Redesigned

by Denise Grover Swank

  “Hours?”

  “We’ll need at least that long for everything I want to do with you.”

  I stand on tiptoes to press my lips more firmly against his, but he lifts his head.

  “First work. Then playing.”

  I shake my head with a laugh. “You know how to inspire a girl.”

  “I promised to be bossy. Now go get a lot of work done because I have big plans for you tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow can’t get here soon enough.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I push stray hairs from my face, exhausted, but happy with the progress I’ve made. It’s later than I expected, but not only did I make a pattern for a skirt, top and vest, I cut the fabric and sewed most of the skirt.

  When I’m halfway to my car, I realize Reed never brought back my keys. I lean my head back and groan. It’s two o’clock in the morning. I’m going to wake him. But he made me promise to call him anyway. I hope he doesn’t live too far off campus.

  He answers on the first ring, and he sounds more awake than I feel.

  “You still have my keys,” I say, pausing mid-sentence to yawn.

  “I’m still on campus. Are you still in the design lab?”

  “No, I’m halfway to my car.”

  “It’s two in the morning. Did you call security to walk with you?”

  “No.” I’m surprised by his protective tone. “It never occurred to me.”

  “Are you telling me that you routinely walk across campus in the middle of the night?” His voice is tight.

  “I think you’re overreacting.”

  “Tell that to the six women who were raped on Southern’s campus last year.” He sounds angry, but he also sounds breathless.

  I stop in the middle of the sidewalk under a beam of light coming from a street lamp. “What are you talking about?”

  “Are you telling me you never check the campus crime reports?”

  “Why on earth would I?”

  “To be safe?” He’s furious now. “Where the hell are you?”

  “I told you. Halfway across campus.”

  “Goddamn it, Caroline. I’m coming.”

  My anger soars. Who the hell does he think he is? “Well good for you.” I hang up, but keep my phone in my hand in case I need it. Was he serious that there were six rapes on campus last year? Southern’s always felt safe, cocooned from the outside world. Now Reed’s ripped away that perception.

  If there were really six rapes on campus, wouldn’t I have heard about it?

  Well, screw Reed Pendergraft. I start walking the rest of the way, imagining monsters lurking in the shadows. When I reach my car, I see Reed’s Altima still parked next to mine. I don’t think he left campus after he dropped me off. Why would he stay all this time waiting for me? What the hell has he been doing?

  I sit on the hood of my car and watch as he stops jogging at the edge of the parking lot when he sees me. My anger has cooled by the time he reaches me, but the same can’t be said for him.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” He’s still furious, perhaps even more so.

  “I told you, it never occurred to me that something could happen and nothing did. Other than being verbally berated by an angry grad student.”

  “I’m serious, Caroline.”

  “So am I, Reed.” I pull him toward me between my spread legs. “Do you know how sexy you are when you get all protective like that?”

  Some of the tension leaves his shoulders.

  “What are you still doing on campus?” I ask.

  “Working. You’re not the only one with projects. I have a midterm due next week.”

  I close my eyes. I really am a selfish bitch. It never occurred to me to ask about his own work. “Did you get a lot done?”

  “Yeah, what about you?”

  “More than I expected.” I’m tired but when I kiss him, my exhaustion fades away. “Is it tomorrow yet?” I murmur against his lips.

  His answer is the way he devours my mouth, kissing me like he hasn’t seen me for six months instead of six hours.

  “Come home with me,” I say. “I have a bed. With a mattress and everything. Pillows too.”

  He stops and brushes the hair out of my eyes, staring into my face with a worried look. “Aren’t you tired?”

  “Not anymore. Although I’m not sure I’ll last for hours.”

  “We can see how long you last.”

  I giggle. “Is that a challenge?”

  “Take it as you like.”

  I slide off the hood, and down the front of Reed’s body. He groans and holds me close.

  “Did I mention I have a bed?” I ask.

  He grabs my wrist and pulls me to the driver’s door of my car. After he unlocks the door, he hands me the keys.

  I narrow my eyes with playful suspicion. “Could keeping my keys be a ploy to try out my bed, Reed Pendergraft?”

  He winks. “You caught me. I’m bed-less and beg you to give mercy to a mattress-challenged man.”

  I stand on tiptoe and press my lips to his. “Then tonight’s your lucky night.”

  Before he can kiss me back, I dart away and slip into my car.

  He grins ear to ear. “I’ll follow you.”

  My car starts without a problem, and I’ve never been so eager in my life to get home, keeping Reed’s headlights in my rearview mirror.

  He’s out of his car before I grab my bag and get out of mine. He takes my hand and practically drags me up the stairs to my apartment. After he takes my keys, he unlocks the door and pulls me inside, closing the door and pushing me against it.

  “Unbutton your shirt,” he says. He wasn’t kidding about bossing me around.

  I smile and take my time pushing the buttons through the holes.

  The room is dark. The only light comes from a small lamp sitting on the kitchen counter.

  When I finish my task, I wait while he studies my breasts.

  “Where’s your room?”

  Good idea. Tina’s not a light sleeper, but it would be awkward if she found us, especially since she was on a date with Reed less than a week ago.

  I walk toward my room, and I’m surprised he doesn’t reach for me. When we enter my room, I switch on the lamp on my bedside table as he closes the door.

  “Take off your shirt and skirt.”

  I turn around to face him, sliding my shirt down my arms and letting it fall to the floor. Reed brings a confidence out of me that I’ve never felt in the bedroom before. I tried to strip for Justin once, but it ended with me feeling awkward. The way Reed watches me now, the last thing I feel like is awkward.

  I hook my thumbs under the waistband of my skirt and slowly slip it over my hips, shimmying a little in the process when I remember he liked watching my hips during my model walk. Before the skirt hits the floor, he’s pulled me into his arms, his mouth searching mine.

  We both take off his clothes, a joint effort that ends up with Reed in his briefs and me in my lingerie.

  He stares at my body for several seconds then kisses me again, with a tenderness we’ve never shared during sex before. He lowers me to the bed, and his hands skim my body, up my arms, then down my sides.

  “Caroline, you’re so beautiful.”

  I grin up at him. “You’re gorgeous yourself.”

  He gives me a mock arrogant grin. “It must have been my model walk.” Then he laughs, and my heart swells with something I don’t recognize. Before I can stop to figure it out, he’s pulling me up and removing my bra.

  “I told you I want to see you naked in bed.”

  I offer a mock frown. “But alas, no heels.”

  His smile turns wicked. “That is so easily taken care of.” He tugs off my panties and tosses them onto the floor then he kneels on the bed, not touching, only watching. “I want to be on top, watching your face as I fuck you.”

  I hold back a moan and heat pours through my body.

  “You like it when I talk dirty to you, don’t you?”


  “Yes.” The word is guttural and an octave lower than my usual voice. I should be embarrassed to admit this to him, but I’m not.

  The erection in his briefs swells. “Where are your heels?”

  I rise up on my elbows. “You weren’t kidding.”

  “No.”

  This man turns me on in ways I never thought possible. “In my closet.”

  He opens the door and a few seconds later he turns around with the black heels I wore Friday night hanging from his fingers. “Put them on.”

  I’ve never worn heels in bed, but the act of sitting up and strapping them on while I’m naked as Reed watches is highly erotic.

  “Now lie down,” he says as he takes off his briefs.

  I do as he says, taking in the sight of him completely naked. Heat spreads throughout my body, and I’m desperate for him to touch me. Not to mention I’m excited and nervous to see what he has planned next.

  “You’re so gorgeous, lying there naked, your hair spread out on your pillow. And your eyes … you have the most beautiful eyes.” He kneels at the foot of the bed, between my feet. “I’ve tasted the upper part of your body, but the lower half has been seriously neglected.” He picks up one of my legs and rests the back of my ankle on his shoulder. “I plan to take care of that.” His lips slide up my ankle as his places kisses up my calf, stopping in the hollow behind my knee.

  He laughs when I squirm then he lowers my leg and lifts the other to his shoulder, repeating the same process. “Am I driving you crazy yet?” he asks, his mouth skimming up to my thigh, just above my knee.

  “Yes.”

  He laughs softly as his mouth continues its ascent. He leaves one leg on his shoulder and spreads my other leg open then leans over to kiss the inside of my thigh. My breasts rise and fall with my quickened breaths.

  “I’ve fantasized about this. You naked, wearing your heels, your eyes telling me how much you want me and the evidence of it between your legs so there’s no doubt.”

  If he doesn’t turn his attention to the place he just mentioned, I’m going to spontaneously combust.

  As if reading my mind, his tongue finds the spot that drives me wild. I arch my back and gasp. Reed may be going to school for a graduate degree in math, but his real expertise lies in what he’s doing now. The only comparison I have is Justin and his half-hearted attempts. Reed has just proven Justin had no idea what he was doing.

  Reed lifts my hips and slips a finger inside me, then moments later, he inserts another while his mouth concentrates on its assigned task.

  “Reed.” I plead.

  “It’s okay.” His tongue circles in its tortuous dance. “I want you to come this way.”

  I moan.

  “Oh, fuck, I love to hear your little sounds.” One of his hands slides up my stomach and over the swell of my breast, fondling my nipple.

  I arch into him, the onslaught of sensations pushing me to dizzying heights, and I can barely keep up, but Reed pushes me higher and higher, until I can hardly breathe. And then the bottom falls away and I cry out his name again and again. And when I land, I’m surprised to find my hands fisted in his hair.

  Raw hunger fills his eyes and this sight of him between my legs, watching me with such longing, causes my passion to build again.

  My hands still in his hair, I pull his mouth to mine. The taste of myself on his tongue is shocking, but it turns me on even more. I wrap my legs around his waist.

  “Oh God, Caroline. I have never wanted anyone like I want you.”

  His words turn me on too.

  Reed has turned me into this wild, wicked woman and not only do I not care, I want more. I’m insatiable.

  “Fuck me, Reed.”

  The muscles in his neck tense. “I have to get a condom.” He sounds impatient.

  I lock my ankles at the small of his back. My heels press into the soft flesh of his ass.

  He sucks in a breath as his eyes close.

  “Do you still like my heels?” I whisper huskily.

  “God, yes,” he groans. “I want to be in you now.” He tries to get up, but I tighten my legs around him.

  “I’ve had sex with four guys, and all but one wore a condom. The one who didn’t was an ass, but he didn’t cheat on me. I’m clean, and I’m on the pill.” I pull his head down and take his earlobe in my mouth, biting the soft flesh. “You always wear a condom, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” His breath warms my cheek.

  “I want to be your first without one. I want you to have lots of firsts with me, just like almost everything we do is a first for me.” My mouth moves to his neck and his pulse throbs against my lips as his erection throbs against my core. “Fuck me.”

  He groans and rises on his forearms, his gaze on mine as he slowly slides into me. His eyes roll back as his head leans back. “Caroline.” He pushes deeper until he’s all the way in. “Fuck,” he growls.

  I lift my pelvis so he can slide deeper. He grabs my hips, his fingers digging in to hold me where he wants me as he begins to move. “You feel so good.”

  The pressure builds again, and Reed pushes me higher with every thrust.

  “Fuck me, Reed.” I arch my back. “Fuck me harder.”

  He groans and obeys.

  I’m not the only one who likes dirty talk.

  I’m so close but I hang on, letting the pressure build, and when I don’t think I can hold on any more I let go, flying apart into a million pieces.

  I’m vaguely aware when he growls. It starts low then builds. His fingers dig into my hips, pulling me closer, as he tries to get deeper. When he comes, he releases a primal groan then collapses on top of me. I unlock my ankles, and he slides to my side, slipping his arm under my back then rolling to his back, my head resting on his chest.

  “I swear to God, you’re going to be the death of me,” he murmurs against my temple.

  “Are you complaining?” I yawn.

  “God, no.” His hand cups my cheek and lifts my face so he can see me. Instead of the usual lust in his eyes, there’s tenderness instead. He brushes stray hairs from my cheek. “The next time you walk to your car again at campus in the middle of the night, promise me you’ll call the campus police to escort you.”

  “That again?” I close my eyes with a sigh. I’d forgotten about our previous disagreement.

  “If you promise me, the next time we have sex, I’ll make sure it’s even better than tonight.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible.” But every time with Reed has been better than the last. Maybe it is possible. “Good call on the bed,” I murmur, my eyelids so heavy I can barely keep them open. I need to take off my heels, but I can’t find the energy.

  “Say you were right, Reed.”

  “God, you’re so bossy.”

  “Say it. I want to hear you say it.”

  I’m too tired to fight him. “You were right, Reed.”

  He kisses my temple again, and the last thing I hear before I drift off to sleep is Reed whispering. “Yes, I am,” But he doesn’t seem happy about it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I wake in a tangle of sheets and limbs. I’m not wearing my heels. Reed must have taken them off.

  His arm lies across my chest. I turn to watch him sleep, and I wonder again how I could have so easily dismissed him the night I met him. Granted, I was intent on getting a date with Dylan, and Reed was a bit awkward, but Reed has to be the most attractive man I’ve ever known. Or is he more attractive because of what we’ve experienced together?

  His eyes flutter open, and he grins before they close again. “Good morning.” He pulls me tight to his chest. “I had the most amazing night.”

  “Really?” I tease.

  “Not only did I get the most beautiful woman in the world to strip for me and lie naked wearing her heels, but she begged me to fuck her.” He groans, and I feel his erection against my thigh.

  I laugh, but I feel a stir deep in my abdomen. “As difficult as it is for me to be the voice
of reason, we both have classes we need to get ready for.”

  One of his eyelids slits open. “And you know about my class, how?”

  “You handed out copies of your schedule. I memorized it in case you threw a pop quiz and then executed anyone who scored less than eighty percent.”

  He laughs against my hair. “So maybe I was a bit intense….”

  “You think?”

  He rolls me to my back and rises on an elbow. “It’s all your fault, you know.”

  “Mine? How?”

  “You drove me crazy. It was either be a fucking prick or beg you to give me a chance.” He laughs. “I would have begged you if it came to that, but listening to you beg me is so much better.”

  It’s my turn to moan. “As much as I want to spend the entire day with you, we both need to get up.”

  Reed leans over to check the time on my bedside clock, then drops his face into his pillow with a groan of protest. “No.” He grinds his head into the pillow as he shakes. “Somehow I don’t think my Algebra 101 students will appreciate the sacrifice I’m making for them.”

  “You’re probably right, but I have an environmental impact class I can’t miss.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed, then give him a saucy look over my shoulder. “Want to take a shower with me?”

  He lowers his mouth to my shoulder. “Now here’s a neglected part.”

  “Focus, Reed.”

  “It’s quite difficult to focus with you purposely distracting me. You are very naughty.” I know from the way he says it that he’s not talking about this morning.

  I start to stand but he pulls me back down. I turn to him, laughing. “Shower or no?”

  His smile falls. “I need to get home and check on Lexi.”

  I try not to react to his news. “So Lexi does live with you?”

  His eyes narrow. “What does it matter?”

  “She’s a sophomore in college, yet she can’t seem to do anything without her big brother. That’s just….” I search for a non-insulting word.

  “Weird?” His tone is dry, and the shutter over his eyes—the signal that announces that cold, unyielding Reed Pendergraft is open and ready for business—falls into place. He sits up, his playfulness gone.