Chapter 29

Brayden

The glare Rein fixed me with had me behaving like a deer in the headlights. For such a small woman, she had the power to send fear rippling through me. She was pissed, and rightly so. All the hopes I had of winning her trust back with a smooth apology went out the window.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and the words sounded weak in my own ears. A simple “sorry” wasn’t going to change anything.

Her glare hardened, and she looked me up and down with detest. “For what? Leaving me again? Or for not even bothering to reach out for the last two and a half weeks. Fuck you, Brayden. All you ever think about is you. You haven’t changed since we were kids. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think—”

“I know,” I said, cutting her off. “You’re right. You’re always right.”

“Kissing my ass won’t help you, either.”

She wasn’t going to take the bouquet from me, so I let my hands fall to my sides. The flowers grazed my right thigh as I lifted my left hand to scratch the back of my neck. “I suppose it won’t. That’s not what I was trying to do.”

Rein shifted her weight to her right foot and stood silently in front of me. Maybe this was her way of giving me a minute to try to explain myself. I hoped I wouldn’t sound like a bumbling idiot. I had to try to apologize.

“I never should have left you. I wasn’t seeing the whole picture after my mother’s funeral. The pressure from my company to get back to work seemed like the most important thing at the time.” I stopped and shook my head. “No, that’s not true. It seemed like the best distraction at the time. I wanted to go back to Florida where I could bury my head in my work. I didn’t want to think about everything that had happened here. I thought things could go back to how they were. I thought Bella would keep loving school, and she and I could move on.”

Rein still didn’t say anything, but her glare had softened. Either that, or my mind was playing tricks on me.

“But Bella asked about you every damn day,” I continued. “And her questions about you just gave a voice to how much I missed you. I just didn’t want to feel it or see it. I didn’t want it to be real because not caring would be so much fucking easier.”

Rein blinked and looked away from me. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to ward off the cold night air.

“Please, Rein. Can I come in?”

She looked back to me and bit her bottom lip. Then she stepped back and let me in without saying a word. I took off my boots and jacket, and she left me in the hallway. I caught up with her in the living room and put the bouquet of flowers on the coffee table.

The place was lit with what had to be two dozen candles. It smelled like lavender and citrus, and Rein looked stunning in the warm amber light from the dancing flames. I didn’t dare tell her. I was sure if I did, she would slap me.

Rein sank down into a corner of the sofa and motioned for me to sit at the other end. I did and turned to face her.

“Do you want to hear me out?” I asked. “I can leave if you don’t want to speak with me.”

Rein tucked her hair behind her ears and shook her head. “I’ll hear you.”

I nodded in gratitude. “After Bella asking me about you every day for two and a half weeks, I couldn’t deny how bad I felt. And not just the guilt over leaving you behind like I did. Again. I felt bad because I felt alone. Even though I was surrounded by coworkers and friends, I was hollow. I thought it was because of my mom, but deep down, I knew it was because of you.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?” Rein asked softly.

I shook my head and stared at the flickering flame of one of the candles on the coffee table. “Would you have answered me?”

“No. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have tried.”

“Fair enough.”

Rein took a deep breath and brought her legs up to sit cross legged. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

“Likewise, and it destroyed me, Rein. Honestly. I don’t want a life without you.”

Rein sucked in a sharp breath. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know yet. But I’m not asking anything of you. I can run my business from anywhere. Florida isn’t my home. I’m not tied down to it. I’m tied to you.”

Rein shifted and brought her knees to her chest. “You’re telling me everything I’ve dreamed about you coming back here and saying. I’ve learned the hard way that you’re not so good at the follow through of these kinds of things.”

“I know I haven’t given you any reason to trust me,” I said softly. “But I’m done with making the same mistakes. I’m tired of not being able to say how I feel and what I want. So I’m finally doing it. I want you, Rein. I’ve missed you every damn day that I’ve been gone.” I leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees. “I also know how selfish it is of me to come back here and say all of this to you right now. I don’t expect anything from you. I certainly don’t expect you to want the same things. But I needed to see you. I needed to tell you all of this in person. I had to see if there was still a chance.”

“You’re right,” Rein said without looking at me. “It is selfish.”

I kept my mouth shut. Speaking now seemed like a bad idea. She was thinking. I needed to give her time.

“But sometimes you have to be selfish to get what you want,” Rein said finally.

I met her eye. “What does that mean?”

“It means... I think I can forgive you. My mind is telling me I shouldn’t, but I might be able to move past what you’ve done.”

I closed the space between us on the sofa in seconds. She looked up at me, her lips slightly parted, her eyelashes casting long shadows across her cheeks in the candlelight. “You’re sure?” I whispered.

She nodded.

This was what I had hoped for, and I couldn’t believe it was happening. I had been so sure that she was going to want nothing to do with me when I showed up at her door. But here we were, on her sofa, and she was letting me spill my guts to her. And she sounded like she was forgiving me, or at least, she was in the process of forgiving me.

I lifted a hand and cupped her cheek. Her skin was warm and her eyes fluttered closed as she leaned into my touch.

“I love you, Rein Petty.”

She lifted herself up and pressed her lips to mine. I sat paralyzed under her touch as she pushed her tongue between my teeth. I couldn’t quite believe that this was happening. The woman I loved and had always loved was letting me back in.

This time, I wouldn’t fuck it up. This time, I would cherish her and never give her a reason to doubt my devotion to her.

We moved against one another, our clothes whispering between us as Rein swung her leg over me. She sat on my lap and hooked her arms behind my head as our kiss deepened. She pulled away and stared into my eyes. “Where’s Bella now?” she whispered.

“With Emmett.”

She leaned into me again, her breasts crushed against my chest as she kissed my jaw and throat. “How long can you stay?” she purred.

“All night, if you’ll let me.”

“Oh,” she cooed. “I’ll let you.”

As she kissed my neck, she gathered the hem of my shirt and rolled it up my stomach. Her fingers dancing along my flesh sent me into overdrive. The weeks away from her had been lonely ones of lying in my king-sized bed all night with no warmth beside me. Every touch she graced me with now was like a little fire warming me from the outside in.

We parted to pull my shirt over my head. She tossed it over the back of the sofa and rolled her hips into my waist, pressing herself down on my cock. I was rock hard already, and the curl of her lips told me she felt me between her legs.

“Have you been thinking about me?” she whispered, her hips stilling. She dragged a fingernail along the waistband of my jeans. A shiver of excitement went through me.

“Every night.”

“Doing what?”

I caught her wrist to still her teasing and gave her a coy smile of my own. “I thought about you spreading your legs for me, riding me, and looking at me the way you are right now.”

She threw her head back and giggled.

Her joy was the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever heard.

“And how am I looking at you, Brayden Hennie?” Her tone was teasing, but the question held weight.

“Like you love me too.”

Her smile brightened, and she swept her hair over her shoulder. I reached up and traced the line of the now exposed side of her neck.

“Like you love me too, and you’re glad I came back. Like you’re happy. Like you see me. Pick the answer you like best, baby girl, because they’re all true.”

I grazed my lips along her neck, and she let out a breathless little sigh. “I love you too,” she whispered.

I found myself grinning, my teeth pressed gently to the side of her neck. I kissed and nibbled all the way down to the tops of her breasts, which were rising and falling with each of her quick breaths. I pulled the neckline of her shirt down and tucked it under her tits. Then I pulled her bra down and buried my face between her breasts. She began rolling her hips again as I turned to give all my attention to her right nipple.

She moaned in my lap as I pulled her between my lips and suckled. Her hands wove behind my neck, and her fingers slid up into my hair. She tightened her grip and held on as I moved my hands down to squeeze her ass. She continued gyrating on top of me until I thought I was going to lose my mind.

I needed to be inside her, and the only way that was going to happen was if she took her damn clothes off.

I pulled the drawstring at the top of her pajama pants, untying the knot. She released my hair and slid off my lap to work the pants down her hips. Then she spun away from me, showing me her bare ass as she played with the lace straps of her panties.

Finally, she took them off, bending straight down and leaving her ass and pussy in the air for me. In the candlelight, it seemed like I was about to fuck an angel.

I reached out to touch the glistening wetness of her slit, and she stepped away from me. She looked back over her shoulder while she unclasped her bra. It fell to the floor, and she turned slowly back to face me. She massaged her breasts as she let me look at her.

“Come here,” I whispered.

Rein ignored me and dropped to her knees in front of me instead. She rose up to undo my jeans and then pulled them down my legs. I watched as she came back to hover over my lap. She kissed my chest and my stomach as she pulled my boxers down my hips. I lifted my ass off the sofa, and she did the rest of the work until I was naked too.

Then she circled the tip of my cock with her tongue before taking all of it deep into her throat. She let out a deep, muffled moan and held me until her mouth was slick. Then she worked me over, up and down, pressing her tongue to the underside of my shaft.

I gathered her hair off her face and groaned in ecstasy. “Fuck.”