Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
jade
My heels click-clack on the sidewalk as I turn onto Reeve’s street Friday evening, the sinking sun casting an exaggerated shadow off to my left and making my stilettos look comically high.
I love an excuse to wear heels. I love the way my legs look in them.
I love the sound they make as I walk. I love the way I feel like an actual grown woman with her shit together the second I step into a pair.
And I love the fantasy that keeps playing in my head of sinking my stiletto heels into Reeve’s back.
Showing up without asking first feels vaguely forbidden, but I tell myself it’s okay. Reeve said “no rules.” And I need it to be okay because I can’t stand the way I’ve felt myself spinning out of control since we slept together two nights ago.
I straighten my skirt as I approach his house. A little surge of anxiety hits me to realize how disappointed I’m going to be if he’s not home. I’m not supposed to feel—
“Jade?”
I’m crossing his driveway when I hear his voice, but when I look up at the house, Reeve’s not there.
“Back here,” he calls.
I turn and spot him in the old garage at the end of the driveway, one hand leaning against the door of his Bronco, one hand on his hip.
The hood of his car is up and he’s shirtless and, well, the entire scene is so sexy—in a cheesy porno way—I forget I’m supposed to be a confident, badass, high-heeled babe and just stand there for a second to gape.
“You gonna walk over here or did you swing by to see some other dude?” he finally says.
I blink and shake myself out of my stupor. “To see some other dude, but I seem to have forgotten his name.” I walk up the driveway toward the garage, absolutely reveling in the way Reeve stares at my legs.
When I reach him, he drags his gaze slowly from my feet to my eyes. “I didn’t know you were coming over. And I definitely didn’t know you’d be wearing a skirt and heels.”
“Thought I’d surprise you.”
Something dances in his eyes, and I think it’s excitement I’m here, but it could just as well be him wondering how he’s going to get himself out of trouble. It’s hard to tell with Reeve. “And you did.” His gaze skims over me, pausing at my hair. “You went back to pink.”
“The maroon was just temporary.” Does he like pink on me? I refuse to ask, but I can’t help searching his eyes for an answer.
He nods toward the back of the garage and turns, retreating deeper inside. His muscled back gleams with sweat.
I follow him, staring at his body and dragging one fingertip along the side of the Bronco because even though no one is supposed to touch it, I think I’ve earned the right.
He grabs a threadbare towel off the table against the far wall and turns to me, carefully wiping his hands.
I leave my fingertip just outside the open hood of the car.
When he notices, he lifts his chin and challenges me with a cocky smile.
When I don’t move, he smacks my hand with the towel. “You know the rule.”
“Even now? Just one finger?”
“Not without permission.”
I shrug. “So do something about it.”
He looks at me for a long second before his eyes fall to my lips. Even after all the times we’ve kissed, a ripple of anticipation moves through me, and I have to stop myself from taking a deep breath.
My heart beats a little faster when he moves, but he doesn’t move for me.
He reaches for the open hood of the Bronco and slowly lowers the rod holding it up.
Watching his hands move and the muscles in his arms bulge feels pornographic.
He takes one last look at my finger on the car and drops the hood heavily.
And even though my finger was a safe inch away, I’ve pulled it back anyway.
Why does it turn me on so much when he’s kind of a dick like this? When he does whatever it takes to get his way? I feel like heat is rising straight off my body when Reeve spreads his hands on the hood and leans on the Bronco.
“You know I could just put my finger right back on there.”
“You could.”
“And you’d have to find a different way to stop me.”
“I have plenty of ways. You want to hear your options?”
I try not to smile but can’t help it.
“I could kick your pretty ass out of here.”
“You won’t.”
Pushing himself away from the hood, he comes toward me. I watch his fingers curl around my waist, totally turned on by the sight. Men have no idea how sexy their hands are. Though watching my face, Reeve probably just figured it out.
“I could take my clothes off. Then we both know where your hands will end up.”
“You’re very full of yourself.”
“Or I could take your clothes off and make you forget about the stupid Bronco.”
His fingers squeeze my waist. I already have forgotten about the stupid Bronco. “No, thanks.”
He chuckles. “Then what do you want?”
“I want you to kiss me.”
Reeve looks pleased with himself. He pushes me back against the car, my heels hitting the front tire, but when he leans in close, I put my hand over his mouth before his lips can touch mine. “Not there.”
He freezes, his lips warm against my fingers, and arches one eyebrow. “Then where?”
I hike my skirt up over my hips and hop up onto the hood of his car. The cocky smile disappears from his face as I spread my knees for him, replaced by a faint look of stupor as his eyes find the place I want him to kiss.
He glances toward the open door of the garage, strides over to it, and yanks hard on the frayed brown rope handle.
The door rolls down and slams to the concrete floor, leaving us in nothing but the glow of Reeve’s work lamp.
His eyes have gone a smoky blue by the time he stands in front of me again, and he slides one hand over the front of his pants to cup his dick through the fabric. But the rest of his energy is for me.
He steps toward me and grips the undersides of my thighs to slide me to the very edge of the car. His hands push my knees wider, then trail down my calves and my ankles. There he holds each heeled foot like just touching them turns him on.
I’m high enough off the ground that he only has to bend down a bit and then he’s eye level with his target. When he does, I swear the way he looks at my panty-covered pussy could burn a hole right through the burgundy lace.
I shiver involuntarily, anticipation and the look of adoration on Reeve’s face firing me up.
His hands tighten around my ankles before he glides them up to my thighs and drops his head between my legs, kissing me through my panties.
I open my knees wider, and his mouth drifts to the tender skin on my inner thighs, then back again to my pussy.
He inhales my scent like it’s giving him life.
The heat of his breath through the fabric makes me squirm, bliss and frustration all at once, a promise of his talent without any delivery.
I wrap my fingers around the back of his neck and press my nails into him. “Reeve,” I say, knowing that says it all.
He looks up at me, eyes dancing. “So is that all you want me to do? Kiss you?”
“Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.”
He flashes a little smile, and it’s an image I’ll never forget—that handsome, perfect smile promising he’s about to drive me wild and savor every second of it. “You’re right, Jade. I know exactly what you want me to do.”
“Tell me.”
His gaze moves to my body, and he kisses my pussy again.
“You want me to slide these damp panties off.” His voice has dropped an octave lower, thrumming against my skin, drawing another shiver out of me.
He tugs my underwear down, balls them up in one fist, and tosses them over his shoulder.
“You want me to taste exactly how wet you are for my tongue.”
The breath whooshes from my lungs as his tongue parts me and dips deep into my center, telling me he’s just as hungry to taste me as I am to show him how much he turns me on. His tongue retreats, but he covers me with the warm, wet heat of his mouth, kissing, licking, sucking my tender skin.
Finding my clit, he draws his stiff tongue over it, and my fingers curl against the hood of the car.
He watches me, catching every tiny signal I give off.
I don’t know what gives me away, but he reads me flawlessly, because in seconds his tongue has perfected the rhythm that threatens to make me come.
I only hope I don’t look as weak for him as I feel.
“What else?” I say, half whispering and half moaning, watching how his beautiful lips work my body and his dark eyelashes veil the hunger in his eyes.
Desire thrums through my veins when his fingers part me.
“You want me to open you up and go deep.” His rough voice is fuel for the fire within me as he pushes his tongue inside my soft walls, making me cry out.
My head falls back as he works my body, my clit so sensitive it almost hurts, my core so hungry for him to explore my depths again.
I rock my hips against him so he’ll know how hard I want it.
“You don’t have to be gentle with me,” I say breathlessly. I’m already so close, and I don’t care how skilled he is or how much I love having him on his knees with his face buried so far inside me I can see only the top of his head, I need to come on his tongue.
Quiet, deep animal noises sound from his throat as he pleasures me, like tasting my pussy is his greatest desire and my inevitable orgasm is the cherry on top.
I let my knees fall apart, opening myself to him completely, wanting him to see, touch, taste every part of me.
Wanting him to see what he does to me, how he can lay me bare with just his kiss.
I come hard, my orgasm ripping through me so fast that the scream that spills from my throat takes me by surprise.
My knees shake as Reeve eases off the pressure and leaves one final kiss on my slick skin.
My body is warm liquid from head to toe, the bliss of orgasm settling into satisfaction, cool air skittering over my hot, sweaty skin.
Reeve adds another sensation to the mix, kissing the insides of my thighs, one after the other.
Slowly he drops soft, gentle kisses from my stomach to my chest, along my collarbone, across my shoulder, and up my neck.
Does he know this is exactly what I wanted to avoid?
“Reeve.” I want to wrap my arms around his neck and hold him close, but I refuse. “Don’t be sweet.”
His warm breath heats my neck as he lets out a quiet laugh. “Jade.” He kisses my throat, his lips so tender that a wave of emotion simmers inside me. “Let’s stop fighting whatever it is we’re fighting.”
Oh. Tears sting the backs of my eyes, appearing out of nowhere.
I never had him fooled. With his simple request, I let the lie I’ve been telling myself fall away, the one about how Reeve and I are about nothing more than sex and fun and passing the time until graduation.
I don’t have the energy to pretend any longer, to go around acting like I don’t care for him, for my heart, for what becomes of us next.
I wrap my arms around his neck exactly the way I’ve been longing to and hold on to him, and it feels even better than I knew it would.