Page 21 of Fall With Me (Wait For You #5)

I hadn’t meant to doze off, but somewhere between watching Hilary remodeling an old farmhouse and David showing a peculiarly picky couple houses on HGTV, I’d fallen asleep on my side, with my back curled against Reece’s front.

I’d never fallen asleep on a couch with a guy before. Seemed like such a simple thing that I imagined millions of people took for granted, but it was something entirely new for me.

At first, I wasn’t sure what woke me up. I blinked open my eyes, confused. There was an infomercial on TV, selling the newest Bowflex machine. I stared at it for a moment, seconds from drifting back to sleep, when I felt Reece jerk behind me.

My heart jumped at the unexpected movement.

His arm was lax under me, but when I looked over my shoulder, I could see the tension practically pouring off him.

He was on his side but his face was turned up to the ceiling.

His jaw was locked in a tight, hard line and his brows were furrowed.

Every couple of seconds, those thick lashes would twitch.

His lips moved, the words silent, but his chest rose with a sudden, ragged, and broken breath.

“Reece?” I whispered, but he didn’t hear me. His chest rose again, the breathing more rapid. I twisted onto my other side, facing him as I pressed my hand on his chest. “Reece.”

He jolted away, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, and for a moment, he looked so far away, as if he wasn’t even aware of where he was. Seconds ticked by and then he turned his head toward me. His expression relaxed. “Hey,” he murmured.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

He swallowed. “Yeah.”

I didn’t really believe him. “You sure?”

Reece’s arm curved around me as he tucked me against his side. “Yeah, sweets, everything is fine.” As he threaded his fingers through my hair and guided my cheek to his chest, he sighed deeply. “Everything is good now.”

“You got some this weekend.”

I nearly choked on my soda as I looked up. Katie slid into the booth across from me, a bright pink-checkered bandana wrapped around her head. Her off the shoulder fuzzy blue sweater looked like it had it out with a bedazzler and lost the battle. She wasn’t alone.

Calla sat down next to Katie. She’d come back into town yesterday morning and had worked at the bar last night. Grinning, she tugged her blond hair up into a ponytail. I remembered, when I first met her she’d always kept her hair down to hide the scar. Not so much anymore.

Ignoring Katie’s somewhat astute comment, I nodded at Calla. “I’m surprised Jax let you out of his house to have breakfast.”

“He knows better than to get between me and food and my friends.” Flipping open the menu, she raised delicately arched brows at me. “So, is Katie right? You get some?”

Katie grinned. “I’m always right.”

I rolled my eyes as I sat back against the booth.

Reece had fallen back asleep after what I guessed was a nightmare, and I’d taken him home yesterday morning.

Before he’d climbed out of my car, he’d leaned over and kissed me.

Just thinking about that scalding kiss made me want to fan myself, and then it made me think of what I’d watched him do.

Goodness, I needed a cold shower.

He’d worked the night shift, and I figured he was probably sleeping right now. He’d texted me right before I’d gotten off, a quick message telling me to let him know when I got home, and I did. The request was... cute, like he was thinking of me, and it made me feel all girlie.

“The tips of your ears are burning,” Calla pointed out, eyes narrowing. “Come on, fess up.”

The waitress saved me for a few minutes while she took our orders. Katie ordered half the diner, going for every version of bacon and sausage they had. “I need my protein,” she said as Calla and I gaped at her. “Dancing and climbing a pole is one hell of a workout. You guys should try it.”

I giggled. “No thanks.”

Katie rolled cornflower-colored eyes. “You guys are no fun.” She twisted toward Calla. “When is Teresa coming back up? She wanted to learn how to shake it until she breaks it.”

“I think she and Jase are coming up in a few weekends with me.” Calla smiled as the waitress returned with two coffees and a fresh soda for me. Then she pinned me with a look. “Did you and Reece hook up?”

“What?”

At the same time, Katie answered, “Yes.”

I shot her a baleful look. “How do you know if we hooked up? Were you hiding in my house?”

“I know things,” she replied. “I know lots of things. And you totally just assumed that I’d be hiding in your house, which means something of the fleshy kind went down in your house.”

Calla propped her elbows on the table. “And Jax told me Reece came in on his night off and waited for you to get off. That you drove him home.”

“Jax gossips like a thirteen-year-old girl,” I retorted, but I wasn’t upset with the line of questioning. I was glad both girls could do breakfast this morning, because I really, really needed to talk to them.

A moment passed and then I leaned forward, unable to keep quiet about it a second longer. “Okay. We kind of did hook up Friday night. We didn’t have sex, but ...” I trailed off, pulled back to those early-morning hours. I could see him then, his hand wrapped around—

“All right, you guys definitely did something of the fun and naughty kind based on the way you suddenly look like you just took a hit of ecstasy,” Katie said.

Calla clapped as she bounced in her seat. “For real? Okay, girl, I’m happy for you, because Katie is right, you look like you just slipped into a sex coma. ”

“Something you know a lot about,” I said under my breath.

She itched her nose with her middle finger. “But you wouldn’t even talk to him just a few weeks ago. Every time he walked in or even looked in your direction, you bailed. I’ve always known something was up between you two, but I’m confused as to what is going on here.”

I gave a wobbly smile. “Well, it’s a long story.”

“Since I ordered half a pig, we have time,” Katie replied.

“And you guys are going to think I’m a terrible person.”

“Doubtful,” Calla reassured me.

I wasn’t so sure about that, but I hadn’t told a soul except Charlie about what had gone down between Reece and me, including the huge misunderstanding. I took a deep breath and then I told them everything about the night with Reece, pausing long enough for our food to be delivered.

“So, yeah, that’s ... that’s where I’m at with everything,” I finished as I cut the rest of my syrup with a side of waffle into tiny squares.

Calla stared at me, a piece of extra-crispy bacon dangling from her fingertips.

Even Katie gaped at me, which was saying something, if I managed to shock her into any realm of silence. I shrunk back against the booth, feeling sheepish and crappy. “I’m a terrible person, aren’t I?”

“No,” Calla said immediately. “You’re not a terrible person.”

“Wait.” Katie held up one hand. Somehow a thick piece of sausage had made it to her fingers. “So, let me make sure I have this correct. You’ve basically been in love with Reece since you were fifteen. ”

“I wouldn’t say in love,” I muttered, but my heart thumped.

“Whatever. I’ve known you’ve been in love with him,” she insisted, and I didn’t protest it, because I figured it would end up with a discussion about her super-stripper powers. “Anyway, you’ve been in love with him, but he always treated you like the annoying kid next door.”

My eyes narrowed on her. “I wouldn’t say he treated me like the annoying kid next door either.”

She ignored me. “He finally starts treating you like the hot chick that you are, he comes to the bar one night, gets shitfaced, but because you’re madly, deeply, and irrevocably in love with him and because you’re a girl, you don’t realize he’s shitfaced.”

My eyes narrowed further on her.

“You two go to his house, because he asked for a ride for his drunk ass, things get hot and heavy. You see his sausage.” She waved the sausage she held, and Calla made a choking sound as she reached for her coffee.

“You guys make out all the way back to his bedroom, where he passes out. Am I following this so far?”

“Yeah.” I folded my arms. “Kind of.”

Katie nodded sagely, and I had no idea what she was being sage about. “First off, that’s lame of him to get that freaking drunk, so he gets a cool point taken from him.”

“Cool point?” Calla turned wide eyes on her. “We’re still adding and taking away cool points?”

I snickered.

“In my world, we are,” she replied, and then she bit into the sausage, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. “So he passes out, you stay with him, and then he wakes up, thinks you guys had sex and is apologetic and regretful? ”

Nodding, I popped a piece of waffle into my mouth.

“And you thought he regretted having sex with you,” Calla tossed in. “But he regretted getting so drunk and having sex with you?”

“Yep.”

Katie shook her head as she picked up the salt and dumped it on her half-eaten sausage. “But you two didn’t have sex.”

“No. And I started to tell him that when he first made the assumption, but he was so damn sorry about it all that I thought he was talking about the actual sex.”

“And that hurt your feelings,” Calla said gently. “That’s understandable. I probably would’ve thought the same thing.”

“But you could’ve cleared it up right then,” Katie pointed out.

“No shit,” I replied. “But I didn’t. I was so embarrassed and ... yeah, my feelings were hurt, so I left his place and just so much time passed, and I was still all butt sore about it that I never cleared it up.”

Katie finished off the sausage and then moved onto the smaller links. “And Reece has this thing with lying? That’s not good.”

I pinned her with a bland look.