Fall for You (18 page)

“
Oh, Christ!”

She quickly learned the rhythm that he liked. It took everything he had not to shove his fingers in her hair and hang on. Sophie stroked him with her hand as she steadily sucked
him in and out of her mouth.

He was going to come soon if she kept up this delicious torture. “Sophie, stop. Gotta stop now.”

Sophie lifted her head and smiled up at him. “I think I got the hang of that.”

“
Climb back up here.”

She raised herself until she was once again straddling him. He felt the slick wetness between her legs. It seemed even sexier because it was all hidden underneath the
curtain of her skirt. Sophie was going to be the death of him. Reed knew it for a fact now.

“
I have one more thing to show you.”

He tilted her hips and pushed inside her with one hard thrust. They both cried out.

“
Ride me, Sophie. If ever there was a time to act like a shameless hussy, it's now.”

She choked out a strangled laugh and took him inside her again and again. Her inner muscles squeezed
against his cock as he continued to push up while pulling her down.

God, it just kept getting better.

He was getting close again. Reed pulled Sophie down and held her hips still. Their breaths were frantic. The windows were fogged up and it felt like they were in their own little world. Reed rubbed his thumb against her bundle of nerves and sucked her nipple back into his mouth.

Sophie tried
to move on him, but he only let her feel the fullness of him, not the friction. Her legs started trembling and her moans were getting louder. She cried out, “Please!” and that was when he let her move. He grabbed her hips and frantically helped her rock against him. Not a moment later, he felt the contractions of her orgasm. Reed thrust as deep as he could and came with her.

Once their breathing
got back to normal. Sophie tilted back and asked, “Does this mean you'll take me to the prom?”

Reed let his head fall back on the seat and laughed.

Then he sobered in a heartbeat. “Sophie?”

“
Yes?”

Reed's voice was rough as he said, “I didn't wear a condom.”

Sophie looked at him in shock. "Oh! Oh, my God! You're right!” She quickly scrambled off his lap, but the damage was already done. "How could we have forgotten something like that?"

Reed looked stunned but not necessarily freaked out. “Sophie, I take complete responsibility, but for the record, nothing that hot and sexy ever happened to me in high school.” She was buttoning up and
searching for her “Sunday” pair of panties.

Did they get kicked under the seat?

“
Reed, how can you make jokes at a time like this?”

He started the ignition and rolled down the windows to let in some cool air. After he adjusted his own clothing, he looked at her seriously. “I wasn't joking, Sophie. If you're really worried, it's okay. I'm clean. While I was in the Navy, I got tested regularly.
As a matter of fact, that's the first time I forgot to use a condom. Ever. I've never even gotten carried away to the point that I would forget.”

Reed didn't ask, but she supplied the info anyway.

“
I've
always
used a condom during sex so, yes, I'm clean too. But Reed, that's not what I'm worried about.”

He raised his brows in question.

“
I'm not on the pill.”

He continued to stare at her,
so she spelled it out for him.

“
No birth control means there's a chance I could get pregnant.”

She should have known Reed wouldn't react the way she expected. Instead of flipping out like most men in this situation, he smiled at her.

“
Really?”

“
Yes,
really
.”

“
When will you know for sure?” He was being strangely calm about this.

Sophie did the math. “As soon as a week and a half. Probably
closer to two weeks. After that, I should know.” She frowned. “Why don't you look concerned?”

Reed reached for her hand and pressed his lips to her fingertips. He looked as if he were searching for the right words. “I understand your worry considering it's your body. But, if you
were
pregnant, how would you feel about it? Would you want the baby?”

She was still in shock. Sophie had always wanted
children, but this was seriously putting the cart before the horse. “It's only a possibility at this point. There might not be anything to worry about.”

Nodding, Reed agreed. “That's true. But I want to know what
you
would do if you ended up pregnant.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
You know what I mean.” He gazed at her resolutely.

She really didn't know what he meant for a second but then it hit her.
“Oh! Wait a minute! No! I wouldn't do anything about it!” Sophie shook her head. “What I mean is, that if there were a baby, I would keep it.”

Reed seemed to let out a breath he was holding. “Good. Okay. I know you have a choice and I respect you for it but the baby is part mine. I share responsibility. As for my not freaking out, it's unexpected but not a catastrophe, at least not for me.”

“
Why is that?”

“
I'm an adult, gainfully employed, and deeply in love with you.”

That hit her straight in the heart.

“
Same here. I love you too, but we don't know anything yet! It's too early to be talking about a baby that might not even be real!”

Reed skimmed his fingertips along her arm. “Either way, I wanted you to know that I'll stand by you.”

Sophie knew Reed would stand by her. He was
a good man and she loved him for it. Even so, she didn't want him to feel trapped into staying with her out of duty. She gave him a soft kiss, then put her seat belt on. “Let's wait and see what happens. We'll deal with it then, okay?”

He nodded at her, put the truck in gear, and pulled back onto the road. “I was thinking.”

Sophie glanced his way. “About?”

Winking at her, Reed said, “Do you
think your mom will let us have a sleepover?”

* * * *

The next afternoon, Reed picked up Ben so they could continue their work on the shop wall. When Ben opened the passenger door, he looked at him and rolled his eyes. “That stupid grin hasn't worn off yet?”

Reed laughed. “Maybe you need a stupid grin of your own so you won't worry about mine.”

Settling into the passenger seat, Ben went to
fasten his seat belt, then pulled out something that was wedged in the seat. He lifted up a pair of,
oh shit,
“Sunday” panties.

Raising his eyebrows at the bunny panties, he asked, “Something you want to tell me?”

He snatched them out of Ben's hands. “None of your damn business!”

Ben wouldn't let it go. “Is that a big carrot across the…”

It was too dark to see them last night so this was his
first viewing too.

Reed shoved them into his front pocket. “Shut up.”

“
I take it the dinner went well then?”

Sighing, Reed shook his head and told him. “Not exactly. Mom's got some kind of problem with Sophie. She screwed with the cookie order on purpose.”

“
That's not right. Why would anyone want to mess with Sophie? She's nice.”

“
I don't know. It's weird. She's never tried to sabotage my
relationships before.”

Ben didn't say anything, but he looked conflicted. Then he shrugged. “Just so you know, I'm not a gossip.”

“
You don't talk enough to be a gossip. So?”

“
So, Tracy told me something.”

“
About?” Reed didn't want to drag it out of him.

“
Your mom.” He winced.

“
What about her?” This was like pulling teeth.

“
She's done this before.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair and
said, “To Sophie.” Thankfully, Ben continued on without prodding. “Tracy said that Dot humiliated her outside a gas station.”

Reed had a bad feeling he knew the answer, but he had to ask. “When was this, Ben? Did Tracy say?”

Ben nodded.

“
Ben?”

He sighed. “When you guys were in high school. I think they were coming back from getting pizza.”

“
Tell me what she said to her.”

“
She put her down
and said you felt sorry for her. You can ask Sophie about the rest.” He looked uncomfortable and ready to change the subject to anything else.

“
Don't worry, Ben. I'm not going to shoot the messenger. Thanks for telling me.”

“
All right, then.” As usual, Ben didn't say much else but he'd given Reed a lot to think about. He'd connected the dots pretty quickly, but he wanted Sophie to fill in the
rest.

* * * *

After not seeing Tracy at her counter, Ben got right to work. Reed traveled to the back in search of Sophie. “Be back in a minute.”

Smirking, Ben said, “Sure you will.”

He found Sophie in the storeroom, checking supplies. Reed tried to make noise when he walked in so he wouldn't startle her this time. She had on a red sleeveless top and tan capris. Her sandy blonde hair was up
in a loose ponytail. Sophie also had on matching red sneakers, so Reed thought she was safe from tripping on anything.

Not that he'd mind catching her again.

“
Did Tracy make carrot cake today?”

Sophie jumped at the sound of his voice. “Reed! Quit doing that!” Getting back to the question, she said, “No. Was she supposed to?”

Reed walked into the little room and reached into his front pocket.
He pulled out her panties and said, “I thought it would go well with the bunnies.”

In a flash, Sophie snatched them out of his hand and laughed. “Where did you find them? I searched all over the cab.”

He rubbed an awkward hand across the back of his neck. “Well, I didn't exactly find them. Ben did.”

“
Ben saw my underwear?” The question was hissed out in an embarrassed whisper.

Reed went on
to reassure her. “Only for a second. He found them wedged in the seat when he was buckling his seat belt.”

Sophie jammed the panties into her pocket. They bulged out the side in a wadded lump. “Will there ever be a time when I'm not embarrassed in front of Ben?”

Reed pulled her in and gave her a hug. As he rubbed his hand along the length of Sophie's spine, he said, “Think of it this way. You
probably made his day. Who knows the last time Ben got to see a pair of women's panties up close? Especially sexy ones with bunnies.”

She mumbled against his chest. “You're terrible.”

“
I know.” Without letting go of her, he said, “Speaking of Ben, he told me an interesting story that he heard from Tracy.”

Sophie stiffened. “What did she say now?” She rolled her eyes. “Was it about the time
I tried to highlight my hair in college and it turned green? My head looked like a shamrock for a month. She loves to share that one.”

Reed had to smile at that. “No, but I definitely want to hear that story later.” He pulled back so he could look in her eyes. “This story happened before college…and it involved my mom.”

* * * *

Well, damn.

Sophie knew nothing good was going to come from this
conversation.

“
What did he say?”

She found herself backed against the wall. Dredging this up wasn't going to make anything better.

“
He said that Mom humiliated you outside of the Gas N Go.” Reed tilted her chin up so she would look at him. “Tell me what happened, Sophie. I heard the part about her saying I felt sorry for you. I can tell you right now that was utter bullshit.”

“
I know that
now. But since it came from your mom, I believed her.” Sophie glanced away as she said it.

Reed tilted her chin up. “I want to hear your side of it so start from the beginning.”

She stared up at his expression and saw that he was perfectly serious. Sophie took a deep, calming breath, let it out in a whoosh and started from the beginning.

“
It was that night we all went out to the Pizza Palace.
We were on our way home and Tracy needed to get gas and I wanted some chocolate. When we came out of the Gas N Go, we overheard Elaine Newman talking to your mom. She was telling her about seeing the two of us sitting together eating. I guess Elaine could see you and me through the window from the street.”

“
Nosy bitch.” Reed was beginning to look annoyed.

“
So anyway, she mentioned that I was
getting cozy with you over dinner and that I had my eye on her son. She didn't like that at all.”

Sophie looked down at her shoes, not wanting to tell him the rest.

“
Go on.” Reed encouraged her to finish it.

“
Elaine said I was Lucy Brandon's daughter. Your mom seemed to take exception to that. She said that you couldn't be interested in me because you had better taste than that. You must have
felt sorry for me.”

He was shaking his head to refute what Dot said. “No, just…no. There's more, isn't there?”

Sophie nodded unhappily.

“
Then she looked right at me and said to Elaine, 'Some might find her pretty, but trust me, she's not that great.'”

“
Is that why you wouldn't talk to me?”

“
I had just left from a wonderful evening with you. I was devastated when she said that. Here I thought
that you might really like me and your mom made me feel like a charity case. I felt stupid for having a crush on you if the only reason you talked to me was out of pity.”

Reed looked pissed off. He turned around and paced a few steps, then came back. “How could you believe her?”

“
How could I not? I was an insecure kid and she was an adult
and
your mother. I figured she would know if you were
interested in me or not. Besides, more than a dozen people heard her say it.”