Gracie smiled wickedly. “The little matter of your punishment.”
“Er, Gracie . . .”
She quirked a brow, and Wade fel silent. He had a sudden vision of Gracie dressed from head to toe in leather and wielding a flogger. It was a damn good vision.
“You said I could spank you if you cursed. I’ve been keeping count. You’ve cursed a lot, Wade.”
Wade took her head in his hands and held her stil for his kiss, this time harder, more demanding. He pul ed away and growled, “Let’s go home, my Fiery Angel.”
“Yes.” Gracie smiled. “Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
Five weeks later . . .
Gracie slammed a cupboard door, frustrated and hungry at the same time. “I’ve searched this entire kitchen, and I stil can’t find your cannel oni recipe.”
Wade tapped his temple. “It’s al up here, and it’s my little secret.”
He was sprawled out on the couch reading Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” After they’d showered together, he’d pul ed on a pair of loose-fitting gray sweats and nothing else. As Gracie stared at his powerful chest, so beautiful y displayed, her body temperature spiked. And an idea began to form.
Crossing the room, Gracie said, “I could get you to talk. I have ways, Wade.” She straddled his thighs, sighing when she felt the length of his cock nestled against her pussy. Wade would always have that effect on her, she knew.
Wade tossed the book aside and wrapped his hands around her waist. “No doubt you do, pretty baby.”
She smoothed her palms over his chest, then moved them over his rib cage to his tight abs. “How’s the arm?”
Wade rol ed his eyes. “Like I told you this morning and yesterday, and every day before that, it’s healed.”
“Sorry. It’s just . . . I’l never forget hearing that gun go off. Knowing you were shot.” Gracie shuddered as she thought of that day. So much had happened since then. She’d made living with Wade a permanent situation. Her renter’s insurance had come through, so she’d managed to replace a lot of the things Lusk had destroyed. Wade had pitched in by surprising her with her very own e-book reading device—fil ed with the rest of the books she’d lost in the break-in.
“I’l never get that image out of my head of you covered in blood.” He looked at her from head to toe, as if searching for injuries. When he took her hands in his and kissed first one palm and then the other, her clit swel ed. “Is this wrist giving you any problems, sweetheart?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. Not even a twinge. I am so glad to have that cast off. The itching was driving me nuts.”
He bobbed his eyebrows. “Sooo, wanna fool around?”
She laughed and slid her hand beneath the elastic waistband of his pants, encountering his already hard cock. “Thought you’d never ask.”
“Keep doing that and the fun won’t last.”
She leaned forward and licked the shel of his ear, then whispered, “Have a little control.”
He cupped the back of her head, holding her in place. “I have plenty of control. But when there’s a naughty little vixen on my lap, playing with my cock and whispering in my ear, my control takes a siesta.”
She started to tel him she loved it when he lost control, but her cel phone rang. Gracie frowned. “I don’t want to answer that.”
The hand Wade had at the back of her head tightened. “Then don’t.”
Her cel phone rang again. “I have to, Wade. It could be Cherry.”
Wade cursed. “It’s probably your dad. Leave it.”
Gracie moved off his lap. “No, I can’t keep avoiding him. It’s time to settle things.”
She went to the kitchen table and grabbed her cel phone. She didn’t recognize the number, but that didn’t mean anything. Her father was always borrowing someone else’s phone. When it rang a third time, Gracie flipped it open.
“Hel o?”