Adventure and home.
“I understand. And I would have done whatever I could if it was the other way around. You didn’t make a mistake, Harls. You thought you didn’t have a choice.” His voice falters. “Ineverwant you to feel you don’t have a choice.”
I murmur into his neck. Telling him how strong he is, how he’s exactly what the city needs, what the people need, whatIneed. I hold him close, stroking the hair at the nape of his neck as I scatter kisses all over his skin and over his throat as it vibrates with his words.
“It’s the past. All I care about now is the present and the future.” He places his hands on my shoulders and guides me backward, so our faces are together, nose to nose. “Nothing in this world is worse to me than seeing you cry. Remember that.”
I suck in a deep breath, tears pricking at my eyes again. But I refuse to let any more fall. He’s right. It’s time to look forward, not back.
“I love you,” I whisper against his lips.
His fingers freeze on my shoulders and the golden flecks in his eyes flash brighter than ever before as he looks at me with an intensity that stills every movement in my body until all that’s left is the beating of my heart. A beating matched in his own and felt against my skin like the bass of the most beautiful song.
“I love you too, Harls. I’ve loved you for a long time.”
We fall silent for a few minutes, just content to listen to each other’s breathing and feel each other’s hearts beating.
“I was worried I was going to lose you forever. You and your pink fluff and deformed cat pajamas.”
“You hate those pajamas.”
“I fuckinglovethose pajamas.” A deep chuckle rumbles in his chest.
I laugh as Reed places his hands on my cheeks. “And the motivational plant talks, and your beaver mug.”
“It’s a sloth, not a beaver.”
Reed arches an eyebrow at me with a smirk.
“I would have missed your bad jokes.” I roll my eyes.
“I wouldn’t have made any without you.” He falls serious again.
I stroke the back of his head, running my fingers through his hair. “Now what?”
He sighs contentedly, an easy smile spreading over his face. “Now we go to bed, Angel. It’s been too many nights without you. I need you.”
“I need you too.”
Chapter thirty-nine
Reed
“God,I’vemissedyou,Angel.” I sink my nose into the dip behind Harley’s ear and inhale. Inhale her coconut shampoo, the scent of her skin.Just her.
I have her out of her clothes in seconds, leaving them in a pile on the bedroom floor as I lift her with my good arm so she can step out of them.
“I love you.” She kisses me again.
She hasn’t stopped kissing me and telling me she loves me since the interview with Tom ended. Maybe she feels I need to hear it, or maybe she just wants to say it. Whatever the reason, each and every time it’s whispered from her pink lips, my chest feels like it might explode. And my dick, well, my dick…
“Reed,” Harley moans as I kiss her neck and tug her nipple between my fingers. It comes out breathy, her voice lifting as I slap her nipple gently with the pads of my fingers.
“Fuck, Harls. When you make those sounds…” I growl deep in my throat, grinding my rock-hard erection against her lower stomach through my pants. “It makes me need to be inside you.”
“Yes.” She tips her head back, granting me easier access to the front of her neck, and I swoop on it, trailing hot kisses down over her collarbone until I’m sucking one of her perfect pink nipples into my mouth.
“Reed,” she cries again, arching into me, her hands falling to rest in my hair as I lavish attention on both of her incredible tits.