26. Avery
TWENTY-SIX
AVERY
Reid opens the door to his apartment holding a watering can.
I glance at the metal object, then up at him. “Doing some late-night gardening?”
“I forgot to water the plants before I left for work this morning. They probably hate me,” he says. He takes a step back and looks me up and down. “You’re wearing a coat? It’s unseasonably warm out.”
“I’ve been cold today,” I say.
“Are you sick?” Reid asks.
“No. I feel fantastic.”
“Want to come in?”
“I’d love to.” I slip inside and kick off my sandals in the foyer. “How was book club?”
“Masked men. Haunted houses. Bondage.” He walks to the living room and I follow behind him, unbuttoning my coat as I do. “The usual.”
“And what are your thoughts on bondage?”
Reid glances at me over his shoulder. “Favorable, I’ve learned,” he says quietly, almost like he’s embarrassed to admit it. “On a small scale at least.”
I hum and lean against the wall, watching him busy himself with the array of plants. He leans over one in a large pot, mumbling something to himself as he waters it then touches the soil.
“Which one is your favorite?” I ask.
“Maybe this one.” He points to a plant in the corner of the living room sitting on a stand. “It’s a Philodendron Moonlight. Loves indirect light. Very easygoing, which is perfect for when I’m away for a few days for a road game. I follow this guy on social media who has a greenhouse down in Florida and takes care of all kinds of plants, and I’ve learned a lot from him. I’ve always been intrigued by botany and…” Reid trails off and looks at me over his shoulder again. “I’m boring you, aren’t I?”
I smile and push off the wall. I unfasten the last of the buttons and drop the coat away from my shoulders, revealing the purple lingerie set I bought an hour ago.
Reid sucks in a sharp breath. His eyes bounce to my chest then back to my face. His grip on the watering can slackens, and he slowly sets it down on the windowsill.
“Not at all,” I say. “I could listen to you talk about plants all night.”
“You’ve been in my apartment wearing that for five minutes, and I’m talking about plants ?” he asks. “I need to be sedated, and you need to tell me to shut up.”
I laugh and stop in front of him. I take his hand and put it on my shoulder, guiding his fingers down my arm then across my chest. His touch is soft, and his eyes stay on mine as I rest his palm on my breast.
“I do love to tell you to shut up, but I’ve never seen you in your natural habitat. You can keep going, if you want. Tell me more about Philodendrons, Reid.”
He shakes his head. His gaze rakes over my outfit, from the lace to the little bows on the hips of my underwear. His attention holds on the cut in the fabric that shows off my breasts, a deep, plunging neckline that pushes them together and gives me cleavage I dream about.
“That—” He licks his lips and hesitantly drags his thumb across the design on my chest. My nipples harden under the pad of his finger, and I arch my back, wanting more. “I like this a lot.”
“Do you like the color?” I ask around a rasp.
“Purple,” he murmurs, and he dips his head. He licks a slow swipe of his tongue over the path his thumb took, and I moan. “For me?”
“Figured I could use something new,” I say. He lifts me off my feet with surprising ease, and I wrap my legs around his waist. I’ll never get over how strong he is. “Might as well make it purple.”
Reid walks us down the hall to his bedroom, his eyes never straying from my body. It feels like he’s studying me, drinking me in, and I don’t know why it makes me squirm.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” he says, low and rough, his lips brushing over my ear. “How am I the one who gets to have you?”
“Luck of the draw, I guess,” I tease, and his eyes darken.
He kicks open the door to his bedroom and sets me on the bed. I prop myself up on my elbows and he stands between my legs. I can tell he’s hard through the denim of his jeans, the material straining around his cock, and I give him a pleased smile.
“I almost had a situation at book club.” He pulls off his shirt and tosses it near his desk. His glasses tip sideways on his face, and he pushes them up his nose. “Because of the photos you sent me.”
“Did you want me to stop?”
“No.” Reid shakes his head and fumbles with the button on his jeans. “I liked them.”
“Do you like this?” I ask, toying with the straps of the matching set. I drag the left one down my arm and he yanks on his zipper. “Should I leave it on or take it off?”
“Wish there was a way for me to say both,” he mumbles, stepping out of his pants and adjusting his cock. “You probably spent a lot of money on it, and I don’t want to ruin something so pretty.”
“Ruin me instead.” I lift my hips and shimmy the underwear down my legs. I fling them at him, and he reaches out to catch them. I open my knees and rest my palm low on my stomach, watching his labored breathing. “How do you want me, Duncan?”
He sets the underwear on his desk, and I wonder if he’s going to keep them. He drops his glasses next to the lace and hooks his thumbs in the waistband of his briefs, tugging them down his thighs until his cock springs free.
“Need to fuck you,” he says.
I touch my clit, teasing myself. I scoot back across the sheets, and he kneels on the mattress between my legs. He rests his palm on my calf and strokes up and down, staring at me.
“So fuck me,” I say, pushing a finger inside myself. I groan at the stretch and drop my head back on the pillows. “Please.”
“Such good manners.” Reid wraps his palm around my wrist and pulls my finger out. I whimper at the loss, and he chuckles. “Do you want to be bad, Avery? Or do you want to be a good girl and get what you want?”
“Good,” I struggle to say, twisting on the sheets. “I want to be good.”
“Then open your legs, baby. Let me see how wet you are for me,” he says.
Baby .
My skin heats at the affectionate name.
He doesn’t use it every time we’re together, but when he does, it sparks a fire inside me. It makes me feel sensual, powerful, a woman who can have whatever she wants.
With him, I don’t have to be professional. I don’t have to hold myself to impossibly high standards. I don’t have to be careful with my word choice or smile until my cheeks hurt.
I can be depraved, wild. I can crave things others would turn their noses up to. I can be loud, free . I can let go and savor the bliss of the pure fucking nirvana he brings me, all while feeling safe. Secure and sexy.
The men I’ve been with before expected me to act a certain way. They wanted submissive. A follower, not a leader. The quiet, dainty girl who took what they had to offer without making a peep.
Reid is different.
I’ve never felt more like myself than when I’m with him.
“How wet do you think I am?” I ask, spreading my legs.
I cup my breasts and push them together, a nod back to our first time together. His cock twitches and he groans, the tendons in his neck flexing under the tension in his body.
“Soaked,” he says, and it comes out slurred. “Jesus, Avery. You’re so fucking beautiful. I could look at you all night.”
“Can I have an orgasm first? Then you can look all you want.”
“I think that’s a fair trade-off.” Reid leans forward and kisses me, soft at first, then with more hunger behind the press of his lips. His hand replaces mine, two fingers pushing in me without any warning, and I hiss. “Deep breath, Ave,” he murmurs against my mouth. “There you go.”
I exhale, my limbs relaxing as he holds himself over me. His free hand rubs a circle over my stomach and I moan, sinking into the sensation as he pulls out of me then presses back in.
“Reid,” I whisper, needing him closer. Needing more of him. I wrap my arms around his neck and yank him to me so his chest is against mine. It’s only been a few days since I last saw him, but it feels like an eternity. “More.”
“You want to try four, beauty queen?” he asks, teeth grazing down my neck. “To get you nice and ready for my cock?”
“I can do it,” I say, and he kisses my throat. “I want to try.”
“You tell me if you want me to stop. If it’s too much.”
I never want him to stop .
“Okay.”
“I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
“I know,” I whisper, closing my eyes. “I know you won’t.”
Reid kisses me again, and I know he’s distracting me. Pulling my attention from the inevitable burst of pain I’m going to feel before it starts to feel good. The hand on my stomach moves to my clit and rubs soft, slow circles as he gently works four fingers into me.
My vision blurs, and I cry out. I arch my back off the bed, a deep ache settling low in my belly as he stops halfway inside me and kisses my forehead.
“Okay?” he asks.
“Give me a sec,” I pant, and his lips move to my cheek, kissing there too.
Tears sting my eyes, but the longer he waits for me to give him the okay to keep going, the better it feels. The more at ease I am, and the pain subsides. I lie back on the mattress and Reid follows me, crowding my space.
“I could come from this,” he tells me. “I’ve never—Christ, Ave. You’re?—”
I grab the back of his neck and bring his mouth to mine, kissing him. He whimpers, and I can’t help but smile.
“Make me come, Reid. Make me come, and I’ll let you come inside me.”
“Fucking hell,” he whispers, long fingers working me to the brink of ecstasy. “Never heard such a good incentive before in my life.”
I’m close, so close , and when he moves his wrist and gets even deeper inside me, I detonate.
I fall over the edge, a mess of garbled sounds and his name on the tip of my tongue. I chant it, the only coherent thought left in my brain. When I think I’m finished, tapped out and thoroughly spent, Reid coaxes another orgasm out of me with his tongue. It’s quicker than the first, a bolt of lightning that sends me freefalling again, and I can’t remember my name.
He doesn’t give me any reprieve, though. His fingers slide out of me and I reach for him, desperate for him to fill me again. His palms move to my hips, turning me onto my stomach and lifting me on all fours. I’m a boneless heap of heightened senses and electrified nerves, but he doesn’t seem to care that he’s doing all the work.
“Are you ready for my cock now?” he asks, his body folded over mine. “Do you need a breather?”
“Fuck me,” I whisper, bracing myself for the thrust of his hips. “And don’t be gentle.”
Reid grunts, a sound of agreement he punctuates with the push of his long length inside me. I gather myself, wanting to make this as good for him as he’s made it for me, and I work down his shaft, inch by inch, until we’re fused together.
“Goddamn, Ave. Look at you taking all of me.”
I rock forward then sink back on him, fucking him how I know he likes to be fucked. His fingers dig into my skin, but he’s letting me be the one in control.
We lose ourselves in each other. Maybe it’s five minutes. Maybe it’s five hours. Time seems irrelevant, because every second with him is complete and total perfection. We find the rhythm we both like, the slam of his hips enough to topple me over, but he’s there, an arm around me, keeping me upright.
I hear how wet I am, how much I like being here with him, and I tighten around his cock. Reid groans and his legs tremble, and I know he’s trying to hold back.
“Reid,” I say, guiding his hand to my neck. He hesitates for a fraction of a second before touching my throat, and I smile even though he can’t see me. “What are you waiting for?”
“I. Don’t. Know.” Each word is emphasized with a thrust, and my breath catches in my chest. “Is it still okay if I?—”
“ Yes ,” I assure him.
“I’ve never?—”
“Let me be the first,” I practically beg, and that unlocks a part of him I haven’t seen before.
I can barely blink before he’s pulling out of me and switching our positions, my back against the sheets again. I watch with wonder as he lifts my leg to his shoulder and eases back into me.
It’s rougher. A man starved and going after what he wants. Nothing about it is nice or kind or sweet. Reid comes undone, his face flushed and his body tensing with every jerk of his hips.
“Want. To. See. You,” he grits out. “When. I. Make. You. Mine.”
Any other time, it might be romantic.
But not now.
Not with his pupils blown wide and a possessiveness to his words.
Now, it’s just fucking want .
“Do it,” I dare him, and he snaps.
He groans, a sound that echoes off the walls and fills the space behind my ribs. His thighs lock up, and I feel him finish inside me. He gulps down strangled breaths, his shoulders slouching and his eyes closing. I rub up his arms and over his shoulders, touching his neck and his cheek and waiting for him to calm down.
“That—” Reid blows out an exhale and runs a hand through his sweaty hair. “I think I’m dying.”
“I’ve got you,” I say gently, and he opens an eye. He glances down at me and groans again.
“Look at the mess I made.” He winces when he pulls out of me, then stares between my legs. “That’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I drag my fingers through his cum then touch my clit, smiling when his throat bobs around a swallow. “I like it.”
“You do?”
“Mhm. Do you?”
“Yeah,” he says slowly, lifting his chin to look at me. “I do. A lot.”
“Want to do it again in an hour?” I ask, and he laughs, collapsing next to me on the bed.
“Might need an hour and a half,” he admits. “I think you took years off my life.”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No.” I smile and he reaches for me, bringing me flush against him. “I’m not.”
“We’re going to shower in a minute. I’m going to clean you up. Let you use the bathroom. Hygiene and all of that,” he mumbles. “But I want to rest for a second. It’s been a long day, and I just got fucked within an inch of consciousness.”
“Okay.” I close my eyes, exhaustion threatening to overtake me. “Are you going to wash my hair? Rinse me off?”
“Yeah.” His breath is warm on my neck, and it’s comforting. “Might get on my knees in the shower too. Take care of you again. Maybe twice. Would that be okay?”
I stifle a yawn and curl in closer to him. “Anything with you is okay, Reid.”
He hums and takes my hand in his, resting it on the center of his chest. His heart hammers under my palm, and I wonder if he can feel how fast mine is beating too.