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It was like being doused with a bucket of ice water. I stood there in shock before I turned and walked the short distance to my door. Maybe I should go back and knock until she let me in and explained what the hell that was.

I was probably reading into it. Seeing things that weren’t there. Feeling things that only went one way.

It was best to leave things where they were and to drop it. Reid was never going to want me the way I wanted her.

My mind spun in circles after I left Reid’s and it wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon. I found the show we’d been watching and put it on, curling up on the couch with my comfort blanket.

I turned up the volume so I couldn’t hear any sounds coming from next door. Reid was probably still awake, but I had no idea what she might be doing. Putting away the pizza boxes? Watching more episodes like me? Laying in bed with her laptop and cranking out some fanfiction? I really did want to know her pen name. Now that I knew at least one of her fandoms, I could narrow down the potential fanfics, but there were still thousands of authors she could be.

I was going to figure it out, though. I was determined to know.

The next morning, I woke up on the couch with my TV flashing the ARE YOU STILL THERE? message. I’d fallen asleep on the couch watching the show and never made it to bed. Oops.

I groaned and lay there, my back aching. This sucked.

At least I still had a few hours before I had to be at work to get my spine back into alignment.

I got up, wincing, and went to make breakfast and coffee. I had no doubt that Reid was sleeping in. What would she do if I knocked on her door with a plate of chocolate chip pancakes? I wouldn’t, but imagine if I had the guts to?

Taking the scenario further, what if I made breakfast for her every day? Brought it to her in bed on a tray. Forced her to get up as she grumbled and said she was tired, but would wake up pretty quick when I kissed her or got into bed naked.

Crap. Now I was horny while I was making breakfast and that wasn’t a good combination. Could lead to burns.

Inhaling through my nose, I did my best to shove away those friskier fantasies. I didn’t need them right now. They were best reserved for late at night.

Desire didn’t work that way though, and eventually I had to turn off the burners and just give in because if I didn’t, my breakfast was going to be ruined.

Normally I wasn’t the kind of person who would just go for it wherever, but this was an emergency.

While I leaned up against the counter, I shoved my hand down my shorts and found that I was already soaked and so sensitive that I flinched at the gentlest touch.

“Oh god,” I said as I arched into my own touch and stroked around my clit as it throbbed angrily. With just a few quick touches, my legs quaked and I came, nearly collapsing onto the floor.

Holy hell. That was unexpected. I pulled my hand out and went to wash it before I went back to making breakfast, my entire body tingling.

Chapter Nineteen

Reid

I almost kissed her last night. If only she hadn’t been biting that lip and drawing my attention to her mouth. It was only reasonable that I’d be looking constantly at her mouth and that my thoughts would move toward kissing. The fact that I’d been able to resist was incredible. Sophie’s eyes had been wide, and she’d stood there, frozen. So damn pretty.

I’d been so close to kissing her and I’d had to basically shut the door in her face so I wouldn’t and ruin everything between us.

Sophie had asked me for help and now all I could do was think about her. In a carnal way. In other ways too, but my desire for her kept growing and it was getting out of hand.

After she’d left, I’d showered and had to masturbate before I went to bed where I’d had more than a few lurid dreams and woke up grinding against my mattress.

I’d never been so horny in my life. Like Sophie had ignited all these dormant fires inside me that now burned completely out of control.

I tried to fill my time on Monday with all the things I didn’t do the rest of the week, but I couldn’t really focus on anything. Jo finally sent me a message that she had a few free hours and wanted to squeeze in some friend time, so I went over to her place.

“Oh my god, you’re alive,” I said when she opened the door.

She answered by giving me her middle finger. “Don’t you dare say a word about how messy the place is or else I’m going to stab you with one of my fancy pens.”

I’d brought food with me, so I pushed some papers on the counter aside and set down the bags.

“You should open a window at least. Get some fresh air in here.” Jo’s apartment was dark, as if she’d been hibernating in a cave or something. The place was a mess, but it wasn’t disgusting. Just a lot of things out of place that she hadn’t had time to organize and put away. She also had her schoolwork absolutely everywhere.