips up, slamming the aching length of his cock into the molten depths of her cunt.
The velvety walls of her sheath sucked him deep, tightening around him as they spasmed. The feel of her pussy rippling down around his length was the most erotic massage Nick had ever experienced, and the ecstasy that flowed through his veins as he pumped himself in and out of her clinging depths was beyond any pleasure he’d ever known before…any pleasure that was but one.
He glanced down at the lush globes of Kitty Anne’s ass bouncing beneath him. She rode him with the same eager franticness as he fucked her. Nick couldn’t control the growl that rumbled through him as he palmed her cheeks and split them wide to eye the shadowed entrance to the greatest ride he’d ever taken. There was no hesitation in his motions as he pulled free of her pussy and lined the swollen, slickened head of his cock up with tight right of muscles guarding her ass.
Then he was sliding into heaven.
Nick’s eyes fluttered closed as his back arched and he sank all the way into heated depths that only he had ever claimed. This was his paradise, and he knew how to make it even better. Clutching Kitty Anne’s hips and pinning them against his, Nick rolled onto his back and settled her above him, allowing her weight to sink her down around him until his balls were tucked up against the plush curves of her ass cheeks.
Even though Nick could have died a happy man right then and there, he knew things could still get better, which was just why he released Kitty Anne’s hips to capture her arms and take command of each one of her hands. Lacing his fingers through hers, he settled one over her breast and one over her cunt and began to torment her anew, only this time he got to enjoy all her wiggling and writhing from the inside out.