Page 46 of From Grumpy to Forever
Reid shifted beside me, the movement slow and deliberate, as if he were giving me time to adjust to his presence. His arm brushed mine, sending a spark of awareness racing through me.
“I get it,” he said after a moment. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”
But that was the problem—I wanted to explain myself. I wanted to at least try to explain the tornado of feelings that I couldn’t quite name, the pull toward him that grew in intensity by the second. I wanted him to understand how hard it was trying to remember that this thing between us wasn’t real.
I needed him to know that my hesitancy wasn’t about him or even about me; it was about trying to make sense of everything that was happening.
“You’re overthinking.” His voice cut through the haze of my thoughts.
“You don’t know that.”
He smiled, just a little. It was an expression I was seeing more and more from him. I liked it. More than that, I liked that he seemed to reserve it just for me.
“Sure I do. It’s written all over your face. You’re lying here, worrying about everything except what it is you really want.”
“What I want doesn’t matter right now.”
“Doesn’t it?” His gaze dropped to my lips.
My breath caught.
I couldn’t answer. My heart beat too fast, and my thoughts were too jumbled. Instead, I did the only thing I could think of—I closed my eyes, hoping the darkness would give me some clarity.
The silence stretched between us, heavy and charged. I felt the heat radiating from his body, the way he was holding himself back. It would be so easy to close the distance and give in to this thing between us.
But instead of moving closer, he whispered, “Goodnight, Avery.”
I opened my eyes to find him already turned on his side, his back to me. The tension in the air eased, but it left something raw and aching in its place.
“Goodnight.”
I turned to my side, too, and stared at the wall, waiting for sleep to pull me under. But even as I felt myself drift off, I couldn’t quite shake the lingering warmth of him beside me—or the quiet certainty that this wasn’t the end of whatever this was between us.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Reid
The kitchen was too small for three people, especially when one of them was Avery’s unwelcome cousin, Jacob. I lingered in the doorway for a moment, freshly showered, but nowhere near relaxed or ready to face whatever it was this asshole wanted.
Spending the night in Avery’s bed was…well, it was equal parts amazing and torturous. At some point, I rolled over and wrapped my arm around her. I’d woken up to the scent of her hair and the warmth of her pressed up against my body. My dick was rock hard and aching, and ultimately what drove me from the bed before dawn.
I’d spent longer than I should have in the shower, but dammit, I’d needed that extra time with thoughts of Avery and my right hand. There was no way I was going to be able to navigate another day pretending to be something I wasn’t, but more and more wanted to be.
I watched Avery now, moving about the kitchen, shifting her attention between the bacon on the stove and her cousin sitting at the table.
She was working hard to appear casual, but I could see the tension in her shoulders. The way her brow was furrowed just a little bit and how forced her usually easy, bright smile was.
And the smug son of a bitch, lounging in the chair with his arms crossed behind his head, was the reason for all of it.
The cocky grin on his face set my teeth on edge.
I didn’t know his story. But I didn’t need to know the details to know that whatever it was he wanted, it wasn’t good. If he was looking for a hole in our story, I sure as hell wasn’t going to give it to him.
“Good morning.” I crossed the short distance to my wife at the stove and pulled her into my arms for a deep and completely inappropriate kiss. “You slipped away before I could wake you up properly, sweetheart.”
Avery sucked in a breath but before she could say anything, I kissed her again. This time, I slipped my tongue between her lips, pulling a sweet groan from her that hit a spot deep in my belly. My hands slid down her sides, to her hips.
Without taking my mouth off hers, I lifted her easily and set her on the counter. Her arms wrapped around my neck, pulling me closer as I shifted my body between her legs.
