31. Grace
THIRTY-ONE
Grace
I had been on an emotional roller coaster today. And Dane was throwing me for yet another loop. “Your investigator was looking for Grayden?”
“Found him, to be exact. Warren gave me your brother’s contact info today. I wanted to see if we could find him, just in case you decided you’d like to get back in touch with him. Since you mentioned it to me in Silver Ridge. But I got ahead of myself. I should have cleared it with you beforehand, and for that I’m sorry.”
I was still stuck on the first part. My brain was having trouble processing it. “You found Grayden. Is he okay?”
Dane shifted to take his wallet from his back pocket. He unfolded a paper from inside and handed it to me. I pored over the words. There wasn’t much. Two addresses, both in Seattle.
Grayden lived in Seattle .
A tear streaked down my cheek. “But he’s okay,” I repeated.
I hadn’t seen or heard from Grayden in a decade. Over ten years. I’d been a teenager back then, still a kid. I’d wondered if he was dead. But he wasn’t.
He was in Seattle, and I couldn’t get my head around it.
“Grayden has no idea we were looking for him,” Dane said. “We haven’t made contact with him. But yes, it does sound like he’s okay. Warren didn’t find anything to the contrary. Your brother is single, no kids.” Dane brushed away my tears with his thumb. “Are you angry with me? You have every right to be.”
“If I was angry, I’d tell you.” I shook my head. “I’m feeling a lot of things. Too much. But not angry with you.”
No. I just needed a minute to breathe.
This afternoon had been rough. The sheer terror of thinking I had been wrong about Dane. That had been like looking over the side of a cliff and feeling myself start to lose my footing. Awful .
Ayla had helped. She’d brought me back to reality. In a literal sense, because she had pointed out the subtle flaws in those pictures that pegged them as fake. Unfortunately, it was something she was experienced with.
But in the end, it wasn’t Ayla who had convinced me. It was remembering something Piper had texted to me a couple of weeks back.
Trust yourself .
Ayla was right that I had changed. I was finally ready to trust my own instincts and believe what I knew to be true in my heart. Dane was a good man. Did that solve all our problems? No. But for a girl who’d been so terrified of another man betraying her, it was a pretty huge deal.
And now, this news about Grayden. He lived in Seattle. I had his address and his phone number. If I wanted, I could call him up right now.
Dane had done that.
He’d done that for me .
I put my arms around his neck, unable to stop from trembling. “Thank you.”
“I overstepped.”
“Yeah, but just take the win, Knightly. I’m giving it to you.”
He chuckled and kissed my head.
“Ashford isn’t going to like this, though,” I said. “He wants nothing to do with Grayden.”
“This isn’t Ashford’s choice. It’s yours.”
“He’s your best friend. He’s going to be pissed that you got involved.”
“Ashford is important to me. But I choose you . Every time. That’s not even a question for me. Hasn’t been for a while.”
A cascade of fluttery feelings went through me. I tipped my head to look up at him.
“I told Ashford weeks ago, even before we left Silver Ridge, that I liked you. He asked me, flat out, for my intentions. I told him that was up to you.”
“But it’s not really up to me.”
“I disagree.”
I scoffed, but I’d already dealt with too much today. Too many emotions. I didn’t want to get into this. “Can I try that cheesecake you brought home? Dessert is exactly what I need.”
I started to get up from his lap, but Dane held me tight. “Hold on. Not so fast. Tell me what you meant. Why isn’t it up to you?”
“Because life is complicated.”
“Can you be more specific?”
I didn’t want to say it, but the words leapt from my mouth. This conversation was just pushing us toward the inevitable.
And Dane was so damn pushy .
“I’ll have to go home soon, and you’re probably going to stay here.”
A line appeared between his brows. “You think I wouldn’t go with you to Silver Ridge?”
“The ski resort is running fine without you. Your mom is here. Your life is here. Even if you come back to Silver Ridge for a few weeks or months, you’re going to leave after a while. I like being with you, and I want to enjoy it, but eventually it’s going to end. I know that.”
I had been through so much in my life, and none of it had broken me all the way through. So I knew if and when things didn’t work out with Dane, I would survive that too. Even if it meant a broken heart. I would keep going for my family. For Maisie.
But the thought of saying goodbye to him…it still gutted me.
Dane pulled me closer so my forehead rested against his. “We’ve already established I can be an idiot about holding things back sometimes. I’m not used to being completely open with anyone. I didn’t want to rush this by saying it too soon.”
“Saying what?”
“That I’m falling in love with you.”
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. “Don’t say that,” I whispered. Because I struggled to believe this was really happening. This was a messed-up dream, and I was torn between wanting to wake up and wanting to stay here forever.
“I’m still doing it. Not telling you everything. Here’s the truth. Since the minute you agreed to come to New York with me, I’ve been trying to figure out how I could keep you.”
My pulse drummed in my throat. “Colorado is home for me. That’s not going to change.”
“Then I’ll make it my home too.”
“Just like that?” I asked incredulously.
“Yep. I’m a decisive guy. Also, let’s be honest, I can afford to have what I want most of the time. Things that money can buy, anyway.” His gray eyes slid away from me. “I’ve never told you why I really bought the resort in Silver Ridge.”
“Why did you?”
“Part of it was envy, maybe, that Ashford had the kind of meaningful life there that doesn’t have a price tag. And part of it was remembering trips to the mountains when I was a kid. How much it had meant to my mom. I just wanted to find something that truly mattered to me . Well, you’re it. You’re what I was looking for.”
All I could do was blink at him. No one had ever said these kinds of things to me. “What about your mom? And Margot?”
“Leave those details to me. What you need to know is this. I’m in love with you. I’m in deep.” He laughed softly. “It’s a bit of a problem. It’s been keeping me up at night, plotting ways to make you love me back.”
This infuriating man. He’d pushed me into taking this trip with him. Pushed me into feeling things, wanting things, that I’d thought were impossible.
I had only just gotten used to the fact that I wanted to take a chance on him. I’d finally felt confident that I had my feet underneath me.
And now he was sweeping them out from under me. Once again.
My throat was thick, eyes tearing up again. “Don’t do this to me, Dane. Not today. I can’t take it.”
“I’m sorry, gorgeous. I love you.” He kissed a tear as it fell. “I love you.” He kissed another, repeating those words again and again. Finally he asked, “What do you say?”
“That I think I’m falling for you too. And it really scares me. But it’s also the best, most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Dane wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close, kissing me breathless.
For the first time in two weeks, he wasn’t being hesitant with me. His lips and tongue danced with mine, giving and taking. Making me feel exactly how much he craved me.
Then he pulled back, muttering, “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking about your injuries.”
I grabbed the collar of his shirt in my fist. “I have had a day , Dane Knightly. All I want is for my man to do filthy things to me. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“Are you hurting?”
“Not more than I can handle. You know I trust you. But I need you to trust that I know myself .”
I thought for a moment he might deny me again. But instead, he tugged me roughly against him and claimed my mouth.
I straddled his lap, my hands seeking out his warm skin beneath his shirt. My fingers traced his happy trail and ran through his chest hair.
Dane’s masculinity was such a turn on. The strength in all those muscles. But in the past several weeks, his body had become a new comfort zone too. I’d never imagined that the very thing that excited me, got my heart racing, was also the place that I felt the safest. Right in his arms.
But I was beyond ready to have him inside me again. To have him push my limits, the way he had at the beginning of this trip. To feel the intense kind of pleasure that no one else had ever given me.
Dane broke our kiss long enough to yank his T-shirt off, then my own. I got rid of my bra myself and pressed my body against his, my hard nipples rubbing over his broad chest. Dane’s eyes flashed with lust, and he grabbed my hips, thrusting himself against me. It was such a rough and dirty move, and I loved it. I felt how thick and hard he was despite the layers of clothes between us.
We really needed to do something about that.
He clearly had the same thought, because I was suddenly on my back on the couch, bouncing against the cushions. Dane unbuttoned my pants and pulled them down, then went to work on his own.
I went to take off my panties, but he shook his head. “No. Those are mine.”
Then he grabbed the thin, lacy fabric in both hands and tore it apart. Holy crap. A jolt of pure desire throbbed between my legs.
“Is this filthy enough for you?” he asked.
“Definitely on the right track.”
Dane shoved his boxer briefs down to his thighs. He fisted his cock and stroked it a few times, a predatory gleam in his eyes. Then he glanced to the side. “Fuck. Supplies are in the bedroom.”
“I’m okay just like this if you are. We can go bare.”
A groan rumbled from his chest. He brought his hand between my legs and circled my clit a few times before dipping two fingers inside me. I gasped at the sudden sensation, but that quickly turned into a moan. It felt so good. And I still had my shredded panties on, which I had never realized would be so hot.
“I’ve been aching to get inside you again,” he said, those gray irises as dark as gunmetal. “You have no idea how difficult it was to hold back.”
“I thought we weren’t doing that anymore.” I arched my spine and wiggled my hips in invitation.
He grinned, incisors flashing. Holding firmly to my hip with one hand and his cock with the other, he pushed into me with one long, smooth thrust. “Oh, damn.” His eyes closed for a moment and he gritted his teeth. “You better tell me if any of this is too much. Because I am dangerously close to losing control.”
“I’m ready for you.”
He grabbed my hands and pressed them above my head against the couch cushion. “Guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
He kept his upper body propped up, looking down at me as his hips pumped. Languidly at first, like he was testing me, before he picked up the pace and intensity. I had to wrap my legs around him just to hold on. The movement made me ache in my sore spots, but it just reminded me of how strong I was. I had been through so much, and I was still here. The fear that I’d held inside of me for too long was finally fading away.
I felt alive. Free .
“You’re beautiful like this,” he said. “But I can think of something even better.” He pulled out of me and went down onto the floor instead, shoving the coffee table aside and sprawling right there on the rug in the sexiest display I had ever seen. He hadn’t even bothered to take off his boxer briefs, leaving them down around his thighs. “Want you to ride me. Show me what you’ve got.”
I got up, shoving my shredded panties off as I did, and straddled him, crying out as his cock filled me at this new angle. Dane held onto me and bucked upward. Still rough, but somehow a little more gentle on my head and sore ribs. Like Dane had somehow known exactly what I needed.
Our bodies moved together in a wild rhythm. Saying far more than we’d been able to express in words.
And then Dane said, “I love you, Grace,” and my chest squeezed around my heart. I couldn’t say that back to him, not yet, but I still felt it. I felt more for this man than I ever thought I could for anyone.
Love was a risk, but I had never known that stepping out into the open, facing the fear and taking that chance, could make me feel invincible.
“You gonna come for me?” he asked, low and sexy. I couldn’t even answer. I was feeling too much. Everything crescendoed at once, the pleasure overtaking me. His name was on my lips as I cried out. Dane thrust his cock into me a few more times until he shouted, and I felt the hot pulse of him inside me. No barriers. I fell forward against his chest.
His heart beat against my cheek, thrumming just as fast as mine.