Melting back into the cushions, my exhaustion and pain takeover, making my eyes heavy.
“Sleep,” Reed whispers, and I feel him place a kiss on my temple where I hit my head in the car. Reclining the chair, I listen as Reed moves around my house, putting away the things from the bag he brought me this morning and cleaning up what little mess I left in the kitchen yesterday.
Soon, I’m off to sleep then startled awake by a bad dream I can’t remember. Jumping in the chair ignites every bump and bruise, like they’re on fire. As I’m doubled over in pain, I can hear Reed talking, but I don’t understand the words he’s saying.
“Sshhh, Hope, I’ve got you.” Picking me up in his arms, he carries me over to the sofa, sitting down and stretching out on the chaise where I noticed earlier that he had set up like a bed. He settles me beside him. “Here.” He hands me a bottle of water and a pain pill. “You were due for one of these soon, anyways,” he says as I swallow the tablet.
“Everything hurts,” I groan.
“Nice and easy breaths.” His words are soothing as my body slackens.
“Tell me something about you, Reed.” I gaze up at him as he watches me. His square jaw is strong and stoic. His eyes are always so deep, soulful.
“What do you want to know?”
“Whatever you want to tell me.” I just want to learn more about him. “Did you always want to have a family? Have you tried? Been married?”
“Yes. No. No.” He smirks playfully. “I’ve been in two serious relationships that I thought could have turned into forever, but both women eventually showed their true colors.”
“Carla.” I hiss her name like a cuss word.
“Carla was one, yes.” I look away, wanting to know what happened with her but too afraid to ask. “Carla became too clingy. In that, she didn’t want me to go to work, and when I was at work, she would show up out of the blue. Sometimes, I would be at the precinct, and a lot of times, I was out on a case. She didn’t have any boundaries. It got to the point where we had a huge fight, and she asked me to choose between her and a job I worked my entire life for.”
“You chose the job.”
“I did. I always knew it would take a special woman to understand my commitment to making the world a safer place for our children; she didn’t. It was then I knew we were never meant to be.”
I mull over his words before expressing my own. “I won’t do that.” A yawn interrupts me. “Make you choose, that is. I appreciate your dedication and selflessness. I think it takes a strong person to put their life on the line for complete strangers.”
Brushing the hair back from my face, Reed traces the lines in my skin with a gentle finger. Circling my eyes, careful of my bruises. Along my jaw. Brushing his thumb across my bottom lip and pulling it down to collect the moisture from my mouth.
“I’m going to love you so deeply, Hope.” He breathes the words out before his mouth descends on me.
Our lips touch, and this time is nothing compared to our previous kisses. My heart rate spikes, my veins throb, and every cell in my body is on fire from his touch.
“When you are ready, when your body is healed, you and me, pretty girl? We’re going to ignite the sheets.” His words steal my breath.
Making me wish I could fast forward time.
9
Hope
One Week Later.
Staring at my naked body, I’m not sure how to feel about it. My bruises have turned an ugly shade of yellow and puke green, but they no longer hurt, so that’s a bonus.
My baby bump expands every day. My love for this precious darling grows stronger with each passing moment, and when I witness Reed touching her, talking to her, I fall deeper in love with him.
As the days pass and my happiness grows, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Every time I’ve had a single ounce of joy in my life, something horrible has happened to counteract my ever-expanding feelings.
I'm accepted into college: my parents die months later.
I become pregnant with Leslie and Miles' baby: they’re killed in an accident a month later.
I’m the most elated I’ve ever been in my life, and yet, I’m terrified tragedy is about to strike.
“Shit.” The muttered curse word has me spinning so quickly I nearly fall. Reed's strong arms wrap me up against his body. “What are you doing, pretty girl?”
His voice is gravelly, eyes are darker than usual, and if that's what I think it is, he’s grown hard in his pants. “Uhm… Well, I was checking out how the bruises were healing and got distracted.”
We’ve slept in the same bed every night since I came home from the hospital, but I’ve been too shy to change in front of him or even shower with him on one of the many occasions he’s invited me. So he’s never seen me naked, and now, I’m questioning how desirable I could possibly be to a man like him.
“Nicely, I see,” he groans.
“You’re home early,” I point out, neither of us making a move to separate.
“I am.” He doesn’t explain why. Biting his bottom lip, Reed’s eyes travel down my body in the mirror on the wall, and I can feel the blush creeping up my face.
Pulling back, I shiver with the loss of his warmth. Reed unbuttons his shirt, shedding it like it’s on fire. I watch fascinated as he continues to rid himself of his clothes until we’re both standing here naked.
Me, battered and bruised.
Him, masculine and potent.
Polar opposites of one another and yet exactly right.
“Reed.” I whisper his name like a prayer.
“Pretty girl.” He growls mine like a curse. Uninhibited and craving something my mind can’t comprehend but my body seems to. “Do you have any idea how many times I have pictured this moment? Imagined what our first time would be like. How you would feel and react.”
Reed wraps his arms around me again, skin to skin. Front to front. I’ve never been bombarded with so many feelings at once before. None of which I can identify except one.
An incredible desire to be with this man.
“About as many as me?” I bravely sigh.
“You been thinking about me, Hope?” I nod. “Good. But still probably more.” The raw honesty we share is something I’ve craved my entire life.
One more confession, though.
“I’ve never been with a man before, Reed.”
Everything quiets down, magnifying my declaration.
His fingers briefly tighten on my hips, igniting a flame deep in my core for him. So much strength and power reflected in the small gesture.
“I knew you were made for me.” He smiles before turning us to the bed. Gently guiding me to my back, Reed lays on top of me, careful not to put his full weight on my burgeoning stomach.
My heart contracts at the emotions I detect in Reed’s eyes, lining his face, and trembling his flesh. He’s allowing our bodies to do all the talking while I experience this moment for the first time.
As his hands tenderly trace along my collarbone, between the valley of my breasts, across my baby bump, and between my thighs, I fight not to close my eyes. I want to behold him, for him to behold me.