Chapter 10 #3
Stephanie wouldn’t have thought it possible to come again so soon, but he had her on the razor’s edge with only the slow movement of his talented fingers. God, she thought. If he’d rocked her world the night before when he was half drunk, she wondered if she’d survive him when he was sober.
Grant used his free hand to raise her sweater and tug it over her head, revealing small, pretty breasts.
He zeroed in on the tattoo on her belly and kissed his way up for a better look.
Was that . . . Winnie the Pooh? Despite her outer toughness, the Pooh tattoo told the truth about who she might be on the inside.
She was a never-ending contradiction—full of attitude, yet the vulnerability she’d shown him when talking about her beloved stepfather had touched him deeply.
She fascinated him and turned him on like no one else ever had.
He pressed his lips to the image of the bear and looked up to find her watching him. “You surprise me,” he said.
“Because I like Pooh?”
“Among other things.” He continued to kiss his way up, bewitched by her musky, feminine scent.
Keeping his gaze fixed on hers, he tugged a tightly budded nipple into his mouth while continuing the gentle slide of his fingers.
She was so wet and tight that the thought of sinking his cock into her made him ache from the effort of holding back.
Her fingers combed through his hair, tightening to keep his focus on her breast. Gasping and panting, she arched her back, responding to the tugging suction of his mouth. “Grant.”
“What, honey?” He loved the way she responded to him.
“I want you. Now.” She pulled at his shirt, her movements clumsy and awkward and incredibly provocative.
Grant withdrew from her only long enough to shed his own clothes and roll on the condom he pulled from his wallet with fumbling hands.
“How old is that thing?” she asked, her brows furrowed.
He laughed and scooped her up as if she were weightless. “Brand new and acquired with you in mind.”
Her eyes widened, and her lips pursed in surprise. “When?”
“Never mind,” he said, kissing the pucker off her mouth as he carried her to the bedroom, tripping over a dog toy on the way.
“I want to know.”
Grant sighed and lowered her to the bed. Hovering over her, he tried to silence her with another heated kiss, but she turned away from him. He dropped his head to her shoulder, which drew his attention to the small, tight nipples that brushed against his chest.
“Everything was closed today,” she said.
He uttered a growl of frustration. “I bought them a week ago, all right?”
Her mouth fell open in shock.
Reaching for her hand, he curled it around his erection. “This problem I seem to have around you didn’t start today—or yesterday.”
“Oh.”
Damn, she was cute and sexy and apparently baffled by his confession. “So are we going to let this condom I bought for you go to waste?”
With her free hand, she reached up to bring him in for another kiss while directing his erection to where she wanted it.
Grant didn’t need to be told twice. He flexed his hips and entered her in one smooth thrust. God, she was tight and hot and so sexy.
She gasped and pulled her lips free of his.
“Does it hurt?”
“No.” Her hands on his back urged him to move.
When she wrapped her legs around his hips, he almost lost it. “Even better than last night,” he whispered as he pushed into her again. “I didn’t think that was possible.”
“You don’t remember last night.”
Laughing, he said, “Oh, honey, trust me. I remember.” As Grant gathered her in close to him, it occurred to him that at some point during the long day that began and ended with her, she’d managed to worm her way into his heart.
Afterward, Stephanie slept like a dead woman until her bladder woke her. Shivering in the chilly darkness, she slid back into bed and was surprised when Grant reached for her, bringing her in close to him.
He surrounded her with heat that warmed her inside and out. As she nuzzled her face against his soft chest hair, it occurred to her that she could become rather accustomed to sleeping with him.
“I just got a text from Janey,” he said, his voice sleepy sounding. “Her ex-fiancé is a doctor. Apparently, he’s on the island. She called him for Maddie.”
“Wow. That must be awkward the day after she married someone else.”
“Just a little,” he said with a chuckle. “But what a relief to know there’s a doctor tending to Maddie and the baby.”
“Yeah.”
“Janey said it’s been pretty rough. Maddie’s in a lot of pain, and Mac is half out of his mind with worry.”
“I can’t imagine how scary that must be. If I ever have a baby . . .”
“What?” he asked, softly.
“Nothing.” Her face burned. What was she thinking talking about such things with him?
“Tell me.”
She sighed. “I’d want to be in the biggest hospital around with the best drugs money could buy.”
That made him laugh. “Do you want kids?”
“I don’t know. Someday. Maybe.” She bit her lip, grateful all of a sudden for the darkness. “Do you?”
“Someday. Maybe.”
Stephanie smiled. “I’d think such an accomplished writer would be able to come up with his own words.”
“I’m not that accomplished.”
“Should I remind you about a certain Academy Award?”
“Please don’t.”
Intrigued, Stephanie wondered if he would say more. Even though she couldn’t see him, she could picture him staring up at the ceiling. He was quiet for so long, she’d all but given up on him.
“I haven’t written anything in a really long time.”
The pain she heard in his voice made her ache for him. “Why not?”
He released a short, bitter-sounding laugh. “Damned if I know.”
She didn’t want to ask, really she didn’t. “Is it . . . because of what happened with Abby?”
“Maybe.” She could hear him running his fingers through his hair. “I want to tell you something. It’s kind of weird, and you may think I’m crazy.”
“I already think you’re crazy.”
He laughed, which helped to dispel some of the tension.
“What is it?” she asked.
“When I’m writing, when it’s going really well, it’s like the highest of highs, you know?”
“Not really, but I can imagine it must be quite a thrill.”
“Yes, exactly. It’s thrilling. That’s a good word for it. When something grabs me, an idea or a character or a story, it’s like an electrical current travels through me. That’s how I know I’m really on to something.”
Stephanie sensed he was sharing a part of himself with her that he’d never shared with anyone else. Of course that probably wasn’t the case, but under the cover of darkness, she could believe anything she wanted.
“Every time that’s happened, every time I’ve had that particular sense of excitement over a story, something good has come of it.”
“That’s really cool.”
“You think so?”
He sounded so sweet and uncertain that she smiled. “I do.”
“Earlier tonight, when you told me about Charlie, about what the two of you have been through, I felt it, Stephanie. The charge of excitement.”
As if she was the one who’d been struck by electricity, Stephanie went still. Her heart, which had been beating so fast, slowed. “You . . . you can’t.”
“I know that. What you told me was in confidence. It’s safe with me. I promise.”
She couldn’t seem to breathe.
He tightened his hold on her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. The only reason I did is because it’s been such a long time since I felt the charge that I thought it might’ve been gone forever. I was relieved to discover it wasn’t. That’s the part I wanted to tell you.”
Stephanie’s mind raced as she tried to process what he’d said.
“Do you believe me when I tell you I won’t do anything with your story?”
It seemed to matter an awful lot to him. “Yes,” she managed to say. “I believe you.”
“Good.”
“If you felt the charge for my story, then it’s possible you’ll feel it for another one. Maybe it’s a sign that it’s coming back.”
“That’d be nice. I’ve missed it.”
Stephanie knew she was probably making a mistake letting him hold her so closely and share confidences with her, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to move away from him, to put distance between them.
Her last conscious thought before sleep claimed her was that his arms around her made the dark a whole lot less scary.