“It was years ago, and it only lasted a few months.” He opens his eyes and looks at me, and I’m struck by a flash of pain in them before he blinks it away. “She was what I thought I needed at the time.”
A trace of the shield I saw earlier crosses his face.
“You were hurt,” I state softly.
His eyes pinch and he stiffens in my arms for a second before Tom Coulter appears dancing next to us with Margo in his arms.
“Do you mind if we cut in?” Tom smiles.
“Of course not.” Reed lets me go and graciously offers his hand to Margo, who beams at him. He gives her a charming smile and says something quietly to her, which has her laughing.
“He’s a fine man,” Tom says to me as I take his hand, and we dance away in the opposite direction.
I smile as I look over to where Reed is. He spins Margo out and back in again, the smile on her face bright and infectious.
“I’ve known him a while, ever since he started volunteering on some community projects supporting mental health I’m involved with. Of course, that was a long time ago, back when his family lived nearby. I didn’t see so much of him when they all moved to California. Between you and me.” Tom leans in conspiratorially. “I’m hoping he wins.” He draws back again. “Partly because I know he will do a great service, but also for selfish reasons. If he stays, then I may be able to rope him into some more projects again.”
I laugh as I glance at Reed. Maybe he senses eyes on him because he looks in our direction at the same moment and smiles at me.
I mouth the word,Daddy, at him and he chuckles to himself.
Tom follows my gaze, looking between us. “But something tells me even if he doesn’t, he won’t be going far.”
I frown at him, puzzled. But he just smiles softly and continues to dance.
Two hours later, we walk through the front door, and I kick off my shoes in delight, slipping my feet into my slippers, which I left right by the front door prepped for my return.
“God, this is almost as good as an orgasm,” I moan as my feet are encased by warm, fluffy coziness.
“Then I think you’ve been doing it wrong,” Reed says as he closes the door behind us.
I reach out to swat him but miss, earning me a deep chuckle as he walks into the kitchen.
“What did Bea do wrong, then?” I ask as I plod behind him. “Apart from being a bitch. Is that why she’s called Bea? It’s really just a B for Big Bitch Badge?”
I was itching to ask him in the car on the way home, but he was telling me Margo’s latest confessions about Tom’s filming bloopers, and he looked so light and happy as he regaled me that I didn’t want to interrupt and put a damper on things.
Reed grabs two bottles of water from the fridge and hands one to me.
“Like I said. She was what I thought I needed at the time.” He avoids my gaze, instead tipping his head back and devouring half the bottle down his muscular neck in one long glug.
I twist the cap on my bottle, but it doesn’t budge. Reed reaches over, opens it with one easy twist, and hands it back to me.
“Thanks. So, back to Bea,” I say before taking a sip.
“That’s all there is to it. It’s in the past. Where things from the past should stay.”
He finishes his drink and then drops the empty bottle into the recycling can.
“Okay.” I sip my drink again as he loosens off his bowtie and then runs a hand around his jaw with a deep sigh. I know he was up at the crack of dawn this morning. I heard him leave before my alarm even went off.
He looks exhausted.
“Are you heading to bed now?”
“Yeah.” He presses his thumb and finger into his eyes and rubs. “I told Griffin I would run early with him in the morning.”
“What an incredibly hellish way to start the weekend.” I snort. “Think of me while you run, curled up in my warm, incredibly comfy bed, won’t you?”