Our Kind of Love (23 page)

I grin broadly and bustle up to the door,
slipping inside. The moment she closes it, my lips find hers. I draw her into
my arms and run my hands all over her body.

Reign moans, runs her tongue against my bottom
lip, and then starts to kiss on my neck. She lifts up my shirt and touches my
stomach, making her way up to my chest.

In a whisper she asks, “You think we can?”

I pull away to really look at her. “Think we can
what?”

She smiles, kisses me lightly on the lips again
then places her back against the door. She lifts her dress and pulls down her
black panty, tossing it at me.

Breathing heavy, she trails her eyes all over
me—hungry and waiting for me to take her now.

I glance behind at the window. It’s open and I
can hear laugher coming from outside. In any moment, someone will notice that
we’re both missing. Hopefully, it won’t be her parents.

Looking back at Reign, I say, “Maybe we
shouldn’t. It’s risky, and I don’t want to be killed. By the way, I think your
dad suspects there’s something between us.”

Easing off the door, she inches close and pulls
me back with her, ignoring my warning. “We’ll be quick,” she whispers, then
presses her mouth hard on mine. “Please, Micah. I’ve wanted you the moment you
stepped through my front door.”

She plants kisses all over my face and neck,
then traces her fingers down below my waist, caressing my abs.

“Shit! You’re making me so hard right now.”

Reign wraps her arms around me, hauling me in
further against her body. That’s all it takes for me to forget about being caught.

I pull down the zipper, unbutton my jeans, and
drop it to my ankles. She tugs at the waist of my briefs then yanks it down,
revealing my hardness. I pick up her left leg, move her dress out of the way,
and ease up into her.

She gasps and tightens her hold on me, squeezing
into my upper back. As I lift up her other leg, Reign coils them firmly around
me. Her heart accelerates. Air gushes from her as I drive up and down, making
her squirm and cling to me even more.

Her body shivers. Nails dig into my shoulders.
She purrs and rolls her eyes back in her head. I almost relieve myself inside
of her then, but think better of it. As much as I don’t want to, I ease out of
her and back away. Pulling up my jeans, I get myself together and take a moment
to cool down.

“You’re trouble,” I tell her.

She laughs and winks at me. “It’s your fault.
You’ve corrupted me.”

Reign stabilizes her breathing, fixes her dress,
and hurries into the bathroom. She comes back shortly and puts on her panty,
smiling brazenly at me.

“You know we could get caught, right?” I remark,
keeping an eye out the window.

“I’m sorry,” she giggles. “I just wanted to be
with you so bad, Micah. I don’t know what it is, you make me feel…”

I flick back to her. She’s staring at me
speechless. Her eyes are like a whole different world, inviting me in. I fill
the distance and cup her face in my hands, kissing her softly.

When I manage to wrench myself away, I tell her,
“You make me feel like that too. Gosh, you’re so beautiful.”

She reels her eyes and laughs short. “You’re not
so bad looking yourself.”

“I know, I’m superhot and you can’t get enough
of me.”

“Uh,” she laughs and pushes me back playfully.
“How presumptuous.”

I run a hand through my hair and pose like a
model for her. “I’m only stating the obvious.”

Nudging over her shoulder, she contains her
laugh and says, “Okay, Mr. Superhot, let’s go back downstairs before they
notice we’re missing.”

Reign heads out first, with me following slowly
behind. When she reaches downstairs and walks into the kitchen, I hear her mom
before I turn the corner. I stay back on the stairs so she doesn’t see me.

“There you are. Nate’s here with his parents.”

My chest tightens.

“Why are they here?” Reign asks. “Did you invite
them?”

“I did,” Mrs. Aldridge answers, sounding
surprised. “Why do you look so upset? Did you two have a fight? I thought
that’s who you were with last—”

“I wasn’t with Nate last night,” Reign says in
an innocent tone. “Look, Mom, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Silence engulfs the room until a familiar voice
breaks in. It turns my stomach. I clench my fist and try to fight back my
anger.

“Hey, babe, my parents have an early birthday
gift for you, since they won’t be here to help you celebrate.”

Babe?
An early birthday gift?
When
is
Reign’s birthday? I
feel horrible that I still don’t know those little things about her. Then
again, I haven’t been completely honest either.

“Nate, you—” she starts to say something but
gets cut off.

“Come say hi, they miss you.”

I’m waiting for Reign to tell him to leave, clue
in her mom about their breakup and that this guy is clearly a lunatic. But it
doesn’t happen. She’s not saying anything, she doesn’t even mention me.

I hear footsteps leading out of the kitchen. As
I peer around the doorway, I see them out on the deck. There’s a couple gushing
over Reign, giving her a large gift. I can’t believe the fake smile on her face
as she accepts it, hugs them back, and pretends like we didn’t just have sex in
her bedroom minutes ago. To make it worse, that moron places his arm over her
shoulder like they’re still together. Are they? Did she lie to me?

Pacing over to the island, I pick up my drink
and chug down the rest of it. I’m boiling over with anger and should probably
get the hell out of here. But I can’t. I like her, a lot. And I’m not losing
another person I care about.

I walk out to the deck. Reign glances at me,
seeming remorseful. The smirk on Nate’s face crumbles when he sees me. He looks
at Reign, then back at me. Yeah, that’s right. I stole your girl.

Stepping away from his parents, he ambles up to
me, asking sharply, “What are
you
doing here?”

I laugh short and straighten in his face. “Her
mom invited me, prick.” I fight the urge to sock him, walking around him over
to the tiki bar to pour myself some punch.

Aislin saunters up to me. She keeps her voice
low as she advises, “Dude, I wouldn’t get liquored up if I were you. That
definitely won’t look good to the company we’re in.”

“I’m not having alcohol,” I retort, waving my punch
in her face.

She blows out an air of relief. “Cool. I just
thought that idiot had gotten under your skin.”

Pulling out a chair, she sits down and pats the
stool next to her. I sit with my back turned to the bar, watching Reign with
Nate’s parents.

I’m waiting for the ball to drop, for her to
tell them and everyone else here the truth. That it’s me she’s with now. Why
won’t she do it already so it’ll be my hands around her waist, laughing with
her parents?

“I’m not good enough for her,” I hear myself
say.

“What?” Aislin remarks, touching my shoulder.
“What do you mean?”

 I glance over at her and confess, “Reign
broke up with Nate to be with me.”

Her
face brightens. She nods in her understanding of what I’m going through now.

“She probably doesn’t want to ruin the day for
her parents. Look how happy they are.”

I peer over at them as Aislin adds, “I don’t
think Mrs. Aldridge has smiled this much in weeks. I think this is her last
summer as the owner of
Captain’s Choice
. Something’s up, and she’s
probably waiting for the right time to tell us at the restaurant.”

Turning back to her, I’m amazed by the sadness
that masks her face. It’s the first time I’ve seen Aislin wear her emotions so
visibly.

I follow her gaze and notice she’s watching
John. He’s having an entertaining conversation with Claudia it seems, because
they can’t stop making each other laugh.

“You should tell him,” I say to her.

Aislin scoffs and drinks her hurricane. “What
are you on about?”

“John. It’s obvious.”

She glances across the deck at him, frowns,
then
turns her gaze back to her drink.

I look at Reign, happy that at least now she’s
keeping her distance from Nate and avoiding his parents too, chatting with Mrs.
Richards instead.

As the day progresses, Nate’s parents finally
leave, and others start to head out as well. When there’s none of her parents’
friends left seeking her attention, Reign looks over at me.

I want to be mad at her but I can’t.
Aislin’s
words repeat in my head, and I feel as if I have
to let Reign handle this her way, no matter how badly I want to shout to the
world that she’s mine. That in spite of what I’ve done in the past, I have
something this great in my life now.

Twenty
-
Eight

Reign

MAYBE I AM a bad girl. I had sex with Micah in
my room and shortly after, I pretend to still be dating Nate so I don’t make
Mom and Dad feel embarrassed for inviting him and his parents to their
barbecue.

But what about Micah?
I must
have hurt him.

I’ve discreetly watched him for the past few
hours, sitting with Aislin at Dad’s tiki bar. Jealousy pricks at my heart as I
wonder what they’re talking about.

She managed to make him laugh earlier. No matter
how short and halfhearted it was, it still bothered me. I don’t want him
talking to other girls, not even my friends. Then again, he probably hates me
now for not telling everyone about us.

Claudia throws her arms around my shoulder and
jerks me lightly.
“Whatcha thinking about, girlie?”

I feign a smile as I answer, “Nothing.”

“Anyway, my dad and
stepmonster
will be back from their vacation tomorrow. Think your mom will let me hang out
at the restaurant, since
it’s
Sunday?”

“I guess.”

“Well,” She untangles her arms. “I’m gonna meet
someone real quick and be back here in time for your dad’s fireworks. Everyone
knows he puts on the best shows around here.”

“Okay.” I nod and watch as she ambles off. I
don’t ask who she’s meeting, because it really doesn’t matter to me now. I’m
only interested in making sure Micah isn’t mad at me.

Dad’s wiping down the grill, and Mrs. Nunez and
John are helping Mom bring stuff inside. I catch my breath and walk over to
Micah and Aislin at the bar, they’re wrapped up in a conversation that they
don’t notice me until I say “Hey.”

When he turns and looks up at me, my legs feel
weak and my heart thumps.

“Look who finally remembered me,” Micah says. He
doesn’t sound like his usual playful self. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t get a chance to tell them
earlier and they’d already invited Nate and his parents.”

He doesn’t say anything, only stares at me.
Aislin slides off the stool and takes up her drink. “I’ll go help your mom
clean up before fireworks.”

When she walks away, I ask him, “What were you
two talking about?”

Micah raises a brow and stands up. “Why? Are you
jealous?”

A part of me wonders if he was deliberately
giving Aislin his full attention to bug me.

“No,” I lie. “Just that, you two seemed to have
exchanged a lot more words than you usually do at the restaurant.”

He releases a sarcastic laugh before saying, “At
least she acknowledged me.”

That only makes me feel guiltier. I lower my
eyes to the concrete away from his piercing gaze.

“Enjoy the fireworks,” he says under his breath.
“I’m heading out.”

When I look at him again, Micah picks up his cup
and brushes my arm lightly as he steps past me. I watch as he makes his way
inside the kitchen.