I reach down and give his balls a hard squeeze, and he screams like hell right into my ear. It takes all of my strength to push him off, landing him on the floor with a thud.
“Getout!” I turn on my desk lamp and the room explodes with far too much light. I kick him in the ribs until he rolls over to the door, and I open it for him. “I will take a baseball bat to your nuts if you don’t crawl your ass out of here in the next two seconds.”
“I’m out,” he barks, holding up his hands. He scoots over the threshold and shakes his head up at me. “Fuck, Reese. Grow up and stop being such a bitch. You know you want it.”
I slam the door in his face to make it clear just how much I want him.
Ace
In the heat of the next afternoon, I wax my paddleboard before taking it out on the lake. There’s nothing like standing over the surface of the water to make me feel like I don’t have a worry in the world. That I don’t miss my mom or think my dad is going to go on another bender because Neva is fucking her boyfriend at the top of her lungs in the next room. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever have a decent family of my own one day or if I’ll just drag the curse that’s plagued us for so long right into the next one and screw up everyone else’s lives, too.
My mind wanders back to Reese and those hotter-than-hell kisses. After I dropped her off last night, I hit the shower and released a little pent up frustration, hell, a lot of pent up frustration. I’m not sure why I didn’t take her right then and there. Who the hell opened my brain and dropped morals in while I wasn’t looking? The last thing I want to do is take anything slow with Reese. Never once in my wildest fantasies did I ever take things slow with her. But this isn’t a fantasy, this is real, and if I play my cards right all of my wildest dreams are about to come true. This isn’t some barfly I picked up at Kooks, not some girl from one of my classes that’s ready and willing for a quickie in some deserted supply closet. This is Reese, and I want to make it extra special for her. In two weeks it’s the Fourth of July. That sounds like a good target date to actually doing the deed, but I’m not entirely sure how I’ll keep sane until then.
“Douchebag.” A voice booms from behind.
I turn to find Gavin strutting in my direction.
“Takes one to know one.” I get back to the fine art of waxing down my board, so I don’t slip off like the last time and almost knock myself unconscious. “What’s up? Who was the unlucky girl last night?”
“Some chick named Charlie. Never did get her last name. And, believe me, she considered herself very, very lucky.” He takes a step in and kicks the wax from my hand. “How about you? You get lucky last night?”
“Hell, yes. Every moment I spend with Reese feels pretty damn lucky.”
“Whoa, keep it down, Romeo. Voices carry.” He nods over toward the McCarthy house. “Before I left last night, I saw Warren head up to her room.”
My chest pinches. I cut a quick glance over to the Westfield estate before smoothing my hand over the board.
“And? So what. We’re just having a platonic thing, nothing serious. If she wants to be with McCarthy on the side then who am I to stop her?” But according to Reese she doesn’t want to, and I know for a fact she wouldn’t lie to me.
“Don’t get all bent out of shape.” He cracks open a soda and hands it to me. “He wasn’t up there long. He stumbled downstairs nursing his balls. I had to help him out to the driveway.”
A spike of adrenaline shoots through me, and a smile breaks loose on my face.
“She kneed him?” I’m suddenly proud as hell.
“Something like that.” Gavin glances over my shoulder and nods. I turn in time to catch a glimpse of a pair of long, luscious legs, both attached to the girl I’m losing my sanity over.
“Morning.” I straighten.
“Afternoon,” she counters. Reese is wearing a pair of cutoffs and a skimpy red bikini top that ties in the back, and, holy shit, if my hard-on doesn’t want to pop out to greet her.
“I need to split.” Gavin slaps me on the back. “Catch you later, Reese.”
“See you.” She never takes her eyes off me. “Whatcha doing?” She leans in seductively, inspecting my paddleboard like it had the potential to play out in one of her fantasies.
“Have you ever been on one of these?” I try not to dip my gaze to her cleavage like I want to. Why do I feel like the wolf luring an unsuspecting girl into the woods?
“Never have. You think I can come along for the ride?” Her silver eyes widen. Her hair swoops forward and frames her face. Reese Westfield is a work of art. I’ve never taken pencil to paper, but looking at her perfect curves, her face that could launch an entire fleet of paddleboards—it makes me want to try just about anything.
“Get on, girl.” I push the board out onto the lake until the water is up to my hips.
I turn back in time to catch her slipping out of her shorts, and my dick wags like a tail. And to think I almost missed the show.
Reese gives a satisfied smile as if she were hoping to seduce me all along.
I might have to bump up the timeline of our conjugal union. That red bathing suit is calling my name in so many fantastic ways.
“So I just get on?” She wades out and tries to hop on the board but glides right off.
