26. Petra

Chapter twenty-six

Petra

The hotel phone rings early in the morning, and Reed reaches over me to answer and hang up. “What’s happening?”

“Beach day,” Reed answers with a yawn. We’re both groggy from staying up late after dinner. Reed didn’t push my boundaries. Instead, he showered me with waves of affection that had my heart melting before we ordered dessert. Just as I was reminding myself that falling in love is not on the agenda, Reed mentioned he was leaving for Iowa.

It was just as effective as dumping cold water over my head. We drove back to the hotel after dinner and climbed under the covers together. Our hands and kisses wandered, but we kept it from going further. If we’d had sex, the shock of going back to my old life would be unbearable. At least knowing our time was limited gave me a chance to memorize what it’s like to sleep in his arms.

When he leaves, it will be me and Natalia again. The way it always was.

“You were serious about the beach?”

“Absolutely,” Reed says, stretching and rolling over me to nuzzle my neck. “Supposed to be sunny between noon and four out there today.”

“Reed.” I hold his face so he can’t avoid me. “It’s an hour each way. This is not something you do with someone you’re never going to see again.”

“Do you make all the rules now? I want to do this with you. Why wouldn’t we make this memory? ”

It’s holding my heart in my hands to say it. “Because it will hurt.”

Reed skips over my confession like it’s nothing. As though he expected it. “I’m going to wish for a good, long while that we lived in the same city. But I trust that we’re adults and we can handle some separation, and our memories will be worth it. What do you say?”

You’re leaving tomorrow. I repeat the mantra to guard my heart. But having this memory, a fun, romantic, not-sexual memory, with Reed? “Okay.”

“You work at three tomorrow, right?” he asks, and I nod. “Good. Pack your overnight bag. We can stop at your house for fresh clothes on the way. Can we take your car?”

I blink up at him, and Reed arches an eyebrow, waiting for me to argue with him. “Sure.”

“Okay then.” He grins and pulls me in for a short, fierce kiss that leaves me giddy. We roll out of bed to get ready and pack up. I don’t bother doing anything with my hair because the ocean air will only make it curlier and frizzier.

His phone rings repeatedly, but a different number scrawls across the screen each time. He doesn’t bother blocking each one—it wouldn’t do any good. Another voicemail notification sounds, and Reed’s face falls as he sinks to the bed. He was full of optimism this morning, and even though he looks healthy and beautiful, the shadows are creeping back into his face.

“Kinley, right? Is this more than usual?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure what triggered her, but this is… She gets like this when she’s manic. It’s a sign that she’s off her meds and unwell.”

I nod, settling my hands on his tense shoulders. “It sounds like you really cared about her, to know her signs and patterns.”

“She’s the worst person on earth, and I wish I’d never met her.” Reed’s shoulder lifts in a somber shrug. “But she wasn’t always like this . She was in therapy, getting her life together and processing some awful stuff.”

“Do you miss that part of her? ”

Reed snorts. “Fuck no. She made her choices and burned every goddamn bridge she could. I never want to see her again, whether she gets help again or not.”

“Can I put it on airplane mode?” I brush his hair back and gently tug the phone from his hand. “We don’t need cell service. Spend the day with me, tesoro . Forget the past. Forget the future. Forget how much we hurt. One more day together.”

He nods, pulling me down to his lap to kiss me softly. I switch on airplane mode and drop the phone to the bed so I can wrap my arms around him. He squeezes me and buries his face in my neck. “I want all your days,” he mumbles.

My heart trips and cracks, and it’s good that he’s leaving, or my brain would’ve run away with wishful thinking. I squeeze back, pulling him to stand up with me. “The beach is my healing space. Maybe it can be for you, too.”

Reed smiles at me, small but sweet, and finishes packing his bags. I text Livi while Reed has a long conversation with Tina at the counter, and order us a rideshare to my parents’ house.

No one is home when we arrive, and Reed bounds up the stairs before I can hold him back. He walks the perimeter of my bedroom, where Silla’s and my things are pasted all over the walls. Silla’s black belt certification is front and center, and he chuckles. “You weren’t exaggerating.”

I roll my eyes, throwing my laundry in the bin. “I’m scrappier than I seem.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Reed says, and goes back to picking his way through my things.

“Wouldn’t you rather rifle through my underwear drawer?”

“I’ve seen your underwear.” He shoots me a smirk that sends heat rolling through me. “I want to know your history.”

I shove the last items in my bag. “You stole my notebook. Was that not enough history?”

“I’m sorry I did that, but I’m not sorry that I got to know you because of it.” He’s had too much of me for all of one week, and I can’t handle sharing more .

“You’ve learned enough.” I press him against the wall, stepping into his space to bury my fingers in his hair. With a confidence I’ve lacked in the past, I pull his mouth to mine. It’s a hungry kiss, but when Reed tries to take over, I push harder.

“Pet,” he groans against my lips.

Power rushes through me. I want to kneel for him and wrench more moans from his throat. “You really are a switch.”

“I really am.” His hands are rough as he grips my hips. “Do it again.”

I comply eagerly, fisting my hand in his hair and using the other to pin his shoulder to the wall. I hold him there, leaning forward to nip his throat before taking his mouth for my own. He moans again when my fingers flex in his hair, and his ragged breath sends fire through me. I dig my teeth in to tug at his lip and soothe the bite with my tongue.

“Feel good, Reed?” I’m breathless from the adrenaline coursing through me.

Reed’s eyes burn hot, and his hand comes down to squeeze my ass. “Could be even better. I didn’t get to wake you up with my mouth, baby. Will you let me now?”

I’m tempted. So. Tempted. But I swallow my needs. “You had plans for today, remember?”

“Pretty sure I can move things around to fit this in.” Reed grins, and it breaks the spell.

“Food and beach,” I remind him.

Reed nods, but his eyes burn. “I’m going to relive that all day.”

I fight my blush as I retreat. “So will I.” He chuckles as I take his hand and tug him down the stairs, leaving a note for my parents on the way out. “You know there’s nothing to do there, right? It’s rocky and freezing cold—”

“Why do you enjoy going, Pet?”

“The waves, the whales, the sunset. Sitting on the cliffs and baking in the sun.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Reed says, pressing me into the side of the car. His quick kiss leaves me dazed. “And make out while we do it. Don’t pretend to be opposed.” I’m not opposed in the slightest. I shut my mouth and climb into the driver’s seat.

Reed makes the coast fun. We traipse along the tidepools as if we’re in grade school, poking sea anemones and watching the crabs. Clouds come and go, but it doesn’t bother us either way. Reed brings out his mic periodically, pinpointing the sounds he loves.

He belongs here, on the beach, the wind whipping through his hair and the sun on his skin. I’ve never seen the sky as blue as when he’s in front of it, or the ocean such a stunning mix of navy and turquoise. When he kisses me, salt spray on his lips, wet sand under our toes, I might be dreaming. Real life isn’t this vivid.

Eventually, we grab takeaway from a local deli and head to the bluffs. Reed spreads out our towels next to a group of boulders and guides me down into his lap. He kisses me, fresh salt on his mouth, and I give into my own craving for him. He kisses me thoroughly. Not just my mouth, cheeks, or jaw, but other rarer places. My hair, my wrists. He pulls my jacket and shirt aside to kiss down my throat.

“That’s what it is.” His golden, sunlit eyes sparkle as he looks up at me. “You smell like hot cross buns. Orange, cardamom, vanilla, and sweetness. I ate as many as I could over Easter break every year when I was a kid. Even during the worst years, my dad and I would drive to the bakery first thing in the morning for a box of them. We’d each devour one, piping hot, before we even got home.”

His tongue sweeps over my breasts as I moan, my fingers tight in his hair. “That’s the weirdest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Reed laughs before testing his teeth against my nipple. “How about I’m not sure if I want to fuck you, devour you, or both? Does that top it?” He sucks, and I arch against him.

“Reed. I can’t have sex with you in public, and this is making me want to. I mean, I can’t have sex with you at all.”

He nods, but the glint in his eye says he can’t get enough. “We won’t. I promise. But I want my mouth on you.”

I argue, but he distracts me. His lips move over me, his hands working me up to a frenzy. He uses his voice just as well as his body. His rough demands fill me with heat, joy, and a fierce ache that he drums into me with each word. His fingers wrap around my neck and squeeze lightly, until I’m dizzy with it.

I dissolve, right there on the bluffs, under his attention. It’s only when I’ve come back from bliss that he zips up my coat, kissing me again. He shifts to lean against the rock beside me, and pulls the sandwiches out of his backpack, as though a midday orgasm is a perfectly normal occurrence. “Last day, Pet. Tell me everything.”

“I can’t fit everything into a couple of hours.” Especially when I’m still dazed.

“Tell me about the sister I didn’t meet. Or your grandparents. Or what you would do if you won the lottery.”

I laugh as I unwrap my sandwich, heart aching for the man beside me. The afternoon sun is bright in his cheeks, and he’s completely at ease. The crash of waves is the perfect white noise for us, blocking out the world—the way Reed does when he touches me. “I want to know things, too. About Grant, and your mom, and the screenplays you’ve written.”

Reed grins at me. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, Petronia Diamante. You first.”

“Well, Silla and I are the closest, believe it or not. She was a prankster growing up, and we all called her Silly Silla. When she came out in high school, it only made our bond stronger.”

We talk as the sun moves across the sky, then pack up and walk down the shoreline. Miraculously, the fog doesn’t roll in, and Reed wraps his arms around me as the sky shifts into the colors of the bouquet Reed first gave me. It deepens into a brilliant orange and flares crimson.

One perfect moment I’ll remember forever.