I didn’t give myself time to think as I pushed the reply button. My fingers moved across the screen furiously, typing out my response.
Me: We have nothing to discuss, Reed. No one is pretending. I’m very aware last night happened, but it’s over now. Please, stop calling me.
I waited, and when my screen lit up only a matter of seconds later, a frown formed. That was a fast reply. I swiped to open the message. His two-word response left my knees feeling weak, and I sat on the bed. I read the two words over and over again until they began to blend and blur in an incoherent stream of letters.
Wrong answer.
I took five minutes to collect myself before I was moving around the room as if I’d suddenly developed superhuman speed. I switched the light on in my closet and pulled down my overnight bag from the top shelf and then pulled free clothes from their hangers.
I raided my drawers next. A quick sweep through the adjoining bathroom, and I had everything I needed to spend the weekend as far away from Charleston as I could.
I knew packing would be the easy part of getting the hell out of my apartment in record time. Waking up a hungover Kaylee and Taylor was going to be the real challenge.
After threatening to dump ice water on both girls, I finally managed to get their butts out of bed and decent enough to make the ride home. I loaded my bag in the trunk and slipped into the driver’s seat.
As I waited for them to move their dragging ass to the car, I opened Reed’s message and hit reply.
Me: I’m not home, Reed. I don’t even want to know how you got my address, but I’ve given my neighbor permission to call the police when you show up.
I turned my phone off completely. If my mom or Carrie needed me, they would call Kaylee’s phone. Anyone else was shit out of luck.
“Will you move your asses,” I yelled through the open passenger window toward Kaylee and Taylor.
Kaylee groaned as she opened the front passenger door and fell into the front seat.
“Why the hell are you screaming, Meme?”
“We don’t have time for you to move at the speed of a garden snail. I want to get on the road before traffic becomes a bitch. Get in, Taylor, or I’m leaving you,” I snapped as I started the car. Taylor’s brother had brought them down and had planned to take them home later this afternoon, but not anymore.
She was using the side of my car to pull herself to the back door. When she finally climbed in, she pushed herself between the seats.
“Coffee,” she whispered, and her voice sounded hoarse and broken. “I need coffee, stat.”
Collapsing against the back seat, she slid down and curled into a ball. She covered her face with her jacket, her soft snores filling the interior of the car soon after.
I wrinkled my nose, and my face shifted in disgust. “It smells like you two took a bath in tequila. How much did you drink last night?”
Kaylee’s only response was a groan as she covered her eyes from the sun streaming in through the window.
“If you’re going to vomit, you’d better tell me beforehand so I can pull over. If you throw up in my car, you’re paying to get it cleaned.”
“Can you please stop talking about …” She covered her mouth as she literally gagged over the word.
“You really need to know when to say when, Kaylee.”
“Can you not lecture me right now? I’m already going to hear it from Mom.”
She was right. I often forgot Kaylee was her own adult now. After our deadbeat dad had left us, my mom worked herself to the bone to take care of us girls on her own. I’d been there to take care of Kaylee while she was gone, and it was hard for me to let go of that responsibility sometimes.
Kaylee no longer needed me to be her second keeper. She just needed a big sister.
“Will coffee make you feel better?” I asked, using my inside voice.
A smile tilted her dry lips, and she rolled her head in my direction. “Yes, please.”
I smiled and pulled the sunglasses from my face, handing them to her. “Here, this should spare you from the big ball of fire in the sky.”
She took them, and her sigh of relief made me laugh again. “Thank you.” She sighed, curling up against the door.
After a quick stop at a Starbucks, we were on our way back to my hometown. An hour wasn’t much of a drive, but with Kaylee and Taylor passed out, my thoughts were my only companion for the next sixty minutes. As much as I didn’t want to think about Reed or last night, I couldn’t stop the images that replayed in my head.
Flashes of Reed’s body over mine, the way his arms looked as he held his weight over me, and the way he felt inside me were feelings I would never forget.
Somehow, Reed had managed to brand me, and I would forever remember last night in vivid flashes of pleasure until the day I died.
I thought back to this morning.
After I woke up in Reed’s bed, my stomach had been in knots over everything that had happened. In the light of day, nothing felt as it had last night.
The first thing I noticed were all the places my body ached. The aftereffects of spending the night with Reed was settling in every muscle we used last night, which apparently had been all of them.
He’d spent the night pleasuring me, doing things to my body that I never knew were possible. I’d heard of people having multiple orgasms plenty, but actually being on the receiving end of them was an experience all in itself. Nothing anyone could ever describe would come close to actually feeling your world go black and explode with colors you didn’t even know were possible.
I could have stayed, but with the sunrise came the sobriety, and I knew that last night, no matter how exciting it had been, was a mistake. Not just because I spent the night with Reed, but because now he knew my deep, dark secret. I didn’t think I could survive the embarrassment that would surely come when he demanded an explanation.
Even if I wanted to explain, which I didn’t, there really was no big reveal to my secret. It hadn’t been my plan to remain a virgin this long, but it just happened that way. I didn’t date in high school, and it wasn’t due to a lack of options. I just didn’t find any boys more interesting than focusing on my schoolwork.
After I graduated and went to college, I was determined to graduate at the top of my class or pretty close to it. Parties, boys, love, and sex took a back seat to everything. My last year in college, I considered doing it just to get it over with, but I realized that was a stupid reason to have sex with someone. I had waited too long just to give it up to some frat guy for the sake of doing it and being able to say I was no longer a virgin.
So why had I finally decided last night was the night and Reed should be the one I gave that to? I have no freaking idea, but I knew I had to get out of there before he woke up. As if sensing my thoughts, he had moved, rolling onto his back. His abs glistened in the sun that snuck through the curtains. Taking a minute, I enjoyed the sight of him stark naked against the white sheets of his king-size bed.
And then the second was over. Lifting my head off the pillow, I pushed the tangled mess that was my hair out of my face, and Reed’s sleeping face came into focus. God, he was beautiful.
The blanket covered his lower half except for one leg that stuck out from the blanket. The temptation to move the sheet had me gripping it tightly in my fists, but I worried I’d wake him up, and right then, I needed to get out of there before he did that.
I had been thankful we discarded our clothes in the living room, so I wouldn’t have to search for them in the bedroom and risk waking him. Reed had been snoring softly, and leaving him almost felt as if I was committing some kind of crime, but I squeezed my way through the door anyway. I kept watching his door as if I expected it to open any second now.
I didn’t breathe until I was in the safety of my own apartment.
The memory faded as I passed the sign for my exit. Soon, I would be pulling into the driveway of my mom’s house, and I prayed she wouldn’t give me the third deg
ree. Leaning over, I nudged Kaylee’s shoulder, and she grumbled, trying to push me away.
“Kaylee, wake up,” I hissed.
She groaned. “What?”
“We’re almost home.”
“Almost? So why are you waking me up now?” Her words came out in a whine.
“Because we need to make a sister pact,” I told her and made a right turn, pulling into a gas station and stopping the car. A quick look back told me Taylor was still asleep.
Kaylee opened one eye, peeking at me through sleep clouded vision. “For what?”
I turned toward her in my seat. “Get up,” I snapped.
With a sigh, she rolled her body into a sitting position. “I’m up,” she growled.
“There will be no telling Mom about last night.”
She was fully awake now. “What about last night?” she questioned. “What happened last night?”
“Nothing you or Mom need to know.”
Her eyes widened. “Holy shit, Meela. You had sex,” she practically screamed.
“Shhh,” I hissed, checking on Taylor again.
“Oh my god, Meela, tell me everything.”
“I will not. Now, promise me you will not say anything in front of Mom.”
She pouted, her arms crossing over her chest. “Of course, I won’t, but I’m a little peeved you won’t tell me anything.”
I rolled my eyes, but a smile tilted my lips. “You’ll live.”
“Well, if I don’t, you only have yourself to blame.”
“Well, if you don’t, you’ll be missed greatly.”
We both laughed.
Fourteen
Meela
It was Monday and instead of being at work, I called in to spend the day lying around my apartment, trying to figure out how to deal with Reed the next time I saw him. I kept hoping that we would go on about our lives as if the night had never happened. Men did that all time, especially men like Reed.
Tuesday morning, I stepped into the courtroom, knowing he was my opposing counsel. I held my head high as I slipped behind the table and gave my client, Stephanie, a happy smile.
I could feel Reed’s glare on the side of my face, but no matter what, I didn’t look over at him. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to see his expression. I didn’t want to know if he was angry, but more than anything, as much as I’d hoped for it, I didn’t want to see his indifference.
I’d given him a part of me that I’d held for so many years. I didn’t regret our night together. Everything about it had felt right, but it wasn’t something that could happen again, and I made sure that was clear. Even though I knew it was necessary, his indifference would burn me in a way it had no business burning.
When court dismissed until the following day, I gathered my papers quickly and dashed out of the courtroom to my car, but I wasn’t fast enough. I’d barely made it to the end of the hallway when I felt a firm grasp on my arm.
Opening the door to the closest office, Reed pulled me into the room and shut the door behind me.
“What the hell?” he said, his eyes wild.
“What?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
“You left.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?” he demanded, and his green eyes were lit.
“Because it was the right thing.”
“That’s a fucking lie,” he growled; the step he took toward me moved us deeper into the room. “You were scared.”
I sidestepped him and headed toward the door. “I don’t have time for this.”
He pulled me to him, wrapping his strong arms around my waist. “Make fucking time,” he whispered fiercely in my ear.
“I can’t handle you right now.”
“The hell you can’t. You handled me just fine the other night, and more importantly, I can handle you.”
He was right, and that fact made me seethe. “Of course, you can, Pierce. You can handle anything, right?”
“Don’t give me that ‘Pierce’ bullshit. It’s Reed. Say it.”
Pulling away, I moved to leave the room. “No!”
He was lightning quick as he closed the distance between us. Turning me around, he wrapped his fingers tightly in my hair, pulling my head back.
I wanted to hate him—I’d convinced myself he was the enemy this entire time—but he awakened something inside me I never knew existed. And at that moment, all I wanted him to do was fuck me.
“Prove it,” I said, throwing his words back in his face. “Prove you know how to handle me, and that the other night wasn’t a fluke.”
“Is that what you think it was? A fluke?”
“A fluke, the alcohol, the timing. Take your pick, but do it fast because you’re wasting time, and I’m five seconds away from walking out that door.”
I didn’t know what had gotten into me, but I couldn’t seem to form a thought that didn’t include having Reed’s hands, his mouth, or his tongue on me. I hadn’t realized how much I would want him again until I saw him enter the courtroom.
He didn’t take his eyes off me as his fingers untangled from my hair and he moved us toward the door, locking it. The sound of the lock made my heart pound harder, and I was so wet and full, I was positive the moment he touched me, I’d come. His mouth came down hard on mine, and I wanted the roughness of his kiss. When his tongue thrust in my mouth, I was quick to move mine against his.
He was crushing me into the window of the door, and the only sound was our breathing and the sound of the blinds crushing under my body. I should have cared that anybody could start pounding on the conference door right now, but I didn’t.
Reed must have had the same thought because he said, “Getting caught means this will be over way before I’m ready for it.”
He turned us around, and his lips moved down the side of my neck. His teeth nipped at my skin, and my fingers tangled in his hair, wanting it harder. He knew exactly what I wanted, and he branded me with his teeth.
The back of my thighs hit the large conference table, and we came to a standstill. Reed cupped my breast over my shirt and brought his mouth to my nipple, biting and pulling. It wasn’t enough, and I wanted to feel him against my skin.
“I know you can do better than that, Reed.”
His eyes lifted toward mine, and he grinned, accepting my challenge. Popping open one button at a time, he pulled the cup of my bra down until my breast was bare, and I could feel his tongue lashing against my nipple.
“You’re better than my dirtiest fantasy.” His breath cooled my nipple, making it tighten and tingle.
That both shocked and pleased me. “You’ve fantasized about me?”
“Since the first time I met you.”
“Tell me what you thought about.”
He was sucking on my other nipple when he stopped and lifted his head. Desire darkened his eyes and dilated his pupils.
“Are you wet, Meela?”
I watched him, my chest moving up and down. I couldn’t breathe right because I wanted Reed so badly. I could feel the wetness between my thighs.
Grabbing my skirt, I shimmied it up my thighs until the edges of my thigh highs appeared. Reed never took his eyes off mine as I grabbed his hands and pulled it between my legs.
His fingers were masterful as they moved against me until he found the nub that was throbbing for his attention. His finger rubbed over me, and my legs trembled, almost giving out on me.
“Reed …” I moaned.
“I haven’t even begun, love.” He voice was rough, and it rubbed my nerves.
He spun me around until I was facing the table.
“Put your hands flat on the table.”
His command excited me, making me wetter, hungrier. Doing as he said, I leaned over until my hands were as he wanted.
“Instead of telling you, I’m going to show you, Meela. I’m going to show you how you tortured me while I slept, while I worked, when I was with any other woman.”
He was moving down my body, and then I felt his ha
nds on my ass, cupping and squeezing it.
“Open your legs, Meela.”
Using the table to support my weight, I spread my legs.
“God, you’re fucking beautiful.”
I felt the sharp edges of his teeth against the back of my thigh, and I cried out.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, pulling back.
“No. Do it again. Please, Reed, do it again.”
He didn’t waste any time, and I felt him nibble on the back of my other thigh. His hand moved up until I felt his thumb sliding over me and then inside me.
“I can’t … Reed, I can’t …”
My plea for this sweet torture to release me came out a broken mess.
“You can, and you will.”
He pulled my panties down and then pushed my legs open again. I heard the rustle of his pants. He was warm and hard against me as he moved over me.
“I can take this slow, Meela. I can draw it out, or I can fuck you. What do you want?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. He made me want things I didn’t even know I wanted until that exact moment, and right now, I wanted it hard and fast.
“Fuck me, Reed. Please.”
“With pleasure, sweetheart.”
He pushed inside me quickly and smoothly. The surprise of it took my breath away, and my fingers dug into the hard wood surface.
His thrusts became faster and harder; the desk dug into my thighs, but I didn’t care enough to stop. I wanted to come, I needed to come, and I wasn’t going to stop until that happened.
The pit of my stomach tightened, and my muscles clenched around Reed tightly, pulling him deeper inside me. I wanted more of him; I wanted all he had to give.
“Can you feel me, Meela?”
“Dear god, yes. Don’t stop!”
I felt his fingers winding in my strands, tugging until my back was against his chest. I could feel his heart pounding against my back, and it matched my own.
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