Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
MACK
“ D on’t you dare be gentle,” Grace breathes. My teeth graze her neck as one hand cups a breast. I wind a hand around her back and release the clasp on her bra. The sky-blue lacy underwear joins the rest of our clothes on my bedroom floor. With an erection that could drive through titanium steel, I am beyond desperate for her. She kneels at the edge of the bed. Bare. Breathless.
Fuckin’ beautiful.
“You sure?” I rasp.
“Yes, Mackinlay. I am very sure. And I am not having sex in this bed. Neither of us is that boring.”
I loose a choppy moan as she grips my cock, her thumb brushing over the tip. This girl. This fuckin’ girl. I lower my mouth to clamp my lips around her nipple, and she arches into me. Using her now-curved posture, I scoop her up off the bed and onto my hips.
The washing machine whirs away as we enter the laundry room.
“Hmmm, I like your thinking,” Grace whispers.
The puffs of every word hit the shell of my ear, sending goosebumps over my skin. I deposit her on the machine as it clicks over to spin cycle. She spreads for me. Her wet, glistening pussy so damn ready.
So mine .
I hook my hands behind her knees and tug her forward. Spreading her further, I run my tongue through her center.
“Fuck, Gracie. You taste incredible.”
My balls tighten with every move my tongue makes through her soaked center. She moans, leaning back and bracing herself with her hands on the sides of the washing machine. The hum of the spin cycle grows louder. I suckle her clit and circle my fingertips over her entrance.
She wriggles.
Desperate for more.
The machine picks up speed, vibrating. I thrust two fingers into her tight, hot core and she arches again. “Mackinlay... Oh. My god.”
Pre-cum leaks from the head of my cock. With every suckle, lick, and sweet sound Grace makes, I spiral higher and higher.
“I need to come, please.”
I lean back and retract my fingers. “I’m not done with you yet.”
Her eyes find mine. Mouth agape, breaths so choppy I imagine they’re useless. And we’ve barely started. I guess the drive home was foreplay done too well.
“Fuck me, Mack. Hard. Fast. Don’t hold back.”
I stand tall and lean over her with a growl. “Beg for it, Grace.”
Excitement flashes through her eyes. She shoves me backward with a hand and slides off the machine, onto her knees.
A second later, her hand is wrapped around my leaking cock. “Please, Mackinlay. Fuck me. Hard. Rough. Break me... Let me fall apart.”
My peripheral vision folds in, the lump in my throat having shut off all air supply. The pure trust in her eyes undoes me. She trembles where she kneels.
“Suck,” I bark. Needing her focus to be on something other than being submissive before I goddamn snap. Her soft, lush pink lips close over my aching cock instantly. I slap a hand to the machine. Every muscle in my legs coiled to hold me rooted to this spot. To not let my damn knees give away with the way she drives me insane in the best way possible.
She takes me in. All the way. Her eyes water and she pulls up, sucking and swirling her tongue over my engorged tip.
“Fuck . . .”
“Mhmmm.” The syllable vibrates along my cock. I grab up her hair, bundling it up to hold it in one fist. Her eyes flutter shut, and I groan as she increases the suction and slows the rhythm.
Sweet. Fuckin’. Jesus. Grace.
Her hand closes around my balls, a finger rubbing the line between them and my ass. My gut bottoms out. Heat tingles up my spine.
“Hell, Gracie. Stop.”
She releases me with a pop, my pre-cum smeared over her lips. Her mouth agape. I want nothing more than to see her pretty mouth dripping with my cum.
Not this time. This time, Grace gets what she wants.
I slam a hand around her throat and yank her to her feet. Her gaze burning into mine, she grabs her tits, pinching her nipple. How far this gorgeous girl has come. From being used as some fucker’s plaything and shut down, to so strong. So trusting, that rough is something she not only handles, but is loving. She’s come full circle.
An overwhelming, heart-wrenching realization hits me. Just how trusting she is of me. How comfortable we are with each other. How comfortable she is here with me. It’s not only lust and adoration lying between us. It’s heartbreak. Recovery. Redemption. Friendship.
It’s everything .
I give her neck a squeeze and back her into the wall. Smashing my mouth to hers, I take what’s mine. Whatever she is giving up. Tongues tangled, I swallow down every small, breathy moan she makes. They are like my fuel. My guideposts.
I slip a hand to her pussy, thumbing her clit over, and her moans turn to whimpers. I take those, too. I’d take anything this woman had to give me. The good, the bad. Anything. I slide two fingers into her center. Her legs tremble, her hips bucking as I curl them forward and find that spot that floods her with need.
Breaking away from the kiss, I remove my hand from her neck and slam it onto the wall. “Kitchen counter.”
I pull my fingers from her pussy and slide them into her mouth. She homes her gaze to mine as she sucks them clean, licking each finger and diving them back into her mouth, sucking hard. I grind against her. My hard to her soft.
I need to be inside her. Yesterday.
I pull her from the wall and lead her to the kitchen. Her thighs are wet with need. And when she leans over the counter and cants her ass for me, I lose the last of my restraint.
Hands gripping her hard and fast, I thrust into her sweet, wet pussy. Balls deep.
“Ah, ah. Mackinlay.” My name is a panted plea.
I wind her hair around my fist again and slap her ass with my free hand. She jerks and the movement is heaven, sending my cock throbbing. Her hands are splayed against the marble top, cheek pressed to it as she looks back at me.
So fuckin’ gorgeous.
So damn mine.
She slides her hands behind her, pushing her wrists together at the small of her back. I capture them in one of mine. A slight tug, and I pull her head back a little. Each little moan comes out of a shallow breath, her ribs flaring as she holds my gaze with her desperate blues.
“Fuckin’ hell, Grace.”
I slam into her and pull out with a lazy pace. She bucks against the counter in protest.
“Chasing my cock, gorgeous girl?”
“More, Mack. More, now.” Her words are the closest thing to a growl that’s ever passed through those sassy damn lips. I thunder into her. Hard. She cries out, her moans turning raspy.
To remind her who’s in control, who she trusts, I pull out excruciatingly slow. My head spins as the fat tip of my cock rims her entrance.
Unable to hold back a second more, I thrust in.
Deep.
Hard.
I do it over and over again, until the only word leaving Grace is my name.
Each breath she takes is studded with it.
Her body shakes under me.
My legs tremble.
The intensity of this thing between us fuels the lightning that’s tearing the skin from my bones with every thrust. Every burning breath. Deep in my gut, a coil of tingling heat roars to life.
No way am I falling over this precipice without my Grace.
I tug her head backward and loose my grip on her wrists, sliding my hand around to her belly and straight to her throbbing clit. The moment my fingers find her swollen bundle of nerves, she snaps up in an arch over the counter that would put most yogis to shame.
“Ma—” she whimpers, and it blooms into a cry.
“Sweet Jesus, gorgeous girl. You take my cock so damn good. Look at you. Look at us. So fuckin’ perfect.” I thrust harder as I feel her constrict around me, swirling my fingers over her clit.
“Mack.” Her eyes find mine, holding them as she milks my cock. My cum spilling into her hot and fast, she breathes, “I want it all...”
“Then it’s yours, Gracie.”
I give her every single part of me I can. She eases off the counter to her feet and leans her back against my chest, turning to capture my mouth with hers, her hand gripping my jawline. And my heart. It’s all hers.
I pull out and spin her on her feet to face me. Hauling her onto my hips as she persistently kisses my mouth, cheekbones, neck, anything she can cover, I walk us to the bathroom. With the water warm and steam flooding the en suite, I step into the shower. Grace hugs me, her head resting on my shoulder. This moment, right here, is everything.
More than the sex.
More than all the fun we have foolin’ around.
More than daily routines, even though I get to spend them with her.
The trust. The raw, bared version of herself she lets me see. That is the greatest gift I’ll ever receive. I push the hair off her face and behind her ear to find her eyes. See for myself she is okay. That I didn’t take too much. Didn’t take something she didn’t want me to. Only sleepy, satiated eyes stare back at me.
“Gorgeous girl, we should clean up before you get cold.”
“Mhmmm.”
I set her to her feet, and she steps back and into the warm stream of water. The bar of soap in my shower is gliding over her body as my focus returns. I’ve never been this caught up in my head about a woman. Ever. My heart rate picks up, sending blood thundering through my head.
What if something happens to Grace?
What if she realizes small-town life isn’t what she wants? I mean, I have no idea what kind of size Raymond, Mississippi is, probably not a metropolis, but Lewistown is really small.
She’ll get bored with the art teaching gig and...
Tingling starts in my fingers.
Grace replaces the soap and reaches for the shampoo. It slips through her fingers and falls.
Bang!
I flinch. Ringing starts up in my ears.
I shake my head. But it sticks.
My hands curl to fists. The water hitting the tiles hisses to gunfire. The sound of someone calling my name is drowned out by the swoosh of rotors.
I cling to the air in my lungs, terrified to exhale, not knowing if the next breath belongs to me. Something closes around my face. Tight. Warm.
Memories, no reality. No, they have to be memories... Flip through my mind.
Butters walks away from me.
I shout at him to stay put.
That never happened.
This is not my reality.
I can’t find my way back.
“. . . Mackinlay . . . plea?—”
I smack both palms up the side of my head violently, trying to knock the sound out, and drop to my knees.
A gasp penetrates the swoosh of the rotors. I force air into my lungs.
Out.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Something stings my face. I snap my eyes open, hunting for the source. Blue eyes close in. Tight with worry, they search my face in erratic passes.
“Oh my god, Mackinlay... where did you go?” Her voice shakes, her reddened palm shaking by her side where she kneels on the hard tile in front of me.
“I—”
I haven’t had an episode like that since before Grace arrived. Sure, I had that small thing with the plate. But nothing like this since the hospital. I was doing great. I thought I was okay. Thought I’d moved past it. I got caught up in my head. About Grace. More specifically, the absence of her. And it’s the most helpless I have felt since the explosion. It was the sensation of absolute desperation my brain must have linked to the only other similar experience it could.
A sob claws its way up my throat.
No way in hell do I want to associate Grace with any of it. She is the reason I made it this far.
Fuck.
Tears fall, hot and fast, down my burning cheeks.
No, fuck.
“I don’t want to lose yo—” The words fall apart with my face.
Her hands close around my face before the next heartbeat. Her face twists with devastation. “Hey, you’re okay. I’m right here. You’re home. You’re safe. Mack.” Her forehead drops onto mine. “I am not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me, sweet man.”
“What if I can’t get past this, Grace?”
“You will. You have—it’s only a relapse. I read that can happen. With time, they get further and further apart. I promise this will get easier.”
“You read up on PTSD?”
“Of course, came with the job description. Louisa sent me some light reading.” With a soft smile, she snuggles into me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Course she did.”
Ma is always taking care of her family. Where the hell would any of us be without her?
When I’ve relaxed enough to drop my head on her shoulder, Grace raises to her feet and drops a hand down. “Come on, shower and bed. I want you wrapped around me. That comes with your job description, Mack.”
Grace is always pulling me up and along with her. Not letting me wallow. Making me do the hard yards. She sees me. She raises me one up and expects me to do it for myself. And I do. But deep down, I do it for her. There will never be a time when I will be able to deny this girl the things she asks for.
Not one moment in time.