Chapter 10
CALVIN
The stroll in the woods takes us to a quiet part of the valley where the wild woods border the neat rows of planted pine forest. The sounds of the sawmill are in the distance and one side of the hill lies bare, felled trees dotting the landscape.
It’s not a pretty part of the valley, which means tourists hardly ever visit. They’re more likely to walk the scenic paths with the Insta-worthy views.
But the only scenery I’m interested in is right in front of me, traipsing along the path and trailing her fingers over the bark of every tree we pass.
“You’ll get a splinter.”
Grace turns her head back to face me with a smirk and looks me dead in the eye as she brushes her fingertips over the trunk of an ancient sycamore.
This woman’s insufferable. She has no regard for her own welfare.
“I should have dropped you with your sister while we were near the Lodge,” I mutter.
Grace’s expression changes, and she bites the tip of her fingernail.
“My sister’s pregnant.” The way she says it, I get the feeling it’s not all happy news.
“Congratulations?” I say cautiously.
“I’m happy for her, but Dad hit the roof.”
I’m getting the impression her father is overprotective of his daughters. “He’s not ready to be a grandad?”
Grace shakes her head. “Hope got pregnant from a one-night stand with some construction worker way out in Oregon.”
I can see why a father wouldn’t think that’s an ideal situation for his little girl.
“Not that my sister’s that type of girl,” she says quickly.
I raise my hands. “I’m not judging.”
She squints at me to make sure. She’s protective of her little sister, and I’m reminded of what she told me last night. Hope was eight when their mother died. It must have been hard on her, on both of them.
“That’s another reason I didn’t call off the engagement when I started having doubts. Dad worked so hard to raise us the best he could. Teen pregnancy is a dad’s worst nightmare when he’s raising daughters. Hope has only just turned twenty, so she’s practically a teenager.
“I kind of felt like if I called off the wedding, he’d have two disappointing daughters on his hands.”
From what she’s told me about her father he sounds like a reasonable man, not the kind to shun his daughters.
“He doesn’t really think that, does he?”
She shakes her head. “I think it was the shock of finding out about the baby and the fact that she wants nothing to do with the father. He’ll support Hope. He just needs time.”
“And how about you?”
She purses her lips. “I’m always the one getting into trouble. I spoke to him yesterday, and he’s relieved. He sent Tim home, who was a little relieved too by all accounts.”
I shake my head, feeling sorry for the man. “Raising kids on your own is tough. Your sister’s going to need all the support she can.”
Grace nods. “I know.” She turns away and says the next part under her breath, and I’m not sure I’ve heard her right at first. “I can’t believe she lost her v-card before me.”
I stop in my tracks. Did Grace just admit she’s a virgin?
She turns back, and when she sees I’ve stopped, she takes a step back towards me. She raises an eyebrow.
“You seem surprised? Did you make a judgment about me, sheriff?” She tilts her head, a challenge in her expression.
I shake my head. “I just thought . . . you were engaged. You said you had fun together…”
She laughs. “Men. You think sex is the only way you have fun with someone. We hung out, we partied, we drank a lot, but I didn’t have sex with Tim.”
Relief washes over me, which is stupid. I barely know Grace. I’ve got no right to feel ownership over her, yet I do.
“But you saw him brush his teeth?”
She snort laughs. “But we didn’t sleep together. Is that so odd?”
“Why not?”
It’s none of my business. I’ve got no right to her sexual history, but damn it, I want to know.
She bites her lower lip, thinking. “When I kissed Tim, something was missing. He wasn’t a bad kisser, as far as technique goes.”
A growl comes out of my throat that makes Grace startle. I hate hearing about her kissing someone else, even if I did ask her about it.
“It was like eating salad,” she continues.
I have no idea what kissing has to do with salad, but somehow in her brain, there’s a link. “You eat salad and it tastes nice, and it’s good for you. You’re doing what you’re supposed to do, and it doesn’t taste too bad.”
“He tasted like salad?” I’m not sure I’m following.
She shakes her head. “No, the kiss was…fine. Like salad. But then, you eat a grilled cheese sandwich…”
She closes her eyes and tilts her head back and moans.
My loins stir at the guttural sound. “…you eat a grilled cheese sandwich and the vintage cheddar taste explodes on your tongue, and your tastebuds come alive, and you devour that sandwich and lick your lips, and you’re left satisfied and full with grease running down your chin. ”
She opens her eyes and swipes her fingers along her chin, wiping away imaginary grease. I’m staring at her transfixed, because I want to gobble her up like a grilled cheese and make her moan like that.
“And you realize that salad is okay, but what you really need is a grilled cheese sandwich. I want to be kissed like that. I want it to feel like I’m eating a grilled cheese not a salad.”
Food has never sounded so sexy. My eyes dart to her lips, to where the imaginary grease makes them slick.
She wants to be kissed like that; I’ll be the man to do it.
I grab her around the waist, my hand sinking into her hip. Grace gasps as I walk her backwards until her back hits the trunk of a sturdy oak.
I step forward, getting in her space until our hips bump together. She stares up at me, her wide eyes sparkling, her hair falling in loose strands around her face.
I trail my fingers down her cheek and sweep a strand of hair behind her ear. She closes her eyes, leaning into my touch.
This time there’s no interruption as my lips crash into hers. She whimpers as I cup her chin in my hands, pulling her toward me and deepening the kiss.
My hand slides down her throat to grip her neck, applying a slight pressure that makes her press her hips into me.
There’s no hiding what effect she’s having on me as she bumps up against my hardness. I kiss her deeper and press myself against her, loving the soft moan that comes out of her throat.
The way she responds to me makes me harder, and it takes all the effort I have to pull away. But she’s a virgin, and as much as I want Grace, I won’t take her up against a tree. Not for her first time.
“Salad or sandwich?” I ask, but her expression already gives me the answer I need.
“Definitely a grilled cheese sandwich. Like, a double grilled cheese.”
She’s breathing hard, and there’s a dangerous glint to her eyes.
“Do it again,” she whimpers.
Kissing Grace is like falling out of the plane all over again.
I fall into her, giving her everything I have in that kiss. It’s terrifying and euphoric, and I never knew a woman could make me feel so good. But it’s not just the ache I have to possess her with my body. It’s a deeper ache, like no matter how much I have her, it will never be enough.
Her hands pull at my belt buckle.
“No.” My hands stop hers. “Not here, not for your first time.”
She drops her hands and bites her lower lip, and the mischievous gleam in her eyes puts me on edge wondering what she’s up to.
In one quick movement she pulls the t-shirt over her head, exposing her bra-clad breasts.
“What are you doing?”
I try to stop her, but she’s too quick for me. Grace giggles as she lets her t-shirt fall to the forest floor.
My mouth drops open, mesmerized by the pale contours of her body, the unashamed rolls of her stomach and the two heavy orbs framed in a black lace bra.
“You can’t do that here.” I glance around to check that no one is on the path. “Someone might see.” My hand goes out to grab her, to cover her up, and she darts past me.
“So what if they do?”
She’s smiling and her hair falls over her shoulders, and I can’t stop staring at her body. It’s perfect in its imperfection, soft and pale, and I ache to touch her. But she darts further away between the gap in the trees, then turns to face me, giggling.
Her hands go around the back of her bra, and a moment later the straps fall open and she slips them off her shoulders.
“Grace...” I warn, spinning around to check that we’re alone. “Get your clothes back on; someone might see you.”
Fuck if I’m sharing this sight with anyone else. I stride toward her, and she darts away.
“I guess we better get off the path then.”
“Grace…” Like the fool I am, I follow her into the forest. She’s always just out of reach, darting away from me. A flash of pale skin amongst the deep forest green. I stumble over a tree root, and when I get to my feet she’s pulling her leggings off.
“What are you doing?” My pulse thunders through my veins, and my heartbeat drums against my chest. I don’t know if I’m chasing her to cover her up or to bend her over and teach her not to play games.
I’m both infuriated by her lack of self-preservation and turned on like I’ve never been before in my entire life.
I reach for her and brush the skin of her arm, but she slips away giggling.
“Grace…” I roar and then she’s still, waiting for me behind an ancient oak, panting and naked apart from her lace panties.
My mouth goes dry. My dick pulses with need. The woman is perfection, All wide hips and confidence that’s sexy as hell.
“Fuck.”
I run a hand through my hair. I want her so much, but she’s a virgin. She deserves more than a quick fuck in the forest for her first time. Because I can tell by the pressure in my balls that it will be quick.
She takes a step toward me, and I’m powerless to refuse her. I take her by the arms, clinging onto her too tight as I drag her toward me.
“You deserve better for your first time.”
She bites her lower lip.
“I know.”
Relief floods me as well as disappointment. With all the restraint I can muster, I let her go.
“Get dressed. You don’t know who might come along…”
“That’s half the thrill, don’t you think?”
She rests her hand on the painful bulge in my trousers as she sinks to her knees, her intention made clear by the naughty glint in her eyes.
“Don’t try to fight it, sheriff…” Her fingers work my belt buckle, and my cock pops out. “Let go and enjoy yourself.”
I should back off; I should pick up her clothes and get her dressed and drop her back off with her family with her hymen intact.
Then her lips wrap around my cock, and all thoughts of retreat flee my mind.
Her mouth is as soft and hot as I imagined it would be. I let out a groan as she takes me in, sliding her full lips down my shaft and back again.
“Fuck, Grace…” I can barely get the words out because she draws her cheeks in, sucking me so hard I almost lose it.
“I can’t let you…”
She slips my cock out of her mouth, and I gasp at the loss of her snug mouth around me.
“You can, sheriff. You just need…” She licks me from base to tip. “…to…” Her tongue traces the rim. “…let…” Her hand squeezes the base of my cock as she presses her lips to my sensitive tip. “…go…”
Her lips slide down my length, and I sink into her mouth as her gaze stays on mine.
I groan as tendrils of pleasure course through my body.
I stare down at her, this almost naked woman on her knees on the forest floor, bare tits bouncing up and down as she takes me into her mouth over and over again.
And I give in to her, into the sensations of pleasure, into the sheer joy of her mouth wrapped around my cock.
My hands bunch in her hair and I pull her head toward my hips, forcing her to take me deeper. Grace splutters but keeps sucking and doesn’t let up. I pump my hips forward, thrusting into her tight wet mouth as I watch her tits bounce up and down.
“Touch yourself,” I rasp out.
Her hand slides between her legs and rubs it over her soaking panties.
As she bites and sucks and licks, the world around us fades away. It’s just me and Grace and the pressure building at the base of my cock.
She whimpers as I tug her head back then thrust her forward. Her eyes widen and I do it again, loving how she opens her throat to take me.
Her face contorts, and her body shakes as she orgasms.
My balls squeeze tight, and at the last minute I pull out of her mouth. Her eyes widen in surprise as come surges out of me and onto her tits, coating her with my seed and marking her as mine.
She’s on her haunches panting and I rub my cock head over her chest, smearing my cum over her tits and leaving no question who owns this woman.
“Sheriff…” There’s a note of admiration in her voice. “I had no idea you were so dirty.”
I pull her to her feet and kiss her hard.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Grace.”
It would be easy to take her against a tree, to make her mine the way a man makes a woman his. But despite the sense of freedom she makes me feel, I won’t do that. The first time I take her will be on a bed, worshipping her body like she deserves.
“I think I’d like to find out.”
She says it quietly, and there’s no hint of the usual teasing in her voice. My heart squeezes. I’ve only known this woman twenty-four hours, but she’s wound her way into my heart, making me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time.
“Come on.” I gather her clothes and hand them to her. “There’s something I want to show you.”