Page 250 of What We Brave
"Look at me." I don't know where that comes from.
She does. Her eyes are dark, blown wide, and Reid is buried in her and her hand is crushing mine and I —
I watch her come.
Her eyes stay on mine. The whole time. I see the exact moment it hits — her grip spasms, her whole body goes rigid, and then she's shaking apart. Gasping. Saying something that might be my name.
She doesn't look away. Neither do I.
There.That. The way she looked at me while she fell apart. Like I was the safe place. Like she was fallingintome.
Nobody's ever —
Yeah.
Reid groans. Low, guttural. His rhythm breaks and he buries himself in her one last time, forehead dropping to her shoulder. Done. Shaking.
For a second I feel like I don't belong. Like I'm trying to put myself in the middle of their moment. I've barely started to move away when Reid's hand finds the back of my neck. Brief. Firm.
Good. We're good. Stay.
I stay.
For a minute nobody moves. Just breathing. Laine's fingers still threaded through mine, still trembling. Reid's face pressed into her neck. The three of us tangled together.
Reid lifts his head. Looks at me over her shoulder. Hair wrecked. Face flushed. Grinning like a goddamn idiot.
There he is.
He kisses Laine's collarbone, pulls out slowly — she makes a low, soft sound that hits me right in the chest — and collapses onto his back.
"Holy shit," he breathes.
Laine laughs. Weak. Spent. "Yeah."
"No, like —holy shit."
"Eloquent," I mutter.
"Shut up. You try forming sentences after that."
Laine turns toward me. Her hand hasn't left mine. Her face is soft, open, satisfied, and she's looking at me like —
Like it's simple. Like I'm next and that's just how this works.
"Hey," she says.
"Hey, Beautiful."
She smiles, and it's all Laine. But there's an edge to it. Hunger rising. "I want more."
Yes-fucking-ma'am.
Reid shifts, making room. His hand claps my shoulder as we pass each other. "Don't overthink it," he says. Low. Just for me.
Right. Don't overthink it. Because I'm too fucking good at that. And tonight, I'm not going to let anything ruin this.
I settle over her. Weight on my forearms. She's so warm. Everywhere we're touching is slick skin and heat and I can feel her heartbeat against my chest.
