I woke the next morning to a persistent knock at my door, and I opened it to find an annoyed courier holding a small box and a clipboard, which he shoved into my hands for my signature. He took the clipboard back and handed me the box before turning to go. I walked back into my apartment and closed the door behind me. Looking down at the unmarked box, I sent a silent prayer that it wasn’t a bomb. I peeled the paper back and opened the box to find a new phone inside with a note.
Something tells me you will be needing this. I hope you enjoyed your Tequila-O’s last night. Waiting for your call. Reese.
Jessica must have told him that I had seen them on the bike and the violent abuse that I had given my phone shortly after. I still needed to process everything that had happened and all the feelings that had rushed through me in the past couple of days before I could talk to him. I didn’t know what to think of the jealousy I had felt when I thought Reese had replaced me with another woman. And I still had to decide if I could bear to see him again knowing that we had an expiration date that was quickly approaching. Maybe it was just better to cut my losses now than let pain seep back into my heart.
I sat down at my table with the curtains still closed and my cup of coffee, ready to try to sort out the thoughts flying around in my head. Should I risk the pieces that are left of my heart for the chance to spend a few more nights in Reese’s bed or do I tape them together and walk away, hoping that the tape sticks and the pieces begin to mend? Could there be any chance that Reese would want to extend our arrangement? Does he want to talk so we can end things now? And then there was the biggest question of all. When will I admit to myself what my heart already knew back in California—that I’ve hopelessly fallen in love with him?
My hand was shaking when I picked up what I believed was my fifth—or was it my sixth?—cup of coffee. “Whoa, Tessa, you’ve got the java shakes. Time to cut yourself off,” I said aloud while emptying the cup into the sink. Going back to the table, I saw the box still open, the shiny screen of the phone welcoming me to turn it on. I pushed the power button and watched as the phone lit up. I was surprised to find that the wallpaper was a picture that must have been taken of Reese and me when we were at La Bête. We were standing near the bar and Reese had his arm around my waist, his hand resting at my hip. I was smiling directly at the camera but Reese’s face was turned toward me, looking like he didn’t see anything else.
“Reese”
It was a relief when I learned that Tessa’s apartment building was so close to my new shop. It would take me less than two minutes to walk to her. It was both a blessing and a curse to know where she lived. I knew she was safe and sound because I had received the delivery receipt email for the package I had sent her. But knowing she was so close yet I couldn’t touch her was pure torture.
So I sat in the office at the shop, having switched to decaf a long time ago, waiting for her call. I had set my phone on the table in front of me and kept reaching over every few minutes to unlock it and make sure it was still on. When the screen lit up with a picture of Tessa that I had taken when we were on the beach, I was torn for a heartbeat between staring at her beautiful smiling face and hearing her voice. I pushed the button to answer the phone and brought it to my ear as I walked out of the office, knowing once again that this could either go very well or very badly.
“Hello.”
“How did you know where I live?” Tessa asked, giving me no inclination of how she felt.
“Jessica told me what you did to your phone when you saw us on my bike. She told me how you described your view from the third-floor window and I remembered where I had pulled over, so I went back to that spot and made a lucky guess.”
“Why didn’t you just come to my door then?”
“I needed you to make the choice to call me.”
The line went quiet for a bit before Tessa asked, “Why didn’t you just introduce Jessica to me?”
I knew she was asking why I’d made her jealous. I could have told her the truth, but instead I lied when I said, “I wanted her to be a surprise. Didn’t you enjoy your surprise?”
She laughed and relief washed over me. “Of course I did. I really like Jessica. She’s…” Tessa paused, like she was looking for the right word, then said, “She’s sweet.”
“I’m glad you girls had a good time. I had to take her back to the airport early this morning to catch her flight. She made me promise to be nice to you.”
“I’m pretty sure you are on the naughty list right now, Reese.”
“But, Tessa, it is nice to be naughty.”
She let out a full laugh that told me that we had to make it through this. Five down and only two more to go. A dark thought in the back of my head reminded me that the last two could tear us apart.
“So what are your plans for the day?” Tessa asked.
“I don’t know yet. That depends on if you are going to open your door.”
“What?”
“Open the door, Tessa. Let me in.”
She opened the door with a look of surprise on her face that made me smile. Two seconds later, she crashed into me, pulling me into a fierce hug, her arms tight around my neck. My arms wrapped around her waist and I let my hand wander lower to grab her ass. “Um, beautiful? You don’t have any pants on. Let’s move this inside.”
Tessa giggled and pulled me into her apartment, closing the door behind her. “I wasn’t expecting any visitors today. Besides, I don’t like wearing pants when I’m at home.”
That was when I recognized the oversized shirt she was drowning in. “Nice shirt. Do you know where I could get one like that?”
She looked down at her shirt and had the look of a kid who had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar at two a.m. Covering her breasts was what I’d literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into to create. Seeing the Deadly Seven’s logo on her chest made my dick twitch.
Tessa pulled at the hem at the bottom of the shirt, twisting it around her fingers. “Well, I saw a drawer full of them at your house in Mission Beach. You had so many I was sure you’d never miss this one, and I wanted a souvenir. It smelled like you,” she said with a pouty look on her face.
“It’s okay. It looks really good on you. But it would look even better on the floor,” I said as I pulled the hem out of her twisting hands and lifted the shirt over her head. Not only did she not have any pants on, but she was completely naked under my shirt. “Fuck, I missed you,” I confessed before picking her up like a man about to cross the threshold for the first time with his new wife The thought that maybe someday that would happen made my heart pound in my ears.
She squealed from my quick movement as I walked farther into the open design of her apartment. There were no walls separating the rooms, and I easily found her unmade bed peeking out from behind gauzy white floor-to-ceiling curtains in the far corner. I put her back on her feet beside me, needing to make sure there would be nothing to get between us I pulled the blankets from her bed to rest in a pile on the floor. The whole time, Tessa was watching me with a look like she still couldn’t believe I was here. I reached around and gave her ass a pinch.
“Ouch!” She jumped. “What did you do that for?”
“So you’d know this isn’t a dream,” I said before pressing down on her shoulders to sit her on the edge of the bed. I kicked off my shoes and quickly pulled the rest of my clothes off, not caring where they ended up. Kneeling between her legs, I ran my hands from her knees up her inner thighs. “I missed this. I need this,” I growled as I pushed her legs farther apart to open her to me and shoved my face between her thighs. I ate her pussy like a man who had been without food for weeks. I needed to taste her more than I needed air. Her hands fisted in my hair and I knew she needed this too—needed me.
While still caressing her clit with my tongue, I sank two fingers into her hot, tight pussy and she came hard on my hand. My throbbing dick wasn’t going to wait for her to recover. I needed to be inside her where I belonged. I sat back on my heels and grabbed her hips to move her toward me. Resting her back on the edge of the bed, I pulled her down until the tip of my cock was pushing against her hot entrance. She put her hands on my shoulders and I guided her hips to slowly sink down my length until I was inside her completely and then moved her back up. Setting a slow rhythm, I wanted to be able to feel every inch as I claimed her as mine again. I locked on to her eyes and tried to tell her with mine how I felt, just how much she meant to me. Tessa’s core tightened around my cock, pulling me to my own release with her.
We were lying in bed, not really talking about anything, my mind racing and trying to find a way to keep Tessa in my life. This was really supposed to be my last week here. The new shop was open and running smoothly. I was supposed to go home and go back to my regular life—my life that would be empty without her. I couldn’t believe I was trying to find a way to sabotage my own business just so I could be with her a bit longer. I wished I could just ask her to fly out and spend her days off with me each week, but I didn’t want to have another episode like what happened last time she had been on a plane alone. And then it hit me—I’d never told her that the shop was up and running. I hated lying to her, but it was the only way.
“I know when we first met I had promised that I’d only be here for a couple of weeks. Turns out I’ve got to stay in town for a bit longer.” I really wanted to tell her that I was staying for her, but here came the lie instead. “I thought I had the right guy lined up to manage the shop here, but I was wrong. So I’ve got to hang around and make sure that things run smoothly while I look for a manager.”
She nodded her head. “It’s important to have someone you can count on.” Her words twisted my lie into my stomach like a screw on a high-speed drill.
“Tessa, I need to know if I can keep seeing you while I’m here.”
“It might be dangerous for you,” she said with a little giggle.
“Oh yeah? Why is that?”
“Because I’m planning to go to my parents this afternoon for a family barbecue and you’d have to go with me. My dad wasn’t too happy with you when I showed up on his doorstep. And he owns guns—lots of guns.”
“I’m sure you’ll find some way to keep me alive,” I said as I kissed her temple. “What time do we need to be there and what do we need to bring?”
After a quick stop at the store for potato salad, we arrived at Tessa’s childhood home. While we were walking up to the door, she pointed out her old bedroom window on the top right side of the house and explained how she would shimmy down the gutter drain pipe to sneak out when she was a teenager. No doubt it had been good practice for the poles she would dance on later in life. Her parents still never knew she had ever snuck out.
We stepped up on the porch and Tessa turned to me, took a deep breath, and said, “You ready?”
“I was born ready!” I exclaimed and she giggled.
She didn’t knock, just turned the knob and walked in. The house was humming with life, and I could hear soft music and muffled voices coming from what I assumed was the kitchen. We entered the front room and I heard the sound of clawed paws scratching on the hardwood becoming louder. A second later, the biggest bloodhound I had ever seen came bounding around the corner, his ears flying through the air with the speed he had built up running. Right, her dad had guns. That plus this dog must have meant that he hunted, which meant that he actually knew how to use those guns. I wasn’t worried one teeny tiny little bit.
Remembering that the dog was headed toward us at light speed, I instinctively moved to place myself between Tessa and the possibly rabid beast that was getting closer. But Tessa had other plans as she crouched down and welcomed the dog into her open arms. “There’s my boy! Oh, Dutch, I missed you too!” she giggled as he placed sloppy kisses across her cheeks. “Where’s everyone else, huh? Are they in the kitchen?” she asked Dutch with a voice reserved especially for dogs. Tessa stood up and wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “Come on. I want you to meet everyone.”
Taking my hand, she led me through their large home to the kitchen that was situated just off of the living room in the back of the house. As soon as we stepped in the room, everyone went silent. Even the hand mixer that had been whirling stopped suddenly. I stopped dead in my tracks, like a deer in the headlights, as I realized that she hadn’t given them the heads-up that she was bringing me. Can you say awkward?
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet someone.” Tessa pulled me closer to her, tightening her grip on my hand. “This is Reese.” Pointing around the room, she said, “Reese, this is my mom Mary, my sister Emily and her husband Kurt, my cute-as-can-be niece Abigail, and my father Frank.”
I let go of Tessa’s hand and walked over to extend my hand to Frank. “Nice to meet you.”
He took my hand in a handshake that might have caused some hairline fractures. “I think we’ve talked on the phone before,” he replied.
Still shaking his hand but not flinching at the pain, I said, “We have, sir, and I hope one day you will forgive my past mistakes.”
“We will see about that,” he responded and let go of my hand. Tessa had already put the potato salad in the fridge and started in on helping her mom and Emily finish up making the rest of dinner.
Kurt walked over and handed me a beer. “Here. I think you might need this,” he said. “He’s really protective of his girls. I felt the crushing hand of Frank for the first five years Emily and I were together, so you might want to start exercising that hand.”
Knowing that Kurt had gone through the same thing and survived gave me a ray of hope. I could see that Tessa’s family was a tight-knit group and that there was a high price to pay to gain entrance. But looking around the room and watching the women talk and laugh while Kurt helped Abigail with her homework and Frank worked on the steaks on the barbecue, I knew that I wanted in, no matter what it cost me.
I’d had a pretty good childhood. My parents had split when I was three and I’d gone to live with my dad while my younger sister stayed with my mom. My parents had kept their houses within walking distance so that my sis and I could spend as much time with either parent as we wanted. And I’d thought we had never lacked for anything—until today. It wasn’t that I wished that my parents had stayed together. They had been much better apart, and they had even stayed friends, which couldn’t have been easy to do. But what had been missing was the feeling of having each others’ backs, no matter the cost. Of course I’d found that when I’d gone off to college and met the crew. You fucked with one of us and you were fucking with all of us. We were still tight, but we had spread out a bit and didn’t see each other as often as I wished we could. Being in Tessa’s parents’ house, sipping on a cold beer, I felt that sense of home that I had always craved without knowing what it was.