"I was just trying to get your attention. I thought you were cute, but you kept shooting me down," he said, moving his kisses from my arm to my collarbone.
"You teased me mercifully."
"I had a major hound dog crush on you. I worked for a week on the valentine I gave you in third grade. Do you remember it?"
"I still have it," I admitted.
He pulled back from my neck for a moment. "You do?" he asked, sounding thunderstruck.
I nodded my head as his eyes held mine. "I had to re-tape it freshman year when I tore it up."
"Why, what happened freshman year?" he asked, smoothing my hair off my forehead before resting his hand on my thigh so he could hitch my leg over his more securely. We continued our slow grind. I would have been embarrassed, but it felt too good to care.
"You started dating Amanda. It crushed my heart, so I tore up the heart you gave me. After I re-retaped it, I shoved it in my drawer so I wouldn't have to face it."
"I started dating Amanda because I thought you were never going to give me a shot. The guys were giving me a hard time and told me to do something or move on. I figured they were right when you never looked at me again."
"You broke my heart. Just ask Fran. She was my sounding board the entire time," I whispered as he lowered his mouth to my cheek.
"I was stupid. If it makes you feel better, you broke my heart too when you left Woodfalls," he admitted.
My heart stuttered. His words eclipsed our sensual heat as we shared probably the most significant moment of my life. "We were both stupid," I said, pulling him close. I couldn't stand another moment without our lips together. The kiss started so tenderly that tears formed in my eyes. Cupping my face with his hands, Grant anchored me in place as his lips staked their claim. I deepened the kiss and moved my hips to force his leg more snugly between mine. His hands found their way under my shirt, moving seductively over my stomach, past my ribcage and coming to a rest right below my bra line. "Yes," I whimpered. I raised my back to allow him access to remove my lacy undergarment.
"You want this?" he asked, slowly lifting my bra so his hand could make its way underneath.
"Don't be a tease," I said, tugging on his shirt.
"But you're so cute when you get aggravated," he said, shrugging off his shirt. I lifted my head and circled his nipple with my tongue, grinning wickedly when his eyes darkened. I could play his game if that's what he wanted. I glided my tongue smoothly to his other nipple, dragging it between my teeth and biting gently. His body arched against mine. I could feel his hunger pressed hot and hard against me. Enjoying the feeling of empowerment, I sucked harder on his chest as he gripped my hair in his hands.
"Enough, woman," he finally said, pulling off my shirt and bra.
"Just thought you needed a little taste of your own medicine," I said. He took it as a challenge and began kissing my stomach. This time it was my turn to arch as his mouth left a fiery path down my abdomen to the top of my PJ bottoms. To make his point, he lifted the edge of my panties and placed one more purposeful kiss just above where I wanted him the most. He was killing me. My response set a fast course as we shed the rest of our clothing. I finally got to see where the enticing trail of hair on his stomach ended just before he settled between my legs. His eyes never left mine as he moved slowly inside me. He set the pace, which was both infuriating and toe curling all at once. He would thrust against me, getting me right to the edge and then hold back to drag the moment out. I clutched at his back, urging him that I was close.
"Not yet, baby. I want this to last. We've waited a long time for it," he said, placing his mouth tenderly on mine. I moved restlessly beneath him, completely consumed by the fire. Just when I thought I couldn't handle it a second longer, he started moving inside me again. The wave came out of nowhere, crushing me as I pressed my hips against him. His lips swallowed my moans of pleasure as my body convulsed around his. He finished just as I did, thrusting one last time before collapsing on top of me.
Completely content, I stroked a hand over his head, marveling at how good his weight felt on top of me. My eyes felt heavy and I could feel his labored breathing returning to normal. I think we both must have dozed for a few minutes, but eventually Grant left the bed to clean up before closing the drapes. He crawled back in bed and gathered me in his arms. We napped into the early afternoon together.
Chapter 11
The echo of laughter in the hallway woke me a few hours later. Turning to face Grant, I saw he was already awake and watching me.
"What?" I asked, self-consciously pulling the blanket up to cover my breasts.
"I'm just basking in the glory of finally having you in my bed," he said, tightening his arm that was wrapped around my midriff.
"Well, technically, I was in your bed last night too," I teased. "Oh crap, I keep forgetting to call my mom. She's going to kill me," I said, sitting up in a sudden panic.
"Relax. I called her last night while you were whacked out on your happy pills," Grant said, placing his hand on mine before I could dial my parents' house.
"You did?" I asked, touched that he had the foresight to do that. "Wait, what did you tell her?"
"I told her about the snowstorm and our accident," he said, chuckling as he ticked off everything that had happened in the last day. "Oh, and your ankle. She said with the luck we're having, her advice was to stay put, but of course, that was before the fire here this morning too," he added as we both started laughing at the hilarity of the situation. We regained our composure and Grant got up to start a bubble bath in the big claw-footed tub. Trying to take a bath with him while also trying not to get my bandaged ankle wet was quite a feat. Still, our two slippery bodies combined with his roving hands made it the best bath I had ever taken. We didn't make it back to the bed before he took me again on the bathroom counter.
Once we got cleaned up, I finally called my parents to make sure they were really okay with me missing Christmas with them. My mom reassured me it was perfectly fine. At first I was confused about her complete one eighty until I pieced together she was tickled pink that I was cooped up with Grant. I'm sure she wanted nothing more than for Grant and me to have a real relationship. I knew her too well and in her mind she saw it as a way to get me back to Woodfalls on a permanent basis. I hung up the phone, reassuring her I would call again tomorrow and then again on Christmas Day.
Grant and I finally made an appearance downstairs in the late afternoon when Doc Jones came by to check on my ankle. It was still horrifically swollen and more discolored than the day before, but I turned down more of his happy pills, settling for ibuprofen instead. He stuck around for dinner, which was steaming bowls of stew and homemade bread followed by cherry cobbler. During dinner, I learned the three other couples knew each other. They were older than we were and had no family to speak of, so they spent the holidays at Maggie's Bed and Breakfast every year.
"It's because her cooking is out of this world," one of the husbands said, winking at Maggie, who blushed.