the dark. But he’ll be with you. Yes. She wanted it. Wanted him. More than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. Joy trembled within. It felt ephemeral, delicate. She wanted to capture it, to hold it close. She was afraid, so afraid it’d disappear.
She hurried to the door, opening it quickly and walking with purpose toward Reed. She didn’t dare hesitate, didn’t dare give herself a chance to rethink this.
When she rounded the corner into the kitchen, she was slightly out of breath. Reed was standing against the sink, a glass of water in his hand, wearing nothing except another pair of track shorts. She let her gaze sweep over his bare chest, her face flushing as she met his eyes.
His brow creased and he lowered his water glass. “Everything okay?”
Liza fidgeted, feeling so damn timid that she wasn’t sure she should go through with this. But she gathered her courage and walked to where he stood, reaching out and letting her fingers trail down his stomach muscles. She watched in fascination as they tensed with her movement, and then she raised her eyes to look into his. He appeared frozen, staring at her with a sudden sharp intensity that caused her heart to beat triple time. He slowly placed the water glass on the counter next to him and took her hand, holding it against his skin. “Liza,” he said.
“Please,” she answered, a nervous laugh almost escaping. She caught it, but she could do nothing about the blush that filled her cheeks. She hadn’t meant to beg. She thought of how powerful she’d felt that night as she’d led him from the bar to his apartment and then straight to his bed. How faraway that woman seemed. What an illusion that power had been.
This is me, she thought. The real me . . . and I’m offering myself to you.
Reed paused again, his eyes moving over her features, his brow still creased as though he was trying desperately to understand her.
“I have to know you understand what this means.”
She nodded. “I do.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Okay, but I’m still going to spell it out.” He paused. “I don’t just want one night of sex. I want you there in the morning, and I want this to be the start of more.”
She allowed her lips to tip. Her entire body was buzzing with anticipation, with excitement, with . . . yes, happiness.
“You mean, we’ll have sex . . . again,” she joked, the elbow of her outstretched arm bending as she took a small step closer.
He smiled. “Among other things.”
Liza bit her lip, nodded, hoped he could see her heart in her eyes. “Those other things . . . I want them too, Reed. I do.”
She expected him to kiss her then, but he didn’t. Instead he flattened his hand over hers and used it to slide her palm upward so it was just below his heart. “One more thing . . .” He looked at her frankly, but paused. Liza watched his face and waited. She felt his heart beating, strong and steady. “I want you to be confident that I’ll stop anytime you want me to. And you set the pace, okay?” He waited for her to nod before he went on. “But I’m not going to hold back, Liza. That wouldn’t be enjoyable for either one of us. If you don’t like something, you let me know, and if you do like something, you can let me know that as well.”
She understood what he was saying. He wasn’t going to use kid gloves with her in bed. The knowledge brought a surge of relief. It reassured her that he wouldn’t be thinking about all the ways she was damaged while he was touching her body. He would be thinking only of her, of him, of them, in the present moment as they navigated this new relationship together. “Yes,” she said. “Thank you.”
His lips tipped. He leaned in and kissed her. And it was sweet. God, it was sweet. It was just a boy kissing a girl who desperately wanted to be kissed. It was as simple and as earth-shattering as that. Liza stepped into him, her hands moving down his skin softly, gently. She felt as if she were floating and the only thing anchoring her to earth was him. This beautiful, honorable man who’d come into her life so unexpectedly and turned her world on end.
He broke from her lips, and they walked together to