Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,72

find my equilibrium.

“Have you ever been with a woman who had a baby?” My head tilts and his smirk grows wider.

“I haven’t.”

I nod. “See, the body does all these things to prepare a woman for motherhood and they’re not sexy, Reed. Not by a long shot.”

He grabs my hips, hoisting me up onto the counter. “You’re sexy as hell, Vic, and I want to show you exactly how sexy you are to me.” His hands run along my inner thighs, parting them for him.

I lick my lips in anticipation.

His fingers unbutton the top button of my blouse. “We should probably get this dry cleaned.” He undoes another button and the back of his knuckles brush against my skin, making me draw in a ragged breath. More buttons come undone and he leans forward pressing his soft lips to my chest while his hands finish their handy work and he pulls the blouse open for his viewing pleasure.

“Reed,” I sigh, sliding my hand across my stomach—the part of me I’m most insecure about.

The stretch marks Jade left me are now thin and white. Not horribly noticeable but evidence that my body once held a child and that I’m not an unmarred twenty-year-old.

“Please, Victoria, you’re beautiful and I want to cherish you.” His lips cast kisses along the swell of one breast slowly moving to my other. Just as my eyes are closing and my mind empties of all the doubts about me being enough for him, his hands slide me forward and I’m wrapped around him like a koala bear. “I’ll feed you the rest after.”

He carries me down the hall and I can’t help but sprinkle kisses along his defined jawline and suck his earlobe into my mouth. The bulge in his pants teases me as he stops in the middle of the hallway and presses my back to the wall, his lips claiming mine.

Our kiss is ravenous and urgent, our mouths colliding, fighting for dominance. All the worries that consumed my mind the entire week, disappear with his demanding kiss. I’m not thinking about the stretch marks. I’m not thinking about my wider hips or my breasts that aren’t as perky as they were pre-pregnancy. I just want more. More of Reed Warner.

“Never diet again,” he says through noisy kisses. “Especially for me.”

I say nothing, taking his cheeks in my hands and bringing his face to mine so our lips can crash together again.

Stepping back from the wall, he continues down the hall. When he steps us into his bedroom, it’s obvious a bachelor lives here with its dark wood and grey linens. There’s another set of windows that look out over the Chicago skyline.

For the first time in a long time, hope blooms inside me and I wonder if happily ever afters really can come true.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Reed didn’t toss me on the bed as his hungry eyes suggested he might but laid me gently down as he stared at me while stripping off his t-shirt.

His love arrow might as well have blinked in neon, pointing me to what was mine to explore tonight. His muscles weren’t bulging out, but they were defined and flexed with every movement he made.

I sat up on the edge of the bed before he had a chance to cover me with his body. My body yearned to feel us skin to skin. To roll around in his high-thread-count sheets, exploring and teasing one another.

My fingers tremble as I take the button of his jeans in hand. I watch him watch me with smoldering eyes as I free the button. He sucks in a small breath through his already taut smile as I lower the zipper, and a low groan rumbles out of his mouth. I kiss the skin right above the waistband of his boxers as I slide his jeans down to a puddle on the floor.

His turgid erection presses against my chin, making me eager to taste him. I slide my hand up his thigh, over the top of his boxers, taking his length in my palm and pressing against his hardness.

“You’re playing with fire,” he says and when I rest my chin on his stomach, staring up at him with hooded eyes, he takes my face in his hands. “I’m going to explode if you continue.”

At a painfully slow pace, his hands slide down my shoulders, grabbing my own hands and pulling me up to my feet. “I need to see you.”

All those fears rush forward again, and Reed must notice