Page 24 of I'm Yours

No wonder I’m getting all hot and bothered just being in Reed’s presence. My body craves the attention but it also cravesgivingthe attention. It's not as if I was with many others between the last time Reed and I saw each other and now but a woman has needs, too. And now I’m thinking about sex. Great.

“Maybe.” I give him a small smile and his dark eyes bore into me. He’s intimidating to look at now. He’s all hard edges and dark tattoos and tan skin and muscles. I can’t get over his muscles. What was he doing while he was away? Training to be a freaking gladiator? And I can’t stop myself from really wanting to play with his scruff that looks like it’s a permanent fixture on his strong jaw. Dang, I’m a mess. And maybe a little bit horny, which is new to me.

Deciding that we need a change of subject, I ask, “Can you tell me about Emmy?”

He grins and scrubs a hand down that scruff I was just practically drooling over. “Still deflecting, I see.”

“Always.” I laugh, not able to deny it.

“She’s… the light in my life. Theonlylight for a long time.”

I suddenly wish I knew nothing about the past twelve years. A big part of me feels cheated because I don’t get to learn about him directly from him.

“Maybe someday you’ll tell me more,” I say, repeating his words back to him.

His lips twitch and he looks at me out of the corner of his eye and murmurs, “Maybe.”

“I know I owe you an explanation.”

He thinks on this for a bit before saying, “You don’t, though. Not really. Sure, we were close and I…” he trails off, catching whatever he was about to say. “Like I said earlier, you and I felt differently. I reacted like a spoiled shit for not getting my way. If anything, I owe you an apology for not doing what I always said I would do.”

“What?” I think I know what he’s talking about, but I still ask anyway. Like I’m right back in high school and seeking some sort of validation or attention.

“I promised nothing would get in our way. I would always be there for you. I told you I loved you and you didn’t return my feelings and instead of acting like a man, I threw a fit. That’s not how I’m teaching my daughter to behave. Like an entitled little shit.”

“That isn’t…”

He cuts me off with a show of his hand and shake of his head. “It is. It took me a long time to realize it, but it’s true. I always said there wasn’t anything that could happen that would make me leave you. Our friendship. But at the first bump, I went against my word and for that I’m sorry.”

Tears spring to my eyes at how sad he looks. It’s obvious that he truly feels like he let me down when in reality, I was the one who let him down. I lied to him when I said I wasn’t in love with him, even though he doesn’t know that.

“Let’s just agree that we were both at fault.”

The expression on his face tells me that he doesn’t agree but that he’s letting it go for now.

“Tell me about pole dancing.”

I wince. Oh, boy. Not a freaking chance am I admitting how it all got started. Though, he no longer seems like the overprotective best friend he once was. He was married. Had a baby with her. Buried the love of his life. I don’t know that he’d care anymore but I’m still not ready to admit what I had to do to survive.

“Your mom is one of my best students.”

I watch his expression morph from serious to “you’re fucking with me, right?” and it makes laughter bubble out of me. I press my lips together when I realize immediately that he doesn’t find it nearly as funny as I do.

“You’re fucking with me, right?”

Holy shit. He said the words out loud that I imagined him saying. Holy. Shit.

Instead of focusing on that, I shake my head and bite my lower lip. “Nope. I’m not. She started about a year and a half ago and loves it.”

“What the fuck, Sadie!”

I try to keep innocence in my voice but giggle at his outburst. “What? She’s having fun and getting exercise and I guarantee you that your dad is reaping the rewards there. She told me their sex life has never been better. That she feels more sexual than she ever has.”

He’s staring at me with such a horrified expression it only makes me laugh harder. “Seriously, Reed. She’s got her spins down and you should see the way she can sway her hips before —”

“What thefuck,Sadie! Stop talking!” He actually covers his ears with his big hands.

I try. I really do. But the way he’s looking like he’s close to throwing up just because his mother is taking a pole dancing class has me bending over in a fit of giggles. I can’t stop. And soon he’s joining me. Only, it sounds different than I remember.

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