by Jessica Roe
“No regrets?” He grins into my hair like he already knows the answer – he just wants to hear me say it.
“No regrets,” I assure him. My fingers trail lazy circles over a fireball tattoo on his shoulder.
Sighing contently, he presses his cheek into my hair and closes his eyes.
After a few minutes in each others arms, Reid heads to the bathroom. I watch his bare butt go the entire time as he struts like a proud peacock, very comfortable with his nakedness. That butt is mine now – I can take a bite out of it whenever I want.
“I'm gonna snoop through your stuff,” I call to him. Because, you know, it's not like he can stop me, but I guess he deserves a warning.
He just laughs and gives me the go ahead.
Nosily, I lean over the edge of his bed, crossing my ankles in the air behind me. A person's nightstand definitely says a lot about them, and Reid conveniently scattered the contents of his over the floor.
“What are these?” I ask curiously when he re-enters the room a minute later, holding up a bunch of papers.
He sits down next to me and slaps my ass, then rubs it gently as he takes the papers from me. “Oh, that. It's stuff to do with my business plan.” We climb back into bed and he throws the sheets over our waists, resting the papers on his chest.
“For your own tattoo shop?” I ask, pleasantly surprised. I knew that's what he wanted someday, but I hadn't realized he'd given it so much thought. “You didn't say you were already making plans.”
He shrugs, vulnerable again. “I wanted to be worthy of you.” Avoiding my eyes, he put the papers back on his nightstand.
I open my mouth, but suddenly I'm speechless.
Turning back to me, he rolls his eyes at my reaction. “You didn't think I was just gonna give up on you that easy, did you?”
“Um.”
Smirking affectionately, he throws an arm around my waist and hugs me tight. “Dumb ass. You think one little rejection was enough to stop me from trying to win you? Did you miss that whole part where I'm fucking crazy for you? I told you that night, Jem, this is more to me than sex. Way more.” He cups my cheek and strokes his thumb over my bottom lip tenderly. “I had this whole plan. I mean, sure I sulked like hell at first, but Digby made me realize what an ass I was being. So I was gonna get my shit together, open up my place and show you I could take care of you just as well as those posh rich bastards. Better, in fact, 'cause those idiots don't drive you as wild as I do,” he teases.
“Reid,” I murmur, overwhelmed. Reaching up, I kiss him, and I put all of my feelings for him into it. I know right then that I'll adore him forever, for the rest of my life. I suddenly remember that I don't have to keep my feelings hidden any more, so I tell him exactly that.
“Even if we ended up dirt poor and living in a dumpster?”
“We'd be a dumpster couple,” I confirm, nodding. “We'd wear newspaper outfits and eat thrown out spaghetti and have lots and lots of dumpster sex. . . Okay, I feel like that started out sweet and ended up just weird.”
He laughs and kisses my nose.
“This isn't just for me, right?” I ask, back on the tattoo shop. “This is something you really want?”
He nods. “Of course. It's been something I wanted ever since I became passionate about tattooing, but I was procrastinating. You inspired me to get serious about it. Digby said he'd even invest.”
“I'm so proud of you.” I stroke his cheek. “That's awesome. You're awesome.”
He nuzzles my shoulder. “Turns out my little Cindy came to me anyway before I could even get started on my evil genius plan.”
“There's no getting rid of me now.”
His expression turns serious. “Good. Because this is it now, Jemma. You and me. This is it.”
I smile up at him. “Forever.”
He smiles back for the longest time, then plucks the sheet down to eye my naked body. Sighing heavily, he climbs out of bed and grabs up his jeans.
“What are you doing?” I pull the sheet over my breasts.
“Running to the store.” He grins rakishly. “We're gonna need a whole lot more condoms.”
“It looks good,” Reid says behind me, peering down the back of my dark green dress. “It's healing well.” He places a sweet kiss on the side of my neck then zips my dress back up, careful not to press against my new tattoo – a beautiful, swirling phoenix rising from flames and ashes that curls right around my left shoulder. Designed, of course, by Reid. The phoenix was definitely appropriate, I'd decided. I too felt like I'd shed the old me and evolved into something new, something better. I wasn't the same shallow, judgmental girl I used to be. . . Not most of the time, anyway.
“That's 'cause my awesome boyfriend looks after me so well.”
“Hmm, you'd better tell me who he is so I can beat his ass before I steal you from him.”
“Make sure the tattoo isn't visible,” I warn. “Daddy would totally kill me. Then he'd kill you for putting it there.”
“Well I'm not about to let any other fucker ink that beautiful skin of yours.” With one more kiss, he straightens my dress out. I turn and sit back in the car we borrowed from Walt for the weekend, peering around Reid to see my childhood home, which we parked in front of five minutes ago. The curtains aren't twitching, so my mom hasn't noticed our arrival just yet. “Besides, I'm not worried – your dad loves me.”
“True, though I have no idea why,” I tease, reaching over to kiss his soft lips. Oddly, it's actually the truth. My mom and dad surprised Blair and I with a visit to the city a couple of weeks ago and introducing Reid to them was kind of unavoidable, but my dad and Reid hit it off in a weird way.
“Mm,” Reid mumbles into my mouth, kissing me harder. As always, something ignites between us and what was meant to be an innocent peck quickly grows passionate. “It's because he knows I'll take care of you,” he finally manages to reply, the first to pull away. He cups my cheek and smiles at me.
I nod, still breathless. “He was very impressed with your business plan.”
So impressed that Daddy wants to invest, but Reid doesn't know that yet. Daddy's going to surprise him with it tonight at Thanksgiving dinner.
“We probably have Blair and Silver to thank. I think your dad would've been cool with anyone after accepting them.” He chuckles.
“They've definitely broadened his mind beyond the black and white. He tiptoes around the gray zone now,” I agree. “It's a shame your mom couldn't come to Thanksgiving dinner.”
He grimaces. “Yeah, Digby surprised her with a. . .getaway.” It's a romantic getaway, but Reid can't quite bring himself to say that just yet. He's happy for them, really he is. . . Most of the time. It still icks him out though.
Now that he's all mine, I can't seem to help touching Reid pretty much all time – luckily he doesn't mind. I reach up and rub his shoulder, reveling in the warmth of his skin through the thin black sweater – the one that clings to his chest in all kinds of delicious ways. He lifts his hand to grasp mine, kissing my palm before laying our entwined fingers over his heart, right over his newest tattoo. A couple of weeks ago he decided he was going to get my name inked on his body which I obviously told him absolutely no frakking way. We'd only been dating for two weeks and it was far too soon. Still, when he showed up at my dorm that night with a small glass slipper tattooed on his chest, I definitely didn't complain. In fact, I showed him exactly how much I loved it. All. Night. Long. His buddies think the new tattoo is hilariously girly, but they don't get it, not like I do.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Reid pipes up. “Walt told me to ask you for Ibbie's digits. He's too much of a little bitch to ask you himself. Or her.”
My mouth drops open. “Shut. The hell. Up! Walt? And Ibbie? I thought he hated her. Last time we all hung out his exact words were, 'She's an annoying fucking gremlin sprite hybrid who don't know how to shut the fuck up'. And that's a direct quote.”
Reid shrugs. Why do things not faze guys like they shoul
d? “I guess gremlin sprite hybrids are his type.”
I giggle, trying to imagine Walt and Ibbie as a couple and utterly failing. They'd be even stranger than the idea of Reid and I – though that's not exactly a strange concept any more. “This totally needs to happen in a big way.”
“As long as we don't have to double date,” he bargains, leaning in for another kiss. “I want you all to myself.”
“Agreed.” And not only because Walt is still a big jerk. But he's down to being the Jerky Mayor of Jerkville only about seventy percent of the time, so progress is happening – though he definitely doesn't like it when I call him that.
Reid goes to pull back but I don't let him, definitely not done with those lips yet. We lose ourselves in each other, but that's not unusual – I tend to forget the rest of the world exists every time his lips meet mine. He makes a low moan into my mouth and wraps his arms around my waist to bring me impossibly closer in a car way too small for his large frame. “God, you drive me fucking insane.”
“I know how you feel,” I pant.
I kiss him once more on his lips and his cheek but then pull back because I get that feeling, that being watched feeling. And. . .yep, that's my mom peering through the curtains like a total freakazoid. “We should go in,” I say with a sigh. “Daddy may love you now but he'll probably revise that if he sees you touching me up right outside his house.”
“Mm, touching.” He brings me back for more kisses.
“He has a gun.”
This makes him retreat, but only to check whether or not I'm being serious. I'm not, but I waggle my eyebrows anyway – a cocky move I stole from him.
“Fine.” He pouts adorably. “But we're picking this up later.”
“We better.”
When we walk into the house together a couple of minutes later, my mom pretends to be really surprised to see us. Behind her, Blair is laughing at her performance, a hand on her heart as she pretends to swoon dramatically. The impression is dead on. My youngest brother, Lance, has his head bent over a hand-held video game, and my little sister, Ila – growing rapidly from a cute and cuddly kid to a bitchy thirteen year old – is glued to her cellphone. Daddy, Silver, Nash and Zac are gathered on the sofas with beers, watching the parade on TV.
I rush over to hug Zac, delighted he could make it home from his travels to see us. In typical big brother fashion, he half halfheartedly pats the top of my head and doesn't take his eyes from the screen. Hailee (with two ees, God save us if we forget), the girl he's been dating since college, takes up the armchair, her usual glass of wine replaced with an ice water. Her regular stepped-in-crap expression, however, is firmly in place. She despises family get togethers of any kind because they're 'such a cliche' – yeah, she's that kind of girl. How someone as awful as her managed to snag her complete opposite in my awesome brother and wrap him around her little finger will forever remain a mystery.
Pulling me from my thoughts, Reid squeezes my shoulder on his way to go help my mom in the kitchen for a couple of minutes before heading back in to join the guys. Leaning behind the sofa with my arms hooked around Nash and Zac's necks, I glance around my family in utter contentment, wondering what it was I did in a past life to deserve such awesomeness now.
Later, while Blair and I help mom in the kitchen with dinner, the guys head outside to play a not properly thought out game of touch football. The three of us pause what we're doing to watch them through the window, giggling as they slip and slide in the muddy grass and shiver in the chilly November air. But despite the cold and the mud, they're laughing almost as hard as we are.
“Look, your dad just tried to tackle Reid and practically bounced off his back,” Mom points out, tears of mirth in her eyes. We watch as Daddy tackles Reid again, this time knocking them both to the ground. Nearby, Silver and Nash are bent over in fits of laughter until Daddy and Reid both reach out to grab their ankles, yanking them over in the mud. Zac, the only one left standing, throws his arms in the air to declare himself the champion. I snort in a very unladylike manner as a glob of mud hits him right in the cheek.
My mom is clearly in a very good mood because she hasn't once complained about her ruined grass – though I bet Daddy will be hearing all about it tomorrow. Still shaking with laughter, she slips an arm around mine and Blair's shoulders to bring us in for a hug, kissing the sides of our heads. “My girls,” she says affectionately, then goes back to her cooking, shaking her head at the guys' antics.
I catch Blair's eye for just a second before she turns away, but she isn't quick enough to hide the emotion on her face. My mom's affection may have been a simple, throwaway gesture on her part, but I know how big a deal it is for Blair, even after all this time. And she's happy. Really and truly happy, just like me.
After dinner, Daddy leads us all into the destroyed back garden to let off fireworks – our Thanksgiving tradition. It's not five minutes before I spy Blair and Silver sneaking away – probably to Silver's house across the street which is currently between tenants. I choose not to speak up, because I have some sneaking off planned of my own.
When I'm certain no one will notice because they're all too busy oohing and ahhing over Daddy's over the top fireworks, I tug on Reid's hand and lead him back inside the house to my old bedroom.
It's so strange being back in here now, and very embarrassing. Was I always so obsessed with pink?
“What are we doing?” Reid asks with a chuckle as I press him back against my closed bedroom door.
“I figure we've got at least twenty minutes before they finish up out there and notice we're gone.” I grin and reach up on my tiptoes to kiss him. “Daddy likes to put on a show.”
“Better make this quick then.” He smirks, walking us forward while ripping the stripy t-shirt he borrowed from Nash after touch football over his head. I go to kiss him again, but he stops me, cupping my cheeks in his hands tenderly. His gaze is intense as he looks into my eyes. Intense and honest and open and raw, in a way that only Reid can be. It's like he's seeing right into my soul. “I love you, Cindy.”
That's another new thing. Another new, frightening, exhilarating thing.
I've never told a guy I loved him before, and no guy has ever said it to me and actually meant it. I hadn't even meant to say it to Reid. Not yet at least, and definitely not out loud, even if I had been thinking it in my head a lot. But last week he took me bowling and when I'd beaten him he'd gotten the sulkiest look on his face. I hadn't been able to stop myself from laughing as I'd kissed his gorgeous, pouty bottom lip, and it had just slipped out. Those three little words, so tiny yet so frakking huge. As I'd watched his eyes widen as he registered what I'd said, I'd realized right then that I'd never meant anything more in my whole life and though I was terrified, I wouldn't take it back. I couldn't, not even if he wanted me too.
Though I had wished I'd waited until we were some place that smelled a little less like feet before blurting it out.
But Reid didn't ask me to take it back. Instead, something came over him. The game immediately forgotten, he'd practically dragged me out of the building, barely giving us enough time to take off those dorky bowling shoes before we were speeding back to his place on the bike. That night he'd made love to me with an intensity he never had before, and he'd told me how much he loved me again and again into my mouth, my neck, into every inch of my burning skin. And unlike the guys who'd said it to me before, I'd known he meant it with every last fiber of his being, with every last inch of his soul.
I'd been right before, when I'd thought that a relationship between Reid and I would consume us, would own us, would be something I could never get over. But I've realized something else since then – it just means that what we have is pure and honest and true. Our love is something real. It's something worth fighting for. And I will. Always.
I wrap my arms around Reid's neck and kiss him. “I love you too,” I tell him breathlessly as we fall back against my bed. And I really, really do.
C
all Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson
You're Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring
What Would Happen by Meredith Brooks
We by Joy Williams
Ghost by Sir Sly
Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran
Show Me by Evans Blue
Big Girls Cry by Sia
What Scares You Most by Manic Bloom
Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard
Sons & Daughters by Allman Brown Ft. Liz Lawrence
Somebody Like You by Keith Urban
Something Real wouldn't be what it is without two super beta readers, Susan Stancampiano and Donna Crossland. Both of them took the time to read through my little story and give me some awesome advice, which I am forever grateful for. So thank you for being awesome!
And as always, thank you to the readers! An especially big thank you to those of you who read Because of Him and left such wonderful feedback and asked for more. There wouldn't be a Something Real without you guys!
For more information about any of my books come find me at:
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Track List
Acknowledgments
About the Author