Hell Breaks Loose: A Devil's Rock Novel (22 page)
Read Hell Breaks Loose: A Devil's Rock Novel Online
Authors: Sophie Jordan
Ten months later . . .
Reid hurried up the winding sidewalk, his arms full of grocery bags. He felt his iPhone vibrate in his pocket and gave a start.
He still wasn’t used to the damn thing. One of the many new technologies he was getting accustomed to since he and Grace had
moved to Boston. Grace assured him it would make his life better. He didn’t know about that. She was the thing that had made
his life better. Technology, he could live without.
He took the three flights to the apartment he and Grace shared in graduate student housing. She had accepted her deferred
offer, and he had applied and been accepted into grad school as well. He was getting that masters in Criminology after all.
Delicious aromas wafted from their apartment, and he knew Grace was still hard at work in the kitchen where he’d left her
an hour ago. Classes let out yesterday and she had sent him to the store three times since then. She swore that his first
Thanksgiving was going to be perfect. He told her they could order a pizza and it would still be the best Thanksgiving he
ever had. Because he was spending it with her.
His wife
.
Even her parents coming to dinner didn’t dampen his happiness. They had come to terms with their marriage. If they didn’t
love the idea, they accepted it. He suspected her father might have helped with his admission to grad school. Probably figured
it was better having a son with viable career choices.
Reid used the weight of his body against the door to hold up the grocery bags as he unlocked it. Grace was taking a fresh
pan of corn bread out of the oven as he walked in, her dark hair pulled up into an adorable ponytail. He set the bags on the
table and moved into the kitchen. Ear buds dangled from her ears. He came up behind her and folded her into his arms.
She yelped and whirled around, whacking him with a potholder. “Reid!” She yanked the buds from her ears. “You scared me!”
He plucked the potholder from her hands and tossed it down. “Just like old times. You beating me up.”
“Ha! I seem to recall you chasing me and tackling me down.”
He cocked his head to the side and looped his arms around her, bending his knees so they were eye level. “I also seem to recall
that I was naked then.”
She considered that with an expression of seriousness. “True. This isn’t a total recreation of past events.”
“Oh, I’m all up for getting naked.”
“Big surprise.” She giggled. “I’ve got to start on the cranberry sauce for tomorrow.”
“You can take a break. You deserve it. So do I.” He lifted her up in his arms. Her legs immediately opened and wrapped around
his waist. He carried her into their bedroom with both hands cupping her ass.
“Just a short break,” she said against his mouth as they fell together on the bed.
He deftly worked free the buttons of her blouse. “Of course. An hour. Two tops.”
“Reid!” she gasped as his teeth sank down on her earlobe.
“Yes, Mrs. Allister?” he breathed into her ear, his tongue playing over the tender flesh he had just bit.
“Why are you still wearing clothes? I thought you had an affinity for being naked.”
“Baby, it’s my favorite thing when I’m with you.” Grinning, he stood back and started stripping off his clothes, his movements
rough and anxious, his breath coming fast and hard. And that wasn’t the only thing that was going to come fast and hard if
he didn’t get inside her quick.
She scrambled back on the bed and made quick work of getting out of her clothes, those beautiful breasts thrusting out as
she reached behind her back to undo the clasp of her black bra. Her dark eyes devoured him as she crawled on all fours toward
him on the bed. “C’mon. What are you waiting for?”
Then they were tangled up in each other on the mattress. Ten months and it still felt new. It would never get old. Every time
with her felt different, better than the last.
He entered her with a hard thrust, bare-skinned. Grace hugged him like a glove. Nothing separated them and it was the sweetest,
hottest thing. They’d ditched the condoms shortly after the wedding. They planned to ditch the birth control pills in a few
years. The idea of Grace pregnant, carrying his child, snapped the last of his control. He pumped harder, lifting her hips
and angling her just right so that she flew apart, screaming his name.
A few more strokes and he followed, finding his own climax without barrier. That was sweet, too. Something he had only ever
done with Grace. Something he would only
ever
do with Grace. This was it. For both of them. Real and forever.
He snuggled up beside her, loving her naked curves nestled against him. Gradually her breathing slowed and evened.
“That was amazing,” she murmured.
He smiled smugly. She said that every time. Because it was true—for both of them. “Aren’t you glad you took that break?”
She nodded. “I need to get back to the kitchen. I have two piecrusts to finish.”
He hugged her closer. “It hasn’t been an hour yet.”
“Reid, my parents are going to be here in the morning.”
“See. Plenty of time.” He started a trail of small, nibbling kisses down her throat.
She moaned softly and melted against him. “You’re very persuasive, Mr. Allister.”
“You promised me a perfect Thanksgiving.”
“But that’s what I’m trying to give you,” she protested.
“I have the perfect Thanksgiving. Every day with you is that. You . . . this . . .” He waved a hand around them. “It’s a future
I never even dreamed of. I thank God every day for it.”
“Oh, Reid,” she breathed.
“You and me,” he continued. “Together in this bed. We can order takeout. Watch Netflix between bouts of loud, sweaty sex.
That’s what we should do tonight.”
She smiled up at him. “You do love some Netflix.”
“Not as much as I love you, Mrs. Allister.”
“That does sound like heaven,” she murmured, sliding on top of him. “You know what? Screw it. We can go out to dinner with
my parents tomorrow.”
He chuckled, wrapping a hand around her neck and bringing her face down to his for a kiss. “That’s my girl.”
“Happy Thanksgiving, sweetheart.”
And it was happy and perfect. Just like she said it would be.
Look for North and Faith’s story in
FURY ON FIRE
the third book in
New York Times
bestselling author
SOPHIE JORDAN’s
Devil’s Rock series.
Coming Winter 2017 from Avon Books
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously
and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead,
is entirely coincidental.
Hell Breaks Loose
. Copyright © 2016 by Sharie Kohler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment
of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book
on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or
introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition AUGUST 2016 ISBN: 9780062423740
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062423733
FIRST EDITION
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SOPHIE JORDAN
grew up in the Texas hill country where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she’s the
New York Times, USA Today,
and internationally bestselling author of more than twenty novels. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she’s not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with anything that has a happily-ever-after. You can visit her online at
www.sophiejordan.net
.
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