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I turn my head toward Reese. He’s looking at me now. I can see the weight of everything he’s ever experienced in his eyes. Memories stacked on top of memories. Like one dark veil layered over the next.
“Kids are just going to be kids, Reese,” I continue. “They’re going to be hard to work with some days, and we’re going to mess up sometimes, too. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try. Even if they’re going to run away at a park or slip out of your fingers at bath time. When it makes you scared—even when it makes you react negatively—you can’t let it stop you from being a parent.”
Reese takes a deep breath in. Suddenly, he rolls over, lying on top of me. His arms cage me against the roof, though it’s his gaze that truly pins me to it.
“You’re too perceptive,” he mutters. “What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Maybe listen to me for a change.” My words are snarky, but my heart thumps hard in my chest. An excited thrill ripples through my entire body.
Focus, Olivia.
Reese snorts. “I’m stubborn. Listening isn’t in my repertoire. This is, though.”
Before I can say anything, he kisses me. A slow, sensuous brush of the lips that takes my breath away. My fingers push into his hair. I cling to him even as I pull away.
“I think you’re going to make a good father, Reese,” I murmur. “You just have to believe that you’re going to.”
He looks stricken when I say it. Like he doesn’t believe it for a second. But he doesn’t give me any more chances to keep speaking. His mouth descends on mine again, and this time, his hands follow. Pulling at my clothes, giving a desperate growl.
I know that it’s a distraction. Maybe even one we’ll regret.
But it’s one that I let him take.
Reese bites at my lip, pulling a desperate whine from my throat. I can’t help but arch into him when he gets my pants undone, pushed down just enough to get his hands in. When his fingers sink into me, pushing me open, a hot gush of my pleasure squirts against his fingers and the palm of his hand.
“Reese—”
“Shhh,” he says. “Shh. Just let me… Just let me. Don’t say anything.” He pulls back to look down at me. Years of worry, insecurity, and doubt cloud his green eyes. “You say things, Olivia. And they make me think about things that I don’t want to.” Reese leans down, brushing his nose against mine. “So I’m gonna fuck you so neither of us have to think about all that shit. I need this.” A heartbeat skips, and then he adds, “I need you.”
His mouth is on mine again, and this time, he pulls my pants off all the way. Goosebumps prickle up along my flesh.
I’ve never had a man need me like this. Be the balm to his pains. Reese has a lot of them—and so do I. I think about my own father. I think about Troy, the boy who was supposed to be the man of my dreams but ended up becoming the man of my nightmares instead. My chest tightens and I realize that as much as I’ve been trying to get Reese to meet his fears head-on, I still have my own lurking in the shadows.
And maybe… maybe I need Reese the same way that he needs me.
I push at his clothes and we tear each other out of them together. Just enough that we can press enough skin to skin to each feel the heat of the other. When he sinks into me, we groan, loud and together. He bottoms out with a hard buck that takes my breath away.
I lose myself in him. We’re a mass of half-clothed, desperate bodies writhing and clinging to each other with the singular goal of feeing good and reaching that ultimate high?—
And when it peaks, it’s perfect. A floodgate that opens, forcing Reese to spill everything that he has inside me, and my own pleasure to rush forward like a torrent. I can barely breathe, panting on that rooftop in a deep satisfaction and rush of euphoria.
No one else has ever made me feel like this.
I wonder if I’ll survive it.
41
REESE
I don’t feel like I’m on my A-game. The closer we’ve gotten to this playoff with Detroit, the less I actually feel in it. For the first time in years, I don’t want to play.
Violet and Olivia play a huge role in that. I replay the scene from the morning in my head as we loaded up on the plane.
“I’ll send you pics every morning of her,” Olivia assured me, bouncing Violet on her hip. The little girl was fussier than usual. Internally, I hoped it was because she knew that I was about to leave and she didn’t want to see me go.
“Make sure those pics include you,” I requested. “Preferably naked.”
Olivia rolled her eyes, but her cheeks were blazing red. “Maybe. If you’re good.”
