Sydney was dealing with accepting the lengths that Grant would go through to obfuscate his selfishness, but she knew that it was something different to accept that your parent could do those things.
“And Grant’s just as bad. I think he was willing to go through with this charade if it meant that he’d get to take over The Devereux Group, and now, with the investment on hold, he’s that much further away from the keys to the castle, all whilebeing saddled with a marriage that he clearly doesn’t want. It’s?—”
“Diabolical,” Sydney said, her head swimming with the reality of the situation. She agreed that Reese was probably spot-on, and it gave the already gross situation a whole extra layer of disgusting sludge to wade through as she tried to make sense of it.
Suddenly, all of her plotting and strategizing on the tennis court seemed like child’s play compared to what Tripp Devereux had been up to this summer.
“I think I’m just reckoning with accepting the reality of the man I idolized growing up.”
Sydney wrapped her arm around Reese’s waist and pulled her close. “You can like the world someone lives in but not like how they move through it.” And suddenly, it clicked into place for Sydney, where Reese’s apprehension was likely stemming from. “Babe, you expanding the business doesn’t mean that you’re like your father. You are nothing like him.”
“But would I have been? If he’d let me into his world, I mean? Is Grant no more than a product of what he was exposed to?”
Sydney made a gagging sound. “We are not going to start feeling badly for Grant. I’d do anything for you, but, in the eternal words of Mr. Meatloaf, I won’t do that.”
She loved the smile that broke across Reese’s face, absorbed the softness of Reese’s body as she leaned against Sydney’s side. “You’re right. You’re always right.”
Sydney was half humming, half speaking when she said, “Music to my ears.”
Reese laughed then, and Sydney let out a sigh when Reese’s hand came up to brush the hair near her temple, dancing her fingers along Sydney’s ear and jaw and chin.
The air was still around them, and Sydney’s breathing picked up at the way Reese was looking at her, like she, too, couldn’t imagine a world that didn’t have Sydney in it.
Using the hand resting at the bottom of Sydney’s jaw, Reese pulled Sydney forward gently and placed a kiss on her lips. “I loveyou, you know. And I should have led with that when I walked in the door.”
Butterflies exploded in Sydney’s stomach, and she knew that her grin was taking up most of her face. “I love you, too. I was planning on telling you this weekend. Guess you beat me to the punch.”
“You don’t think it’s too soon?” Reese asked, nervousness edging into her voice, her light breath tickling against Sydney’s cheek. “I know this has been an insane summer, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m putting more pressure on you with everything else going on in your life.”
Sydney almost volleyed back some glib response, even with the weight of the moment, but she stopped herself. Reese deserved serious thought before Sydney answered, even though she already knew what was in her heart.
Because on paper, it seemed a little crazy. Impulsive, even.
They’d only been dating for two months, had only really gotten to know one another over the last three. And they’d been brought together by a strange, half-cocked circumstance born of Sydney having felt like her life had fallen down around her.
“You’re making me nervous,” Reese said, her eyes wide as they tracked the thoughts flashing across Sydney’s face.
“Don’t be nervous.” Sydney laced their hands together to quell any apprehension that Reese was feeling. “I’m just thinking. I’m giving this question the seriousness that it deserves. Because I do love you. I’m soin lovewith you.”
Sydney turned then so that she was facing Reese fully. She had her answer now. “I wake up with you, and I feel so soft and safe and like I could hide away in bed with you forever because it would be the best day, doing nothing but getting lost in how you make me feel. But then I think about everything else in our lives and how I want to know whatever is going on with you and how excited I am to tell you what’s going on with me. And I just want tobe therefor you. To love and support you unconditionally. I loved what you said about marriage. About wanting to be part ofa team. It’s exactly how I feel when I’m with you. Like we’re a team, and there’s nothing that can stop us.”
Sydney felt tears prickling behind her own eyes as she saw Reese’s go glassy, too. She couldn’t stop herself now. She didn’t want to. “You changed my life this summer. You were willing to go along with my crazy idea, but you also kept me so grounded. You gave me the space to feel and learn and grow. You gave me the space tolove. How could that love not be directed at the person who inspired all the other good things in me, too?”
“Sydney,” Reese said, her voice choked with emotion, tears falling freely down her face. She brought her other hand up, holding Sydney like she was something precious, something to be treasured.
Sydney nuzzled her cheek into Reese’s hand, her eyes fluttering closed when she said, “You changed my life, Reese. You’re the reason for all the good things I have now, but you’re the best thing, by far.”
She immediately missed the warmth from Reese’s hands, and her eyes sprang open to see where she was going. And that was a sight to behold, as Reese moved to stand between Sydney’s legs before lowering herself to the ground. On her knees, she looked up at Sydney, her eyes filled with so much love that Sydney felt it pouring out of her and touching her as clearly as if Reese’s hand had still been on her cheek.
“Lie back, Sydney,” Reese said, full of conviction as she edged Sydney’s legs apart to fit herself between her thighs.
The steady thrum of arousal that she always felt when Reese was close roared to life, and her muscles clenched instinctively as she lay back against the comforter.
She could already feel heat and wetness pooling in her center, and it only intensified when Reese scratched lightly up and down the tops of her thighs. Her hips jerked when nimble fingers came close to the edge of her underwear, but they moved away again, leaving fire in their wake.
“I say I love you, and you torture me,” Sydneypushed out between uneven breaths. Her clit ached to be touched, and when she pictured Reese’s perfect mouth wrapping around it, she let out a harsh groan that cut against the silence.
“I promise it will be worth it.” As Reese said those words, Sydney looked down to catch her stare, determined eyes looking at Sydney hungrily.
