The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(65)

“Bit squeamish, are we?”

“Very,” she admitted, moving her attention to her fries. “What about Matt and Jackson?”

“Dropped their food off to them when they informed me that I drew the short straw again,” he said with a forlorn sigh.

“Wait! I volunteer as tribute!” Matt yelled, which was immediately followed by the sounds of rustling and-

“Ow! You mean bastard!”

“What else do you have in that bag?” Joey asked, holding up a fry for him as she glanced into the bag and went still.

“Is that a Kindle?” she asked on a reverent whisper as she reached into the bag with trembling hands and picked up the reason that he’d abandoned her earlier.

“I couldn’t find anyone that could fix the one the little bastard broke-”

“It was an accident!”

“-so, I bought you a new one. I managed to get it charged on the way back. I even managed to sign into your account and download all your books,” he explained as he ignored the little bastard that was lucky to be alive.

“I love it. Thank you,” she said in an awed whisper as she handed her unfinished burger back to him, swiped across the screen and quickly became absorbed in a book on The Dark Ages.

Realizing that he’d lost her for the night, he finished off her burger, secured the bag filled with junk food in his backpack while Joey crawled back onto her sleeping bag and curled up with her new Kindle. Once he was done, he pulled off his shirt, tossed it aside, laid down, and closed his eyes, resigning himself to another night of not being able to touch her. He wasn’t sure how he was going to survive, but he didn’t have much of a choice, he thought only to groan when he felt Joey climb onto his lap.

“We can’t,” he whispered, biting back another groan as he reached up and cupped her face as he leaned up so that he could meet her halfway for that kiss that he’d been dying to give her for the past two days.

“What if I promise to be very quiet?” she whispered softly against his lips as her hand slid down his stomach and unsnapped his jeans.

“I’d say you were lying,” he whispered back only to drop his head back on a soft groan when he felt her small warm hand slide beneath his boxer briefs and-

“Do you want me to stop?” she whispered as that same hand wrapped around the tip of his cock and teasingly stroked him.

“No,” he said, reaching for the hem of her tee shirt and pulled it off her.

“Good,” she mumbled on a soft gasp when he kissed his way down her neck as his hands reached between them and cupped her breasts.

Her hand continued working his cock with slow teasing strokes as he kneaded her breasts, biting back a groan when he felt her nipples harden against his palms. He gave her breasts one last squeeze before he trailed his fingertips down her sides over the small of her back and down the back of her panties. He grabbed her bottom and pulled her down tightly against him as he sat up, forcing her to release her hold on him so that she could wrap her arms around him.

“You smell so damn good,” he whispered, groaning when he caught the scent of her favorite shampoo.

“Jackson found out where the showers were for me,” she said as she shifted on his lap.

“You had enough quarters?” he asked, not bothering to point out that he’d actually been the one to find it and that he’d texted the information to Jackson so that he could bring her, knowing that she would probably want a hot shower after that unexpected dip in the lake. He’d picked up some quarters while he was out just in case she didn’t have any.

“Just about,” she said, running her fingers through his hair.

“How many did you bring?” he asked, kissing his way back to her mouth.

There was a slight pause and then, “Twenty dollars.”

He pressed a kiss against her jaw as he did the math and realized that she’d spent nearly two hours in the shower. Releasing his hold on her bottom, he ran his fingers through her hair, noting that it was still damp.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, knowing exactly what this meant.

“Everything’s fine,” she promised him with the saddest fucking smile that he’d ever seen.

“Joey, what’s-”

“I missed you,” she whispered against his lips, driving his need for her to a dangerous degree.

He liked knowing that she missed him. He shouldn’t, but then again, there were so many things that he probably shouldn’t be doing when it came to her. He shouldn’t be thinking about her all the time. He shouldn’t want her, shouldn’t need her like this, shouldn’t be touching her with his best friend only ten feet away, shouldn’t get sick to his stomach thinking about her leaving, and he sure as hell shouldn’t be falling in love with her.

---

“Lay back,” Reed whispered softly as he picked up the flashlight and turned it off, leaving them in total darkness.

Knowing that he would never let anything happen to her, she did what he told her and closed her eyes. She listened as the wind gently blew the leaves around their tent, the crackling of the campfire, and the sounds of their breathing. She trembled as she laid there, and it had nothing to do with the cold air enveloping her and everything to do with Reed.

“You missed me?” he asked as he ran his fingertips teasingly over her legs.