Chapter Twenty-Eight

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE EXPRESSION ON Evan’s face when he walked into the hotel room later that afternoon was not one Reagan was expecting. Where she thought he’d be a bit down and out, instead he was a mixture of riled up and perplexed.

He leaned against the door, shaking his head and rolling up the sleeves of his grey collared shirt.

Reagan sat up from the bed, where she’d been napping, and rubbed her eyes. “Did something happen?”

Evan strolled into the room, running his hands through his hair. He looked agitated, and wasn’t replying. She crossed her legs under her and watched as he moved to the end of the bed to turn and sit down—his back to her, a wall firmly in place.

Well, that’s just terrific.

“Evan?” she tried again. And still he didn’t turn. She scooted down to the end of the bed and sat beside him, their shoulders and hips lined up with one another, and this time, when she said his name, she placed a hand on his thigh. “Evan? What happened?”

He took in a breath so deep she saw his shoulders rise and then fall again. He must’ve been tired, having driven the entire way. And where she’d been able to lie down and get some rest, he’d chosen to go straight over to see his mother.

She was about to open her mouth and try again, when Evan finally turned to her and spoke. “Just the usual bullshit when it comes to my parents.”

“Talk to me.”

“Did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That Bill and my mom are close.”

“They’re…what? Define close.”

Evan shook his head. “You know, somewhere in the back of my mind, I always wondered how my grandparents paid for it all. The private schools, the car I got when I passed my driver’s test. They weren’t rich people, and any money in the family disappeared when my parents got busted. Makes sense now.”

“I’m not following. What does that have to do with Bill?”

Evan’s eyes pierced through hers. “That’s what I plan to ask him.” He didn’t touch her, other than where she had her hand on his leg, but when she moved in closer he shook his head. “It’s probably best if you don’t—”

“Don’t what?” she interrupted, knowing he was about to block her out. “Show that I care? Is that what you were about to say?”

His eyes narrowed, and then he turned away from her. “Something like that. Reagan, this…whatever this is between us, it can’t be what you want it to be. I’m not the same boy I was back then. I’m so fucked up. I mean, you’re sitting in a fucking hotel room waiting for me while I visit my mother in prison.”

He got to his feet and walked away from her to the small window. “What they did back then, to your family—hell, to all the fucking people who trusted them—it took its toll. It took its toll on me. I changed because of them, and I can never go back.”

Reagan stood also, ready to somehow try and comfort him, tell him he was wrong… But is he? Am I crazy for thinking that we could have anything more than a few quick fucks? Is our past too complicated to ever uncomplicate that?

“I don’t want the boy from back then,” she said, and slowly moved toward him. His back was still facing her, and she wondered if she was brave enough to really lay her feelings out for him to see. But if she didn’t at least try, then how would she ever know? When she was directly behind him, with only inches to spare, she placed her palm on his back and whispered, “I want the man who’s here now.”

“Reagan—”

“Tell me you haven’t thought about me.”

A long silence went by before he said, “I haven’t lied to you, and I won’t. Not now. Not ever.”

Reagan received that message loud and clear. He was telling her he hadn’t touched anyone since the night he’d been with her.

She rested her head between his shoulder blades and summoned up every ounce of courage she had to speak the words she’d kept locked away behind a wall of self-preservation and pride.

“Please,” she said, closing her eyes. “Please don’t push me away.”

His shuddering breath beneath her cheek was the only response he gave, and when she wrapped her arms around his waist, his hand grabbed both of hers like he was going to do exactly what she asked him not to—push her away.

But then he sighed and turned around to face her. His fingers trailed the side of her face, and she leaned into them. “What is it you see…” he said, echoing the words he’d spoken before when she’d been looking at him through a camera lens.

She reached up and intertwined her fingers with his before softly kissing the tips of them. He looked at her with hunger in his eyes, but there was something else there too. Something that should’ve scared her, but instead had her wanting more.

With his hands cradling her face, he ever so slowly brought his lips down to meet hers. It was soft, sensual, and when their mouths met, Reagan swore her knees almost gave out. She’d never seen this side of Evan before. Usually when they came together it was fast, passionate, and full of fire. But as his tongue slid between her lips and rubbed against hers, she moaned at the seductive caress.

She brought their entwined hands down to her side, and when she released his fingers, he wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her body in close to his.

“God, Reagan,” he whispered, when he raised his head to look down at her. “I need…”

When he trailed off, she shook her head and urged him to continue. “What do you need?”

He licked his lower lip, and she could tell he was trying to decide how much to say. Then he lowered his head, pressed a kiss to her ear, and said, “To be the man you see when you look at me like you are now.”

She turned her head, and when their eyes connected she asked, “And who’s that?”

“The man who deserves your heart.”

* * *

EVAN CAPTURED REAGAN’S lips before she could respond, and when her hands moved up to encircle his neck, the swell of her breasts pressed against his chest. He ran his hands down her sides to her ass, and when he squeezed and hoisted her off the ground, she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Her fingers speared through the hair at the back of his neck, and as she deepened the kiss, he couldn’t help the groan that escaped his throat.

Fuck, she’s sweet. Her taste, her smell, and, most of all, her heart.

He turned around and lowered her to the bed, and as her brown curls fanned out around her, he thought she’d never looked more beautiful than she did in that moment. She smiled up at him and slowly spread her legs. Then she crooked her finger at him, and the invitation was more than he could resist.

He stepped between her thighs and placed a knee on the mattress. Then he moved down over her to put his palms by either side of her head.

“Kiss me,” she said, and his mouth curved into a smile to match hers.

“What’s the magic word?”

Her eyes held a mischievous twinkle as they moved to his lips before coming back up to meet his. “Now?”

He grinned and gave her lips a quick kiss and said against them, “See, sometimes your sassy answers are just perfect.”

“Oh yeah?”

He trailed his tongue along her lower lip, sampling her, and then replied, “Oh yeah.”

Evan dipped his tongue in between her lips, unable to stop himself from tasting her. One thing they’d always seemed to skip when rushing to the finish line was this part. The meeting of mouths, the mingling of breath, and as she sighed and the sound drifted between them, he thought, the mutual pleasure of savoring another.

Reagan’s hands came up to touch his sides, and when they smoothed over his ass, he ground his hips down, rubbing his erection against the denim she was wearing. Her fingers dug in as she pulled him down, and when she arched up into him, he lifted his lips from hers.

Her eyes were dilated as she opened them to focus on him, and her lips were ruby red from his kisses. When she bit into her lush lower lip and trailed her fingers around to the button of his jeans, he raised his hips in an effort to assist her. She made quick work of the button and his zipper before pushing his jeans and boxer briefs down past his hips. He pulled his wallet out of the back pocket and grabbed a condom, then tossed the foil packet on the bed and removed the clothing Reagan had been trying to rid him of. Kneeling between her spread thighs, he began to unbutton his shirt as her hands went to the front of her jeans. He watched her flick open the button and slowly unzip, and then she brushed her fingers over the pink panties she was wearing underneath. When Reagan’s hand disappeared inside her jeans, a low growl escaped his throat, and she smiled before pulling her hand back out. Then she sat up and removed her sweater, leaving her ample cleavage showcased in a pink bra that had his mouth watering. She moved his hands away from his shirt and took over undressing him, moving up to her knees so they were nose to nose.

As she leaned in closer and bit his lobe, he groaned. “Reagan…”

His hands slid down her waist, pushing her jeans and panties down as they continued their trail of her body. After she’d pushed off his shirt and tossed it on the floor, he did the same with the clothes needlessly covering the lower half of her beautiful figure. She caught his lips again as she knelt in front of him, his hands sliding under the straps of her bra before unfastening and removing it completely. When she was bare beneath his hands, he pulled her tighter against him, his tongue exploring every inch of her mouth, and fuck, she tasted like heaven. Like something he’d heard existed but something he never thought he’d be able to attain.

She pulled back slightly, her lips brushing his, and then she whispered, “I want to be enough for you.”

You are, he thought, and asthe two words ran through his mind, he took her lips again, this time in a kiss full of the pent-up emotions swirling inside him. They fell on the bed, her on her back, him stretched out over her. After grabbing the foil packet next to them and tearing it open with his teeth, he settled between her open thighs and rocked against her.

One of her hands snaked down between them, but he was quicker, taking hold of them both and placing them up by her head so he could move his entire body along hers. She writhed underneath him, arching her back and undulating her hips in an effort to get closer.

The sexy sounds tumbling off her tempting tongue had his cock hard and his arms shaking. Never in his life had he desired a connection more than this. Not only did he want their bodies to become one, he also craved the emotion that was swirling in the depths of her eyes. He needed to know that the heart she’d just opened to him would be big enough to accept and understand who he truly was—on the inside and out. But the question that kept tripping through his mind was—could anyone learn to love someone like him?

Reagan wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him out of his thoughts, almost as if she sensed he was getting caught up inside them, and when the tip of his cock brushed over her slick entrance, the heat of her had him groaning her name.

He wasn’t sure how long he would last once he buried himself inside her, but the time for waiting was over. He needed to be one with this woman, and he needed it now.

* * *

REAGAN STARED UP at the sexy man hovering over her, and tried to recall a more perfect moment in her life. For as long as she could remember, this boy—no, this man—had been a figure in her mind. Whether he be a friend of her brother’s, a ghost of her past, or the lover currently teasing between her thighs. No matter what else had happened throughout her life, Evan had always been on her mind, in some way or another.

With her hands trapped by her head, and the wide tip of his erection grazing her clit, Reagan’s breath was coming in soft pants. Then Evan lowered his head and flicked his tongue over the tip of her nipple, and her eyes fluttered closed.

Oh God. That feels so fucking good.

He then scraped his teeth over the tip before sucking it between his lips. Her hips snapped up in response, and her arms strained against his grip. “Evan…” she cried out, hoping to get him to move into action.

“You are so fucking beautiful. Every inch of you is—”

“Yours,” she moaned. “Take me.”

He let go of one of her wrists and swept a strand of hair from her face.

“I want to be able to see your face when I’m inside you.”

His hand went back to holding her down, and then she felt the head of his cock slowly push inside her. Inch by delicious inch, he slid deeper until he was filling her completely. He stopped then, and the look he aimed down at her was almost heartbreaking. It was full of shock and awe, as if he’d never before felt all that he was feeling, and when Reagan lifted her head from the mattress to softly kiss his lips, she said, “I’ve never wanted you more than I do right now.”

Her words seemed to spark him into action, and he withdrew from her, only to thrust back inside again.

The movement was slow at first, but as she bowed up off the bed to meet each of his downward slides, Evan picked up the pace. His chest grazed her sensitive nipples as he rolled his hips over hers, tunneling into her tight, throbbing pussy. His pelvic bone rubbed over her mound, and she couldn’t help but press harder against it, trying to reach that elusive release.

“Let go of my hands,” she begged, and, surprisingly, he freed them. She brought them down to cup his ass, and then she really started to use his body for her own pleasure. As his cock slid in and out of her, she ground her clit against him, knowing with a couple more thrusts in just the right spot and—

“Oh, fuck—right there. Yes, yes…don’t stop.”

Evan’s fingers gripped her hair as his hips pistoned, his cock shoving deeper and harder with her cries. Their climaxes were so close, chasing one another as a bead of sweat gathered at his temple, and when their eyes locked together and she exploded around his thick shaft, Evan threw his head back, the veins in his neck straining against the skin as he shouted her name in total satisfaction.

As they came down from the high, he fell to his elbows on top of her, the rocking of their hips slowing to a stop. Evan rested his forehead against hers, and when he opened his mouth again to speak, her heart stuttered and stopped.

“More than enough,” he said on a breath of air. “It’s so much fucking more.”