Page 72 of The Virgin Game Plan (Rules of Love 2)
Maybe it’s time to let fate take the wheel.
I text Reese. I don’t have a plan. I don’t know what’s next. But I know this much—it’s not time to move on.
It’s time to go for it.
Whatever the hell that entails.
* * *
Holden: I’ll be back tonight. Is there any chance I could see you? Because there is nothing I want more.
27
Reese
I lock the front door just as Tia and Wayne walk up the steps. They snap their gazes at me, twin suspicious and intrigued reactions.
“Hey, girl,” Wayne says, a curious lilt in his voice.
Tia doesn’t need words. She knows I’m up to something, and she gives me an eyebrow arch. It holds ten thousand questions, but especially these few:
Where are you going at nine thirty at night?
Why are you wearing something other than yoga pants and a sweatshirt?
Specifically, those sexy skinny jeans and the top that slides off your shoulder?
Also, how about that mascara?
Tell me everything, especially about that oversized purse on your shoulder that I just know is full of a change of clothes.
At last, she speaks. “Let me guess. Arms of Steel?”
I dip my head, hiding almost, like I’m doing something wrong.
But I talk myself back from that feeling. There’s nothing wrong with seeing Holden. We’re not hurting anyone. I like him. He likes me.
Except what’s happening between us is so much more than like.
I lift my chin. “I’m going to see Holden,” I say, as strong and certain as I feel inside.
She wiggles a brow. “Like I said, everything is about sex.”
Wayne shoots her a dirty look. “Can we go have some everything, then, babe?”
She laughs. “Go inside. I’ll see you in a minute.”
“For everything?”
“For everything.”
He pumps his fist, then, like a dutiful boyfriend who’s ready to get what he wants, he walks into the house.
Once he’s inside, Tia grabs my wrist.
“Is this when you give me some words of wisdom?” I ask.
She laughs. “No. I just remember what you said the last time we talked about this.”
She’s privy to the details, but the limits have changed. “Right. But I told you what Jillian and Adriana said. They’re fine with . . .”
Well, with whatever this could be, I suppose.
She sighs softly, squeezing my arm. “They’re fine with it, but are you?”
I furrow my brow. “With what?”
She flaps her hand. “With whatever it is?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know what it is. We’re trying to figure it out. He asked for time, and I don’t mind giving it to him. I don’t want to pressure him to do something that could blow up in the media.”
“Of course, of course,” she says hastily. “I get that it’s a delicate situation with your dad and all. I just want to make sure you’re fine with everything.”
I flash back to the last few nights of conversations with Holden, to the way he makes me feel, and I smile softly. “I’m fine with this. I promise.”
“Good. And if it starts to feel . . . not fine, I’m here to talk.”
I bring her in for a hug. “I know,” I say, but I don’t want to think about the not fine possibility.
I want to forget about the complications just for tonight.
Even so, my chest twinges briefly with a sliver of guilt, like I’m keeping a secret.
Though I’m not, so I shake that errant thought away.
“I’m so good. I swear,” I add, meaning it. “We’ve been talking and texting all week. I told him what happened at work, and he wants to see me. He just asked for time to figure out a plan, and that sounds more than fair.”
Still, it sounds like I’m defending him.
From what though? From my friend?
Tia gives me a small grin. “It does sound reasonable. And I’m not judging you. I’m looking out for you. I know you have real feelings for him.”
“That’s why I’m going. Because I do have feelings for him.”
“And he has real feelings for you, so just be aware of that,” she says.
“But if everything’s about sex, then we shouldn’t have to worry about feelings, should we?” I ask playfully.
She’s not in the mood for my double-talk. She’s all serious when she says, “Oftentimes sex leads to feelings. It seems that happened to you.”
In the Lyft on the way over, I noodle on all these species of feelings, the city whipping by as I go.
But once I reach his home, I’m not thinking much at all.
I’m tingling.
I’m buzzing.
I’m sizzling.
The second my foot lands on the top step, he swings open the door, eager, waiting for me.
His green eyes sweep over me from head to toe. He licks his lips, brushes a strand of hair off my shoulder, then loops one strong arm around my waist, yanking me flush against him into the foyer of his home.
His lips are inches from mine. “Mmm. Missed you so much,” he murmurs, then dips his face to my neck, inhaling me.
