I groan and fist my hair.
Reid’s naked body is pressed up against my back, his erection ready to go, but I’m currently dying, so it’s tough luck to him.
His chest shakes as he laughs.
“Shh. Be still,” I whisper.
“Regretting the shots?”
“Please don’t talk about alcohol. Reid, help me.”
He laughs again and unwraps himself from me. “All right. I’ll get you some water and a strong coffee. Can you eat anything yet?”
“Shh,” I whisper again. “Why aren’t you in pain?”
“I did about half the number of shots that you did.”
I can hear him moving around the room. He gets something out of the mini fridge. All of his movements are very loud. I didn’t even plan on getting drunk.
“Here, sit up. I’ve got you water. Do you have any painkillers?”
“Bag,” I groan.
“Mila,” he says softly, pulling me up.
I sit and pout while my head pounds. “It was a good night, right? The last thing I remember is dancing with Indie and Wren to The Killers.”
“It was an excellent night. You wanted to dirty dance with me after that. I made you keep it PG, don’t worry. You can show your face in front of Spencer’s grandparents.”
I groan again.
“Then you told the DJ you loved him for playing By the Way but took it back when some ABBA song came on. You really don’t like them, do you?”
“I don’t know why people continue to play them. Ridiculous.” Rubbing my forehead, I open my eyes and wince against the sunlight. “We didn’t close the curtains.”
He smirks over his shoulder. “No, you were very busy when we got in last night.”
“I was? What were you doing?”
He starts making me a coffee with the Nespresso machine. “I was busy being mauled by this gorgeous drunk with a fascination for my chest.”
I rub my tired eyes. “What did I do?”
He laughs and stirs my coffee. “You spent about ten minutes kissing and licking my chest before you let me roll you over.” He walks around to my side of the bed. “I think you fell asleep in about two seconds flat when I held you.”
I take the coffee, looking up at him, horrified. “You didn’t want sex?”
“Oh, I wanted it. You were a bit past it. I was hard all night after having your mouth on me.”
“I’m such a mess,” I groan and sip the coffee.
Reid finds me some tablets and hands me two. “You’re not a mess.”
“It sounds like I was.”
I swallow the pills and wash them down with more coffee.
Reid strokes the side of my face, and I lean into him. “You weren’t a mess. You were having fun. I loved watching you with your friends, especially the dancing. You looked so free, and I love taking care of you, drunk or sober.”
“You’re strange.”
He chuckles. “I’ve got it bad.”
“You have?”
Reid takes my mug and places it on the bedside table. He sits down and pulls me onto his lap. I go willingly and breathe him in.
“You’re a better hangover cure than coffee,” I say, pressing my face into his collarbone. God, he smells so good.
“How are you doing now?” he asks, massaging my scalp.
My eyes fall shut. “Good. That feels good.”
His hand trails down across my jaw to cup my chin.
When I look up at him, he’s staring at me.
“I’m taking you out tonight” he says. “There’s this new Japanese restaurant open in town, and this is long overdue. The escape room is booked up, so we’ll have to do that another time.”
Stop press. This is him asking me out.
“You’re taking me to a restaurant?”
“It’s time I took you on a date, don’t you think?”
I’m trying not to freak out, but he’s basically just stuck a massive label on us. We’ve moved from friends fooling around to us now dating. At freaking last! I would get up and do a happy dance if I didn’t feel so rough.
“Are you speechless, Mila? You? Is there a total solar eclipse happening that I missed?”
“All right. I was just trying to figure out when you got so brave.”
Laughing, he runs his fingertip over my bottom lip, and I’m pretty sure my headache has gone. “You coming out with me, Mila?”
“Obviously. Thought that was pretty clear by now.”
“It is.”
My mouth falls open, and he drops his hand. “What is wrong with you?”
“You needed time. There was so much you were still learning about yourself, and I didn’t want to get in the way of you searching for who you are and what you want. Besides, I’m not going to be anyone’s rebound, no matter how beautiful she is.”
“Beautiful, huh?”
“I can barely keep my hands off you. Come on, let’s have a shower and go down for breakfast.”
“I have no energy.”
“The only thing required of you is to stand under the water. I’ll do the rest.” He gets up and holds his hand out.
Reid is going to wash me in the shower, and I am so here for it.
We walk – I stumble – into the bathroom.
I lean against the wall and watch him turn the water on. My head is more of a dull ache than a hammering now, so I know the hangover isn’t going to be as bad as I first thought.
He takes my hand and leads me into the glass double shower. I step under the falling water and lean into him.
“Mila,” he says with amusement in his voice.
All right, I’m a bit pathetic right now, but since when did I get old enough to have a hangover from drinking as little as I did? Even just a small one.
“I’ll be okay in a minute.”
Reid runs his hands though my hair, and then I hear the snap of a shampoo bottle.
“Are you going to wash my hair?”
He answers with his hands, his fingertips raking over my scalp in circles, lathering my hair.
I close my eyes as the water runs down my face.
Reid washes my hair before he moves to my body. He doesn’t say a word with his voice, but everything I need to hear is loud enough from his actions.
I have never felt so secure with someone. Reid hasn’t promised me anything, but I know I’m safe with him. If he accepts my heart, he will guard it for life. He won’t hurt me, and he won’t back off or hold on until it kills us.
I’ll always be first, and so will he.
Reid washing my hair is the best thing ever.
When he’s done, and I’m clean, he places a kiss to the top of my head.
“Are you feeling better?” he asks.
I look up, and the sight of his dark eyes under soaking hair almost makes my knees buckle.
“Yeah.”
He doesn’t take his eyes off me while he washes himself, either. My lungs feel as flat as pancakes. I haven’t passed out yet, so I must be breathing.
He steps forwards when he’s done, so I move backwards, out of the shower.
Reid reaches around me, his breath touching my face and making my skin prickle. He pulls a fluffy towel around my body and wraps me up.
“We need to meet your friends for breakfast in ten minutes,” he says.
“I don’t want food.”
“But you need it.”
“Reid.”
He wraps a towel around his waist. “We have all day together but, right now, we need to get you fed.”
“Fine.”
“Ten minutes. Get moving.”
I spin around, running for the hairdryer. There’s little I can do in ten minutes to make my face look less like I’ve been on a bender, but I can at least have nice hair. I spend a lot at the salon. I’m certain that I don’t need all those conditioning treatments with some magical fucking oil syphoned straight from unicorns, but I still spend fifty pounds on that extra treatment every four weeks.
When Reid and I are dressed, we make it to our table with a minute to spare.
Wren looks bright because she obviously isn’t hungover. As if he’s knocked her up before our girls’ holiday. Indie also looks perfect because she doesn’t drink much. Spencer is smiling so much, it’s hard to tell if he’s suffering. Brody, however, looks about as good as me.
“Hey,” I say, sitting down.
Reid puts our lattes on the table.
“How are you two?” I ask the happy couple.
“We’re good,” Indie replies. Spencer wraps his arm around Indie’s chair.
“You feel shit, too, right?” Brody asks.
“Yeah, I hate them all. I planned on getting Reid wasted, but I accidentally beat him to it.”
Reid laughs.
“What time do you have to leave?” I ask Indie.
“Straight after breakfast.”
“A week in Bali. I should’ve married Spencer’s old co-star.”
Reid doesn’t bite, and I didn’t say it to get a rise out of him. “You know Bali lets you in if you’re not famous, right?” he replies.
“Get it booked then,” I say, smiling sweetly.
The thought about having him all to myself with no distractions for a whole week makes me want to hit up TripAdvisor.
“Graduate, and we’ll go.”
It’s that simple to him, and I love it. I graduate next year. I can’t wait to travel the world by his side.
I don’t look at Wren or Indie, but I can feel their excitement. They don’t know that Reid and I are off on our first date tonight. I’ll tell them after. The feeling of security with a man isn’t one I’ve felt in a very long time, but Reid has shown me that I’m what he wants and that he isn’t going anywhere.
I can see the kind of future we would have together, and I really want it.
Thirty minutes later, we’re waving Indie and Spencer off, along with his parents. It’s absolutely freezing out but I’m so warm inside. Happiness will do that to you. I don’t care if the sky is grey or that the air bites at my skin.
I lean on Reid’s shoulder when their car disappears around the corner. Indie is under strict instructions to check in when she gets time. I’m sure she’ll be very busy, though.
Brody is whisking Wren away to a little cottage by the coast for a few days. It’s quite secluded, apparently. So they’re basically off for a dirty weekend, leaving Brody’s mum at theirs to dog sit.
Reid and I are going back home before dinner. I’m so much more excited about our plans.
First. Date.