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“I don’t want to go back to Texas a virgin.” My heart and cock both lurch at the same time. “And I want you to be the one that takes it.”

I’msilent for so long, processing what she just said, that it gets awkward. And when it gets awkward, Shelby gets embarrassed.

“Nevermind.” She attempts to jump off the counter, but I come back to my senses, and hold her in place. “Just forget it.”

“You think I can forget that?” I thrust a hand into my hair. “Jesus, Shelby.”

“I know that’s not what our little arrangement was about. And you think I’m not ready. I’m too sweet or innocent or willhave regrets,” she rambles, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m a grown woman, Reid. I know what I want.”

“Hey,” I tell her, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it, “I don’t think any of those things.” I clear my throat, because that may be a lie. “Other than the last one.”

“I just thought with the way you reacted to me, you’d be into it.” Her eyes dart down to my crotch where my erection is ten steps behind, focused on the makeout session we were having before she dropped this bomb. “But I know I’ll always be Axel’s little sister to you, and I appreciate you doing everything you have to help me live a little.”

“Okay stop.” I’m standing in front of her, using both my body and my hands to keep her from running off. “You just surprised me, but let me get one thing clear, I don’t see you as Axel’s little sister. I see you as this cool girl I like to hang out with. That I love to hang out with. You’re fun and sweet, and sexy as hell.” She needs me a little. Not completely. She came here on her own, got a job by herself, started to build a life, but she still needed me to protect her, teach her things, build her up. And that hasn’t happened to me before. “And if you want me to be the one for you, I’m not going to fight it. I just want to be sure that you’re sure, because it means something big for you, and I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”

“You think I’d regret having sex with you?” she asks.

“Babe, you’re kind of the ‘marry the first guy you sleep with’ type.”

“Maybe I used to be.” She reaches for me, cool hands on my overheated skin. “But I’m not that girl that showed up on your doorstep anymore.”

I nod. “I know.”

“And if I can have a choice in who I do this with, I want it to be with you.”

Choice. There it is.

I take a deep breath. “How do you want to do this? Flowers? Hotel? Candles and wine?”

She rolls her eyes. “None of those things.” Thank god, because finding all of that shit would take too long and I want inside of this girl now. Her hands glide over my chest and move to my shoulders. “Why don’t we go back where we started and see where it goes.”

She kisses the underside of my jaw, but I’ve already got my fingers hooked in the elastic of her leggings. We work together to drag them down, taking her panties at the same time. “Lean back,” I tell her, “let me get a look at you.”

There’s no hesitancy from either of us this time, and when I bend, pressing my tongue against her slick heat, her fingers curl into my hair encouragingly. All I want is to get her loose, to make her feel good, and I think she’s as worked up as I am because it doesn’t take long before her breath comes in short gasps and her hips rise, chasing my tongue. I draw her to the edge, teasing her a little, pulling back just long enough that she cries out in frustration. “Reid!Please.”

“You think I’m not going to make you work for it?” I ask, enjoying the moment, because soon I’m going to take her upstairs, lay her out on the bed and everything is going to change.

It’ll be worth it, I think, sucking the hot little bundle of nerves that I know will shatter her. Gripping her by the ass, I bury my face into her and she falls apart on my tongue, bucking into me. She moves with abandon, like we’re not standing in the middle of the kitchen, windows wide open where everyone can see.

It’s all worth it, even if tonight is the only chance I get.

22

Shelby

I’ve barely floated back downfrom the orgasm and processed the fact that my bare ass is on the kitchen counter, when Reid lifts me into his arms.

“Er,” I ask, my bare crotch flat against his hard, lower abdomen, “where are we going?”

“Upstairs.” His mouth buries into the crook of my neck, sucking and giving me little kisses as he navigates his way to the staircase. He stops at the bottom and draws back, leaving my neck wet and raw. “Unless you–”

“Go,” I tell him. I’d meant what I said. It came to me tonight when I realized I love him. I want Reid to be my first. “I can walk, you know.”

“I know.” He wraps those powerful arms around me. “I want to be close to you.”

My heart melts and I know none of this is good for me. Reid isn’t good for me, and not becausehe’snot good. Reid Wilder is perfect.

He moves with impressive agility, taking the stairs quickly while keeping his mouth and hands on me at all times. He’s gentle when he sets me on the bed, less so when he strips off my shirt and shucks his jeans and boxers. His erection, which has been hard since he first pinned me against the counter top, bobs eagerly at the freedom. It’s not our first time naked with one another, but the crackle of energy in the air indicates that this time it’s different.