Page 46 of Overdue

“Umm. Aren’t your parents home?”

My shoulders slump. I have got to get my own place soon. There’s no way Reed and I are sneaking upstairs to fool around with my parents watching television downstairs. It would be all too awkward.

“Hey, don’t stress about it. I only have sex before dating and on, like, the third date,” he says with a grin.

“Oh, you thought you were getting sex tonight? I was inviting you in for a rousing round of canasta in the parlor.”

“Ahh. I might need to bone up on my canasta game then. Next time?”

“Next time.” I raise up on my toes to kiss him. He wraps his arms around my waist, turning the kiss into a promise of later. “Good night,” I say, a little breathless when we part.

“Good night,” he says with a smile. I watch him walk to his truck and drive to the end of the street. He takes his steps to the door two at a time. Before disappearing inside, he pauses and waves. I wave back. It’s a good feeling.

Heading inside, I find my parents right where I thought they’d be. They’re watching some documentary series on PBS. I join them for a little while before retiring upstairs.

This week feels like it’s lasted a lifetime. I’m glad the library is closed tomorrow. I spend an hour working on my manuscript, same as I’ve been doing every night. When I finally can’t see anymore to write around my yawns, I get ready for bed.

I must have fallen to sleep quickly. The house is quiet when I hear soft knocking on my bedroom window. That’s odd. My bedroom is on the second floor. Silently, I slide out of bed and crouch next to my window.

“Austen,” I hear whispered. Since it seems out of character for an axe murderer to know my name, much less whisper it, I ease the curtain back. Reed is crouched on the roof in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. I raise my window. “Hi,” he says.

“Hi.”

“I thought about it, and I really want that round of canasta,” he says.

I press my lips together to hide my smile. “You know canasta is not code for sex right?”

“Whatever. Can I come in?” he asks. I stand out of the way, holding the curtain back. Reed steps over the windowsill into my room. He takes a minute to take in the room. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in here before.”

“Yeah, well, boys aren’t allowed upstairs.”

“Good thing there are no boys here,” he answers with a smirk.

“Oh yeah?” I grab the front of his T-shirt and pull him to me. “Prove it.”

His lips meet mine as he backs me to the bed. We only part to pull his T-shirt over his head. I tumble onto the bed, and he follows me down. His hands push my shirt up until he can wrestle it off my body. Then his lips are on my breasts, and I think I might explode.

I close my eyes tight to focus on what he’s doing. His hands slide into my panties, finding my folds slick and ready. He moans his appreciation.

Desperately, he pulls my panties off and shoves his sweats down his legs. I arch to meet him when he enters me. His pace is slow but hard. I suddenly need to feel more of him. My hands explore his hard planes: his shoulders, his back, his thighs as they tense and relax.

“Reed,” I moan, as my body begins to coil in expectation.

“Again. Say my name again.”

“Reed,” I all but shout.

“Shh, I’m not getting caught by your dad with my ass in the air. He’d never be able to pull me off you. Not when you feel this fucking good.”

My body tenses as I clamp my mouth shut to prevent screaming again. Waves of pleasure wash over me. Reed picks up his pace until he stills over me. I cling to him in the unreasonable hope this feeling will last forever. But, sadly, nothing this good lasts forever, and Reed rolls off me.

“You want to know what sucks?” he asks.

“What?” We lay next to each other staring at the ceiling.

“We could have been doing this the entire time we were in high school.” He rolls over on his side to face me. I roll over to face him. “Probably just as fast too.”

“I think we were too young. Way too immature. Can you imagine the fights we would have had if sex had been thrown into the mix?”

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