Chapter 16
Grant
The Tease
Icould remember the first time I went hunting.
I was around ten years old and had stolen Kirk’s shotgun one morning before the sun rose.
I ran for the woods like Kirk was tailin’ me, though I knew he’d be passed out on the couch with the same beer in his hand for at least three more hours, maybe more.
I’d been too chicken-shit to shoot anything, so I sat against a tree, tucking the butt of the shotgun up by my shoulder, and just listened.
I did that for weeks, learning the sounds of the woods, watching what animals came by, without letting loose a single shot.
Instead, I’d study their tracks in the dirt before heading to school.
One morning, I decided to leave the gun and took a piece of paper with me.
I started drawing the animals, their tracks, their homes.
It was the most peace I’d felt since my ma had moved us in with her junkie boyfriend.
When I came back years later to burn the trailer down and build something new in its place, I found a few of those drawings tucked under the linoleum—right where I’d kept them, safe from Kirk’s destructive ways.
Tallulah found that stack of drawings in my attic and framed one last year, then gifted it to me for Christmas.
That framed sketch rattled as Sophia came out in just a towel and made a beeline for the back porch, the sounds of her feet reminiscent of an animal about to fight over their territory—heavy and short.
I set the two bowls of cooked pasta back on the counter, feeling the air thicken as my jaw clenched.
Before she took off to take a shower, I was ready to put her on the counter and become reacquainted with her pussy.
I wanted to strip her bare and make her mine, like some feral beast during mating season.
Did I have a plan for making her mine? Not at all.
My emotions had always led me more than my mind.
An artist’s soul is what my ma had called what I had in me.
Every woman before Sophia, I waited to feel that spark that ignited those deeper parts of me.
It always ended the same—I’d give up trying to find something that wasn’t there, and whatever woman I was with would think there was more between us than there really was.
But, Sophia…
I hadn’t gotten her from my mind since the day I met her.
I thought it was the fact that I couldn’t have her that made her so appealing.
That she was like the smaller animals I grew up drawing, only her fangs were larger than her body, somehow tucked and hidden away, and she just needed someone to notice how hard she hid them to let them out.
Perhaps all that heightened the experience, but every time we talked and learned little pieces about each other, I became more and more enthralled.
But I couldn’t see it through if she wasn’t willing.
I didn’t really give a damn if she was engaged.
A ring was just an object. What I needed to know went deeper than that if we were going to test the waters I knew we both wanted to dive into.
I followed where she went through the back doors and was about to holler her name, thinking maybe she ran for the hills, but then I heard the soft fall of a towel hitting the deck and I turned.
Sophia stood there, naked, ignoring me completely as she climbed the steps leading into the hot tub.
I let out a groan as I took in the soft indent on her back, her creamy skin pebbling with goosebumps as I continued down to the curve of her ass.
She got on her knees at the edge of the hot tub, bending over to test the temperature of the water, and my cock strained painfully at the sight of her cunt and the sway of her breasts as she went further and further.
I was lost in the sight, too lost to notice her balance was less-than acceptable for being that close to the edge.
Sophia’s knee slipped. I ran to try to catch her, but I was too late. I hopped in and went straight for her, wrapping my arms around her waist and hauling her up. I was ready to hear her tear into me, but instead, she was giggling, clearing the hair from her eyes.
“Peach.” She giggled more, the smell leaving her lips a certain familiar one.
She’d been drinking the bourbon from the bedroom.
“Peach, look at me.” I gripped her chin, dragging her hazy, ocean blue eyes to meet mine.
Her giggles faltered, then ended as I stared down at her.
“Are you hurt?” I tipped her head back and forth with my finger. “Did you hit your head?”
She blinked up at me and shook her head, swallowing hard enough to hear over the bubbling water.
As she breathed in deep, her breasts pressed into me, her nipples hardening against my stomach.
Sophia reached up to clear a strand of golden hair from her eyelashes, smudging mascara by her temple while getting none of the hair.
“Let me.” I pinched the wet strands and tucked them gently behind her ear, my other hand sliding down to meet the delicate curve of her waist. “There.” The words were barely a whisper as they got caught in my throat. “Better?”
She bit down on her lip and nodded as her hands settled on my forearms, her thumbs rubbing smooth circles.
The feel of her skin on mine was making the world spin, and it was only getting worse as we continued staring into each other’s eyes, waiting for one of us to move.
But the movement she went for wasn’t the one I was hoping for.
“I’m fine,” Sophia murmured as she pushed me away, her expression turning sour. “I just wanted to get in and relax. What’s wrong with you?”
“Me?” I gripped the back of my neck, my jaw tight as I looked up at the darkening sky. “You want to know”—I snapped my focus back to Sophia—“what’s wrong with me?”
“That’s what I s-said,” she hiccuped out the last word and wrapped her arms around her breasts, shielding herself from a gust of cold wind. “If you didn’t want me to use the hot tub, then why tell me to turn it on?”
“Using it is one thing. Falling in it while drunk—”
“I’m no-ot drunk.”
“Just like you weren’t seconds away from acting on what you and I both know would feel so fucking right.” Her plump pink lips parted. “Tell me, what thoughts were you tryin’ to drink away, Sophia?”
“I didn’t drink.”
“For fuck’s sake, darlin’. I’m not mad you drank my bourbon.”
“Fine.” She stood up straighter, digging her fingers into her biceps. “I had a-a few sips.”
“Right after you ran from me.”
She glanced away. “You put your hands on me, and I told you, I’m—”
“Engaged. Yeah. But you feel something with me, just like I do with you, and that’s why you went and drank my bourbon. Ain't it?”
“Grant—”
“What was goin’ through your head when I touched you?
Was it what it would be like to turn and take what I’m offering?
Let me give you the pleasure you’ve only been able to dream about?
Was it what my lips and tongue would feel like if I put you on the fucking counter, spread you wide, and sucked on your perfect little clit? ”
She whimpered and shook her head furiously as I stepped closer. “Stop it.”
“No. I don’t think I will.” Another step, and I was close enough to breathe in the same breath she was letting out, keeping us in an intoxicating bubble.
The bourbon was strong, but not enough to block the way she’d always smelled to me.
Everything about her was peaches, and I was ready to take a fuckin’ bite.
“Grant, stop.” She reached her hand up to my chest, but didn’t push. “Please, don’t.”
“Why? Because you’re supposed to be with someone more suitable for your family?”
Water gathered on her lower lids. “Please.”
“I’m not the one who walked out of that room, drunk and naked, with an attitude.
” Her brows dipped as she glanced away, breaking our eye contact.
I gripped her chin and pulled her right back.
“Is that what you want these two weeks to be? Teasing me, making me see and feel what I can’t have before you choose to go back? ”
“That’s not—”
“That is what is happening. You keep looking at me like you want to fuck me, yet when I touch you, you get pissed off and run away like I’m the one who did something wrong when it’s what we both want.”
“That’s not true,” she whispered.
“Which part?” She tried to look away from me again, fighting against my hold. I yanked her back, my reservations evaporating. “Do you love him, or not?”
“W-what?”
“Do. You. Love. Him?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“It has to do with everything, Peach.”
“I…” She shook her head. “I have to.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Grant. Please.”
“Sophia,” I groaned and reached down, pinching her nipple hard.
She moaned, her forehead falling to my chest. “Answer me.” I rolled her nipple between my fingers, growing more and more greedy.
I didn’t want her by force, but I did need her to confirm what was between us, what I desperately wanted to do to, and with, her, wasn’t one-sided.
I needed to know her heart wasn’t already taken before I softened mine to the possibility.
“Fuck.” Her forehead rolled back and forth along my chest as a water droplet fell to my stomach. She reared back to gaze up at me, her eyes now red and swollen. “Why do you care what I’m thinking, or feeling, or how I fucking live? What do you even want from me?”
“I think you know.”
“I don’t.”
I cupped her jaw as mine tensed. “I’ve spent sixty-seven nights thinking about having you, wishin’ you were next to me instead of him.
” I flexed my fingers out before gripping her waist and pulling her to me, grinding into her.
She whimpered and bit into her lip to stifle the sound, which spurred me on more.
“I don’t care if it’s an obsession—some delusional idea that you’d want me over him.
But then I picture all the ways he’s hurting you and I can’t let it go on anymore, Peach. I want you to be mine.”
Her breath hitched as I slowly sank to my knees. The warm water lapped at my chest as I licked my lips, feeling my restraint slipping. “Answer me before I go fuckin’ crazy.”
“Grant.” Her palm met my cheek softly, then trailed up. Her touch turned rough as she speared her fingers through my hair, gripping the strands by the roots. “I’ve never loved him.”
“And you came out like this”—my hands slid up, over the flat plane of her stomach—“to show me what wasn’t mine?”
Her teeth dug into her bottom lip so hard, it was leaving marks. “No.”
“No?” I cocked my head as one of my hands met the swell of her breast. I swept my thumb over the hardened, rosy tip, watching her pupils grow with pleasure.
“Did you think I’d be a decent man and ignore you fucking naked in my hot tub?
” The hand that had been on her waist slipped lower, sinking below the water as I trailed south along her hip.
She released a soft whimper and shook her head rapidly.
“No, again?” I chuckled and dug my fingertips into her thigh while my other hand squeezed her breast. “So you came out here hoping I’d fuck you so hard that not even bourbon had a chance of clearin’ me from your thoughts?”
“Please.”
“Please, what?”
Her hand fell from my hair and ripped through hers before falling to her other breast, kneading and cupping herself like a horny, greedy little thing. “Please touch me,” she moaned, looking down at me. “I want you to touch me, Grant.”
I gripped her wrist right as her hand started moving down.
Sophia gasped as I grabbed her other wrist, pinning them both behind her back with one hand.
“Oh, Peach. You see, the last time you wanted me to touch you, you ended up doin’ half the work yourself.
It was hot as fuck for our first go, but now you’re makin’ me feel like you don’t think I know how to make you come.
” I yanked her down into the water with me, and she yelped as I tugged her onto my lap, forcing her legs to wrap around my waist. “Why beg me to touch you if you’re spoilin’ the fun and doin’ it yourself, huh?
Do you frequently get left so unsatisfied? ”
“Fuck you.” She fought to free herself from my hold on her wrists, jerking her arms, causing the water to ripple.
It also had the effect of putting her breasts right near my face with every twist of her body.
I thought I was an ass man, but fuck, I wanted to bite, lick, and suck on each of her nipples until they were raw.
I wanted to leave teeth marks on her skin, then tattoo them there.
“Keep fightin’, darlin’. What you’re doing is only making me harder.”
“Then why don’t you do it already and fuck me like you’ve been wanting to?
” Her words aimed to make me lose my shit, and quite frankly, I was getting there, but not in the way she was hoping.
I worked my belt free from my jean loops, and she stopped trying to wriggle out of my hold, grinding down on my lap instead.
It was adorable—her, thinking I’d hit my peak, ready to fuck her and be done with it. But she was wrong.
So wrong.
She wanted me to snap and fuck her in this hot tub, which, yes, I was already there and ready. But once wouldn’t be enough. There was no, “just do it and get it over with” between us.
Once I made her mine, she’d be no one else’s.
“What’re you…hey—wait!” I tugged her closer as I worked the belt around her wrists, pushing her forehead onto my shoulder. “Grant!”
“You think I can’t make you come. That you can just fuck me, I’ll lose interest once I have you, and we can both get it out of our systems.” I finished tightening the belt, then spun her around and stood, forcing her up with me.
“And I think you won’t be able to keep count of how many orgasms I give you before you pass out.
I’m willin’ to bet that when you wake up, you’ll be begging me for more like the greedy slut I know you’ll be.
” I smacked her ass and bent down, sweeping my lips against her ear. “Who do you think will win?”