Read My Mind

by Natasha Preston

  It’s what I needed to hear. But that doesn’t mean she thinks of me as more than a friend. I didn’t imagine that moment, two weeks ago, where we almost kissed. I didn’t imagine the heated look in her eyes.

  If I kissed her now, what would she do?

  I’m left with more questions than ever before. Now, if nothing happens between us, it’s because she doesn’t want it to, and I can no longer pretend it was Liam in the way.

  She’s in my office reading, just like any other day.

  Flipping the book shut, she looks up at me. “I can’t get into it.”

  She’s reading more of Hayden’s story and almost halfway now where he’s really messed up. It’s hard reading.

  “You’re not enjoying it?”

  “It’s not that at all. I think I need some fresh air.”

  I close my laptop. “All right, let’s do it.”

  “Fresh air? You’re coming for a walk with me?”

  “No. We’re going to drive.”

  She looks to the clock on the wall. “Where to? It’s almost eleven at night?”

  “What happened to your little adventurous heart? Don’t you want to see the world anymore?”

  She stands, and her eyes light up in a way I’ve never seen before. “We’re going on an adventure? Do I need my passport?”

  “I’m all for taking off, but I have work and you have uni.”

  “Where’s next on your travel list?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Somewhere cold maybe. I’d like to snowboard and stay in an ice hotel.”

  She shakes her head. “You’re crazy. Have you snowboarded before?”

  “No.”

  “You’re just going to rock up in the snow and try?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her smile could set the world on fire. “I want that. I want to commit to shit I have no clue how to do, and then learn right there on the spot.”

  “Say yes and figure out how later. Go and do it, Mila. There is nothing stopping you.”

  “Well, uni, apparently.”

  “You have about twenty half terms a year to go ride camels in the dessert or swim with sharks.”

  She looks over her shoulder as we leave my office. “Sharks. Are you trying to get me killed?”

  “You’ll be in a cage. They can almost never get into those.”

  “Almost never.” She laughs.

  I lock the door, and we get in my car.

  “Where are we going in the middle of the night, then?”

  “Patience.”

  I drive, and Mila checks every road sign for a clue. Her lips are pursed, neck craning forwards to try and guess where we’re going from the direction we’re driving in.

  “Nothing is open. We can’t be going to a club because you know better than to take me there without letting me get ready.” Her head turns as we drive by a sign.

  “I don’t know why you keep looking at those. The place we’re going isn’t signed.”

  “You made that sound super creepy, Walker.”

  “You don’t advertise brothels. It’s the quickest way to get your business shut down.”

  “Ah, I gotcha. We’re hitting up the crack den on the way home, too?”

  “I thought we’d grab some meth on the way there. Make it a real party.”

  “You know how to treat a woman.”

  She looks at me, and I feel peace in her heart. Laying back against the seat, she sighs softly.

  I grip the steering wheel to curb the desire to reach over and trace those thick lips.

  “Where are we going now? This road is tiny.”

  “Patience.”

  I pull up into a car park in a field.

  She slaps my dashboard. “If you think I’m camping…”

  “This isn’t a campsite. Come on.”

  She gets out and follows me, jogging to keep up as she looks around in the dark. The place is deserted.

  “This way,” I tell her, heading straight for the forest.

  “Also, if you think for one second that I’m—”

  “We’re going to the river. I’m not murdering you in the woods.”

  She nods once. “Right. We don’t know each other that well. It’s been, what, two weeks that we’ve spoken for, but that’s fine. Wait, what are we doing at a river?”

  “Almost there.”

  “You’re being shady, Reid. Oh…”

  We reach the riverbank and Mila steps as close to it as she can get.

  “Wow, it’s so pretty,” she whispers.

  The river runs along the edge of the forest, as if it’s a moat guarding the wildlife from everyone outside.

  “My parents love the outdoors. We found it when we lived here. I spent many weekends in that water. It’s peaceful and absolutely freezing,” I tell her.

  “I have never really been anywhere. My parents like to travel but we stick to tourist areas, you know. I want to go off the beaten track and see things that were only meant for the locals.”

  There is nothing worse in life than being stuck. I can’t imagine not moving, not seeing new things, and losing myself in new experiences. What’s the point of only ever seeing the same thing? The same places, the same landscape, the same people. I love where I live, but I need more.

  “Don’t think, just book.”

  She smiles over at me. “Throw a dart at an atlas?”

  “Why not? You can go anywhere and do anything.”

  “Hanging out with you kinda rocks, you know that?”

  “I do know that.”

  Laughing, she bumps my shoulder and doesn’t move.

  Instinctively, I wrap my arm around her, unable to miss her soft gasp. My muscles freeze for a second. What am I doing? Mila doesn’t push me away, though. Instead, I feel the heat from her body radiating into mine as she leans against my side.

  If possible, my heart beats harder.

  “Thank you,” she whispers.

  “What for?”

  “For showing me that I have courage and that I should chase my dreams. Everyone tells you to go for it, but very few show you. You’ve done so much, and you continue to go for whatever you want.”

  “Mila, I haven’t really done anything.”

  “God, Reid, you’ve done everything. You have a career you love, a nice house, and you still follow your heart. You don’t just look at pretty things. You go and find them!”

  “Yeah, well, sometimes finding them is the easy part. It’s not always easy to keep them.”

  “Not sure a waterfall would fit in your luggage.”

  “I could have taken a plank from that bridge.”

  “You should have. Would’ve been hilarious watching the next people try to cross it.”

  “Come on, we’re not just here to look.”

  She turns with my arm still around her. Now we’re chest to chest and she’s looking up at me like I have all the answers. I wish that were true. The only place she needs to look for those answers is at herself. No other person can fix you. You have to do that yourself, and if you find the one you’re meant to be with along the way, well, you’re just the luckiest son of a bitch alive.

  “I’m sorry, if we’re not here to look, what are we doing?”

  “Have you been skinny dipping before?”

  Her breath quickens. “I’ve swam in a river in my underwear. My brothers did the same. We were five, eight, and ten at the time. I’m not sure it counts.”

  “That definitely doesn’t count.” I stare into two pools of amber that just might swallow me whole.

  She backs up, tilting her head in question.

  “I show not tell, remember.”

  “I’m not taking my clothes off first.”

  Rolling my eyes, I huff. “Fine.”

  Her gaze follows my hands as I reach down and pull my T-shirt over my head.

  “Damn it, abs,” she murmurs, biting her lip.

  My pulse thumps at the lust in her voice. “I’m not here for your entertainment, Mila. You’re comin
g in, too.”

  “You said it’s freezing.”

  “Take your clothes off.”

  Her mouth parts.

  My dick hardens at her sudden intake of breath.

  Oh, she is going to love being bossed around in bed.

  She’s making it near impossible for me to take my jeans off. There’s going to be no hiding my erection. I run my hands over my head. Keep cool.

  She follows my lead and slowly removes her top.

  The white lace against her olive skin is the most perfect thing I’ve seen in my life.

  “Mila, you’re beautiful,” I say, my voice embarrassingly thick. I’m definitely going to have to turn around to take my jeans off and get in first.

  She drops her T-shirt on the ground and lets her arms hang by her sides, half confident, half shy. I understand that completely.

  “So are you,” she whispers.

  I can’t stop staring at her. The moonlight glows against her inky hair. She barely looks real, but she is finally feeling real to me. I no longer have to see her as a fantasy—someone I’m so drawn to that it was sometimes hard accept she doesn’t even see me. I now know that, despite not being ready to leap, she is right here with me.

  “Are you ready?” I ask.

  “I am.” Her voice is quiet and rough.

  I turn sideways, which may make things worse, and shove my jeans and boxers down. I step out of them and run into the river. Cold seeps into my skin immediately, but it’s not a bad feeling. Especially not right now.

  Gritting my teeth, I force myself to walk deeper, and I stop when the icy water hides my attraction to her.

  Mila is biting her lip with her hands over her skinny jeans when I look over.

  I raise my palms and turn around again. “Let me know when you’re in deep enough. I won’t look.”

  God, do I want to look. My erratic heart is trying to kill me.

  I hear her hiss ten seconds later. “Fucking hell, it’s cold.”

  “Come on,” I reply, chuckling.

  “Oh my God, I think my lips are already turning blue.”

  “It’s fine after a second.”

  “I don’t believe you. You’re insane. I take back you being my inspiration. You lead me to do stupid, freezing shit.”

  Her inspiration?

  “Can I turn around yet?” I ask.

  “No, I don’t have a bra on, and the water isn’t even up to my waist yet. Let me get used to it, if that’s even possible. You need to go deeper, too.”

  I don’t think I heard a word after she said she doesn’t have a bra on. I assumed she would leave that and just not wear it home.

  Fisting my hands, I walk deeper into the river until it sits just below my collarbone. That should give her enough to be covered.

  “Okay,” she finally says, placing her hand on my back.

  My jaw clenches, and I turn slowly.

  Her breasts are submerged, but only just.

  “How is it?” I ask.

  “Fucking freezing.”

  “No. The water against your bare skin?” I step closer. “Ignore the temperature. Can you feel it?”

  With parted lips, she nods. “Yeah, I can. I like that it’s dark and we’re completely alone. Anything could happen out here and we’d be the only ones who knew.”

  Jesus. I breathe deeply through my nose. “What have you got planned?”

  She shakes her head. “No plans… just whatever the hell I want to do.”

  “There you go.”

  “But if a fish touches me, I’m out of here.”

  I laugh and move deeper, still facing her. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Swimming. What do you think I do here?”

  I turn, dive down, and my stomach clenches as the icy temperature hits my head.

  I don’t look back as I swim, but I can feel her eyes on me. It’s enough to keep hyperthermia at bay.

  “Wait up!” she calls. I hear a splash, and I smile. She’s coming for me.

  Kicking harder, I race Mila along the river until the water starts to get shallow.

  Standing up, I turn around just as she reaches me.

  She grabs hold of my arms and stands. The water is slightly lower and only just covers her nipples. I’m so damn grateful that it covers my erection. I have never been this hard before. My body aches to feel her cool, smooth skin against mine.

  “You’re insane, Reid.” Her smile is wider than I’ve ever seen it. “And you have a very nice arse.”

  “No fair. You get to do all of the ogling. I need to swim behind you this time.”

  “Now, now, I thought you were being a gentleman.”

  “Gentlemen like arses, too.”

  She laughs and runs her hand along her dripping ponytail.

  “We don’t have towels, do we?”

  I shake my head.

  “That’s poor planning, Reid.”

  “You can’t plan spontaneity.”

  “You didn’t know we were coming here?”

  “No, I just started driving.”

  She playfully slaps my chest. “Race you back.”

  I take off after her, the thrill of the chase making me fall harder.

  Fifteen

  Mila

  I can’t believe I’m naked and in a cold river at midnight. I’m all for spontaneity, though maybe not so much in recent years. I feel the old me resurfacing… in this freezing river.

  Reid is the best type of crazy. This is the kind of thing that I crave—going somewhere in the middle of the night and having no clue what will happen. No one else would have brought me here. Liam would have looked at me like I need sectioning, and Indie and Wren would have refused to get into water that turns your nipples to bullets.

  I could scratch a car right now.

  It’s kind of nice, though. The feel of the cool water kissing my skin is oddly erotic. Or that just might be the super fit hottie with me. When he whipped his jeans and boxers off, I thought I’d actually have to wipe my drool away. I’m booking PT sessions with Jason tomorrow if that’s what he can do to a body.

  I can hand on heart say that Reid has the nicest butt in the world. It’s a bold claim, I know that, but I’m confident. All I can think about whenever we get closer is that I want to press my body against his and devour his mouth.

  “What are we going to do tomorrow? Bungee jumping? Tightrope walking?”

  He smiles as he wades towards me. His lips curl wider, and his intense gaze roots me to the spot. My heart skips a beat when he takes one more step than necessary. I tilt my head up, feeling the heat radiating from his chest, despite the cold.

  “We can do whatever you want to do?” he says.

  “Crack den it is,” I whisper, slightly drunk on him.

  His dark eyes shine in what little light we have. The sky is a blanket of stars.

  “Your lips really are turning blue,” he says, dragging his thumb across my icy bottom lip. I stop breathing at the electricity of his touch. “Do you want to get out?”

  “No,” I mutter as his fingers trail along my jaw, and I drop my face. My eyelids flutter, and I lean closer. “I don’t feel cold anymore.”

  Wherever he touches, I burn. My body would be putty in his hands if he only took it. One simple brush of his fingers, and I’ve turned to mush. Can we do this every night?

  The water ripples gently around my chest, just about hiding my nipples. I don’t think I much care if he saw all of me now.

  “Mila, I need to get you dry.” He says the words with absolutely no conviction, his voice rough and laced with desire. We both know what we actually need to do.

  “I’m fine. I promise.”

  I need to do something because he’s making me feel too exposed, and I flit between being okay with that and not, which seems insane considering I’m not wearing any clothes. One of those stares from Reid makes me feel more naked than not having a single scrap of material around my body.<
br />
  Move. Do something.

  Don’t screw this up because you’ve developed a crush! I shake my head and flick water at him. He instantly turns away with a laugh.

  “Oh, you should not have done that!”

  He moves again so quickly, I have no time to move. “Reid!” I shriek as he grabs hold of me.

  Oh, shit.

  His soft skin covering hard muscle slides against mine. I bite my lip as every nerve ending bursts to life. I want to lay my head back against his shoulder and have him run his hands all over my aching body. I throb at the thought of his mouth on mine. Hot kisses in cold water. Wet, naked bodies sliding together in the middle of the river.

  He chuckles as he pushes me down, trying to dunk me. I’m not sure if he’s aware how much he’s affecting me right now.

  Twisting my body, I wriggle out of his grip. I hold my finger up and try not to show him how much I’m enjoying this. My body just wants him to take me. “No. Bad move. No drowning.”

  “You splashed me. Payback is going to be a bitch, Mila.”

  His perfect, toothy smile is infectious. I can’t stop staring at it.

  “No payback. I’m naked here!”

  One of his dark brows rises. “Believe me, I’ve noticed.”

  I look down. I’m still covered by the water. Reid laughs. “No need to be shy with me, Mila. I’ve never seen anything so stunning before.”

  It’s definitely no longer cold here.

  When he says things like that, it makes me want to jump into his arms. I don’t know exactly what he’s feeling, but I’m getting a definite vibe that he wants to take this naked time to dry land, too.

  Reid is a closed book, but he’s been slowly showing me more of himself and what he wants. I just wish he would tell me more personal stuff.

  If things took an awkward turn afterwards, I don’t know what I’d do. He’s been the one person to really get me, and I can’t have that ending for the sake of a couple of orgasms.

  “I’m cold,” I say, half so we can get out and away from the danger zone, half because I want to jump right into the danger zone and finally lick that chest and taste his mouth.

  “All right,” he replies, taking my hand and holding it tight. “Let’s get you warm and dry.”

  Reid pulls us both through the water, staying a step ahead and keeping his eyes in front of him. His hand in mine feels all kinds of right, it makes my stomach flip over in fear… but I don’t want to let go.