Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
GRACE
Legend spread one large hand against my back, the weight of it offered comfort even as I rubbed my face against his shirt. The distinctly masculine scent of him was sweetened by a hint of maple and confectioner’s sugar.
“Were you baking?” When did he have time to do that?
“Not yet. I was debating setting things up for it, then broke it back down. We need to be ready to move.” There was an element of disappointment in his voice.
He flexed one arm around me as he rubbed a slow circle on my back. The warmth of his body enveloped me, and I leaned into him, trusting that he wouldn't let me fall. He didn't. He never did.
"Talk to me, Gracie. You look sad."
I turned his words over in my mind, trying to find the right way to express the turmoil inside me. "I'm not really sad," I started, my voice barely above a whisper. "I am, but—it's hard to explain."
He wrapped both arms around me again, his embrace turning possessive and protective. “Let's try it this way, then. What are you thinking about?”
The steady thump of his heart helped to ease some of the tension that had knotted itself inside me. "It's so normal outside," I said, my thoughts seemed almost as distant as my emotions.
The drive here had been intense, but also—not.
It was weird. The new safe house was in a brand new, upscale subdivision.
Made me kind of wonder if any of the other houses boasted a jail cell in the basement or if we were just lucky.
The weirdest part had been seeing others outside their houses, kids playing, cars coming and going—life.
"People going to work, going to school, just—going about their lives. That feels like a million years ago to me. It's only been a few months, but even that feels a lot longer." I blew out a breath. “In the middle of all of this ‘oddness’ there’s this knowledge that Bones is missing. He could be hurt. He could be de—” No, I didn’t want to invite that thought. “And as terrible as that is, his being missing isn’t as weird as that normal life out there.”
He didn't say anything for a long moment, just held me, his presence alone a silent support.
A part of me wanted to be one of those people out there, to return to normalcy.
But I was never going to be normal again.
How could I? After everything? At the same time, what was normal except the typical every day events?
So was this “normal” for Legend and the guys? Was this what they’d had to get used to over the years? Had they ever tried to change it? Did they want to? So many things I didn’t know. It made my head hurt almost as much as my heart.
The thought slipped into my mind, unwelcome but undeniable. Wouldn't even try to deny it. At the end of the day, they weren't normal. How could I want normal if they weren't a part of it?
"Gracie?" His voice was gentle, but there was an undercurrent of something else. Concern, maybe. Or something more.
I tilted my head back to look up at him, my eyes meeting his.
"Come with me for a little while?"
"Anywhere," I replied, the word slipping out before I could even think about it. He scooped me up, his movements swift and sure. "I can walk," I reminded him, even as he strode across the basement and toward the stairs.
"I know you can," he said, his voice a low rumble as he climbed them two at a time. "This is faster."
I snorted a laugh, then frowned. "Did you just call me slow?"
His eyes twinkled, the first hint of light I'd seen in them since he'd descended the stairs to follow AB. "Absolutely not."
On the first floor, he bypassed the dining room that AB had taken over with O’Rourke and Voodoo to do their research.
Once we were on the second floor, Legend strode to the end of the hall where he opened the door, then stepped inside and locked it behind us.
The whole time, his gaze never left mine.
The room was dim, the blinds closed, but there was enough light to see by.
"Would now be the time to remind you that I have had a lot of rest lately?” I asked, my voice laced with curiosity. I studied his expressions, trying to read the emotions playing across his face. I really had plenty of downtime while I’d been holding up the home front at the other safe house.
"If you want," he said, walking toward the bed while still cradling me. My heart did a little flip in my chest. "Or you can just let me look after you the way I want to."
At the bed, he set me down, his movements efficient and sure. Wreathed in shadow, he glanced up at me from his crouch. "Did I tell you how magnificent you’ve been?"
"No..." I said slowly, my mind racing. "Which time? When I was freaking out at the safe house or…"
"At the chateau. At the safe house. Before we got there. After. You're a grenade with the pin half out, Gracie."
That was such a wild compliment. Was it a compliment? It was difficult to decide. He slid his boots off one at at time. "Is that a good thing?" I frowned. "Cause that sounds dangerous."
"It's a very good thing," he murmured, then reached for my shirt and tugged it upward. I raised my arms so he could peel it off, my body already responding to his touch. "I've always had a thing for explosives."
My mouth opened then closed, then a snort of laughter escaped me. It was such an undignified sound that I had to clap my hand over my mouth. Legend didn't help, his eyes were practically dancing.
"You're beautiful, and you look fragile. Looks can be deceiving. You're so tiny, it makes me want to build walls around you that no one can breach. You've got a hell of an arm on you and nothing about you is glass."
"No?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"No," he said, sliding the loose tank I’d been wearing up and over before he tugged it down carefully before he folded it as carefully as he had my shirt and set it aside.
The room was chilly, and my nipples peaked almost immediately, but I didn't think it had anything to do with the cold.
No, it was the way his eyes caressed me. “Glass breaks, Gracie. You don't.”
If it was possible to seduce someone with words, he'd just done it.
Heat swept through me as he reached for the waistband of my pants.
I fisted his shirt and dragged him forward, my body aching for his touch.
He wrapped an arm around my waist and hauled me upwards, falling into me like we'd both been waiting for this moment.
His mouth slammed down onto mine, hard, wild, teeth clashing, and desperate. So damn desperate. Was that need his? Mine? Ours? The weight of his kiss was a brand. Maybe we were both on fire, but he seared himself into me.
Then he dropped me back onto the bed, and let go of me long enough to rip my leggings down.
He paused, staring down at me. Catching my right foot, he lifted my leg and traced a kiss over a bruise that marred my calf, then another that was on my knee.
Some of them I hadn't even realized I had.
Yet, he kissed every single one on his way to my cunt as if he could erase them with just the brush of his lips.
I was already squirming long before his breath teased my slit.
Then he kissed my pussy with the same kind of open-mouthed possession he had my lips.
I arched upwards, straining against the feeling as he stroked, nipped, and sucked against my clit even as he alternated between thrusting his tongue into me.
Zero patience. He had none, he pushed and pushed and that first orgasm ripped out of me with a scream. I shook as he lapped at me, and hummed. He fucking hummed.
"This," he said against my thigh. "This is heaven. You taste every bit as sweet, heady, and addictive as the first time." He pushed upwards and I ached at the loss.
"Legend…" His name left me like a groan in a voice I barely recognized as my own.
"Don't worry, Gracie. I am so not done." He stripped off his clothes with the same lack of patience he'd shown to my orgasm, then he was standing there, raw, naked and beautiful.
His cock jutted out, thick and red. The tip was damn near purple with the strain. There were scars on him. They all had scars. Tattoos too and I wanted to study them all, even the one that looked like a chemical formula on his biceps. Someday, I’d remember to ask what it meant.
Right now, all I wanted was… “You,” I told him, my voice filled with need. “I want you.”
He took a deep breath, wrapping his hand around his cock and fisting it twice. "Just taking the edge off. I don't want to hurt you."
"You're not going to hurt me." I pushed up and wrapped my hand over his. "I'm not glass, remember?"
He groaned when he relinquished his dick to me and I gave him a couple of solid pumps. Silky, hot, and hard as hell.
"You're right," he whispered. "You don't break.
" Then I was on my back again and he dragged my legs upward even as he pulled me to the edge.
His first thrust was raw, fast, and damn near violent.
But it was perfect. He stretched me even as he locked an arm around my legs to keep them to his chest. It was like being taken from behind except I could see him, feel him and he drove into me again.
Hips thrusting, he pushed deep and withdrew, then drove himself in again. It was like he was trying to fuse us together. I fought to arch my hips up to take him as the strain showed on his face.
Then he struck that spot inside and my head went back as I lost my grip. "There…" The only word to escape me, pushed out with his thrust.
Words were meaningless as I began to spasm around him. His gasp was music, then he let go of my legs and I spread them as he fell. As much as I longed to have his weight press into me, he caught himself on his hands.
"Wrap those legs around me, Gracie."
I happily obeyed that order and then wrapped my arms around his neck as he took my mouth in another kiss. We rocked together and I savored the feeling of him. The drive as he relentlessly took me toward another orgasm.
This time, he jetted over with me. His hips stuttered before he came in a hot rush and then we were just holding each other, slick with sweat, breathless, and it was my turn to cradle him.
He buried his face against my throat and my legs were like spaghetti, but he didn't try to pull away from me. Instead, as we got our breathing under control, he began to nuzzle kisses against my throat.
"Legend…"
"Hmm?"
"I think I'm hungry."
He was quiet for a moment, then he began to chuckle. Finally, he lifted his head. "Are you now?"
"Yes." I licked my lips as I pressed upwards and he rolled onto his back. "I know exactly what I want, too."
He hadn't let me do much before, but now I wanted to explore. I wanted to kiss his bruises. I wanted to taste him.
"Fuck me, Gracie," he groaned as I began tracing a path down his chest.
"That is the plan," I promised. I wanted more of him. I wanted more of all of them.