“Julie said she’d take him for the weekend.”
“You’ve never been camping before,” Jackson pointed out, sighing heavily as he reached over and helped himself to her list.
“Which is why I’m going,” she said, licking her lips nervously as she struggled not to panic, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult with every passing second.
“I see,” he murmured, sounding thoughtful as he read her list. “And you were planning on going alone?”
“Yes,” she said, doing her best not to squirm under the glare of the man that she’d briefly considered asking to go with her. But perhaps, it was for the best if she went alone, she told herself even as she couldn’t help but wonder if he was planning on stopping anytime soon.
“I’ll take care of everything,” Matt said with a nod, shoving a large spoonful of ice cream into his mouth as he climbed off the bed and headed for the door, pausing long enough to pick up his discarded sleeping bag along the way and headed for the door while she stood there, wringing her hands together nervously as she did her best to ignore the man glaring at her even as she resigned herself to the lecture that she knew was-
“Sounds like a plan,” her brother said, taking her by surprise as he tossed her list aside, climbed off the bed, and left without another word.
Maybe she was worrying over nothing? she hoped, licking her lips nervously. For all she knew this weekend would end up being like old times and they’d forget about her, she told herself only to frown when she felt a large arm wrap around her and pull her back until she could feel Reed’s lips brush against her ear as he destroyed all her hopes that they’d forget about her with four whispered words.
“We need to talk.”
---
“Don’t you want to catch up with Jackson?” the small woman in his arms asked, sounding hopeful as he tightened his hold around her and picked her up.
“And why would I do that?” he asked as he threw her over his shoulder and carried her into the bathroom.
“Because he missed you?” she offered as she shifted to get more comfortable as he continued walking to his bedroom.
“But I’d rather talk to you,” Reed said as he glanced back at his closed bedroom door and realized this wouldn’t do.
“Are you mad?” Joey murmured. “You seem mad.”
“Furious,” he said absently as he considered taking her to his office only to quickly dismiss the idea since he didn’t want any interruptions. It also meant that they couldn’t leave, not unless he wanted to risk Jackson and Matt tagging along.
That left him with only one choice.
“Where are we going?” Joey asked as he headed for the fireplace.
Telling himself every step of the way that he had no choice, he pushed the third brick to the right until he heard a click like his father showed him.
“What was that?” Joey asked, going still.
Ignoring her, he pulled the built-in bookshelf that his great grandfather built away from the wall, revealing the cold dark passage that he hadn’t known existed until four years ago. He wasn’t supposed to be doing this, but at the moment, he really didn’t care. He needed to talk to her and he didn’t want to have to worry about being interrupted.
Right now, he wanted answers.
With that in mind, he reached inside the stairwell and flicked on the light switch that his father installed years ago for his mother. It was the only thing that had changed since his great-great-great-great-great grandfather built the room and his father only did that because of what happened when Jessie, his best friend and tomboy that grew up across the street, stumbled across the secret passage by accident seconds before she fell down the stairs.
His father was an easy-going man, always had a smile on his face, but whenever he looked at the small scar that sliced across his wife’s chin you could see the pain in his eyes at the reminder of just how close he came to losing her. His father wanted to seal the passages after that, but by then Reed’s mother had fallen in love with the room and refused to let him do it. Knowing better than to argue with her, his father installed lights in the stairwell and two in the room below to make sure it never happened again.
Joey didn’t say another word as he stepped into the cold stairwell and pulled the bookshelf closed behind him by the knotted rope. Shifting the quiet woman over his shoulder, he carefully made his way down the steep stairs and through the narrow passage, pausing by the wide opening to flick the lights on before he carried her into the small room below. Without another word, he placed her on her feet and waited, curious to see her reaction.
For a moment, he watched as she took it all in from the whitewashed walls that had turned a softer cream color over the years to the cast iron lamps giving off a soft glow that his father installed, the dark wainscoting that lined the room, the small settee placed against the wall, the thick carpet laid out in front of the large stone fireplace that hadn’t been lit since he’d bought the house that was bordered by shelves filled with books on every subject. It wasn’t a large room, but it had made his great grandmother Emily and so many of the Bradford wives that followed happy. As he watched Joey look around the room, taking in every detail, he couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to spend his evenings in this room sitting by the fire, holding her in his arms, and he had to admit that it was a tempting picture.
“Start talking,” he said, walking over to the fireplace and began filling the grate with firewood from the wood box that his father had kept well-stocked for his mother and couldn’t help but wonder what the hell he was doing.
He should be upstairs talking to Jackson right now, he thought even as he lit a match and started a fire, but instead, he was down here thinking about what Matt said. The little bastard was wrong, but on the off-chance that he wasn’t…
God, he hoped he was wrong because he couldn’t stomach the idea of making her-
“This is a first edition,” the little brat that he was worried about whispered reverently, drawing his attention to find her standing on her tip-toes as she struggled to read the titles on the top shelf.
“Joey-”
“Look at the binding on the Huckleberry Finn book,” she said with a wistful sigh.
“Joey, we-”
“So many pretties,” she mumbled with a whimper that had his lips twitching as he stood up and walked over to her.
“We need to talk,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.
“About the pretties?” she asked, sounding so damn hopeful.
“No, baby,” he said, pulling her closer so that he could kiss the back of her neck. “Not about the pretties.”
“But-”
“No,” he said, chuckling when he felt her small shoulders slump in defeat.
“But I love the pretties,” she mumbled sadly, making him smile as he turned his head so that he could press a kiss against the side of her neck.
“Do you?” Reed asked, closing his eyes on a groan as he breathed her in, taking in the scent of the tea tree and lemon shampoo that she liked to use as he ran his hands over her soft belly.
“I want to be buried with them,” she said, nodding solemnly only to moan and reach back so that she could slide her hand behind his neck when he kissed her throat.
“And do you know what I want?” he asked, unable to help but run his hands down to her hips and back again as he kissed her neck even as he couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing to him. When he was away from her, he couldn’t stop thinking about her and when he was with her…
He couldn’t think straight.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice catching on a moan as he slid his hands over her breasts.
“You.”
Chapter 32
“Is this what you wanted to talk about?” Joey asked, tightening her hold on the shelf above her as her head dropped forward on a moan.