“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 from 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?”