by Cole Gibsen
He nods but stays silent.
“Well then.” I stand, brushing off my jeans. “The awkward encounter, followed by the bike ride, followed by more awkward silence has been fun. But now I’m going to get an Uber back to my car.”
“No.”
I tilt my head. “No?”
His eyes meet mine. It’s the first time I notice he’s got the face of an angel but the eyes of a devil. “Stay.” He pauses. “Please.”
I slowly lower myself back to the couch. I hate the power he has over me, but at the same time it gives me a rush. “What the hell do you want from me, Reece?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
I thought I did. I thought I was only after fun, until our night together. That was before he got inside my head. It wasn’t fun after that. “I’m going to be totally honest. It hurt when you stopped coming around.”
His jaw tightens. “That wasn’t my intention. I thought I was doing you a favor.”
“I don’t need you to take care of me.”
“Em, you don’t understand how fucked up I am. You have no idea what you’d be getting into with me.”
He drops his head into his hands and sinks into a chair, looking very much broken. Seeing him this way pulls at my heart. I make my way to him, stopping when my knees bump his.
He looks up, lines of confusion wrinkling his brow. “What—”
“I might not know what I’m getting myself into,” I say, settling onto his lap and twining my fingers around his neck, “but don’t I deserve the chance to decide for myself if you’re worth it or not?”
“I’m not,” he says flatly.
“Again, you don’t get to decide that for me.”
“I don’t have the strength to keep pushing you away.” He traces the ink down my arms. A delicious trail of shivers follow his touch. I arch my back and his eyes darken with hunger. “The war didn’t destroy me. But you, Emily Garrett, you just might.”
I kiss him, urgently, desperate to swallow his words as well as my own. Because the truth is, given my rapidly crumbling walls, he could just as easily do the same to me.
Chapter Eighteen
Emily
Despite his injured knee, he’s able to stand and pick me up.
I gasp. “Reece. You could hurt yourself. Put me down.”
“I’ll pay for it tomorrow. But right now it’s worth it.”
I hook my arms around his neck as he carries me, hobbling the entire way, to the bedroom. He gently sets me down on the bed and stands.
“I want to do things differently tonight.”
I tilt my head. “What do you mean?”
He sits down next to me and slowly pulls his shirt over his head. Just looking at the tight muscles of his chest fills me with desire. “I want to take things slow.”
I try not to let my disappointment show. “You know I like it rough. You won’t hurt me.”
“I know.” He cups my face with his hand before sliding it down my neck. Sparks ignite a trail beneath his fingers, and I shiver. “But I think I used to like it this way—before. I can’t remember. And I want to.”
His admission stabs my heart, and I nod. “Whatever you want.”
“You.”
“I’m yours, baby.” Licking my lips, I ask, “What would you like me to do first?”
He pauses, considering for a moment. “Undress for me.”
“You got it.” I grasp the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head. Thank God I grabbed my lacy red pushup bra today instead of my dingy boring racerback. Pushing up onto my knees, I unbutton my jeans, shimmy out of them, and toss them beside the bed.
“Undress all the way.”
I smile. I guess it wouldn’t have mattered if I wore the ugly bra, considering how long he would have seen me in it. Taking my time, I unhook the back and slide each strap, one at a time, down my arms. I let it fall to the floor. Next, I hook my thumbs under the lacy edge of my panties and slide them down, one slow inch at a time.
Reece grins and his eyes darken with hunger. I’m no stranger to guys looking at me with lust, but this is something else. He said he wanted to do things differently tonight, but he has the same look in his eye he had the night we first had sex. Dangerous. Like he’s all but ready to devour me. He hasn’t even touched me and already my breath comes in quick gasps.
“Now undress me.”
I climb off the bed and kneel in front of him. Maybe this is going to be more fun than I thought. He’s already straining against his jeans when I pop open the button. I make sure to run my hand over him as I pull the zipper down.
Reece’s head rolls back and he lets out a moan.
That’s all the invitation I need. I slip my hand under the band of his boxer briefs and ensnare his shaft. The skin is so velvety and soft to the touch. He pulses with need as I glide my fingers from shaft to tip and back again.
He lets out a low growl that rumbles deep from within his chest. I can’t help but grin. I love making him want me. Desperately. Completely.
Leaning forward, I lick the tip of his dick.
Reece sucks in a breath.
Before he can exhale, I part my lips and take him into my mouth as deep as I dare.
He leans back. “Oh, fuck,” he mutters, which only makes me smile.
I glide my tongue around the thickness of him as I work my way up and down. Up and down.
Like before, he winds his fingers into my hair. But this time, instead of tightening them into fists, his hold is gentle.
“God, Em. Oh God.”
I wind my way, up and down. Up and down. Spiraling my tongue as I work, until finally, he pushes me away with a sharp intake of breath. “I don’t want to. Not yet.”
“Really? I don’t mind. I actually like—”
“Not tonight.” He reaches for my hand, and I give it to him. He helps me to my feet and guides me down onto the bed.
He stands over me for several moments, his eyes taking in every inch of my body until I squirm under the weight of his gaze.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re so beautiful.”
I roll my eyes. “Reece, you’re already going to get laid tonight. You don’t have to feed me lines.”
“No lines.” He climbs onto the bed and straddles me. “Just the truth.” His eyes blaze with a dark hunger that sets every nerve in my body aflame. He wants me. Me. And it’s that look in his eyes—like I’m something to be desired—that makes me feel more beautiful than his words ever did.
He starts slow, running his fingers along my waist, up my arms, and to my hands. I shiver beneath his touch, as a need builds between my legs. Reflexively, my hips buck forward.
Reece answers by placing his palm on me, pressing down on the hidden sweet spot just beneath my pelvic bone.
I gasp as the strings of pleasure immediately tighten inside me. He grinds his palm against me in a slow, smooth rhythm. Syrupy sweet ecstasy followed by just enough of a pause that I can remember how to breathe.
He continues to caress me, making me tighten with pleasure. The pressure inside me builds with each glide of his skin. Hot, melted sugar. Over and over. Building to the point of painful need as I writhe against him. And still, it’s not enough. I want more. I want him.
“Please, Reece,” I pant. “Please. I want you.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“Yes. God, yes.” He takes his hand away and, even though he didn’t push me over the edge, the throbbing he leaves behind lets me know I’m dangerously close.
Reece slides his jeans off and tosses them aside. While I struggle to even out my breathing, he opens his nightstand, shuffles inside, and withdraws a condom.
“Can I?” I grab it from him before he can answer. I’m just desperate to touch him again. After sliding the condom on his dick, I get a couple good rubs in before he catches my wrists, a devilish grin on his lips.
“Bad girl.”
I shrug. No point denying the truth.
&nb
sp; Still holding onto my wrists, he raises my arms above my head and settles between my legs. The moment the head of his penis touches me I tighten with a need so great, I ache.
Rotating his hips, he grazes my outer folds. I whimper and thrust my hips toward him. “Please. Just take me already.”
Chuckling, he stops moving. “I love it when you beg.”
I open my mouth to reply when his lips crash into mine. His kiss is a hungry storm, a force so strong, I’m overpowered in an instant. His tongue strikes with the heat of lightening, leaving me trembling.
He moves from my mouth to the sensitive skin just below my ear. I gasp as his tongue traces a trail down my neck, along my collar bone, and between my breasts. He traces each nipple with his tongue, and they tighten harder with each pass.
When he takes one between his teeth, I cry out. He creates a rhythm of tongue and teeth. Pleasure and pain. The switch is both dizzying and electrifying.
He shifts his hips, and suddenly he’s inside me. I cry out, from the pleasure of having him, at long last, inside me, unwinding the coiled muscles so tight with need for him.
Lacing his fingers through mine, he keeps my hands above my head as he thrusts. The pressure low inside begins to build, filling me with warm honey with each grind of his hips. More and more until it overflows.
I scream as shockwave after shockwave crashes through me. I buck and writhe against him, hooking my legs around his waist to keep the waves of pleasure from carrying me away.
Reece groans, and his fingers tighten on mine. His grinding becomes erratic, until he pushes into me one last time. I can feel his dick pulse inside me as he comes.
I melt beneath him. No bones. Liquid muscle. Basically human pudding.
Slowly, he untangles our fingers, slides an arm around my neck, and drops onto the bed beside me.
I keep my legs wrapped around his waist. I’m not ready to let go.
“That was amazing.” His voice is thick with satisfaction and fatigue.
“Amazing,” I agree, resting my head on his chest.
I listen to the soft thump of his heart until his breathing evens out and I know he’s asleep.
And for once, I have no desire to sneak out of bed, get dressed, and run back home. With his arm around my shoulders, and our hearts echoing each other’s beats, I’m happy exactly where I am.
Amazing.
Chapter Nineteen
Emily
“Em, wake up.” A hand brushes the hair off my face.
I blink several times, pulling myself from dreamless sleep. The details come slowly. The bed is too soft, the sheets smell like lavender, and there is a distinct absence of warm man beside me. “Reece? Is everything okay?”
“I want to take you somewhere. If you hurry, we can get something to eat on the way.”
I rub the heels of my hands against my eyes to clear up the darkness. When that doesn’t help, I realize the darkness won’t leave because it is dark. I turn to the nightstand. A digital clock reads three thirty in the morning.
I sink back into the pillow. “Reece, go back to bed. You’re sleepwalking or something.”
He chuckles. “I’m wide awake. Come on. We want to beat the sun.”
“Said no sane person ever.” I throw an arm over my face.
“Come on, Sleeping Beauty.” He snatches my wrist and pulls me into an upright position while I groan. “We have to leave now so we can stop by your apartment. You need to change.”
“Change? For what? My incarceration? Because I swear, if you drag me out of this bed before the sun comes up, I will end you, Reece.”
“Challenge accepted.” Before I can react, he yanks the covers off of me.
With a gasp, I clutch a pillow to my now freezing body.
He leans against the doorway, watching me, with a big stupid grin on his face. “Oh good, you’re up. Now hurry.” He claps his hands together before spinning around and leaving me alone.
Confused—and even more pissed—I scramble for my clothes. When I’m dressed, he meets me at the door with fishing rods and a tackle box.
“Seriously?” I ask. “You’re taking me fishing? Don’t you have school or something?”
“I’m calling in sick today.”
“To go fishing.”
“Have you ever been?”
“Once.” I nod. “My dad took me before he died. He bought me a pink Barbie fishing rod. I think I was like five or something?”
“You still have the rod?”
“Are you kidding? It’s long gone.”
“That’s too bad.”
I shrug. “That’s life.”
He doesn’t move for several heartbeats. When he does, he limps over to me and kisses the top of my head. The gesture is so tender, so foreign to me, it makes me inhale sharply.
I could easily stay this way all day, wrapped in his arms. At the same time, that feeling of want is so strange, I grow uncomfortable. “We should get going.” My voice trembles slightly as I wriggle out of his grip.
“You’re right,” he says but doesn’t move. Instead, he watches me, his eyes searching for—I’m not sure what exactly. I squirm under the weight of his gaze. “We should hurry.”
He drops me off at my apartment so I can change into “something I’m not afraid to get dirty.” He’s back at my door twenty minutes later, holding a brand new pink Barbie fishing pole.
“What the hell is that?” I ask, laughing.
He grins that rare, lopsided grin of his. “For you. Seemed important.”
“Yeah, when I was five.”
“If you don’t like it, how come you’re smiling?” He takes me by the hand and leads me outside to his waiting bike. His own disassembled poles as well as his tackle box are tucked inside his saddlebag.
“You’re so stupid,” I tell him, holding the rod close as I climb on behind him. “The fish are going to make fun of me.”
“They wouldn’t dare make fun of my girl,” he answers, starting the bike. “I’d kick their fish asses.”
My girl. A secret thrill jolts through my body at his words. Just as quickly, I give myself a mental kick for reacting like a schoolgirl. What is it about him that makes me so giddy?
It’s so early the streets are practically deserted. It doesn’t take long before we’re out of the city. Thirty minutes later, Reece turns onto a dirt-patched gravel road. After several feet, he stops the bike and kills the engine. He looks at me over his shoulder. “We walk from here.”
We dismount. He retrieves his poles and tackle from the saddlebag, while I continue to clutch my ridiculous baby fishing pole. The sun is considering its ascent, not quite rising, but purpling the edges of the black sky. “This way.” He nods toward a line of shadowed trees several yards away.
“I can’t believe I’m in the middle of nowhere, at this ungodly hour, with a pink fishing pole,” I mutter.
Reece smirks. “It’s great, isn’t it? Let’s hurry.” After unhooking his cane, he trudges down the road. I can’t help noticing how light his steps have become, despite the uneven terrain.
The road narrows the farther we walk, becoming little more than a dirt strip beyond the trees. We follow it as it winds through the tall grass and down a small slope. It stops at the muddy edge of a lake. The glittering water reflects the disappearing moon in the lavender sky.
The beauty of it makes me pause.
“I told you it was great, didn’t I?” Reece tugs the belt loop on my jeans, pulling me toward him.
I nod. “It’s amazing.”
“A buddy of mine’s dad owns this property. We’ve been fishing on it since we were kids.” He lets go of my belt loop and rests his hand on the small of my back. If it was any other guy, I’d want to shy away from the touch. But not with Reece. I want to lean into him and close the distance between us.
I also don’t want to ruin it. This whole being-around-a-guy-because-I-actually-like-him thing is new to me, and I still haven’t figured out the rules. “I never woul
d have pegged you as someone who fished,” I tell him.
He arches an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”
“A J.Crew guy like yourself? Shouldn’t you be playing golf or polo or something?”
“Polo?” He laughs. “Nah. I only do that on the weekend.”
The sound of his laugh coats my insides like warm honey. I elbow him in the ribs, which only makes him chuckle harder. “But seriously,” I say, “why fishing?”
He’s quiet so long I think he’s not going to answer. But then he says, “It’s the only thing I have left that the war didn’t change or take away. Fishing, for me, is exactly the same as it was before I went to the desert. Nothing else is like that.”
I say nothing.
He points to a patch of tall grass by the water. “That’s the magic spot. We’ll set up there.”
Following him, I watch as he runs the line through his poles. Then he helps me do the same to my pole. He doesn’t make fun of me, even when I string it through the wrong loop twice.
When I finally do get it right, he helps me add a bobber and hook then gives me a ten-minute lecture on the pros and cons of all the little, wiggly, rubber things in his tackle box. I immediately forget everything he said. Despite smelling terrible, the wiggly, rubber things are colorful and glittery. So, at the very least, I learn fish have good taste.
After baiting our hooks, we cast our lines into the lake and sit on a nearby log.
“Now what?” I ask.
Reece stretches his legs in front of him. “We wait for the magic to happen.”
As far as I’m concerned, the magic’s already happening. The sun peeks over the horizon, an orange halo that sets the lake on fire. I can’t help but gasp. “It’s beautiful.”
“Beautiful,” Reece agrees.
I turn to find it’s not the sunset he’s watching, but me.
My cheeks burn, and I look away.
“Thank you,” he says.
“For?”
“Coming here. With me.”
I laugh. “Did I have a choice?”
“Always. And you chose me.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I stay silent.
He slowly tightens the line on his fishing rod. “It makes me feel human again.”