Page 66 of Illicit Illustration

Unsurprisingly, she hadn’t responded by the time I was dressed again.

After badgering her via text this afternoon, she’d reluctantly sent me the title of the book. Despite refusing to tell me what part of the book the sketch was based on, it hadn’t taken long to find it. I’d skimmed through the eBook on my phone between tours and tastings, grinning as a plan formed in my head to get a little audience participation, like the hero in the book had from his mafia rival’s daughter.

It wasn’t playing nice, and I was sure she’d kill me come tomorrow, but if this was the last night I got to spend with her, I was going to make it one to remember.

Deciding not to bother with a tie, I buttoned my jacket, stepping into my dressier black leather boots.

Snowflakes drifted aimlessly through the air, giving the almost deserted parking lot an ethereal quality, but I was only focused on getting into the second-floor apartment without alerting the remaining patrons of the bar of my presence.

Hudson’s car was absent from the back of the parking lot, which made things infinitely easier. I wasn’t sure who was closing tonight since Hazel had the night off, but I really didn’t care as I let myself in the back door and locked it behind me before I silently ascended the staircase.

Having spent enough time here when Hudson lived in the apartment, I knew exactly which steps to avoid keeping Hazel unaware of my presence.

But I didn’t want to just let myself in like I had before when she’d been futilely trying to avoid me. She knew I was coming this time, so I was sure there was a lot of overthinking going on in there, not sneaky porn viewing.

Flexing my fingers and exhaling a rough breath, I knocked on the door, immediately getting into position with my hand braced against the top of the frame for the maximum effect of my willingness to drop into character for her. Despite her likely thinking differently, I was enjoying our role play sessions immensely.

“Gimme a second, I…” The door opened inward, and I grinned as Hazel’s eyes widened, her eyes slowly drifting down the buttons on the dress shirt I’d put on.

“Good evening, little one.”I greeted in a low voice, trying to embody the character I was playing.

“I…”

“Cat got your tongue?”

Hazel stepped to the side, using her hand to yank me through the doorway. She pushed me behind her while she stuck her head into the stairwell, clearly trying to figure out if anyone had seen me coming up to her apartment dressed in a suit. “What the hell are you doing? Did anyone see you like this?”

“I came in the back door,” I whispered, placing my palm between her shoulder blades and ghosting my hand down her soft sweater and tapping her butt suggestively.

“Yeah, don’t get any ideas,” she hissed, quietly closing the door and flattening herself against it.

“It’s cute you think I haven’t already concocted an entire fantasy in my head about it already.”

“What the fuck, Reid?” Her voice was a low growl, and I tried not to laugh as she narrowed her eyes at me. “If you’re just here to fuck with me all night, you can go back home.”

“That’s another fantasy, kitten. But no. I’m here because Giovanni can’t resist his rival’s beautiful daughter, Serafina, anymore, and has come to collect on a little bet he made with her.”

“Oh no,” she whispered, ducking underneath my arm and escaping further into the apartment. “That’s not what’s going on tonight. This is about me getting a picture I can use to finish this drawing so I can get it rendered before I need to send it tomorrow, not about reenacting whatever you read this afternoon.”

“Come on, Haz. Where’s my brave girl who shoved an earbud at me and straddled me on my bike to drop into character for a commission? Be brave with me.”

“If you hadn’t noticed, that’s the problem between us, Reid.”

Frowning, I followed her toward the hallway where she was trying to escape, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her back into my chest before she could avoid answering my question. “What’s the problem?”

Her body trembled against me, and I fought the urge to spin her around and wrap my arms around her for protection against whatever was bothering her. But when you’re the source of the apparent problem, that only makes things worse.

“I’m not brave,” she whispered, pushing out of my arms and slipping into her bedroom, the door closing in my face.

“Yes, you are,” I responded, loud enough she could hear it through the door, but when her answering whisper carried back to me without a problem, I knew she heard me.

“Not with you.”

Hazel

While he’d looked defeatedwhen I’d left his shop yesterday and worried this morning when he’d cornered me in the empty bar while I’d been figuratively—and then more literally—banging my head against a wall, tonight he had an entirely different look to him. Stubborn determination.

And I was woefully unprepared for Reid to fight against my wishes quite like this. He knew I’d drawn a boundary line to keep things from getting more complicated between us, but apparently, he’d decided to pole vault right over that line by offering to…show me his pole.

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