He wrapped the condom in tissue from a box he’d pushed to the floor earlier and tossed it in the trash, then looked around at the mess he’d made. He scratched his head. “I’ll...clean this up in the morning.”
“Holy. Shit.” Her whisper drew Grant’s gaze back. She was scraping a hand through her hair and pulling it off her face. A face flushed and relaxed, with a look of awe and shock in her eyes.
He slipped his arm around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her neck. She pressed her cheek to his chest and ran her nails lightly up his side, sending tingles over his skin.
Warmth and affection swamped Grant out of nowhere. “I can’t remember the last time it’s been that good.”
She lifted her heavy-lidded gaze to his. “So it’s not just me?”
He smiled. “Oh, it’s you baby.” He kissed her. Softly. Slowly. And sighed. “It’s definitely you.”
Eight
“Baby,” Grant called from the ground, “this is a fantastic view of your perfect ass, but I gotta tell you, you’re freaking me out.”
She laughed and dropped her hand from the roof’s eve to press a hand to her stomach, aching from all the laughing she’d done with him today. And all the sexual gymnastics he’d put her through the night before. “Would you stop? I’m almost finished and it’s getting dark.”
“You’re not almost finished,” he complained. “You still have the whole front, which includes three more gables. But you’re right about it getting dark. I swear my heart’s not going to make it through this. If you hurt yourself, you won’t be able to set up for the Winter—whatchamacallit.”
“Winter Wonderland,” she corrected him for the third time.
“I don’t care. Get your beautiful self down here. I’ll finish the rest.”
Grinning, she hooked the end of the light string to the corner of the gable, then twisted to look down at him. He was standing at the base of the ladder, holding it stable with one gloved hand, aiming the video camera at her with the other. He looked adorable all bundled up in his parka, a knit hat warming his head, his dark hair sneaking out from underneath the edges, and a few days of scruff darkening his jaw.
“You may have gotten away with telling me what to do last night,” she said, “but don’t expect that to continue during the day.”
He lowered the camera with a big, bright grin cutting across his face. “Is that right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. And you’d better be able to dub over that tape like you promised or all this effort is going to be wasted.”
“Someone’s getting bossy,” he told her as she climbed down the ladder. “Sounds like she needs a spanking.”
As soon as she got within his reach, Grant slapped her ass. Hard.
Faith gasped. “Ow,” she half-laughed the complaint and shot a scowl over her shoulder. “You little—“
Another crack stung her cheek. Her sex clenched and flooded with heat, shocking her.
“No name calling,” he told her.
Faith gritted her teeth against the flare of desire. This had been happening all day—these sudden, intense bursts of lust, erupting out of nowhere like the strike of a match. She’d chalked it up to residual hunger from their wicked night, a desire awoken from hibernation and greedy for fuel. And after a day of close proximity and teasing, she was seriously ready to do something reckless for a fix.
She continued down the ladder, stopping a couple rungs from the bottom to turn to face him, eye-to-eye. He circled her in his arms and stepped close until their jacket-clad bodies pressed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stroked her hand across his rough cheek. “I may be laying down a few of my own rules tonight, Saber. So don’t get too comfortable with all this control.”
“Mmm.” He set the camera on a higher wrung and squeezed her butt, pulling her closer. “I like the sound of that.”
And he kissed her.
The move had become familiar over the course of the day. He’d hatched this plan to film her rigging—what Grant called—Dwayne’s Christmas Fantasia during lulls in their sexual activity the night before. And later, after the store had closed and he finished with the high school hockey practice, he’d promised to show her how to take the video from camera to YouTube.
Before Faith had even stirred from their non-stop night of bliss, Grant had repaired the broken pipe
in her basement, then driven into Ashville, the next largest city, to buy a video camera and video editing software. And he’d followed her with that damn camera all afternoon, recording non-stop.
He’d also been touching her non-stop, kissing her non-stop and smiling non-stop. Her passion had built and built, filling her with an ache she wanted him to ease. And the way he was adding to that fire with his teasing, talented tongue wasn’t helping her ignore her desire.
Faith slowly, reluctantly pulled from the kiss and stroked his jaw, running her thumb over his bottom lip. “Have I mentioned you’re the best kisser in the entire universe?”