Chapter 12 #2
Damn, I knew his suits were tailor-made.
Ten points to me. He hasn’t bought a new one since he moved in, so I can be forgiven for not having total confirmation.
But considering his big frame, and how well they fit, even if he doesn’t always wear them perfectly—case in point, when he gets calls at weird hours of the morning, and he kind of just rolls into them with a sleepy goodbye—you can’t get that out of suits bought on racks in a store.
“Wait, he quit?” Did they do that? Could they do that?
“I had suggestions about what he could do with his pins after he poked me with them the tenth time, and he didn’t appreciate it.”
I can just imagine the entire scenario, exactly as it happened. Though to be fair, I wouldn’t want to get poked either. Isn’t their job to not do that? “And Quinn was with you?”
“He was of no help to the situation.”
I always think of Quinn as the knight in shining armour in most situations, to be honest. “And you’re gonna go with him again?” When would this happen?
“Worry about your own suit.”
“Zach and Felix are already on it.” I think.
I assume. They always save me from myself.
“Mum said we need to organise testing flavours for the cake? I didn’t even know that was a thing.
But I’m here for it. It sounds like a lot of cake.
How do they do it? Slices? Cupcakes? If we have cupcakes, we could have all the flavours. ”
“That sounds like a lot of flavours.”
“Yes, that’s the point, keep up.”
Grady chuckles. “How about,” he murmurs, his nose nuzzling behind my ear, “we get them to package up the slices—or cupcakes—and we test them at home?” He takes my earlobe between his teeth and tugs playfully, sending a lance of pleasure racing straight to my dick.
That’s… a most excellent plan. Best plan I’ve ever heard. Best one anyone has ever come up with in the history of best plans. “Ye—” I clear my throat, though it doesn’t help. “I could definitely ask them to do that.”
Grady kisses me properly then, and I moan, leaning into it. He grasps my shirt at my lower back and urges me upward. I can take a hint. Wrapping my arms around Grady’s shoulders, I use them to lift myself up his chest, one leg bending to hook my knee over his big hip.
His hands on my ass help steady me and shift me so that I’m nice and secure in Grady’s arms. Yeah, that’s perfect. Right where I always want to be.
Hades interrupts us with a loud bark, letting us know that our canoodling is unacceptable when we’ve promised him dog park shenanigans.
“Rain check?”
“The second we get home.”
The dog park is relatively quiet, probably because of the late-ish hour, with only a few dogs running around.
The sun is almost completely down, so the lights have come on.
It’s nice and peaceful. The second Hades is let off the leash, he goes straight for the other dogs, racing between them, intent on making new friends.
Grady and I find a spot nearby where we can lean against the chain-link fence that surrounds the large area.
“Are we writing our own vows?” I ask, glancing at Grady. “Mum said we need to decide.” Without my mum, I’d be so lost with all of this. Who knew there were so many steps and things to go through?
“No,” Grady says immediately. I blink at him in surprise, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. “I would prefer not to,” he amends. “Do you want to?”
“Oh, hell no.” Just the thought of it makes me laugh. Write my own vows? I wouldn’t even know where to start, and I’d just spend an hour rambling on about how much I love Grady. And his dick. “She gave me a book that had like… premade ones? Pre-written? We could choose one of those?”
“Do we have to have them at all?”
Now there’s an idea.
My next question has me hesitating. I know it’s a sore spot, and I don’t want to bring up bad memories, but we can’t ignore that it exists.
And I’m curious. I want to be so careful that I don’t step wrong or do anything that his douchebag ex did.
I want this to be nothing but a positive experience for Grady; otherwise, what’s the point?
“What about—um, your first…” I don’t know how to word it properly.
Please use your special mind-reading Jedi abilities and just know what I’m trying to say.
Grady does in fact use his special mind-reading abilities, and I love him so much for it. “He insisted. Wanted the whole peacock display.”
“So, you wrote…?” You know what? I don’t think I want to know this part. I don’t want to hear how much Grady used to care about someone else. Enough to almost marry them. How do I compare to that? A ridiculous question, of course. I know how to take care of Grady’s heart.
“It was a bunch of drivel that, looking back on it, I just wrote because I thought it was expected of me.” Grady swallows, and I take his hand, squeezing.
He smiles lightly and tugs me under his arm, settling me snugly against his chest. “I was a shy kid, and I didn’t talk to a lot of people.
He gave me attention when I had none, and it’s easy to get swept up in that.
None of it was real, not when it mattered. ”
I snuggle closer, wishing that we were at home so I could open his shirt and press my cheek against his chest. “We don’t have to do vows. As long as you say ‘I do’ at the end, promise to love me forever, and kiss me, I’ll be happy.”
Grady kisses the top of my head, lips lingering, and my eyes flutter closed. There’s no better feeling in the world than being the recipient of his softness. It’s for me alone, and that makes me want to curl at his feet.
“We have to do speeches later,” he says, “and I think that’s enough.”
“If you kiss me really good under the arch, I’ll take one for the team and do the speech.”
“Deal.”
Hades trots over and noses at my pocket, where he knows the tennis balls are. He’s so eager to get one that he flies right past where it lands and has to backtrack before bringing it back.
It takes another half hour before Hades slows down, content to sit in the grass and chew on the ball instead of returning it for another throw.
“Ready to go home?” Grady murmurs, nose in my hair.
Home. I’ll never get over Grady saying that. Our home. Ours. Together. One that also doesn’t have a fully usable bathroom right now.
“I was thinking,” I say, drawing out the words as we head back to the car, Hades happily trotting beside us without trying to pull. He’s ready for bed.
Grady doesn’t say anything in response, but the look that he gives me is incredibly suspicious. The smile I give in return doesn’t ease the expression. I don’t know why; I’m completely innocent.
“Maybe when we get home, we can snuggle in bed and watch some reno videos about bathrooms? Then tomorrow after work, we could take a trip to Bunnings? We probably want our sink back at some point, right?” I don’t know about him, but I’m sick of walking all the way to the kitchen to wash my hands.
“Probably.” Grady opens the passenger door and steps back so that Hades can jump into his seat and get clipped in.
Once we’re strapped in, too, I reverse with one hand, an arm across the back of Grady’s seat.
Showing off is worth it when Grady gets that dark look in his eyes.
Like he’s thinking dirty thoughts. So am I.
If we didn’t have Hades in the car, I’d find a dark spot somewhere so Grady could fuck me in the back seat.
Wouldn’t be the first time. The control I need to keep my hands off him is a full-time job.
“Well?”
“We can do that.”
“With popcorn?” I ask hopefully.
“Do we have any?”
“I bought some the other day. I even went into the supermarket to get it.”
Grady’s mouth lifts at the corner. “By yourself? How did that go?”
“No one has tried to bite me yet. I’m actually getting offended at this point.” It’s either not that big a threat, or I’m not biteable, and I’m very biteable!
“We can go together next time, and I’ll bite you; how does that sound?”
I love this man. “In the veggie aisle?”
Grady raises an eyebrow. “Sure, if that’s what you want?”
“We don’t want to scandalise the bread,” I say reasonably.
“No, that would be the highest crime.”
“It would!” There’s a time and a place, and the bread aisle is not the place. The vegetables have seen worse, I bet. Especially going home with some people.
“I agreed with you, Lake.”
“Yeah, but you said it in that voice.” Part placating, part indulgence. He doesn’t actually agree with me when he does that. I can tell.
“What voice?” Grady asks in amusement.
I flick the radio on and ignore him. My pouting better be answer enough.
I’m concentrating so hard on my driving and ignoring his sexy, nice-smelling presence that I jump when a hand caresses my thigh, moving straight for my dick.
My whole lower half clenches, my dick twitching and coming to life in seconds.
Good thing we’re not far from home. Especially since Grady keeps massaging me, and I’m straining against my jeans, and I need him so fucking badly my whole body is aching.
By the time I finally park in our driveway, I’m hot all over and ready to take all of my clothes off.
Getting inside is secondary. After taking off my seat belt, I fist Grady’s shirt and yank him into a wet, open-mouthed kiss.
“Please tell me that you’re going to fuck me.
” I’ll riot if Grady says no. He can’t tease me like that and not follow through. He knew exactly what he was doing.
“Yeah,” is all Grady says, in that guttural tone that never fails to turn me all the way on.