by Mia Carson
“And what would that be?” Reider turned off the Wrangler and pulled the keys out, but Micah’s hand closed around his tightly. “Let go,” he warned, pulling at his hand, but Micah’s face darkened menacingly as he leaned in close.
“I know you’re hiding something and it has to do with the Chadwicks. I’ll find out, and you’ll be ruined like I was,” he promised and let go, hightailing it out of the Wrangler before Reider could think of anything to say in return.
His cousin disappeared inside, but Reider couldn’t move his body from the vehicle. He sat in his seat as the realization hit him that he’d underestimated his cousin and the craziness, rather than grief, filling him. Micah was growing dangerous, and if he did find out—if he followed Reider around—he would figure out that he and Johanna were together. He would have to tell her the next time he saw her and figure out a way around his cousin’s sudden interest in his life. For tonight, he wouldn’t worry about it and considered telling his parents about the PI, but revealing that much had him on edge.
All Micah had to do to set Reider’s parents off was drop hints that their son was somehow involved with a Chadwick. His dad would lose it, and any hope Reider had of swaying his parents’ minds to let him handle the cattle side of the business would disappear in a shot. He loved his family, was loyal to their business and the name, but at the same time, he was tired of the constant competition between the two families.
Professor Ashford was right. The fight had gone on long enough, and Reider was not going to be a part of it. On Wednesday, he’d talk to Johanna and a plan that would take them both out of the city and far from the reach of their families.
11
All day Tuesday, Reider and Johanna texted because they couldn’t see each other due to her brothers watching her closely and his dealing with Micah. Reider needed to hold her, to feel her skin beneath his hands, and it killed him that he couldn’t drive to her house, pick her up for the day, and drive off like a normal couple. No ideas had come to him of how they would pull off an escape, and he worried Micah would catch on at some point.
Johanna’s messages sounded as desperate as he felt, and he knew she pictured their weekend and any others like it slipping away. It might’ve only been a few days, but it was so much longer in his mind since Reider merely held her hand or kissed her lips. All Tuesday night, he paced his room until midnight came and went, and he wracked his mind for a place for them to go tomorrow during classes. They had a break around the same time. His mind threatened to lose it if he didn’t hold her soon.
In his pacing, his eyes landed on a key sitting on his desk. “You idiot,” he muttered and picked it up, smacking himself in the forehead. “You dumb bastard. You have a dorm room.”
Too excited to sleep, Reider texted Johanna and told her he had a surprise for her tomorrow that would give them a chance to see each other alone on campus. He told her to let him know if she’d be in class tomorrow. She didn’t respond until the next morning. Her message was the first thing he saw when he picked up his cell, and he grinned. She promised to be there and wanted to know what he had up his sleeve.
Even Micah didn’t annoy him with his dour face and onslaught of questions about the previous weekend. Reider hummed along with the radio and simply turned it up when Micah kept talking. When they reached campus, his cousin rushed off and Reider whistled on his way to his first class. A dorm room, all to themselves, and he had the only key. As long as no one saw them go in or leave together, they could be alone whenever they wanted while on campus. That room was the perfect solution to their current predicament.
Maybe they would have a chance to discuss their future and work out a plan they could both live with. After his first class, he swung by Ashford’s office and smiled at the man sitting behind his desk.
“Ah, Reider, come in, come in,” Ashford said.
Reider did so, but he didn’t take a seat. “Can you do me a favor?”
Ashford set down his pen and nodded. “I shall do my best, unless it’s about your grade.” He raised a brow until Reider shook his head. “Then ask away.”
Reider took the dorm room key and held it out to his professor. “Give this to Johanna when she comes by your office in an hour. Please.”
“A key?”
“Yes. Will you be here?”
Ashford tucked the key safely away in his drawer as he nodded seriously. “I have office hours up until our class starts, so yes, I will be here. Tell her if my door is closed to announce herself. I’ll make sure she gets it.” Reider thanked him again, grinning madly, and turned for the door. “Reider, does she know I know?”
“Not yet, but I’ll let her know we have at least one person who won’t treat us like outcasts,” Reider said over his shoulder.
Ashford chuckled. “No, that is something I would never do. See you in class.”
Once out in the hall, Reider texted Johanna and told her to head to Ashford’s office when she could and there’d be a key. Once she had it, she was to go to the dorm building he mentioned and find the specific room number, which he included, and said he would be along shortly after. All she had to do was trust him. His chest aching with the longing to feel her body pressed against his nearly drove him mad, and he walked around campus, not speaking to anyone, and held his cell tightly in his hand, waiting for her message. His phone vibrated after what felt like an eternity. The message said she was in the room, waiting for him, and added why the hell hadn’t he mentioned it before.
“Wish I knew,” he whispered and sent a reply saying he was on his way.
Reider tucked his cell away, took one long look around the quad, and walked as quickly as he could, without running, towards the dorms. His room was on the ground floor near several study rooms, but no one recognized him so he passed them and didn’t stop until he reached room fifteen. He fumbled with the knob while texting Johanna to say he was there. It would look strange if he didn’t have a key to his own dorm.
The lock clicked open a second later, and he opened the door. The light was off, and he walked in, closed the door, and locked it behind him before he turned around. “Johanna,” he said, but it was all he managed to get out of his mouth.
Johanna sat on the bed he’d made before he was told he would be living at home. Her clothes were scattered all over the floor, and as he let his bag drop to the floor, she smirked and spread her legs. Groaning roughly, Reider stalked across the room and took the hand she offered him. She pulled him closer and pressed his hand against her cheek.
“God, I want you,” he muttered and leaned down to kiss her. His hands pushed through her curly hair, holding her close to him as he devoured her mouth as if he were poisoned and her lips were the antidote.
“Feels like forever since you touched me,” she whispered against his lips. “Reider.”
She breathed his name with so much love and desire that he kissed her harder until they both struggled to catch their breaths. Her hands fumbled at his jeans, tugging them down as he tore his shirt off and bared his chest to her. His pants undone, Johanna tugged them over his hips before her hands glided up his abs to his pecs and back down again. She gripped him hard between her warm palms, and Reider’s hips bucked at the sensation flooding his body. The heat filling him was almost too much to handle… almost. All he wanted was Johanna beneath him as he took her hard and fast.
They’d been apart too long, and he couldn’t stand to wait any longer to have her take all of him deep within her, to have her scream his name as he brought her to climax and the fire consumed them both. She lowered her head, and before he realized what she was doing, she’d moved off the bed and her hot mouth closed over his tip, sucking hard as her hand slid up and down in an agonizingly slow motion.
“Jesus, Jo,” he grunted. She dug her nails into his ass, bringing him even closer to her mouth.
He buried his hands in her hair as his head fell back. Too much of this, and he’d lose it. As much as it pained him to pull her back, he did and li
fted her up and turned her around so she was pressed against his chest. As her right hand reached up and around to hold onto his neck, her other held his throbbing erection. He nuzzled her neck, kissing and nipping to her shoulder while his hands cupped her breasts, heavy with arousal. When she moaned his name and pressed her ass into the cradle of his hips, Reider lost all sense of pacing themselves.
Gently, he bent her forward against the bed and gripped her hips. With his knee, he spread her legs, loving the visible shiver running down her back in anticipation. Thankfully, she was tall enough to make this work. He positioned himself between her legs, and after running himself along her swollen lips to see if she was wet enough, Reider parted her, slowly at first, barely entering her before he pulled back.
“Don’t you dare hold back,” she whispered hotly.
His jaw clenching at her words, he pulled back, and when he thrust this time, it was all the way into her warm sheath ready and waiting for him. She clenched tightly around him as they moaned from the connection. She fisted her hands in the comforter as he pulled back and thrust again, harder, lifting her feet from the floor. Her back arched and she whispered his name. Reider grinned and maneuvered his hands to a different place. When he moved against her this time, the fingers of his right hand tugged and teased hard on her clit while his left held her steady.
A cry broke free of her mouth before she pressed her face into the bed to muffle the sound. Reider didn’t let up his merciless touch as her body cried for more, but he wanted to see her face and pulled free though he was so close to the edge. Johanna lifted her head, a question in her eyes until he turned her around, picked her up, and laid her back on the bed, following her down. As he slid his hands up her legs from her ankles to her thighs, she parted for him. His gut clenched at the sight of her giving herself to him, trusting in him and their crazy love. His lips caressed her inner thigh, moving languidly towards her hot center.
“Reider,” she pleaded, reaching for him, but he only grinned wickedly and continued his exploration of the sensitive flesh.
When his mouth closed on her clit and he nibbled the bundle of nerves, her back arched and she pressed her hands back against the headboard. His tongue moved within her, groaning at the sweet taste he’d missed. As she panted for him, begged him to take her, he covered her with his body. He pushed her knees up and to the sides, held her hips, and drove hard into her.
Johanna’s cry of instant pleasure echoed around the room until she clamped her lips shut, but even Reider’s grunts grew louder. His steady rhythm faltered when she lifted her hips even more for him.
Reider poured himself into her as a groan issued from his mouth, and Johanna’s hands covered her mouth as her cries of pleasure slipped out at the same time. Their bodies quaked and shivered together until Reider pulled out, sending another intense jolt of pleasure through them both, and he fell to the bed beside her. His gaze landed on hers, and she smiled, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. Reider propped himself up on his elbow and kissed her sweetly.
“I missed you,” he said, holding her cheek.
She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. “Same.” She smiled, but it didn’t last long before she scooted closer and he wrapped her securely in his arms. “We can’t meet like this forever. We’ll get caught, eventually, and why the hell did Ashford have the key to your dorm room?”
He laughed. “Apparently, we’re more transparent than we thought to some people,” he said, holding her hand.
“He knew by looking at us?” she asked, making her hands twitch in panic.
“It’s fine. He’s on our side. Hence the key,” he assured her. “Really, Johanna, I trust the guy. He paired us up on purpose to begin with.”
“I knew he was up to something,” she muttered and laid her head back. “Well, fine, he knows, but what about everyone else? I was serious. We can’t think this is going to work, sneaking around all the time without someone catching on.”
He played with her fingers, entwining them with his own as he nodded slowly. “I’ve been checking out some land in Montana,” he told her. “Some plots are for sale that I could afford if I pulled enough money. Just have to do it over a span of weeks. If I take that much all at once, the bank will notify my dad, I’m sure of it.”
“He watches your accounts? I thought he trusted you more than my parents did me.”
“The household has been tense since Micah started living with us,” he said, annoyed. “He’s been following me around lately. Watching me. He is under the impression that a Chadwick is somehow responsible for his parents’ car accident.”
“What? That’s crazy,” she said but stilled in his arms. “What night was the accident?”
He sat up to look at her, frowning at the worry growing with every tensing muscle of her body. “You really think he might be right? You’re kidding—who would do it?”
“My brothers. Fredrick’s been acting strange lately. I called him out on hiding something, a bluff to get him off my case, but he clammed up. Won’t talk to me now, barely looks at me,” she mused and sat up beside him. “Your cousin might be obnoxious, but there might be some truth to what he’s telling you.”
Reider didn’t want to think it was possible, but the truth in Johanna’s eyes told him she believed it. If she did, he had to as well. “Damn, you can’t confront him, though.”
“No, but we still need to get out of here, the faster the better. How much is the land?”
“You’re not going to help buy it,” he claimed. “I’ll figure it out.”
With a sigh, she cupped his face in her hands and turned him to look her in the eye. “I want us to get out of here as much as you do. I want us to have that life on a ranch, far away from everyone, and I’ll do whatever we have to do to make it a reality. How much?”
He sucked in a deep breath and sagged, knowing from the fire staring back at him from those amber depths that she wouldn’t let it go. He rattled off the number, and she nodded firmly.
“So we need enough money to get us there and put a little down, right?” She counted off on her fingers. “I think I have a decent-sized chunk to help.”
“Don’t tell me you have that much lying around,” he said, but when she glanced away and her hands fell from his face, he knew the truth. “Holy shit, Jo, what were you planning on doing with that much cash lying around? How long have you been stashing it?”
She lay back on the bed and glared up at the ceiling. “Since I started earning an allowance, and then more when I realized what my life would be like unless I got out. I’ve been pulling money out weekly from my accounts and the inheritance I acquired when I turned eighteen. My parents apparently trust me enough to think it all goes to schooling.”
“And what were you planning on doing with it?” he asked as he stretched himself out beside her and trailed his fingers down her flat stomach. She shivered, and his body reacted in kind.
“I was going to run away after I graduated, take Izzy with me, and get the hell out. Then my brothers threatened to marry me off, and, well, if you and I hadn’t hit it off, I’d already be gone,” she admitted. Her hand reached down to hold his, resting on her stomach as it rose and fell with her breaths.
Bringing her hand to his lips, he kissed it, and she turned to look at him. “We’ll get out of here, I swear it, and we’ll take your sister with us.”
Her brow scrunched. “Really? You’re sure? It won’t be easy to run away with both of us.”
“I want to be with you,” he told her firmly. “This—what we have—it’s not normal. It’s extraordinary, and I’m not going to lose it because we’re too scared to take that chance. I love you.” The words came out in a rush, and he smiled at the sound of them. When Johanna sat up slowly, he added, “I love you, Johanna Chadwick, and no one is going to tell me I can’t be with you.”
For a long moment, silence filled the room, and Reider worried that he spoke the words too soon. But Johanna gasped and tackled
him to the bed, whispering against his lips, “I love you, too, even if you are a damn Marquette.”
He wrapped her in his arms, keeping her tight against his body as the heat grew to a blazing inferno between them. His hands on her hips, he shifted them, never letting his lips leave hers, and buried himself within her warmth. She trembled as they made love again. Their lips never left one another’s, not even when they tumbled over the edge and let the flames consume them, hidden away from the rest of the world.
An hour later, as they lay in bed, working on the timeline for their plan of running off to Montana, Johanna’s cell went off and she half walked off the bed, nearly falling until Reider caught her with a loud laugh.
“What are you doing?” he asked and pulled her back up.
She giggled when he tickled her sides until she showed him her cell and the alarm. “We have class in half an hour,” she said sadly. “Time to go back to the real world.”
“This is the real world. You and me,” he said and kissed her gently. “We’ll make it work.”
“God, I hope so,” she whispered. “I don’t know if I can go back to my days without you in them.”
She slipped off the bed and picked up her clothes. Reider sat on the edge of the bed, fascinated by her fingers tugging on her panties and jeans, dragging them up over her hips. Watching her dress was nearly as intoxicating as helping her take everything off. He leaned back on his hands with a raised brow as she put her bra on and turned to see him staring.
“What?” she asked as she hooked her bra.
“Just thinking,” he said and sighed.
“About what?”
“About how no matter how short a time I have to watch you, I continually find myself drawn to you even more,” he whispered. “The way your eyes light when you’re annoyed, or your hands seem to dance. Or,” he said as he stood and reached for his jeans, “how since we’ve been together, you’ve stopped chewing all your pens to death.”