Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,59

salt in water. Sitting at a candlelit table tucked into the far corner of a restaurant I’d never be able to afford at this point in my life, Reed wooed me. It wasn’t any one thing in particular. There were no grand declarations or heartfelt moments. It was just Reed being Reed.

We talked about anything and everything and I never once felt like I had to temper my responses for fear of judgment. He told me stories about him growing up—some of which involved Pete—and I confessed to some of my more embarrassing escapades as a teenager. I explained how much I enjoyed working with Chelsea and Hannah and about my job back in Los Angeles and he explained some of the inner workings of some of his cases.

By the time we stood up, I had to find my footing. With a full stomach and a contagious smile, I allowed Reed to take me by the hand and guide me to the coat room.

“Thank you,” I murmur, sliding my arms into my coat.

“I’m the one who needs to say thank you. I’m glad you took that leap.”

“Me too,” I admit. I put myself out there and I couldn’t know for sure if it was the alcohol talking or whether Reed had cast some sort of spell on me.

I circled around, waiting for him to put on his own jacket. He hands the coat check some money and nods toward the door.

Leaving the warm atmosphere of the restaurant behind, I walk ahead, and he catches up, his hand molded to my hip rather than its usual spot on my lower back. His touch has my nipples tightening inside my bra.

Until tonight, I’ve kept my feelings for Reed in an iron box. Locked. Under my bed. Surrounded by other boxes I haven’t wanted to dust off and examine the contents of. The fear that I’ll turn into the old, naive Victoria Clarke before I lost myself to being Mrs. Victoria Keebler had waged a war inside and won.

It’s been two years since the divorce and it took an entire year before I felt like the Clarke surname fit me again. My intuition assures me that Reed will handle me with gentle hands, but my intuition misjudged once before and although I received the best gift from my worst decision, I am still the one who picked Pete to share my life with.

All of that and yet here I sit, not wanting him to take me home. Wanting a minute, even a second more with him...to see the crinkle around his eyes when he laughs at something I said, to have his gaze land on me like there’s nothing he’d like more than to ravish me at that very moment.

My mind is so consumed with this internal debate I hadn’t noticed we were pulling away from the restaurant. He’s turned the radio on at a low volume and the silence between us isn’t awkward, it’s comfortable. His fingers tap along the stick shift, the lyrics low as they tumble out of his mouth.

For a moment, my mind flashes forward to what it would be like if we actually worked out. On our way home from a date night to find Jade and a set of twins still challenging my mom about their bedtime. Reed swooping them up in his arms when we walk in. Me sitting down on the sofa and talking with my mom about the night. Reed bringing us tea, snuggling up beside me on the couch as he fawns over my mother and me.

I smile thinking about what could be in the fantasy I’ve created for the two of us.

“You’re quiet,” he says, his hand finding my bare knee.

I swivel in my seat to face him. “I feel like all we’ve done tonight is talk about me. Tell me about your family.”

His body tenses for a moment. “I’ve told you about them. They have expectations I don’t quite live up to.”

“Does being an ADA pay well?” I can’t help but glance at the logo on the steering wheel.

He glances at me with a smirk on his lips. “Not enough for this, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Well, you wear three-piece suits, which by the way I still insist a personal shopper picks out for you, you drive this ridiculously priced car”—I pat the dash—“and I imagine you live in a nice condo with a parking space that costs more every year than my entire college education did.”

He chuckles. “You know I’m