“Hi.” I smiled, and felt my cheeks warm. I was sure I looked ridiculous, dancing around the kitchen like no one was watching, but Reid seemed to have enjoyed the show.
“Hi.” He lowered his head, and kissed me, and with that single touch, hopefulness blossomed inside me.
“I missed you,” I said against his lips, feeling my blood warm with want. It had me craving the feel of him, and after today’s admission I wanted him to prove me wrong, prove to me that he still wanted me that way.
“I missed you too. Did you have a good day at the spa?”
“I did. Thank you for spoiling me.”
“It’s only the beginning.” He gave me one last peck, and then pulled away while I finished up with the sauce.
“Smells good,” he remarked. I heard him unzip his jacket, and when I turned to face him, his attention was already elsewhere.
Disappointment coiled in my chest, and I watched with longing as he switched the television on and flicked to a sports channel. Why had I expected something different? He’d made it obvious over the last few weeks that having sex was not on the agenda, and under normal circumstances I would have blown it off, but I was feeling emotional, and vulnerable. His continued rebuff had started wounding my confidence, and I didn’t like it.
I plated our food, and sat down on the sofa as we started eating in silence. The longer it continued, the more irritable I became, and eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I slammed my plate on the coffee table, and stormed off to my room where I started picking up the clothes lying around just for something to do.
“Asshole,” I mumbled under my breath, snatching up random items of clothing.
I felt Reid’s presence when he walked in, but I didn’t acknowledge him. Maybe if I ignored him long enough he would start to feel the way I was.
“What was that about?” He asked. He sounded confused, and if I had to spell it out for him then perhaps he wasn’t as attuned to my feelings as I’d thought.
“Nothing,” I snapped, “It was absolutely fucking nothing.”
“Did I do something to piss you off? Because you looked pretty happy to see me when I came home.”
I huffed out a laugh. “I was happy to see you, until you...you...” I was so agitated I couldn’t finish my sentence. Was I even sure about what he’d done wrong?
If I thought about it, he hadn’t done anything, but it was the buildup of brush-off after brush-off that had been percolating, and tonight was the final straw. Between worrying about why he wouldn’t have sex with me, and thinking about Stella, I felt discombobulated. Confused. All over the fucking place.
“Until I what, Jade? Why are you so upset?”
I threw our clothes across the room, and he had to sidestep before I hit him with them. I didn’t feel like treading lightly for his benefit anymore, no matter how crazy I was about to sound.
“I am upset because you won’t have sex with me!” I yelled, throwing my arms out. “I’m upset because you touch me, and kiss me, and then when I want to take it further, you oh-so-politely reject me. And I’m fucking upset because I actually don’t know what the fuck I’m feeling.”
He stared at me like I’d lost my mind, and I was starting to think I had.
“You love me, but I want to feel like you want me,” I added, but the more I spoke the more foolish I sounded. Even I could admit that my behavior was not only absurd, but also right out of left field. One minute I was calm, and happy, and the next I was yelling at Reid for something asinine like his lack of desire to screw me.
But was it really asinine? Was I wrong for wanting to feel desired?
Reid’s expression remained stoic, but his eyes flashed with something unnamable and his nostrils flared.
He was angry? Why was he angry when I was the one having a damn –
All thought stopped when he crossed the room in three strides, and crashed his mouth to mine. He wrapped his hand around my neck, and pulled. Hard. I gasped at the force of it, and braced my hands on his stomach.
“You’re so fucking sexy when you’re mad,” he murmured. I could hear the indignation in his voice, but couldn’t tell if it was directed at me or not. “And even sexier when you’re pregnant.”
My heart tripped in my chest at those words. I’d needed to hear them, and I only realized how much, once they’d passed his lips.
His hands cupped my butt and tugged me into him with delicious roughness. God, I’d missed this. I’d missed how wild he made me, and how he made my body heat with ferocious intensity.
He broke our kiss, and I opened my eyes, only to find him glaring at me.
“How could you think I don’t want you?” He asked in a harsh whisper. “Goddamit Jade, I always want you.”
Before I could respond, and possibly explain, his lips found mine again, and his hands slid down to my thighs. He lifted me up, and turned us towards my bed. With little effort, he climbed to the middle of my mattress, and held me against his body.
“Reid.” My voice sounded so...breathless. Apparently the lack of orgasms and the way Reid was looking at me turned me into a puddle of incoherence. I was not this woman – desperate and wanting. I was a strong, confident mother-to-be, and...oh fuck it. I was too turned on to care about that shit. I wanted Reid to fuck me already. His gaze was heated and I’d been waiting for him to look at me that way again for so long that when he did, it knocked me off kilter.
“I’m thinking you’re overdressed,” he said between gritted teeth. “As much as I like you in my shirts” – he lifted his Henley, his fingers brushing against my hot skin, and pulled it over my head – “You look so much better without it.”
His gaze dropped to my breasts, and a smirk played at his mouth. “No bra?”
“No,” I croaked out. “I was uncomfortable so I took it off.”
His head dipped, and he sucked a taught nipple into his mouth. I lifted a hand and threaded my fingers through his gold locks while he continued licking at my sensitive flesh.
“Hmmmm,” I hummed between the breathless wisps of air escaping my mouth. He moved to my other breast, paying it equal attention until I was squirming in his lap. His jeans were tight, and when I slipped my free hand between us, I could feel how hard he was.
“I need you naked,” he rasped, digging his hands into my hips. He moved me so that I was lying on my back with my legs on either side of his thighs. With deft hands he had my Uggs off my feet, and my cotton shorts down my legs, leaving me completely exposed to him. He licked his lips, his eyes trained on the apex of my thighs.
“Jesus,” he muttered. “You’re going to kill me.”
I gave him the best smile I could manage – because really, who the fuck could smile properly when they were so eager to have their brains banged out? – And lifted my feet so that I could nudge his shirt with my toes.
“So impatient,” he said, lifting his shirt.
“Shut up,” I replied. “Or I’ll be coming without you.”
His answering grin was salacious, filled to the brim with dirty promises.
“You’ll come when I tell you to,” he states, stepping off the bed to remove his jeans. I’d almost forgotten what Reid was like in bed. He liked to be in control, but only got it right some of the time. Other times it was a constant battle between us, and it usually ended up in a heated physical showdown that left us breathless, sweaty, and sated. Thinking about that made me shiver.
I watched with bated breath as Reid stripped, exposing his gloriously defined body. He crawled over me, holding his weight on one arm while rubbing the head of his erection between my wet lips.
“Tell me if you get uncomfortable,” he told me, gently thrusting his hips forward. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
I shifted lower, resting my thighs against his, and held on to his biceps as he pushed all the way in.
I closed my eyes, and moaned, savoring the feeling of him inside me.