Chapter Fifteen
SEBASTIAN
It’s been a week since I interfered with Grace leaving, and even though guilt still swirls through me at what I did, the sick part of me doesn’t regret a thing. Sure, I didn’t force her to come with me, but I took away the one thing she needed when I knew she didn’t have any other options. Two if you count the flight out of the country I had promised her.
The first couple of days were rough. Grace was distant—almost like she was trying to pull away. We might have slept together the first night, but I know she was dealing with a lot. Her nightmares were also bad, so she wasn’t sleeping well. Before I could try to figure out what was going on, she started to slowly open up again. So I let it go.
With every day that passes, I can feel her slipping a little further inside me. When I brought her here, I knew I was tired of fighting whatever this is, and I sure as fuck don’t want to stop what we’re doing now. Only I’m finding the more time we spend together, not only are we acting like acouple,it almostfeelslike we’re a couple.
I wasn’t prepared for this. I don’t do relationships.
What the fuck else would you call this?
This is what you asked for.
She’s on my mind all day, then every night I spend wrapped up in her—kissing her, sinking into her wet heat.Fuck.Maybe I don’tneed todefinewhat we are. Isn’t it enough that she’s still here? That we’retogether? I let out a breath, finding a little bit of relief in that.
You’re falling for her.
I freeze at the thought, and my feet stumble, breaking the stride of my run.
Shit,I can’t be. It hasn’t even been a month since the day I caught her taking photos of me in the park. However, it feels like much longer than a month. Any thoughts of other women or the one-night-stands I used to have, do nothing for me. All I can think about isher.
Sighing, I run my hand through my hair and shake away the thoughts before finishing my run.
There’s no way I can be falling for her. At least, that’s what I’m going to tell myself.
It’s still early when I walk back into the bedroom I’ve been sharing with Grace. Both her and Shadow are curled up on the king-size bed, but I know she’s awake from the way her hand moves over his fur.
Usually, I’d take Shadow with me in the mornings, but with Grace’s nightmares, I’ve started taking him in the evenings. She hasn’t had one as bad as the first night here, but they still seem more aggressive than at the penthouse, and I know he usually calms her down. He also has plenty of room to run around outside here, so I don’t feel as guilty leaving him during the day.
As I approach the bed, I take off my T-shirt and use it to wipe my face before throwing it on the couch at the end of the bed. Shadow lifts his head, and Grace turns, following his line of sight straight to me. She sits up, and the covers pool to one side of her lap, exposing her bare leg and the edge of her underwear peeking out from beneath her T-shirt. Grace’s gaze travels down my body, her eyes full of lust, and my dick twitches at the memory of fucking her last night.
“Stop looking at me like that, Grace. Or I won’t make it to work on time,” I say, the words rough like they were ripped from my throat.
“But you’re the boss,” she says, and I narrow my eyes at her.
“Exactly. So, I need to set an example.” With how much longer it takes to get to work from here, I have to leave even earlier than I’m used to to make it to the office by my usual time. So, I haven’t exactly gone back to the same working hours as before Grace, but since everything that happened with the board a week ago, I’ve been extra focussed on work while Easton tries to find out everything he can on Deveigne.
So far, other than what we knew after the meeting we had with Deveigne, Easton hasn’t been able to find much of anything that could get us a leg up on him. His operation is a lot more developed than we initially believed, though it’s not the drugs or guns that give him the reputation we’re only now coming to discover. It’s thecargohe wanted us to traffic. The circles he runs in are beyond anything I’ve dealt with before, not to mention they’re extremely fucking tight-knit. I guess when you’re in the business ofselling people, only associating with other like-minded fucks is one way to stay off the radar.
Easton and I still haven’t sorted our shit out, but we’re at least able to have a conversation without killing each other. It seems we’ve both come to some silent agreement that we have more important things to worry about at the moment.
Grace is still looking at me like she’s discovered what she’d like for breakfast, and when her tongue darts out to wet her lips, my dick jumps. Then, moving to her knees, Grace starts making her way towards me, and even though she’s not trying to be sexy, the image she’s putting in my head right now will make concentrating at work extremely hard. Literally.
“Can’t you be a little late?” she asks, looking up at me with her big blue eyes. “You’ll still probably be one of the first ones there.” She stops by the edge of the bed, and the position puts her awfully fucking close to my growing dick. By the way her eyes move to the very thing trying to get her attention, she can see exactly what she’s doing to me.
Fuck me.
Her gaze flicks between my face and my groin, and when she licks her lips again, I nearly lose it and give her exactly what she wants.
“What are you going to do, Grace? Because if you’re going to make me late for work, it better be for a good fucking reason,” I say firmly, the rumble in my voice laced with heat.
I watch in satisfaction when blush blooms on her cheeks. She might be shy when it comes to sex, and I don’t blame her, not one bit, but there’s also another side of her hidden under layers of trauma. I see flashes of it here and there. Bold yet also a little submissive. I want to see her take what she wants. But, at the same time, the way she reacts when Itellher to do something drives me fucking nuts.
I want to see her break out of the prison her bastard uncle put her in, but I won’t force her out. It’s something she needs to discover on her own. That doesn’t mean I won’t give her a nudge of encouragement every now and then.
“Tell me what you want to do, and maybe I’ll stay.”