Chapter 19
LILA
The drive back to Los Angeles gave me entirely too much time to think.
For the first half hour, neither of us said much.
Soft music drifted from the speakers as the moon grew more visible as it got darker outside.
Reid rested one hand on the steering wheel and occasionally reached across the center console to squeeze my knee.
Other than that, he left me alone with my thoughts, never once asking what was wrong or pushing me to talk before I was ready.
A few months ago, that silence would’ve felt awkward. Tonight, it felt comfortable.
As the miles slipped by, I found myself thinking about how he’d stopped treating every difficult conversation like something he needed to solve and instead as something he needed to understand.
There hadn’t been one grand gesture that fixed everything or one perfect apology that erased the hurt. Instead, dozens of small moments had slowly rebuilt the trust we’d lost.
Every time I expected him to fall back into old habits, he surprised me in a good way. Whenever I braced myself to feel dismissed, he listened.
The truth was, I hadn’t spent the past month deciding whether Reid had changed. I’d seen for myself that he had, and Kinsley confirmed it when she got home and spent some time with him.
I’d used this time to decide whether I believed the change was enough.
As I stared out the passenger window at the growing glow of city lights, I finally admitted that somewhere along the way, I had gotten my answer.
The man sitting beside me wasn’t perfect. Neither of us was. But he finally understood why I had left. And why I needed more than promises to come back, although they’d certainly gotten me thinking tonight.
My thumb drifted absently across my bare ring finger as I thought about what he’d said at the overlook. He’d given me simple promises rooted in understanding.
And for the first time since I’d handed back my engagement ring, I wasn’t questioning whether Reid deserved another chance.
I was wondering why I was still making him wait.
I loved him. I had never stopped. The difference now was that I trusted him again, and that had been the missing piece all along.
As if he felt me looking at him, Reid glanced over from the driver’s seat. “Everything okay?”
The concern in his voice made me smile. “Actually, yeah.”
His expression softened, but I could tell he was still trying to figure out what was happening inside my head. But since we were almost to my house, I figured he could wait a little longer. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have while his attention was divided between the road and me.
When he finally pulled into my driveway, I took a deep breath and turned slightly toward him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
The immediate answer made my chest squeeze.
My gaze dropped briefly to my left hand before lifting back to his face. “Do you still have it?”
He looked completely confused, then his eyes widened. “Yes.”
His right hand dipped into his pocket. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he’d been walking around with my engagement ring there all this time, but I was.
Slowly, like he was afraid I might change my mind if he moved too quickly, Reid pulled the ring from his pocket.
I’d tried not to think about what the ring represented or how much it had hurt to hand it back. Now the diamond solitaire rested in Reid’s palm between us.
His gaze searched mine. “Are you asking for the reason I’m hoping?”
A soft laugh escaped me. “I’m not ready to pick a new wedding date tomorrow.”
The tension in his shoulders eased slightly.
“And I’m definitely not ready to jump right back into seating charts and invitations.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Fair.”
I reached for his hand and closed my fingers around the ring.
“But yes.” The words came out softer than I intended. “Yes, I want us.”
A mixture of relief and love flashed across his face so quickly it almost stole my breath. “You have no idea what this means to me, baby. I love you so damn much. I’m not gonna mess this up. I know how bleak my life is without you in it.”
Tears stung my eyes as I smiled. “I never stopped loving you, but I needed to know we weren’t going to end up right back where we started.”
His hand tightened around mine. “We won’t.”
I believed him completely, so I held out my left hand. “Put my ring back where it belongs.”
He released a shaky breath as he slid the ring onto my finger. Its familiar weight was comforting.
We just sat there staring at it, but not as a reminder of what we had almost lost. The ring was a promise of what was yet to come for us.
Then Reid lifted my hand and pressed a kiss against my knuckles.
When he looked up again, there was so much love in his eyes that my heart ached. “I don’t deserve you.”
I rolled my eyes through my tears. “Good thing I’m not marrying you because you’re perfect.”
He leaned across the center console and kissed me. Every bit of distance that had existed between us seemed to disappear.
When we finally pulled apart, I whispered, “Come inside.”
Reid’s gaze darkened, but there was tenderness there too. “Are you sure?”
We’d had sex several times over the past month, but I understood why he questioned me now. It held so much more meaning with his ring back on my finger.
I smiled and threaded my fingers through his. “Completely.”
Together, we got out of the car and walked toward my front door. I wanted him badly enough that it ached. Not just physically, but in the deepest parts of me that had been missing him for weeks. So I led him directly to my bedroom, discarding our clothes along the way.
There was joy as we came together this time, Reid tossing me onto the mattress. I bounced once before he landed on top of me, rolling us over so I straddled him.
“Get up here, baby. Ride my face. Need to taste you first.”
I puffed out my bottom lip. “What if I want my mouth on you too?”
His grip on my hips tightened. “Then turn around and give me your pussy while you suck my cock.”
Heat flooded my cheeks, but there was no hesitation in me tonight. Not after everything we’d fought through. I wanted to feel totally his again.
Moving up his body, my heart pounded as I positioned myself over his face. The moment I lowered down, his strong hands gripped my thighs and pulled me exactly where he wanted me. His tongue dragged through my folds with a hungry moan that vibrated straight through my core.
“Oh, Reid,” I gasped, wrapping my fingers around his thick, hard dick. It was hot and heavy in my hand, already leaking at the tip. I licked him slowly, savoring the familiar taste of him, before taking him deep into my mouth.
Reid groaned against my pussy and devoured me like a starving man. His tongue circled my clit with perfect pressure, then plunged inside me, fucking me with deliberate strokes. The pleasure was overwhelming, but so was the emotion crashing through me.
Tears stung at the corners of my eyes as I sucked him deeper, hollowing my cheeks and taking him to the back of my throat. This wasn’t just sex. It was us finding our way back after I’d almost walked away for good.
I loved this man with every shattered and mended piece of me. And he loved me right back.
Reid slid two thick fingers inside me, curling them just right while his tongue flicked rapidly over my clit. My moan around his dick was broken and desperate. The wet, filthy sounds of his mouth on me mixed with my own muffled whimpers filled the room, quickly pushing me closer to the edge.
He pulled back just enough to growl, “That’s it, baby. Fuck my face. Use me.”
His dirty words sent me spiraling. I rocked against his tongue shamelessly, chasing the pleasure as my thighs began to tremble.
When he sucked my clit into his mouth and pumped his fingers faster, I shattered.
My orgasm crashed over me so hard that I cried out around his dick, my body shaking as wave after wave of intense pleasure tore through me.
I was still trembling and trying to catch my breath when I pulled off his dick and turned around. “Need you inside me.”
“Let me feel that sweet pussy wrap around my cock, baby.”
Straddling his hips, I took his dick in my hand and slowly sank down onto him. The stretch was exquisite. I felt every thick inch as he filled me, and the emotional weight of it stole my breath.
After all the heartbreak, he was still the only man who could make me feel this complete. My voice cracked with emotion as I began to move. “Reid.”
“I’ve got you, baby. I’m right here.” His hands gripped my hips tightly, his eyes dark with love and hunger as he looked up at me. “I’m never letting you go again.”
I rode him slowly at first, rocking and rolling my hips, taking him deeper with every motion. My hands braced on his chest as our eyes stayed locked. Every thrust felt like a promise kept. Every moan felt like forgiveness given.
Tears slipped down my cheeks, but I didn’t try to hide them. I was safe with him now.
Reid suddenly sat up, wrapping his strong arms around me so my breasts pressed flush against his chest. He took control, thrusting up into me hard and deep, hitting that perfect spot inside me over and over again.
“I love you,” he breathed against my neck, his voice rough with emotion. “Only you. Always you. I’m so sorry I ever made you doubt that.”
Those words broke something open inside me. I clung to him tighter, burying my face in his neck as another orgasm built fast. When it hit, I cried out, clenching around him so tightly I felt him lose control right with me.
“Lila, baby,” Reid groaned my name as he came, pulsing deep inside me.
We stayed locked together, trembling and breathing hard, his arms wrapped around me like he’d never let go. My heart felt full to bursting, finally whole again.
This was what coming back to him felt like. Everything I’d been so terrified I’d never have again. And I knew we would fight like hell to keep it.