Foreplay (The Ivy Chronicles #1)(71)

Turning onto my side, I curled myself around my      pillow, hugging it close. It wasn’t a stuffed animal, but I hugged it like it      was. Few stuffed animals had ever graced my room. Not since Purple Bear. I was      too old to cling to stuffed animals, but the pillow felt comforting and      familiar.

My phone buzzed on my nightstand. I reached for it.      My stomach fluttered when I saw Reece’s name.


Reece: Happy Thanksgiving

Me: Same to you . . .

I bit the inside of my cheek, considering what else      to say.


Me: Did you have a good day?

Reece: Yes. My Aunt Beth came over w/a      turkey. My dad was even almost human

Me: That’s good

Reece: What about yours?

I stared at the words on the screen for a long      moment, thinking about my day, about kissing Hunter, and how much I should tell      Reece.


Reece: How’s Hunter?

Me: Good

Reece: You kissed

I gasped, my fingers tightening around my phone.      Could he read my mind across miles?


Me: How do you know that?

It didn’t occur to me to lie.


Reece: Because that’s what I would have      done. I did do it. Remember? First chance I got

Me: Actually I kissed him

There was a long pause, and I began to worry that      he wasn’t going to reply at all. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so honest.


Reece: Guess those lessons in foreplay      helped after all

Me: Guess so

Reece: Congrats, Pepper. You got what you      wanted. Good night

Me: Good night

I dropped the phone on the bed beside me. Turning,      I burrowed my face into the pillow and cried great ugly sobs. They weren’t the      first I had ever cried in this room, on this bed, into this very pillow, but      they were definitely the most senseless. I had nothing to cry about. I had come      so far and finally gotten what I wanted.





Chapter 24

Sunday afternoon, Hunter dropped me off at my dorm with a gentle kiss and a promise to text me later. After unpacking, I fell onto my bed with a sigh, thinking I’d get some homework done, but instead I ended up falling asleep. Apparently the four-hour drive wore me out. Maybe it was all the effort I put into acting cheerful and like I wasn’t having any doubts about what I wanted to happen between Hunter and myself.

I didn’t feel much better after my nap, either. I still wasn’t any more certain about Hunter and me, which filled me with no small amount of panic. For so long I had convinced myself he was the one, the one who would make me right. Make me safe. Make me whole.

If I didn’t have that anymore, then what did I have?

Scrubbing both hands over my face, I rose from my bed and sank down at my desk, cracking open my Abnormal Psych notes and telling myself I could actually study when my head hurt from thinking.

My phone buzzed from across the room. I moved to pick it up, glad for the excuse to procrastinate.


Reece: Hey. Home yet?

I smiled, ridiculously happy that he was still communicating with me. After last night, I wasn’t so sure.


Me: Yes. Got back couple hours ago

Reece: I want to see you

No mincing words. I hesitated, resisting the immediate urge to type “yes.” I needed to consider this. Use logic instead of wild impulse, which seemed to be my only setting when it came to him.

The screen went dark. The phone buzzed again in my hand, a new message from Reece lighting up the screen.


Reece: Open the door

My head whipped around, staring at my door as if it were a living thing. My heart took off, wild as a bird trapped and struggling inside my too-tight chest. In two strides I was there, pulling the door wide. Reece stood before me, phone in hand, those bright blue eyes, brighter even than I remembered, fastened on me.

We moved in unison. He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him just as I scooted back, making room for him to enter. Closed inside my room, we stared at each other, frozen like two statues. Everything slowed. Like someone hit a PAUSE button. Blood rushed, a dull roar in my ears. I imagined I could even hear the muffled thump of my heart.

Then everything leaped to action.

We came together. Phones slipped from our hands and thudded to the floor as we collided. Our mouths fused, lips breaking only to pull our shirts over our heads in a blur of motion. Everything was frantic. Desperate. Almost violent in its fierceness.

“God, I missed you,” he muttered, his hand skimming my face, hard fingers burying themselves in my hair and gripping my scalp as his hot mouth crashed over mine.

My hands went for the front of his jeans, yanking open the button snap and tugging the jeans down as he fell over me on the bed, between my thighs. He pulled back to shove them down his narrow hips, cursing when they got stuck at his shoes.

I watched, devouring the sight of him as I anxiously stripped off my yoga pants, my panties, everything.

“Damn it,” he snarled, jerking off his shoes and then shucking his jeans the rest of the way off.