Redesigned (20 page)

“Reed, you don’t have to do that.”

He grins. “Isn’t that one of the perks of having a temporary boyfriend? Having him do things like jump your car?”

I’d rather he jumped
me
, but I keep that to myself. “Someone forgot to put that in my last boyfriend’s job description.”

His mouth parts. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nope.” I say, digging my keys out of my purse.

I put them in Reed’s outstretched hand but his fingers close around mine, and he pulls me against his chest. Irritation simmers behind his eyes. “Promise me that when you find a guy, you’ll make sure he does that stuff for you.”

I look up into his face, surprised at his insistence. “Reed, I’m perfectly capable of jumping my car. I’ve done it before.”

“It’s not a matter of being capable, Caroline. I never doubted you were capable. In fact, I suspect you’re capable of a lot more than you give yourself credit for. But it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to have a guy who does it for you.” He releases his hold. “Do you need anything out of your car?”

“Uh … no.”

He takes my bag and starts to walk toward campus.

“You don’t have to carry my bag.”

He turns back to me, spreading his hands wide. “It falls under the category of
he should do it
anyway
.”

“Maybe I should have you interview potential boyfriends.”

“I doubt you want that.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ll never find anyone I think is worthy of you.” He snags my hand as we walk side by side, and I think about what he said.

If Reed really feels that way, then why isn’t he fighting to keep me? Why is he so willing to let me go?

I consider that maybe he likes the idea of sex without strings. But the truth is he thinks I’ll never consider him good enough for me.

The thought sickens me. Yet, if I’m truthful, I love what I feel with Reed but the thought of committing to someone who won’t make a lot of money brings me close to a panic attack. I’ve got a mountain of student loans and Reed has to have even more if he really went to an Ivy League school. I won’t make much money with this degree, idiot that I am for choosing it, and he won’t make much either. How would we pay off our student loans and survive, let alone raise a family? Superficial or not, I can’t let myself think about a long-term relationship with Reed Pendergraft.

I can have the best of both worlds. A guy who gives me incredibly hot sex but understands my need for financial security. So why does it feel so wrong?

When we reach the design lab, I stand outside the room. “This is it.” I point to the rectangular window in the door with my thumb. “You can come in if you want, but there’s not much to see. My designs are all on paper at this point.”

“So what will you do now?”

“I’ll pick one and work on it, coming up with a pattern and cutting out the fabric. If I can start sewing, all the better.”

He tilts my head back and looks into my eyes. His hand caresses the spot where my neck meets my jaw, and my knees turn weak. How can he do that with one simple touch?

“Do you have my cell phone number with you?” he asks.

“What?” I can’t concentrate, caught in this lusty haze.

“My number. Do you have it?” he repeats, but he looks like he’s having trouble focusing too.

“I don’t know.”

“Get out your phone.”

I come to my senses and pull my phone of my purse.

“Now put my number in and call me.” He tells me his number and when I call, he answers, lowering his voice. “Caroline Hunter, if your car won’t start when you leave, promise to call me.”

“Okay.”

He ends the call and puts the phone in his pocket. “But call me anyway, okay? Otherwise I’ll worry your car didn’t make it home.”

“Why?”

He looks at me like I lost my mind. “I jumped your car. That makes me responsible for you getting home safely.” His lips brush mine. “Promise.”

He fights dirty. He knows he’s my kryptonite, and he’s using it to his advantage.

“I promise.”

His lips barely touch mine, and he’s driving me mad. “Get a lot of work done so I don’t feel guilty when I keep you in bed for hours tomorrow.”

“Hours?”

“We’ll need at least that long for everything I want to do with you.”

I stand on tiptoes to press my lips more firmly against his, but he lifts his head.

“First work. Then playing.”

I shake my head with a laugh. “You know how to inspire a girl.”

“I promised to be bossy. Now go get a lot of work done because I have big plans for you tomorrow.”

Tomorrow can’t get here soon enough.

I push stray hairs from my face, exhausted, but happy with the progress I’ve made. It’s later than I expected, but not only did I make a pattern for a skirt, top and vest, I cut the fabric and sewed most of the skirt.

When I’m halfway to my car, I realize Reed never brought back my keys. I lean my head back and groan. It’s two o’clock in the morning. I’m going to wake him. But he made me promise to call him anyway. I hope he doesn’t live too far off campus.

He answers on the first ring, and he sounds more awake than I feel.

“You still have my keys,” I say, pausing mid-sentence to yawn.

“I’m still on campus. Are you still in the design lab?”

“No, I’m halfway to my car.”

“It’s two in the morning. Did you call security to walk with you?”

“No.” I’m surprised by his protective tone. “It never occurred to me.”

“Are you telling me that you routinely walk across campus in the middle of the night?” His voice is tight.

“I think you’re overreacting.”

“Tell that to the six women who were raped on Southern’s campus last year.” He sounds angry, but he also sounds breathless.

I stop in the middle of the sidewalk under a beam of light coming from a street lamp. “What are you talking about?”

“Are you telling me you never check the campus crime reports?”

“Why on earth would I?”

“To be
safe
?” He’s furious now. “Where the hell are you?”

“I told you. Halfway across campus.”

“Goddamn it, Caroline. I’m coming.”

My anger soars. Who the hell does he think he is? “Well good for you.” I hang up, but keep my phone in my hand in case I need it. Was he serious that there were six rapes on campus last year?

Southern’s always felt safe, cocooned from the outside world. Now Reed’s ripped away that perception.

If there were really six rapes on campus, wouldn’t I have heard about it?

Well, screw Reed Pendergraft. I start walking the rest of the way, imagining monsters lurking in the shadows. When I reach my car, I see Reed’s Altima still parked next to mine. I don’t think he left campus after he dropped me off. Why would he stay all this time waiting for me? What the hell has he been doing?

I sit on the hood of my car and watch as he stops jogging at the edge of the parking lot when he sees me. My anger has cooled by the time he reaches me, but the same can’t be said for him.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He’s still furious, perhaps even more so.

“I told you, it never occurred to me that something could happen and nothing did. Other than being verbally berated by an angry grad student.”

“I’m serious, Caroline.”

“So am I, Reed.” I pull him toward me between my spread legs. “Do you know how sexy you are when you get all protective like that?”

Some of the tension leaves his shoulders.

“What are you still doing on campus?” I ask.

“Working. You’re not the only one with projects. I have a midterm due next week.”

I close my eyes. I really am a selfish bitch. It never occurred to me to ask about his own work.

“Did you get a lot done?”

“Yeah, what about you?”

“More than I expected.” I’m tired but when I kiss him, my exhaustion fades away. “Is it tomorrow yet?” I murmur against his lips.

His answer is the way he devours my mouth, kissing me like he hasn’t seen me for six months instead of six hours.

“Come home with me,” I say. “I have a bed. With a mattress and everything. Pillows too.”

He stops and brushes the hair out of my eyes, staring into my face with a worried look. “Aren’t you tired?”

“Not anymore. Although I’m not sure I’ll last for hours.”

“We can see how long you last.”

I giggle. “Is that a challenge?”

“Take it as you like.”

I slide off the hood, and down the front of Reed’s body. He groans and holds me close.

“Did I mention I have a bed?” I ask.

He grabs my wrist and pulls me to the driver’s door of my car. After he unlocks the door, he hands me the keys.

I narrow my eyes with playful suspicion. “Could keeping my keys be a ploy to try out my bed, Reed Pendergraft?”

He winks. “You caught me. I’m bed-less and beg you to give mercy to a mattress-challenged man.”

I stand on tiptoe and press my lips to his. “Then tonight’s your lucky night.”

Before he can kiss me back, I dart away and slip into my car.

He grins ear to ear. “I’ll follow you.”

My car starts without a problem, and I’ve never been so eager in my life to get home, keeping Reed’s headlights in my rearview mirror.

He’s out of his car before I grab my bag and get out of mine. He takes my hand and practically drags me up the stairs to my apartment. After he takes my keys, he unlocks the door and pulls me inside, closing the door and pushing me against it.

“Unbutton your shirt,” he says. He wasn’t kidding about bossing me around.

I smile and take my time pushing the buttons through the holes.

The room is dark. The only light comes from a small lamp sitting on the kitchen counter.

When I finish my task, I wait while he studies my breasts.

“Where’s your room?”

Good idea. Tina’s not a light sleeper, but it would be awkward if she found us, especially since she was on a date with Reed less than a week ago.

I walk toward my room, and I’m surprised he doesn’t reach for me. When we enter my room, I switch on the lamp on my bedside table as he closes the door.

“Take off your shirt and skirt.”

I turn around to face him, sliding my shirt down my arms and letting it fall to the floor. Reed brings a confidence out of me that I’ve never felt in the bedroom before. I tried to strip for Justin once, but it ended with me feeling awkward. The way Reed watches me now, the last thing I feel like is awkward.

I hook my thumbs under the waistband of my skirt and slowly slip it over my hips, shimmying a little in the process when I remember he liked watching my hips during my model walk. Before the skirt hits the floor, he’s pulled me into his arms, his mouth searching mine.

We both take off his clothes, a joint effort that ends up with Reed in his briefs and me in my lingerie.

He stares at my body for several seconds then kisses me again, with a tenderness we’ve never shared during sex before. He lowers me to the bed, and his hands skim my body, up my arms, then down my sides.

“Caroline, you’re so beautiful.”

I grin up at him. “You’re gorgeous yourself.”

He gives me a mock arrogant grin. “It must have been my model walk.” Then he laughs, and my heart swells with something I don’t recognize. Before I can stop to figure it out, he’s pulling me up and removing my bra.

“I told you I want to see you naked in bed.”

I offer a mock frown. “But alas, no heels.”

His smile turns wicked. “That is
so
easily taken care of.” He tugs off my panties and tosses them onto the floor then he kneels on the bed, not touching, only watching. “I want to be on top, watching your face as I fuck you.”

I hold back a moan and heat pours through my body.

“You like it when I talk dirty to you, don’t you?”

“Yes.” The word is guttural and an octave lower than my usual voice. I should be embarrassed to admit this to him, but I’m not.

The erection in his briefs swells. “Where are your heels?”

I rise up on my elbows. “You weren’t kidding.”

“No.”

This man turns me on in ways I never thought possible. “In my closet.”

He opens the door and a few seconds later he turns around with the black heels I wore Friday night hanging from his fingers. “Put them on.”

I’ve never worn heels in bed, but the act of sitting up and strapping them on while I’m naked as Reed watches is highly erotic.

“Now lie down,” he says as he takes off his briefs.

I do as he says, taking in the sight of him completely naked. Heat spreads throughout my body, and I’m desperate for him to touch me. Not to mention I’m excited and nervous to see what he has planned next.

“You’re so gorgeous, lying there naked, your hair spread out on your pillow. And your eyes …

you have the most beautiful eyes.” He kneels at the foot of the bed, between my feet. “I’ve tasted the upper part of your body, but the lower half has been seriously neglected.” He picks up one of my legs and rests the back of my ankle on his shoulder. “I plan to take care of that.” His lips slide up my ankle as his places kisses up my calf, stopping in the hollow behind my knee.

He laughs when I squirm then he lowers my leg and lifts the other to his shoulder, repeating the same process. “Am I driving you crazy yet?” he asks, his mouth skimming up to my thigh, just above my knee.

“Yes.”

He laughs softly as his mouth continues its ascent. He leaves one leg on his shoulder and spreads my other leg open then leans over to kiss the inside of my thigh. My breasts rise and fall with my quickened breaths.

“I’ve fantasized about this. You naked, wearing your heels, your eyes telling me how much you want me and the evidence of it between your legs so there’s no doubt.”

If he doesn’t turn his attention to the place he just mentioned, I’m going to spontaneously combust.