Chapter 36
Aspen
Achorus of meows and purrs ring in the air while I make the second round of the day to feed and clean the litter boxes for the cats at the shelter.
Last night, I met with the manager, Charlene.
I liked her immediately. Her black sweater was covered in cat hair and her thick black-framed glasses sat slightly crooked on her nose.
She told me they couldn’t afford to hire someone full time, but if I was interested in a few part-time hours, she’d be happy to give me a shot.
I think the photos I showed her of fostering Macaroni won her over.
It’s minimum wage, and nowhere near something I could live off of, but it’s a start. And since I can still work at On Tap too, I can make it work for now.
Once the last of the litter boxes are clean, I sweep up any spilled remnants. A brown tabby named Boo Bear watches my every move from his spot in the top cubby. “Am I doing a good enough job for you?”
He gives me a slow blink in response, tail twitching. I rub his head, which he tolerates but doesn’t seem to enjoy all that much. His bonded brother sleeps soundly on the cat bed next to him.
Celia pokes her head around the open door. “Everything going okay?”
I brush my hands against my jeans. “Yep, all good. Just finished up, actually.”
She looks at Boo Bear and smirks. “I see you got our resident neighborhood watch keeping an eye on you.”
I laugh, looking over my shoulder at him. He’s still watching me. “He’s been showing me the ropes.”
“I’m sure he has. Well, if you’re all done, you’re free to go for the day.”
“You don’t need help with anything else?”
She shakes her head and I follow her back out front. “Nope. When’s your next shift?”
I pull my phone out to check the schedule Charlene emailed me early this morning. “Next Wednesday.”
“Perfect. We’ll see you then!”
I stop back to pet a few of the cats before heading out. Reid texted me a little bit ago that they had left Joshua Tree. I hope after our phone call yesterday things got better for them, but I guess we’ll see. He didn’t offer any details over text.
I brought Macaroni over to his house this morning, figuring I’d likely spend a few days with Reid and didn’t want to worry about my boy back home.
I didn’t know how he’d do with the change of scenery, but the moment I opened the door to his carrier, he strutted around Reid’s house like he’s lived there all his life.
Tail up high in the air, nose twitching with all the new smells.
He ran up and down the stairs more times than I thought his chunky little body was capable of.
And just like I thought, he scratched the back of one of the couches in the living room. I tossed a blanket over it, hoping Reid won’t notice.
When I walk into the house, he barely even lifts his head from his spot in a sunbeam on a lounge chair by one of the large windows overlooking the city.
“Spoiled boy,” I laugh and go to scratch the top of his head.
He immediately recoils, whiskers twitching as he smells my hand.
“Ah, do I smell like other kitties to you?”
His ears go back and he gives me a look of betrayal. “Sorry, buddy. I’ll go wash my hands.”
I head upstairs to shower. With Reid coming home, I take extra time to exfoliate and shave almost every inch of myself. I put a soft wave in my hair and add just enough makeup to feel put together. Excited nerves bubble in my stomach.
It’s only been a few days but I’ve missed him like it’s been years. I hadn’t realized how much my life has changed having him in it everyday until I’ve had to go without. Everything I do, I’ve been finding myself wishing he was there to do with me.
Even watching my favorite reality TV show with Marley and Sara felt incomplete without him.
From downstairs, the sound of the garage door opening pings the alarm system.
My heart starts racing and I take off toward the stairs.
The second I see his brown, mussed hair round the banister, it finally feels like air is back in my lungs.
In a blur, I’m downstairs and throwing myself into his arms. They wrap around me, a tight brand that sears into my skin.
“Hi,” I murmur into his neck. His scent engulfs my nose. The relief that floods through me at the feeling of being back in his arms is second to the wave that crashes over me when I pull back to look at his face.
His beautiful, but usually hard, face.
His dark, usually assessing, stare.
Both have softened. The corners of his eyes crinkle with a genuine smile. The tension that usually feeds through his jaw, making it razor sharp, has eased.
Not erased. Not gone.
But softened.
His navy-blue eyes shine with a glint as he looks at me. The line of his shoulders has relaxed, not hiked up to his ears like usual.
“You look—” I was going to say happier, but he cuts me off with a kiss. He parts my lips, tongue finding mine. I give it a playful nip, and a moan rattles his chest, feeding into mine. I pull him closer.
He bends down, snaking his arms around the backs of my thighs, and hoists me up effortlessly so I can wrap my legs around his waist. My core pulses against his stomach. Instead of taking me upstairs like I hoped he would, he walks us into the kitchen.
The marble sends a shocking chill through my ass as Reid sets me on the edge of the counter. He stands between my open thighs even as our arms stay wrapped around each other.
Neither of us want to let go.
“I missed you,” I say, craning my head to look up at him. “That felt much longer than a couple days.”
He brushes the hair back from my forehead in gentle strokes. I lean into his touch. “I missed you, too. God, I didn’t…I’ve never really had anyone in my life that I’ve missed. But throughout the day, I found myself wishing that you were there. It felt like a piece was missing.”
My heart threatens to explode in my chest. Who is this man in front of me and what did he do with the grumpy bastard that is my boyfriend? “The trip must’ve gone well.”
He cocks his head back and forth. “Eh.”
“Eh?”
“It had its moments. But I don’t want to talk about that now.”
“You don’t, do you?”
He leans in, pressing his forehead to mine. I suck in a breath at the feel of his hot skin against mine. This close, I can feel his heart racing. I almost pull back, about to ask him what’s wrong—
“I love you.”
There it is. What I’ve been waiting to hear from him.
What I’ve been waiting to tell him. He whispers them in a rush between us, foreheads pressed together, lips a breath apart.
“I love you,” he repeats. His eyes shine with the words.
“I’ve felt it for a while, but I—I didn’t know how to say it.
But being away from you the past few days, talking with my brothers…
I realized I needed to tell you. I didn’t want you to go another day without knowing. ”
I cup his face, needing to feel him. To feel that this is real. It isn’t a dream I’m going to wake up from. “I love you, too. God, I’ve loved you for a long time but I was scared to say it first.”
He chuckles. “Well, I’m glad I beat you to it.”
I trail my hands down his chest to the hem of his sweatshirt.
He pulls back enough to allow me to slip it over his head.
The second his torso is exposed, I lean forward and pepper kisses across his collarbone.
But then a white bandage catches my attention.
It’s smaller than the size of my palm on the left side of his chest.
“Are you hurt?” I ask.
He inhales shakily. “No.” With a wobbly hand, he peels the square away.
The air is stolen from my lungs as a fresh tattoo comes into a view.
“A lucky penny,” he whispers as my fingertips trace the edges of the reddened skin. “For you.”
His lucky penny, tattooed over his heart.
I blink, sure that this is a dream. But the warmth of his skin seeping into my touch…it’s real. The penny, Reid, his confession, all of it real.
Instead of a year on the small coin like a real penny would have, there’s a full date inscribed. A date from earlier this year. I scan through my memory, trying to dig up what the date is…
“It’s the day we found each other again.” I tear my gaze away from the tattoo to meet his eyes, full of love that I never knew he was capable of. “The day I came into On Tap for the first time.”
My chest is so full it could burst open right here all over his kitchen. Every inch of me overflows with the sentiment, the permanence, the testament of his words to me through the ink on his skin.
“It’s perfect,” I whisper, the only words I can form. Careful not to touch the sensitive skin, I press a kiss to the side of the penny.
His lucky penny.
He grips my thighs as a relieved exhale escapes his mouth.
Each brush of my lips against him fuels the burning in my chest. It simply feels right. Everything in my body screams to be as close to him as possible, and I wonder how I ever went without him?
When he goes to grab my shirt, I let him pull it off of me, and he makes quick work of my bra as well.
My breasts fall free, heavy and full under his appreciative gaze.
He cups them, gently thumbing my nipples.
I arch into his touch, a needy moan slipping free, as I feel every pinch straight in my pussy.
I squeeze my thighs against his hips. A silent signal for more. With him, I’m finding I always crave more. Maybe it’s the years I spent denying myself of pleasure for the sake of not turning out like my mother.
Or maybe it’s because I love him. And I love the way he makes me feel. The way he plays with my body like he knows it as well as his own.
“Hips up,” he demands, voice husky. I oblige and he’s quick to pull my leggings down, my underwear going with them. I shiver as my bare skin meets the marble this time, but the heat of his eyes steals it away.