Seventeen
SEVENTEEN
Cierra
“Are you happy again?”
I was sitting beside Greyson on the couch in my living room. The television was on, but it served as some background noise as neither of us was paying any attention to it.
Greyson and I had spent the last several minutes simply staring at one another, the tension in the air thick.
Though I had some thoughts about what might be going through his mind, he hadn’t yet shared. But it didn’t necessarily bother me, because I was caught up in the thoughts running through my own head.
After witnessing Greyson’s reaction to his friends joining us for cake when we were at Harper Security Ops earlier, I had grown a bit concerned. Because throughout the entire time those men—his friends—were there, Greyson had struggled to keep his cool. And the moment he thought they were going to polish off the cake I’d made, he couldn’t contain his emotions. It seemed he was willing to do anything to stop that from happening.
It troubled me, yet left me feeling a spark of hope about why he was reacting the way he was.
Now that we were here, alone with one another, and had both had some dinner, which he’d brought over like he promised, I thought it was time to address the situation.
Or, well, I thought it was time to address the situation better than I had in the training room. Because while we’d had a brief discussion about it, I wanted to be sure there wasn’t something else lingering, especially not with where I wanted to see things go between us—both tonight and in the future.
“Again? When was I not happy?”
I tipped my chin down and lifted a questioning brow. “You were slightly irritated with your friends this evening. Don’t tell me you don’t recall.”
“I do. Like I said earlier, they knew exactly what they were doing.”
My eyes studied him for a few beats. “I thought they were just accepting my invitation to have cake. They were being friendly, weren’t they?”
“Too friendly.”
Instinctively, I shifted my body closer to his, my legs curled up to the point my feet were on the cushion and one of my thighs brushing up against his. I placed both hands on his shoulder. “I don’t think you believe that. First, you don’t strike me as the jealous type. But more importantly, all those men are committed to other women, who they obviously love very dearly. As soon as you started mentioning their wives, the looks on their faces changed.”
Greyson placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed. “I know they love their wives and would never cross lines like that. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t irritated with them. Either way, they’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about them.”
“That’s just it, Greyson. I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about you.”
He held my concerned stare in silence for a few beats. “What are you worried about?”
I swallowed hard, wanting to tell him precisely how I felt while being afraid I might share too much. In the end, I realized we’d shared a lot with one another at the park on Sunday, so this was just another opportunity to be completely honest. With any luck, it would lead to me feeling as good as I’d felt after our talk at the park.
“That I did something to upset you like that. That there’s now tension between you and your friends, men who also happen to be your coworkers. That you might be angry with me for inviting them to join us, even if you said you weren’t bothered by it.”
Greyson’s features fell, a hint of horror in his expression, and he shook his head. “No. You, pretty lady, did nothing wrong. You did not upset me. Not one bit.” He let out a long breath. “The guys and I have always gotten on each other’s cases. And if I’m honest, I should have expected that when the opportunity presented itself, they’d do the same to me that I’d done to them. It’s really meant to be friendly banter amongst friends.”
That was good.
Great, even.
But… “If that’s the case, why did you call them out the way you did?”
He sighed softly. “Well, I guess that’s part of what the guys and I do with one another, too. I don’t want you to think you’ve done anything wrong here. Trust me when I tell you that on some level, they expected the response they got from me. The thing is, I was torn. On the one hand, I was happy for you, proud of how far you’ve come with training. I know it’s been a slow and difficult process for you, but you’re really working hard. And I’m glad the guys were willing to celebrate this milestone with you. But there is the other part of me that likes having you all to myself. You walked into that room tonight with the most beautiful smile on your face, and it took my breath away. I guess I’m greedy, because I don’t want to share that with anyone.”
The more he shared, the better I felt.
Best of all, he seemed intent on sharing. “I might be crazy for saying this, Cierra, but I think it’s important. I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. Never like this. And definitely not this soon. I can’t ignore that. I can’t pretend that it doesn’t make me think about why I feel that way. I believe there’s a reason I met you the day before you walked into Harper Security Ops looking for self-defense lessons. I think there’s a reason I happened to be walking through the front office the day you came in. And I think there’s a reason I struggle to get through a single hour without my thoughts drifting to you at least once.”
With a stinging sensation at the tip of my nose, my eyes welled with tears and my hand came to rest on my chest, my pulse pounding beneath my fingertips. “For a man who seems to balk at the idea of reading, you certainly have a way with words. This is twice now you’ve left me feeling like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest.”
I couldn’t deny the sense of relief I was feeling. What happened tonight hadn’t been about Greyson being some possessive jerk who wanted to control me. This was about a man whose emotions were running high from the second I walked through the door tonight, about him having me on his mind all day, every day. It was about him feeling something for me that went at least as deep as I felt for him.
“My heart feels like that every time I look at you.”
It was a test in sheer willpower for me to remain where I was, to not crawl into his lap and kiss him. To not beg him to ease the ache that had been slowly building between my legs.
I didn’t remain put because I didn’t want that. I absolutely did, probably more than I would even admit to myself. But I stayed where I was, exactly as I was, because after what happened earlier tonight, I wanted Greyson to have this moment. I wanted it to be perfect for him, because I knew in giving him that, it’d be beyond perfection for me.
Greyson had said he’d never felt about anyone the way he felt about me. It was time I gave him the opportunity to show me what that meant.
“So, you’re telling me your heart feels that way right now?” I asked.
Without a word, he reached for my wrist on the hand that was resting on my chest and urged it to the broad expanse of his own, placing my hand gently over his heart.
My eyes followed the connection of our hands until mine rested there, and they remained focused on that spot as I felt the rhythm of his heart under my palm. When I finally met his stare again, I saw the heat and desire swirling there.
I pressed my fingertips against his chest, his heart. “This is just from you looking at me?”
“That, and perhaps a bit of fear.”
I blinked in surprise. That response was unexpected. Greyson was not a man I ever associated with that emotion. “Why are you afraid?”
The battle raged in his expression. Should he tell me and face that fear, or would he keep it to himself?
“I’m afraid I’m going to screw this up somehow. It’s been two weeks, Cierra, and I don’t know what to do with what I feel. I’m afraid I’m going to say things too soon. I’m afraid I’m going to do things before you’re ready. Mostly, I’m just afraid I’ll ruin the chance I have with you and that I’ll never feel this way again.”
This man.
This big, strong man was consumed with emotions.
I wanted to ease the worry for him.
“Can I let you in on a secret?”
“Please do.”
I smiled at him. “I’m not perfect.”
His lips twitched. “You could have had me fooled.”
“I’m serious.”
“I am, too.”
It would have been one thing for him to have a playful tone when he replied, but it wasn’t. Greyson was deadly serious.
“Though I think it’s lovely you believe me to be perfect, I’m not. I make mistakes. I’ve made plenty, and I’m sure I’ll make more. I don’t expect you to be perfect, Greyson. I just want you to be you.”
“But you deserve?—”
“I deserve you,” I declared, cutting him off. Noting the doubt in his features, I asked, “Do you promise, for as long as we are together, that you’ll be loyal to me? That you won’t cheat on me?”
He ducked his chin, shooting me a look of disbelief. “Cierra, I can’t think about anybody but you. It’s not even a concern. If you want that promise, you’ve got it. I’m not a guy who steps out on the woman he’s seeing anyway, so that’s not a difficult ask.”
“Okay. And do you promise to always try to do right by me?”
Greyson’s eyes darted over my face, like he was searching for any sign of how I might react to his response. “I don’t know if I’ll always get it right, but I promise to try to make it so.”
“And when anything is bothering you or me, do you promise to sit and talk with me about it so we can work out whatever it is?”
“Absolutely.”
My lips curved into a smile. “That’s all I need. If you can give me that, you’re not going to ruin anything. I’m happy where I am right now, and I want us to enjoy this. To enjoy each other.”
Greyson nodded his understanding. “Okay. I’ll try to remember that.”
When he made no move to do anything else, I asked, “Do you think you can make yourself remember it now?”
“What do you mean?”
I leaned in closer, pressing more of my body against his. “We talked about finding a way to celebrate tonight. I was thinking that perhaps we could make that happen by enjoying each other.”
Heat and desire swirled in his eyes, and in one swift movement, he shifted his arm around my body and urged me closer until my ass was settled in his lap. Greyson framed my face with his hands, his thumbs brushing lightly over my cheeks.
His eyes roamed over my face, something dark and intense swirling in them. Nobody had ever looked at me the way Greyson was looking at me, like he thought I was some long-lost treasure he’d been searching for years to find.
That stare did me in, and my breaths came quicker in anticipation of what he was going to do next.
Just as his hand drove back into my hair, he spoke with a deep rumble. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how a guy like me could ever be so lucky to have a woman like you sitting in his lap, staring at him with eyes that are begging for more.”
Even if I didn’t like that he seemed to think he was unworthy of me, I couldn’t pretend his words hadn’t moved me. I loved that he felt such a strong physical attraction to me. Maybe it was time for him to see that the feeling was mutual.
One half of my mouth quirked in a smile. “Well, do you intend to disappoint and deny me? Or are you going to do something about it and kiss me?”
Greyson held my gaze only a beat longer before he applied pressure to the back of my head and urged me toward him. Then he captured my mouth in a bruising kiss.
We’d kissed several times before now, but there was something different about this kiss. Maybe it was the words Greyson had just said to me. It could have been the conversations we’d had over the last couple of weeks. Or perhaps it was the anticipation of what was coming next.
I didn’t know.
Truthfully, it didn’t matter.
All I knew was that something unexplainable swept through me—a need, a desire, a possessive instinct.
As we kissed, our tongues tasting and exploring, and the heat bloomed inside me, I realized that perhaps Greyson wasn’t alone in his thinking.
Maybe that feeling that had swept through me the moment our lips touched all came from a place similar to where Greyson’s mindset had him. There was a sense of disbelief that a man like Greyson could feel such attraction to me, attraction that seemed to go beneath the surface.
Greyson’s hands hadn’t left my head—one still tangled in my hair, the other at the side of my face, his thumb sweeping along my jaw.
I became acutely aware of those hands, and I imagined them on other parts of my body. The thought sent a ripple of desire through me, forcing a moan to crawl up my throat.
Greyson’s fingertips pressed in firmly in response, and his lips and tongue continued to claim my mouth.
Despite how much I enjoyed this already, it wasn’t enough. I was desperate for more. So, while keeping the connection between our mouths, I shifted in his lap, positioning myself so that we were chest-to-chest, my thighs parted and straddling his hips.
That was when Greyson let out a groan and dropped his hand from the side of my face down to my hip. He squeezed me there, and I took it as encouragement to go for more.
I rolled my hips over him.
Greyson was hard beneath me, and I wasn’t too proud to admit I wanted to drive him a bit wild.
It worked perfectly.
Because the hand Greyson had at my hip slid around to my ass and urged me to roll my hips over him again. He groaned once more, the vibration moving through me.
My hands had been gripping his shoulders, but the more we kissed and moaned, and I felt Greyson’s hands on me, the more I wanted to explore. They took a journey over the tops of his shoulders, toward either side of his neck and back into his hair. My hips never stopped moving, and when one of Greyson’s hands drifted up my side and over my breast, I had to tear my mouth from his. There was no describing the sound that came out of me.
Resting my hands back on his thighs, I took in the hungry look in his gaze even as I yearned for more of his touch.
“Please, Greyson,” I begged, unsure what I was asking for.
“Do you want me to make you feel good, Cierra?”
That was it.
That was exactly what I wanted.
“Take me upstairs.”
Whether he was planning to go there already or simply honoring my request, I didn’t know. But Greyson didn’t hesitate, not even for one second.
Hooking one arm around my waist, Greyson left the other planted squarely on my ass and stood. My legs instinctively wrapped around his hips.
Greyson climbed the stairs with ease, despite having me in his arms, and when we reached the top of them, I directed him to my bedroom. Once inside, he came to a stop beside my bed, and the two of us exchanged heated stares.
I wanted him more than anything else right now. My pulse was racing, desire coursing through my body, and the ache was growing between my legs.
Though I didn’t see any doubt lingering in his gaze, I wanted him to know just how ready I was, how badly I needed him. So, I tightened my arms around his neck and arched my back, shoving my breasts forward and urging his face toward them.
Greyson understood what I wanted and didn’t hesitate to give it to me. He buried his face between my breasts, inhaling the scent of me and groaning.
My head dropped back as he began kissing the exposed skin above the collar of my shirt as he bent at the waist and lowered me to my back on the bed. Until we were there, I hadn’t realized just how much I’d like the feel of his body over mine. Had it felt the same for him that day I landed on top of him during training, the same day we shared our first kiss?
As Greyson kissed and licked up the front of my throat, I clawed at his T-shirt, bunching it up in my hands in a frenzied effort to feel his skin beneath my fingertips. Seemingly aware of what I wanted, Greyson lifted his body from mine just enough to help yank the shirt over his head.
God, he was breathtaking.
Liking where things were heading, Greyson wasted no time. His hands came to the hem of my shirt and urged it up over my head. He tossed it aside, not paying attention to where it landed. His eyes were focused solely upon my body, his gaze hungry.
A flurry of chills ran along my spine as Greyson’s fingertips trailed lightly along the skin on my abdomen and up toward my breasts. He cupped my breast, squeezing lightly, before he pulled the cup of my bra down. Greyson’s eyes grew molten at the sight of my naked breast, quickly exposing the other. I barely had the chance to take in that look when he dropped his torso down and covered one of my nipples with his mouth.
“Oh, God.” My back arched off the bed with just one flick of his tongue.
Greyson sucked deeply, my fingernails digging into the skin on his shoulders and back. He licked and teased, moving from one side to the other and forcing moans of pleasure to crawl up my throat.
Despite the closeness of our bodies, somehow, I still felt like there was too much distance between us. “Greyson, please.”
With a growl, he lifted his head. “I thought you wanted to feel good.”
I swallowed hard. “I do. I want… I need more.”
A slow smile spread across his face. He hesitated for just a beat before lifting again, this time bringing his hands to my hips. Curling his fingers around the material there, he dragged my bottoms and my underwear down my legs.
Then he stood beside the bed and looked down at me, the lust and heat etched into his gaze and every feature. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet and tossed it onto the nightstand. And as he worked to unbutton and unzip his jeans, I removed my bra.
“God, you’re gorgeous.” Greyson stood, unmoving, just giving himself the time that he wanted to appreciate the sight of me naked. I was still on my back, my knees bent and touching as the bottom of my feet rested on the mattress. Greyson finally lifted a hand and placed it on my knee. “Spread your legs, Cierra.”
He wanted me naked and bared to him.
I’d give him anything if he kept using that voice while looking at me like that. So, I instantly complied and separated my thighs.
His eyes dropped between them, and the muscle in his jaw twitched. Greyson’s fingers at my knee slid around the back of it, trailing down to the base of my calf, where he lifted my leg and placed my foot over the top of his shoulder. Twisting his neck, taking his eyes off me for the first time, he pressed a kiss onto my ankle.
I felt a spasm between my legs.
Greyson kept going, kissing lightly up my leg toward my knee. When he made it there, I was writhing, my hips rolling and seeking friction from anything I could. But I was met by nothing but the vacant air.
The man who was torturing me pulled his mouth away from my leg and looked up at me with a gleam in his eyes. “Everything okay?”
“No.” The desperation in that one word was evident.
I was so frustrated; I hadn’t noticed Greyson’s hand move. He touched me between my legs, his fingers gliding through my wetness.
I’d been so worked up; I could have cried. “Yes,” I breathed. “Yes, please. More.”
He chuckled and lowered himself onto the bed beside me. Keeping one hand between my legs, Greyson brought his mouth to my breast again. At the precise moment he swirled his tongue around my nipple, he plunged a finger into me.
There were no words to describe the sound that came out of me.
Greyson drove a second finger inside, his thumb like a magnet on my clit. The movement of his fingers was steady—not too slow, not too fast—and my hips rolled and moved with his in that rhythm.
It had been a long time since I’d experienced physical pleasure like this, so it was no surprise that it didn’t take much for Greyson to build me up, to get me to the point where I was hot, panting, and begging him not to stop.
Always looking out for me, Greyson didn’t stop. He kept at me, doing what he was doing exactly like he’d been doing it.
“I’m going to… Oh, God,” I cried out.
Pleasure shot through my body, every limb tingling as wave after wave of my orgasm washed over me. Greyson worked me through it, seeing me through to the end. Only then did he pull his fingers from my body and keep them pressed lightly between my legs.
“Are you okay?”
I sighed, rolling my head in his direction. I offered a lazy smile. “I’m the best I’ve ever been.”
His eyes gleamed. “I didn’t think you could be any more stunning than you already were, but seeing you come apart like that easily tops the list. And if that’s how you look with my fingers inside you, I’m curious to see how you’ll look when it’s my cock instead.”
I bit down on my lip as the thought of having him fully danced in my mind.
“Do you want that, pretty lady?” He rubbed his hand against me. “Do you want to feel me inside you?”
Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded.
Greyson played between my legs just a few more seconds before he sat up and stood at the edge of the bed. He reached for his wallet, and after he pulled out a condom, he said, “Can you help me out?”
I sat up, went for the waistband of his boxer briefs, and pushed them down his strong, muscular thighs, freeing him.
My mouth watered at the sight of him completely naked. “Wow,” I marveled, reaching out and curling my fingers around his length. Greyson ripped open the condom packet with his teeth, groaning the second he felt my hand on him. I looked up at him, smiled, and stroked.
Desire swirled in his gaze, and my heart thudded. I’d never get tired of seeing him look at me like that.
Greyson gave me some time to touch and tease him, but he ultimately pulled his hips back and rolled on the condom.
Then he took one more look at me, and it was like something had snapped. He lost control and refused to hold himself back any longer.
He placed a hand on my shoulder, urged me back onto the bed, and climbed in. I’d barely had the chance to scoot back far enough when he grabbed my thighs, tugged me toward him, and positioned himself.
Then he drove inside.
I cried out, loving the feel of being stretched so full of him. Greyson hesitated for just a few seconds. “Are you good?”
I held his stare. “Perfect.”
That did it.
There was no longer anything steady about what Greyson was doing. He reared his hips back and thrust in forcefully again. Over and over, he went at me, never once faltering.
And his hands. His hands were everywhere. On my thighs, my hips, my breasts, and around my throat.
He alternated between being bent over, so he could kiss me as he fucked me, and being upright, so he could watch me and my body as he did it.
I didn’t mind either way.
It was all wonderful.
“Love your hair, Cierra. It’s my favorite. But I fucking love your pussy.” He pounded into me, our bodies slapping together, a sheen of sweat covering both of us. One of his hands reached down for my thigh, the other to my breast, his thrusts still just as powerful. “And these legs are stunning. Your tits are, too.”
“Oh, Greyson,” I moaned, feeling that pull deep in my belly as he built me up to a second orgasm. That had never happened to me before, and it left me feeling a bit stunned. Maybe it was the way he talked to me, or the way he took charge. Maybe it was that he was just that good. “You feel so good.”
“Yeah? You like it?”
My head moved against the pillow. “I don’t think I ever want you to stop.”
His eyes darkened, and he kept at me, but I could see the proud smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
I reached for him, feeling myself get closer and closer to that edge, and I wanted his mouth. I needed to kiss him.
Greyson slid his hand from my breast to my throat, planted the other on the pillow, and gave me his mouth. My hands framed his face, a silent plea to keep him there.
And Greyson gave me what I needed. His mouth, his tongue, and his cock.
The heat built, the tingling started, and the next thing I knew, I had no choice but to tear my mouth from his as it rippled through me. My body shuddered with such force; I didn’t think I was going to make it safely to the other side.
Somehow, he managed to see me through, and just as I felt myself coming down, I got to watch Greyson come apart. He thrust hard one, two, three more times before he buried himself deep and groaned, the muscles in his chest, shoulders, and arms flexing.
I’d never seen anything so perfect in all my life.
That was mine.
He was mine.
The warmth that spread through me was undeniable.
When Greyson joined me on the other side, and we’d both managed to get our breathing back to normal, he asked, “Did I hurt you?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? I… I’m sorry, I was a bit rough.”
“I loved it, Greyson. It was perfect. You were perfect.”
He smiled at me and kissed me softly on the lips. It was such a stark contrast to how he’d been only moments before, and it made my belly dip. Greyson had the capability to be such a commanding and dominant presence in the bedroom, but he also had it in him to be sweet and tender with me.
I was convinced I’d won the jackpot, because I didn’t think there were men like this in the real world. He was the best of everything.
“Are you a cuddler?”
I arched a brow. “Pardon?”
“Do you like to cuddle?”
Was he offering? “I think I’d be happy to try it out with you.”
He continued to smile at me. “Then let me go get rid of this condom and get you something to clean up with, and then I’ll give you that for a bit before I get another piece of you.”
“Another piece of me?”
Jerking his head back slightly, he asked, “Do you think that after fantasizing about you since the day I met you that I don’t have multiple things I want to do with you?”
If any of it was like what he’d just given me, it was safe to say I was in for a real treat. “Okay. We can execute your plan.”
Greyson chuckled, kissed my cheek, and pulled out.
I would have whimpered at the loss of him, but since I got to watch his ass as he walked toward the bathroom, I didn’t mind so much.