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“I heard that, Allie,” Reed tossed over his shoulder.
Brett squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, Allie. Reed’s used to coming in second to me.”
“You’d like to think that,” he retorted, returning with Lily’s drink. “Who won the javelin throw in track every year?”
“I won my freshman year,” Brett returned with smirk.
“Only because I was still in middle school.” He turned to Lily who watched them with a small smile. “How is Levi? Still traveling a lot?”
“Quite a bit. When I get a weekend off, which won’t happen for a while, I plan on driving up to Cheyenne for a visit.”
Allie mentioned her brothers, and talk turned to sibling rivalry until Reed moved down the bar to take more orders and left her visiting with Allie. To his pleasure, she hung around after Brett and Allie went upstairs, the wistful look on her face when Allie mentioned where they were going not lost on Reed.
Feeling her out, he kept his voice low and asked, “Are you interested in coming to a play party? We’re planning one soon to celebrate Jordon and Bianca’s engagement, and you can attend as my guest.”
She ran a finger up and down her cold glass, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m not sure. I’ve never given anything like that a thought.”
“We can discuss it more next weekend if you come to my surprise birthday party I’m not supposed to know anything about.” He couldn’t tell which invitation initiated her smile of delight, but he would take either one.
Despite the thrill that shot through her when Reed mentioned taking her to a play party, Lily cautioned herself not to move so fast with entering into another relationship, remembering the mistake of doing so with John. Yet, they were friends as long as she’d been married and before Reed ever touched her intimately. While she’d spent so much time and energy focusing on her marriage until John had killed every ounce of her love, she’d never thought of Reed as anything except a friend, someone she’d grown comfortable around and liked. Now, when he gazed at her as if she was the only person in the room who mattered, she ached for him in a way she’d never desired anyone else. Any innocent touch ignited an inferno of lust she wanted only him to douse. Every protective, caring gesture or remark from Reed revealed the stark difference between demonstrating deep feelings and John’s way of saying the words without backing them up.
The last of her hesitancy went up in smoke, and she answered him with all honesty. “Thank you. I’d like to come to your birthday party, and to learn more about your private gatherings.” Picturing herself bound and naked in that room with other people around gave her a hot flash of either mortification or excitement, or both. She couldn’t tell and figured she would have to attempt the experience to find out for sure.
Reed flashed her one of his devastating smiles that creased his tanned face and revealed his dimples, causing her heart to thump against her chest. “It’s a date. Think about spending the night at my place. Be right back.”
Lily’s throat went dry as he strolled down the bar to take an order, the implication he was done waiting to take sex to the next level filling her pussy with damp heat.Yes!No other response came to mind hearing that, and she thought it best if she left now before acting a fool by begging him to take her upstairs again tonight.
“You’re ready?” he asked when he returned and saw her standing, holding her purse.
“Yes. Like I said, I have a busy day tomorrow. I spend half the day at the homeless shelter and put together a dish or dessert in the morning to add to their meal.”
“Okay. Let me get Eric to take over here while I walk you out.”
“He’s the bouncer? I’m fine, Reed. You don’t need to take him away from his duties.” She disliked imposing on anyone.
“Wait for me.”
His tone brooked no argument, one he rarely used with her, and only when he was concerned or had her best interest at heart. Instead of getting annoyed as he spoke with Eric, she found comfort in his protectiveness. He took her hand and led her outside, another one of those gestures that elicited a warm fuzzy, his callouses spreading tingles of awareness throughout her body.
Reed opened her Mazda’s door, surprising her when he asked, “What happened to the elderly Asian woman you arranged a room for during a winter snow a few years ago?”
“Hanh? How do you know about her?”
Reed brushed a hand down her spine. “I never said anything to John, but I was downtown when I spotted you helping her that day. Seeing your kindness restored my faith that there are still good people in the world.”
A light bulb went off in her head, the coincidence astonishing her. “You’re the one who paid for the extra nights.”
He nodded. “I went in after you left and spoke with the manager. When I returned at the end of the month, I was told her family picked her up but that’s all anyone knew.”
“We finally located her daughter, who wasted no time to come get her mother. Hanh was separated from her family when they fled Vietnam after her husband was killed. Her children were eighteen and twenty, and she was haunted about their fate. Both daughters had married, making it harder to find them.” Tears pricked her eyes as she recalled the family’s reunion. “We held a celebration at the shelter.”
As if he couldn’t help himself, Reed crushed her against him and kissed her just long enough, slow enough to leave her yearning for more, damn him. She slid behind the wheel, frowning at him.
“You did that on purpose.”
“So I did,” he admitted, his voice gruff. “I won’t follow you if you’ll call or text me when you get home. Deal?”
“I will,” she returned, glad he wasn’t insisting. Lily wanted to get over fretting about her mugging without bringing up the incident. No point in riling him over something he couldn’t do anything about.
