Page 20 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
“Don’t start planning our wedding, Mom. We’re going as friends, and that’s all we’ll be when I leave and go back to the city.” Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it from the pocket of her skirt, glad for the excuse to end the conversation. “It’s Sophie. Excuse me for a sec.”
She walked away as she answered, speaking quietly into the phone. “Your timing is perfect.”
“I got your message. Sorry I didn’t call back earlier, but Brett and I were…working out.”
“You forsook my despair to get down and dirty with your husband? Now I know how far on the totem pole I’ve fallen,” Grace teased. Sophie was eight months pregnant. She and her husband, Brett Bad, had built a house in Oak Falls, where they planned to return and spend Sophie’s maternity leave. Her family was throwing her a baby shower next weekend, and Grace was looking forward to seeing her.
“Hardly. You’ve always come after sex with Brett.” Sophie laughed. “Oh my gosh, that sounds so dirty.”
“Listen!” she said between giggles. “Be serious, Soph! I have a problem.”
“Okay…” Sophie laughed again.
“Sophie,please. I have a feeling my dry spell is in jeopardy. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I’m going to the fair with Reed tonight.”
Sophie squealed.
“You’re not helping!” She paced the grass a good distance away from her parents, watching them play with the dogs. Her parents enjoyed their lives so much, sometimes Grace wondered if her mother was right and she was missing out onlivingher own. Sophie’s recent free fall into matrimony and impending motherhood had also piqued those worries.
“Oh, come on, Grace! You need sex before your girly parts close up, and you havenevergotten over Reed.”
“But—”
“Before you try to deny it, remember I was with you when you got your tattoo,andI know the name of your vibrator.”
Aw, shoot.
“Uh-huh.Mr. Greedy.If you think I don’t know that’s Reed, you don’t give me enough credit.”
Grace squeezed her eyes shut. “I wasn’t going to deny it. I know I’ve never gotten over him, but…” She glanced up at the porch and said, “The shirtless heart stealer is hard at work…looking hotand talking sweet and cocky.”
“Just the way you like ’em,” Sophie said.
“Mm-hm. I swear, when I first saw him I was thrown right back to that lovesick teenager.”
“Of course you were. I wish I could have been there to see it. What did you tell me about Brett? To sleep with him and get him out of my system? It didn’t work for me, but it was good advice. Maybe you should sleep with Reed and see if it sucks.”
“If the way he kisses is any indication, he’ll still make love like a sex god.”
“Youkissedhim? And I’m just now hearing about it? I want all the details!”
Grace told her about the creek party and the way his kisses consumed her to the point of not being able to think. “He’s still my greedy boy, Soph, only everything feels magnified. And the way he talks…I swear his voice is pure seduction.”
“Remember how he used to look at you? You’d melt every time.”
“The way he looks at me now is that look onsteroids.”
“Uh oh,” Sophie said just above a whisper. “You don’t stand a chance.”
“I know. And he brought me M&M’s. I don’t trust myself, Soph. I wish your baby shower were today, so you could chain me to my bed or something.”
Sophie giggled. “I’m sure Reed would be more than happy to help you out with that.”
A shiver of desire tickled up her spine. “That’s what I’m worried about. Did you not hear me sayI don’t trust myself?”
REED SPENT THE day trying to focus on the porch renovations and not watching Grace, who had decided to park her gorgeous butt on a lawn chair in the yard and work in the sun. Needless to say, it had taken him twice as long as it should have to get through his tasks. When he’d wrapped up there, he’d come back to his place and spent a few hours working on his own kitchen renovations. He’d gotten a bargain on the old house overlooking the creek, and though he still had some work ahead of him, the four-bedroom house already felt like more of a home than his house in Michigan ever had, which wasn’t saying much. Something was still missing, and no matter how much he fixed it up, he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
After a quick shower, he threw on a white T-shirt and jeans, pulled on his boots, and headed out to pick up Grace for their date. As ridiculous as it seemed, he’d missed out on doing so many things for her back in high school that he was excited about finally picking her up for a proper date. He stopped for flowers on the way and had a fleeting thought about the guys she probably went out with in the city. He gripped the steering wheel tighter and wondered if he should have worn a button-down shirt. He hated button-downs and wore them only when he absolutely had to. He parked in front of her parents’ house and rubbed the scruff peppering his cheeks. He probably should have shaved, too.
