Chapter 34 Piper
THIRTY-FOUR
Piper
The ride back to Silver Ridge felt quicker. Less open-ended and free, more urgent.
I kept my arms tight around Grayden, my head as close to him as I could manage without knocking my helmet into his.
My feelings were kind of a mess right now, and I knew it. But what I wanted, more than anything, was to be close to Grayden. Skin to skin. To explore him and enjoy this connection we felt.
And hopefully not talk about what it all was supposed to mean.
The things he’d said at the bar… What was I supposed to do with all that?
The bike’s engine rumbled as we turned onto my street. Grayden pulled up to my garage. “I’ll open it,” I said, and jumped off to use my code on the little keypad. The overhead door lifted.
He parked the bike inside. Dang, he was sexy as he took off the helmet and shook out his shaggy hair. Swung his long leg over the seat to stand up.
We packed the helmets back into the saddle bags along with my borrowed jacket. Then I closed up the garage.
“Didn’t want the neighbors to see the Ninja parked in your driveway?” he asked.
“No. I wasn’t thinking that at all.”
“I don’t have an issue with it. It’s a smart move. They might think it’s Milo over here instead of me.”
I swatted Grayden’s arm as we walked to the back door. “Should I leave the curtains open? So the neighbors get to witness firsthand that you’re my overnight guest?”
I slid my key into the back-door lock. Grayden crowded behind me, his body flush with mine, and he pushed my braid out of the way to kiss my neck. The bulge in his jeans nudged my butt cheek.
“If you want to put on a show, wild girl, I’m game. But they’ll get an eyeful, considering what I have planned for you.”
Yes, all of me responded. My body, my mind.
None of my confused feelings mattered when sex was the main focus.
I wanted Grayden to make me forget everything else tonight but how much we craved each other. Everything but desire and sweat and all the ways we could give each other pleasure.
The door opened, and we stumbled inside. I quickly punched in the alarm code, shutting off the system. We both kicked off our shoes.
Grayden was still touching me, and it felt more like a necessity than a possessive gesture. Like he couldn’t resist this pull any more than I could.
He spun me to face him, his hands going to either side of my neck. His fingers massaged the tension in the muscles there, right where the base of my neck met my shoulders.
Grayden’s mouth slanted onto mine, yet this kiss wasn’t as urgent as I’d imagined it would be. We’d been building up to this for weeks. Finally getting naked together. But he was clearly in no rush. His lips slowly caressed mine.
Then he whispered, “Hi,” like we hadn’t been together for hours. Like this moment was something brand new.
“Hi,” I murmured back.
“I’m so fucking happy to be here with you, Piper.”
My next inhale caught in my lungs.
The first time Grayden had spent the night here, at my house, he’d needed a friendly face. I’d wanted to help him out more for Grace’s sake than anything else. Or so I’d told myself.
And last night, the second time Grayden had spent the night, he’d been here to comfort me. To make me feel safe.
But this, right now, really was something new. We were here because we both wanted to be. This was just about us.
“I’m happy too,” I said, ignoring the riot in my chest. Sex with Grayden could be special without it having some huge, life-changing meaning. I just had to forget about everything else and let myself enjoy it.
“Do you need anything?” he asked. “Glass of water?”
“I need you to take me to bed.”
“I can do that.” He tapped my hip. “Jump.”
My brain took a half-second to catch up. Then I put my arms around his neck and jumped. Grayden caught me, hands bracing where my butt met my thighs. My ankles crossed behind him.
I loved how strong he was. Given my height, I’d been with men who were shorter than I was, and size wasn’t a big issue to me. But the way Grayden could lift me so easily was nice too. More of a turn-on than I’d expected.
“You were kidding about leaving the curtains open, I assume?” he asked with a smile, and I laughed.
“Not actually an exhibitionist.”
“We did get pretty naughty in your coffee shop. Someone could’ve caught us. Those windows were right there.”
Arousal slid lazily along my spine. But the abstract idea of getting caught was far more exciting to me than the reality. It wasn’t my kink.
“I want this to be just for us.”
“Good. That’s how I want it too.” The gold flecks in his eyes shone. “Whatever we do tonight, it’s ours. Tell me everything you want, and I’ll give it to you.”
Grayden carried me down the hallway. The house wasn’t very big, not much bigger in fact than the place I was renting him. Though of course I’d made every inch of this house personal to me and Ollie.
“My bedroom’s at the end,” I said.
“I figured it wasn’t the room covered in Lego models and comic books.”
Grayden carried me through the open door and set me on my feet. The lights were off in here, so I went to my nightstand and switched on the lamp.
This room was my sanctuary. The walls were a dusky blue with white wainscoting.
My bed had a white duvet cover and tons of pillows in striped decorative cases.
A low-slung upholstered chair sat in one corner next to my bookcase, which had a variety of used paperbacks from Silver Linings and well-worn hardbacks of my favorite classics.
I’d never had a guy here. Certainly not to spend the night.
Sudden shyness made me press my hands to my stomach. Which was not like me when it came to sex. Usually I was fast and eager to get things going. Maybe because I never had an entire night to share with a partner, but still.
Grayden walked toward me. “Beautiful room for a beautiful girl.”
His next touch was soft, once again. A caress of his fingers moved from the crown of my head, over my hair, and down to rest on my collarbone.
“Can I undress you?” he asked.
My reply came out shaky, and I hoped Grayden didn’t notice. “Yes.”
Taking my hands, he walked backward and pulled me along with him. When he reached the chair by my bookcase, he sat. I stood between his open knees. Grayden stared up at me with a slight smirk that was just a touch wicked.
He was still holding my hands and tugged me forward until I kneeled on the chair, straddling his lap.
His fingers slid beneath my sweater. “Arms up.”
My sweater came off. The tank top beneath. My bra. He removed one layer after another without stopping. My breaths came in shallow pants.
“Want you so bad,” he murmured. “Look at you.”
Then Grayden was kissing my naked breasts. His tongue laved my nipple. His lips sucked the bud, and his brown eyes flicked up like he was checking how much I liked it.
Oh, I liked it.
I gasped and dug my hands into his hair. The air of my bedroom was a little cold against my back, yet the heat inside me and radiating from him was making sweat bead over my stomach.
His mouth moved to my other nipple and sucked until I was rocking my hips. Grayden’s cock was hard underneath me.
I wanted him naked, but I also didn’t ever want to move from this spot.
When both my nipples were deep pink and beaded and wet from his mouth, he sat back. His gaze was pure fire as he took me in. That shyness came over me again. Making me self-conscious, which was so weird for me.
Grayden unbuttoned my jeans and lowered the zipper, revealing the pink triangle of my panties. With my legs spread like this as I sat on his lap, he couldn’t undress me much more than that. But he didn’t seem to mind.
He dragged heavy breaths through his nose and out again, his hands on my hips, thumbs barely grazing the silky fabric of my panties. Building up the anticipation.
“You’re gorgeous, Piper. I can’t get over it. So fucking perfect.”
“I’m not perfect.”
I liked myself, and I rarely worried about things like stretch marks from my pregnancy or how my breasts weren’t as perky as they used to be before motherhood.
But the way Grayden was looking at me just seemed to strip me bare. And I wasn’t even naked.
“Perfect for me,” he said, as his fingers caressed a stretch mark on my stomach. “Every bit of you.”
Absurdly, tears burned behind my eyes and in my throat. My eyelids closed and I breathed through it. Grayden pressed kisses to my exposed skin.
“Stand up for me?” he finally asked, barely a whisper. And I did it without a conscious thought. Something about Grayden was so commanding without him even trying.
He slid my jeans over my hips and down my legs. I stepped out of them, toeing off my socks too. His fingers hooked the elastic of my panties and dragged them down.
When I was totally naked, he brought one index finger to the juncture between my legs. Testing and teasing.
“I love how wet you are already for me. How do you want this to go? You can boss me around if you want, Piper. My manhood can take it. Or…” He leaned in, his lips brushing my hipbone. “You can lie back and open your legs for me, and I’ll make it good for both of us.”
My breath quickened, but the tension in me was melting away. Turning me soft and pliant in his hands. “I don’t want to think right now. Want you to take whatever you like from me.”
Grayden stood, his hands on my hips, his body pressing close to mine. Though of course he was still fully clothed.
He turned us both so we’d switched places.
Then he went to his knees on the rug, dragging me along with him to sit in the chair in front of him.
I spread my knees and leaned back against the upholstered back of the chair. He groaned, nostrils flaring. “That’s it, wild girl. Show me everything.”
Just like that, any trace of shyness disappeared, and I felt like myself again. Someone who loved sex and wasn’t ashamed of that. And I knew that sharing this with Grayden would be incredible, so why hesitate?