Page 47 of Overdue

“Yeah, but at least there would have been makeup sex,” he answers with a grin.

“True.” I laugh. “I guess we’ll just have to make up for it now.”

“Caraway, I like the way you think.” Reed pulls my leg over his hip and rolls until I’m straddling him. He’s already growing hard under me. I like how he thinks too.

* * *

REED

I wake the next morning with something soft and warm snuggled against me. Pulling her tighter against me, I place a kiss behind her ear. There’s a moan as she stirs awake. Then she’s bounding out of bed and looking around in a panic. It’s adorable.

“Why are you still here?” she hisses.

“I also enjoyed last night, thank you.” She glares at me. “Relax, it’s only six in the morning. You don’t have work, and Gran isn’t awake yet.” Shit, I’m a crappy grandson. What if she needed me in the night and I was here? “I should probably get home, though.”

Swinging my legs out of bed, I stand. Austen throws my sweats in my face. Fortunately, I catch them. With a mock scowl at her, I slide them on. My T-shirt smacks me in the face. I quickly pull it on before she wings my shoes at me. When I’m dressed she shoves me toward her window.

“Seriously?” I’m twenty-eight years old and I have to sneak out through the window? She nods, and I push the window open. I swing my leg outside and sit on the sill. Austen is standing just within arm's length. Grabbing the front of her shirt, I pull her to me. I’m not sneaking out of here like some punk teenage boy without at least a kiss.

“You need to hurry,” she says before I press my mouth to hers. She pulls me tighter to her as she leaves me with no doubt about how much she enjoyed last night. Standing straight, she smiles at me.

Then she pushes me backward out the window. I land on my back and slide toward the edge. I manage to catch the gutter on the way by and land on the ground more gracefully than I should have.

I brush myself off where I grazed the crape myrtle on the way down. I’ll have to bring my clippers over later and fix where I broke off several of the smaller branches.

Looking up, I find Austen staring at me with a grimace on her face. She waves with just her fingers. I shake my head and start for my house.

“Good morning, Reed.” Did Austen think I could sneak home without anyone noticing?

“Good morning, Mr. Caldwell.” The old man has been mowing his lawn every Sunday morning since I can remember. This morning is no exception. I quicken my pace in the hope I make it to my house before too many of our neighbors can mark my walk of shame. Though, I guess they should get used to it. Even when Austen gets her own place, I’ll still be living here with Gran.

“Hey, Reed,” the Wolfe sisters say in unison as they jog by. They don’t even live on this block. They’re two blocks over. “Nice booty-call bounce.”

“Thank you,” I yell. I mean, what else can you say? Taking the steps two at a time, I’m surprised to find our front door open. I pull the screen door open and step inside. Gran is sitting in the window reading a book. “Hey. How long have you been up? Is everything okay?”

“It’s great. There’s a box of pastries in the kitchen that Elise dropped off this morning.” I head to the kitchen, grab a cinnamon roll and a bottle of water, and return to slump on the couch. “She said there was so much noise upstairs in their house, neither one of them slept well. Said she ran to the bakery early and thought I could use breakfast.” She grins at me.

No way we were so loud last night we kept the Caraways awake all night. Their room isn’t even on that side of the house.

“So what did you really hear?”

“I heard that you fell off the roof of the Caraway house this morning trying to sneak out.” Fair enough. At least that information is correct. “I also heard you spent the night.”

“I’m sorry Gran. I should have been here-”

“No you shouldn’t,” she says, cutting me off. I feel guilty for screwing up last night. What was I thinking, leaving her alone all night? God, I suck. “You're almost thirty, Reed. You should have a woman over whenever you want without worrying about your grandmother asleep in the next room.”

I just shrug. I’m not ditching my Gran to fend for herself. I feel my face heating at the fact that Gran knew exactly what I was doing in Austen’s room. Doesn’t matter how old you get, you never want your grandmother discussing sex with you.

“And Austen shouldn’t have to slip her boyfriend in through her bedroom window because she doesn’t want to upset her parents.”

“Okay, Gran, I get it. We’ll figure out something.” Hopefully, she’ll let it drop. I take a big swallow of water.

“Speaking of, I’ve decided to move into the Shady Acres retirement village.”

I choke on my water. Spit sprays all over the carpet in front of me. She rolls over and pats me on the back until I stop coughing.

“Gran,” I wheeze. “You can’t move out. Besides, the name Shady Acres sounds like a pet cemetery.”

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