Reed’s hand grabbed my booted foot and pulled the swing and me, toward him until I was straddling him. “You’re not upset?” he asked, his gaze searching mine.
I placed my hands on the side of his face and kissed him. “This will seem funny one day.”
“I can’t wait for that to happen. You sure you’re okay?” he asked, his forehead against mine.
“No.” I wrapped my arms around Reed, relishing the erotic feel of my bare legs against his jeans. “I really need you to kiss me now.”
His mouth was on mine, kissing me thoroughly and with enough raw passion that I felt as if I was on fire. We were so caught up in the kiss that we ignored the first few raindrops, but soon the sky opened and a cascade of water poured down on us.
Grabbing my hand, Reed led me towards his truck but we were already soaked to the skin by the time we got there and the short drive to Reed’s house seemed to take twice as long and not because we were dripping wet, but because there was an unmistakable sexual tension heating the air between us.
We opened the door to his house and stumbled inside, dripping water all over his floor as we kissed and touched each other with a sense of urgency that was quickly turning to desperation. Somehow we made it to Reed’s bedroom.
Reed’s eyes never left mine as he reached for the hem of my dress and slipped the material over my head and tossed it onto the rug leaving me in only my white lace bra and panties and cowboy boots. His hungry gaze slid over me slowly like a caress, and I dragged in a ragged breath, feeling my nipples harden beneath the ravenous look in his eyes.
“Ellie, are you sure?”
I nodded.
“I want to hear you say it.” His lips brushed my throat.
I whimpered. “I want you Reed.”
As soon as I’d said his name, he reached behind me and unclasped my bra, sliding the straps off my shoulders and letting it fall to the floor, baring me to him. Next he reached behind me, slipping his hand inside of my panties and cupping my butt before he pushed the panties down my legs, and I kicked them off leaving me completely naked except for the boots.
“You’re so beautiful.”
I could hardly breathe, and that was before he pulled me against his body and kissed me, making me excruciatingly aware of the feel of my naked body against his wet clothes.
I reached up to unbutton his shirt and he let me. Pushing back the wet material, I revealed the smooth, taut skin that was stretched over the chiseled muscles of his arms, chest and flat abs that tightened in an eight pack. My hands shook as I reached for the button of his jeans and unfastened them before I undid his zipper. Sliding my hands inside his jeans and briefs at the same time, I pushed them down before I remembered that he as still wearing boots. My face flamed as I tried to figure out what to do next.
“Sorry, I guess I need some practice undressing men.” Lifting my chin, I found his eyes on me with a steady regard.
“As long as it’s me you’re practicing on, sweetheart.” In a move that only Reed could do and still look damn good doing it, he toed off his cowboy boots and kicked off his jeans and underwear. My heart pounded in my chest, and my gaze melted over him like warm honey. Naked and aroused, Reed was a magnificent sight, and I could not look away.
“Ellie.” The sound of Reed saying my name in a deep voice that was thick with need, brushed over my already sensitive skin like a feathery caress. We both took a step forward and reached for each other at the same time. He slid a leg between mine, guided me backwards, and we fell onto the bed in a frenzy of desire.
His hands and mouth made love to my body, kissing and stroking my neck, breasts and the eager place between my legs where an unbearable ache was building. Tangled together all naked, it was like we were one and the sight of us with our bodies entwined sent a jolt of yearning right through my core.
My body was hypersensitive, aware of ever stroke, kiss, and lick as if it was magnified, so when Reed’s watch brushed over my nipple, I flinched at the feel of it and Reed tensed. His eyes found mine. “Sorry.”
“Reed I need you,” I said in a trembling voice.
“Ah, Ellie. Keep saying stuff like that and this will be over way to soon.”
“I’m still wearing the cowboy boots.”
“Yeah, I like that,” he replied with a slow smile that made me dissolve like warm butter.
I’d been careful, but still I glanced down at his leg. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s healed.” He kissed the base of my throat.
Pulling out of Reed’s arms, I scooted down the bed until I was beside his left leg. I hurt to know the pain he’d suffered. Lowering my head, I began to kiss each one of his scars.
“Jesus, Ellie.”
I continued kissing his leg until he reached down and hauled me against his chest. We stayed like that for several moments, his arms folded around me, and my head snuggled against his heart.
“Reed, you’re shaking,” I whispered, surprised.
“I know.”
I looked up at him quizzically.
“I messed up our first time together, and I want to make it up to you. I guess I’m nervous,” he admitted and I saw an uncharacteristic look of vulnerability in his eyes.
“When I remember that night, all I think of was how perfect it was.”
He took my face in his hands and looked deeply into my eyes. “Let me show you what it should have been like.” And then began to make love to me with his mouth and hands. When I thought I couldn’t bear the sensual torture any longer, he reached for nightstand drawer, but I placed my hand on his arm, stopping him.
“We don’t need a condom,” I told him.
He hesitated, his eyes on mine. “Is that because you’re on the pill or do you want me to give you a baby?”
The words shot through me, and suddenly the thought of having Reed’s baby was what I wanted more than anything. I was shaken. Somehow I managed to reply, “I’m on the pill.”
He nodded, his expression unreadable.
Moving over me, bracing his weight on his arms, he carefully positioned himself at my entrance. My hands slid over the muscles of his back and he eased inside of me carefully, and I felt my body stretching for him, savoring every delicious inch. When he was fully inside, he looked down at me. “Okay?” I could tell the one word was strained, and he was exerting incredible self-control not to move.
“Please Reed,” I whispered against his ear and felt him tremble.
He began a slow, steady rhythm, which I tried to match, but I was awkward and kept messing it up. When I apologized to Reed, he gazed down at me with a mixture of tenderness and amusement. “You can’t do it wrong, you little innocent.”
The rhythm of our bodies increased, my body eagerly moving with his, until I shattered, and I felt as if I came apart and was put back together more whole than I’d ever been before. I realized Reed had been holding back, waiting for me because as soon as I came, his body jerked and he cried out my name. Afterward, he pulled the comforter over us and we lay spent in against each other.
“You’re hair is so soft,” he said some time later, playing with the waves that were spilled out over his chest. The rain had ruined the time I’d spent flat ironing the wild locks, but he didn’t seem to care.
“So is yours.” Reaching up, I slid my fingers through his short dark hair.
This made him smile. “That’s because I spend all that time conditioning and moussing it.”
“You do not.” I laughed.
“No, but I comb it,” he said with spark in eyes that clearly revealed he thought he should get credit for that.
When I told him about the time I’d spent with the flat iron earlier that evening, he looked at me with disbelief. “I wanted it to be pretty for tonight,” I explained.
“It was, but you’re always beautiful and I like the curls.”
I felt a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth, which happened a lot around him.
“Ellie,” he brea
thed. “We’ve got a second chance, and I’ll make sure you don’t regret it.”
“I’ll never regret you. I didn’t mean to scare you before.”
He frowned as if he didn’t know what I meant.
“When you asked why we didn’t need a condom and you wondered if I wanted a baby,” I clarified. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“You didn’t,” he replied, his voice sounding strange.
“I thought you might be worried I wanted to get pregnant,” I told him, searching his face for signs that I’d freaked him out and finding none.
He tilted my chin upward, urging me to look into his eyes and what I saw in the blue depths made my heart beat faster. “I’d want to marry you first. But if it happened the other way around, I wouldn’t be upset about it. We’d work it out.”
His words sent a ripple of pleasure inside of me, and it must have shown on my face because Reed cocked an eyebrow at me. “What, did you think I’d run if I found out you were pregnant?”
Reed wasn’t the kind of man that would run from anything, but I hadn’t expected his calm assurance and his casual mention of marriage either. “I know you wouldn’t do that.”
His eyes searched mine. “You’re surprised that I mentioned marriage,” he guessed, reading me correctly. “You do want to get married someday, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’m going to have to prove to you that I’m the guy you should marry,” he replied easily.
My stomach flip-flopped. “You’d want to marry me?”
“I think you already know the answer to that,” Reed answered, his steady gaze glued to mine. “I’m not suggesting we get married tomorrow. I don’t want to scare you, but this isn’t a casual relationship for me. I want more. I’ll take everything you have and give it back to you a thousand times. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”
His lips caught mine and I came apart in his arms. I was so caught up in the kiss that it took me several seconds to recognize my ringtone. I glanced toward the sound.
Reed reached over and picked up my phone off of the dresser.
Glancing at the screen, I saw that it was my dad and a tremor of fear snaked through me. He wouldn’t call this late unless something was wrong. I touched the screen. “Dad?”
I listened intently, my eyes flying to Reed. The concern on his face was clear and he knew something was wrong.
“I’ll tell him. Okay. I’m on my way.”
“What’s happened?” Reed asked as soon as I hung up.
“It’s Isabelle, she’s been arrested.”
Chapter 17
We got dressed quickly. Since my clothes were still wet, I borrowed a t-shirt and sweats from Reed. Both of them swallowed me so I tied the t-shirt at the waist and pulled the drawstring on the sweats as tight as they would go, but still I looked like a kid playing dress-up.
“Why didn’t she call me?” Reed asked, after checking his phone again.
Isabelle protected Reed like he was her own child, and she probably didn’t want him to worry, but in the back of my mind I wondered if her silence had something to do with me. “She didn’t call me either. Dad thought I would want to know.”
“I’ll have to thank him for that. I don’t know what Isabelle was thinking.”
Fifteen minutes after my dad called we pulled into the parking lot of the Sheriff’s department, but before we walked through the glass doors Reed took my hand, stopping me. His eyes slid over me and he frowned.
“Ellie, if we go in together you’re dad’s going to know what we’ve been doing all night.”
I heard what he didn’t say aloud, that he would let me go in by myself, and I knew how much it had cost him to make the offer because Reed was obviously worried about his sister.
I shook my head. “You need to see Isabelle. I can let you go in,” I suggested.
“If you don’t want to go in alone, then we’ll go together,” he told me, taking my hand.
“Ellie, what are you doing here?” Officer Kate Easton asked, noting the way I was dressed and that my hand was still firmly clasped in Reed’s.
“Dad called me,” I explained, as if it was nothing unusual for him to do that at this time of night. “Is he around, Kate?”
Kate, who was in her late twenties, was eyeing Reed like he was something she wanted to eat. Tearing her appreciative gaze away from him, she answered, “He’s in his office. You can go on back.”
“Thanks,” I said, leading Reed away from Kate’s eager eyes.
My dad was sitting behind his deck in his worn black leather swivel chair and he’d just hung up the phone when Reed and I walked in. Taking in the situation and not missing a single detail, Dad shot up and a flicker of alarm coiled inside of me. I stepped between them shielding Reed from my dad’s furious gaze.
I couldn’t see his expression, but Reed’s hands fell on my shoulders, giving me a reassuring squeeze an instant before he stepped from behind me to face Dad, who looked angrier than I’d ever seen him.
“Are you okay?” His softly spoken question revealed none of the seething anger behind it, and although the question was directed to me, his eyes were pinned on Reed.
“Dad, please,” I begged, placing my hand on his arm. “Reed means a lot to me.”
“I see that.” The words were clipped. “He doesn’t need you to protect him.”
“Sir, Captain McAllister, I was with Ellie when you called. I don’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to see my sister.”
“You better damn well have remembered what we talked about this evening!” Dad fired the words at Reed, and they’d have made a lesser man flinch but Reed stood his ground.
I started to step between my dad and Reed again, but Reed’s hand on my arm stopped me. Dad saw and his eyes narrowed warily at Reed.
“I’m in love with your daughter. I would never do anything to hurt her.”
My heart skipped a beat, and my gaze flew to Reed’s. I didn’t blame him for saying whatever it took to soothe my dad. We were here because of Isabelle and this wasn’t the time to discuss my and Reed’s relationship, but hearing Reed say that he loved me had a profound affect on me.
Something in Reed’s tone or maybe what he’d said reassured Dad because I felt some of the tension ease. My dad nodded curtly. “Your sister was picked up this evening when the car she was driving was reported stolen.”
“What?” I cried. “There’s got to be a mistake.”
“That’s exactly what Isabelle said.”
His jaw clenched, which was the only show of emotion from Reed. “Have any charges been filed?” he asked calmly.
“No.” Something about the way Dad said the one word made me realize that wasn’t exactly good news. “The car belongs to an ex-boyfriend of Isabelle’s, and she insists she bought the car from him. She’s being held until this can be cleared up, hopefully in the morning.”
“She has to stay in jail?”
Dad took a deep breath, his expression solemn. “I told the Chief she was a friend of my daughter’s, and he’s agreed to release her into my custody providing I guarantee she’ll show up in court tomorrow.”
Reed sighed, obviously relieved. “Thank you, Sir. Thank you.” He reached out to shake my dad’s hand and, I held my breath as I waited to see what Dad would do. He shook Reed’s hand.
Things weren’t exactly settled, but Reed and Dad were being civil and Isabelle wasn’t going to spend the night in jail.
“Can we see her?” Reed asked.
Dad nodded. “She’s been in a holding cell,” he explained, picking up the phone and speaking briefly to someone.
“Isabelle is claustrophobic,” Reed said worriedly, glancing down at me.
My dad’s eyes narrowed, and, he too, seemed concerned. “She didn’t mention that to me.”
“She wouldn’t. Isabelle likes to pretend she’s tough,” I told him. I didn’t think it was proper police procedure to release prisoners into officer’s custo
dy, but I was thankful that Isabelle wouldn’t have to spend the night in jail. Dad had stuck his neck out for Isabelle, and I appreciated it.
Dad looked grim. A few minutes later, a female officer escorted a fragile-looking Isabelle into my dad’s office.
Folding my arms around her, I heard Isabelle’s soft cry but she didn’t hug me back. I thought she might still be upset with me until I saw Dad move behind her and heard the jingle of a key, and I realized with shock that she was handcuffed. Once Dad undid the cuffs, Isabelle wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly.
I felt Reed beside us and I let go of Isabelle, but she didn’t release me immediately, and I wasn’t sure she even knew Reed was there until his hand rubbed her back. The simple touch was all it took for her to turn and launch herself into his arms.
“I’m sorry,” Isabelle cried while Reed reassured her. “I don’t want the two of you worrying about me. It’s just until morning, and I’ll get this straightened out,” she said bravely, and I realized that Isabelle didn’t know she’d be going home tonight with my dad.
“You’re being released in my custody,” I heard Dad tell Isabelle. “They’re not going to worry because you’ll be spending the night in Ellie’s old room.”
Isabelle’s teary eyes flew to my dad, and I could feel the relief and gratitude she felt toward him.
“It’s been a long night,” Dad told us. “I think it’s time for everyone to go home.” His eyes slid to Reed, and I and knew he didn’t like the idea of us going home together.
“Sir, I’ll take Ellie home,” Reed stated, and I could tell he regretted his choice of words as soon as they were out.
My dad’s eyes flared.
“I meant I’ll make sure she gets home safely,” Reed corrected. He left out that it was his home, but I think Dad already knew that. He wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t argue.
Isabelle went to court the next day and even though Scott insisted that she hadn’t paid him the full amount for the car, her canceled check was enough to convince the judge that this was not a criminal matter. The case was dismissed. Scott threatened to sue Isabelle civilly and since she didn’t have a receipt for the car, Reed paid him off to settle the matter.
Fireflies From Heaven Page 14
