Ice: A Reed Security Romance Read online

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  The shower was surprising clean as I prepared a bath to sink down into. I needed to soak my sore muscles so that hopefully I wouldn’t be so sore tonight. I wasn’t sure where I was going to sleep tonight, but it wouldn’t be on the hard floor. I wasn’t sure how long I had been in the bath, but I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, Ice was standing in the bathroom, leaning against the counter and watching me. I jolted upright, trying to cover myself as best I could. “Don’t you knock?” “I did, but you didn’t answer, so I came in to check on you.” “And you decided to stare at me? Pervert.” “I was actually trying to decide if I should wake you up or not. See, on the one hand, you looked like you were sleeping really well and I imagine that you didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” Aww, my heart actually did a little stutter step from that. “On the other hand, you’re pretty hairy and I figured you’d want to shave before the water got too cold.” Asshole. I glared at him and stood from the water, completely nude and got out of the tub, snatching my towel from the counter. What did I care? If he didn’t mind walking around naked in front of me, then I could do the same. He winced and scratched at the back of his head. “Here,” he said, shoving a bottle of shave cream at me. “You might want to take care of that before it’s too thick to shave.” He walked out of the bathroom and I screamed in frustration. That man was such an ass. I turned the water on hot, making sure it was nice and warm before I stepped into the shower and washed my hair. It felt so good to be getting clean after days of traveling. After washing and shaving, I stepped out of the shower and toweled off, realizing that I hadn’t brought any clothes in with me. That’s when an idea hit me. I smirked as I lathered on some lotion, thinking how he was going to swallow his tongue when I walked out completely naked and completely bare. Not that I had shaved off all my pubic hair for him, well, not that I wanted to admit, but he hadn’t seen me looking like this before and now he was going to get quite the show. I could hear him working in the bedroom, probably trying to patch the holes from when his house got torn up. I stood up straight and walked confidently into the bedroom, only to stop dead in my tracks when I saw not just Ice, but Jules and Chris standing in the room also. My eyes widened in horror when they turned around and saw me standing stark naked in the doorway. Jules dropped his drill thingy and Chris looked away quickly. Ice looked me up and down and then turned back to his work. “Looks good, princess. No more jungle down there.” I jumped at the sound of his tool drilling something into the wall and turned and ran out of the room. My plan had totally blown up in my face and now, not only did those guys see me naked, they also thought I was trying to seduce Ice. Crap.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Ice

  FUCK ME. THAT woman was going to be the death of me. It took everything I had to turn around and pretend like the sight of her naked hadn’t just given me the hardest woody I’d ever had. She was fucking gorgeous, with curves that could go on for days and that freshly shaved pussy was just begging for me to lick every inch of it. With her wet hair hanging down over her shoulders, she had water dripping down her body, and tempting me to throw the guys out of my house and have my way with her. But I knew that she was just doing what I had done to her. She didn’t actually want me. She just wanted me to see what I was missing. And damn, it was a fine sight to see. I adjusted myself and got back to fixing up the holes that I could as Jules continued to stare in the direction of my new roommate. “She’s fucking hot. Please tell me that you hit that last night,” Jules groaned. “She slept on the floor,” I said dismissively. “She what?” Chris asked in a pissed off tone. “Hey, don’t get me started. I offered my bed, but she didn’t want it. The woman is just trying to piss me off in any way she can.” “You’re an asshole,” Chris muttered as he hung another board. He was right about that. I was trying to be a nice guy, but she kept pushing and that just pissed me off. Every time she got defiant with me, I just wanted to smack that tight ass of hers and show her who was in charge. But I held back because I could tell she wasn’t into me. Something that was still grating on my nerves. “Why didn’t you make up the couch for her?” Jules asked. “Have you seen the couch? She was better off on the floor.” “So, go buy a new fucking couch,” Chris muttered. “You can’t let her sleep on the fucking floor.” “I didn’t let her do anything. That woman has a mind of her own and fuck anyone that gets in her way.” “So, I take it it’s not all sunshine and roses in your castle,” Jules grinned. “I don’t know why I fucking bothered. She fucking hates me. Maybe you should take her home with you,” I said to Jules. “Not happening. I’m not that fucking stupid.” “Maybe you should ask Cap to put her up in a hotel,” Chris said. “I thought about it, but with everything going on with Maggie right now, I don’t want to bother him with this shit. He’s got enough on his plate.” “How’s Ali doing?” Jules asked. “She’s…adjusting. We walked in the house yesterday and…” He hammered a nail in much harder than he had to and sighed as he turned around. “I was joking around with her, telling her that she would be in the kitchen.” He shook his head and scoffed. “The fucker really messed with her head. It’s gonna take a while for her to trust me completely.” “I thought she already did,” I said. “Wasn’t that why she came to you?” “She trusts me for the most part, but there are certain things that set her off. I obviously didn’t realize they would or I wouldn’t have said anything. It’s just going to take some time for both of us to adjust. She’s not the same girl I knew growing up.” “Are you sure you want to jump right in then? Time can change people and not always for the better.” “I still love her. I never stopped. And she’s not different in a bad way. I just mean that her experiences make her different. I just have to remind myself that there are some things I can’t joke about with her.” “Make yourself a list,” Jules said as he patched a hole. “That’s what Cap does. He keeps the list on the fridge and everything, and Maggie adds to it.” “What kind of list?” Chris asked. “Things she wants to hear. Things he should or shouldn’t say in certain situations,” Jules shrugged. “Doesn’t that sound a little fucked up?” I asked. “She has to tell him what he should or shouldn’t say?” “It’s brilliant, if you ask me.” Jules pointed his hammer at me. “Let me ask you this, how many times have you wondered what the hell was the right response to a woman’s question? And then it turned out that you gave the wrong fucking answer. Problem solved. Now he knows exactly what to say.” “I’ve never had that problem.” “That’s because you don’t stick around long enough for a woman to ask you any of those questions,” Chris said. “But that’s going to change real fast if Lindsey keeps staying with you.” “No. Nothing’s going to change. This is my house. My castle. If she doesn’t like something, that’s her fucking problem.” “Keep telling yourself that,” Chris grinned.

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  I watched Lindsey picking up pieces of the couch and bits of drywall from the floor. She had on some yoga pants and a t-shirt as she cleaned my house. The damn woman wouldn’t just sit down and take it easy. I told her I would do the cleanup, but she insisted on helping. I just wanted a fucking break. After all the shit that had gone on since we were attacked, we had been on high alert and now that the threat was over, I just wanted to put my feet up and drink a beer. But I couldn’t do that if Lindsey was cleaning. Or could I… It was my damn house and if I wanted to sit down and drink a beer, I would. I walked to the fridge and pulled out a beer, popped the top, and threw it away. When I walked into the living room, I noticed that the couch had been cleaned up enough that I could at least sit down on it. I would still have to get a new couch, but it was useable right now. When I sat down, Lindsey glared at me. I pointed to the corner where a large chunk of drywall was laying. “You missed a piece.” “You could get up off your ass and help,” she muttered. “I could, but why do that when I have a maid?” “I’m not your maid,” she snarled. “No, technically you’re not, but you are staying with me, rent free, and you have to do something to be use
ful. I would say that you could perform other services for me, but I doubt you’d agree to that.” “Why did I even bother coming with you?” “Probably because I was the only person on the face of the earth that wasn’t going to spit in your face and call you a whore. I’d love to know the story, by the way.” She frowned and looked down at the floor, showing for the first time that what had happened actually affected her. I didn’t really expect her to pay rent or help out around the house, but she was irritating me with her attitude and I had to show her who was the boss. At least, that’s what I told myself. I also didn’t mind seeing her anger flare. It was sexy as hell when her eyes went wild, like she was ready for a fight. It was one of the first things that attracted me to her and simultaneously pissed me off. I hadn’t done anything to this woman, but she treated me like I was shit she stepped in. So, if she was going to stay with me, she was either going to have to swallow her pride and be nice about the whole thing, or I’d just keep up with the same attitude she was showing me. Childish? Quite possibly, but this woman had a way of getting on my nerves like nobody before her. After finishing my beer, I decided not to be a complete ass and I got up to help her clean up the house. First thing I had to do was stick my sheets in the washer. Chris was right, I couldn’t let her sleep on the floor tonight and she wouldn’t sleep in my bed if the sheets weren’t washed. I stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the washer, remembering that I had been out of detergent before I went out of town, but I now had a full bottle. Which meant that she had picked it up when she went shopping. I went back to my room and looked around, seeing that I really didn’t have anything to accommodate another guest in my house and I was going to have to rectify that fast. I grabbed my bag that I had taken with me and unloaded my laundry. Then, I emptied two drawers for her, shoving all my clothes into the remaining ones. I also made room in the closet for anything she needed. I was pretty pleased with myself by the time I was done. I could be a nice guy. Hell, I was a nice guy the majority of the time. I walked into the kitchen to the sight of Lindsey standing in my kitchen, cooking something that smelled fucking delicious. She was singing quietly to herself and I couldn’t make out what she was singing, but damn, I wanted to know. I could tell she had a beautiful voice from what little I could hear. I stood there staring at her like a love sick fool for the better part of five minutes, trying to imagine what it would be like to have her around all the time, which was fucking ridiculous because we couldn’t stand each other. Still, she was the only woman in a long time that actually challenged me. “What are you making?” She squeaked a little as she jumped and whatever was between her fingers slid back into the bowl. “Jesus, you scared me.” “Didn’t mean to. So, what are you making?” “Lasagna stuffed shells.” I licked my lips as I watched her shove more stuff into the shells. My stomach growled loudly and she smirked at me. “I haven’t eaten since this morning.” “Well, it’ll be ready in about a half hour.” I stood there watching her for another few minutes, totally mesmerized by the woman standing in my kitchen. All she was doing was making me some fucking food, but it was more than any woman had ever attempted. Well, more than I had ever allowed. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and little wisps at the front were falling out and tickling her nose. She kept scrunching it up whenever a piece tickled her and she swiped at it with her wrist, but she couldn’t get it out of the way. I walked over and brushed the hair from her face, my hand halting behind her ear when she turned to me. I really looked at her for the first time, taking in all her features. She had dark brown hair that felt so soft, I just wanted to run my fingers through it. And then there were her dark brown eyes, so big and full of life. They studied me like they knew every secret I had. Her eyebrows were full and thick and her nose was small and skinny, making the rest of her face look narrow and angelic. God, she was a stunner. When I realized that I was just staring at her, I cleared my throat and took a step back. She didn’t need to know how attracted to her I was. “I’m washing the sheets,” I said after a minute. “You know, so you don’t get any woman cooties on you.” “I don’t want to take your bed.” “Oh, I’ll be sleeping in it too,” I snorted. “The bed is a king size. There’s plenty of room for both of us to sleep.” She studied me for a second before wrinkling her nose. “You’re not going to masturbate in bed with me, are you?” “Only if you want to join in.” She rolled her eyes and went back to filling shells. Not wanting to push this so-called peace between us any further, I left the room and went outside to see what needed to be repaired. The cabin wasn’t much to speak of, but now it looked like a total shit hole. I was going to have a lot of work ahead of me to repair this mess. Now, I had to decide if I wanted to fix this up or build new.