Chapter 5
5
GRANT
Tessa had been in my periphery the whole year since I got back to Bridgeport, but today felt different. It was as if my mind had finally seen her and it couldn’t be undone. She was everywhere I looked, radiant and beautiful. And I was having the hardest time wrapping my head around the fact that it had taken me so long to notice.
“Do you want to dance?” The voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked up. The woman was a bridesmaid named Alicia—one of Nora’s friends I didn’t know well. She was young and blonde and beautiful and—best I could tell—absolutely, mind-numbingly boring. But perhaps boring would give me a chance to ponder these new feelings for Tessa—Tessa who currently had her head thrown back in a laugh that exposed her delectable throat. She was gorgeous when she laughed. Did my cheeks flush pink the way hers did when she was embarrassed? I wasn’t sure. No one had ever mentioned it before, just like no one had ever told me I was beautiful before Tessa had. “Sure, yeah,” I agreed absently, looking up at the woman and offering a bullshit megawatt smile, as if I hadn’t been ogling my sister-in-law’s sister moments earlier.
But, like so many times in my life, understanding dawned a beat too late, and it was only once this boring girl was in my arms that I realized how this dance would look to Tessa. Tessa who ate her cake and looked anywhere but at me. Guilt turned my stomach, and I wished I could talk to Tess, to fix this, but instead I found myself waiting impatiently for the end of what felt like the “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” of slow songs, stuck dancing with Alicia.
“Is it fun being a doctor?” Alicia asked, and I looked down at her, nearly stumbling as we swayed.
“Fun? No, that’s not usually the word I would choose. What do you do?”
Alicia blushed a pretty pink, but I felt nothing. “I graduate at the end of this year, and then I hope to become a computer systems analyst.”
Dear God, she was still in the hope-to-become phase of her life. Could I even remember that far back? Before I went into practice and before my residency and before med school? It seemed like a lifetime ago.
From the corner of my eye I saw Tessa walking back toward the B&B, and I longed to follow her. I straightened, debating whether to end the dance with Alicia early, but, thankfully, the song ended on its own. “Great dance. Good luck with the computers,” I said abruptly, then turned and walked toward the bed and breakfast. It took everything in me not to jog, but at a brisk pace I was much faster than Tessa, and I saw her climbing the stairs as I entered the residence. I followed her up to the second floor, watching her disappear into a suite as I crested the top step.
Based on her expression, she’d been upset while I’d been dancing. Now I wasn’t sure if she would open the door if I knocked, so I pulled out my key and slipped into the groomsmen suite, which was directly next to the room she’d entered. No one was inside, as I’d assumed, but there was a connecting door from my room to Tessa’s. Only two dividing doors separated us, and I swung mine open, looking at the long expanse of wood that would lead to Tessa’s room. This door had no peephole.
I knocked.
A moment later, the door swung open, revealing Tessa. “Oh, it’s you,” she grumbled. “Did you bring Alicia up?” she asked icily. “I’ll leave.”
“You know I didn’t,” I replied. “I’d dance with you all night, but you don’t want that.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “Do you know how many questions we’d get? Besides, how would it look after you’ve been trying to get with Claire all week? People will assume you couldn’t get Claire and are settling for me.”
“Is that what you think?” I asked softly.
“I’d be stupid not to wonder,” she muttered.
“Tess,” I said, tucking a tendril of hair behind her ear. Her hand followed mine, slipping the hair back out and smoothing it into place on her face. Still, I held her chin. “I always thought I was supposed to be with a girl like Claire—someone who could say the right things when I never can, someone who’s charming and liked by everyone—but that was never what I wanted. I want a woman like you.”
She snorted, visibly relaxing. “Did that sound romantic in your head?”
It had, but I paused, rethinking my words. “I didn’t mean you’re not charming. I mean, you charm the hell out of me, Tess. Of course you’re charming. And people like you,” I hurried to add.
“You’re babbling,” she said with a dry chuckle. “I’ve never seen you babble before.”
I inhaled deeply, trying hard to be dignified, but probably failing. “That’s because I learned a long time ago not to try to explain myself when I say the wrong thing. I usually just say, ‘ I’m sorry. That came out wrong,’ and leave it at that.
“But I’m lucky enough to get the babbling version of Grant Dupree?”
I arched one eyebrow, trying to decide if Tessa liked this version of me more or less than the other. “Would you rather I stick with the apology instead?”
Tessa shrugged a single bare shoulder, and I ran my finger along the curve of naked skin impulsively. “No, there’s something oddly charming about watching you fumble and bumble,” she said, running her hands up and down the lapels of my coat as if she might grab me and haul me closer at any moment.
“Can I kiss you, Tess?”
Her hands fisted, pulling me closer as she lifted on tiptoe to slant her lips over mine in reply, and I shifted my palm until I cupped her face in it. Her kisses were slow and sweet and positively drugging. I could’ve stood there, in the doorway, kissing the hell out of Tessa Davis for the rest of the night—maybe forever—but she pushed us forward, walking me backward until the backs of my legs hit the bed.
But it wasn’t my bed, and it sure as hell wasn’t her bed, and, as badly as I wanted Tess, there was no way it could be right here, right now. Not letting the kiss end, I grasped her ass and rotated us until Tessa’s back was pressed to the wall. She hiked up her leg, and I pulled her skirt higher, looping my arms under her knees, using the wall as leverage. This position pressed her silky panties against my cock—a slip and slide of pure heat I could feel even through my pants—and I thrust up needily.
“God, Grant, yes,” she moaned in my ear, fumbling with my pants as she kissed across my jaw and down my neck. She pushed my pants down my legs, leaving just two thin layers of fabric between us, and my hips canted again, desperate to feel her heat. It wasn’t until her hand slid past the waistband of my boxer briefs, tugging them down, that I remembered where I was and what I was doing.
“Tess—Tessa,” I intoned, and her lips stilled on my Adam’s apple. “We need a condom.”
“Do you have any?” she panted.
Fuck. Why didn’t I have any?
Because filling my pockets with condoms for a wedding would’ve made me no better than Jock Jurkowski.
That was it!
“No,” I said, setting her feet back on the floor, “but Jock’s bag is right there, and he was bragging about having a box earlier.”
Tessa slipped away, digging shamelessly in the duffle bag on the chair next to us, as I pushed my underwear down, knowing what she would find. A moment later, she pulled a box out triumphantly. “I can’t believe he thought he’d need a whole box tonight,” she muttered as I yanked a single condom off the strip and tossed the box back into the bag.
“Let’s not complain about Jock,” I ripped the package open with my teeth, then tucked the wrapper into my pocket. “He’s saving the day, here.”
I rolled the condom on and pressed the full length of my body against Tessa. Giving me a playful shove, she shimmied out of her panties and tucked them into my pocket. “If you lose these in this room I’ll have to change my name and move to a new town,” she whispered.
I slid my hands over her legs, hiking her dress up until it bunched around her waist, then lifting one thigh so she was held between me and the wall. I sighed when I entered her. Tessa moaned, her head falling forward until it touched my shoulder, and I kissed my way down her neck, feeling her hammering pulse under my lips. “You feel so good,” she whispered into my chest as I began to move slowly in and out of her. She was perfect, and I sped up, needing more of her heat.
“Fuck, Tess, you’re amazing,” I groaned, and she turned her face into my neck, her breaths coming out in little moans at my ear, which only made me want her more.
“Oh, fuck,” a voice said from behind me. I felt Tess look up, then bury her face in my neck, and I let go of her leg, allowing my body to cover hers completely as I risked a glance behind me. It wasn’t Tessa’s parents—or mine, thank God—but it wasn’t much better. Hudson North, the pompous shithead Claire had brought home from the city, stood staring at us, and I had no doubt he would tell Claire what we were doing.
“Shit,” I said. Hudson was already walking out, his hand on the doorknob, and I had to stop him, but I didn’t want to leave Tessa like this. “Hudson, wait.” I yanked up my pants while Tess straightened her clothes behind me.
Ignoring me entirely, Hudson swung the door open and stepped out. I was across the room in three strides, my shirt and pants undone, nearly out the door when I heard Claire’s voice. Behind me, Tessa squeaked, and I knew she was panicking.
“What’s wrong?” Claire asked, and I didn’t think, I just acted, following Hudson out the door like a human shield for Tessa. “What the fuck?” Claire said.
“It’s nothing,” Hudson muttered, and I glanced at him, wondering if he actually planned to keep this to himself.
Emily was on the other side of Claire, frowning. “Were you having sex in my parents’ room?” she hissed.
“It’s not what you think,” I said, glancing at Hudson once more, waiting for him to out us.
Claire’s eyes were wide, staring Hudson down. “Did you walk in on him?” she asked, and I silently pleaded with him to let it go.
Hudson shook his head. “I turned around and left really quickly. I didn’t see anything,” he muttered. It was a lie and I assumed everyone knew it, but I silently thanked him anyway.
“Who’s in there?” Emily asked, ready to charge into the room.
I blocked the door once more, holding onto the jamb. “I’m a grown man, Emily. I can have sex and it’s none of your business.”
“You were having sex in my parents’ room,” she snapped, as if this automatically gave her the right to investigate.
“I didn’t know it was your parents’ room,” I protested. “I had the key from when it was the groomsmen’s suite.”
“I can’t believe you,” Claire huffed, frowning deeply. It was an odd response from a woman who’d made it clear all week she wasn’t interested in me, but I didn’t have time to care. All that mattered was keeping these women from discovering their sister in my room.
Emily pushed forward, forcing me to either move or put my hands on her. Reluctantly, I shifted to the right, sighing as she marched by me and into the center of the room, announcing, “No one’s here.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see the door that connected this room to the next was closed on one side again, and I would lay any money that Tessa was long gone. Calmly, I stood next to the sisters and rebuttoned my tux, then said, “This is bullshit. I’m going downstairs.”
I began to walk to the door. Behind me, Emily said, “Who was in here with him, Hudson?” I hesitated, my hand on the knob, my back stiff. Tessa would be mortified if her family knew what we’d done.
“I didn’t see,” Hudson lied. I let out a silent breath of relief and walked out the door.