Beyond What is Given(65)

Each stroke lifted me higher, wound my muscles tighter. I met him with each push of his hips until sweat dripped off us both. Between our thrusts, hands, and tongues, I lost track of where I ended and he began.

“Grayson…” I whispered as my muscles seized, locked. I was so close, hovering on the precipice. He shifted his angle so he rubbed against my clit with his next thrusts, and I went spinning off into the void, holding onto him as my only solid ground.

He called out my name as he came, tensing above me, his eyes unguarded as he pulsed within me. In that moment, he felt like what he proclaimed—mine.

Grayson collapsed next to me, peppering my shoulder with kisses. “That was… I don’t even have words for that.”

I found the strength to smile. “Me, either. I say we rest before you talk me into round number two.”

He laughed. “You’ll like it, I promise.”

I leaned on my elbow above him and kissed him, savoring, trying to commit every second of this moment to memory. “Any time. Any place.”

He stroked his thumb across my lower lip, his eyes lighting with a fire I thought would be extinguished. “I’ll hold you to that. But I’ll let you sleep…for a few hours.”

He cleaned up, and then pulled the covers over us, drawing me into the hollow of his body. Of course we fit together perfectly. The heat from his body and steady heartbeat lulled me to sleep within minutes.

Joey calling Grayson’s name woke me up just as quickly. “You’d better not be in there, Grayson Masters! I found Sam’s shoes, so I know you’re not alone!” Sunlight streamed in the small porthole.

Oh. My. God.

“Shit!” Grayson shouted, sitting straight up and covering me with the sheet. “Do not come any closer, Josephine!”

“God damn it, Gray! The photographer is going to be here in a half hour!” she yelled from inside the cabin.

“That was yesterday,” he replied.

“We moved it to today.” She was close enough that I heard her sigh. “Okay, I’m going to leave Sam’s shoes out here. Just… For God’s sake change the sheets. There’s an extra set in the closet.”

She retreated and Grayson kissed me. “Good morning. Perhaps we should move quickly?”

“You think?” I nearly shouted. I’d never gotten dressed or changed sheets that fast in my life. I held my shoes in one hand as Grayson helped me down the ladder, and then strapped my wedges on.

He led me out the side door, where Joey stood in jeans and polo. “Seriously, you two?”

Grayson lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed the palm. “Yeah.”

She rolled her eyes. “What am I going to do with a boat that smells like sex?”

Grayson shrugged. “Make it part of the package?” When he turned to me, his playful smirk grew into a full-blown smile. The morning sun shone, lighting the silver flecks in his eyes, and kill-me-now, a dimple appeared. A f*cking dimple. He radiated simple…joy.

My heart warmed to almost burning. Oh, no.

He kissed my mouth soundly. “I need to grab my wallet from the boat, meet me at the car?”

I nodded, unable to say anything.

Joey’s mouth dropped open in the way mine would have if I hadn’t been paralyzed. “Wow.” She crossed the distance between us and hugged me, holding me like I was something precious and sacred. “Sam. Wow. Thank you. That’s really Gray…and I haven’t seen him in years. I knew I liked you for a reason.”

“Get off Sam, Joey,” Grayson called over from the door, wallet in hand. She let me go and hugged him before she ran inside.

“You okay?” he asked, his smile wider after another kiss, and my chest tightened in a way I couldn’t deny…or allow.

I nodded and forced a smile to match his as we walked toward the car.

This was not okay. Not even close. Taking down his walls had shattered mine.

I’d fallen in love with Grayson Masters.





Chapter Twenty


Grayson


“You look good with a baby,” Miranda said from the corner armchair in Grace’s room.

“Maybe one day.” I pulled the little pink-and-blue striped hat up a little more so it didn’t get in the baby’s eyes. Amberly Grace. It was fitting for her somehow. What would it be like to have a daughter? Would she get my stubbornness? Her mother’s spark? My gray eyes, or her mother’s hazel-green ones? God help me if she wore her skirts as short. No skirts. Ever. No boys, either. Yeah. And I’d need a better gun. Or I could park the Apache in the front yard. That would scare the f*ckers off.

Right. I was pretty well screwed if I had a girl, because if my daughter was anything like her mother, even a loaded AH-64 parked on the front lawn with Hellfires pointed at them wouldn’t keep the boys away.

Kids with Sam?

Holy shit, my mind ran amok.

“Hey, earth to Grayson,” Miranda called out with a faint smile. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun, but despite the circles under her eyes, she looked beautiful. Exhausted, but beautiful.

“You’re supposed to be in bed,” I lectured. “She’s less than a day old.”

“I wanted Amberly to meet her aunt,” she said through a yawn.

I swayed with Amberly, trying to focus more on the new life in front of me than the one comatose next to me. “Did you know that Owen visits her?”