Crusade Across Worlds (7 page)

I retreat as much as possible. “You should
keep it like this.”

“Only if you want me to.” He places his
hands on the wall beside my head.

And leans in.

I taste his breath seconds before his lips
brush mine. My heart takes off, my entire body melting as his mouth
moves softly, slowly, his new facial hair tickling my skin. But I
like it. There’s something to it. Something… rugged. Manly. But
he’s gentle in the way he’s kissing me, like he’s savoring every
delicious morsel of this long-awaited reunion.

Reid nibbles on my bottom lip and on
instinct, my mouth parts. He starts to move in but I slide my hands
up his chest and with as much strength as I can muster, I push
back.

Fast.

Way too fast.

I’ve only just seen him, smelled him,
touched him. I want this, but I don’t know if I can handle it all
at once. All of him. All over me. We might have to work up to it.
Letting out a breath, I try to breathe again. Then swim around him,
toward the middle of the lake. “Tickles.”

He follows me. “Tickling not good?”

“It’s not bad.”

He runs a hand down his scruffy cheek, a
momentary expression of forlorn. He wipes it clean and swims
closer, a devious look in his eyes. “Should we test it all
over?”

“Test it?”

His brows flicker. Reid closes the gap
between us and wraps his arms around me, securing my body to his.
“I could start here,” he gently kisses my cheek. “Or here,” he
moves down to my jaw, planting a small kiss underneath. “Or even
here,” his whispered words trail down my neck, leaving goosebumps
in their wake.

I grip his shoulders and close my eyes.

Be strong!

“Well?” I feel his mouth trace one side of
my throat to the other, his breath on my skin firing me up. “Still
ticklish?”

“No.”

“No?” he lifts his head with a smirk.

I start to say something but he cuts me off
with another kiss. It’s sweet and sensual and teasing in a way,
like he’s giving me a preview for something even better. I melt
against him, leaning into the kiss before his tongue probes my
mouth, begging entrance. We hit the edge of the lake and with an
unbidden moan, I succumb, unable to fight it anymore.

Running my hands up his neck, I grip the
hair behind his ears, holding his head to mine. He groans and I tug
a little harder. It must ignite something because he pushes against
me, flattening my body with urgency. Reid moves in even closer,
stroking my tongue with his, our bodies rubbing together as the
familiar fire rushes through me.

I break free, searching for air and he moves
to my neck, a combination of sucking and kissing that has a whimper
rolling off my lips. Hooking a finger in my panties, he starts
dragging them down my thighs.

“Reid…”

But I get no answer. His finger continues
trailing my leg, dragging the intimate material with it. I’m
melting, right here in this icy water. I don’t know what to do. But
I don’t have to do anything. Reid removes the barrier and then
wraps my leg around his hip. I feel him hard against my thigh and I
start to tremble. His tongue is in my mouth, and then he’s inside
me.

I stiffen with a gasp.

Reid stops.

I didn’t expect that to hurt so much. I know
it will feel good in a second, but after three months away, I need
a moment to get reacquainted with him. With his body. With my body.
Suppressing a wince from the painful jab, I offer the only
explanation. “It’s… been awhile.”

Reid presses his brow to mine and I know he
is forcing himself to keep still. He doesn’t want to ask, but
still, he does. “You want to stop?”

“No.”

Relief washes over him. Leaning in, he
kisses me softly on my lips. It’s the same sensual kissing as
before—his lips tugging on mine, his tongue tasting me, begging
entrance into my mouth again. He’s warming me up,
loosening
me up.

I close my eyes.

Slowly, he rocks his hips against me. “Tell
me if it hurts.”

Keeping my eyes shut, I nod at his request.
It’s still a little uncomfortable, but doesn’t hurt like it did
before. I relax a bit and Reid pushes closer, slightly crushing me
to the wall. He lifts my body, one hand snug around my waist and
the other on the rock beside my head.

“Better?” he asks.

“Yes.”

Moving to my neck, he suckles the tender
skin, nipping at my collar bone. I verbalize my approval—a soft,
almost-whimper that starts a series of short breaths. He does it
again, scraping his teeth against me and I grip his hair between my
fingers. I pull. Reid drags his mouth up my throat, scratching the
skin as he goes.

With the flexing of his hips and the
exploration of his lips, I’m already close to losing it. Close to
unraveling any second, but I’m holding on, wanting this to last,
wanting this moment to be our life together. Reid latches onto my
ear and with another thrust intended to hurt a little, I cry out.
It’s loud and pleading and panting all in one.

And I want more.

I’m coming undone around him. My body is on
fire and I’m—

I’m being lifted.

Reid lays me onto the padded grass. He’s
over me, water dripping from his face onto mine as he separates my
thighs with his. One thrust and he’s deep inside. Two thrusts and I
arch, opening myself for him. He moves with a punishing rhythm and
it’s
fast, fast, fast—
hitting my very center.

This isn’t Reid. This is some other animal.
Some animal that exists at the very core of him, demanding to be
released. To be acknowledged. To be freed.

This is carnal.

Digging his fingers into my hips, he lets
himself go. It’s never been this hard. This aggressive. But this is
what he needs—this is what we both need. With his body moving
inside mine the way it is, I can’t help it. I cry out as a violent
shock consumes me, igniting me, and I’m falling—falling through
bright sensations where all time and space is void. Everything is
glowing. Everything is real.

Everything is alive.

“Fuck,” Reid pulls out.

His body falls on mine, the side of his face
on my chest and his arms sprawled out. We lay like this, panting
and waiting to catch our breath. It’s a little difficult with him
lying over me but I don’t say a word. I don’t want him to move. I
like the way this feels too much. To have him so close to me, to
have his skin brushing mine and his hair tickling my neck. This is
what I want.

He lifts his head.

Some thought weighs heavy behind his eyes
but the corner of his mouth lifts. He rests his chin on my chest,
his grin growing. “I missed you.”

If he only knew how much I missed him.

Reid leans down and kisses the black
material linking my breasts. His furry face tickles and I do my
best to suppress a laugh. But he exhales, sending the short hair
rustling and a chuckle escapes. He lifts his head with a smile. It
takes him a second, but when he finally figures it out, he buries
his unshaven cheeks between my breasts, rubbing his face against
me. “Like this?”

Laughing, I grip his ears, holding him
still. “Yes.”

He props himself on an elbow and smiles. “I
would’ve grown it out awhile ago if I knew.”

“And this,” I run my fingers down his right
arm. “When did this happen?”

“A few weeks after you left. Zingfinolds
started doing them for all the Rogues.” His voice grows hoarse.
“You like it?”

I bite my lip, nodding gleefully.

“I wasn’t sure how you’d react when you came
back and I looked different.”

“Do I look different?”

Something passes behind his eyes. Something
soft. Sad. He gazes at my hair before his attention shifts to my
lips, then back to my face. “You didn’t say goodbye. That
morning.”

My stomach sinks.

“The others—they were really upset. I tried
explaining it,” he scratches his cheek. “I think they
understood.”

“Even Pratt?” I wonder aloud. “Able?”

He inhales. “They took a little convincing.
Sampson—he went into the whole thing. Said you were really upset
about going and that you didn’t want to leave everybody. Pratt…I
think Pratt was still mad that I knew,” he looks at me. “You may
not hear the end of it.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

A lump rolls down his throat. That same
heavy thought is back and I feel it weighing on me, pulling at me
with guilt. “I woke up and you were gone.”

“Reid—”

“I thought maybe you were just outside. Or
with Sampson or Clarence. And when I found them…” he buries his
face in the valley between my breasts and groans. I hold his head
to my chest, running my fingers through his hair, wanting to
comfort him any way I can.

Maybe I should’ve said goodbye that morning.
But I didn’t want to. I wanted our goodbye to be the night before,
when he first told me he loved me. I wanted that to be the last
thing that happened between us.

“It’s been… difficult,” he murmurs into my
skin. “A lot’s happened since you left.”

“Like what?”

Reid looks at me. And exhales. “I’m sure
Sampson will go over the fine print later, but the whole invasion
thing aside—Able and Mae have a thing going.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” he rubs his jaw. “They’re trying to
keep it secret, but subtlety is not one of Able’s strengths. It’s
fun messing with him when he lets something slip. He gets all red.
Starts panicking. And you know Mae—girl barely speaks. The two of
them… I don’t know why they just don’t tell us. Just get it out in
the open.”

“Maybe they’re embarrassed.”

“Of what?”

I shrug, because I have no idea. Promising
myself to dig deeper into it later, I probe Reid for more about the
other changes. “What else?”

“Let’s see… oh,” he nods, “Jace has pretty
much nailed half the tribe-girls—no surprise there—and Ariana’s
been coming back weekly to discuss preparations for the invasion.
Claims it’s on her mother’s behalf, but it’s really to see
Tucker.”

“How do you know?”

Reid smirks. “What? You think guys don’t
talk?”

“Have they…”

He winks.

“I
have
missed a lot.”

It was a small part of forcing myself not to
think of back home. I didn’t want to know everything I was missing
by being away. We’ve all known each other such a short time and
three months might be a grain of sand in the big scheme, but
leaving friends and family, it can feel like an eternity. What if I
came back and everything was different? What if people felt
differently? I look at Reid.

“What about you?” I try for nonchalance.
“Besides the facial hair and sleeve, what have you been up to?”

His expression softens.

The look stirs a deep, heated weight. He
wants to say something, something important, but simply gazes at
me. I’m about to ask when the corner of his mouth lifts.

“Waiting,” he says. “Like I promised I
would.”

“They’re going to be all over you with
questions. Just so you know.”

“I know.”

Reid stops us at the edge of the bridge and
leans against its wooden banister. He brings my hand to his mouth,
brushing his lips over my fingers, teasing a kiss. “I don’t want to
give you back yet.”

I don’t want my alone time with Reid to end
either.

But it has to.

There are too many people I’m dying to
see—and dying to see me—to stay out all night. And as much as I
would love an endless rerun of the lake, it’s time to face
everything else. My leaving without a goodbye. Where I went—what I
was doing. All the information I’m bringing back. And everything I
missed here, too.

I sigh at Reid’s comment. “You have to.”

He brushes his lips over my knuckles,
smirking. “Says who?”

I
really
want to give into him, but I
focus on the red curtain over his shoulder instead. We’re outside
of Tucker’s home—the location of my return feast—and everyone is
inside waiting for us. We could have gone to Sampson’s or
Clarence’s, but the Rogue Leader has the only place large enough to
fit everyone comfortably—a tree trunk nearly double the size of the
others. He earned it by completing the three challenges—a test
given to outsiders to prove their worth as a Zingfinold—and in
doing so, became an official member of the community. In some ways,
it almost makes Tucker more of a tribesman, the challenges having
represented the Zingfinolds’ struggle. And because of his official
status, the rest of us are able to stay on as his guests.

Light seeps through the cracks in the wood.
Voices boom behind it. Pratt. Able and Mae. Jace. Booker. Werzo.
Tucker.

I look at Reid.

“You ready?”

“Three months is a long time to go without
seeing your friends,” I bite my lip, my heart starting to pound.
“And I doubt they’re happy about the way I left.”

He brushes his lips over my fingers again,
still teasing me with the kiss. “Sooner we get it over with, sooner
I get you back afterward.”

“Oh yeah?” I can’t help the tingle of
warmth. “What’s happening afterward?”

His smile turns wicked.

“
Reid
,” I find myself blushing.

“What? You think after three months this
afternoon was enough?” He laughs at the absurdity of the idea. “I
want to spend every moment with you. Every possible moment that I
can.”

As the words leave his mouth, Pratt bursts
past the curtain.

“Fallon!” She flings herself at me, wrapping
her arms around my waist and squeezing to the point of pain.
“Please tell me Reid’s done being selfish and that you’re here for
the rest of the night. It’s our turn to catch up!”

“Yeah,” I laugh. “We’re definitely going to
catch up.”

“Good!” She clutches my hand and yanks me
inside.

I’m momentarily blinded by all the jars of
fireflies and the bright, golden glow they cast. Then everything
comes into focus and I see it: the collection of red cushions
scattered about the wooden floor and the enormous bed in the center
of it, complete with matching linen and pillows. And them. All of
them. All of my friends.