8. Tessa
Tessa
Tessa’s body began to subtly move as she pulled herself out of a marvelous, deep sleep. Filling her lungs with a hearty breath, she was suddenly aware of Greer’s scent all around her. His cologne, his skin, his sweat.
And then all the memories of their night together vibrantly came back to life in her mind.
She had not been prepared at all for the experience that was Greer Murphy.
And part of that was because she had made some faulty assumptions about the man.
He was positively droolworthy thanks to his fitness routine, which gave him a sculpted body and stamina for days.
She’d expected that sex with him would be one wild ride, a whirlwind of pleasure.
But instead, Greer took it slow.
From the moment they touched down in his bedroom to the moment they fell asleep in each other’s arms, Greer seemed to want to savor every moment they had together.
He kissed her, slowly, passionately, taking his sweet time and exploring her body.
Sex before this man was fun, and certainly a way to achieve mutual satisfaction.
But sex with Greer was on a much deeper level.
And she had never been loved so thoroughly.
Yes, loved.
While that should have terrified her… it didn’t.
For the first time in a very long time, everything felt perfect.
Testing her body out with micromovements, Tessa lazily opened her eyes to an eyeful of muscular pecs and a sprinkling of brown chest hair.
Their legs were entwined, and the strong, solid beat of his heart was just beneath her ear.
Greer’s arms were holding her in a bear hug, like something he cherished.
Like she was his favorite.
The thought made her smile as she closed her eyes and listened to his heart once more.
However, it wasn’t long before her stomach began to turn over, a grumpy sound that indicated she needed to start thinking about food.
Realizing that it had been a while since her last meal, thanks to having an early dinner and sleeping in the way they had, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep.
She placed her palms against Greer’s chest and did a test push.
Immediately, she felt his hands loosen around her, giving her some false hope that she could get out of bed without waking him up.
But as she pushed more, turning onto her back and nearly breaking free of his embrace, he stirred, wrapping his arms around her once more, and pulling her back to him again.
Why was that so endearing? That even in sleep, he wanted her near?
“Greer,” she whispered, her voice rough from sleep. She tapped her fingers against his wrist. “You have to let me go.”
He was motionless in response, and for a second she wondered if he’d fallen asleep again. When he tightened his arms around her, she realized he had only been weighing options in his head.
“No.”
Then, he promptly went back to sleep.
Trying to tamp down the happiness bubbling out of her in the form of a chuckle, while also trying to keep her frustration at bay at how she was going to escape his clutches, she finally waited for his breathing to deepen and even out before carefully removing an arm from her waist and sliding out from between the sheets.
Darting quickly down the hall and into her room, she pulled on her satin sleep shorts and cami set.
While it was clearly getting on to late morning, she was feeling delightfully lazy.
Slipping into a matching pink satin robe, she tiptoed back to the kitchen, digging into the meals that their chef, Silas, had prepared for them.
Following the instructions on the shrink-wrapped steak portions, she pulled out the carton of eggs along with what appeared to be a freshly made salad.
She remembered the story he’d told her about how salad was eaten for breakfast in Japan, and it certainly had the nutritional components that Greer would need.
So she rolled with it.
Happily humming as the sun began to shine into the room, she peeked at her phone charging nearby to see if any messages had come across from Natalie.
No surprise, they hadn’t.
Sighing in defeat, she had a feeling her days in New York were fast coming to an end.
Sure, she was disappointed for not being able to recover her great-grandmother’s necklace, but, more than that, the idea of returning to Boston now was bitter.
For the first time in months, she actually felt like herself here in the beautiful Adirondack mountains.
Despite being born and raised in Boston, all that it held for her at present was a lot of pain and agony.
A stalker ex-boyfriend. Police who only shrugged and wished her good luck when she went to them for help.
Being homebound to escape it all.
Up here with Greer, she had experienced a blessed reprieve from the entire situation, and she’d be lying if she hadn’t given thought to tossing her entire life and moving up here to start fresh.
A beautiful location where nobody knew who she was, and could care even less about who she had made the mistake of dating.
Here, she didn’t have a past, only a future.
And of course… Greer.
As if she’d conjured the man straight from her thoughts, she heard him rustling around in the bedroom. When he emitted a strangled groan from his throat, she pictured him loudly stretching: feet pointed, body tight, arms overhead, then releasing on a satisfied sigh.
She shook her head, smiling. He was easily the loudest man she’d ever met.
She could always tell when he was near by his noise, or whenever he walked into a room.
His footfall was heavy, and he always announced himself somehow.
Dragging his knuckles along the wall, quietly humming a tune, or even being more direct.
“Morning, Tess,” she heard a gravelly voice call out. Turning around, her mouth began to water at the sight. Greer stood before her in only a pair of low-slung gray sweatshorts, hanging onto the top of the doorframe and looking at her like she was what he wanted for breakfast.
“M-morning,” she said, giving her head a quick shake to pull herself out of her daze. In addition to being physically pleasing, Greer was positively magnetic. Whenever he was around, she constantly found herself migrating in his direction.
The fact that he always had open arms for her certainly helped.
But this time, Greer came to her. He gave her a wide smile as he sauntered into the kitchen, scratching mindlessly at his chest as if he had all the time in the world.
Tessa tried her hardest to act cool in his presence, despite the thrill of him drawing near zipping through her body.
She could not believe a man like him was into her.
It made her want to go running off squealing into the backyard like a middle schooler who just got asked to her first dance.
She liked him. And he liked her back, too.
Sliding his hands around her waist from behind, he buried his nose in her hair, laying soft kisses up the column of her neck. “You snuck out.”
“I was hungry,” she said, gasping as he hit a particularly sensitive spot just below her ear. He’d learned about it last night, and man, didn’t he know how to use that knowledge. “I thought I’d try to fix us some breakfast.”
“You’re sweet,” he said, dragging his teeth across her earlobe, and it wasn’t long before she forgot everything about what she was trying to accomplish.
“Greer,” she muttered on a breath. His hands began traveling south, slipping beneath her cami. His rough palms on her bare stomach felt searingly hot, and when he gripped her hips, turning her and caging her in between him and the countertop, all she wanted was more.
Overwhelmed by his presence and his arms around her, her body took over when her mind decided all it wanted to do was feel.
Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and when her knee began an upward path towards his hip, he didn’t hesitate to grab it and the other, hoisting her up onto his hips like she didn’t weigh anything at all.
Ironically, Greer was still taller than her, but the positioning made him more accessible.
As he turned them and began walking back to the bedroom, a ringing pierced the silence of the house, causing her head to snap up.
“That’s my phone,” she said, frantically looking around.
But he had her, reversing direction and heading back into the kitchen, taking her straight to where her phone sat on the counter. He held her tight as she leaned over and peered at the screen. Her body stiffened as she looked up at him, her eyes wide with hope.
“It’s Natalie,” she said, swiping to answer and putting it on speakerphone. “Hello?”
“Hey, Tessa? It’s Natalie.”
“Hey,” she said, looking at Greer, who offered her a smile and a nod of encouragement. “Did you have any luck?”
“I did,” she said. “It took a few hours, but I managed to find a lending agreement for the necklace. Turns out it was loaned to my grandmother’s daughter-in-law, and it was never returned.”
“Oh, okay,” Tessa said, trying to do the math in her head. If Natalie’s grandmother was from Tessa’s great-grandmother’s generation, then that would mean… “Wait, how long ago was this?”
Natalie paused. “It was fifty years ago.”
Tessa’s mouth gaped, shooting a desperate look at Greer, who still held her aloft. His arms had to be screaming by now, carrying her weight. Still, he didn’t look the least bit plussed, and right then, she needed the comfort of him against her.
“There’s no way to know what happened to it, is there?” Tessa feared.
“Well, here’s the thing,” Natalie began. “Her daughter-in-law only had one child. A daughter, Tierney. She’s my cousin, and I do have contact with the family from time to time, so I decided to give her a call.”
“Really?” Tessa asked, her spine beginning to straighten again.