Chapter 21
21
R eid
“Thanks for dinner.” We’re standing outside of Deion’s, a nice restaurant just off the strip. Mom and Dad wanted to get in a good meal before they got back on the road. “And for coming, it was good to see you.”
“You know we wouldn’t miss it.” Mom glances over at Ronnie. “Your sister would’ve been crushed. She loves coming up to see you, too.”
“Me or my teammates?” I ask, tugging at her ponytail. The teasing makes me think of Axel and Shelby earlier. Then just about Shelby. Damn. I can’t stop thinking about her.
“Are you sure I can’t stay the night?” she asks. She’s been bugging all of us about it all week, but I hate to tell her that after being on house arrest last night, Jefferson is probably already down on sorority row.
“Ron, we already talked about it,” Dad tells her. “They’ve already got one sister staying at the house, I doubt there’s room for another.”
Mom reminds her, “And you’ve got your own game tomorrow.”
“You do?” I haven’t kept up with Ronnie’s schedule this season. She plays on an all-girls team and from the videos I’ve seen, she’s pretty kick ass. She showed her moves today on the ice, even giving Axel a run during the shootout. “Then you better get home and get to bed.” I reach for my phone. “Do I need to get Reese to call you and give you a lecture on preparation, diet, and rest?”
Her jaw drops in horror. “God, no.”
Dad laughs and says, “Don’t worry, we’ll see everyone again for the playoffs.”
“We have to win the division first.”
“I know you guys are superstitious, but you’ve pretty much got that on lock.”
“I just want to make it clear I don’t expect you there.” Playoff tickets are crazy expensive. “You know it’s fine if you don’t come in person. Plus you don’t even know how far we’ll make it.”
“All the way,” Mom says. “You guys are going to win the whole thing this year, I can feel it.”
Dad chuckles. “There’s no way Reese is letting a second opportunity slip through his fingers.”
He’s right about that. Reese has been focused on redeeming our tragic loss from last year every moment of every day since then. I don’t blame him. I can almost feel the trophy in my hands.
“Then, I guess I’ll see you in a few weeks.” I give everyone a hug, even Ronnie who pretends to hate every second of it. I squeeze her tight and add, “Good luck tomorrow.”
“Thanks, bro.”
It’s still weird having this feeling of “family.” Veronica was young when she was adopted, so most of her memories are of just being with the Wilder’s. To her, I’ve always been one of her big brothers.
It’s a short trip back to the Manor and when I get to the porch I catch sight of Shelby through the window, opening the oven. Her back is to me and the name Rakestraw is visible on the back of the jersey she still has on. I’d still rather it be my name on the back, but I did design it and a flicker of pride spreads across my chest, similar to the one I felt earlier when I saw her watching me speak to the kids. I’ve always tried to be honest with my past, but having her hear me talk about it felt more personal.
It also felt like a knife to the chest, knowing she’s leaving in a week.
I know it’s not her fault. She came here with a goal and that was to get her head on straight–to get some space from her parents and David. She did that, and fuck, she’s grown so much. But I know she has obligations to the people back there–and I know they’re not going to let her go easily.
Anyway, she’s not mine to fight for.
I open the door and step inside, hearing the soft strains of music coming from the speaker: Ingrid Flockton. There’s no escaping her.
“Sweet mercy,” I groan, inhaling the scent filling the room. “What is that?”
“Kolaches.” With her hand covered in an oven mitt, she pulls a pan out. My mouth waters.
“You mean the pastries Nadia learned to make for your brother?”
She laughs. “Definitely the way to his heart. I thought I’d make some for everyone.”
My god, she’s an angel.
She sets the pan on the top of the oven. “How was dinner?”
“It was good.” I should have invited her. Spend every second with her that I can.
“Your parents seem nice.”
“They are. They were a little shocked at the fact Axel’s sister wasn’t covered in tattoos and piercings.”
“Not everyone is a rebel.”
Except I’m not sure that’s true. Shelby definitely has a rebellious streak. If not, she wouldn’t be here. “Where is everybody?” I ask, noting that other than the two of us and Ingrid Flockton, the house is quiet. “Upstairs?”
She turns and rests against the counter. “At the Teal House. I was invited but it was the four of them and,” her nose wrinkles, “I wasn’t in the mood to be a fifth wheel.”
I shrug off my coat and walk toward her. “So you came home and baked instead.”
“Maybe I took the opportunity of having an empty house to do something I enjoy.”
“Baking or taking care of people?”
She tosses the oven mitt on the counter. “Why can’t it be both?”
“You know,” I close the distance between us, “there are better ways to enjoy an empty house.”
“Yeah?” Her head tilts, exposing the long column of her neck. I don’t think the move is intentional, but I rarely think any of the sexy things Shelby does is. She’s got an instinctive way about her–one that makes my cock hard and drives my body wild.
Leaning into her, I lick a hot path along her throat, up to her ear. Her fingers curl into my side, tight in the T-shirt I’m wearing. Kissing her, I push my hands up her shirt, feeling the warmth of her belly, then the soft swell of her tits underneath one of those pretty little cotton bras. I trace her nipple through the cloth, her breath hitching when it pebbles into a tight peak.
“Fuck, I love your tits.” I pull down the front of the jersey and kiss the hard plane of her chest. “I’d take this shirt off, but I like you in it too much.”
Apparently she doesn’t feel the same about mine, because she pushes it over my head and drops it to the floor. She wastes no time getting her hands on me, feeling my chest and abdomen. She reaches for my button, but I gather them in mine, moving them away. “You touch me now, GG, I’ll come in my pants and ruin the night for both of us.” I kiss her again and tell her, “I’m going to give you your first kitchen orgasm.” I tug at the waistband of her leggings. “Right here on the counter.”
A car drives by outside, lights flashing up on the porch. She freezes. “Someone could come home.”
“They won’t.”
“Jefferson…”
“Is busy.” She knows he’s not coming home and neither are the others. But the fact we’re alone, with time and space, makes things different. I kiss her gently, then pull away, “Do you want to stop?”
My cock wants to punch me for asking.
“No,” she says quickly. “It just feels… weird. Like I’m doing something wrong.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Why?”
She swallows, hesitating, but I don’t let her off the hook. “It’s so open,” she finally admits. “Exposed. Like anyone could come in and they’d see us–me–and they’d think that–.”
She clams up.
I run my finger up and down her side. “What would they think?” She looks down, eyes averted. Lifting her chin with my fingers, I force her to face me. “What would they think, Shelby?” When she still doesn’t speak, I fill in the gaps for her. “That you’ve got desires and wants? That you like to feel good? That you like to make me feel good?” Her blue eyes widen with every truth bomb I toss. “That they may see you with your skin on fire, pussy drenched, crying out as you come. That they may see a different side of you, one that lets loose of that good girl attitude you hold onto so tight?”
“That’s very specific.”
“Well, I have very specific things I want to do to you.” I cup her cheek and run my thumb over her bottom lip. “But only if you want me to.”
I’m always going to give Shelby a choice. Always give her a part in any decision between us. That’s the one thing I can give her that no one else in her life ever has. But right now it’s taking everything in me not to rip off her leggings, spread her legs, and shove my face between her thighs.
“I want you,” she says, voice soft–shy. “But–”
Fuck, here comes the but. I’m moving too fast. I’m scaring her off. I’m not good enough. Or right for her, or a million other buts.
“ But ,” she says slowly, “I want something else too.”
“Anything you want, GG, and I’ll give it to you.”
I do not expect what she says next.
“I don’t want to go back to Texas a virgin.” My heart and cock both lurch at the same time. “And I want you to be the one that takes it.”
I’m silent for so long, processing what she just said, that it gets awkward. And when it gets awkward, Shelby gets embarrassed.
“Nevermind.” She attempts to jump off the counter, but I come back to my senses, and hold her in place. “Just forget it.”
“You think I can forget that?” I thrust a hand into my hair. “Jesus, Shelby.”
“I know that’s not what our little arrangement was about. And you think I’m not ready. I’m too sweet or innocent or will have regrets,” she rambles, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m a grown woman, Reid. I know what I want.”
“Hey,” I tell her, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it, “I don’t think any of those things.” I clear my throat, because that may be a lie. “Other than the last one.”
“I just thought with the way you reacted to me, you’d be into it.” Her eyes dart down to my crotch where my erection is ten steps behind, focused on the makeout session we were having before she dropped this bomb. “But I know I’ll always be Axel’s little sister to you, and I appreciate you doing everything you have to help me live a little.”
“Okay stop.” I’m standing in front of her, using both my body and my hands to keep her from running off. “You just surprised me, but let me get one thing clear, I don’t see you as Axel’s little sister. I see you as this cool girl I like to hang out with. That I love to hang out with. You’re fun and sweet, and sexy as hell.” She needs me a little. Not completely. She came here on her own, got a job by herself, started to build a life, but she still needed me to protect her, teach her things, build her up. And that hasn’t happened to me before. “And if you want me to be the one for you, I’m not going to fight it. I just want to be sure that you’re sure, because it means something big for you, and I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
“You think I’d regret having sex with you?” she asks.
“Babe, you’re kind of the ‘marry the first guy you sleep with’ type.”
“Maybe I used to be.” She reaches for me, cool hands on my overheated skin. “But I’m not that girl that showed up on your doorstep anymore.”
I nod. “I know.”
“And if I can have a choice in who I do this with, I want it to be with you.”
Choice. There it is.
I take a deep breath. “How do you want to do this? Flowers? Hotel? Candles and wine?”
She rolls her eyes. “None of those things.” Thank god, because finding all of that shit would take too long and I want inside of this girl now. Her hands glide over my chest and move to my shoulders. “Why don’t we go back where we started and see where it goes.”
She kisses the underside of my jaw, but I’ve already got my fingers hooked in the elastic of her leggings. We work together to drag them down, taking her panties at the same time. “Lean back,” I tell her, “let me get a look at you.”
There’s no hesitancy from either of us this time, and when I bend, pressing my tongue against her slick heat, her fingers curl into my hair encouragingly. All I want is to get her loose, to make her feel good, and I think she’s as worked up as I am because it doesn’t take long before her breath comes in short gasps and her hips rise, chasing my tongue. I draw her to the edge, teasing her a little, pulling back just long enough that she cries out in frustration. “Reid! Please .”
“You think I’m not going to make you work for it?” I ask, enjoying the moment, because soon I’m going to take her upstairs, lay her out on the bed and everything is going to change.
It’ll be worth it, I think, sucking the hot little bundle of nerves that I know will shatter her. Gripping her by the ass, I bury my face into her and she falls apart on my tongue, bucking into me. She moves with abandon, like we’re not standing in the middle of the kitchen, windows wide open where everyone can see.
It’s all worth it, even if tonight is the only chance I get.