CHAPTER NINETEEN
Reid
I once played a game of Truth with a group of friends and a couple of my brothers about the worst place we’d ever gotten a stiffy.
Luke’s was embarrassing. He got one in a classroom after listening to his hot teacher talk about sex. She then made him stand in front of the class to name the anatomy, not realising he had a boner until the other students started to point it out.
Tim’s was a little out there. His girl gave him a stiffy at a funeral after whispering all of the things she was going to do him when they got home. She didn’t want to waste away her life anymore.
Getting a stiffy over a chick when there are fucking kids about, plus your mum and sister, takes the biscuit. It’s fucking wrong. And if we were playing that game right now, I would fucking win. This never happens to me. Ever. I can control my fucking dick. Kind of.
This is all Summer Adams’ fault.
One of the mums glares my way as I adjust my dick in my shorts, and swings her kid up, away from where I’m standing near one of the horses.
Bitch, I was trying to be discreet about it.
Summer bends over again, cooing at the fucking duck. If I didn’t know any better, I would think she was doing this on purpose.
I growl when a gentle breeze caresses her dress, fluttering the edges to reveal the white knickers she has on underneath.
Fuck me.
I turn away from the show because just that flicker of a glimpse has pre-cum leaking from the tip of my dick.
Attractive girls aren’t exactly an anomaly in my life.
I can get one as easily as grabbing a coffee.
Summer Adams clearly brings something else to the table.
She was driving me mad before I fucked her last night.
Now I’m in an endless haze of wanting her.
No, scratch that. Needing her. My balls are drawn up so tight I may burst if my cock isn’t inside her soon.
Fuck, I’d settle for coming on her at this point.
I said I didn’t do relationships, and I wasn’t lying. They scare the shit out of me. Then again, so does she.
Maybe I need to fuck her out of my system.
Even as the words roll over in my mind, I know that isn’t the case. I want her. I’m not a pussy; I can admit that. I want her so goddamn much it fucking scares me. I won’t lie and say that wanting her before we fucked didn’t scare me, because it did. She scares me.
This morning, after barely getting any sleep, I woke up to the most tantalising scent.
Her head was on my shoulder, her hand on my pec and her leg was cocked over mine.
The sex had been fucking phenomenal, and quite frankly, the best I’ve ever had.
Had it scared me? Fuck yes. But did that have my balls shrivelling up and my hands shaking as I snuck out of her bedroom?
No. It wasn’t even waking up to her in my arms, which I can say for sure has never happened to me.
Not once. I’m in and out quicker than a single mum in a supermarket.
No, what had me tripping over my feet was how I felt.
This deep, unearthed sense of peace and contentment as I woke up is what had me reaching for the door handle.
Yet the second I reached for my bag, I couldn’t pick it up. I couldn’t leave. It was like my feet were cemented to the floor, and this foreboding feeling inside of me knew that if I left, I would be making the biggest mistake of my life.
Instead, I went to the kitchen and had coffee. I woke up properly, and that fear was back, swimming in the pit of my stomach with no place to go.
Fear that disappeared as soon as I saw her, because fuck me, I’ve never wanted anyone so badly in my life. My dick is in complete agreement.
I don’t want us to be the one night. I know that for sure.
Nothing has ever been clearer. Yet I know nothing about ‘more’.
It’s embarrassing, and no way in hell can I go to any relative for help.
My sister would be the first person I’d go to, but she owes me too many paybacks from the shit I’ve pulled over the years.
Milly, who wanted to tag along with us to see my mum, walks behind the horse, and I come out of my head and shake away the thoughts about Summer that were paralyzing me.
“Kid, no,” I bark loudly, and quickly pick her up, ignoring the sweaty armpits she’s sporting and the grossness of it. “You can’t walk behind a horse.”
She tilts her head, scrutinising me under those lashes. Shit, this kid scares me. “You really want to yell at me, don’t you? Do you think that’s wise in front of Summer? She does not look happy with you right now.”
Her lower lip begins to tremble and I quickly glance Summer’s way, who I find is making her way over, her eyebrows pinched as she watches us.
I flip my gaze back to the kid. “If you drop the act, I’ll take you out on the horse later.”
Her eyes begin to water despite the cunning spark in them. “You promise?”
Little shit.
“Yes.”
Her lip trembles again. “If you give me twenty quid, I’ll even throw in a compliment.”
“Kid, you should go into politics,” I tell her. “Don’t be overly dramatic with the compliment. Do we have a deal?”
She pastes on a bright smile, her eyes no longer watering. “Deal,” she whispers, before dramatically announcing. “I promise never to step behind a horsey again. Thank you for saving me. You’re my hero.”
I inwardly snort. This fucking kid. “Any time, kid. Any time.”
“Everything okay?” Summer asks, lost in her phone. I glare down at the kid when she snickers. Little shit played me. Again. Her concern isn’t for the kid; it’s for whatever is on her phone.
I quickly lower Milly to the ground and paste on my own smile. “Yeah, everything is good. Everything good with you? You look like one more thought might make you scream.”
“What?” she asks, seeming to shake herself out of her thoughts.
Milly giggles. “You stay real, cousin,” she advises. “Oh, Malia is here.”
We watch her race over to the car park, and when I see she’s safely with Malia, who Mum is talking to, I turn my attention to Summer. “You okay?”
She glances back at her phone. “I’m not sure.
I had expected Katherine or someone to email me back about my resignation.
No one has and it’s what, nearly two in the afternoon?
I texted my previous boss who I assisted before Katherine, asking if she can follow up and make sure Katherine got my email. She’s sent me this.”
She pushes the phone out to show me the text message.
SANDRA: You need to give me the number of the psychic who reads your tarot cards. I can’t get into it right now, but you left at the right time. The place is being ransacked as I type. I have to go.
“What do you think it means?”
I grin. “I think Katherine is about to get a little taste of her own medicine.”
“Already? Don’t you think it’s a bit quick for the police to do a full investigation?”
I shrug. “Something tells me the Carters gave a certain in-law a little push,” I guess. “And by push, I mean they probably threatened bodily harm until he got his work dudes on it.”
Her lips twitch. “Work dudes?”
I nod. “Work dudes,” I agree. “How did it go with Paisley? You were in there a long time.”
“You told me to take my time,” she points out.
I place my hands on her hips. “Is this how our relationship is going to go? You’ll keep throwing past shit in my face? Have to tell you, Sunshine, this tit for tat gets me hot and bothered.”
She rolls her eyes. “We aren’t in a relationship.” She glances down. “How is your dick not shrivelled up from just speaking the word?”
I smirk. “My dick thinks it’s time to step up and take the next step.”
Her brows scrunch up. “One, stop cringing me out by talking about your dick like it’s a person. And by next step, do you mean on this field? Please tell you mean on this field.”
I snort. “In life.”
“I think you need to get inside,” she warns me, placing the back of her hand against my forehead. “You are talking nonsense.”
I’m not though.
“Why don’t we put a pin in it, and whilst it’s there, we get to know each other a little bit better?”
“You seem to like having a lot of pins in your board.” A soft puff of air slips past her lips. “Does this work with all the girls?”
“I only need it to work with one,” I truthfully admit.
And damn, how badly I want that.
And my dick. He wants it too. Desperately.
“Can we get back to my dilemma? Should I ask Sandra about Katherine?”
“Fuck no. Normally, I’d say ignore it, but chicks never ignore messages like that. You need to act clueless and ask if everything is okay.”
She arches her eyebrow. “Chicks never ignore messages like that, huh?”
“Nope. Never. A chick was ignoring my friend once because he forgot their anniversary. They had been dating a week. I told him to message her, ‘Oh my god, I just got told what happened. I can’t believe it. I just can’t’. She replied straight away.”
She takes a step closer to the horse, running her hand up Shyla’s muzzle whilst her attention is on me. “And you think I’m that girl? I’m more than surface level, Reid.”
Well shit. I managed to insult her again, and it’s not even been twenty-four hours. I squeeze her hand. “I know you are more than surface level.”
Paisley skips over to us, her phone in her hand. “Hey, Faith is on the line. She wants to know if you’re still going over there.”
I nod. “I am. I’ll go get the car in a second. I promised Milly I would take her out on the horse, so I just want to make sure she knows I’m not bailing.”
“You promised to take her out on the horse?” Paisley and Summer ask simultaneously.
Summer has this sparkle in her eye over it, which I’m assuming is a good thing. I nod. “Yeah, I could see her watching Shyla and I just knew she wanted to hop on, so I offered to take her out for a ride.” The lie rolls easily off my tongue.
Staring at me in wonder, Summer states, “That is so incredibly sweet of you, Reid Hayes.”
Paisley jabs me in the bicep sharply, making me grimace. “Yeah, Reid, incredibly sweet of you.”