“I’m fully prepared for payback,” I joked.
“You say that now, but we’ll see,” he said, closing the door behind him. The low slung sweatpants and T-shirt he was wearing said he was in for the night. I hadn’t even thought about what I would have done if he hadn’t been home. Maybe surprised him by hiding in his room. I would have to save that for another night. It was invigorating to actually be thinking of ways to surprise Reid. To have some excitement in a relationship.
With Beau, I was never spontaneous, he didn’t like surprises or trying new things. He liked routine and familiarity. I thought I did, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the unknown. I used to be a free spirit and a little bit reckless, and I had fun. I thought that was one of the reasons I’d been hurt before—because I fell too hard and too fast for a guy that wasn’t as invested. But, looking at Reid and replaying in my head the reasons he’d really left, I knew that it had nothing to do with who I was. Neither of us were to blame. He was trying to make the best out of a bad situation—we were young and he had a lot riding on making the best of his opportunity. I wished he would have confided in me back then, but at least now we were getting a do over. I was getting a chance to be the kind of girl I wanted to be. With him.
“You’re evil,” Hoyt said, smirking as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Oh, come on,” I said as I leaned against the counter. “You would have done the same thing. You two just made it too easy. All huddled up under your blankies like the boogieman was going to get you.”
“It wasn’t the boogieman,” Hoyt corrected. “It was a possessed demon child.”
“Even better.” I laughed.
“Now that you’ve scared the shit out of us,” Reid began, propping his arm across my shoulders as he stood next to me. “Why the late night house call?” I looked up into his eyes and almost forgot why I was even there. He leaned in and I felt an all too familiar burn deep in my belly as he whispered. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“I was hoping we could...” I wanted to lean into him the rest of the way and close the distance between our lips, but I felt Hoyt staring at the two of us like we were as interesting as the movie he’d just been watching. “Talk.”
“I think we can... talk.” Reid winked and bit at his bottom lip as he nodded. He turned his attention to Hoyt briefly.
“Um, yeah,” Hoyt said, clearly receiving the look his brother was giving him. “I’m gonna see if Brett’s still up. Maybe beat my fists on the side of the Airstream and see if I can’t make him scream.” He laughed as he headed for the door. “Good to see you, Nora.” He smiled. “You two have fun talking.”
As soon as the door closed behind his brother, Reid turned to face me. His arm fell from my shoulders to my waist as he pulled me to him.
“It’s awfully late at night for you to be showing up,” he murmured and cocked a brow.
“Yeah well, I decided that this is where I wanted to be,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Is that so?” he chuckled, lowering his mouth to mine. The fullness of his lips and the taste of peppermint on his tongue as it found mine made me weak in the knees. I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold my body against his and returned his kiss.
“That’s so,” I said when we parted. As much as I wanted to skip the talking part and go right back to kissing him, I remembered exactly what I came here to tell him. “I don’t care about what anyone thinks.”
“Okay,” he said with a confused look. “I don’t care either?”