Chapter 14
Everly felt like she was floating. Of course, she was scared to go through with the sting today.
Anxious about the inevitable questioning and investigation into her life.
But in spite of that, her soul was content.
She hadn’t felt this settled in, well…ever.
Not on her wedding night, not on her honeymoon.
She sighed and snuggled further under the blankets.
Life could have turned out so differently if she’d met Grant before Jeremy.
If she had known that someone could make her feel like this, like she was the center of his world and nothing and no one else mattered.
It’s temporary, she reminded herself. The real world was about to return, and then she and Grant would be separated while she continued cleaning up the mess that Jeremy had left behind.
Still, a small, hopeful corner of her heart whispered that maybe they could see each other again when this was over.
She reached out and smoothed a piece of Grant’s hair, adorably mussed from where she’d clenched her hands in it over and over last night.
He hadn’t complained once. Everly had thought herself broken and cold, convinced herself that she didn’t like sex or showing affection. Grant had shattered those illusions.
His eyes fluttered open, and he reached for her. “Morning, beautiful.” She snuggled into him, and his hands roamed lazily over her body, lingering on her curves and peaks as if he were memorizing them. As if they had all day instead of a few hours.
He cupped his hand against her bottom, pulling her flush against him, his cock rock-solid and pressing insistently into her belly. “Somebody’s happy this morning,” she teased, wrapping her hand around his shaft. He groaned.
“Every day that I wake up with you, I’m happy.” He captured her mouth in a kiss and teased a nipple between his fingers. Everly moaned into his mouth but pulled away before he could do anything else, then pushed the blankets down and straddled his legs.
“Baby,” he hissed as she took him in her mouth. He groaned and knotted his hands in her hair as she began to move. “That feels fucking unreal.”
She swirled her tongue around him, her hand working what her mouth couldn’t reach, and savored the effect this had on him. The way she was in control of him like this. He gripped her head and thrust deeper into her mouth. “Everly, baby. You’re killing me.”
Without warning, he pulled himself out, and she made a noise of disappointment. “Not this time, babe. I want to be inside you so badly.” He sat up against the headboard and rummaged in the nightstand drawer. “Shit. Out of condoms.”
She considered finishing him off the way she’d intended to, but she wanted him inside her too.
Time was no longer on their side, and a small voice in the back of her mind, far more cynical than her heart, reminded her that this might be the last time.
Everly traced a line down Grant’s chest. “I’m on the pill.
” She let her hand skim further down his body while she waited for his answer.
He caught her hand and kissed her fingers. “I get tested regularly for the job. I’m clean. Always have been.” His expression was serious, and she knew that if she said no, if she didn’t want to do this, he would stop in a heartbeat.
“I trust you,” she said, and she did. With her safety, her life. Her heart.
“Come here,” he murmured, reaching for her again. Always reaching for her, this man.
She swallowed the swell of emotion that was rising in her chest and settled over him, sinking down until he was fully embedded inside her.
“Ev. Oh my God.”
They sat like that for a long moment, face-to-face, just looking at each other. Grant’s strong fingers ghosted across her back, sending the most delicious shivers down her spine.
Everly cupped his face in her hands and kissed him then, her mouth slanting over his, hoping that he could somehow feel all the love that she had for him. Even if she couldn’t say it out loud yet.
She loved this man. Maybe she always had, on some level. And being here like this, her body full of him and her heart full of feelings that neither of them were prepared for, was almost more than she could handle.
Her hips rocked, and she began to move on him, the electricity coursing through her body intense enough to push higher level thoughts out of her mind. There was only this moment, this opportunity to lose themselves in each other one final time.
The headboard thumped against the wall with with their movements, and Everly gripped it for leverage as she rode him quicker and quicker, her breath coming in little pants and mingling with his.
Grant pulled his mouth from hers and circled his tongue around one of her nipples, a hand working her neglected breast.
“I love—love it when you do that,” Everly rasped, catching herself just in time. She bit her bottom lip, afraid to let any other words escape her, and reveled in the slip of his bare body as hers wound tighter and tighter towards release.
◆◆◆
Grant’s heart was hammering like he’d just completed back-to-back PT tests. Everly’s mouth on him had almost been more than he could handle, but going bareback? He drew a ragged breath and willed himself not to blow as her silken walls gloved him.
He felt them tighten as her orgasm hit her, watched her come apart on top of him as she rode to oblivion.
She cried out and dug her fingers into his shoulders, her head thrown back, and Grant was overcome with the need to give her every last bit of himself.
He shifted them so that she lay on the mattress, feet towards the headboard, and hovered over her for a moment.
Her eyes were hazy with pleasure, her lips swollen and lush.
Those lips had felt so good around him, he’d wanted to explode in her mouth. But he wanted this more.
Everly caught her breath, and he withdrew and bent down to lick her just once, just because he could. Because she was here with him and she was his.
His.
“Grant!” she cried, hips jerking. God, he loved doing this to her. He planted a kiss on the inside of her thigh, then moved back up to nip at her earlobe. “I’ll never get over the taste of you,” he whispered against her ear.
Smooth skin slid over his own as he hooked an arm behind her knee, nerves thrumming with anticipation at the knowledge that he was about to claim Everly in a way he’d claimed no other woman.
“Second thoughts?” she asked, reaching up to caress his face, her tender hands at odds with his coarse stubble.
He smiled. “Are you kidding? Not in a million years, baby. Just appreciating my good fortune so I can remember this forever.” He spread her wide, his for the taking, and pushed into her.
Molten bliss surrounded him, and he knew that nothing in the world would ever feel as right as being with her like this.
“Ev,” he whispered reverently, running his thumb along her jaw, turning her head just a fraction so that he could see his target.
He pressed a tender kiss to her jaw, right on top of the purple scar left there by someone who didn’t matter anymore.
“Grant,” she murmured, her voice wavering.
He pumped hard into her then, his emotions too raw and close, and his name became a moan. “Fuck, babe,” he ground out. “Come for me.” He moved faster, every part of him straining. He was almost at his limit, but he wanted to feel her let go one more time. Wanted to climb this last peak together.
Everly gripped his ass, and Grant got his wish, her muscles clenching around him as she shattered underneath him.
This time he followed her over the cliff, groaning as he poured every last bit of himself into her.
For a few moments, they stayed tangled together, their bodies still trembling, the air between them thick with heat and quiet awe.
“Wait right here,” he told her when he felt like he could move again.
He retrieved a warm washcloth from the bathroom, then knelt between her legs, wiping away any mess he’d left on her body.
She smiled up at him then, and he felt something shift deep in his core, as if the world had tilted on its axis.
I love you. The words crashed through him, though he didn’t dare say them out loud.
He loved her. It was as simple and as complicated as that.
He tossed the washcloth aside, settled beside her, and pulled her close.
There was so much he wanted to say to her, but now wasn’t the time, not when she needed to be focused on the days ahead.
She nuzzled into the crook between his neck and shoulder. “I wish we’d met under different circumstances. Another place, another time. I wish so many things could be different.”
His heart twisted at her words. “I know, babe. But I don’t regret this. These last few days…” He shook his head. “We’ll have more time. We will.”
Tears welled in Everly’s eyes. “Grant, I—”
His phone buzzed on the nightstand, cutting her off. “I’m sorry, baby.” Dread filled his gut as he saw Noah’s name on the screen. Somehow, he already knew what Taylor was about to say. He slid the bar to answer, greeting his captain with a clipped “McDowell.”
“Rise and shine, sugar. Time to bug out and head to the rendezvous point. There’s been a change of plans.”