Page 14 of Secrets We Keep
“You two take a seat. Do you want wine?” He asks Jenna.
“Red, please, if you have it,” Jenna says, sitting on the couch.
“Absolutely. Dom, wine, or beer?”
“I’ll have wine too.”
Reid nods at us both before going back into the house.
“You okay?” I ask.
“I am. I feel like this is the right thing. You’re not feeling pressured into this. We’ve not discussed this.”
“You mean like Reid and you?” I smile at her. “Yeah, Reid messaged me when you left his office.”
“I…” Her mouth opens and closes so many times I’m worrying. Jenna is never lost for words.
Reid moves from the glass doors with a bottle and wine glasses.
“What’s the matter?” he smiles, and I’m guessing he’d heard part of our conversation.
“I’m not sleeping with you guys tonight.” Jenna blurts out before mortification spreads all over her. “Why did I just say that?” she whispers.
Reid and I share a look, and Reid has a gleam in his eyes.
“Well, good to know,” I say as I help Reid with our drinks.
“What I mean is…”
“Jenna, tonight is about us hanging out together. I didn’t bring you to my house to fuck you. Even though I’ve had a semi since we were in your office.”
“Okay,” she says as she relaxes into the soft cushions of the chair. “I mean, I want to…”
“Jenna, if I just wanted to fuck you, I wouldn’t have brought you to my house. I’d have rented a room in an expensive hotel and fucked you all night.”
She leans forward to pick up her glass of wine and slowly sips it, casting a look over the outside. “It’s gorgeous out here,” Jenna says.
“Almost as gorgeous as the company,” I say, the words slipping out of my mouth.
She turns to me again, giving me that nervous smile I’ve seen on her face in the last couple of days.
“I agree,” says Reid, smiling at us over his own glass.
Reid walks Jenna to the house after giving her directions to the bathroom. I stand up and walk further into the garden, stopping not too far from the pool's edge. I feel him come up beside me, but neither of us says a word. We both look out at the view in front of us.
9
JENNA
Ibreathe out relief when I see I’m no longer on my period. I’ve felt crappy all week, but the two men downstairs have made me feel like I’m the most beautiful woman they’ve met. A fact I know isn’t true, considering Reid could pick from the most exclusive menu of women at his disposal. Dom, he’s different. He’s attractive, but he doesn’t see the way women look at him. The way their glances linger on him a couple of moments longer, or if he does, he’s not arrogant about it.
I wrap my tampon up with tissue and place it in the bin. The only thing saving me from this mortification is the knowledge that Reid Taylor will not be the one cleaning this bathroom. I wash my hands and put some hand cream on what’s provided. This place is like a fancy hotel bathroom, not a TV and movie star’s home.
I take a deep breath again, glad that the uneasiness over my body has gone, and I can finally feel like myself again. Ugh, guys don’t know how lucky they are that their bodies aren’t taken over by some hormonal monster every month.
I run my finger under my eye, rubbing away a bit of smudged mascara that has made its way to my eyes after a long workday. Pulling my lipstick out of my purse, I swipe it over my lips. I’d never dreamed of being so bold as to wear bright red lipstick, but when Georgia bought it for me as a gift set for my birthday last month, I fell in love with the color.
‘You’re going to have guys eating out of the palm of your hand,’ she said, nudging me as I tried the color on for the first time. If Georgia knew where I was, she’d be blowing up my phone. I take one last look at myself in the mirror's reflection, and I’m glad to see the smiling, cheerful person I know I am deep down.
