The Love Series Complete Box Set (18 page)

“You doing okay, baby? I don’t want you to be sad.” He’s so cute when he’s worried about me.

“I’m perfect, actually. This is all so perfect.” I kiss his cheek, place my hand on his chest, and whisper, “And later I plan on giving you the
perfect
payback.” His breath hitches, and I can feel his heartbeat quicken in excitement.

Everyone has left, and it’s just Reid and me standing in front of the newly, and beautifully, decorated Christmas tree. Momma is going to stay with Melanie at the suite. I could tell that she wanted to say something about me staying here with Reid, but she didn’t. I know she sees what I feel for him, and I’m pretty certain she sees what he feels for me, even though neither of us will admit it to one another. So she kept her comments to herself, and for that, and so many other reasons, I love her.

“I hope you had a good night, baby.”

His uncertainty is endearing, but he has got to be kidding me. This was the best night ever and it’s about to get a lot better. “Reid, it was amazing. I loved every minute of it.”

He interrupts me before I can continue on my promise to give him the best night ever in return. “I have one more surprise in store for you. Do you think you can wait down here for a few minutes while I set it up?”

He’s looking at me all wide-eyed and lovingly, so I can’t refuse even though I can’t think of anything else he can do to make this night more special. He kisses me quickly before he struts upstairs to his room.

I sit on the couch and try to sort through my emotions. I smile at the memories from today and from the last two months that I’ve known Reid. I know for certain that I love him. I want to tell him so badly, but I fear that it’ll scare him away. Even though I have a gut feeling that he loves me in return, I don’t know if me loving him is enough to make him own his feelings for me. Despite the love I feel for him, there’s still a part of me that’s afraid to give myself to him completely until I know that he feels as safe with me as I do with him. I can’t let myself love him completely for fear that he’ll pull away because he’s scared. I have to know that his walls have crumbled like mine before I can give him all of me.

Reid comes back down to the living room and ambles toward me. He looks different—more sensual, lustful, hungry. He laces his fingers with mine and pulls me up from the couch. We walk up the stairs, hand in hand. My heart is thudding in my chest. The desire I have felt for him since the moment I met him is pulsing wildly through my veins. I want him. I want him more than I have ever wanted anyone or anything in my life. With my earlier realizations that I love him, I know that I am ready to give into my desires. Yes, I have some reservations, but I’m ready for this. For him. For us.

We stop outside his bedroom door, and he says, “There’s no pressure to do anything. I just wanted to make tonight,” and I know by “tonight” he means whatever is about to happen, “just as special as the rest of the night has been.”

“Reid, I know you would never make me do anything I don’t want to. So shut up and take me to bed.” I reach up on my toes and lick my tongue across his heavenly soft lips. He opens the door, and once again I am blown away by what is in front of me.

His room has been completely transformed. Where there once was a full-sized mattress with a rickety frame and an old beat-up comforter is a gorgeous four-post bed with some kind of silky fabric draped across the top as a makeshift canopy now sits. It’s covered in the most beautiful cream and white fabrics that I have ever seen. As light and airy as it is, it is still completely masculine and beautiful. He’s repainted the walls, too, a soft blue gray shade that matches his eyes. There are candles on every surface that’s safe, and some where it’s not. He’s got his iPod plugged into the speakers on his dresser, and my attention is drawn to it as I hear David Gray’s sultry voice croon across the room. Next to the iPod sits a huge bouquet of white calla lilies in a large crystal vase. He’s rendered me completely speechless, but words are not needed now. There’s just Reid and me in this sensual heaven that he’s created.

He spins me around and pulls me close to him. He places his hands at the nape of my neck and pulls the hair tie out of my hair so that it falls softly around my face. Gently sweeping the hair that has fallen in my eyes out of the way, he brings his face closer to mine and kisses me. This kiss is different from the rest we’ve shared. It’s full of the promise of pleasure.

His tongue brushes up against mine. He’s tentative and slow at first. I can tell he’s trying to control himself, but that’s not what I want. I want to dive into his depths and get lost there, to give myself over completely to this man I love. I know in this moment that I need to tell him that. Despite my earlier reservations about being scared, he needs to know that I love him. Whatever walls he’s keeping up, whatever secrets he’s got from me, can’t possibly be enough to change my love for him, and he needs to know that.

I break the kiss and look up into his piercing blue depths. “Reid, I have to tell you something.”

He looks at me questioningly before saying, “Maddy, you can tell me anything.” He brushes his knuckles softly across my cheek and says, “Is it something I did? Talk to me—tell me what’s on your mind.”

I pull him across the room to sit on the bed. My insides are trembling with nervousness over what I’m about to say and over what I know I’m finally going to let happen. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, his feet touching the floor. I straddle his lap so my legs are wrapped around him and so I can look at his cool cerulean pools of love when I speak. I cup my hand around his cheek tenderly and take a deep breath, bracing for the words that are about to come out.

“Reid, I love you.” I pause to register the shock in his eyes, but there is none. He just smiles adoringly at me and traces slow, soft patterns across my back. There’s silence for a moment, and I need to fill it. “I know that you might feel like it’s too soon, and I know we each have our own boatload of issues, but I can’t help how I feel. You’re amazing, and you’ve broken through every barrier I’ve ever put in place to keep people out. There’s no one I want more than you, and I know that we’ll be able to overcome whatever is thrown at us. I feel that strongly about us. It’s scary, terrifying, actually, but I just needed you to know that I love you. I love you so, so much.” I say all of this so quickly that I need to inhale deeply just to get some air back into my lungs.

His lips tip up into a devilishly beautiful smile, and he says, “Are you done? Can I have my turn?”

I nod and say “uh-huh” in return. Normal language function has completely left my brain.

“Madeleine, I love you, too.” I move to say something, but he silences me with a kiss. “No, you got your turn—now it’s mine.” He kisses me again before saying the rest. “I love you more than anything. I would move heaven and earth to make you realize how much I love you. And I don’t want you to think I’m saying this just because you’ve said it. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and yeah, I’ve got some fucked-up shit in my head, the same shit that made me build those sky-high walls in the first place, but around you, they just vanish. That’s why I did all of this up here tonight. I wanted to create a beautiful memory of the first time I told you that I loved you. When we do decide to take things to the next level physically, I wanted the bed to be ours and ours alone. I wanted it to just be me and you in there—no other memories except this one right now, of you glowing beautifully by the candlelight, sitting in my arms, listening to me carry on and on about how much I love you.” He kisses me on the tip of my nose and brushes the pads of his thumbs under my eyes, where a few stray tears have fallen.

His confession of love ignites a fire low in my belly. If I thought I wanted him before, I was sadly mistaken. I reach for the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head, our eyes only breaking contact when the fabric brushes over his head. I push him back onto the bed so he’s lying down and I’m still straddled on top of him. His hands are at my waist, but they’re so big that they nearly span it entirely. He moves them down a little to where my hips flow into the upper swell of my ass, and he squeezes gently. His thumbs begin tracing sensual circles dangerously close to my core.

I lean down and kiss his chest. It’s broad and muscled, yet warm and soft to the touch. The sprinkling of chest hair tickles my face. I kiss over his heart and say “I love you” before descending to follow the thin line of hair that disappears behind the snap of his jeans. Before I can unbutton his pants and have my way with him, he’s got both of my wrists in one of his hands and he’s sitting up with me still on his lap.

“No, Maddy. Let me love you. Please.”

My mouth goes dry, and my insides clench deliciously at the thought of what he wants to do to me. I nod, almost imperceptibly, but he sees it. He reaches for the hem of my shirt and relieves me of its weighty presence. His pupils dilate when he sees my pink lacy bra. It’s nearly see-through and my nipples pressing against the fabric leave little to the imagination.

He goes to unsnap it. I beat him to it and grab for the hooks behind my back, undoing each of them slowly, seductively. My breasts fall free from their cups and I toss my bra on the floor where our other clothes lie. He doesn’t reach for me like he usually does—we’ve gone this far before. No, instead of touching me, he just stares. He stares so long that goosebumps start to pimple my flesh, and my nipples harden even more under his lust-filled gaze.

“Beautiful. You are so damned beautiful, Maddy.”

He wraps his arms around my waist and swiftly changes our position so I’m beneath him. He’s supporting his weight on his arms, and he’s half lying on top of me. He begins kissing my neck, and I groan in appreciation of his sensual assault. His tongue is hot against my skin, and my breasts are begging for his touch. He begins tracing his fingers across my chest, but he doesn’t touch my now painfully aroused tips. Shifting so he is completely on top of me, he lowers his mouth to my left breast, but he doesn’t do more than breathe a hot, steamy breath on it, making it more erect than I thought possible.

He kisses every part of my breast, every part except where I want him the most. Moving across to the other one, he continues his torture, and I’m nearly squirming with need under him.

“Please, Reid. Oh, God, please.”

“What, baby? Tell me what you want. I want to give you everything you want.” His eyes are hooded and sexy as fuck.

“I want you, Reid. I want you now. Please.” My voice is no more than a breathless, lusty whisper.

He obeys my command and pulls a nipple into his mouth, and I feel my insides spasm at the feel of his hot, wet tongue gliding across my chest to the other nipple. He pulls the pink tip deep into his mouth and grazes it gently with his teeth. I arch my back off the bed and moan in ecstasy. He does it again and again and again until I can’t take it anymore. I’m right on the sharp edge of my control; one more flick of his tongue anywhere on my body, and I’ll fall into the abyss of pleasure that his mouth promises.

He must sense how close I am, because he pulls back and searches my eyes, looking for permission to go further. He sees submission in my eyes, so he bends down to kiss a path from between my breasts down to my stomach. When he dips his tongue into my belly button, I call out his name. “Reid . . . please . . . more . . . I need more of you . . . please.”

He doesn’t respond; he just continues kissing me everywhere. He moves to unbutton my jeans, and I lift my hips to help him as he pulls them off. He adds them to the ever-growing pile on the floor. He stares down again at me, but this time I feel self-conscious. We’ve never gone this far; I’ve never been this exposed.

He must see my inner turmoil, because he says, “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen before, Maddy. I want you more than you know, but if you’re not ready, then that’s fine, too. I just want to let you feel how much I love you. I want you to feel as amazing as you make me feel every single day.” His words soothe my nervousness, and suddenly I no longer feel concerned about my nudity.

He leaves my lacy pink thong on as he kisses a path down each of my legs. When he returns to my center, I am burning with need. He licks over my hot core through the fabric of my panties, and I gush with even more wet heat.

Inhaling deeply, he says, “You smell fucking amazing, Maddy. You are so sweet. I can’t wait to lick every inch of you.”

All ability to say or do anything is gone, and I am at his mercy. He hooks his thumbs into my panties and pulls them slowly down my legs. “Open for me. Let me love you, sweet Maddy.”

I let my knees fall to my sides and eagerly await the pleasure that I know his mouth will bring me.

With simply one broad stroke of the flat of his tongue across my molten core, he brings me right back to that razor edge of pleasure. When he swirls his tongue around my pulsing clit, I can’t hold back the scream on my lips.

“Reid . . . so . . . close . . . please . . .”

But in that moment I’m not sure what I’m asking for. To stop? To keep going? I’m totally incoherent. He stops with his tongue and slowly slides a finger inside me.