The Love Series Complete Box Set (22 page)

“Did you really think I could stay in the other room, knowing that you were in here all hot and soapy and wet?” I kiss her neck again, this time on the other side. I kiss from where her long, graceful neck meets her shoulder up to her ear and suck the lobe into my mouth. Her breath is becoming shallow; I know she’s losing it. Thinking about how wet she is, not just from the shower, makes my cock twitch. She feels me hardening behind her and she reaches behind to touch me.

My knees buckle slightly. She has that kind of power over me. The feel of love, the power of all of her emotion, travels through each and every touch of her fingers on my skin, and I am rendered weak by it. I can’t help but lean in to her touch and buck my hips up into her hand. The water flowing down around us makes my movements effortless. She turns around to face me to make the angle less awkward.

As I gaze down into her gorgeous green eyes, they are hooded with lust and filled with love and passion. I know the same look is present in my eyes. My hands glide wetly up her waist and graze the underside of her full, round breasts. Those are perfect, too. Her nipples pucker under my soft touches. I pinch them between my forefingers and thumbs and pull lightly. She groans and rolls her hips into mine. Bending my head down to them, I take her right nipple deep into my mouth and suck.

“Ahhh, Reid. That feels amazing.” She wraps her hand around my neck and twists her fingers into my hair, holding me in place.

I pull away, sucking air back into my lungs, and say, “You are so fucking beautiful, Maddy. Every inch of you is perfect.” I trace my hands over her body to emphasize my point. “And up here,” I run my short nails through her scalp, forcing another shiver and causing her pert nipples to harden further, “my God, you’re the smartest and funniest person I have ever known.” I place my hands over her heart. “And here. My God, in here is the kindest, most compassionate heart. I can’t believe I have the privilege of being inside it, of being a part of your world and your life. I love you, Maddy, more than you can possibly know.”

Her lips crash into mine before I can say anything else. Not that there are words that even exist to convey how much I love her, especially now that she knows everything, now that I’ve laid my heart, my black heart, open and bare at her feet, and she still wants to be with me. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be this lucky.

She deepens the kiss, taking it to a feverish pace. Our teeth crash together. We nip and bite at each other’s lips. Tongues dance wildly. We are lost in each other, lost in this moment of unbridled passion. I reach down and caress between her legs, and this time it’s her turn for her knees to buckle under the touch of pleasure.

“Spread your legs for me, baby. Let me touch you.”

“Oh . . . God . . . yes . . . Reid . . .”

Her voice fades away into incoherent moans of ecstasy. I swirl my fingers around her hardened nub, pressing ever so softly. She could be sore from last night, and I most definitely do not want to cause her pain. When she grinds herself down onto my hand, I know that pain is the furthest thing from her mind. Two fingers glide through her silky folds, and she is completely lost to me. Her head rolls back onto her shoulders, and she can barely hold herself up. I wrap my other arm around her waist to support her weight.

My hand pumps into her; my thumb circles her clit. My name on her lips as she comes is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. It breaks the chains I placed long ago around my heart and causes it to swell with love.

Finally able to hold her own weight again, she wraps her arms around me and leans her head into my pecs. “Reid, that was amazing. You make me feel . . . oh, God . . . I can’t even put words to it. I love you.” She reaches down to grab me once again and resumes her stroking from earlier, but after touching her and feeling her come against me, I can’t take more than a few strokes before I’m already on the edge of coming myself.

“Maddy, your hands are fantastic. I love the way you touch me. Ahhh . . . baby . . . I’m close . . .” I’m in complete oblivion, so I don’t even realize that she has shifted and is now kneeling down in front of me. The sight of her alone pushes me even closer to my climax, and I throb in her hand. She takes me into her mouth, and I am gone. Her tongue, her lips, they are my undoing.

I try to pull away from her; I wasn’t expecting her to use her mouth. I don’t want her to think she has to do anything she doesn’t want to. She just grabs my ass and pulls me back to her, deeper into her mouth. I want to tell her that she doesn’t have to, but I’m coming before I can even get the words out.

She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t move an inch. She just takes all of me—body and soul—she takes everything and turns it into something beautiful. I cup my hands under her shoulders and pull her up into my arms. Kissing the top of her head, I say, “You know, you didn’t have to do . . . well . . . you know.” Something about her just makes me want to be a little more discreet, a little less vulgar about all of this.

“Reid, do you really think I would have done anything I didn’t want to? I love you, and I wanted to show you just how much I love you. Unless . . . did I do something wrong? Oh, God, I did something wrong? I must look like an ass.”

Her insecurities are so fucking adorable. She had me coming in her mouth in less than a minute, and she thinks she did something wrong.

I chuckle lightly at her misunderstanding of the situation. “Maddy, believe me. You did absolutely nothing wrong.” We stand under the water, just holding one another, basking in the bliss we’ve just shared. When the water turns cold, we rush to finish getting cleaned up.

I wrap a towel around my waist and drape one over her shoulders. Pulling her into my embrace and resting my chin on the top of her head, I realize that, while last night was a rather obvious first for her, this morning was a first for me, too. It was the first time I’ve told someone that I loved them; it was the first time I ever told anyone about Shane and Alex; it was the first time I felt love in return, despite all of the demons of my past.

I can’t help but feel that the shower did more than wash my body. With Maddy at my side, I feel like my soul has been cleansed and my heart has been given a second chance.

When a smile curves my lips at these thoughts, for the first time in a long time, I don’t try to push it down.

Chapter 13

I am in awe of everything before me, and not just because the girls and I put together a pretty impressive spread for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s the love and feeling of family that makes my insides get all mushy. The boys have been in the living room watching football all day. A bit sexist, sure, but I’d be lying if I said my heart doesn’t melt a little each time I hear them yell at the television. My dad used to get like that about football, well, any sport, really. What is it about men and yelling at a game on television? Don’t they realize they can’t change the outcome, no matter how loudly they yell?

Silly boy
s
.

“ Okay, so the table is all set and all the side dishes are all ready. I think we’re good to go.” Melanie informs me of the status in the dining room. I honestly couldn’t have done any of this without her and the girls. I’ve never really cooked more than mac and cheese. God, I hope I don’t poison anyone!

Momma C has been cute as a button, too. Even though she swore up and down that she wasn’t going to lift a finger, she’s been hanging around the kitchen like a hawk all day long. I see her tasting things and adding dashes of this and pinches of that along the way.

I pulled the gargantuan bird out of the oven a few minutes ago, and now I’m staring it down, wondering how the hell I’m going to get it inside in one piece. Forget carving it; I have no clue where to even start with that.

Maybe the guys have a chainsaw. That ought to work.

Just as I’m about to have a mini panic attack over it, Reid struts into the kitchen. He’s been amazing all day, too. Every twenty minutes or so, he comes into the kitchen to help us out. He never intended for me to do all of the work, but after about five or six times of me insisting that I wanted to do it, he finally stopped trying to help.

But, boy is he a welcome sight now. “Need some help there, Maddy?” He’s being a little devil, playing on my earlier insistence that he stay away.

“Why, yes, dear.” I arch a playful eyebrow in his direction. “Can you carry this to the table and carve it for me?” I try for my best June Cleaver impression, which has him laughing in hysterics.

I shouldn’t be getting turned on at the sight of him carrying a turkey into the dining room, but watching his biceps flex as he effortlessly lifts the heavy tray makes my blood flame. Watching his taut, perfect ass sway out of the room is also a fairly yummy treat.

I love that everyone decided to keep everything casual and low-key. I never understood why some people get so dressed up just to eat. Give me elastic waistbands, please.

When I enter the dining room, my breath catches in my throat behind thick emotion when I see the scene before me. Everyone is seated around the table, which is beautifully set; it kind of looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Reid is sitting at the head of the table, and he pats the seat next to him for me to sit.

Before he sits, he raises his glass and clears his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Before we eat, I’d just like to say a few things. First, I want to say thank you to all of you for making today possible. I know I kind of threw this in everyone’s lap at the last minute, but you all pulled together, and I just hope you had fun in the process.”

Jack chimes in, ribbing Reid. “Yeah, nothing says fun like hauling a freaking six-foot pine tree off the roof of my car and into the house.”

Logan adds, “I can’t complain. This house is cleaner than a freaking Pine-Sol commercial!”

Reid just shoots them a playful look and continues with his speech. “Mrs. Crane, I really can’t thank you enough for coming out here. It wouldn’t be the same for Maddy and Mel, and I know I speak for everyone else when I say that we love having you here.”

Momma C winks at him. I think she’s a little smitten, because I see her holding back the tears at how sweet and kind he is.

“And last, but certainly not least, Maddy, thank you so much for coming into my life. I have no clue what I did to deserve you. I’m not even sure that I do, but I will spend every minute of the rest of my life making sure that I do everything in my power to keep you by my side. I love you, baby, and I hope you have a perfect Thanksgiving.”

At his last word, he bends down to kiss me sweetly on the cheek. Everyone erupts in “hear, hear”s, and they all clink their glasses together.

Momma C leads us in a blessing before we eat, and my heart swells with love for this woman who has been my surrogate mother for the last eight years.

When she finishes, Reid carves the turkey, and everyone begins passing dishes back and forth. My plate is full to the brim, and so is my heart. I’ve gotten everything I’ve ever wanted because of Reid.

I reach my hand out to grab his and squeeze gently. “Reid, I love you. Thank you. This has been the best surprise, the best weekend, in my whole life.”

He winks at me and says, “Anything for you, Maddy. Anything at all.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you said that, because if you think I’m cleaning all of this up after cooking all day long, well, then, you are sorely mistaken.”

He laughs and offers me up a sexy lopsided grin. “I got the dishes, babe. You’re off for the rest of the night. Well, at least until everyone goes home. Then you’re all mine.”

We’re all sitting in the living room watching
The Wizard of Oz,
and while everyone is lost in conversation, I can’t help but notice that Reid has been checking his phone nonstop all night. Come to think of it, he’s never really on his phone, but the last few weeks it’s been like a constant presence—always in his hand, always buzzing away on whatever surface he’s left it on.

Who could be calling him, anyway? We’re all here.

Something’s not adding up here.