I was wrong earlier. Reid King wasn’t at my mercy… I was at his. For the first time since I had met Reid, he was finally telling the truth. He was pushing through his barriers. His walls were down; he was exposed. Every ounce of him was in plain sight.
Before I knew it, I rose up on my tiptoes, placing my shaky hands on his broad shoulders. “Then tonight, don’t. Don’t pull me in and then push me away. Just pull me in and keep me close.”
The notebook in Reid’s firm grip fell to the ground below us. His arm wrapped around my back, pulling my body flush with his. His head dipped, and his mouth moved over mine with such elegance that I became lost in it. The way his tongue dipped in and darted past my lips had my toes curling. He slowly walked us back against the wall, his hands moving slowly over my curves as his lips caressed mine, beckoning them to move with his. My palms traveled upward, and I weaved my fingers through his hair, a small moan escaping my mouth.
I felt Reid’s knee pushing my legs open. His head dipped past my lips and over to my ear, leaving a trail of small kisses all the way down to my collarbone. His teeth carved a path down and over the strap of my bra as he skillfully moved down my shoulder. Then, his hands moved from behind my back and slowly fiddled with the hem of my light sweater, slowly gliding the soft, cottony fabric over my skin and onto the floor.
I watched with a racing heart as he brought his rough hands up to my hair, pulling the hair tie loose so my hair fell in one single whoosh around my face and shoulders. Reid slowly took my hands from his own body and pinned them up above my head. My legs wanted to clench together to fight the fire that I was feeling in between them, but Reid didn’t allow me to. Instead, he began kissing, licking, nipping every inch of my body. He started at my collarbone and moved down to my chest. My breasts were heavy with need, wanting desperately to fall out of my bra. Reid licked the skin, his chin scratching along the lacy fabric before moving down to my stomach.
With each kiss, my stomach tensed and I felt an urge so strong I thought I might cry out.
When Reid was finished kissing my skin, he slowly stood back up, spreading my legs out even further with his jean-clad knee. Our eyes locked so hard that nothing could penetrate our stare.
He released his hands from pinning me and placed them underneath my butt, picking me up. My legs were wrapped around his torso, and I gingerly skimmed my fingers to the hem of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head. His shoulders were round and firm, and the muscles along his neck were taut, moving with skill as he carried us over to the middle of the living room.
Reid slowly lowered me to the living room floor and peered down at me. A small amount of panic shot through me, afraid he might back out, afraid he might throw up his walls again, like he’d been doing since the moment we met. But instead, he stood up and took his pants off, standing only in a tight pair of black boxer briefs. The slopes and curves of his body had me breaking out in a full-on sweat. The ripples of his abs protruded as he bent down to slip off my leggings. A small whimper escaped my mouth as his fingers wisped over the bridge of my panties.
“Fuck,” he murmured under his breath, and it sent tingles down my legs.
I could only pray that Reid didn’t pull his typical stunt and regret this afterwards, because what we were doing had no room for regrets. Whatever bond Reid and I had formed was something that wasn’t even in the realm of normal. It was like we were a part of something that only we understood. When we were alone, everything else melted around us. We both felt so deeply, so profoundly.
Our eyes connected, and I couldn’t bear to look away. My stomach dipped low. I ran my tongue over my lips and whispered, “Don’t hurt me, Reid.” He paused, his fingers stilling on my panties, his eyes searching my face as he bent over me. The golden specks shimmered even below his hooded eyes. My heart suddenly skidded to a stop when he didn’t say anything. I could already feel it shrinking in fear that he was going to back away and leave me half-naked on the wooden, living room floor. But instead, he bent down and lowered his lips to mine, scorching me—branding me. Reid’s tongue reached inside, and he deepened the kiss into an abyss. My back bucked off the floor as Reid snatched my panties off in one single whoosh. He was finished with taking his time with me. He began to move with speed and agility. He reached behind and quickly unhooked my bra, his fingers grazing over my back, and then he stood up and ripped off his boxers, throwing them behind his body. He snatched his jeans up, fished out a condom, and was back on top of me within seconds. As soon as he sheathed himself, he spread my legs wide, running his finger achingly slow over my most sensitive spot. I whimpered, and as soon as his finger was inside, I was gripping his arms for more. I needed more. I needed him. I’d never been so driven for a man to be inside of me before. It was like Reid King had the lost key to my most secretive door. Within a single thrust, he was inside of me, my back arching up off the floor long enough for his arm to come behind me, pinning me to his body.
Our bodies were lined with a sheen of sweat, my hair beginning to stick to my forehead as he thrust in and out of me. His lips grazed mine with a rough tenderness only someone like Reid King could possess. His hands roamed all over my body, touching, gripping, feeling every single bit of my skin. I ran my tongue along his as a familiar buildup began pooling inside my lower belly with each movement of his palm on my body. Reid, sensing that I was close to a release, removed his hand that was wrapped up in my hair and moved it in between our bodies, rubbing the exact spot I needed. He circled his finger as my nipples tightened. I threw my head back, slack-jawed, as a needy moan escaped, and Reid began to move faster on top of me. I spiraled out of control when Reid groaned and stilled his body. We both tumbled into a dreamlike state, forgetting the world and everything else.
For a second, it was just him and me, wrapped up in each other’s embrace, panting, clawing, kissing.
There were no words.
It was pure passion. Just Reid and I intertwined and lost in each other.
Chapter Twenty-One
Reid
I stared down at Brooklyn’s half-covered, naked body snuggled beneath a gray, threaded blanket on the couch. I grazed her delicate, exposed skin with my gaze, lingering on the slightly yellow bruise on her side from when she’d fallen at my concert a week ago. I stared at the tiny scars that lined her torso and then moved to the dip of her belly button. I watched her slowly rising chest and her relaxed, sweet face as she slept peacefully.
How did things shift so quickly between us? One second, I was throwing death glares her way, pissed off when she’d shoved a schedule in my face, demanding that we follow a bogus plan to get me back to writing killer songs. And the next, I was wrapped around her finger, sneaking in glances whenever possible, thinking of her every second of every day, wondering how I could spend more time with her.
I kept replaying her words from before I had stripped her out of every ounce of clothing and released every bit of fear and regret that was closing in on me inside of her. Don’t hurt me, Reid. In that moment, the only thing I could think was, Never... I’d never hurt you. Brooklyn changed something inside of me
. She switched on some kind of emotion that I was destined to wear on my sleeve for the rest of my life.
She didn’t want me to hurt her, but what I was about to do would make it seem like I was.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Brooklyn
Small beams of sunlight poured through the far window of the living room, making the room appear as if it were glowing, like I was in some sort of heaven. I smiled gently as I pulled a cozy blanket up and over my body, basking in the warmth before I remembered that I was in a sort of heaven. A heaven that had my body smelling of Reid. A heaven that had my heart growing in my chest. A heaven that I never knew existed. This is heaven on earth, right here.
My smile grew even wider as I remembered Reid and me. I gently moved my head to the side to look for him but came up empty-handed. I slowly sat upright, keeping the blanket pulled up to my chest as I scanned the gleaming room with sleepy eyes.
I found him within seconds. Reid was sitting on the far edge of the couch, wearing only a pair of pants. His torso had beams of sunlight streaked across it from the window, and he looked like a fallen angel—dark, ruffled hair, sharp contours of muscle along his back, with small gleams of golden sunlight all around him. I put my thumb up to my mouth and gently bit it, trying to relax the giddy feeling bubbling up inside of me.
Last night was like everything fell into place. The hidden, warped feelings I’d been harboring for him boomed like thunder in the background. They were there in plain sight. I let go and he did too. Reid King and I had something I’d never experienced with anyone before. My heart almost felt attached to his, and that was a scary, yet calming, thought.
I slowly swung my legs over the couch, wrapping the blanket up a little tighter around my body, and began to open my mouth, but Reid inclined his head over his shoulder, and my smile fell within seconds.