Page 88 of Word to the Wise

Reaching down, I tip her chin up to face me when she still looks nervous. “What’s on your mind?”

“Your dad’s going to tell Carter about this visit. He’ll know I was here, and he’s not going to be happy.”

Reed is a strong girl, but all it takes is one name for her to start shrinking in on herself. I hate it.

I kiss her forehead, then pull her close. “Let him know. He’s not getting to you.”

Not again.

“I promise.”

27

Mason

The smell of honeysucklesoap permeates the air. A warm fog filters from the bathroom, and I follow the trail of Reed’s luscious scent.

I’ve been trying to give Reed her space, but it’s difficult when the girl is a magnet, and I’m weak as fuck when it comes to her. Especially when she went to take a bath and left the bathroom door wide open.

I love that she’s that comfortable around me. No doors between us, just like back at home.

Home.

That word is a hammer in my chest constantly haunting me. It’s not even my home, much less hers. It was a temporary situation to get me on my feet in a new city. It was close to the shop and the club. It served its purpose.

Reed’s the one who made it feel like something more. A place I wanted to spend time without drinking until I blacked out. She’s the one who made it worth being there. Whether I was failing at cooking or trying to ignore the fact that her scent filled every corner of the apartment, she made it somewhere I belong.

When Sienna died, a part of me died on the pavement alongside her. My heart might have continued beating in my chest, but it wasn’t whole like it used to be.

I’d failed.

Didn’t matter how much I tried to repent. Revenge was worthless.

Until I met Reed, and I thought maybe the universe decided I was owed a second chance. If I do nothing else good in my life, I’ll set this right for her.

She resuscitates my heart.

Stepping into the bathroom, my senses are flooded. I might as well be underwater. Sight, sound, smell—it’s all Reed. Her scent fills the air, and she’s naked in the tub, humming to herself. My attention has never been this singular, but I can’t look away.

Her hair is piled on top of her head, and as always, it’s impossible to contain. With the light streaming through the windows, the hints of blonde are drawn out in the brown. A mirage of tones that prove I could never do her justice if I tried to draw her.

She turns the page on the book she’s reading while her knees peek out of the water. She’s absorbed in the story. Every emotion plays out across her face.

Leaning against the doorframe, I cross my arms over my chest and watch her mind work as she skims the words. So many thoughts are always running through her wild mind that a man could get lost in them.

“Did no one tell you it’s impolite to stare?” She smiles, not taking her eyes off her book.

“Pretty sure you like it when I’m impolite.”

Lifting off the doorframe, I make my way into the room. “What are you reading?”

“Nothing that concerns you.” Her cheeks heat, giving her away.

“So, smut then?”

Reed’s eyes widen, and she slaps her book shut. “What do you know about that?”

“I had a sister, so I’m not as dense as you think I am.”