20. Reese
CHAPTER 20
REESE
Nash is holding me and spilling his heart, putting it on the line and giving me the power to do what I will with it.
No one has ever said anything as heartfelt or real to me in my entire life, so it takes me a few seconds to find my voice again.
I shake my head, reaching up to put my arms around his neck when he tries to pull away. “I love you,” I admit on a released breath.
His blue eyes flare wide, unbelieving. “Say that again.”
“I love you, Nash Stokehill. As infuriating and impossible as you are, I love you. I love your playfulness, your need to debate every side of every ridiculous argument, your ability to get under my skin in the best and most maddening ways. I love the way you love your team and your family and the way you take care of everyone around you but still cling to a sense of playfulness that lifts everybody up anytime they're around you. And yes, you made a mistake the other day, but I love you enough to know that you’re bigger than your mistakes.”
His arms wrap around me, lifting me up so I'm eye-level with him, his smile wide and infectious before his mouth is on mine again.
He kisses me with a frenzied sort of passion that has my heart racing before he pulls back, just a breath of space between us, his eyes on mine.
“I love you,” he says, and I feel the declaration all the way to my bones.
Warmth floods me, and I'm the one kissing him this time.
Holding him tight, our tongues clash together, silently correcting the wrongs of the past few days. My head spins, losing myself in the sensation of him, in the crystal-clear clarity that rests between us now.
He loves me. There’s something so incredibly fulfilling about that certainty. Knowing that we’re on the same page and are prepared to work to create a future that will be perfect for the both of us. It’s everything.
Nash is everything.
He sets me on my feet, interlacing our fingers as he glances around the club. Tugging me through the crowds, he navigates us through the exit in a hurry.
“Can I have your keys?” he asks, and I immediately hand them to him.
“Where are we going?” I ask as he gets behind the wheel of my car and pulls onto the street.
“Somewhere I can apologize properly,” he says.
“You really don't need to,” I say. “We both made mistakes, and we've already agreed we won't do that going forward?—”
“I know that,” he cuts me off, pulling into his place. He's around the car before I can even reach for the door, opening it for me before scooping me into his arms and giving me a breathtaking kiss, only to pull away quickly and rush me inside. “But that isn't going to stop me from making it up to you every single day from now until forever.”
His mouth slants over mine before I can respond, and I whimper at the intensity in the kiss, at the way he claims my mouth. We’re a frenzy of hands and need, shedding each other’s clothes right there in Nash’s entryway.
He makes no move to guide us to his bedroom, instead dropping to his knees right there in front of me, looking up at me with those gorgeous blue eyes of his.
“Can you forgive me, Reese’s Pieces?”
I laugh, my breath catching in my throat as his hands gently squeeze my hips. “I already have.”
“Good,” he says, then leans forward, kissing my inner thighs as his hands roam, every touch and kiss making me absolutely liquid for him. “But I’m still going to make it up to you.”
I gasp as he spreads my thighs, hooking one leg over his shoulder as he holds me steady against his front door, his head dipping between my thighs as he licks up my center.
Heat floods my body at the sensation, and I tangle my fingers in his hair as he licks and sucks and laps at me in a hurry, every caress a promise. He doesn’t go slow, doesn’t take his time, instead working me up so quickly I’m dizzy, riding that edge in seconds as he expertly devours me.
“Fuck, Reese,” he mumbles against my oversensitive flesh. “You taste so fucking good.”
I tremble as he slides his free hand between my thighs, pumping two fingers into me while he tongues my throbbing clit. My muscles are shaking, my breaths coming short as everything coils inside me?—
“Nash!” I cry out as I come, my entire body convulsing as my orgasm tears through me. He continues to lick and tease my clit, driving that pleasure into a long, shivering warmth before he gently pulls away.
I’ve barely caught my breath before he’s standing before me, bending down to lift me up against that door, his hard cock teasing my wetness.
“Yes,” I gasp at his silent question, the way he’s teasing me with his thick head, but not going in. “Please, Nash,” I say, clinging to him, my mouth grazing his we’re so close. “Please,” I beg.
He kisses me as he slides inside me, the friction making me shiver as I still ride the highs of what he’d just done to me.
“Like this?” he asks, holding me up, pumping into me with long, confident strokes that have me seeing stars.
“God, yes, just like that.”
He smiles against my mouth, keeping that pace, dragging himself out of me only to slam into me again, every time the connection hits igniting a spark that sends me spiraling.
I tighten my grip around his hips with my thighs, sliding my tongue into his mouth as he fucks me against the door. It’s wild and demanding and fast. Everything I’m feeling in those moments with him.
It’s a promise and a plea.
A making up and tearing apart.
It’s everything.
“Fuck,” he groans as he pumps into me harder, faster, giving in to the demands of his own pleasure. “You feel so damn good.”
“You do,” I say, tangling my fingers into his hair as he winds me up like a tight, white-hot knot ready to snap.
I tighten around him, pulsing and shivering with every delicious stroke he delivers, until I’m so consumed by the oncoming release I can barely see straight.
“I love you,” he says, thrusting into me, holding me so damn tight. “Fucking love you so damn much.”
I tremble, gasping as my release builds like a storm beneath my skin. “I love you,” I say, claiming his mouth before I suck in a sharp breath as he unleashes himself on me. I throw my head back, moaning as my orgasm rips through me, unraveling me in the best possible way.
“Fuck,” Nash groans as he spills into me, his thrusts slowing as he comes.
He leans his forehead against mine, our breaths matched, our chests heaving.
I kiss him again, softer this time. “I love you,” I say again.
“I love you,” he whispers back.
And I swear I’ve never been happier.
“I can't believe we were so close,” Nash says as we make our way into his house, settling on the couch. “We were so fucking close.”
“I know you were,” I say my heart heavy after we lost the Stanley Cup.
It’d been two weeks since the night we finally communicated with each other, and I'd never had better days in my life. But this hurt. This stung .
Nash shifts on the couch, laying his head in my lap as he holds me.
I run my fingers through his long hair, hating that I can't magically make this better for him.
“It's going to be okay, though,” he says after a while, shifting a little bit so he can look up at me. “There's always next season,” he says. He pushes off of my lap, sitting next to me and looking at me in a way that makes my heart flutter.
“That's a really good attitude,” I say, smiling at him.
He returns my smile, pushing some of my hair away from my face.
“It's true, though,” I say. “We actually have a team now that made it to the Cup. We can do it again.”
“I can taste it,” he says, his blue eyes turning a molten shade as he looks at me. “Just like I'm going to taste you in a minute.”
My heart does that flippy thing it does whenever he talks like that, and I shift off the couch, standing up to look down at him. “Only if I can record it first,” I tease.
His lips part, and his eyes fill with nothing but mischief. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that,” he says.
“Show me what you got, Stokehill,” I say playfully.
He leaps off the couch, and I squeal, running the opposite direction.
It’s only a matter of seconds before he catches me, my spine pressed tight against his chest.
“Got you,” he says. “Any last words before I drive you so wild you can’t speak?”
I spin in his embrace, smiling up at him. “I love you.”
He grins, bending down to kiss me. “I love you more,” he says.
I shake my head. “Does everything always have to be an argument with you?” I tease.
He hauls me up into his arms, carrying me to his bedroom. “Only because you make it so much fun.”
“So this is what our forever looks like?” I ask, my heart stretching wider than I think my chest can handle.
“Yep, think you can handle it?” he asks.
I reach up to kiss him. “Absolutely.”