Baiting the Maid of Honor (Wedding Dare #2)(37)

“Bumbling?”

“After you.” Reed merely yanked open the door and gestured for her to proceed before him into the hallway. He knew his attitude bordered on shitty, but he couldn’t summon the ability to care. He’d been seconds from exposing his feelings, himself, to Julie and once again she was worrying about everyone but herself. Apparently, he was the only one worried about her.





Chapter Fourteen


Julie trudged up the path, flashlight clenched tightly in her hand. She hadn’t said a word to Reed since leaving her room and until now, he’d wisely stayed silent. As they ventured farther from the well-lit section of the resort, however, he’d moved closer. Began grunting, steadying her with a hand on her elbow whenever she made a misstep. Frustration radiated from every line of his body, mirroring her own, she was certain. Not only was her frustration intensified by his refusal to understand the need to find her missing best friend, Julie had to admit that some of her irritation was of a sexual nature. Seeing Reed sprawled out in her bed, taking up the majority of it with his painfully masculine body, fully aroused…it had taken every ounce of her willpower not to climb on top of him and take him inside of her. Forget everything and everyone a while longer and simply, but powerfully, fulfill their needs. Needs that were apparently endless and growing in strength by the moment.

Just feeling his concentrated gaze following her from his reclined position on the bed, she’d been subconsciously putting on a show for him. Bending forward more than necessary to find clothing in her suitcase, remaining topless longer than needed. Shameless behavior that she hadn’t even been aware of at the time. She’d practically begged for him to drag her back to bed. And damn him, he hadn’t. It was childish and unlike her in so many ways. Until recently. When he’d awoken some insatiable part of her that demanded satisfaction.

She didn’t understand what was taking place inside her. Just the knowledge that Reed walked behind her, had his eyes trained on her, made Julie’s body feel heated, ready, anxious. It wouldn’t leave her. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the problem at hand. If it were purely physical, Julie felt confident she could control it. So close on the heels of having him open up to her, granting her a peek into his past, his abrasive attitude hurt twice as much. It made her want to end the fling now to save herself heartache later. His lack of understanding over her need to help when people needed her had only driven home the fact that they would never work.

It also made her want to cling tight and beg him not to let her go. To yell and rail and shake him until he decided to keep her. What sense did that make? Dread rose in her chest, mingling with self-disgust. She was being that girl. The fix-him girl, the maybe-he-just-hasn’t-found-the-right-woman girl. Stupid. He didn’t want to be fixed. He didn’t want one girl. He’d never pretended otherwise and she’d proceeded accordingly, going into this with zero expectations. When had that changed? When had the prospect of parting ways started to inspire restless anxiety?

Lost in her turbulent thoughts, Julie’s sneaker slipped off the edge of the path and she stumbled. Reed grasped her biceps and hauled her up against his chest before she could fall.

“Slow down and watch where you’re going. You’re going to break your goddamn ankle.”

“Let go of me.” With the heels of her hands, Julie pushed at his unyielding chest, but even she acknowledged her halfhearted attempt to get away. As if magnetized, her lower body pressed intimately against his, writhing closer under the pretense of freeing herself. Reed’s eyes narrowed suspiciously in the near-darkness. He wrenched the flashlight out of her hands and dropped it on the path.

“I can’t tell if you’re struggling because you want me to let you go, or if you want to be overpowered. Explain yourself, Julie.”

Her panting breaths were her only answer. She curled a leg around his waist and gave another hard push against his solid wall of muscle. Contradicting herself once more. Between her thighs, she felt Reed harden in reaction to whatever he perceived on her face. He made a desperate sound. “Answer me. Let you go? Or drag you down to the ground and f*ck you on your hands and knees? I need an answer now.”

Her pulse raced. She could hear it roaring in her ears. Using his shoulders for support, she hitched herself higher and wrapped both legs around his waist. “Fuck me.”

“Thank Christ.” Reed’s hands gripped her bottom tight. His mouth devoured hers with a groan as he leaned back and let her feel the full force of his need. They kissed frantically, Julie digging her fingers into his hair, meeting his potent kiss head-on. He twisted her hair in his fist and pulled her head back. His mouth raced over her neck, biting and sucking as she moaned.

The rough treatment, while exactly what she needed, craved…it jostled something inside of her. Shook it loose. Her uncertainty. The inevitability of losing him. Losing this.

She buried her face in his neck, heard herself sob once, loudly. “I don’t know who I am with you. I don’t understand who I turn into.”

Reed stilled. She knew from his unsteady breaths the effort it cost him to stop, so her arms tightened around him automatically in a comforting gesture. When he flinched at the action, horrible, jagged pain sliced through her chest. After everything, the way they’d opened up to each other, it felt almost like a betrayal. Out of self-preservation, she scrambled out of his arms.