“Are you sure you’re not mad at me for telling Luke?” Bristol asked.
Smiling, I helped her put on her coat. “No. I’m actually looking forward to helping him. Once I get the design for his new bike done, we’re going to take it to his sponsors and see what they say.” Since I wasn’t employed by them, they’d probably toss it aside, but it was worth a shot. I knew how to make a killer dirt bike.
Strolling back into the living room, we said our goodbyes before walking out the door. “Did you have fun tonight? I noticed you and the girls getting along good.”
Carrying her empty casserole dish, Bristol smiled up at me. “I had a blast. Hayden said that if I ever wanted to vent about you she’d be there to listen to me.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Of course she’d say that.”
I opened the car door for her but instead of getting in, she set the dish inside and wrapped her arms around my neck. “So what all are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?”
“You.” Her body fit perfectly to mine, like she was made to be in my arms. I was thankful for many things, but she was the main one.
“What else?”
“My friends, my career.” I paused for a second and met her gaze. “And second chances. Without them, I wouldn’t have you and I wouldn’t have the people inside that house as my friends.”
“Good answer.”
“What about you?” I asked.
She pursed her lips in concentration. “Let’s see…I’m thankful for having a job I love, a wonderful family, and an overprotective brother.”
I lifted my brows. “Anything else?”
She snickered under her breath. “Nothing else comes to mind. Maybe you should remind me.”
Growling low, I pressed her into the car and sucked her lip between my teeth. She moaned and melted against me, just like I wanted. “I’ll show you all right. Just wait till we get to my house.” I was about to explode and there was no way I could handle driving her all the way back to her condo when I lived only five minutes from Derek.
We got in the car and headed to my house. Bristol was unlike any woman I’d ever been with. We’d had sex every single day and it was still not enough. There was an ache inside of me that craved her. I was addicted to not only her body, but her mind and heart. She was my one and only weakness.
We arrived at the house and I parked in the garage, the sexual tension higher now that we were closer to my bed. Hell, I didn’t know if we’d even make it there. We walked up to the door and Bristol stood behind me as I tried to unlock it. Her hand slid down into my pants, wrapping those delicate fingers around my cock.
“Fuck, Bristol.”
“What? Can you not get the door unlocked?” she teased.
The girl drove me in-fucking-sane. Sliding the key in, I turned it sharply and slammed the door open. Bristol shrieked when I grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her in the air, her back against the wall. I pushed into her hard and she sucked in a ragged breath. We made our way out of the kitchen, but that was as far as I could go.
“You just messed up now, love.”
She giggled and held on tight, but then her gaze focused on something over my shoulder and she froze, terror written across her face. “Oh my God, Jaxon, put me down.”
I set her down and jerked around. There were no lights on, but nothing could hide the ruin that used to be my living room. “Holy shit.” My first thought was keeping Bristol safe. If someone was in the house, I didn’t want her there. I handed her my keys and pushed her toward the door. “Get in my car and call the police. I need you out of here where you’re safe.”
“What? No!” she cried.
“Now!” I growled.
I was about to throw her over my shoulder and make her leave, but she huffed and rushed out the door to my car. Once she was safely away, I breathed a bit easier. My house was a mess and I prayed the person was still in there. Rage overwhelmed me and I was ready to kill. My living room was trashed, my furniture ripped open and in shreds. Broken glass was shattered across the floor, and my paintings that Bristol had custom frames made for were destroyed. The kitchen hadn’t been touched, but I dreaded seeing the other parts of the house.
Room after room, there was barely anything salvageable. My art room was splattered in paint, my canvases ripped apart. Someone was going to pay dearly for that. There wasn’t much anyone could steal that I couldn’t replace, but there was one thing I prayed wasn’t touched. By the time I got to my bedroom, I could hear the sirens blaring down the street. My door was shut and when I opened it, my worst fear had come to life.
“Fuck!” I shouted as the anger consumed me. Not only was my room in shambles, but the portfolio of my designs that I’d kept on my dresser was gone. It was years of hard work, vanished in the blink of an eye. Who the fuck would come into my house and steal only that?
The door burst open downstairs and I could hear the cops filing in. “Reed, you in here?”
It was Jason Avery, one of the best cops in town. He was a good friend of some of the guys on the team and a master at solving crimes. “Up here,” I called out.
He ran swiftly up the stairs and joined me in my room, lowering his gun when he saw me. Jason was my age, with the same dark hair and build. “Damn, Reed, who did you piss off now?”
Throwing my hands angrily in the air, I glanced around the room. “Don’t know, but I’d sure like to find out.”
“So would I. I got my guys looking around the house. Why don’t we step outside so I can ask you some questions?”
Nodding, I followed him down the stairs. There was no way I could live in my house in the state it was in. When we got outside, Bristol jumped into my arms. “How bad is it?”
“Really bad, I’m afraid.” Tears were in her eyes, but I wiped them away. “It’ll be okay. I just hope we find the fucker fast.”
“Did it look like anything was stolen?” Jason asked. We walked over to his car so we could get away from his guys as they searched around my house.