Reese
“Hello, sis,” Becca says with a mischievous grin before she passes by me with Chinese food. “Thanks for paying over the phone.”
“Thanks for picking it up.” I follow her to my kitchen, and as soon as she sets the food on the counter, she spins on her heels to face me.
“We have so much to talk about.” Her hands are clasped at her chest and that wild grin has grown.
“Ah, shit. You really like Travis.”
“Yes, sis, he’s perfect.” Her eyes are full of enchantment as she stares off, obviously thinking of the man.
“Oh, no, you’re going to fall hard and fast, too. I pray neither of us crash and burn. Please tell me you weren’t weak like me and jumped right into bed with him.”
“No, but I would have. He’s being such a gentleman. We were together all weekend, and he never tried. I mean, don’t get me wrong; we came close a few times, but he stopped us. It was sweet.”
“You’re going to die when I tell you what my weekend was like.” We grab our food and head to my couch to chat. “You will never guess whose penthouse I stayed in over the weekend.”
The noodles Becs is about to shove in her mouth are dropped back into the cardboard box.
“Who?”
“Dwayne Barnes.”
She kicks the side of my ass with her outstretched foot. “No freakin’ way.”
“Yep. Casteel painted one of his bikes, and I followed Everett to deliver it Friday evening. He gave us the keys and we stayed in Buckhead all weekend. It was fabulous.”
“You better f-ing take me to meet him. I’m the one who loves football, not you.” She’s grimacing and whining, and I’m loving every second of it. “No, seriously, that is too cool. Oh, that means you had an exciting weekend.”
I shovel rice into my mouth and look away.
“You did freaky shit. I know that look. Damn, you’re even blushing.”
Swallowing my food, I look at her and grin.
“I have done things with that man that I would’ve never dreamed of doing. He makes me brave, but I could never tell you about it.”
“You little slut.” Her foot is digging into my thigh.
“Ouch, and I am not a slut. It’s one man.”
“I’m joking. I love that you let loose with him, and I can see how happy he makes you.”
“I am happy.” With my chopsticks, I play with the rice in my box. “Becs, I think I’m falling in love with him.”
“I believe you’re already there, Reese.”
“I’m terrified, but it appears more every day that he’s happier, too. It seems he’s moving further away from the past and closer to me.”
I take another bite of my rice, getting that uncomfortable feeling of vulnerability that makes me want to push him away to protect my heart. “I only hope I’m not seeing that because I want it to be true.”
“Don’t go there, sis. It’s self-destructive.”
“Tell me about Travis.”
She abruptly forgets about my issues and beams.
“He has the best sense of humor, but under that is the smartest guy. And although he clearly knows how attractive he is, there is this sensitive quality to him, like he could hurt easily.”
She shrugs, pulling and holding her shoulders in as if she wishes he was in front of her to hug. “He’s a sweetheart.” Swiftly, she sucks some noodles up and swallows. “I know we’re both only twenty-two, but this could get serious fast.”
Her eyes light up like fireworks on the fourth of July. “Oh, you have to go with me Saturday to Everett’s.”
“What’s happening Saturday?”
“He supposedly has this huge motocross track. The guys get together and act like dumb boys, riding dirt bikes like they’re twelve or something.
“Can you imagine how hot they’ll look on them dang things, their bodies covered in mud? I swear, I will lick the stuff off of those fine, ripped abs of Travis’s.”
Now, I’m kicking her. “Becca Sue, I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Oh, please, you’re no better.”
A chuckle escapes me. “You’re right. Ev has a rock-hard body that I love to admire. It kind of makes me want to give up butter and bacon, so mine can look as good as his. Oh, and we need to start going to the gym three times a week instead of two.”
“Like he doesn’t drool over your figure already. I saw the way he watched you at the restaurant. He was all in then, and that was almost two weeks ago.”
“Crap, I’m staying with him all weekend. The guys will know it.”
She fans her hand at me. “Who cares? Like they don’t know what the two of you are doing. Stop worrying about what everyone thinks.”
I let the tension billow out with a deep breath.
“You’re like Everett, always bringing me back to the present. I’m working on staying there.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everett
“This is it,” I say as I pull into my long driveway.
“I should’ve known you live in Kennesaw. It’s farther out than Marietta, and it gets you that much farther from Atlanta.”
“You figured me out.” We get closer to my home, and when I glance over, Reese’s gaze is tumbling along my hilly property, taking in the brilliance with each rise and fall. I believe this property is stunning, and I hope she can perceive it.
In the summer, the acres of grass are the richest green, much like Reese’s eyes. Of course, she might not find it so beautiful when she sees the ten acre dirt bike track behind my house.
After parking, we both get out, and I stand in front of my truck, captivated by her beauty as the sun hits her golden locks.
It’s as if she’s viewing through binoculars, her waist slowly turning, her hand shielding the rays, so she can place it all to memory. The way she’s grounded to the occasion has me watching in wonderment.
Without a word, she strolls to me and takes my hand. I lead her up the covered porch and open the door.
She steps in, and her eyes begin their descent from the vaulted ceiling to the floors. The inside of my place is more like a wilderness retreat you’d escape to on vacation.
“Everett, this place is gorgeous. How could Krystal prefer downtown over this? It’s–it’s breathtakingly perfect.”
The arduous breaths I’m taking are instantaneous as her words collide with my affliction, the misery made up of self-doubt and inadequacy. They choke it out, opening more space in my heart. She’s occupying it at an alarming rate.
In a few weeks, Reese has given affirmation to what family and friends have always said and what I used to believe before I ever married; I matter … my dreams have value.
I try to get my breath. Reese is physically close to me yet out of reach. She’s not only what I want but encompasses everything my soul yearns for.
She has made my heart beat again and could flatline it with two words. It’s over. I’m hers for the taking, but she’s not mine until she says so.
Whipping around to face me, she covers her mouth with her hand for a few seconds.
“Oh shit, Everett, I’m so sorry. I should’ve never said that.” Cupping my cheeks, her eyes dart across mine. “I’m an idiot. It was disrespectful, and I’m sure it only flooded your mind with memories of her being here.”
I scoop Reese up and begin carrying her to my room. After reaching the top of the stairs, I push the door open with my foot and stand her by my bed.
I’m staring at her panicked expression as I begin unbuttoning her blouse. Her eyes flit around before they fall on mine.
“I–I don’t know about jumping right into this … in here, Everett.”
“Shh …” I don’t want to discuss the past, so I continue working my way down her buttons, but she only seems to fret more.
Pushing my hands off of her, she runs from my room. “Reese, where are you going?” Dammit, I take off after her, and when I reach the great room, she’s fleeing across the threshold of the fr
ont door.
I find her pacing outside the passenger door of my truck, her hands kneading in front of her.
“Please take me home.”
“Hell, no.”
She grabs her head with both hands.
“Please, Everett, I can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
Her head flies up, eyes full of desperation.
“Be her replacement. I wanted to believe you could feel the same about me, but you were in there thinking about her after I said what I did, and then you want to have sex with me to fill this void, and I will never be enough. Why don’t you see that?!”
“What the fuck, Reese? That is not at all what just happened.”
She throws her hands on her hips.
“Then what was that back there? Tell me how it is OK for me to be in her house?”
Anger that she’s hung up on this hammers away at me until my fists are nails, slamming onto the hood of my truck. “We’re putting an end to this bullshit once and for all.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do, so let me go, Everett.”
I tear around the side of my truck until I’m framing her face, holding it tightly. “You don’t fucking want that, and I don’t either, so don’t say it again.”
Reese begins sobbing, her tears a waterfall over my hands. “We were supposed to have some fun and make each other feel good. That’s it. Nothing more,” she breathes out, her throat and cries strangling her words.
“It was that for a day, baby. It’s too late. This is so much more, and you have to stop looking for an excuse to run.”
Reese
“She …” I gasp for air, “was here, so it feels wrong.”
Moving one of his hands, Everett brushes the wet strands from my cheek and strokes my hair before he’s holding my face again snugly.
“She never lived here. She never slept in that room or bed upstairs. Krystal would’ve never wanted to be here. Reese, I’ve shut the door to my past. You have to, too. Your pain and insecurity over her is killing me inside.”
My eyes begin to search his, my mind absorbing his words, my heart wanting to believe them.
“Let me tell you what I was thinking in there. You make me feel like I matter, fancy face. I think this place is breathtakingly perfect, and you substantiated that.
“You validate all that I long to believe about myself, from saying I’m smart and successful to being a talented artist. You see me.”
Yanking my body to him, he holds me against his chest. “It’s scary as hell. I feel the fear, too, sweetheart, but the worry of not getting another chance to touch you or talk to you again is more paralyzing.” He holds me back and stares into my eyes.
“Everett, I’ve never felt these strong of feelings before, and it’s too soon.”
“I know it’s fast, but you gotta believe that I want this. Every second you’re not near me, I miss you, yet you’re not mine to miss. Dammit, Reese, I want you to be.”
He lets one of my arms go as I try to raise it to wipe my eyes. I dry my face. “You don’t wish I was her?”
“I only want you, so stop being so damn difficult.” Sighing with relief, Everett scoops me off the ground and into his arms. “Let’s try this again. I was attempting to make love to you, and you’re going to let me this time.”
He treks us back to his room and begins to unbutton my shirt again. “I probably look awful now.”
His hands stop moving as his eyes stab me with a lethal stare. “Do you want to be made love to, or do you need to be spanked and fucked for being so damn trying?”
His authoritative words create a screaming ache and pool of wetness between the peaks of my thighs.
“I think both,” I answer smoothly.
“Damn, I love that mouth of yours and that daring woman inside, who keeps dabbling with ecstasy.”
Everett gently slips off my shirt and bra while tracing my lips with his tongue. The tingle is hair-raising as he sucks and drags my bottom one into his mouth, the sensual act drawing me out to play with the pleasure he’s providing.
Undoing his jeans, I tug them open and rub his erection through his boxers until he’s breathing harshly. Everett’s bent over in a flash, untying his shoes.
Soft hair calls to me, so I shove my hands into it and massage his scalp as he groans lightly, hurriedly stripping us naked.
He’s on top of me before my head hits the pillow, his mouth skimming its way down my stomach, leaving a wet trail of determination.
My fingers root in his hair again, pulling it with every slick stroke of his tongue. Right above my hip bone, he bites lightly on the thin skin before he’s sucking on it hard.
“I think I need to mark you, Reese, so you don’t forget who is in charge of pleasuring you. So you don’t lose sight of who I want.” He sucks harder, the sting erotic, causing me to flinch.
Everett’s hands pin the top of my legs, holding me to the bed as he moves between them. I grip the sheets, preparing for his next assault. He sucks harder on the delicate skin of my inner thigh and pulls it with his teeth.
“Oh, damn, I’m liking this,” he says.
Glancing down, I see him appraising his work before his mouth is on the move again. I can’t resist lifting my hips to him when I feel his blistering breath hovering, making me wait for the pleasure.
Fingers open me wide, the cool air hitting instantly, mingling with his searing breath, and I need him to lick me now. “Please, Everett.”
“Game time, baby.”
My head lifts to look at him. “You mean time for your mouth to play, right?”
He chuckles. “Only if you answer my questions correctly.”
“No, Everett. No more fucking games.”
“You know what? I think you do need spankings.” He’s up and at the side of the bed faster than I can process what to make of this. “I want you across my lap now.”
“You’re serious?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” he asks, his eyes stabbing me with a dark spike of lust.
“Have you done this before?”
“No, but we’re experiencing new things, so bring that ass over here.”
“Hell no.” He can think again if he believes for one second that I’m lying across his lap. Blowing out a breath, he runs his hands through his hair and stands. I watch as his virile nakedness struts across his room and enters a closet.
“I know what game you like to play,” he says loudly with frustration.
“What’s that?” I ask, shouting back, curious as to what the hell he’s up to.
“Tag. I bet you had all the boys chasing after you on the playground, and I bet after you exhausted them, you stopped so they could catch you. You know why?”
He returns from the closet carrying a belt. Surely, he doesn’t think I’m letting him spank me with that.
“Please, enlighten me since you think you know me better than I know myself,” I say, holding my hand up toward him.
“Because you loved it. You wanted to be caught, but it had to be on your terms. You haven’t changed, but the terms have. You have one boy chasing you now since he will beat up any others who try.”
I roll my eyes. Caveman.
“And this boy is not letting you call the shots. He takes what he wants. Now, you are going to lie over my legs, or I’m coming after you, and there will not be a chase.”
Sticking my chin up at him, I cross my arms.
“I am not a child, and I’m not lying across your lap like one so think again.”
Within seconds, I’m gasping for air as my face digs into the sheet. Everett has flipped me over to my stomach and has somehow angled me diagonally on his bed before straddling me. He grabs my arms and holds my hands together in front of my head.
“You are one stubborn-ass woman.” Stretching over, he wraps the belt around my wrists and the corner post of the bed. He’s Johnny on the spot when he wants something.
The belt is pulled snugly, making my elbows press in
to the mattress. The pillow is tossed to the floor before he’s straddling me farther down my legs.
“Fuck, you look hot like this. My dick couldn’t get any harder. I’m going to spank you until you change your attitude. Then, I will lick you until you’re coming in my mouth. I hope you wise up and answer correctly since I still prefer the latter.”
I huff, the air evacuating loudly.
“No. I’m not cooperating.”
Leaning over, I feel his wet tongue dragging down my spine, the nerves beneath shuddering, sending bumps of evidence to the surface.
The cheeks of my ass are spread wide before his slick tongue is sliding between my crack, springing forth a shock of pleasure that soars through me like shooting stars.
“Tell me no, Reese. Challenge me with your will, so I can crush it. I’ll show you what yes means until you’re screaming the word.”
I flinch, the sting radiating outward from the first smack. His hand managed to cross both of my cheeks.
“Who takes what he wants?”
“Everett since he’s the spoiled brother. Ouch.” I think my elbows came off the bed for that one.
“You just lost the bonus round, so you better wise up, buttercup, before my tongue goes nowhere but your mouth.” His fingers slip right into me, and I back against them. Yes. I want more of that.
“So fucking wet. It’s like I suspected; you still want to be caught.” Maybe it’s time to cooperate, so he’ll replace his fingers with his tongue. “Who wants you and only you, Reese?”
“You do.”
Everett massages my ass while his other hand moves lazily in and out of me.
“Good girl. Who is going to stop doubting what I want?”
“I am.” Pleasure begins to escalate as his talented hands continue playing with me.
“Who is going to stop being so damn difficult?”
“You, I hope.” Oww! I couldn’t help myself, and that was the hardest yet, producing a wince, but it’s adventuresome and exciting.
“You answered two wrong, since I’m not spoiled, and two right, so let’s have a tie-breaker and see where you want my tongue. Do you enjoy being bound and spanked?” I groan as I weigh whether he would deny me his tongue if I say no?
Trust Game Page 15
