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I wake up to the smell of rich coffee and hot bread . . . and to my mother’s quiet sobbing. This, and the cock crowing is what has woken me up every morning since we got here. My father hasn’t been to see us.

When we called to say we were moving, he’d said he wanted to try and rekindle his relationship with us. But, that’s not going to happen. Last week he called to tell us that he has another family. A woman he lives with and has had two more children with.

I look at the clock by my bed and see that it’s only six in the morning. I was up until one a.m. writing, and I feel like I could sleep for another two hours. I see Reece’s picture; one I took the last time we went to the beach in Malibu. He’s looking straight at the camera, and laughing. His beautiful mouth slightly open in the frame I snapped and it’s exactly how I like to think of him. I feel a pang of longing as I remember our conversation on the way to the airport. God I miss him. And I’m worried.

The first month we were here, he came down twice. It was glorious, we spent the weekend at one of the resorts, catching up, fucking, eating and just being together. The second month he came once and this month, he hasn’t been at all. We talk every night, most nights, FaceTiming. th as we get ourselves off. But he’s postponed his trip three times now. Something’s going on and I’m scared that he’s wavering. Maybe the distance is too much.

Our house is all wood and stone and everything echoes. I hear the front door open and close and assume my mom’s gone outside to pick up our grocery delivery.

I’m going to brush my teeth and change before I head downstairs. Sometimes, she comes right back inside. But, a few days a week, I find her sitting outside, staring out at the horizon, and I have to sit with her until she feels ready to come in.

It’s been exhausting.

I turn on the bathroom light. The buzz and hiss of bulbs as they brighten is something I’m still not used to. I peer at myself in the mirror and I can see the fatigue showing on my face.

“You look beautiful.”

Reece’s voice floats into the room, and like a mist, it washes over me. I close my eyes in relief and turn around.

“Baby…” Amazement tinging my whisper as I drink him in. He looks so beautiful. He’s tanner, his hair is longer and he’s beaming at me as he leans against the doorframe of the bathroom.

“Hey, Fifty-five,” he says softly as I leap into his arms. I wrap my legs around his waist. He straightens and absorbs the impact and wraps his arms around me. He pulls me into a fierce hug and then in an instant, he’s kissing me. It’s a fierce, hungry kiss. This month has been hell for him, too. He tastes like mouthwash and Reece and I let myself relish it all. I wrap my arms even tighter around his neck and he deepens the kiss, his tongue brushing past mine and making me whimper. God, I’ve missed him. My heart is like a parched desert getting the first kiss of rain it’s had in months. Our tongues duel and dance. Greet and welcome. I can feel him hard and eager against my stomach. He places my ass on the sink and unbuttons his jeans.

“I need you. So badly. Can I have you?” he asks in between kisses.

“Always,” I whisper as I spread my thighs to make room for his hips. My night shirt rides up and I’m naked underneath.

We both groan at the first touch of his fingers.

His eyes stay on mine as he strokes me, his fingers trailing through my wet, swollen lips. “Always,” he says before I feel the broad tip of his cock enter me. I am so ready for him.

He takes his time, and fills me one slow increment at a time. The glide of his flesh into mine is a divine homecoming. The pleasure of it teeters on the edge of unbearable.

“God, I’ve missed you,” Reece rumbles into my ear as he thrusts into me. It’s claiming and hard. I love it. I want more.

“I’ve missed you, too. Please. Fuck me harder,” I beg, I grab his ass and hitch my legs higher against his waist. He tilts my hips, so that I’m almost sitting in the sink and he gives me what I asked for.

He doesn’t hold back and in a minute, I’m putting my fingers between my legs and rubbing my clit so that we can come together. “I love you.” He grits his teeth, nips at my lips and thrusts. I hiss at the bite, and he licks the sting. I can feel the flex of his muscled flank under my thighs as he fucks me. “God, I need you, Luc.” He pours out as he comes. My climax chases his.

“I’m going to come, Reece.” I pant, almost in warning. My perch on the sink suddenly feeling precarious. My arms flex as I bow my back as the first crest of my orgasm breaks.

He whispers in my ear, “Come. I’ve got you.” He presses a kiss to my cheek. His arms tighten around me and I fall into a blistering, blissful haze. Cheek to cheek, we stay as we are; me sitting on the sink, legs wrapped around him, his arms encircling me.

“Hi, honey,” I mumble into his neck. I stroke his sweat damped back, relishing the feel of his skin under my fingers. I let my hands move over the ridges and valleys that his muscles create. I inhale the fresh scent of him and press a kiss to his cheek.

“Hey,” he says as he catches his breath. “I hadn’t planned on attacking you like that. I saw you, looking so fucking beautiful, and just lost my mind for a minute.” He chuckles. His breath fans the hair that clings to my neck and I tighten my arms around his neck.

“That was just what I needed.” I pull my face back so I can look at him.

“I hadn’t expected you.”

“Yes, I know,” he says tenderly, his eyes not leaving mine. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been here.”

I look down, not sure what to say, and just relieved that he’s here now. I’ll need to learn to adjust. It’s not reasonable to expect Reece to fly down twice a month or even once every month.

He pulls out of me and holds my waist while I hop down. I start to clean myself and he straightens his clothes.

“It’s been hard. But, I understand,” I say, and I do. But I hate it. The next three years are going to be miserable.

As soon as his jeans are buttoned he sits on the edge of the free-standing bathtub and watches me while I wipe myself clean with a hot wash cloth.

I take my time, holding my night shirt up, so he can see my naked body.

He groans. “I’m going to make you pay for teasing me,” he drawls at me.

“I can’t wait,” I say, my voice low and sultry even to my own ears.

He stands up. “Listen, I have a surprise for you. We’re already late. I’m going to need to you to stop tempting me.” He kisses the tip of my nose, takes the wash cloth from my hands and tosses it into the clothes hamper in the corner.

“Let’s go for a drive?” he says cheerfully, his grin broad and bright.

I smile back, “Of course. Let me get changed. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

We walk back to my room. I head for my closet and Reece leaves. As I get dressed my mind and heart race.

For the last two weeks, I’d been worried. I’d thought maybe the distance was wearing on him. That maybe now that I’d left, he’d see that it wasn’t worth the trouble.

I throw on my clothes and do a quick brush of my teeth. A sudden, irrational fear that he’ll be gone when I get to the kitchen adding an urgency to my steps.

I release a breath I’d been holding.

He and my mother are sitting at the kitchen table. They both have full breakfast plates in front of them. My mother looks calm, her eyes red from crying, but she’s putting on a brave face in front of Reece. They talked before we left. She tried to apologize for what she’d said in the car. He wouldn’t allow her to. They’d sat in his parents’ living room, her crying on his shoulder as they comforted each other.

“Mama, are you okay?” I ask her softly.

“Yes, of course. Did you sleep well?” she asks casually. I look at her closely trying to see if she’s really fine. She takes a sip of her coffee and raises her eyebrows when I don’t answer right away.

“I did, thanks,” I say slowly.

I look back at Reece. He’s watching me, his kiss-stung lips tipped up in a lazy smile. His dark hair is tousled and his eyes are hooded. The memory of our bathroom “hello” makes my toes tingle. I smile back and walk over to give my mom a hug.

“You have a nice morning,” she says absently as she butters her toast.

I give her a quick kiss on the cheek, grab Reece’s hand and head for the door.

“Where are we going?” I ask when we’re outside. He swings our joined hands between us as we walk to the car.

He waits until I’ve climbed up into the jeep’s bucket seat before he answers.

“To see our house.”

My head jerks back.

“Close your mouth. A fly’s going to hop in,” he says jovially right before he closes my door.

“Our house?” I repeat incredulously when he gets into the car. He looks at my face and laughs. “You look like I just told you I bought you a pile of plastic.” He pats my knee and turns the car. He starts out of my driveway.

“Yes. I bought us a house.” He sighs. “I’m sorry I’ve been so secretive, but I wanted everything to go through before I told you. We had to get approval from the feds—”

I cut him off. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone and he’s not making any sense.

“Reece, what are you talking about? You bought us a house? Why? I don’t want to live here alone. I couldn’t sleep in a house here by myself. You’d only be here a few days a month.” His eyes on the road, his profile shows all the emotions that pass over his face. None of them are appropriate responses to my outburst. He only smiles and then grins.

“Reece.”

He just glances at me and breaks into a wide grin. “Patience, Fifty.” His enjoyment obvious.

Ugh, I really hate that nickname.

“Okay. Fine. I’m just going to sit back and relax,” I say, glancing out of the window to watch the desert go by. I marvel, as always, that the land so close to the ocean is so dry.

He pats my leg again. “It’ll be worth the wait. And we’ll be there in less than a minute.”

He turns left into a gated community and stops at the guard post. He shows his ID to the guard and the gates open.

When we drive in, I expect to see big houses, manicured lawns. The manicured lawns were there, and the houses are beautiful, but modest. And there are scores of them. The street we’re on is lined with houses as far as the eye can see.

“It’s a three-mile-long road. The entire subdivision is enclosed in the gate.”

“What is this place?”

“It’s our new neighborhood,” he says gleefully as hops out of the car.