After Hurricane Nina, Reed's Resolution (Hot Hunks-Steamy Romance Collection Book 1)

by Natalie Ann

  After that first night he and Taylor shared together—those hours of passion like he’d never felt before—he’d lain in bed hornier than a teen with his first Playboy magazine in his hands when by all intents he should have been sated.

  But he wasn’t, because all he could think of was when he was going to get his hands and mouth on Taylor again.

  He’d wanted to call her the next day but didn’t. That would be desperate in his book when he was anything but. He did text her though and they had some flirtatious banter going back and forth and it held him over.

  What held him over even more was the fact that three nights ago they were both lying in bed and he decided to try his hand with a little phone sex...just to see if she was game.

  She was. By the time he’d relieved himself, hoping and imagining she was doing the same on the other end, he’d fallen into a deep slumber.

  But it was Friday again and they did make plans for tomorrow. There were only so many hot air balloon dates he could come up with, so he decided to go to the lake, not that he’d told her that yet. Just that he was going to make plans and she didn’t care what they did.

  On lunch break, he made his way to the office building and up the stairs to his father’s office. “Am I bothering you?” he asked when his father looked up from where he was hitting a golf ball into a cup.

  “Hardly. Come on in, Reed.”

  “Why are you even here?” he asked. “Just take the day and go golfing.”

  “I am. Or I will be in an hour or so with a few buddies. I was just finishing up paperwork.”

  “If you say so,” he said, walking over and sitting in the chair across from his father’s desk.

  “What can I help you with?” his father asked, sitting down himself.

  “Is anyone going to be at the lake house tomorrow?”

  “Nope. It’s empty. Why, are you making plans to bring a friend there?”

  No one knew of his and Taylor’s situation, but he wasn’t going to completely lie either. “I was thinking about it if no one was using it or was going to be around.”

  “Your mother is dragging me to Vermont for some silly craft fair and Rachel is out of town visiting friends. The camp is all yours.”

  “Thanks,” he said, standing up and getting ready to leave.

  “Reed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nothing,” his father said, shaking his head.

  “It’s something or you wouldn’t have stopped me.”

  “I just don’t want to see Taylor get hurt.”

  He laughed. “You’re worried about her. What about me?”

  “You’d have to be able to feel something to be hurt and you’ve been telling us all along that you didn’t.”

  “Maybe I’ve changed.”

  “I hope so,” his father said. “But actions speak louder.”

  “Time will tell,” Reed said.

  Right Here and Right Now

  “This is your family’s camp?” she asked. She shouldn’t be surprised, but of course she was. She was expecting some small little cabin, not some brand new house that was bigger than most of them in the developments Chapman’s owned.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Why?”

  “I was expecting something older.”

  “It’s twelve years old. My parents built it. Or rather Chapman Construction did. They wanted a place they could retire to, but they barely spend much time here.”

  “Could they live here all year round?”

  “Yeah. Lake George is a great lake and it’s a nice tourist area. But they don’t end up coming here often. Neither do Rachel and I.”

  “You guys are nuts, this is beautiful. I’d love to live here.”

  All she could see was how much fun Angie would have here. She’d have to be careful and not let anything like that slip. It was bad enough she’d let Reed talk her into bringing Mutt along tonight so he could try to “convince” her to spend the night and not worry about the dog.

  She told him she’d play it all by ear, but had to be home by no later than eleven and prayed that Jack didn’t call with a problem regarding Angie. She actually hoped Angie was staying with her grandparents tonight, as they were more equipped on handling a child. Too bad they didn’t do so well with their own son.

  “It’s not a fun commute to work,” he said, turning his head to smile at her. He’d been doing that a lot more lately. Giving her looks that could be interpreted as something more along the lines of lovers who felt something for each other than friends that just wanted some nookie.

  She adjusted her bag on her shoulder as they walked to the front door. “Not every day, but in the summer it might be worth it.”

  “I work a lot more in the summer than I do in the winter. I guess the planning of it wasn’t so great, but my father doesn’t necessarily work full time anymore. My parents do spend long weekends here. My mother doesn’t like to stay alone.”

  “What’s your mother like?” she asked.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I know your father. He’s even talked to me.”

  “What? When?”

  She laughed at the look on his face. He’d been in the process of unlocking the door and had just frozen on her. “Why do you look so stunned? It was a few weeks ago. Closer to a month actually. After I was your wingman at that party.”

  “Oh,” he said. “What did he have to say?”

  The door was unlocked and Mutt took off running when it was pushed open before she could grab him. “Crap.” She set her bag down and tried to catch him.

  “Don’t worry. He’ll be fine. My parents have a dog too. Back to my question. What did my father say to you?”

  “Nothing much other than you didn’t have a lot of friends.”

  “I’ve got plenty of friends,” Reed said, outraged.

  “I think he meant women friends.”

  “In that case. Nope. You’re it.”

  She wasn’t sure how to process what he’d said, but then realized she didn’t really have any guy friends either. Like her brothers used to tell her, “no guy really wants to just be your friend, that’s only their way to get in your pants.” She should have remembered that advice when it came to Reed.

  Then again, he’d been pretty upfront about it. Or after their first date he’d been upfront.

  Since she was so interested in getting in his pants too, she really couldn’t fault him and wondered now if it held true for women.

  “So what are we going to do here?” she asked.

  “Go out on the boat of course.”

  “Of course,” she said with an eye roll that caused him to yank her in and hold her tight, his lips searching hers and branding her like only he knew how.

  “Or we can find something else to do,” he said, his lips moving over her neck and to her earlobe now. He sure had magical lips!

  “We’ll be doing plenty of that, but even I have my limits on the amount and we’ll be here for a bit. I’d like to check out the lake.”

  “You’re no fun,” he said, pulling back and running his finger down her nose. Those moves again, playful ones that friends didn’t share.

  “I can be fun.” She reached forward and cupped what was already growing in his pants. “But I’d prefer to make you wait for it a bit. Maybe prance around in my bathing suit first?”

  “I can get on board with that,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the stairs. “Let’s go get changed right now.”

  Her head was swiveling left and right trying to take in her surroundings, but he wasn’t letting her. She’d have a better chance later to look around some more.

  “Is this your parents’ room?” she asked, not feeling really comfortable about that.

  “Of course not. They’ve got the master. This is my room and Rachel’s is next door, we share a Jack and Jill bathroom between us. There are two other bedrooms and a hall bath on the other side.”

  “Why so many rooms?” she asked. This house was bigger than
she originally thought.

  “My parents like to entertain and people often stay with them here. It gives everyone the needed space and privacy.”

  “We had three bedrooms in our house growing up and one and a half baths. I don’t have a clue about privacy or space.”

  She hadn’t meant to say that, to remind him again that she came from so little and he had so much. It was something Jack threw in her face all the time, calling her a gold digger that had gotten pregnant on purpose. There was no amount of convincing him that it was the last thing she’d planned in her life.

  “Well, you’ve got plenty of privacy now since it’s just you and Mutt. Why don’t you hurry up and strip for me?”

  She laughed and pushed aside the guilt that now might be the time to say it’s not just her and Mutt, but then told herself that Angie had nothing to do with what the two of them had right here and right now.

  Once they were both changed into their bathing suits, Reed asked, “How do you think Mutt will be on the boat?”

  “Only one way to find out. He’s barely a year old and I’m pretty sure the shelter he came from didn’t lean toward boat trips.”

  “Very true. I’m willing to bet this isn’t the first time you’ve been on a boat since you lived in Miami.”

  “I’ve been on one a time or two.” She let it go at that. No need to say she’d been on boats when she was partying. The last one was the one Jack rented and wined and dined her on during their brief relationship.

  She and Reed drove around the lake for hours, Taylor moving around the large speedboat from sitting on the front bow to reclining in the back with Mutt with his borrowed doggie life vest on. At one point, she said, “Don’t get too used to this, Mutt. It’s not in the budget for us.”

  Reed was several feet away steering the boat and hadn’t heard. She could get used to this too but told herself that things like this didn’t happen in her life. She knew that by now.

  Willing to Follow

  Back at the house a few hours later, Reed was trying to figure out if Taylor would be offended if he just picked her up and carried her to his room or if he could attack her the minute they were in the back door and make their way to the kitchen floor.

  All her prancing around in that itty-bitty tiny red bikini had him sporting a steel rod in his shorts. She knew too as her eyes landed there several times and she smirked at him.

  If the lake had been quieter, he might have found a cove to hide them in and go to town, but it was a crazy busy Saturday and he had all he could to skirt the traffic and jet-skiers as it was.

  Mutt had been well behaved and was now tired out, lying down on the floor the minute they walked into the kitchen.

  He didn’t have much time to decide what he was going to do because Taylor spun him around, slipped her hands in the waist of his board shorts, and lowered them to the ground.

  “Great minds think alike” was going to be his comment, but when she dropped to her knees her warm wet mouth surrounded him and he couldn’t spit a word out if he was even able to form a sentence at this point.

  Her nails were grazing up and down his thighs, her lips moving around him, her teeth even nibbling a little. Then her hand started to stroke him and her soft lips turned to more of a suction.

  He felt his eyes roll back and his hands go into her wind-tousled locks. Dirty blonde and bobbing up and down with a pace he was more than willing to let her set.

  Her eyes glanced up and met his, a twinkle in them as she feasted like it was the best piece of meat she’d ever had and she was out to prove it.

  Worked for him. That is until her other hand reached around and grabbed his ass, her nails biting into the tender flesh as she pushed him closer. He had to be hitting the back of her throat, but she wasn’t stopping or slowing down, just changing her angle and swishing her tongue up and down and around.

  “Taylor,” he said, trying to be gentlemanly. Most times if a woman started this, he’d let her go. He’d never asked for it and figured if they were taking that step, then they were going to finish. But with Taylor he felt like he should just let her know.

  She stopped and looked up at him, her lips red and wet, matching her swimsuit from when she dove off his deck to cool off moments before they’d come in. “Yes?”

  There was no way she could know how sexy she looked right now, or maybe she did and she was just tugging him along a path he was more than willing to follow blindly. Like Little Red Riding Hood and he was the wolf. Or maybe she was the wolf because she was the one gobbling him up.

  “Just giving you a heads up.”

  “Yes, you are,” she said and then ran her tongue up the length of him, pulling the tip in between her lips and letting it pop out with a noise. He was going to pop off if she did that again.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “So noted,” she said, then went right back to work. This time it was more intense. Faster. Harder. Deeper in her throat and he wasn’t sure how that was even possible.

  It didn’t matter because within moments he was shouting out her name and filling her like he never had another woman before. Not like this. Not where she just kept swallowing and continuing and swallowing some more.

  He swore there wasn’t anything else left to give, including his energy, when she sat back on her heels and licked her lips.

  “Wow,” he said.

  “Why, thank you.” She stood up, ran her hand down the length of his cock again which was already standing back up. “Now it’s your turn.”

  This time he kicked his swimsuit away from his feet, swung her in his arms and raced up the stairs to his room knowing there were condoms in the bedside drawer.

  Once he kicked the door to his room shut to keep the dog out he walked over and dropped her on his bed, coming down on top of her. There was no time for pleasantries like lying her down gently. Not when she just finished what she did in the kitchen.

  “That’s it,” she said. “Don’t hold back.”

  Green lights were flashing and he was speeding up. The bottom of her bikini was yanked off and the top nudged aside. His lips went to one hardened nipple that had been winking at him the entire time on the boat.

  Plump and sweet in his mouth just like a freshly picked cherry. Cherries happened to be one of his favorite fruits and when he had them, he gorged himself silly.

  That was what he was going to do with Taylor. Gorge himself until he couldn’t take another bite.

  Then he realized he’d always want another bite and when that thought popped into his head he pushed it away in that deep dark place he’d hidden in for years.

  Trying again—or finding a better place in life—didn’t mean he was ready to take a leap off a bridge for someone. Even if it felt like he could climb the Golden Gate right now and shout her name on the way down.

  He moved from one nipple to the next. Tasting, licking, sucking, biting. Leaving his mark and making her his.

  Another scary thought that he had to fight back. He just wanted pleasure right now, but it was hitting in more than one place in his body. Not physically, but almost emotionally, a place he’d shut off for years.

  “Reed,” she said, her hand in his hair and yanking his head back. It amazed him this was the woman that was so quiet and shy during the day but a little vixen at night. “I said don’t hold back.”

  He reached for a condom and got ready. “Turn over,” he said.

  She did. Rolled right over and got on her hands and knees presenting him with one hell of a view. Her body was a piece of work. He had no clue what she did to be so toned and curvy but imagined it had something to do with living in Miami. When he thought of women there, he thought of sexy bodies and sensual women.

  That was Taylor.

  He wondered what guy had hurt her. Had burned her so badly that she loathed relationships as much as him.

  But did he really anymore?

  Scary thoughts...go away, he mentally told himself.

  He
knelt behind her and found her hidden wet treasure, then eased in. Blow jobs and doggie style, two of his favorite things in the world.

  His hands were on her hips as he slid in and out. She was balancing on one hand now, the other going to her own swollen nub, working herself up and over.

  He could feel her muscles start to clench around him, her moans getting louder, him feeding them as he pumped into her at a speed that mirrored them in the boat on the lake. Fast, urgent, dying to get to the end to see the beauty awaiting them on the other side.

  Beauty. That’s what this was. Not sex. Not physical. But that scary beast he was hiding from coming out and telling him to shut the hell up for once.

  Better This Way

  They’d made it through that Saturday with her spending the night even though she’d tried to tell herself that it wasn’t wise.

  But wisdom and she never seemed to get along anyway, so why start now?

  Thankfully, everything was well with Angie that night and Jack’s mother dropped her off at noon on Sunday just like she’d planned.

  She’d missed her little girl, but for once she actually got to enjoy herself for a full night. In the back of her mind, her daughter’s care and safety were there, but for the moment, she was a woman that was starting to realize that this might not have been that great of an arrangement with Reed.

  That maybe she wasn’t cut out to be just friends with a guy while sharing their bodies a few times a month. Not when she was fighting against feeling more, reminding herself of all the reasons it was better this way. That there was no future for them, as much as those thoughts were popping into her head.

  They’d been together three Saturday nights and it was getting harder and harder to make up reasons why it could only be every other Saturday.

  Not only that, she knew he was having a hard time staying away during the week. He’d been good about not coming to her office too often and raising some eyebrows, but he was texting her enough that even Wendy had commented on it one day.

  “What has you smiling over there?” Wendy had asked.

  “What?” she said, lifting her head from her phone. She tried not to be one of those people who texted while at work, but she supposed if the boss was the one texting you then it was okay to respond back.