Chapter 14
Cori
As soon as we were inside, every pretense fell away. Grant caught me and pushed me back against the door, claiming my mouth again. Deeper. Harder. Tracing his tongue along my lips until I opened them and we danced together.
We didn’t ask any questions about what we should be doing or how fast. Where we should be doing it. Nothing. Grant had me pinned to the door with his body—firmly enough that I knew that I wasn’t going anywhere, and gently enough that I knew I could push him away if I needed to.
The comparison to the stable came to mind, and I violently shoved it out of my mind. Tonight was not about him. Tonight was about me and this man who seemed to know exactly what I needed without ever having to ask.
He broke away, lips kissing along my jaw. “How much did you have to drink?” A soft laugh. “Just want to make sure I’m not crossing any lines.”
“Just the two glasses,” I said. “I’m not so drunk that I can’t say yes. I am saying yes.”
“Thank fuck,” he murmured before slanting his mouth over mine again. Just those words sent heat streaking through me. Nothing to do with anyone else. I just didn’t think I’d ever been this wanted. By anyone.
Until now.
“Your house,” he said quietly. “You decide where we do this.”
“Oh, so we’re doing this?” I said with a grin. “What is it that you have planned?”
“As much or as little as you want, Cori. If you want to make out on your couch like teenagers, I’ll make sure it’s something you never forget. If you want me to lay you out on your kitchen table and eat you until you’re screaming, that’s a good option. If you want me to fuck you until you don’t know your own name, then we’ll do it. Tonight is all about what you want.”
I liked the implication that there would be other nights, and that some of those would be about what he wanted. The shiver that ran down my spine had nothing to do with temperature. “What if I want all of those things?”
“Then maybe later tonight, we’ll need some coffee. But right now, we go upstairs.” Leaning down, he brushed his lips over my neck, the barest touch. “Because I don’t want our first time to be up against a door.”
I ducked under his arm and caught his hand, pulling him up the stairs. “Okay,” I said. “But at some point, I’d like to try the door thing. Or a wall. Really. Anything like that would be good.”
At the top of the stairs, his arms came around my waist like they had at the wedding, and his words were hot in my ear. “Believe me, Cori, taking you on any and every available surface will not be a hardship.”
“Fuck.” I let out the curse unintentionally. This Grant, the Grant that was just this side of polite, but telling and showing me exactly what he wanted? I loved this Grant. And it was more than I ever imagined.
He laughed as we walked forward again, and I paused in the door to my bedroom. “Umm…it’s not much. And I’m sorry I’ve got some clothes around. I was getting ready for the wedding.”
Grant walked past me into the room and flipped on one of the lamps by the bed so there was a warm glow in the room that didn’t break the atmosphere.
Back in front of me, he slipped a hand behind my neck and tilted my head back so that I was looking only at him. “I’m sorry that there was ever any man who walked into a room with you and decided there was anything else worth noticing.”
My heart skipped a beat. That was what that was, right? The shock was so sudden and so arresting that I blinked. I hadn’t said that was what happened, but it had.
He kissed me again, soft and slow. New warmth unfurled inside me. Grant would never really know the impact of those words on me, or how they were the ones that made that last tiny piece of me know that I was safe with him.
I pushed my hands under his jacket so I could get it off his shoulders, and he pulled away with a devious grin. “No.”
“No?”
Grant looked me up and down as if he couldn’t decide where to start, and a blush rolled across my whole body. He shook his head. “No, you’re going to come before a single article of my clothing comes off.”
My mouth popped open. “What?”
Slowly, he spun me so my back was nearly against his body and shifted my hair over one shoulder. Kissed the back of my neck. “May I undress you?”
I was dizzy with all this. The declaration of pleasure and then asking. It was all…I didn’t know. But I knew that I wanted his hands on me with as little between us as possible. “Yes.”
This dress had a zipper along one side, and he drew that down with such excruciating slowness that I thought I was going to die if he didn’t speed up. All of reality had narrowed to that single point. That zipper that had seemed insignificant just minutes ago.
The single shoulder of my dress slipped down, and the rest of it followed, falling in a puddle around my feet. I went to step out of my heels, and he stopped me again, hands on my arms. “Not yet.”
No explanation, no hesitation, just quiet command.
Shit. Everything about this was what I wanted, and I had no way of telling him that he was ticking every box I’d ever dreamed of. And just this small taste was enough to tell me that the fantasies I’d had were spot-on.
I wanted more.
Grant unhooked the strapless bra I’d worn and let it fall. Fingers brushed my hips and up my stomach before he finally touched me. Really touched me. Held my breasts in the palms of his hands and teased the nipples. “You are so beautiful.”
“You can’t even—”
He lifted my chin, and in the heat of his attention, I’d forgotten about the mirror. Right across from us. Reflecting back the image of me nearly naked and Grant casually exploring me with his hands. Even from here, I could see that his eyes were dark. Hungry. A kiss on my shoulder, and the reflection…
Oh my God, I was wet. Aroused. More than I’d ever been in my life. I wanted everything from him. With him. It was all I could do not to turn around and wrap myself fully into his arms. The only thing that held me back was the curiosity about his plan and what he was about to do.
But I couldn’t resist it. I turned around to face him and got caught in his stare. Grant guided me back to the bed and sat me down before kneeling. Something about watching him kneel made my heart tumble into my stomach. “What are you doing?”
He smiled. “Taking your shoes off.”
“I—” The words died in my throat. He pinned me with a stare, eyes never leaving mine as he extended one leg and pulled off the shoe.
I had no idea that someone taking off a shoe could do what it did to me. Could be that intense and arousing. And I was also incredibly glad that I’d shaved my legs because the feel of his hands on my skin was incredible.
Grant dragged his eyes over the rest of me. I was nearly naked now, and it didn’t feel strange. I felt none of that hesitation or questioning that sometimes came from the first time with someone. It felt natural—so natural that it was nearly terrifying.
“Still with me?” Grant asked.
I nodded.
“Words, please.”
“I’m with you.”
He rose up on his knees, taking my face in my hands. “I don’t ever want to get the signals crossed. Especially not so close to what happened. So, if you need to stop, you tell me.”
“Only yes from me right now.”
Grant’s smile turned wicked. “Then lie back and close your eyes.”
I did, my heart pounding, adrenaline rushing through my blood. With my eyes closed, everything was more. Like the rough surface of his fingertips on the tops of my legs, sweeping down to my thighs and pressing them open.
Another blush. This time, I was sure even the parts of me he was looking at turned a deeper shade of pink. There was no chance he wouldn’t see how aroused I was, and part of me was embarrassed. Another part of me loved that he did that and now was going to see the results.
Taste the results.
Nothing was left on my body but a lacy thong. I expected him to shift the fabric over my hips and strip me. I didn’t expect to feel his tongue through that lace, dragging over it and teasing me with all those sensations at once.
I gasped, my hips moving on their own. “Oh shit.”
“If that’s the response I get from one taste…” Grant kissed the inside of my thigh, but he was smiling.
There was nothing I could say. Every word had drained out of my head with that brush of his tongue. I had no chance to form words either as he stretched the lace over my clit and licked me again. Harder.
That little bit of texture added just enough friction. Perfect. And I still wanted more. I was going to come too fast, but I wanted all of it.
“Are you particularly attached to these panties?”
“No,” I managed to say. “Why?”
He made a humming sound as he sealed his mouth over my clit and dragged it deep. “I was thinking about tearing them off you.”
“Oh my God.”
“Bad?”
“Hell no. Good. Very good.”
Grant chuckled, and I opened my eyes and sat up just in time to see him fist the lace and pull it apart as if it was made of cotton candy.
Tossing the lace aside, he buried his face between my legs, and I could see his tongue moving over me, flicking and tasting and teasing. It was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. And probably the best thing I’d ever felt.
The slick combination of lips and tongue, suction that pulled at the very center of me, the way Grant’s hands pushed my thighs apart so he could feast on me. I couldn’t breathe.
When was the last time I’d had this?
Never. That was the answer. I’d never had a man who did this as anything more than a courtesy. A few minutes to say that he’d done it, and that was it.
Grant covered me with his mouth and pushed his tongue deep inside me, taking that intimate pleasure to the next level. I fell back onto the bed, closing my eyes just like he’d told me to, and I collapsed into pleasure.
The orgasm came from nowhere. It was all white light and shock, and then it was more than pleasure, crashing over me in a warm wave. Golden and perfumed and perfect. It drew out my voice so it echoed off the walls, moved my hips so I was begging for more even as I was savoring the sharp edge of that bliss.
So much for being a quiet lover. Maybe I’d just hadn’t had a lover that made me want to use my voice.
Grant had done exactly what he said he would do. There was something inexplicably hot about a man still in a full tuxedo with his mouth between your legs.
I watched him slip the jacket off his shoulders and drape it over the chair in the corner. His shoes and socks were next. Every movement methodical and efficient. As opposed to me, wantonly spread across the bed, watching him.
Now I felt more drunk on pleasure and my orgasm than the wine. All the same, it was luxurious and glorious to watch Grant undress. I’d heard Lena and Evelyn talk about seeing the Resting Warrior men shirtless, but I never had. Until now.
Grant’s eyes were on me as he unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and then the shirt itself. Holy. Shit. The view was worth the wait. Knowing that his body was probably perfect beneath his clothes and seeing that perfect body beneath the clothes were two entirely different things. Muscles that drew my eyes from one place to the next, from his neck down his arms and back to his chest and flat, defined stomach.
His mouth turned up in a half smile at my observation. “Meet your approval?”
Too tongue-tied to actually speak, I nodded quickly.
He turned to put his shirt with the jacket, and I gasped. Grant’s whole body stiffened, and I wished I could take it back, but I’d had no idea. His back was covered in scars. Long lines that looked like something had been dragged across it. His lower back too, scarred though I couldn’t tell from what.