“Yes. I need to wave at the guard. Did you sign in?”
“Yes. Do the wave.”
I lean around him. “He’s with me, Kevin.”
“Have a nice evening, Ms. West.”
I ease back in front of Reid and he laces his fingers with mine and punches the elevator button. The doors open immediately and we enter. He punches in my floor and then turns to me, his hands settling on my waist, pulling me close. My palm settles on his chest where his heart thunders beneath my touch. “You didn’t hesitate to let me up,” he says.
“No. No, I didn’t.”
“Why, Carrie?”
“Because despite the fact that you hurt me, I missed you, too.”
He lowers his forehead to mine. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I don’t ever want to hurt you again.”
“Then don’t.”
The car halts and the doors open. When Reid tries to exit, and take me with him, I tug against his hold. “Wait.” The minute he looks at me, I say, “Right now. I really want to pretend the broken part of us doesn’t exist, okay?”
He drags me to him, and into the hallway. “We aren’t broken and when we walk out of your apartment tomorrow morning, you’re going to know that.” He kisses me, a delicate brush of lips I feel in every part of me before he leads me to my door.
“It’s open,” I say, and the minute we’re inside, he shuts the door and locks it. The next minute, I’m in his arms, my body pressed to every hard part of his perfect one, and he’s kissing me. God, he tastes so good. I want and want with this man and I don’t even care how he might crush me right now. I cling to him, sinking into the kiss, my hands all over him and I just want to feel.
“Carrie,” he whispers, cupping my face. “Baby, I need to tell you something.”
“Don’t tell me now. Don’t ruin this.”
“I need to tell you before we wake up in the morning to a call.”
That jerks me back to reality. “What does that mean?”
“I went to see your father. I tried to get some sort of truce. I wanted him to tell you that I didn’t do this to you or him, but he wouldn’t. He said I’d never be with his daughter.”
“You went—that’s where you were?”
“There’s more, but—”
“To try and convince me to trust you?”
“Yes.”
“To Montana?”
“Yes. I can tell you all I found out there. Do you want to hear now?”
“No. No, I want you to kiss me again.”
“You’re not mad?”
“You went for me. You flew back for me. That doesn’t make the kitchen scene with your father go away, but it comes really close.”
“I didn’t know how you would react. I was—”
“Reid, kiss me already.”
His mouth closes down on mine, and I swear I breathe him in, my hands pressing to his back, my body molded to his. He went to Montana for me. I don’t even consider this to be business. I taste the emotion on his tongue. I taste the relief, the need, the passion. This isn’t about sex. This isn’t about money. His hand, his warm, big, perfect hand slips under my T-shirt and cups my naked breast. I moan into his mouth and he tears his lips from mine. “If I can’t have you in my bed, we need yours. And before you warn me, I don’t care about your damn period.”
“It ended. It was early and nerves—it’s not an issue.”
His mouth closes down on mine, a quick lick of tongue against tongue before he scoops me up and starts walking. I cling to him, and right now, in his arms, I feel one of those shifts in our relationship. We are not as we were. We are not broken.
The light is on in my bedroom, and Reid carries me to the bed and lays me down on the mattress. “I’d give up everything for you, Carrie.” He brushes his lips over mine. “I need you to know that.”
“I wouldn’t ever ask you to do that. I wouldn’t want that.”
“I know because you are good and pure in ways I will never be, but I’m a better man with you and because of you. I need you to know that, too. I’m not after money. I don’t want anything from this but you.”
My hand presses to his cheek. “I believe you. I have questions, but I believe you.”
He kisses me, his lips brushing mine and then trailing down my jaw and over my neck before he presses his cheek to mine and whispers, “I’m not going to fuck you this time. We can fuck later. I’m going to make love to you.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Reid
Inhaling the sweet floral scent of Carrie, my lips linger at her ear. Never in my life has a woman affected me like Carrie. I find myself having this thought yet again with this woman. I could savor her forever in every way. My mouth settles above hers, our breaths mingling, as she whispers, “Reid,” and damn it, I should not be this affected by a woman saying my name, but I am.
I kiss her again, and just drink her in, in no rush to fuck anything out of my system. She’s under my skin, in my mind, in my damn heart when I didn’t think I could feel such things. My hand presses under her T-shirt, palm caressing her ribcage, and up to cup her breast, my fingers teasing her nipple. She arches into my touch, and I nip her bottom lip before dragging the shirt over her head. Her hands press under my shirt as well, her tongue stroking against my tongue, igniting a fire in me. I want her hands and her mouth all over my body.
I drag my shirt over my head and Carrie shoves against me. I roll to my side at her obvious request, and her hand settles on my zipper, fingers closing over my erection. “I owe you something.”
I tangle fingers in her hair. “We’ve talked about that. You owe me nothing, Carrie.”
“Then I want my mouth on your body. On a certain part of your body.” She tightens her grip on my cock. “How is that?”
My cock throbs with the suggestion, but that’s not where I want to be with her tonight. I roll her to her stomach and settle over the top of her. “I’m making love to you, Carrie. I need you to know we’re more than fucking.”
“I do,” she whispers.
“No,” I say. “You hope we are.” I caress down her shoulders, goosebumps lifting on her arms and I love that she responds this way to me. “You don’t know that we are, but you will. You don’t really know what you do to me or what you are to me, Carrie.” I kiss her shoulder and scrape my teeth over the delicate flesh, my tongue laving the offended skin.
I move to the other shoulder and repeat, my hands sliding underneath her to cup her breasts as I kiss a path down her spine, and then slowly caress her sides until my hands are on her hips, my lips finding the small of her back. I slide my hands under her waistband and slowly drag down her pants until that beautiful bare backside of hers is exposed. That’s enough to make me impatient and I scrape my teeth over her backside. She makes a soft, sexy sound and arches her hips. I press my hand on her lower back again and then order, “Don’t move,” before I release her and pull her sweats all the way down, lifting off of her long enough to finish undressing her and myself.
My hands come down on her ankles, caressing a path up her legs and I don’t stop until I’m slipping my fingers under her and stroking her sex, the wet slick heat beneath my touch telling me how ready she is for me. My hand goes to her belly, lifting her hips to slip a finger inside her and then lean in to lick her. She looks over her shoulder at me. “Come here. Please.”
“Not yet,” I say.
“Reid. I want to touch you.”
I lick her once more and then slide up her body, settling on my side and rolling her to me, lifting her leg to my hip. My hand on her face, my cock nestled in that wet heat where I was just licking her. I brush my lips over hers. “Is this what you want?”
“Yes. This is what I want.”
I kiss her, or maybe she kisses me. Our lips collide and our tongues lick and stroke in a seductive dance that has me rubbing my cock along the seam of her body, and then pressing into her. She gasps another soft, sexy sound that has me driving into her fully, my han
d cupping her beautiful backside to find that deeper spot we both want. That’s all it takes. I am now in that place of need that has me deepening our kiss and pulling back to thrust into her. She moans and arches into me, and there is this wildness between us that isn’t fucking. It’s about needing and wanting on an entirely different level. We are trying to crawl underneath each other’s skin, to be one in some indiscernible way and it’s all fire and heat, passion and yes, lust, on a whole new level.
I press my cheek to hers, my lips at her ear, my hand on her breast. “Do you feel how much I missed you now?” I thrust hard.
She pants. “Show me again.”
I smile, when I never fucking smile, and damn sure not during sex. I thrust again. “How’s that?”
“Again,” she breathes out and I swallow the sound that follows, licking into her mouth as she arches into me and then stiffens. A moment later, she’s spasming around my cock, and that’s my undoing. I pump into her harder, and there is a tight spasm in my balls, and then holy hell, I’m groaning with the way she milks me into complete, utter oblivion. We collapse together, holding on to each other, our breathing softening, slowing.
I stroke hair from her face and drag her gaze to mine. “You really do rock my world, woman.”
“Yeah well, you’re not so bad yourself.”
I press my forehead to hers. “I hate this, baby, but we should talk a little more before morning.”
“Do we really have to?”
“Yes. We do.” I reach over her and grab her a tissue and press it between her legs before I pull out. “Where’s your robe? I can’t focus when you’re naked.”
“I’ll get it. I need to go to the bathroom anyway because you know, that’s what us girls do after sex. We pee.”
I laugh. “Is that right?”
“Yes. That’s right.” She rolls away from me or tries.
I catch her and kiss her. “I have no confession to make. It’s nothing like that. Just a few details about my trip you need to know.”
“I didn’t think you were making a confession.” She caresses my cheek and then rolls away before standing up and walking toward the bathroom.
I’m momentarily distracted by her naked body but that comment that she didn’t think I was going to make a confession doesn’t sit right. I don’t know if it’s about trust or something else. I stand up and pull on my sweats, sans the underwear, since I don’t plan to stay dressed. Carrie exits the bathroom in a knee-length silk robe with her nipples distractingly puckered beneath the silk.
“What are we doing, Reid?”
I close the space between us and link our fingers. “Making sure what happened at my sister’s house doesn’t happen again by getting everything on the table before someone else does it for us.”
“If this isn’t a confession, why I do feel dread in my stomach?”
“Because it’s not all good, baby.” I lead her to the bed and sit us down. “I now know why our parents hate each other, and I know what your father is doing in Montana. Which do you want first?”
“Oh God. I don’t know. Pick my punishment for me.”
“The worst first then. Why they hate each other. You won’t like this, Carrie.”
“Just tell me. Did my father tell you?”
“No. I called my father and told him I needed to know. He decided that considering what I now know, which means, considering I read my mother’s letter, there was no reason not to tell me.”
“What does your mother’s letter have to do with this?”
“Our fathers were friends. My father fucked your mother.”
“What?” she gasps.
“That’s right and your father told my mother. And so the war began.”
She presses her hands to her face and then looks at me. “How can we be together?”
“We’re not them, baby. We have nothing to do with this and it’s not like we’re going to have family events with my father. He won’t be invited ever again.”
“You’re right. It just feels weird. I want to blame your father for her leaving us, but I can’t. She made her choices. She cheated. She left and never looked back.” She swallows hard. “What else? I need it all now. Montana. Tell me about Montana.”
“Montana,” I repeat. “He knows I’ll tell you what I’m about to tell you. That’s why I know he’ll call you tomorrow and tell you I tried to convince him, or threatened him most likely, to lie to you. I need to know you aren’t going to believe him.”
“I’m here. I’m with you. I trust you.” She shifts more fully toward me. “What is he doing?”
“Fucking a young pretty widow who owns a horse ranch she won’t give up.”
Her brow furrows. “He wants to buy a horse ranch? Is there money in a horse ranch?”
“There’s oil under the land. He wants that. She wants to protect the horses. I think he might go so far as to marry her. He didn’t say that, but that’s my gut instinct.” I think of his comment about cash stashed away and the realization hits me. “I’m speculating, but something he said makes me think that he looks at that land as a retirement plan.”
“And he’s using my money for this? Surely he knows I won’t think that’s acceptable. He wants me to go there.”
“I’m sure he planned to convince you the horse ranch was a good long-term investment. He wants you to fall in love with it.”
“But now you know and so I know.”
“Yes. I’m sure he’ll have a backup plan and tell you I’m full of shit. Royce found out about the oil.”
“My money is basically gone.”
“No. We’re going to make a fortune with Grayson, both of us. You. Your own money and, Carrie, it’s enough to never need another dime.”
“We are far from closing this deal.”
“We will. I feel it, but I need to know that when he calls you, you’re ready for what he’ll say.”
She lays back on the bed. “I can’t do this anymore.”
I lower myself to her side, resting on my elbow. “Carrie—”
“Not us.” Her hand goes to my face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean us or you. I meant everyone going at each other and me being in the middle. So I choose to trust you and what I feel with you, until you, not someone else, gives me a reason not to. But please don’t make me sorry.”
Relief washes over me. “I’m not going to make you sorry.”
She rolls to face me, propping herself up on her elbow. “Be honest with me no matter how bad it is, because I get it. There was stuff that happened before we knew each other. I’m not stupid. Just be honest like you were tonight. No secrets. No lies. Promise me.”
“I promise,” I say, and I mean those words despite the fact that I have a secret and therefore I just told a lie.
One lie, one secret, to protect her and my brother.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Carrie
The minute Reid says, “I promise,” I climb on top of him and let my robe slide from my body. His gaze rakes over my body and he grabs me, rolls me, and in an instant, he’s undressed and pressing inside me. And this time, we fuck. Hard and fast, with my legs on his shoulders and then my knees in his chest. When it’s over, we end up under the blankets with me curled into his side, my head resting on his chest; his heart thrumming beneath my palm.
“Tomorrow’s the big day,” I say.
He leans up to look at me, his gaze cutting through the haze of the room lit by open curtains and starlight. “It’ll go well.”
“Yes. I think it will.”
“Tell me something I don’t know about you,” I say as we have in the past.
“I’m a movie buff. I love going to the movies and eating popcorn. I even go alone.”
I lift my head. “Alone?”
“Yes. Alone.”
“Well, I like movies. So you don’t need to go alone anymore.”
“I won’t,” he says. “It’s a date. Many movies. Your turn. Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
“I want a cat, but I fear I work too much.”
“I want a dog, but I fear I work too much.”
I roll to my stomach to look at him. “You want a dog?”
“Yeah. I do. I had one as a kid and I loved that damn dog.”
“What kind?”
“German Shepard.”
“I had a Pomeranian I lost a few years back, it feels like yesterday. I think I’m ready to have another fur baby. I was actually thinking about getting a cat. Do you like cats?”
“Yes.” He laughs. “I feel like we’re having the ‘do you want kids’ conversation.” He rolls me to my side and pulls me against his chest, with that comment lingering in the air.
“I don’t,” I say as if he asked. “I don’t want kids. I just don’t want someone to disappoint.”
His curls his arm more fully around me. “You understand me better than you think, Carrie. And I don’t know if that’s a good thing. Go to sleep, baby. Tomorrow’s a big day.”
I shut my eyes, my hand settling on his arm, and just like that the warmth of slumber overtakes me.
***
I wake naked, in my bed, with Reid wrapped around me, sunlight beaming through the window, announcing the new day I’m starting with him, and it really is heavenly. He smells good and I feel safe. I don’t remember any human being except my father, and of course, in a different way, making me feel safe. But as I lay here, I realize at some point my father stopped giving me that feeling. I guess I assumed it was being an adult and independent. But it was more. I sensed something in him and only now does everything Reid told me last night start to sink in.
“I can hear you thinking some pretty heavy thoughts.”
I roll over and face him. “Not about you.”
He brushes what has to be my wild morning hair from my eyes. “Your father.”
“Yes. My father.”
“I get it, you know. It wasn’t that long ago that I finally saw my father for what he is.”
“The letter?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“I think I knew, but I was in denial,” I reluctantly admit.
“As did I. The fairytale of my mother keeping him human was obviously a lie. It doesn’t get easier, Carrie. You want them to be more.”
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