Page 49 of What He Always Knew
I shoved his shoulder, and he laughed, catching my hand in his and lifting it to his lips. He pressed a kiss to my knuckles just as the rain started to fall, soft at first, but quickly turning to a downpour. Reese peered up at the roof before he gazed back at the beach, and his eyes found mine with a mischievous smile.
“Come on.”
He tugged on my hand, pulling me from my barstool, but I held onto the bar with my free hand.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Just come on.”
“We haven’t paid.”
He huffed, tapping on the bar to get our bartender’s attention. “Can you add our drinks to my room tab, Leila?”
She nodded, but I still hadn’t moved. I just stared at him, at where he held my hand in his.
“Damn it, Tadpole, stop being so stubborn and just trust me.”
I laughed, my hand still gripping the bar until he tugged me forward again. I stumbled into him, and Reese steadied me before jogging toward the beach. I couldn’t protest before we were out from the cover of the bar, the rain soaking through our clothes, and Reese just kept running.
He pulled me by the hand until our feet touched the ocean, and then he stopped, and I ran right into him, crashing into his chest. But Reese caught me effortlessly, the rain pouring down loud and chaotic around us as he pulled me into him.
“I’m getting soaked!” I screamed over the rain, laughing as Reese wrapped his arms around me.
“Exactly!” He smiled, shaking his head fast and hard, spraying me with even more water. “Let it wash it all away. Let it take every thought, every doubt, every anxiety — consider the rain your spin cycle, Tadpole.”
He gripped one hand then, spinning me in the sand as I laughed and laughed, the rain flying off me as I twirled. Thunder clapped around us, and Reese pulled me back into him, my hands landing on the wet t-shirt that stuck to his chest.
Lightning flashed, and his lashes dripped as he watched me, eyes searching mine under the warm Florida rain. There were a million questions in his eyes, most not meant to be answered, and I was thankful he didn’t whisper even a single one out loud. Instead, he framed my face with his hands, his fingers sliding between the wet tendrils of my hair, and then he leaned in, and he kissed me.
He kissed my lips the very same way the rain kissed my skin — with gentle ease and purpose. He wanted to wash away the confusion, the pain, and with every kiss he took more and more of each. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into me more, our chests pressed together as the rain poured down.
I didn’t know what would happen next, but in that moment, he was all that I saw.Wewere all that I felt. He rained down on me, and I drowned in his love, lungs adapting to breathe under water.
“Take me somewhere,” I moaned into his lips as he gripped my ass through the wet fabric of my dress.
Reese groaned, kissing me harder before he broke contact and searched the beach for an escape. We were the only ones that I could see, everyone else inside and sheltered from the rain. When he spotted a lifeguard stand, he tugged me toward it, and we sprinted through the rain again.
He stopped every now and then to kiss me, his hands fisting in my hair or tangling in the straps of my dress, and once we were under the cover of the stand, he pressed me against the wood, his lips on a hot trail from my neck to the swell of my breasts.
“Someone will see us,” I breathed.
“I don’t give a fuck.”
I giggled, looking around us as he lifted the hem of my skirt long enough to peel my soaked panties down my thighs. I couldn’t see anyone watching — not on the beach and not in any of the bars or hotels behind us. It was dark, only the lightning revealing us with each flash, but the stand only provided so much shelter. If someone wanted to see us, they could.
Still, when my panties hit the sand and Reese ran a hot hand up the inside of my thigh, his fingers sliding just between my lips, I realized I didn’t give a fuck, either.
Let them watch.
He didn’t enter me this time, just slid his fingers between my lips, groaning with appreciation at the wetness he found. It was a different wet than the rain — silkier, hotter, born from desire for him instead of from the clouds.
Reese kissed me hard again as he tore at the buttons of his shorts. He pulled them down just enough to free himself of his briefs, too, and then he lifted me.
My ankles wrapped around his backside, hands clawing his shoulder for any kind of grip, and we both moaned in unison when he slid inside me — hard and fast and mercilessly. He hit me deep, withdrawing just an inch before he plowed in even more, and I ran my nails down his back, desperate to feel him, to make him feel me.
Reese made love to me under the cover of rain, the thunder colliding with our sighs and moans for the soundtrack of the night. Every sigh was a flash of lightning, every kiss a burst of wind, and every time we touched, I felt the storm surge inside me, forever reminding me of the half of my heart that belonged to Reese.
The rain washed away the pain, just like Reese said. It washed away the confusion, the hurt, the scars and the questions. I laughed and loved, leaving all thewhat ifsbehind, reveling in the feel of the water on my skin.