My gaze veers out the window. “No, it’s okay.” I pause for a second. “I think Pete just wasn’t ready to settle down. I think he thought he wanted it. His parents wanted it. I guess like your parents, they wanted to brag about him. But it just wasn’t for him. He’s a decent dad, I will say that. I mean he could be more involved and make more of an effort, yes. But when he does spend time with Jade, she’s his whole world. If he had the time to see her a few times a week, then he probably would’ve fought for me to stay in L.A. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if that were the case.”
“Why did you come back?”
“My mom.” I sigh. “She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and I’m all she’s got. Me and Jade. And I wanted to be here to help her if and when her disease progresses.”
He reaches over, entwines his hand with mine, and says, “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” I shoot him a gentle smile, and when he pulls his hand away, I realize I’m not as much of a fan of a stick shift as I thought. “She has good days and bad. She’s still able to help me with Jade and at this point, she probably helps me more than we help her, but I realized when she made that call that I didn’t want to be miles away from her. I needed to be here.”
Reed nods. “Pete understood?”
I tip my head side to side. “For the most part.”
“I’m glad.” He winks suggesting he’s happy because if I hadn’t come back here, he wouldn’t have met me again.
“Pete’s not a horrible guy, just not a good husband.”
I give him the clean version because if I gave him the dirty version, he’d probably drop me off at the curb and skid away. Nights when I went driving around looking for him, calling his phone relentlessly, finding numbers in his pocket, smelling perfume on his clothes. I shake off the memories.
“I like to think I’ll make an excellent husband.” Reed laughs, and I know he’s joking, but he would make a wonderful husband to some lucky girl. I know he would.
He pulls up to the curb of my mom’s house, parking and turning off the car.
“I had a great time,” I say.
He shoots me his winning smile. “Me too. I hope you’ll agree to another date?” His eyebrows raise.
“I think I can do that.” I shift to face him, my voice lower and more sensual than usual.
He leans forward, his hand cupping my cheek. “I’m trying to go slow here, Victoria, but I really like you. Come to my condo this weekend for dinner?”
“Are we having chocolate milk?”
A smile tips his lips, but his eyes remain laser-focused on mine. “I’ll hire a chef.”
I shake my head. The scent of the mint he took when leaving the restaurant reaches me as he leans even closer. “If you want me to come over, you make the dinner.”
“I’ll make dinner if you agree to kiss me right now.”
“You can kiss me if you make dinner and dessert.”
Our words are mere whispers as we inch closer and closer. My breaths grow shallow. I want nothing more than to feel his lips on mine.
“I’ll make dinner and buy dessert if I can kiss you.”
“Hmm…”
“Fuck it, a tube of cookie dough it is.” His mouth slams to mine, not waiting for me to accept his offer.
His hand slides along my cheek, down and around to my neck. When he runs his tongue along the seam of my lips, I open for him and his tongue slides in, searching for my own. His lips soften, and his tongue slows. My body feels weightless, like I’m soaring with the clouds as we find our rhythm.
A moan escapes me, and he groans like he’s tortured, his lips applying more pressure. Never have I felt such uncontrollable desire from a kiss. It’s apparent that he’s trying to maintain some composure, and I wonder if we were somewhere and he could strip me down, would he? If this was our tenth date instead of our first, would he pull me over his lap? Would I let him?
Our kiss slows, and my frenzied mind stops moving in overdrive, analyzing his kiss.
His hand stays where it is on my bare neck, and he rests his forehead on mine. “You have no idea how badly I want you right now.” He’s breathing heavily, his chest moving up and down as he works to control himself.
“I think I do.”
He chuckles. “I’m glad it’s mutual.”
He undoes my seatbelt then he eases back, grabbing the keys and exiting the car.
“Holy shit,” I mumble to myself.
The door opens, and his hand is outstretched in an offer to help me out of the car. I accept it, step out and he links his hand with mine, keeping them that way as we make our way to the front door. It’s late, so Jade should be fast asleep.
The porch light above my head reminds me of my high school days when a boy would hesitantly kiss me goodnight and I feared my dad would open the door the entire time.
“Thank you again, I had a great time.”
He steps forward. “So next Saturday then?”
“Can we do Friday?” I always spend Sundays with Jade.
“Friday it is. What’s your preference in cookie dough?” He winks.
I jab him in the chest with my finger. “I’m not joking, Mr. Warner, you cook the meal.”
He nods a few times. “Then get in the mood for pizza because more than likely whatever I come up with will be inedible.”
“Thanks for a great night.” He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me closer so we’re chest to chest.
I wrap my arms around his neck, enjoying the feeling of my fingers running through his short hair and the press of his hard body to mine.
“Drive home safely,” I whisper.
He dips his head and I close my eyes in anticipation of the taste of peppermint in my mouth. Our lips collide again, and we’re more frantic than we were in the car. Hungrier. Needier. He slides his hands down my back until they close around the globes of my ass. A whimper escapes me, and I press farther into him, fisting his longer strands of hair so he can’t get away.
My back hits the brick of the house and the rigid bulge in his pants pushes into my stomach. I want to lift my legs and wrap them around him so bad it hurts, but I’m outside my mom’s house with a porch light broadcasting everything Reed and I are doing to the neighbors.
My hand falls between us and I push him away lightly. “Neighbors,” I say, breathless and panting.
“Right.” He steps back and grips the back of his neck, his face strained. “I better go before I beg.”
I giggle and his gaze dips to my lips again.
“Good night, Victoria.”
“Night.”
He walks down the cement path to his car, stopping right before he slides in, nodding and signaling for me to go inside.
I wave and dig my keys out, my hands shaking as I try to unlock the door. I step into the house and collapse on the couch in the living room.
“That good, huh?” my mom asks.
Chapter Twenty
Jade and I head out of the house Monday morning to find the Uber waiting. Henry’s face peeks out the window like a Bassett Hound waiting for its owner to appear.
I shake my head as we head down the path. I told Reed last night that we were going to walk.