Page 128 of Older

I shook my head as we inched up the checkout line, hardly able to keep my emotions in check.

A year and a half.

“Comet…look at me.” He twisted toward me as the scanner pinged with items sliding across the surface. When my eyes finally lifted and glued to his, he leaned forward and said with all the conviction in the world, “I wanted it. I wanted it more than I wanted air.”

Waiting, I stared up at him, expectation blooming in the pit of my stomach.

Ping, ping, ping.

“But it can never happen again.”

The balloon popped. I deflated before him and looked away, my jaw set and my soul withering. “Yeah,” I whispered. “I know.”

“Oh, God…yes.” My forehead was pressed to Reed’s, my arms circled around his neck. The swell of my breasts bounced inside the cups of my clamshell-pink bikini as I rode him in the front seat of his pickup truck.

His T-shirt was still on, but his swim trunks were halfway down his legs, clinging to his muscled thighs. Dipping his head, he yanked down my bikini top and covered one of my breasts with his mouth, devouring my nipple through ragged groans as I bobbed up and down on his lap.

We were being reckless.

Dangerous.

The truck was parked in an empty corner of an industrial parking lot, away from traffic and passersby, but we weren’t being careful. Someone could spot us, call the cops, have us arrested for public indecency…and then what?

All hell would break loose.

Yet, somehow, none of that compared to the absolute heaven I felt when he was inside me.

Dusk filtered in through the windows, a chalky gray haze swirling with sparks. I gouged my nails into the nape of his neck and fisted his hair with the other as my head craned back and the erotic melody of our bodies slapping together drove me toward ecstasy.

“Fuck,” he ground out, laving his tongue up my chest, my throat, until our mouths locked.

Sloppy, wet kisses fueled us, and a song on the radio did little to pierce the sounds of our moans. I cried out as his tongue idled in my mouth, his eyes closing, lips parted with euphoria. My hips picked up speed, and he squeezed the globes of my ass to anchor me as he began to come undone.

We panted through the pinnacle, his hand reaching between us, fingers rubbing my clit to take me over the edge. My knees dug into his hips as my grip on him turned vicelike. My body tensed and vibrated, while shimmery light danced behind my eyes and an orgasm yanked me under.

I buried my face in the crook of his neck to stifle my cry as he fisted my hair and drove his hips up, grunting through his own release.

“Halley, Halley…fuck.” He broke apart, spilling into me, his whole body going rigid as he held on to me until his grip on my hair loosened and he collapsed back against the seat.

I remained draped across his chest, my heavy breaths warming the skin of his throat. When I pressed a tiny kiss to his pulse point, he shuddered, both arms wrapping around me to keep me flush against him. I felt his chest heaving up and down, his heartbeats in my ear. Stickiness coated my inner thighs as warm molasses filtered through my veins.

For the barest moment, I was content. Safe, alive, and adored.

I allowed the moment to last longer than the first time, savoring the feel of him hard inside me, filling me in every way. Sighing, I kissed my way up his neck and jaw, hesitating when I reached his still-parted lips.

Reed combed my hair back with both hands, then cupped my face, his thumbs grazing gently over my flushed cheeks. “Don’t run away from me this time,” he pleaded softly, his eyes skimming across my face before he sealed our lips together for a gentle kiss.

Exhaling, I buckled atop his chest, my cheek plastered to his beating heart while he stroked my hair, my back, palming the base of my neck. “I don’t know what to do,” I confessed as puddles gathered in my eyes.

He pulled me closer, held me tighter, and said nothing.

A tear slipped loose. “You’re supposed to know. You’re supposed to have the answers.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re older.”

Simmering in my claim, Reed inched me up until we were face to face again. “Older doesn’t translate to wiser, and age doesn’t guarantee answers.” He cradled my cheek in his palm as I nuzzled into his touch. “With age, comes certainty. You grow to know exactly what you want. But that doesn’t always mean it’s wise or right, and then that certainty becomes a curse.”

---