When I Fall (Alabama Summer #3)

She stares at me for a second. Her warm hands touch my face, push through my hair.

“You and me,” she murmurs, beaming up at me.

“Beth,” I breathe, ducking my face under her head, kissing her neck, holding onto my girl so goddamn tight. Nothing else matters but this.

You and me.

Three Weeks Later

Beth

REED LIKES TO SAY I’VE been his since that first kiss. McGill’s will always be special to us for that reason, but here, at Swan Harbor, is where it feels like it all started. It’s where we stopped pretending and lost ourselves to each other in a dimly lit room overlooking an engagement party. It might be where I fell in love with Reed, or when I knew I loved him. It’s hard to pin-point that exact moment. Maybe it was that kiss at McGill’s. Maybe neither one of us were ever really pretending.

This room . . . it wasn’t just about those first touches, or the kiss Reed took that was all for him. I saw his pain in this room. I saw a man stuck in the past, held captive by his memories of this place and the woman who never deserved him. I wanted to be his distraction from all of it, but more than that, I wanted to be his only memory.

“I want to use my advantage now,” I say, sounding hurried. Frantic. Desperate.

“I was picking up on that.” He stares at my mouth, tilting his head down. “What do you want, sweetheart? You want to kiss me?”

My eyes flash open at the sound of the door creaking behind me. Reed sticks his head inside, smiling when he sees me by the window. The lamp in the corner casts streaks of soft amber light along the floor.

“Hey, there you are.” He moves across the room after closing the door. “Hiding out? Luke and Tessa are about to cut the cake.”

“I was just . . . having a moment.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Déjà vu, you remember?”

“Of course. I practically molested you in here.”

“Molested?” He snorts, gently squeezing my hips. He kisses my mouth. “I was a very willing participant, Beth. Best hand-job of my life.” He leans back, smiling. “Best kiss too.”

“Really? That kiss was the best one?” I bite my cheek to keep a straight face.

God, it’s all I do anymore—smile around this man.

His lip twitches. “Second best.”

“Mm” My hands tug at his belt. “I might be able to top that best hand-job, if you want.” He groans when I slide his zipper down. Warm flesh fills my palm, quickly hardening.

“God, Beth.”

“Reed?” I whisper against his neck, stroking him, moaning as his fingers dig into my flesh.

I knew he’d come find me. I knew exactly what I was going to do the second I stepped into this room, even before that. I’ve planned this out.

He tries to lift the hem of my dress. I bat his hand away, smiling at the frown he gives me.

“I can’t touch you?”

I shake my head slowly, rubbing my thumb along the tip of his cock. Squeezing him from base to tip, I stroke him in the same spot we stood all those weeks ago. He makes hungry noises against my mouth, biting me, sucking my lips. He tugs on my hair to expose my neck, telling me how amazing my skin tastes, how wet he knows I am for him. His hands squeeze my breasts, pinching my nipples through the thin material of my dress.

I can’t stop looking at him. At the light stubble dusting his jaw, the perfect line of his mouth.

“How long do you want this?” I ask as my back hits the wall.

He drops his forehead against mine, moaning. “This . . . hand-job? Until I come would be fantastic.”

I wet my lips, my breathing all over the place, erratic along with his. “No. This. You and me, how long do you want it?”

He leans back slightly, staring down at me through hooded eyes.

“I want it forever,” I whisper, fondling him roughly, squeezing his cock just how he likes it. “I’ll never want anyone else.”

“Beth,” he groans, pinching his eyes shut. His hips rock into my hand. He’s throbbing, swelling against my palm.

God, he gets so hard when I do this.

“How long do you want it, Reed?”

“Forever,” he pants. He sounds tortured.

“Watch me. Watch me touch you.”

His eyes spark open with desire, and something darker. It sends a violent shudder through my body. Tilting his head down, he watches my hand work his cock. His lips part, his hands on my waist tremble.

You and me.

“Fuck, Beth. I’m close.”

I reach my other hand into his pants and cup his balls. He gasps through a moan. Sweat beads on his brow.

“Marry me. Marry me, Reed.”

His eyes go round for a second, then flutter close as his orgasm takes him. “Yes,” he moans. “Fuck . . . yes.” He grabs my face, crashing our mouths together, moaning as his release coats my hand.

My body clings to him. I kiss him with everything I have, with every piece of my soul. Long, and deep, and full of all of my love for him. I swallow the soft murmurs of my name as he presses them against my lips.

He said yes! He said yes!

I want to scream. I want everyone to know that this beautiful man is mine. I want to run away tonight and make it official.

He reaches around my back and pulls me away from the wall, flattening my body against his.

“You said yes.” I kiss his jaw as he cleans off my hand with a handkerchief. “I really didn’t know if you would.”

He tosses the cloth into the trash bin, zipping up his pants. His thumb moves over my cheek. “You get me a ring?”

Oh . . . well, shit.

Cringing, I shake my head. “No, I didn’t even think . . .”

His hands fall away from my body, one disappears behind his back. “Thank God one of us came prepared,” he says, his voice curling deliciously.

My mouth falls open when he produces a tiny black box out of his pocket. I don’t know why I’m so stunned. I just proposed to him. He said yes. But the sight of him dropping to his knee in front of me has my heart racing so fast I fear it might break out of my chest.

I drop down onto the floor, grabbing his face.

“Beth,” he laughs. “What are you doing? There’s supposed to be a substantial height difference during this.”

I shake my head. “No, like this, please.”

I help him open the box. Tears well up in my eyes as he slips the ring on my finger, as he kisses the back of my hand.

It’s perfect.

“You’re perfect,” he says matter-of-factly.

Oh, I said that out loud?

He cradles my face gently in his hands. “Beth Davis, from McGill’s . . .”

We both laugh. He kisses me quickly.

“Brave girl, will you marry me?”

I throw myself at him, tackling him to the floor, planting sweet kisses all over his face.

“That a yes?”

“Yes!” I yell, giggling against his mouth.

He pins me beneath him, his eyes glowing like embers in the dark. “I can’t believe you proposed to me with my dick in your hand. Jesus, Beth.”

“It should’ve been in my mouth, right?” Sighing, I shake my head. “Such poor planning on my part.”

“Mm.” He traces my bottom lip with his finger, leaning closer. “This is for me. You understand?”