Crash Into You

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Brynn turned her back to him but not quick enough for him to miss the horrified expression on her face. She grabbed a cloth off the table and patted beneath the woman’s nose. “I’m sorry, I forgot you were waiting. We’re fine. You can go now.”

Reid moved out of the way as the younger blonde, Brynn’s little sister he presumed, hurried past him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and took a breath. “What I can do to help?”

Her shoulders dipped as if she were carrying sandbags on them, but she didn’t turn to look at him. “Just leave. Please.”

Yeah, like that was going to happen. For the last few weeks, he had let Brynn get away with her casual rebuffs and subtle distancing. He had deserved it after the way he’d lost control on their first date. But he’d be damned if he was going to let her push him away from something like this. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She swung her head around, her eyes filling with tears and her face red with shame. “Can’t you take a hint? You’re making this worse. I don’t want you to be here to see this.”

He closed the distance between them and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be embarrassed. I just want to help you.”

She winced. “I don’t need your help. I’ve been handling my mother for years, I’m a pro. So why don’t you leave, pretend you never saw this, and I’ll see you at work. Okay?”

Ignoring her request, Reid turned and walked to the refrigerator, then pulled open the freezer door. Except for the three cheap bottles of vodka, the contents were slim, but he found what he was looking for. He brought a bag of frozen corn back to Brynn. “Put this on her eye, it will help with the swelling. Does it seem like anything’s broken?”

Brynn took the bag and stared at him for a long moment before standing up and placing it on her mother’s black eye. “I don’t think so.”

“Do you think she needs to go to a doctor or the police?”

“She’ll refuse to see either.”

He nodded. “Okay, then why don’t we get her somewhere she can rest and sleep it off?”

Brynn sighed and stood. She gave her mother’s shoulder a soft squeeze. “Ma, I’m going to help you get up and walk to your bedroom, okay?”

Her mother reached up and patted Brynn’s hand. “Thanks, baby.”

Reid went around the opposite side from Brynn and gently grabbed her mother’s upper arm to help her to her feet. She stumbled a bit, but managed to stand with their assistance. With slow, steady steps they led her out of the kitchen and down the narrow hallway. Brynn bumped open one of the doors with her elbow.

The room was barely bigger than the closet in Reid’s own bedroom and looked way too neat to belong to a woman who was clearly out of control. He wondered if Brynn had led him to her own bedroom to protect herself from more embarrassment.

Brynn pulled back the sheets, and the two of them helped her mother to sit on the edge of the bed. She bent down and slipped off her mom’s heels, then placed them on a rack in the closet. Reid frowned. This wasn’t Brynn’s room, but apparently she played maid to her mother along with everything else.

“Who the hell are you?” said a slurred voice.

Reid turned to see her mother squinting at him with her uninjured eye.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Your daughter’s boyfriend.”

She snorted. “Right.”

Brynn hurried to her mother’s side and shot him a withering look. “Come on, Ma, let’s get you into your nightgown.”

“He’ll only break your heart,” she said. “Cheating bastards—all of ’em. Believe you me. They all do it eventually. I’d be broke otherwise.”

“You are broke,” Brynn muttered, and glanced at Reid. “I’m going to get her changed. I’ll be out in a minute.”

He nodded and stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. As he made his way back to the living room, his heart broke for the girl who had quickly become the sole focus of his days. No wonder she didn’t have time for a burger. She was taking care of everyone around her. He sank into the well-worn couch and ran a hand over his face.

After his last date with Brynn, he’d thought she might be the girl he could share his secret with, but now he knew he had to keep his lips sewn shut. The last thing she needed was to hear about his sordid fantasies. Her opinion of men had already been warped enough.

No, what Brynn needed was a hero—a guy who would treat her with the respect no one showed her mother. The only question was, did he have enough self-control to be that guy?

Brynn clicked her mother’s door shut and took a ­moment to gather herself before facing Reid. She didn’t want to discuss what had happened, but she couldn’t just kick the guy out with no explanation after he’d been decent enough to help. She smoothed the creases in her black pants, straightened her shoulders, and walked toward the living room.

Reid was sitting forward on the couch, forearms on knees, and his mouth in a grim line. His black tailored shirt and expensive jeans looked out of place against the faded flower pattern of their secondhand furniture. He looked up when she sank into the love seat. “Got her in bed okay?”

Brynn kicked off her heels and tucked her legs beneath her. “Yeah, she’s already out. Thanks for helping me get her to her room. I’m beyond embarrassed that you saw all of this.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s fine.”

She scoffed, the sound holding no humor. “Fine? Yeah, I’m sure this is exactly how you spend your evenings—cleaning up an alcoholic after one of her dates decides she didn’t do enough to earn her money.”

Deep frown lines etched his face. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Why did you tell her you were my boyfriend?”

He shrugged. “It just came out. I guess it’s because I’d like to be.”

Brynn groaned. “You must be a masochist. Look around, Reid. This is my life. I’m not like the other girls at the office. I have a lot going on and hopefully am leaving for college in a few months.”

His brows dipped. “Leaving?”

“I told you that on our first date.”

“I know, but how are you going to do that with all that’s going on here?”

She shrugged. “That’s why I’m busting my ass with overtime at work. I’m going to get an apartment and take Kelsey with me—file for guardianship.”

He blew out a breath. “Wow.”

“Yeah, see what I mean? You need to go find some chick like Molly or Krista who can go and do all the fun things people our age are supposed to be doing. I’m not that girl.”

“Oh, right, ’cause those airheads at the office are awesome.”

“No, I’m serious. I mean, look, one evening with me and I bet I’ve completely messed up your plans. Isn’t Thursday college night at all the bars?”

“Come ’ere,” he said, motioning for her. Reluctantly, she rose and stepped closer to him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down to his lap before she could protest. “I don’t want some chick. I want you. Get over it.”

She sighed. The thought of having Reid, of affording herself that little luxury for a few months, was so tempting. But their worlds existed on different orbits. “I like you, Reid. I just don’t know how anything between us could work. You have political mixers and frat parties, I have a household to run and now, apparently, crime scene cleanup. There’s no way—”

“Shh,” he said, smoothing her hair. “Stop overanalyzing every­thing. Don’t you ever shut off that busy brain and let yourself feel what you feel?”

“No.”

He laughed. “What about that night in my truck? You seemed like you were able to let go a bit. Weren’t you acting on feelings then?”

She smirked. “Well, yeah. I don’t get half-naked for guys as a personal hobby. Of course I felt something.”

“So what was different?”

She thought back to that night—the confident way he had touched her, the dirty talk, the way his kiss had made her senseless. She shifted in his lap, suddenly very aware of how close they were, and dropped her focus to her hands. “I don’t know. You took control, I guess. I didn’t have to make any decisions for a change, and it was kind of a relief.”