Take Me for Granted (Take Me #1)(24)

I kissed her softly on the lips. I didn’t want to get too into it before we went inside, but f**k, when she responded to my touch, I had to fight myself not to lay her out in the cab of my truck.

She pulled back first, and her cheeks heated when I looked down at her.

God, I want to f**k her.

“Let’s go,” I said, nodding toward the house before I actually acted on that.

We jogged through the rain until we were inside. I gestured for her to take the stairs, which she did without a single snide remark.

“I like your house,” she said.

“Thanks.”

My eyes were fixed on her body in the light from my bedroom. She was wet, and her clothes were clinging to her in the most tempting way. All I could think about was what it would feel like to peel them off of her, to get my hands on her soft skin again. I felt my body stiffen at the prospect. “I need a shower…if you’re interested.”

She shook her head. “I’m sure you can have enough fun all on your own.”

“But you’re already wet, babe.” I couldn’t hold back my smirk.

She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. “Is everything sexual with you?”

“Not everything,” I told her. “But you are torturing me with your body right now.”

I watched as she shifted uncomfortably from my compliment. She wouldn’t even meet my eyes. For someone who looked like that, I would have thought that she could take compliments better.

“No, I’m not going to shower with you, but some dry clothes would be appreciated, so I can stop torturing you,” she responded softly.

“Who said I wanted you to stop torturing me?”

She leveled me with an eat-shit-and-die look, and I just laughed.

“All right, all right.”

I found her some clothes before reluctantly retreating to the bathroom. It took a solid ten minutes for the cold to leach out of my skin and another ten until I felt human again. I hated making Aribel wait that long, but I had spent the better part of the last two hours in the rain. I deserved a twenty-minute shower.

Grabbing a white towel off the rack, I wrapped it around my waist and then confidently strode out into my bedroom. This is going to be fun. I was naked from the waist up, and I knew what my body looked like. Even though I wasn’t a gym rat like Vin, I spent time to keep myself in shape. I had defined muscles in my arms and chest, not to mention a six-pack and that V that made sane women crazy.

Aribel’s eyes bulged when she saw me. She hadn’t expected me to walk out like this, and it was clear as her eyes raked my body. They flickered from my abs to the tattoo on my shoulder and stretching across my collarbone. Who would guess Princess Cardigan would be interested in my tattoos? Apparently realizing that she had been gawking, she hastily looked away like she wasn’t supposed to see it.

“Um…sorry,” she whispered.

I wasn’t sorry though. I’d wanted her to see.

All I saw was that she was sitting around in my clothes—my T-shirt and sweats. She looked f**king amazing in them. I liked her wet clothes, but something about seeing her in mine turned me on. I’d never let a girl wear my clothes before.

“I’ll just…yeah,” she said, swiveling in place to completely face away from me.

I dropped my towel to the ground, and I watched her fidget. Yep, completely nude here, honey. Just turn around. But she didn’t. I found a pair of boxers and some basketball shorts, but I didn’t bother with a shirt. She had been interested in my body, and I wasn’t going to give her an out when her eyes had widened like that.

After I changed, I wrapped my arms around her from behind, and she jumped at the unexpected touch. I dropped my lips down onto her neck and tasted her soft skin. She tilted her head slightly, and I took that as an okay to continue. My hands slid up under the T-shirt I’d let her borrow, and I pulled her hips back against mine.

Then, she groaned.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Aribel was here—in my room, in my clothes. Her skin was still wet from the rain, and her body was lush and ripe for the picking.

I thought my brain shut down at this point, and all I could do was feel the woman in my arms. This, right here, was what I’d wanted.

“Ari,” I whispered against her skin.

She moaned an incoherent response.

“Bed.” My voice was strained from holding back.

All I wanted was to f**k her until she couldn’t walk the next morning. She was driving me batshit crazy, and I was starting to believe that she had no f**king clue what she was doing to me.

“Grant, no.”

She tried to pull away from me, but I still had her hips in my hands. I yanked her back against me hard, and she squeaked.

I turned her around to face me and repeated myself, “Bed.”

For a split second, I thought she was going to turn me down. Then, I saw her eyes soften, and she swallowed.

“I, um…” She bit her lip and stared up at me under thick black lashes.

Fuck me.

“Get in my f**king bed, woman.”

“Don’t order me around.”

I smacked her ass with a flat open palm, and she yelped, her eyes widening in surprise.

“What the hell?”

“Get in the bed.”

Just as I reached for her, ready to make her listen, she scrambled under the covers. Perfect. I slid into place next to her, and I could feel her tension from a mile off.