Bewitching You(24)

“What do you paint?”

You. “Whatever’s on my mind. Things I’m passionate about.”

“Like what?” He pushed on. “What did you paint last?”

You. “It’s kind of personal.”

“Oh.” His forehead crinkled. “Will you show me sometime? I mean, if you decide you don’t want me out of your life forever.”

“I’d love to show you,” she said. Stupid honesty sneaked up on her way too much.

“Good.” He smiled, genuinely. Stunningly.

For a moment, Sofia wondered if it would be a horrible idea to forget her inhibitions. Just for one night…or forever. She controlled her destiny. The only problem was she couldn’t control him. What if she let herself fall in love with him, only to dream of him dumping her?

She sighed. Now that would suck.

The song changed to a hip-hop tune, and Gray chuckled lightly.

“What?”

“It’s embarrassing to admit this, but Hayes and I used to break dance to this song in high school.”

“You used to break dance?”

“Yeah. We’d practice like crazy on the weekends. We’d tear apart cardboard boxes and lay them out in the driveway. Smoother surface, you know? And we’d try all these crazy stunts until we finally got it right.”

“That is so cute.” Sofia tried to picture Gray spinning on his head. Hmm.

“You wouldn’t think it was cute if you knew the reason why we did it.”

“Which was?”

“To get laid. The girls loved it.”

“Really? Well, I have to see some moves.” She teased. “Maybe I’ll love it too.”

“Not gonna happen. It’s been over ten years since I’ve even attempted it.”

“Come on. Please?” She gave him her best pouty face.

“What do I get in return?”

“Um.” Sofia thought back to her high school years. “I’ll do the splits. Or try to, anyway.”

His eyebrows arched. “Deal.”

“Cool.” She stood up and helped him clear a space in the middle of the hardwood floor.

He stretched his arms and his legs. “If I pull something, you’ll have to nurse me back to health.”

“You got it.”

“Don’t laugh.”

“What if it’s funny?”

He gave her a stern look while kicking off his loafers.

“I’ll try not to laugh.”

“Okay, we had these routines that we made up. We had no idea what these moves were called; we just did them. First, we both did this.” He did a handstand and brought one hand up. “Holy shit.” He flipped over onto his feet. Barely.

Sofia clapped, mainly because of the way his biceps and shoulders flexed. And it was nice to see him having fun.

“I used to be able to hold myself up longer, but I’m a lot heavier now.”

“What did you do after that?”

He grinned. “Is this going to get me laid?”

“We already made the deal.”

“Oh, hell. Okay, then I’d lean over and Hayes would do the leapfrog thing over my back. Then we’d line up and do a couple moves.” He shuffled around, brought his knee up and jerked his arms around.

Sofia held her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. He looked adorable.

“And then,” he said breathlessly, “we did a backspin.” He ran in a circle and fell into a spin on his back for about half a second, ending it by posing on his side, facing the other direction.

“Okay. Go ahead and laugh now.”

She let out a giggle. “Gray,” she said as he stood to face her with his arms crossed, “you are such a good sport.”

“Hell, no, I’m not. I feel old and I think I have bruises on my back now.”

“Oh, poor baby.”

“Don’t ‘poor baby’ me.” His gaze dipped to her chest and back up again. “We made a deal.”

~ * ~

Gray’s body ached, but he was certain the pain and humiliation would all be worth it. That was, if she ever followed through with her end of the bargain.

First, she had to get a drink of water. Then she had to use the bathroom. Then she had to change into some shorts, which happened to be the little pink ones. God help him.

On her last pass through, Gray grabbed her by the shoulders. “Get it over with, Sofia.”

“Oh, fine.” She glowered. “After I pour some more oil in that lamp. It’s running a little low.”

“Nope. You’ve procrastinated enough.”

She scrunched her nose. “I may not be able to do it anymore.”

“Try.”

“Oh, fine.” She got down on the floor and stretched out her legs in front her. With her hands, she hoisted forward and eased back, propping her body up. She was only a few inches from the ground. She bounced up and down a couple of times, stretching out her muscles and finally completing her splits.

A growing hard-on pressed against his jeans.

“I did it,” she screamed, and jumped to her feet and into his arms.

“Yes, you did.” He wrapped his arms around her, glad to have a reason to be close. Vanilla. She smelled like sweet vanilla… Or like the cupcakes his mom used to bake for his birthday every year. He’d almost forgotten that memory.

She backed away and clapped her hands, still excited, and Gray instantly missed her warmth. “Todd Beltman can eat his heart out,” she said. “I bet he can’t do the splits anymore. I bet he’s fat and bald now. I ought to look him up.”

“Who’s Todd Beltman?”

“Freshman year in high school, I tried out for the cheerleading squad and made it. Everything was going great until we started doing lifts. Coach Perry paired me with Todd, and Todd said right there in front of everyone in the squad that he didn’t think he could lift me. He thought I was too fat to be a cheerleader.”

“What? Were you a big girl back then?”

“Roughly the same as I am now, only about two inches shorter, five pounds lighter.” She looked like she was about to burst into tears at the mere memory. “I was so embarrassed, I quit and never tried out again.”

“Sugar,” he said, thinking the endearment suited her, “the guy was probably afraid to touch a hot girl.”

“No, he was right. I was too big. I would’ve crushed him. He was a tiny little guy, and I was this—” She blew up her cheeks and spread her arms out.

“You’re out of your mind.” Gray grabbed her hand and gathered her close. “And so was that f*cker, Todd. We really should look him up. I’ll lift him up and throw him across the country for hurting your feelings.”

“I don’t know. I’ve always been a little overweight.”

The woman was insane. He let his gaze fall over her lush body. Curves in all the right places. No way in hell was she too heavy to pick up. To prove his point, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her with ease.

She gasped slightly, grabbing at his shirt. “What are you doing?”

“Showing you that Todd what’s-his-face was a lying little bastard.” He lifted her until her head brushed the ceiling. Then, slowly, he lowered her, letting her slide against his body.

When he didn’t put her down right away, she wrapped her legs around him and held on tight. She clasped onto his neck, bringing them face-to-face.

Gray shifted his arms. One cradled her bottom, keeping her up, while the other curved around her back, crushing her soft breasts into his chest.

“You can put me down now,” she said, breathless. Her lips were within licking distance.

“Not until you kiss me.” He grinned at her.

“You have no idea how tempted I am. But I can’t. I—”

Gray covered her lips with his to shut her up. He didn’t want to hear any excuses. He wanted to be the man in her dreams, the one who could touch her anywhere and everywhere. Make love to her any way he wanted.

To keep her from shying away, he backed her into the wall. Then he slid his tongue into her mouth and flicked it across hers. Luckily, she accepted it eagerly, moaning softly and raking her fingers into his hair.

The heat from her sex pressed against him. Closer. He wanted to be closer.

Feel every part of her.

His free hand found the hem of her tank top and slipped up underneath until he found her breast. He pushed her lace bra up and massaged the plump and supple flesh. Her nipple budded at his touch.

She squirmed against him and began to slip down the wall. Gray lifted her back up, supporting her bottom. This couldn’t end yet. There was so much more he wanted to do with her.

He paused from kissing her to whisper, “Can I take you upstairs?”

Don’t ask, just do it, you fool. This had been his downfall with many girlfriends in the past. He never pushed them, never wanted to take advantage of them. In the end, they’d moved on to guys who did push them.