I shake my head slowly. He huffs a laugh, looking around the room like he’s trying to collect his thoughts. Then a determination spreads across his face and he strides toward me with purpose, closing the distance quickly and stopping just a foot away from me. He rests a hand on thedoor beside my head and leans in until all I can see is blue eyes and all I can smell is citrus and herb and all I can do is remind myself to breathe.
“I feel like there’s this tether connecting your heart to mine.” He presses his free hand over his heart to emphasize his point. “When you’re happy, when you’re laughing, when you’re smiling, I feel like my heart is growing so much it’ll burst out of my chest. Like your brilliant smile and your amazing laugh are fueling me.”
A smile of his own lingers on his lips as he reaches a hand out and brushes my hair off my face, leaving a tingling on my forehead in its wake. His hand rests gently on the back of my neck. The smile slips from his lips. His fingers slowly trace a line across my jaw until he loosely hooks two fingers under my chin.
“And when you’re sad or crying or absolutely shattered by something your family did, I feel such an ache in my own heart. All I want to do is find a way to make that hurt go away and bring that brilliant smile back.”
It’s so tender, this realization that someone sees me when my smile slips. When the people pleasing takes over and I’m so focused on making everyone else happy, Reid still sees me. And that realization makes something warm spread through my chest. A tear slips out, sliding quickly down my cheek. His eyes leave mine for a brief moment only to track that tear and brush his thumb lightly over it.
“I feel like I can’t breathe when I’m next to you because I’m just so consumed by these feelings for you that I can’t think of anything else. I can’t think of anything besides you and your smart mouth and you making fun of me and these beautiful blue eyes. All I can think about is you.”
A small laugh bubbles out of me, another tear, a happy one this time, sliding down my cheek. Relief touches Reid’s eyes, the corner of his mouth hitching up slightly at seeing some of the sadness leave me. He brushes the last tear away then slides both his hands in my hair, bringing my face so close to his that I can feel his breath on my mouth. I can see the ring of deep navy blue around his eyes, the way the irises start off lighter and get darker and deeper and brighter as the color fans out.
I can see the adoration and worry and mix of every emotion in them from this close, and if his words hadn’t just convinced me, his eyes do. His beautiful, amazing blue eyes.
“Don’t let them get in your head,” he says sternly. “Don’t let them get it twisted—I didn’t ever date because I hadn’t met you yet. I hadn’t met the most perfect of the Sinclair sisters. And I think the universe was waiting for our paths to cross until I was ready to prove to you that I’m the man for you. If you’ll let me be.”
“Of course I will.” The words are nothing more than a whisper as I bring my hand to the back of his neck and bring his lips to mine. They meet mine with such a ferocity that my whole body buzzes, my heart beats faster and harder.
The kiss starts off gentle and slow and sweet, but then his hand slides to the back of my head, tangling in my hair, pressing me closer. His chest is flush against mine. My back digs into the door, but I don’t even care. I can’t think of anything but Reid and his hands and his chest and his lips and the way they taste on mine.
His other hand traces a trail down my back, slowly, tantalizing, teasing until it finally stops at my lower back. I wrap both my arms around his neck and his hand presses harder into my back and it’s like neither of us wants an inch, a centimeter, a breath of space between us right now.
His lips become more frantic against mine, pressing harder. When he nips at my lower lip, I push off from the door, taking the initiative to guide him.He obliges, backing us up step by step until the backs of his legs hit the bed.
My hands drop from around his neck and find the hem of his shirt. He takes my lead, only breaking the kiss to give me the space to yank it up over his head and toss it to the side. I’m only momentarily distracted by him—by his tanned skin and toned body. By the dips and groves of his abdominal muscles and the curves of his biceps now that they aren’t being confined to a T-shirt.
“I’d always hoped you’d look at me like that someday,” he says softly.
I force my eyes back up to his, which are burning bright with amusement and something else, something soft I can’t quite place. “What way is that?”
“I don’t know. Lust. Want.”
“I don’t want you, Reid. I need you.”
My words ignite something on his face, his eyes darkening. His lips crash back into mine with a new passion. His arms wrap around me, and then he’s pulling me down onto the patchwork quilt as thunder booms outside the window.
And for every second of the rest of the night, I think I could stay here in this bed and breakfast in his arms, listening to the patter of the rain for the rest of my life.
Chapter 25
The sun shines bright the next morning like a rainstorm stranding us in a stranger’s farmhouse never even happened. Reid and I spent a lot of the night talking, and not talking, and only snuck in a few hours of sleep before the sun streamed in through the thin lace curtains of our bedroom. We tragically turned down coffee with Celeste in the morning in an effort to get back on the road to get the champagne we were sent for and get back home sooner than later.
I surprisingly didn’t feel any nerves as we got closer to the villa. I was so focused on Reid and the way he felt like sunshine in that moment, the way his laugh made my heart beat a little faster, the way his free hand never left mine as he drove us back.
When he parks the rental at the villa, I get out and head to the trunk, lifting a crate of the bottles. Reid appears at my side almost instantly, tsking in my ear.
“I’ll take that,” he says, easily lifting the crate from my arms and stacking it on another before lifting both effortlessly. I only watch for a second before I prop my hand on my hip.
“I can handle a crate. I’m not a dainty female.”
“Iknow, Jane. You’re strong and independent, but let me do something nice for you. That’s all it is.”
A smile touches my lips. “Fine. But let the record show that I fought you for the honor of carrying that heavy box all by myself.”
He smiles. “Noted.” Still holding the stack of crates, he leans down and presses a soft kiss to my lips. It’s sweet and gentle and warm and over much too soon for my liking. So when his lips leave mine, I lift back up onto my tiptoes and press another kiss to his smiling mouth.
“Let’s continue this later,” he murmurs. “Maybe when I’m not carrying heavy crates.”
