Holding Her Hand (Reed Brothers Book 15) (6 page)

He eyes the jar in my hand. “
Did you have a sudden urge for strawberry jam
?” he asks, his eyes laughing along with his mouth.

“
Yes
.” I pull out a spoon and dip it into the jelly, and lift it to my lips upside down. Then I feel stupid, so I just leave it jammed in my mouth.

“
I like jelly
,” he says. I shove the jar toward him and it skids across the counter. He catches it right before it careens off the edge and slams onto the tiles. “
Thanks
,” he says with a grin. Then he goes to the drawer and takes out a spoon, dips it into the jelly, and sticks it in his mouth. “
Best thing about being deaf is that we can talk with our mouths full
,” he signs.

I grin, still sucking
on the spoon, although all the jelly is gone. He reaches over and pulls the spoon from my mouth. Then he tosses both our spoons into the sinks with a loud clatter.

“
You want to tell me what that was all about
?” He jerks his thumb toward the couch.

“
Would you believe I really wanted some jelly
?”

He barks out a laugh. “
Does that craving
happen often
?”

Only after I have dinner with a really hot
guy who already told me I’m not his type, and then I kiss him, and then he tells me to stop and I have misinterpreted the signals. “
No
.” I shake my head. “
Not usually
.”

He nods and walks slowly toward me. I take a step back, and put the jelly back in the fridge. I turn back to him and wince. “
I
’
m sorry I made you uncomfortable
.”

His face scrunches up in question. “
What
?”

“
When I kissed you
.” I close my eyes tightly for a second, and then open them. “
I didn
’
t mean to make you uncomfortable
.”

He laughs again. “
The only part of me you made uncomfortable is my dick
.
And that
’
s the best kind of uncomfortable in the world. We guys love to be uncomfortable. My dick would call it more happy than uncomfortable, actually
.” He adjusts his pants again. Then he takes two steps closer to me
and we’re suddenly breathing the same air. “
And that
’
s because he really likes hot girls who kiss me
.” He laughs. “
Don
’
t worry. He
’
ll get over it. After a long cold shower. Or two
.” His eyes narrow. “
You thought I slowed it down because I was uncomfortable
?”

I cough into my fist, trying to move the lump in my throat. “
Weren
’
t you
?”

“
No
.” He stares into my eyes.

“
Then why
…” But I shake my head
and start to walk away.

He gently grabs my elbow and turns me to face him. “
I slowed it down because it was going too fast
.”

“
We just met
,” I rush to say.

He shakes his head and lays his finger over my lips. I want to tilt my head, bite it, and then see what happens, but I resist the urge.

“
I wanted to savor it
.” He shrugs. “
That
’
s all
.”

“
What
?”

“
I wanted to make it last. I didn
’
t want it
to be over. But then you jumped up like your ass was on fire
.”

My ass
was
on fire. “
I did not
!”

“
Yes, you did
.” He’s grinning and it’s pissing me off.

He grabs the front of my shirt in a gentle but strong grip and pulls me against him. His arm wraps around me, holding me snug. He looks down into my face. And then he kisses me. His lips touch mine gently, but only for a moment. After the first
two seconds, he sucks my lower lip between his and nibbles it gently, abrading just enough to turn me on, and then he licks across it to soothe the sting. His tongue enters my mouth and I have to grab hold of his shoulders so I can stay up on my wobbly legs.

I have never been kissed like this before. I might be a virgin, but I have shared more than a few kisses. And done a bunch of other stuff.
Anything short of popping the proverbial cherry and I’ve done it, but this is different. It’s hot and soothing and disturbing and amazing and…I have to pull back.

I rest my forehead against his chest and take deep breaths.

“You okay?” he asks, using his voice. It’s more breath than sound, but I can understand him. I nod without lifting my face and he palms the back of my head. “I really, really
like you,” he says.

I look up at him. “
But I
’
m not your type
,
remember?
”

“
I think you just proved that I’ve been completely wrong about my type until I met you.
” He brushes my hair behind my ear with gentle fingers. Then he steps back and starts to sign. “
With that said, I just got out of a relationship and I don
’
t know
…” He stops to scratch his nose.

I stop him with a quick motion. “
It
’
s okay
.”

He goes to the sink and cleans up his plate, and puts it in the dishwasher after rinsing it off. And he puts mine in there too.

“
Thank you for dinner
,” I say.

“
You
’
re welcome
.” He looks around my apartment. “
Thank you for letting me come over
.”

I nod, suddenly uncomfortable. He kissed me and now he’s leaving. What did I expect? For him to bang my brains out on our first date?

That kiss…
That kiss was like no kiss I ever had before. It was…everything.

When I was a little girl, my mother would play dolls with me, and I would try to figure out if Barbie should go on a date with Ken or with GI Joe, and she told me Barbie would know which one she should date by the way he makes her feel. But Barbie never had a problem making her choice. Do I get a choice? Or do I wait?

I don’t know
what to do.

Ryan reaches into his pocket and pulls out a penny. He tosses it on the counter and it bounces toward me. “
For your thoughts
,” he says.

I slide it back to him. “
I don
’
t know what I think
.”

He nods slowly, like he understands and agrees. But he slides the penny back toward me. “
Save it. You
’
ll owe me a thought when you have one
.”

I walk to the door with him and open it, and he walks
through. But he stops in the threshold and turns back to me. “
When can I see you again
?”

“
We have an appointment in six days
.”

A corner of his mouth lifts. “
You
’
re going to make me wait that long
?” He pretends to stab himself in the chest with a knife.

I laugh. “
Maybe
.”

“
Good night
,” he says with a half-hearted wave.

He steps out of the threshold and I close the door, but I don’t walk away.
I rise onto my tiptoes and look through the peephole. He stands there for a minute and then he pumps his fist in the air and grins.

It makes me laugh. I lean against the door for a moment and then I go sit on the couch, feeling like I’m walking on a cloud.

Then I remember that I forgot to give him his cap. But I don’t text him, because I don’t want him to come straight back and get it. If he
did, I wouldn’t have an excuse to text him tomorrow.

Ryan

Working out with the Reeds is like working out with Thor, Loki, Captain America, Iron Man, and all their cohorts. They have a gym in their building and they invited me to use it, only I didn’t plan to use it when they were all there.

Paul, the oldest of the Reed brothers, is spotting Pete, the baby of the family, as he lifts an obscene amount of weight. Logan, the one who got a cochlear
implant last year, is running on the treadmill beside Sam and Matt. They’re ribbing each other about who can go the fastest. Matt rolls his eyes at Logan and Sam and wipes his face.

“
Fuck both of you assholes
,” he says as he flips them both the bird. He slows his treadmill and comes to a stop.

Suddenly, Logan lifts his hand to his forehead and grins. It’s a popular game in deaf circles. If you
smell a fart, you lift your hand to your forehead, kind of like the sign for “father,” and wait for someone else to smell it. It’s a way of saying
I didn’t do it. Did you?

Matt covers his mouth with a towel and gags. “
Who did that
?” he asks in sign language when he uncovers his mouth momentarily.

I already have my hand lifted to my forehead. No way will I get blamed for that one. It’s too foul
even for me.

“
Sam
,” they all say at once and I realize he’s the only one who doesn’t have his hand up.

He shrugs. “
I couldn
’
t help it
!”

“
Find a way to help it next time
,” Paul warns with a look. Sam’s face colors.

“
I made quiche last night
,” Sam explains.

“
Well, don
’
t ever make that again
,” Pete gripes. He shoves his shoulder.

Josh, the one in the wheelchair who is married to one of Lark’s
sisters, pretends to cough into his closed fist. “
So…I heard
a rumor that someone had a hot date last night
.” Josh just learned to sign, so his movements are halting and slow, but he’s trying.

“
Funny
,” I say, “
I didn
’
t hear that rumor
.” I point to my ear. Deaf humor is always funny.

“
Who did you go out with
?” Logan asks.

“
Nobody
.”

I start doing butterfly lifts so I don’t have to talk.

“
He
went out with Lark
,” Josh says. Then he fans his face. “
And I heard it got a little steamy
.”

I put the weights down and glare at him.

Sam pats my back as he walks by me. “
Dude, get used to it. Those girls tell one another everything
.”

“
Everything
?” I ask.

He nods. “
I think they
all
know the length and width of my dick. And my asshole
,
for that matter
.”

“
Eww
,” Matt says. “
Change of subject,
please
.”

I grin.

Sam sits down across from me with a towel slung over his shoulders. “
Do you like her
?”

I nod.

“
How much
?” he asks, his eyes narrowing at me.

“
How about none of your fucking business
,” I toss back.

“
Oh hell no
,” Sam replies. “
If it
’
s about one of my sisters-in-law, it
’
s my business. Trust me
,” he says, “
you’d rather have me in your business than Emilio
.” He rubs the bridge
of his nose. “
He
’
s brutal when he
’
s pissed
.”

I point to my arm. “
I did her tattoo
.” I shrug. “
That
’
s all
.”

“
A tattoo that included dinner
?” Sam looks at Pete. “
You ever had a tattoo that included dinner
?”

“
Had one that included a blow job. But not dinner
,” Pete replies.