Chapter 33
ELI
TRACK: Sturgill Simpson, “The Promise”
Rufus barks as Reese’s car pulls up, jumping in my lap and pressing his paws against the window.
“I know, buddy.” I wrap my arms around his ribs, scratching him there, and then behind his ears. “I’m excited too.” Rufus barks again. “Yeah and a little scared, but it’s okay to be scared, right?”
I’m losing it, talking to this dog. But it calms the tangle of nerves in my stomach as the car’s lights go off.
But it’s not Reese who gets out of the driver’s seat.
“Hey,” I say to Nora as I cut across the street, Rufus pulling excitedly at his leash.
I get him to heel. “No barking, okay?”
Nora holds her finger to her lips, then points inside the car.
There, sprawled out on the reclined chair, is Reese.
She looks like an angel. An angel with a mess of hair, mouth slightly agape, and a puffy jacket pulled over her as a blanket.
“I can take Rufus upstairs if you want?” Nora asks. She doesn’t have to whisper with her soft voice.
Rufus whimpers beside me, desperate to be with Reese.
Get in line, buddy.
But I can see the weariness in Nora’s eyes, along with the way she looks longingly at a little hatchback next to us. She must have parked at Reese’s place so they could drive to the city together.
“We’re good,” I say. Then, because I’m not sure what Reese has told her, I say, “I’ll just make sure she gets inside, then I’ll head home.”
“Sure,” she says. But her lips curl up like she knows something I don’t.
A moment later, her car’s pulling away and I’m holding Rufus’s leash.
“Okay, Rufus. We’re going to be nice and quiet, right?”
Rufus cocks his head. It’s as close as I’m going to get to agreement.
“Good boy.”
I open the passenger door.
Rufus immediately becomes a very bad boy, barking his head off and exploding into the car onto Reese like a four-legged tornado with a tongue.
“Rufus!” I exclaim, reaching for his collar. “Shh!”
But Reese is already gasping, sitting up confused as Rufus jumps up and down, licking her face and barking. “Ugh, Rufus!” she sputters, pressing him down off her face. But I can see the confused smile on her face too.
Then she sees me, and her smile falls.
My stomach drops, but I still manage a “Hi, Reese.”
Rufus keeps going though, and it takes both of us to calm him down. We end up with Rufus in her lap in her arms, and me squatting beside them, stroking his back to keep him from leaping up again.
“Hi, Eli.”
“Never thought I’d be jealous of a dog.”
Reese smiles, and goddammit if my breath doesn’t catch. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“Rufus at work says he’s jealous of dog Rufus sometimes,” Reese says. “Gets to sleep wherever he wants, never has to make food.”
“Poops in the yard.”
Reese looks down, and I can tell she’s trying not to laugh. “Don’t, Eli. Not yet.”
“Okay. It’s just that I’m so sorry, Reese.
I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about the stuff with Neil.
I’m sorry. But the reason for it—the reason for everything—is I love you.
I’m completely, over-the-top in love with you.
I want to make a life with you. I want to be able to sleep together in the same bed every night, to reach over and feel you there next to me so I don’t have to worry.
I want our kids to come bounding in too early to wake us up and I want to help them make finger-painting Mother’s Day cards for you.
I want to take them to your concerts when they’re too young, with those big headphones on their heads while you blow kisses at them and sing.
And that’s it most of all, Reese. I want you to sing.
Sing for you, sing for them. Sing for me. ”
Reese is trembling, clinging to Rufus like he’s a life preserver.
“I know. This is too much, too soon, too everything. But Reese, I didn’t just start loving you now.
I knew it the moment I saw you, and I saw this freight train coming.
I was standing on the tracks and the only thing I knew to do was dive out of the way because I don’t really know how to love without throwing my whole self into it. And if that’s too much, I understand.
“Eli,” Reese says, her voice cracking. “Are you kidding me right now?”
My stomach heaves. She’s going to kick me out, when I didn’t even get in. She’s going to tell me I’m drunk, though I haven’t taken a drop of booze. I’m out of my mind.
Maybe I am. But she doesn’t say that. Instead she says, “You put the rest of us to shame.”
I furrow my brow, my heart chugging in my chest like it’s going to give out.
“You feel everything, and you don’t hold back.
All you care about is the people you love, and everyone really.
Those artists in your building—they talk about you like you’re their dad.
I think you’re Alvin’s personal hero, and his father’s, too.
Your siblings act like they’re exasperated with you and your…
intensity, but they love you to pieces. Even when you can’t see it. ”
I know she’s talking about Jude. But my throat aches with all the things she’s telling me.
“Maybe what you’ve always thought was too much was just right. It’s what made me fall for you, Eli. It’s what made me agree to pretend to be with you. Because pretending”—her voice hitches—“wasn’t hard.”
I dip my head down, taking her hand and pressing my forehead onto it. “Reese, I’m so sorry for what I did. I didn’t think of you—”
“No,” she says. “You were only thinking of me. But yes, you should have let me handle it. I wouldn’t have had to track Simon down and persuade him not to press charges or sue you.”
I look up, sharply. “You talked to him?” My chest clenches in too-late concern. “You shouldn’t have done that. I don’t care about my future.”
“Why? When it’s my future too?”
My throat constricts again, and I can’t help the burn in my eyes.
“What are you saying, Reese?” I choke out. “I need you to say it.”
“I’m saying I love you, you big dummy. But you can’t risk our future like that. And you can’t just not listen to me when you think I’m in trouble.”
I nod, reaching for her hands. “I promise, baby. I love you, Reese.”
“Show me,” Reese whispers. “Take me inside and show me.”
Rufus barks as I pull her out of the car, but we don’t even tell him to be quiet. I’m too busy picking Reese up, and carrying her, squealing, to the front door of her building, Rufus barking excitedly beside us.
“My neighbors are going to hate us,” Reese whispers.
“They won’t be your neighbors for long. But we can make them muffins or something tomorrow to make up for it.”
“Muffins!” This makes Reese laugh so hard I have to lower her to her feet, sliding my hand over her ass to guide her up the stairs.
But this simple gesture makes the blood run down to my lower half, and suddenly it’s all I can do to get us up the stairs. “I need you,” I breathe in her ear as she fumbles with the key in the lock.
When we finally manage to get inside, Reese puts a hand on my chest. “I should clean up first.”
I shake my head, pulling off my jacket. “No. I want you, Reese. Right now.”
“But—”
I reach behind me and yank my shirt over my head.
Her pupils dilate before my eyes.
“Going to remember you start losing arguments when I take my shirt off,” I say, grinning.
“Unfair,” she whispers. Then she runs, and I’m chasing after her as she shrieks with laughter.
I may not be as fast as my pro-athlete brother, but I’m still fast. I reach her just before she gets to the bedroom, and I wrap my hands around her middle, picking her off her feet. “No way am I letting you get away,” I say into her hair as I walk her to the bed and fall down on it with her.
She rolls over on her back and I climb over her on all fours, my arms bracketing her beautiful face.
“I love you, Reese Franco.”
“I love you, Eli Dunham.”
“Maybe it’s time to change my name back.”
“You could try Franco?” Reese grins and I nip at her neck with my teeth.
“I could. Jude’s already passed down the family name.”
“Stop talking about kids, Eli. My poor ovaries.”
“Why? I want to make babies with you, Reese.”
“Shouldn’t we take things slow?”
“Why, when we already know this is it? Fuck, I want to put a baby in you right now.”
“Not possible yet but…God, Eli, just one thing at a time, okay? I might die of happiness if you keep going like this.”
“Don’t do that.” I suck on her earlobe. “Not before I taste you.”
Reese inhales sharply.
“But first—you’re wearing altogether too many clothes.”
I sit her up to pull her top over her head, and unhook her bra, tossing it aside next. My dick surges at the sight of her gorgeous tits, and as she flops back on the bed, I take them both in my hands.
“Mine,” I say, taking a nipple in my mouth, drawing it into a peak with swirls of my tongue. I do the same thing with the other, back and forth until Reese is moaning, her back arching off the bed. I could stay here all day, but I need more.
I make quick work of unbuttoning and pulling off her jeans, and when she’s lying there in only her panties, I draw my hand down her stomach, sliding it over the thin cotton covering her mound. “You ready, baby?”
“For what?” she teases, but she whimpers as I run my thumb over the already damp fabric there.
For the rest of our lives is too corny. So I hook my fingers over the top of her waistband and pull the panties down, nuzzling my face in the soft thatch of hair there, inhaling her musky, pheromone-laced scent.
I reach down to readjust myself—I’m so hard I could probably come with a few quick strokes, especially with my face in Reese’s pussy.
But I resist, instead spreading her legs wide, running my thumbs up the side of her opening and dipping my tongue into her slick center, flicking at her clit lazily at first while she gasps and moans and lifts her whole body off the bed.
“I wasn’t ready,” she gasps. “You’ll always surprise me, Eli. You’ll always make me feel so good in ways I never knew I could.”
I slip a finger inside of her, then another.
Then I suck gently on her clit while I work my fingers up and in, loving feeling her buck against me.
I want to keep her from coming, to tease her, but I can’t.
She’s too perfect, and I’m enjoying this too much.
So I let her come. I let her cry my name as she stiffens, shuddering and bucking under me, sounding almost in pain she’s coming so hard.
Finally she softens and I lift my face, giving her a wide, Cheshire-cat grin. “I could eat this pussy all night,” I say. “In fact, I think I will.”
Then I bow down for another.
But by the time she comes again, my balls are aching, my dick throbbing with need for her. “I’m going to fuck you now, baby. That okay?”
“Please,” is all she manages, squeaking, her cheeks pink, her hair stuck to her damp temples.
That’s all I need. I hook one leg up over my arm and find my way to her, my dick slipping over the wet heat of her, and plunging inside before I get a chance to savor it.
“I love you,” I whisper as I bury myself as deep as I can go, nearly losing it at the sensation of her muscles clenching my dick.
“More,” she says, and I don’t know if she means what I’m saying or doing, so I do it all.
I get both her legs up and work my dick in and out of her, trying to imprint the view of me disappearing inside of her into my brain alongside the feeling. But most of all, I want to remember her face, eyes on me, bottom lip in her teeth, eyebrows slanted.
I want to remember the sound of her whispering I love you, Eli, love you love you love you as she slides her fingers up against my jaw and into my hair.
It’s with my eyes on hers, my thumb reaching down to her clit that I finally feel my balls grow tight. “Come with me, Reese,” I say, working my thumb faster. “Come now for me, baby.”
Reese grits her teeth and her eyes and mouth pop open at the same time as waves of the most intense pleasure I’ve ever felt ripple through me.
She wraps her legs around mine, taking all of me as she comes.
“I could die happy,” I whisper as I drop my head down next to hers.
“Not when our lives are just getting started,” she whispers into my ear.
I pull her against me after, stroking her hair, my forever girl.