by Diana Gardin
But Aston was being…nice. So Hope was happy that she could get along with a member of Reed’s family. And Sam was just adorable. Like a big, hard teddy bear. A gorgeous one with a sexy tattoo across his stomach, but still a teddy bear all the same.
Suddenly, someone new popped into their little party. He swooped in, all white teeth and spiky blond hair and sly smile, and Hope looked to Aston with apprehension.
Aston rolled her eyes and shot Hope a what-are-ya-gonna-do look, and the guy introduced himself as working in the same office as Aston and Reed. His name was Brent, and he seemed harmless enough. Until his hand found itself resting on her knee.
The seemingly innocent touch jolted her upright, and she stared down at his hand in disbelief. In Silk, she was used to men taking liberties with her they normally wouldn’t. Because they were paying for their time spent with her, and they expected to get their money’s worth.
But here, in the free world where she had a choice, she never, ever let a man she didn’t know touch her. And she was just opening her mouth to tell Brent as much, when suddenly Reed was beside her and in Brent’s face.
“Hey. Did the lady ask you to touch her?”
Brent lips formed a seductive smile that he aimed at Hope. “Not yet. I was hoping that would come later. Why, Hopewell? You got first dibs?”
Reed’s face darkened. “You’re done here. Time to get out, Brent.”
Brent shrugged, turning to face Hope. He rested a hand on her hip. “I’m gonna avoid the drama and get out of here. You want to come with—”
He was cut off as Reed’s fist connected with his jaw. Brent’s head snapped back at the impact, his hair falling forward over his forehead.
Small gasps and a couple of startled cries cut the air around them as Reed stood in front of Brent, who was now rubbing his jaw. He turned his head to the side and spit a mouthful of blood onto the gray, shiny stone at his side.
“What the hell, man?” he asked angrily. His voice was muffled due to the quick swelling of his jaw.
“If you touch her again I’ll do more than just break your jaw. You hear me?”
Hope’s mouth dropped. She stared at Reed, who was glaring ferociously at Brent, his chest heaving and his fists clenched by the sides of his black swim trunks. The tattoos winding their way up his arms flexed intimidatingly.
“I didn’t know she was here with you!” protested Brent. He sounded angry but also a little scared. Reed clearly outranked him at work, and apparently hit harder than a freight train outside of the office.
Hope had seen enough. She stood, gulping a deep breath, and walked as calmly as she could manage to the tent where the drinks were being served. She dipped inside, letting out a gust of air in the much cooler darkness of the curtained space.
“Well, that was something,” a soft drawl said next to where she stood leaning against the bar.
She turned to look, and a statuesque redhead stood nonchalantly next to her, a slim white cigarette hanging from her mouth.
“That’ll kill you,” said Hope automatically.
“Well, something will,” said the redhead with a roll of her eyes. She took a long drag, and then put the cigarette out with a grind of her heel into the floor. “I’m Tamara. Longtime friend of Reed and Aston. My brother and Reed are roommates.”
“Oh,” said Hope, startled. She should have known. She’d only seen Tate that one time in the truck the night she met Reed, but he and Tamara looked so similar it was striking. “Are you twins?”
“You win a prize,” said Tamara with a good-natured smile. Her sultry voice was making Hope’s eyelids droop. The girl should really have a job as a nine-hundred-number operator.
“You saw what happened?” asked Hope with a sigh. “That was kind of embarrassing. And kind of…”
“Hot?” Tamara suggested. “Yeah. Reed in a nutshell. I’ve never seen him do that over a girl before though. So what’d you do to him?”
A smile tugged at the corner of Hope’s lips, and she tried hard to mask it with a clearing of her throat. “What did I do to make him act like an insane person? Um, I don’t know.”
“That wasn’t insane,” scoffed Tamara with a wave of her beautifully manicured hand. “That was possessiveness. There’s a difference. When you’re dealing with a man like Reed, who knows exactly how to get what he wants and has no trouble exhibiting power except with maybe his father, that’s the kind of pure, testosterone-driven reaction you’re going to get if he thinks of you as his.”
Does Reed think of me as his? Oh, God…
“Give us a second, Tam.” Reed’s voice shivered up Hope’s spine as he appeared at her elbow.
Tamara nodded, and shot Hope a wink as she vacated the tent.
Reed leaned casually on the bar beside her, as if he hadn’t just nearly broken a man’s jaw for touching her. One half of her was horrified that a man could react like that in response to another male merely resting a hand against her skin. She’d never been the girl to have someone feel possessive over her. She’d never let any man get close enough to feel that way about her. How had Reed snuck in so close?
The other half of her still had tremors running along her skin due to the excitement and pure, nature-driven desire Reed had given her when he’d punched Brent. He’d hit him because he touched her.
Me.
She didn’t know which of her two sides would win, but she could guess. Especially when Reed’s liquid blue pools met hers.
“I should apologize,” he said quietly. “For making a scene. For embarrassing you. I’m sorry.”
She waited, tingling beginning to pulsate in her toes.
“But I’m not sorry I hit the pathetic bastard. I’d hit him again. Even if I hadn’t brought you here, he had no right to touch you without your permission. And the fact that you’re here with me means he doesn’t get away with it. End of discussion.”
“Oh, were we having a discussion? Because I thought you were just telling me how it was going to be.”
He smirked at her. “Is there something you want to say?”
The tingling was now radiating through her legs, causing them to wobble slightly. Reed stared so intently into her eyes it was getting difficult to draw in the already stifling air around her. Dammit! If those eyes weren’t so piercing then maybe I could think straight.
“I don’t want a caveman in my life,” she finally said. “I’ve met plenty of those. Actually lived with a few. It never works out well, in the end.”
“I see,” he murmured, entering her space. He twisted around so that he could place his hands on either side of her, bracing himself against the bar as he stared down. His dark eyebrows rose slightly, and one tendril of dark hair drifted down over his forehead. “And what part of their caveman behavior turned you off the most? Was it the fact that they’d do anything to protect you? Was it the fact that they’d beat anyone’s ass who decided it was worth it to touch you? Was it that they put you and your safety first, above everything else?”
Now the air was entirely gone. His words had sucked the life out of the too-thin oxygen around her, and she was suffocating. Her feet were slipping on what felt like thin ice beneath her, and she was drowning in the blue depths of his gaze.
“No,” she whispered.
“Hmm?” he asked, unblinking. “What was that?”
She closed her eyes, and the pressure of his finger on her chin forced her to open them again. To meet his stare head-on without relief. “I said no. None of that was what those men did for my mother…or me.”
He continued to stare at her. “So, when you say caveman, you aren’t referring to me. That was them. And this is us. Got it?”
She attempted to take a breath again, and failed. She just nodded.
Reed smiled, just a slight quirk of his full lips that had her nibbling on her lower one to keep from leaning forward. “Say you get it. So we won’t have any misunderstandings about where I’m coming from.”
Her knees knocked together. O
ne of Reed’s hands left the bar to wrap securely around her waist, effectively keeping her from collapsing into a puddle on the floor.
“I understand,” she whispered, unable to look away.
She’d told him she wanted them to take away the physical portion of their…whatever this was. She badly wanted to retract that statement now. Because more than anything in the entire universe, more than water, more than food, more than breath, she needed him to kiss her.
He was reading every page of her need in her eyes; she could see his flashing a darker blue as he took it in. And the battle that went on in his expression as his innermost thoughts played out right in front of her. He sighed. And pushed back a step.
“Your drink is waiting at your seat, beautiful,” he said with a slight bow. “And I took out the trash, so now you can sip it in peace.”
With a whoosh all the air she’d been missing filled up her lungs. She released it slowly, counting to five internally.
“Thank you,” she finally said. And she knew that he knew it wasn’t just for the drink.
Sixteen
After the sun sank below the horizon, sending black shadows dancing across the glittering water of the pool, and crimson up-lighting cast a hazy, red glow on everything, the atmosphere of the pool party really changed.
“We’re off to bed, darlings,” said Lillian Hopewell, hugging both Reed and Aston.
She turned to Hope, smiling warmly. “So nice to meet you, Hope. You’ve turned my little rebel upside down, I can see that. Keep up the good work!”
Hope smiled a genuine smile. It had been interesting meeting Reed’s parents. They were the classic southern couple. Impeccable manners, sweet-natured personalities. They were clearly madly in love, but she’d had the impression from Reed that their relationship hadn’t been the healthiest when he was younger. She wondered what that was all about, now that she had met them. The relationship between Reed and his father was definitely strained, but not alarmingly so.
Gregory bid them good night and followed his wife into their stunning home. As soon as the doors shut behind them, Tate let out a whoop.
“Let the real party begin!” he shouted.
Hope laughed with the rest of them.
Hope noticed as she looked around that everyone remaining at the party was probably under thirty. Some coworkers from Hopewell Enterprises (with Brent definitely missing), some of the friends that Aston and Reed grew up with, and some new friends they’d met along the way, all gathered to party out the rest of the patriotic holiday.
Tamara brought over a tray of shot glasses laden with golden liquid from the bar, and everyone in their small circle took one.
“Cheers to this being a life-changing summer for all of us?” suggested Tamara.
Everyone nodded and threw the shot back. Hope followed the burning liquid with a squirt of lime juice and a lick of salt from her wrist and sighed. She’d always had Morrow, but a group of friends to let loose with like this? Never. She suddenly wished she’d brought Morrow along with her. He would have really enjoyed the party and the people.
Next time.
“There’s something I wanted to run by you,” said Reed, tugging on her hand as he pulled her aside. The shot was beginning to unburden itself in her system, and she was feeling extra hot in the sultry night and the steamy heat that Reed seemed to give off whenever he was near her.
She looked up at him and cuddled in closer to where he stood. He smiled down at her.
“Shoot,” she said.
“Next week, after the long weekend is over, I have to go out of town for a few days.”
Well, that was a bummer. She hadn’t been expecting that. She also didn’t expect the deep wave of sadness that crashed over her when she realized she’d be far away from him for a length of time.
“Oh.” She frowned. “Okay. For work?”
“Not exactly,” he said, his eyes trained on her. “I’ve been invited to Atlanta by a producer. Someone who wants to cut a few songs with me, feel me out. He works with some pretty well-known labels.”
Reed shrugged, cool on the surface, but she could tell from the tense set of his mouth that this meant something to him. Something big.
“That’s amazing!” she said. “Oh, my God, Reed. You’ll do great. I wish you all the luck in the world! Really.”
He nodded, toying with her hands now in his lap. He’d towed her into one of the lounge chairs, and her legs were slung over the top of his long ones. “I want you to come with me.”
Her breath caught in her throat, but she kept her tone measured and even as she answered, “You do?”
“Well, yeah. I kinda don’t want to put a pause button on what we have going here. I like spending time with you. Do you have time you can take off of work?”
She did have time she could take off work. She never vacationed, and she knew that Morrow being there for the summer meant all her slack would be completely taken care of.
But what would she tell Wendy and Frank? And could she leave Violet for so long?
“I could,” she said slowly, rolling her ankles absently as she thought about it. “I might just need to get some things situated with my family first. Could I let you know tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Sure.”
She noted his frown but didn’t ask why he wore it. I’d rather not encourage the questions.
Instead she stood up and untied the shoulder knot on her cover-up. “I think we’re way past due for a swim, don’t you? Remember all that talk about being able to beat me in the water?”
She let the white cloth drop to the chair behind her, and Reed’s blue eyes grew wide.
The bathing suit she sported was of the tiny variety. A one-piece, with cutouts in very strategic places. She liked the way his pupils dilated when he let his eyes run the length of her body and back up again. She kicked off her sandals and stepped over to the edge of the pool, poised to dive into the water. Reaching up to tie her hair up in a messy knot, she narrowed her eyes at him.
“We doing this, Hopewell?” she asked, a playful lilt hanging on the edge of her voice.
Reed was sitting frozen in the lounge chair. As she stared at him, awaiting his competitive response, he tilted his head to the side. His mouth hung open slightly, and she wished she could bottle the moment up and save it. Or at least take a picture of Reed’s face the first time he saw her in a swimsuit. It belonged in a frame.
“You…have a tattoo?” he asked in a hoarse voice.
Her hand automatically rubbed at the spot on the back of her neck. Reed had only seen her with her hair down prior to this point. She turned around so that he could see the script.
THE CAGED BIRD SINGS
When she turned around again, Reed was silently appraising her with some kind of emotion in his eyes she couldn’t read correctly if she tried. So she didn’t. She inclined her head toward the pool instead.
He stood and ripped off his white tee. She swallowed hard at the sight of his sculpted chest and the rippling abdominals beneath it. His broad shoulders were even wider than she thought from beneath his shirts, and the sinewy muscles flexed fluidly as he stretched his arms over his head and walked over to join her poolside. His plain black trunks hung low on his slender waist, and the taut V of muscular perfection just above his hips suddenly caused her mouth to feel dry.
He met her eyes as he pulled up beside her, and she wet her lips. His eyes flashed dark blue.
“Oh, we’re doing this.” His voice was full of meaning she understood perfectly, and the frantic fluttering in her stomach intensified.
She dived in before they could establish a start for their race, and she heard his responding splash when she surfaced a second later.
They swam easily together, side by side, each keeping an eye on where in the water the other was. They ended up swimming an easy five laps, and emerged panting and laughing from the pool some minutes later.
“You’re good,” he said admiringly as he grabbed her hands to p
ull her easily out of the pool. “Really good.”
“That’s what happens when you practice every day,” she said with a shrug.
He produced a white, fluffy towel from an adjacent lounge table and wrapped it around her, pulling her close. So close she could feel the heat from the night, or from Reed himself, growing between them.
“The more I get to know, the more I like,” he said, his voice soft. It nearly blended into the croak of the bullfrogs in the shrubbery all around the yard, and she leaned in closer to hear him.
“Ditto,” she answered. “Reed…I want to go to Atlanta with you. I’ll try and find a way.”
A grin spread lazily across his face. “All I had to do was swim against you? Hell, girl, we can swim together every day if it means I get what I want.”
She smacked him on the chest, and the hardness of it resounded against her hand.
She stayed close to him for the rest of the party, so close that she’d committed the hard planes and lines of his torso to memory by the end of the night. Through the stunning display of fireworks closing out the evening, she stared up at the sky, appreciating the bright bursts of light and cannonlike thumps as Reed’s hands trailed along her skin and sent repeated shivers of pleasure tingling along her shoulders.
Yeah, she was going to risk everything to make the trip with him next week. And he was making it so damn hard to feel guilty about it.
Something about Hope made Reed want to show up at all of her places on a daily basis, just to check on her. If he was being completely honest with himself, it would be more to mark his territory, to let all of the people she crossed paths with every day know that she was his.
Which was absurd, because she wasn’t his. Not yet. And Reed knew enough to know that trying to make that happen would be like stamping the death certificate of whatever it was they shared. A commitment? That would ruin everything. She hadn’t even given him a surefire signal that she was interested in a relationship. All he knew was that the more time he spent with her, the more unsteady his heart felt when he was away from her. She was beginning to affect his daily life, and he had no idea if that was a good thing or a terrible mistake.