by Jenika Snow
Reese stepped forward, placed his hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her close to him. Her throat instantly went dry as she gazed into his eyes. Neither one of them said anything, but they didn’t need to because the chemistry between them was tangible, and that weirdness was now gone. A second later he dipped his head and kissed her deeply. It wasn’t a kiss that was meant to arouse her, although it certainly did that. The kiss had her heart stopping and every emotion inside of her blooming.
“I don’t care if they catch us, Lake,” he said after he pulled away. “But I think having them walk in on me having sex with you might have emotions being raised.”
She knew he was right, and she certainly didn’t want Ginny or her dad seeing them in this compromising position. She was confused as it was on where she stood with her emotions. She needed time to process everything without having her dad and Ginny in on this, and jumping to conclusions.
“Don’t worry,” he said against her mouth, and pulled back. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her closer to him, then kissed her again. The kiss lasted several seconds until she finally pulled away and rested her forehead on his chest.
“This wasn’t just sex for me, Reese.”
He gripped her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “I know. It wasn’t for me either.”
This felt like things were happening lightning fast, but she didn’t want to slow down. “I’m worried about what Ginny and my dad will say if they find out.” They hadn’t had time to think, let alone talk about them knowing, and she didn’t think she wanted to go there right now.
“Don’t worry,” he said again, and she felt this calmness fill her. He kissed the top of her head, caressed her cheek, and moved away from her. She stood there, in the center of her room with the sheet wrapped around her, realizing she’d just had sex with Reese.
The future scared but warmed her. Overall it was one confusing situation that she hoped didn’t backfire.
Chapter Nine
Reese had woken up early and left before anyone else was up. He not only had things to finalize with the divorce, but he also didn’t know what in the hell was going on with him and Lake.
Closing his eyes as he sat in his car in the parking lot of his attorney’s office building, he thought about last night. He’d been hung-over when he got up this morning, but he’d remembered what they’d done very clearly. He shouldn’t have been with her, at least not without talking to her, getting to really know her, and making sure she was okay with it all.
Instead he’d been drunk, saw her gorgeous ass watching him, and knew she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. All common sense had left him. They may have a large age gap between them, some kind of pseudo-taboo thing going on because she was his sister’s stepdaughter, but to him none of that had mattered. But did he want to jump into one relationship right after getting out of another just a short time ago?
Be honest with yourself on how your marriage really was.
The relationship with Brittany had been done long before he signed those divorce papers. Yeah, he’d known that, felt it, and there was no lost love between him and his ex. Did he love Lake? He couldn’t say he was in love with her, because they weren’t at that stage in any shape. Did he want to know her more, want to be able to fully invest his emotions for the woman who controlled his thoughts since he’d really seen her as an adult? Yeah, he really fucking did, and that should scare him instead of intrigue him.
Before sleeping with Lake last night he hadn’t been with Brittany in over a year. That’s how bad things between them had been. Hell, he hadn’t ever cheated on his ex either, so going over a year without sex had been hard, although the emotional shit going on in his personal life had faded that other stuff to black. But until he’d been with Lake, desired her like he’d desired no other, not even Brittany, he hadn’t been interested in getting with any other woman, not even his own wife.
Brittany was the opposite of Lake. His ex was this superficial, cold hearted and selfish person. The short time he’d been in Calvin’s house, and had known Lake, he knew she was sweet and good. It was strange to have these kinds of emotions so quickly for her, but he also had learned in his life not to take things for granted, and if they felt right then they probably were.
He’d go back to Ginny’s place, talk with Lake, and see where they stood. He just had to make sure his desire for her didn’t get the better of him, because making her see that what they were doing wasn’t wrong would be hard if he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.
****
It had only been a day since Lake had slept with Reese, but she hated that things felt weird inside of her. He’d been gone when she woke up, and of course she’d jumped right to the conclusion that he’d regretted what they’d done and had left. She felt embarrassed, angry, but most of all sad. She didn’t regret what they’d done, and she felt those suppressed feelings for Reese rise up.
Now Lake was at the house alone, thinking about Reese and how things were going to play out. They needed to talk about this definitely, but she had no clue how to broach the subject, or exactly where they stood. Yeah, Reese had said a lot of things last night, things that had made her feel good and wanted, warm and desired, but had that just been the alcohol talking?
She sat at the kitchen table, finished off her lunch before she had to get ready for work, and thought about what would happen if she just admitted to Reese how she felt. And what if she came clean with her father and Ginny? What if things progressed with Reese in a way Lake had been fantasizing about for a longtime? Would they talk to their family together?
God, it seemed too much to even think about, especially when she didn’t even know where she stood with Reese.
Rising from the table, she rinsed off her dishes and put them in the dishwasher. She headed out of the kitchen, but before she made it to the stairs the front door opened and Reese walked in. He stared at her as he closed the door behind him. The way he looked—lethal, gorgeous, and intent on keeping his focus on her—had her body lighting up like it had been set on fire.
“Lake…” He said her name softly.
She licked her lips, twisted her hands together, and knew that although she didn’t have to bring this up now there was no time like the present.
“Ginny and your dad are still gone?”
She swallowed, and then nodded. “They’re not due back for hours.” Their overnight trip last night had been a little date retreat, something for the two of them. But right here and now she and Reese were alone.
He nodded and moved closer. His jaw was clenched tightly, his dark eyes watching her thoughtfully. “I did a lot of thinking tonight about … us and last night.”
She nodded, not knowing what to say or do all of a sudden. Would he tell her it was a mistake? He moved closer still, and she found herself moving back a step. The banister stopped her retreat, but she didn’t know what she was running from. Staring at him, smelling him, hell, just being in his presence instantly had a wave of arousal slamming into her.
He wore a button down shirt and well-worn jeans. He looked good … really good in fact. Her panties instantly became wet, and her nipples beaded up in arousal. Neither said anything for several seconds. Then he moved a step closer.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about last night, Lake, about how we need to talk about it, but then I saw you standing there, and I swear it’s like all common sense left me. It seems all common sense leaves me when you’re near,” he said almost to himself, softly, low and deep.
God, had she been thinking about last night, too, about where they stood, but she knew how he felt about the whole common sense leaving. Before he said anything else, or she could respond he wrapped his arms around her, brought her body close to his much larger, harder one, and kissed her like it was the last thing he would ever do. She should have gotten lost in the kiss, but her mind reeled about what was happening right now in her father and Ginny’s house, and what they’d done last night.
But his expert kis
ses had her warming to everything, melting against him, and pushing her worries aside. He nipped at her lips until she felt the blood rush to the surface. Soon her thoughts turned toward what he was actually doing to her, how he was turning her on and making her feel owned.
With his expert moves and big, masculine fingers, he started to unbutton her shirt. He slipped his hand inside the opening of the material and cupped one of her breasts. He never ended their kiss as he touched her and brought her to the brink of coming right there for him.
He started rubbing his thumb along her nipples, causing the bud to tighten further and poke through the thin material of her bra. Hell, it probably felt like a rock against his fingers. A gasp left her when he pinched her nipple and started biting at the base of her throat.
“Lake,” he moaned against her flesh. “I don’t want to stop this. I don’t want to hide this from anyone. I want to be with you, and call me crazy, but it’s the damn truth.”
She opened her mouth and exhaled. “I want that, too. I think I’ve wanted that for a while now, Reese.” But they also could not do this right now without talking to Ginny or her dad, or really talking with each other about what this meant.
She pushed him away with her hands on his pecs. “We can’t do this right now. We haven’t talked about last night.” She pushed him gently again, although that was the last thing she wanted.
He reached down and gripped himself through his jeans. “See what you do to me?” His voice was deep, husky, lust-filled. His lips were red and swollen, and she lifted her finger and ran it over her own, feeling them tingle. Did her lips look like his? It was as if he had imprinted himself on her, marked her with his mouth, hands, and dick. Oh lord, she was so turned on right now. But they should talk, right?
Oh, who was she kidding? She didn’t want to stop this. Lake wanted this to last with Reese, and wanted to just give herself over to him without worry.
“We can talk, baby, but right now just let me touch you,” he said and moved closer to her again. She didn’t stop him this time, and in fact wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted on her toes to kiss him. Just as he stroked her lips with his tongue the sound of the front door opening and of her father and Ginny’s voices coming through had everything in Lake freezing.
Chapter Ten
Lake’s heart was beating fast, her palms were sweating, and she knew that what was about to happen right now would cause a hell of a lot of trouble between everyone. Her dad and Ginny stood in the doorway, their expressions matching: shocked.
Reese was still in front of her, his hand on her breasts, his erection prodding her belly. She, on the other hand, had gone from aroused to humiliated instantly. She wasn’t embarrassed to be with Reese, because that was the total opposite of how she felt, but Lake certainly didn’t want her dad or Ginny catching them like this.
“What in the hell is going on here?” her dad said, his eyes wide as he looked between the two of them. He clenched his hands at his sides, and when Lake looked at Ginny she saw horror on her face.
Reese moved away from her, but kept his body partially in front of her. The silence stretched between them, awkward, hard, tense.
“Dad…” She didn’t know what to say. Hell, she didn’t even know what was going on between her and Reese. Ginny and her dad were home hours earlier than what they’d told her.
“Reese, what’s going on here?” Ginny was the one to ask now. She moved into the house further, set the bags she carried on the ground, and looked between her and Reese.
Reese looked at Lake, this hard expression on his face. “Don’t worry,” he said, and she remembered when he’d told her that last night.
“Okay,” she said a bit unsure, but trusted him on where he was going with this. She certainly had no clue on how to handle this.
“Calvin,” Reese said her father’s name slowly.
“Reese.” Her father said his name hard, pissed off sounding. Ginny took a step forward and grabbed Calvin’s hand, looking up at him as if she were worried the shit would hit the fan.
Lake thought that would happen, too.
“I have feelings for Lake, Calvin, feelings that are pretty intense, maybe don’t make any sense, and will probably have consequences.”
Lake’s heart stopped beating.
“I can’t even explain how any of this started between us, because it was fast, just kind of happened. I don’t want it to stop. I don’t have any intentions of it stopping.”
The silence stretched between everyone.
“Reese,” Ginny said softly, slowly. “You’ve just recently gotten a divorce, and you’re going after Calvin’s twenty year old daughter?”
Reese shook his head. “My marriage with Brittany was over before we signed the papers.”
“You just signed them not that long ago, and Lake is so much younger than you.”
“You’re younger than my father, Ginny.” Lake spoke up because she was involved in this as well. She stopped beside Reese, looked up at him, and knew she had to be honest. “I’ve had feelings for Reese for a while, but knew that being with him might cause problems.” She looked at her father after she said that, and then looked at Ginny. “I didn’t do anything to hurt you, but I also can’t help how I feel, and know that the things I want with Reese, might conflict with how he feels and with how you all feel about the situation.”
“You’re too young to even know about any of this stuff, sweetheart,” her dad said with emotion clogging his voice.
“She knows what she wants, Calvin,” Reese said.
Her father looked at Reese, this anger covering his face like a dark stain. “You and I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of this.”
“I know seeing us … like that, is probably unsettling,” Lake said, twisting her hands together as her nerves went up a notch. “But I wanted to talk to him about all of this, and then bring it up with you.”
“I meant no disrespect, Calvin—”
“But you did disrespect me, Reese. You disrespected Ginny and violated my much younger daughter, too.” Her father was looking angrier by the second. And when he took off his suit jacket and undid his cufflinks and tie, she knew that this was not going to be civilized. “I walk in on you touching her in my goddamned house, the house I opened up to you. You think you meant no fucking disrespect after all of that?”
Her father stared at Reese with hatred, his hands tightly fisted at his side, and his jaw clenched tight.
“I want her.”
“And that means what?” her father said between clenched teeth. “You want to take advantage of her, be the older man that has the younger woman on his side, at his beck and call?”
“It isn’t like that, Dad. He didn’t take advantage of me—”
“No, Lake.” Her father held up his hand, stopping her, as he stared at Reese.
“Calvin, please. We don’t need to go all street brawl in the foyer,” Ginny said, grabbing Calvin’s hand and trying to stop him when he moved a step closer to Reese.
“I let you in my home, let you be around my daughter.”
“Calvin, it isn’t how you see it. Just let me explain.”
Her father shook his head after Reese spoke. “There isn’t anything to explain now, after the fact.”
“I’ve seen what a special woman Lake is, and I’ve felt this emotion for her before I even fully understood what it all meant. She’s beautiful, smart, and strong. I want her not because she is younger, or because I am newly divorced, but because she is an incredible person that makes me happy even when she isn’t trying.” Reese looked at her for a second. “I mean all of that, Lake, I do, and I’m sorry that I didn’t give you time to process that before…” He stopped talking, clenched his jaw, and it was clear he realized what he was just about to say.
Her father breathed out roughly. The anger that came from him was tangible, and although she didn’t want anyone to be upset over this, she also knew that it wasn’t fair to Ginny or her father, especi
ally how they’d been found out. Her father continued to pierce Reese with an icy stare.
“How far has it gone?” her father said in a low, menacing voice, but she could hear that he already knew from what Reese had been about to say.
“God, Reese…” Ginny said, and she covered her mouth.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate to discuss that here or now, not when Lake is an adult.”
Her father let out this deadly sound, one that she had never heard from him before. Calvin had always been controlled and never let his anger out. But right now he looked ready to kill Reese.
“You did this behind our backs, and although Lake may be an adult, she is still my daughter, you are still Ginny’s brother, and this is my fucking house.”
Whoa. She’d never heard her father this upset before. “Dad, please calm down because even I am not sure what’s going on here.”
Oh, she knew Reese wanted her, knew she wanted him, but this situation was escalating far too quickly, and there was no way to stop it, it seemed.
“How long has this been going on?” her father asked through his teeth.
He looked at Reese, and this rage moving out of him and slamming around them like a hurricane.
“Nothing happened until last night,” Reese responded, and the low sound that came from her father had shivers working up Lake’s spine.
“He didn’t take advantage of me. What happened was my doing as well,” Lake said, not about to let Reese take the fall for this alone.
Her dad ran a hand over his head and cursed low, seemingly all at the same time.
“I want her as mine, Calvin, and no matter what happened with Brittany and me, the divorce, or any of the other bullshit like that, I know what I’m doing here.”
Her dad held his hand out, his finger pointed at Reese, his jaw clenched. “Don’t fucking talk to me about any of that. You went behind our backs and thought having sex with my daughter, under my roof while we were gone, was okay.” He took a step closer. “I don’t care what you say, you took advantage of my little girl. My anger is justified.”