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She reached for me, grabbed the base of my dick, and guided me in like a challenge. “Shut up and fuck me.”

I thrust deep, all the way in, one slow, punishing stroke that knocked the air out of both of us. Her nails dug into my back. I started moving—slow at first, then hard, deep, relentless. She tried to keep up, lifting her hips, biting my shoulder, grinding her teeth through moans .

But I overpowered her. Controlled the rhythm. Forced her to feel every inch.

“This isn’t goodbye?” I growled into her ear. “I plan to ruin you for every other man.”

She whimpered. Bucked. Clawed.

This was fun. I flipped her, hauled her hips up, and slammed back in from behind. She cried out—raw, high, desperate.

“Say it,” I demanded, slapping her ass. “Say it’s not over.”

She didn’t answer.

I grabbed her hair and pulled her up so her back hit my chest, still thrusting hard. “Say it.”

Her head fell back. “Fuck— Reece , not over.”

Bree relenting to me had to be one of the sexiest things I ever heard. I growled and shoved her back down, pounding into her until I felt her tighten around me again. She was close—so fucking close—and when she came this time, she screamed. A real scream. One that shook through her whole damn body.

I followed, emptying inside her with a groan, buried deep as I could go. The condom earned respect tonight.

She collapsed onto the bed, trembling and wrecked. I laid beside her, breathing hard, arm thrown over her back.

God, if I’d thought I’d gotten off hard the first time, it didn’t come close to what she’d given me tonight.

Last time, I’d left her apartment as soon as we were done.

Tonight, I passed out, waking in the middle of the night to her cuddling up against me.

She looked so small and peaceful. I didn’t have the heart to move her, so I let myself drift off back to sleep.

In the morning, I stretched, sitting up, resting my arms on my bent knees covered in the blanket up to my waist, and watched her sleep a little longer. When her eyes opened, a slow smile spread across her face until her head jerked when she saw me in her bed .

“What are you doing here?”

“Slept over.”

“Why would you sleep over? Fucks don’t sleep over. Fucks get up and leave after the fucking ends.”

Why did seeing her mouth form the word fuck turn me on so much?

“Reece. Go. We’re done. One last hurrah.”

One last hurrah, my ass. Not what she said with my cock balls deep inside her. I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Right. We’re doing this now.”

“Doing what?”

“I have a proposition for you.”

“Oh, no—that ended. I was serious. Last hurrah. No more Reece— never again .”

“Baby, that’s not what you said when you were squirting around my dick last night. The sooner you stop arguing and listen to me, the quicker we can move on to better parts of the day.”

“‘Baby’? Since when do you call me ‘baby’?”

“Seemed appropriate for the situation.”

“What is the situation?”

I snickered. “Glad you asked. I thought about this for quite a while this morning as you slept.”

“What is the situation?” she demanded.

“First, tell me about your boy. What’s wrong with him?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “What do you mean by that?”

“At the fort, he never looked straight ahead. His eyes were glassy. My mom’s a teacher. She’s seen that before.”

“He has several issues. The largest is his autism spectrum disorder.”

“So he’s autistic? My cousin’s kid is autistic. He leads a pretty normal life.”

“Can I give you some words of wisdom?”

“Shoot. ”

“If you’ve met one autistic person—you’ve met one autistic person. That’s why it’s a spectrum. Benny falls a bit in every category. Plus, he’s nonverbal. He also has underdeveloped muscles in his wrists that hinder certain physical activities.”

“What are his prospects?”

She sighed. “I’ve been taking him to a therapy program after school.”

“School? At his age?”

“It’s imperative not to wait. Studies show that early intervention provide the biggest gains. Plus, his school is more of a daycare for special needs children.”

“What was Toledo asking about last night? Something happen?”

“No. Yes. It’s complicated. He’s had new developmental delays pop up. His therapist said he didn’t think they were a good fit any longer. He recommended me to this new school that you have to be referred by a doctor or therapist to even get an interview.”

“You get the interview?”

“Yeah, we got it. But his insurance will only pay for seventy-five percent. I can’t afford the co-pay. It’s, like, five grand a month. Now, I have to get Benny from Mrs. Grazia’s place.”

“In a minute.”

“Please, Reece. I’ve told you about my son. It’s time to go.”

“I figured it was a money thing. Why didn’t you let Toledo help?”

“What do you mean, why? He’s my friend. Nothing else. Benny’s my son. You don’t accept money from friends, especially that much money, and my son’s issues are mine to take care of.”

Jaycee’s stupid book had wormed its way into my head while I watched Bree sleep this morning. To think I’d rolled my eyes at that fake boyfriend trope—but now? Hell, it was the only thing that made sense.

Christ, Bree handed me the perfect opening and didn’t even realize it. We weren’t friends. Not really. Not yet. So technically, she had no reason to say no. “I’ll pay for your kid’s therapy in exchange for your services.”

“I’m not a prostitute.” The words came out razor sharp, her voice shaking, showing her fury. “I dance. That’s it .”

She scrambled from the bed but I caught her before she could get away.

“Listen, I need?—”

“Get out,” she shouted. “I can’t believe you had the nerve?—”

I kissed her. Soft but commanding, and just enough to shut her up. Her lips went still beneath mine, breath catching, and when she finally settled, I pulled back to speak.

“I get it,” I said, voice low. “What I need from you has nothing to do with sex—I mean, it will. But only because you want it as bad as I do. We’re fire together, so not giving that up. But right now? I need you to be my girlfriend. Just for a little while.”

“Your… girlfriend ?”

“Yeah, like one of those fake arrangements. I read about one on the back of a book that Bishop’s wife had set down on the craft service table.”

“She was reading a fake relationship romance and you want that? Why?”

“I have my reasons. You say yes , you get to know then. No, I try to find someone else and this”—I gestured between us—“is over like you wanted. I can’t sleep with you if people think I have a girlfriend.”

“We don’t sleep.”

“We will if you say yes . Your bed’s comfortable, but mine’s better. We’ll probably spend most nights at my place.”

“I have Benny. I can’t. If I do this—and I’m not saying I will—but if I do, you have to sleep here. It can only be on nights when Mrs. Grazia has my boy, and you have to be gone before… What time is it?”

I glanced at the clock on her bedside table that she could’ve easily looked at. “It’s five to eleven.”

“Eleven? Get up. Get dressed.”

She shot out of the bed, grabbing my clothing and throwing them at me before she ran to jump in the shower. She used those last five minutes to clean me off of her. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended.

Given we weren’t about to get down and dirty again, I slid on my jeans and slipped on my shirt right as I heard the front door open. Hell, I couldn’t slip out now, so I walked into the living room with my shoes and socks in hand.

“Oh,” the old woman who had to be Mrs. Grazia said when I startled her. “I didn’t realize Bree had a friend over. She doesn’t normally.”

Part of me thought better of what I was about to do, but Bree never answered me either way. I needed her help, but dammit, I wanted her in my bed. I’d bedded a lot of women and none of them had come close to what she could do between the sheets. How could I give that up now?

Without her in the room to make up some excuse about who I was or why I was there, I preemptively killed that argument by reaching out my hand. “Name’s Baker Reece.”

“Baker Reece? As in goalie for the Copperheads?”

“You watch?”

“Of course. I might be old, but I find watching hockey to be quite exciting. You know Bree from the arena, then.”

“Yeah, that’s where we met. Listen, I was an ass when she walked up on me.

She and I have been dating, but my mom was with me and she wants to see me married.

I didn’t want her saying something to Bree that would freak her out and I fu—messed up.

” I corrected myself for the kid. “Went about it all wrong. I apologized. We’re solid now. ”

Right then, the door to the bathroom opened and Bree stepped out wearing a towel wrapped around her head like a turban and one across her body tucked under her arms. She froze when she saw us.

“Oh, my god, Mrs. Grazia, I’m so sorry.”

“For what? As he’s apologized for his egregious mistake, and knows how to never treat you again” —she shot me a pointed glare— “I’m glad you have a boyfriend. You need to have more fun and Mr. Reece?—”

“Please, call me ‘Baker,’” I offered because point taken, and the woman smiled.

“Only if you call me ‘Claudia.’ Or ‘Miss Claudia’ will work. That’s what I tell Benny when I’m working with him. Maybe now Bree will call me that, too.”

“Mrs. Gra— er Miss Claudia?” Bree asked with her voice pitching a couple of octaves up at the end.

“See,” Miss Claudia said. “It’s working already.”

“He’s not my boyfriend. I swear I’d never abandon my responsibilities to?—”

“Have a social life? I’ve wanted that for you since that douche canoe took off. It’s not abandoning your responsibilities to let me have Benny over. I love Benny. I don’t have family, but I have you and Benny.” Shit, the woman used douche canoe . I had to laugh.

Despite Bree shooting me some hella angry eyes, I had her exactly where I wanted her. There was no way that she’d deny me being her boyfriend now. Not Bree. The last thing she’d want to tell the older woman was that we’d hooked up.

In my day to day, I blocked the shots. Today, I’d scored big.

Point to Reece.

I just hoped, now with additional time on the clock, I could get her to forgive me.