Chapter 22
22
S helby
I’ve barely floated back down from the orgasm and processed the fact that my bare ass is on the kitchen counter, when Reid lifts me into his arms.
“Er,” I ask, my bare crotch flat against his hard, lower abdomen, “where are we going?”
“Upstairs.” His mouth buries into the crook of my neck, sucking and giving me little kisses as he navigates his way to the staircase. He stops at the bottom and draws back, leaving my neck wet and raw. “Unless you–”
“Go,” I tell him. I’d meant what I said. It came to me tonight when I realized I love him. I want Reid to be my first. “I can walk, you know.”
“I know.” He wraps those powerful arms around me. “I want to be close to you.”
My heart melts and I know none of this is good for me. Reid isn’t good for me, and not because he’s not good. Reid Wilder is perfect.
He moves with impressive agility, taking the stairs quickly while keeping his mouth and hands on me at all times. He’s gentle when he sets me on the bed, less so when he strips off my shirt and shucks his jeans and boxers. His erection, which has been hard since he first pinned me against the counter top, bobs eagerly at the freedom. It’s not our first time naked with one another, but the crackle of energy in the air indicates that this time it’s different.
“Fuck you’re beautiful.” He drops to his knees, placing one on either side of me as he works his way up my body. I reach for him, for the soft, wet tip of his cock, spreading the fluid with my thumb. A shudder wracks up his spine and I laugh. This man is strong. A wild man on the ice, imposing in real life, but all it takes is the smallest touch and he’s putty in my hands.
I feel the same, my body opening easily for him, the orgasm keeping my muscles loose and pliant. I like the way he handles me, mouth closing around my breast while his hand pushes my thighs apart. He teases my entrance with the rough pads of his fingertips, pushing one finger in. He tongues my nipple, keeping my body overheated and overstimulated. I barely notice the second finger going in until he shifts, using them to stretch me apart.
“Oh,” I gasp, liking how it feels. I dig my heels into the mattress.
“Good?” he asks me, hand splaying across my rib cage. He touches me like he owns me. Like I belong to him. “You’re so tight. Tell me if it hurts.”
“It doesn’t.” Proving my point, my hips rock, pulling him in deeper. His fingers are big, but his cock is bigger. I shiver at the thought, both excited and nervous.
“Hell, GG,” he swears when he feels it, “you close? Already?”
“Is that fast?” I ask, my nerves are on edge. Raw and exposed. If he touched me there again, I don’t think I could hold off.
“I just…” he looks down at me, eyes filled with warmth. “I thought you came so fast because you were new to all of this, but I think your body is just sensitive.”
He may be right because ever since that first orgasm it’s all I can think about. It’s all I want and the minute he touches me my body threatens to crack in two.
Heat burns my face, and he must notice because he says, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. It’s hot. Making you come has become my favorite thing to do. I’ll gladly work harder if I need to, but damn, feeling how ready you are? It’s good for a man’s ego.”
I snort. “Like you need more of that.”
Removing his fingers, he leans over me and fumbles with the drawer of the bedside table. I kiss the hot skin of his abdomen, missing the feel of him inside of me. The muscles that seem so hard, so powerful, but quiver at the lightest touch.
Slamming the door shut, he rolls back to me, foil packet in his hands. A condom. I’d be lying to say I ever saw one up close before. Abstinence is what Father’s church teaches. We’re way beyond that, been past it for weeks. I appreciate that Reid’s being safe.
Everything from here on is new to me, the slight ache in my lower belly from where he had been inside of me, the quick way he tears the condom wrapper, pulling out the coiled up ring. I watch as he holds the base of his erection, then slides it over the tip.
Reaching out to touch him, I say, “I like the way it feels better without it.”
“You and me both, GG,” he grins down at me, amusement in his eyes,“but it’s not so bad.”
He hovers over me, lining our bodies up. I like this view of him, his strong body over mine. Again he pushes my thighs wide, and settles between my legs, slotting himself against me.
He kisses the swell of each breast, “You ready?”
I nod, but his eyebrow raises. “Yes.”
Right from the start the pressure feels different, but he has his mouth close to my ear, his voice warm and steady. “It may hurt a little,” he says, “but you should be warmed up. You tell me if you want to stop.”
“Hey,” I say, getting him to look at me, “I want this.”
His tongue darts out and he licks his bottom lip, then claims my mouth with his. The kiss is startling, but not as much as the feel of him pushing inside. The stretch is intense, painful but also good. I’m distracted by his hands holding onto me and he buries himself deep.
“You feel so good,” he tells me, “so tight. So perfect.” He rambles on a little, saying sweet, sexy things to me, before pulling out and pumping back in again. The rocking motion feels good, and I lift my hips to meet him. The move makes him go faster, deeper and he looks down at me, sweat peppering his forehead and says, “I’ve thought about this so many times. What it’d be like to be inside of you. To feel your walls tighten around me.” He pumps in and out, never taking his eyes off of mine. “I knew it would be fucking amazing, but I didn’t know it’d be like this.”
I don’t get a chance to ask what ‘like this’ means because his cock twitches and it’s followed by a low, deep, groan. With a hard thrust, Reid pumps into me twice more, body tensing as he comes.
We stay like this for a long beat, our bodies slick with sweat, limbs joined, letting our heart and breathing return to normal. It’s after we’re cleaned up and I’m wearing a clean, soft, Wittmore T-shirt that he climbs back in the bed, dragging me against his chest.
I think he’s asleep when his fingers thread in mine and he says, “You know what I can’t stop thinking about?”
“I have no clue,” I tell him.
“Those kolaches in the kitchen.” He pops up on his elbow and looks down at me. “Hungry?”
“Axel is going to kill us.”
“For the sex or for eating all the kolaches?” he asks, licking butter off his thumb. My cheeks burn at the way he so casually talks about what we did upstairs. I know it wasn’t as big of a deal for Reid as it was for me, but I like the way he’s so at ease with everything. That we’re down here stuffing our faces on the still warm meat and cheese filled pastries like it’s any other day.
I love college.
And I’m pretty sure I love this man, too.
When I don’t answer his question, Reid adds with a shrug of his shoulders, “What Axel doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.”
“What would he really do if he found out?” I reach for another off the coffee table. We’re on the couch, a true crime quietly playing on the TV. Reid has already seen this one and, by request, spoiled the ending. “Beat you up?”
He considers it, ultimately saying, “Reese wouldn’t let him fully beat me up. Maybe one shot, but with the playoffs coming up, he couldn’t go too hard. He’d probably just be really pissy about it and make everyone miserable around here.”
“I don’t have to guess what he’d do to me.” With our feet tangled under the blanket, I pull at the layers of pastry, eating them slowly. “After an unbearable lecture, he’d send me back to Texas on the first available plane.”
He grows silent at that topic, and I don’t blame him. I don’t want to talk about me leaving either. What Reid and I have is undefined. I asked him to take my virginity, as part of our arrangement. I don’t think he minded, but it definitely wasn’t an organic moment.
“So tell me about the rest of your family.” I nudge him with my foot. “The ones who weren’t here today.”
That lightens him up, and he starts naming more names than I can keep up with. There’s the three older sisters, plus Ronnie who’s the youngest and two older brothers. They’re scattered all over, but they’re still close. “The Wilder’s insisted on it. If you wanted to be a member of the family, you had to fully commit.”
Leaning over, I push up the sleeve of his T-shirt, exposing the tattoo. “Eight homes, huh?” He looks down at the tattoo, at my fingers tracing the number. “That was a pretty impressive speech today.”
“I just want those kids to know they shouldn’t give up. They get knocked down so many times, it can be hard to get back up. But life gets easier when you have a plan. Back ups to the back up.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like with hockey. I’ve been drafted already and if everything goes well in the play-offs, I’ll be in New York next season, but if it doesn’t, I’ll have my degree and my portfolio.”
“That’s smart.” I sink into the couch. “Take it from someone who has no back-ups. No degree. No career. No skills.”
“Bullshit.” He scoffs.
“What do you mean, ‘bullshit?’”
He smirks, and I have no doubt it’s because of my swearing. I think he likes corrupting me. “You have plenty of skills.”
“Cleaning up after hockey players doesn’t count.”
“That’s not what I was going to say,” he argues. “You’re an amazing cook, and you’re good at taking care of people. You have an instinct for it. That’s why Mike hired you on at the Badger Den. It’s not as easy as it seems.”
“I already know I’m looking down the long barrel of being a housewife, Reid, no need to rub it in.”
“Hey.” He grabs me by the waist and drags me onto his lap. “Those are important things. Critical, if you ask me and not everyone has it.” He brushes my hair off my shoulder and lifts my chin until I’m looking into his eyes. “All I wanted growing up was for someone to offer a little comfort and stability. Don’t underestimate those qualities.”
I shake my head. “Wow.”
“What?”
“Only you could make taking care of others sound sexy.”
His lips curve up and his hands grab my ass. “Everything you do is sexy, GG. It doesn’t matter if you’re baking delicious food, serving beer down at the bar, or have your lips wrapped around my cock.” He presses a kiss against my neck and I shiver. “I knew the second you walked in that door and sat on my lap, you were more woman than I’d know what to do with.”
“Same,” I confess. “About the moment I saw you.”
“Not a minute has passed in every single day since you crawled in my lap and kissed me that I haven’t been thinking about you.”
I swallow, processing that information, finally exhaling, “Wow.”
“Too much?” he asks, looking slightly concerned.
“Not for me.”
The big issue hovers around us–the fact I’m leaving in a week and even if I wasn’t, he has a career in his future and back-ups and I’m not part of either of those. So I do the thing that started this all: I kiss him.
Reid’s alarm goes off a lot sooner than either of us would like. After a weekend off, Coach Bryant calls for an early practice, in preparation for the playoffs. Reid is gone by daybreak, but not before his hands, and his cock, find me again. I love how he handles me. Firm, like he knows I can take it. I’ve spent a lifetime being treated like I’m fragile and the way he pulls me to him, the way he enters me. I’m still feeling it long after he’s left the bed.
I’m also left with the weird knowledge that I’m no longer a virgin and despite all those years of hearing about it being so special and sacred, something for only me and the man that chose me, nothing seems very different, other than the urge to do it again.
Is that what happens? You become consumed? Because yeah, I feel consumed.
The door clicks shut downstairs and I take a minute in the bathroom before heading downstairs. Twyler has just walked in, key in hand.
“Hey.” I’m surprised to see her.
“Sorry to just barge in, but I saw Reid on the way out and he said it was cool.”
“Oh?” I nod. “I just got up.”
“I realized halfway to campus I left my backpack here on Friday night.” She walks around the living room, past the empty tray of kolaches, searching for the backpack. “I know it’s here somewhere.”
We both enter the kitchen at the same time. We both see my leggings and underpants twisted up on the floor. I’m not experienced with the ins and outs of having a secret boyfriend, but even I know that the discarded clothing looks like one thing: sex.
My eyes draw up and the problem with Twyler is she has these big, blue, beautiful eyes that hide nothing. So it’s obvious right away that she knows. And while my heart lodges in my throat, making me unable to speak, it’s clear. She knows that I know that she knows.
I snatch them quickly off the ground and sputter, “These must have fallen out of the basket when I was doing laundry.”
“Sure,” she says, shifting awkwardly on her feet. “Laundry.”
I don’t speak. Because what would I say? Nadia is her best friend. And Axel is Nadia’s boyfriend. And Axel can never. Ever. Know.
But I also need to talk to someone about it, because all of this is big. Really big.
“Reid and I are…” I don’t have the word. What are we doing? Nadia would have the word. Hooking up? On the down-low? Friends with Benefits? “Close.”
“Okay,” she says, seemingly okay with just that information. “How long has this been going on?”
“For a few weeks, I guess.” I ball the leggings up and clutch them against my stomach. “Axel doesn’t know. He can’t know.”
“God no.” She barks out a laugh. “Absolutely not.”
That reaction makes me feel both better and worse.
“So you two?” she asks, eyes darting to the leggings.
“Yes,” I admit.
“Okay, wow.” I can see the wheels turning as she processes it. “He’s your first?”
“Yes.” I swallow. “Last night.”
Her jaw drops. “Tell me he didn’t do it here. In the kitchen! I swear to god, I will castrate him–”
“No! No, not here. In the bedroom. His bedroom, on a real bed, not the couch in the porch.” I glance over to the counter. “Down here was just…”
“Ah. Foreplay.”
“I guess.”
She nods, still clearly absorbing everything while occasionally saying, “Okay, wow. Wow. Okay.” Finally, she leans her hip against the kitchen table. “And it was good? You’re good?”
“It was great.” I don’t even fight the grin. “Both times.”
She laughs and her shoulders relax. “That’s the most important thing. Well, to me. Nadia would harass you for all the specifics but I believe in privacy, even though I’ve learned that is nearly impossible in this house.” She makes a face. “But I know this is all new to you and I feel like it’s my girlfriend duty to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” I tell her with conviction. “Reid’s a good guy. He’s always sweet and respectful.”
“Thank fuck.” Her expression grows serious. “I’ve had a shitty boyfriend before and Nadia has her own documented history of toxic partners. I love Reid and the more I think about it, I don’t think this is even that much of a surprise.”
“No?”
“You both just went through breakups and needed to get some confidence back. Why not do it with someone who is safe, fun, but also not really available for a long term thing?”
“Right.” I agree, although I don’t like the way that feels in my chest. I can’t argue otherwise because I have no idea what we are to one another. Maybe that’s all it is–two broken people looking for something safe to have fun with?
“There it is!” She shouts suddenly, leaning over and plucking her backpack from the seat of one of the kitchen chairs tucked under the table. “I’ve gotta run, but listen, I won’t tell anyone about this. Not Reese or Nadia. Not until you’re ready.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
She hitches the strap of her bag over her shoulder and opens the front door, pausing to add, “But let me tell you something from experience. Secret relationships have a way of getting complicated. And complicated things have a way of getting out.”