Chapter 28

Josie

“Josie,” Reed calls out from the base of the stairs. “I’m back.”

I drop the towel onto the floor and slide under the sheets of my bed. “Upstairs,” I return loud enough he can hear me but with soft promise in my voice.

He jogs up the stairs, and I can tell by the cadence he’s taking two at a time. My lips curve into an expectant grin.

Reed’s eyes land on me, flashing with keen interest to in bed waiting for him. He had to take Stacy to the airport. I’d declined meeting her because I was still mortified I’d called her Business Barbie. Reed assured me that she was not offended, but I still couldn’t look her in the face. So, while he was doing that, I took a long, hot bath with the firm resolution that we were going to spend the rest of the day in bed celebrating our reunion.

“Get her dropped off all safe and sound?” I ask him as he sits on the edge of the bed to take his shoes off.

“Yeah,” he says as he gives me a quick glance over his shoulder. “I also stopped by Marek’s on the way back.”

This catches my interest and I sit up against the headboard, pulling the sheet up with me to cover my chest. Sex can wait a few minutes. “How is he?”

Reed’s head turns back to focus on his shoes and socks. When he has them removed, he stands up and pulls his T-shirt over his head. I try not to ogle him, and it’s made easier by the worry in his voice and on his face when he turns to me. “No clue. He wasn’t there. Gracen said he took off three days ago with Holt and she hasn’t seen him.”

“What?” I exclaim, sitting up even further in bed.

Reed nods with an annoyed expression. “She said she’s hardly seen him since they got here. The first few days he would stay away all day, leaving her and Lilly at the house, and would come back late at night after Lilly was in bed. She said he’s hardly spoken a handful of words to either of them.”

“He can’t do that,” I say with worry. “I know it’s hard on him, but, Reed…he’s got a child who has to be confused as hell.”

“I know that,” Reed returns glumly as he strips off his shorts and underwear.

God, he’s gorgeous.

“What should we do?” I ask, and then my mind goes slightly blank as Reed crawls across the bed toward me. Muscles in his shoulders and chest are flexing and bunching, and his eyes are focused intently on me.

“We should talk about it after I make love to you,” he suggests with a slight smile.

Talk about what?

Reed deftly pulls the sheet down my body and I slouch back down onto the mattress. He comes to hover over me from my side and murmurs, “We need to finish making up before we even look at the outside world.”

“We haven’t fully made up?” I ask him coyly.

Stretching out his frame beside me, Reed brings a large hand to cup my breast. Electric bolts of pleasure shoot through me and I can’t help but arch into his touch. He chuckles as he dips his head, his mouth covering mine in a hot, possessive kiss. His fingers pluck at my nipple and I moan. “Reed, please.”

“Please what?” he whispers against my mouth. “What do you need?”

I need so many things right now. For him to keep kissing me. For him to put his hand between my legs. For him to fill me up.

I need it all.

But most important, I need to let him know I feel for him the way he feels for me.

“I love you,” I say as I pull slightly away from his kiss.

Reed’s head jerks back and he looks at me with his eyebrows drawn inward. I can read the mixture of disbelief and hope on his face.

“What?” I tease him as I bring my hands to his cheeks. “Why is that a surprise to you?”

He shakes his head. “It’s just…I’ve never heard those words from a woman before.”

“And how do they feel?”

“Impactful,” he says simply. “I felt them everywhere.”

“Good answer,” I say with a grin, and pull his face down to mine. The kiss this time is unlike any we’ve ever had. It’s not so much about the feeling of our tongues against each other, but about the emotion swirling around us. I can feel the bond between us stretching like a rubber band, and then springing back to hold us together tightly.

Reed groans and then turns his face to the side, burying his face into me neck. “I love you, Josie. So much.”

“I know,” I whisper as my hand goes to the back of his head to hold him tight to me. “I knew it before Aiden even said as much.”

Lifting his head, Reed grimaces down at me. “Let’s not mention his name in this bed. He’s a good dude and has helped us see the light, but the rule is he doesn’t exist right now.”

“Deal,” I say with a sincere nod of my head. “Now, I would very much like you to fuck me.”

Reed gives me a beautiful smile and rolls over on top of me. I can feel the hard length of him press against my pubic bone. We just stare at each other a moment, then he shifts slightly so he can bring his hand down between my legs just as I’d imagined not long ago.

A soft sigh gushes out of me as his fingers find my wetness and I arch into him. He slides one finger into me, pushing until his knuckle presses into my flesh.

“Josie,” Reed murmurs, and I realize my eyes had closed. I open them to find his face hovering right over mine. “We need to do a few things.”

“Like what?” I groan as I wiggle my hips to feel more of him.

His hand rotates and his thumb brushes against my clit. “I’m three weeks out from the start of training camp. I’d like to do some traveling. Can you get time off?”

My head spins because my thoughts are having a hard time moving away from the sensations between my legs, but I manage to nod. “Yeah…um, sure.”

“How do you feel about Minnesota?” he asks.

“Huh?” I grunt as he slides his finger slowly out of me.

“Minnesota,” he repeats as he starts to rub my clit again.

I can’t do it. I can’t hold a conversation with him while he does that. My hand slams down over his, halting his movements. I shake my head and clear my focus. “Why are we talking about Minnesota right now?”

Laughing, Reed bends down and rubs his nose against mine. “Because I want to go home to visit my family, and I’d like you to come with me.”

I blink at him, trying to process the myriad of emotions running through me. This is legitimate big time. Meeting his parents.

“Okay,” I breathe out with what I’m sure is a dopey look on my face based on how I’m feeling inside. “I’d love to.”

“And then we’ll head over to California and visit yours,” he continues.

“Wow,” I say softly as I release my hold on his hand. “This is it, huh?”

“The start of something unbelievably fantastic?”

“Oh yeah,” I agree before pulling his face down to mine. We kiss and forget about talking anymore.

Reed’s hand goes back to work on me, my clit so sensitized that within moments he has me arching and crying out my release.

“Fucking beautiful,” he mutters as he takes himself in hand and lines up the head of his cock with my opening. I can feel the warmth of it as he pushes against me, and I hold my breath as he starts to slide into me.

“You good?” he asks.

“Be better once you’re all the way in,” I pant as he stretches me oh so good.

“No condom, Josie,” he points out through gritted teeth.

“Noticed that,” I stammer.

Reed punches his hips forward and I’m filled to capacity. He drops his forehead and rests it against mine for a moment. His chest is rising and falling as it presses against mine, and I can feel his body trembling. I can feel the emotion swirling around us, between us, and I fall more in love with him in this moment.

As if summoning strength to move, Reed slowly pushes up so he’s staring down at me, tentatively rotating his hips.

“Fuck, that feels good,” he growls.

“God, doesn’t it, though?” I moan.

“I love you, Josie,” he says so earnestly and with so much devotion in his eyes that for a moment I can’t breathe.

“You’re it for me, Reed,” I whisper. “The love I was supposed to wait for.”

That’s all he needs to hear and he starts to move inside of me. It’s beautiful and filling and magical. There’s no hardness or softness to his movements.

No particular cadence.

No metaphorical rhyme or physical reason why it feels so good.

It’s just…love.

Different from anything I’ve ever felt before.

More right than anything I could ever imagine.