“In a manner of speaking. Close them.”
I narrowed my eyes before doing as he said. “Who’s being cryptic now?”
“Don’t move, and no peeking. Promise?”
“Yeah, yeah, I promise.” Whatever he had up his sleeve had me intrigued, but I couldn’t begin to guess what it could be. I didn’t hear his footsteps on the tile, or any sound at all.
It was what happened five seconds later that I never could’ve dreamed up, not in a million years.
A pair of warm, soft lips pressed softly against mine at the same time Reid’s hand gripped the back of my neck. Had he not been holding me in place when my eyes flew open, I would’ve jerked back in surprise.
“Is this okay?” he murmured against my lips, and my mouth automatically parted for him before my brain could process what was happening.
This couldn’t be real. There was no way Reid was standing in my kitchen kissing me. No way he’d been the one to initiate things. This had to be a dream, because the reality was too mind-blowing to fully comprehend.
For a moment, I focused on Reid’s lips moving against mine, and the way the tentativeness he’d shown had begun to turn into something more intense.
God, how I wanted to run my hands up under his shirt to feel his body as I pulled him tighter against me. I wanted his arousal pressing against mine, driving me crazy until I couldn’t take it anymore. Then I’d push him up against the counter, unbutton his pants, and drop to my fucking knees.
A moan escaped my lips at the thought, and Reid took that as a green light, because then his other hand came up and I felt the velvet smoothness of his tongue dipping inside to rub against mine.
Fuck, this had gone too far. I never wanted to stop, and that was the problem. It took everything I had, every ounce of control, to break apart and push him an arm’s length away.
Reid’s lips were flushed pink, and as he stood there breathing heavily, his eyes glazed over with desire, it didn’t seem to click at first that I was no longer reciprocating. It wasn’t until he blinked me into focus that he realized what was happening. That I was pushing him away. That this couldn’t happen.
A blush crept into his cheeks as he stammered. “I-I’m sorry, I thought you… I must’ve misunderstood.”
“It’s not that?—”
“I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize?—”
He ran his hand over his hair and then scrubbed it over his face. “It’s just I’ve just been having all these thoughts, and I could’ve sworn you felt it too, but… I was wrong. Please just forget it.”
“Thoughts? What kind of thoughts?”
He stopped pacing and looked at me. “About you,” he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world to be thinking about me.
Oh God. Never mind. I didn’t need to hear this. I didn’t need him to tempt me any more than he already was, because I could barely hold myself back as it was. But I had to know… “What kind of thoughts?”
“I like you, Ollie. I like being around you. Spending time with you. And lately I’ve been thinking about what it’d be like to kiss you.”
Holy shit.I found myself shaking my head. How was it that he held nothing back? That it didn’t even occur to him to hide himself from me? I couldn’t even bring myself to admit my feelings for him went way beyond the surface, but here he was, laying it all out there.
Bracing myself on the counter, my voice came out rough as sandpaper as I asked, “And now that you have?”
He took a step toward me. “I want to kiss you again.”
The shock and adrenaline flowing through my system had me backing up, knocking into the counter so hard that I knew I’d have a bruise later. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I think you’ve forgotten how hard you hit your head.”
“What? You think a bump on the head made me want to kiss you? Be around you?” He sputtered out a laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”
“You’re just not thinking straight right now, okay?” Hah, no pun intended there, not that the subject matter was remotely funny. I didn’t even understand why I suddenly felt so upset, other than I knew he’d realize he was making a mistake sooner or later, and I didn’t want to be toyed with. Maybe Reid didn’t have bad intentions, but a disaster was all that would happen here if I kissed him again. And fuck. That.