The Love Laws (33 page)

Praying
he could lie convincingly for once Kevin gave Kerry a bored look. “Ker. I
already told you she’s not interested. What do I care if you show her a picture
of me in a Tequila coma? Besides, do you really think she’ll be receptive to
anything you show her after what you did to her online?”

“I
was going to send it to her anonymously,” she said, holding his gaze as she
walked towards him. “Her lame store has an even lamer website. There’s an email
address there.” With a conspirator’s smile that somehow didn’t touch her eyes,
she stepped into his personal space until she was pressed against him from
thigh to chest.

He
nearly recoiled at her touch. It was so tempting to put some distance between
them but instead he relaxed against her. She couldn’t know how distasteful he
found her now. His best bet was to allow at least some pretense at flirtation.
She was much more likely to let down her guard if she thought she could seduce
him. He raised one eyebrow and placed his big hands on her slight shoulders,
massaging gently. “And you think she’d open an attachment from an anonymous
source? Doubtful. Face it. You didn’t think this out very carefully, did you?”

She
looked up at him through lowered lashes. “Whatever. Snail-mail will work just
as well. In fact, a full colour print would probably be much more dramatic. It
would show of your body much better, don’t you think?” She ran her hand down
his abdomen until she reached his belt buckle. “Thanks for the suggestion,
Lover.”

Despite
his best intentions he felt his body responding to her close proximity. His
cock hardened painfully and he closed his eyes at the sensation. Almost two
weeks without sex was some kind of record for him and his dick was not happy
with the dry spell.

His
uncomfortable physical response to Kerry aside, he had no real desire to sleep
with her. Intellectually and emotionally he was repulsed by her. Who knew such
a thing was even possible? Until recently an erection equalled wanting to have
sex. It was that simple. He’d never questioned it before. He’d thought perhaps the
night he’d gotten his nose broken and he’d thrown Kerry out after a few kisses
had been an aberration but it clearly wasn’t. He was finding it surprisingly
easy to resist his body’s demand for sex. As pleasurable as it would be to use
Kerry and slake his lust it wasn’t what he wanted anymore. He really only craved
one woman.

God.
He was so whipped.

“Kerry.
Why don’t you just tell me what’s really going on here?” He asked as he gently
removed her delicate hand from his belt and forced it behind her. He did the
same with her other until he had both wrists secured at the small of her back
in one of his large hands. She was now pressed tightly against him with her
small breasts thrust up against his chest. She gave an experimental little
wiggle to test his hold on her and seemed surprised to find that she was very
effectively trapped.

She
gave him a heated look. This time her interest seemed sincere. “Going on? Well,
it feels like you’re getting ready to play Master. I’m a bit surprised. You’re
usually not quite so forceful. But we can try it rough if you want. I can be
your dutiful servant for a night.” She arched against him rubbing herself
shamelessly against the front of his tented jeans.

 He
stilled her undulating hips with his loose hand. “I meant, what’s going on with
you?” He asked, pulling back far enough to allow some space between his chest
and hers.

She
pouted for a moment, annoyed that he wasn’t allowing her to take back some control.
“I told you. I’m trying to get on a reality show,” she said, watching him
carefully.

Kevin
let go of her slim hip and tapped her nose with one finger. “Bullshit. Just
tell me the truth for once. Then, we’ll see. Maybe we can help each other.” Carelessly
he flicked one of her nipples with his thumb and watched as her dark eyes
clouded with lust.

“Fine.
What do you want to know?” She asked breathlessly.

Leaning
down he let his warm breath brush the shell of her ear. “Is there really a
reality show?” He smiled to himself as she shifted in his embrace, trying to
bring his lips closer to her skin. Instead he pulled back and waited for her
response.

Impatiently,
Kerry tugged at her wrists, trying to loosen his hold. When he just chuckled at
her efforts she glared at him for a moment and then did the unexpected. She
lifted up on her bare toes and whispered directly into his ear as if revealing
a fun secret rather than an evil scheme.  “Yeah. The show is real. But I don’t
have any intention of being on it. Too much work. I just want Evelyn to believe
I’m going to reveal all her family secrets.” She leaned back and gave him an
impish smile, clearly expecting him to be impressed with her plan.

Surprised,
Kevin just stared at her in shock. Was she serious? Quickly masking his
expression, he nodded encouragingly and brushed his fingers along her exposed
collar bone. “Go on.” He forced an admiring tone into his voice. “What’s going
on in that beautifully devious mind of yours?”

She
flung her hair back and preened under his gaze. “Well, you know how that old
bitch hates publicity? Well, if she finds out I’m planning on becoming part of
some tawdry reality show she’ll break a hip trying to buy me off.”

Kevin
couldn’t believe it. Kerry had set this all up in a misguided attempt to extort
more money from Duncan’s grandmother. This was about greed and revenge, not
jealousy. Even though Duncan had provided a generous divorce settlement it
still wasn’t enough for her. She wanted the millions she thought she was
entitled to and would do anything to get her hands on that money.

How
could Kerry justify being so cruel to an old woman? Evelyn was in her seventies
now. Granted, she was still controlling and hadn’t been an ideal guardian to
her two grandchildren. She was by nature a cold and imposing woman, but she had
made great strides towards mending fences since Theresa had run away from
Toronto two years ago. Kevin had been impressed at the change in the Reinhold
family matriarch’s icy demeanor when he’d seen her this past Christmas. She’d
appeared almost human.

He
couldn’t allow Kerry to get away with this deception. He needed to convince her
to give up on her plan. But how? She knew how paranoid Evelyn was about
publicity. The old woman’s daughter, Duncan’s mother, had made quite a splash
in the tabloids with her many husbands, drug rehabs and public displays of
intoxication. As a result, Evelyn probably would pay Kerry to keep the Reinhold
name out of the limelight. It was actually quite a brilliant plan. A person
would have to lack a conscience to carry it out but he was somewhat impressed
Kerry had come up with it.

His
only hope was to undermine her confidence and act more concerned with seduction
than diverting her scheme. She just might decide to abandon ship on her diabolical
plan if she believed she didn’t stand a chance. Kerry was not a big risk taker.
She wouldn’t make the effort unless she was fairly certain there would be a big
pay off at the end. If he acted like her plan had no hope he might actually
have a chance of avoiding another ugly scandal for the Reinhold family. He owed
it to them to at least try.

“You’re
serious?” He said with a chuckle. “And what about Ev’s army of lawyers? You
think they’ll stand by and let you do this? Good luck, sweetheart. Now, about
that whole Master and Servant game…” He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck.

Kerry
went stiff in his arms. “What? You don’t think it will work?”

“Are
you kidding? No way. Now quit distracting me and let’s get this skirt off you.”

She
began struggling in earnest, twisting her wrists and fiercely rocking her
shoulders from side to side. “Let me go,” she cried.

Kevin
removed his hand from her wrists immediately and she nearly stumbled trying to
get away from him. “What?” He asked, feigning confusion. “Did you want me to be
the servant? ‘Cause I’m into that too.”

Kerry
just glared at him and began re-fastening her skirt. “Kevin. Is that all you
think about? Sex?”

He
grinned. “Pretty much. I thought you liked that about me.”

“Usually
I do. But I have to go. Remember? I have a meeting.”

“Right.
A meeting. About the whole fake reality show. I almost forgot. Very important.”
He gave her a mocking smile.

She
eyed him suspiciously. “Why aren’t you trying to convince me to give up on
this? I was expecting threats and promises from you. What happened? Aren’t you
and Duncan friends anymore?”

Kevin
shrugged. “What can I say? Duncan’s a big boy. More than capable of defending
himself against you and your ‘big plan’.”

Kerry
gave him a look of disgust. “Wow. You really have changed. You used to be so
sickeningly decent. Even when you were chasing any slut with a pulse you were
always so respectful and nice about it. Now you’re just a drunk who can’t write
or fuck. What happened to you?”

Undaunted
by her insults Kevin grinned and cupped the front of his jeans. “Hey. I can still
fuck. I’d be glad to demonstrate. You’re the one who put on the brakes.” He
grinned like an idiot, hoping he was convincing as the crude horn-dog with
nothing on his mind but getting laid.

She
turned away from him and put her hands to her head. “Damn it. This wasn’t how
this was supposed to go,” she muttered to herself, clearly distressed at this
turn of events.

Kevin
was glad she’d turned her back to him. His relief would have been difficult to
hide. Pretending he was attracted to her had been hard but letting her believe
he didn’t give a damn about her scheme was nearly impossible. From her worried
demeanor it appeared that he’d been successful in deceiving her for once. After
all these years, she should know him better than to think he would allow her to
victimize anyone.

“Ker.
How did you imagine this would play out exactly? Don’t you remember what
happened a few years ago when you tried to blackmail Duncan? His grandmother
unleashed her pit-bull lawyers on you and you had to walk away with just a
small payday rather than the ten million you were looking for. That’s what
usually happens when you deal with these people. They have huge resources at
their disposal and don’t take kindly to people trying to cheat them. Just
accept it and move on.”

She
whipped around and glared at him. “I expected you to do what any good friend
would do and tell Duncan about the reality show. Then he’d come to me and offer
me money to leave this god-forsaken town and we could avoid bothering Evelyn and
her lawyers with all this. Or better yet I expected you to do the whole noble
thing and offer to pay me off yourself. What I hadn’t counted on was you
finally fulfilling your asshole destiny and becoming such a selfish prick.”

Well,
that explains why she was willing to reveal her plan to him so easily. It
didn’t matter if he knew or not. She’d wanted him to tell Duncan and save her
the trouble of confronting Evelyn. She certainly had put a lot of work into
this. She’d set the groundwork with the reality show, knowing Evelyn would do
anything to avoid the publicity. Then all she really had to do was prey on
Duncan’s heroic nature to step in and solve the problem before it threatened
his grandmother. The intricacy of her plan was almost elegant.

He
held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. Hate to disappoint you but what did you
expect? I hang around monsters for a living. Some of that psychopath shit is
bound to rub off.”

Kerry
flipped her hair back over her shoulder. “Oh please. You don’t actually believe
that.”

“Actually
I do believe it. You said it yourself. I’ve changed.”

“Kevin.
You’ve become a self-centred booze-hound. That’s hardly in the same league as
the animals you deal with. You’re the least violent person I know.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.
You were totally pissed off when you walked in here, right?”

He
nodded, a little surprised at the turn this conversation had taken.

“Do
you think I’d open the door if I was the slightest bit worried about you
getting physical with me? Not likely. I knew you were too nice to do anything
more than yell at me. You couldn’t hurt a woman if your dick depended on it. You
couldn’t even hurt that drunken oaf last week. Hurting anyone weaker than
yourself isn’t in you DNA. Plus, I thought I could distract you with sex.”

“Why
even open the door then?”

“Because
I needed you to be part of my plan. Angry, horny guys are way easy to
manipulate. Didn’t you know that?”

“Apparently
not. Don’t have a lot of experience manipulating horny guys. Angry or not. So
now what?”

She
sighed. “Well, I still have a meeting to get to, but if you’re still into
playing Master and Servant I could always tie you to the bed with some lovely
Givenchy scarves before I go. I’ll be back in a couple of hours and we could
work out all your anger then. How does that sound?”

He
ignored her offer. The thought of being at her mercy didn’t turn him on in the
slightest. “I meant your plan. Are you still going to go ahead with it?”

She
narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought you didn’t give a damn.”