Page 30

Chapter

Thirty

GRACE

“ Y ou can take a swim again if you want,” Alphabet suggested from where he was downing his second cup of coffee and studying his laptop screen. They’d wired three other monitors to it so he had a full screen display, though not quite the high definition for his system at home.

Folding my arms, I leaned against the opening that separated the dining room from the living area and beyond to the patio and the pool. “Think I’ll skinny dip in the sunshine where you can get a better view?”

The corner of his mouth quirked. “That’s what we call a perk. But no…” He held his right hand up to shoulder height and covered the nail of his pinky finger with his thumb with the three middle fingers straight up. “Scout’s Honor, not the reason I suggested it.”

A laugh escaped me. “Tell me I can do something to help you.”

The devilish gleam in his blue eyes twisted me up inside. The heady combo of pleasure and apprehension had me sucking in a deeper breath of air.

“Too easy, Gracie-girl,” he said on a laugh.

“I am not ,” I retorted with a sniff. Haughty wasn’t my specialty but I could certainly pull off snob if I tried hard enough.

That snapped his interested gaze back to me. “Really? That sounds like a challenge to me.”

The temptation to roll my eyes was right there, but I settled for a careless shrug. “You never know.”

His low whistle was a reward in and of itself. “Noted.” Then he huffed out a breath. “As for helping, not a lot to do right now.” With a glance at his watch, he leaned back in the chair. “Really isn’t a lot for us to do until they start sending me info. Scouting and collection takes time.”

Right. “Then you don’t need to be stuck right there, do you?”

I didn’t miss how he stretched his right leg out. Now that I was more aware of the prosthesis, it proved more challenging to not see how his right foot didn’t shift when he stretched.

“No,” he said slowly before taking another long drink of coffee. “I want to get a few programs up and running so I’m doing my own scouting.” Lips pursed, he glanced at the computer. “I figured I’d do some more deep diving on your sister’s law firm while we had the downtime.”

My heart did a little fist bump with my ribs. “Can you set your bot thingies to do it?”

His eyebrows rose. “My bot thingies.” The corners of his lips were twitching. “Yes, I can set the bots to skim and search. They’ll collect information, but I’ll still need to go through it.” He downed the last of his coffee and then set the mug down. “Why?”

“Cause then you can come swimming with me.” Honestly, that hadn’t been the offer I intended to make. I’d been thinking of getting him out of the house and going for a walk. We could take Goblin for one, it would do all of us some good.

The pool might be a lot better, though. The swim I’d indulged in the night before had helped… a lot. So, I didn’t amend the offer. Surprise filtered through his eyes and he blinked, then glanced from me to the pool then back again.

“I didn’t bring a suit either,” he warned in a careful voice. It wasn’t his voice that concerned me though, it was the shadow sliding over his expression. I wasn’t sure if it was uncertainty, fear, or something else. The fact it existed at all twisted my heart.

“Look, AB, if you have to do the skinny dip, then I can too,” I offered, determined to give him options. “If you want to use your boxers or briefs—really not sure what you wear but, whatever. I can grab a bra and panties. You’re right, they’re basically a bikini.”

His continued hesitation however had my stomach bottoming out.

“No pressure, though.” The last thing I wanted to do was make him uncomfortable. “If you really don’t want to swim, we can take Goblin for a walk. It’s going to be hotter this afternoon, but it’s still beautiful.”

“I don’t mind swimming with you.” The way he tested the words suggested he wasn’t one hundred percent certain of the response. “Just…”

He dropped his glance, his attention seemingly returning to the computer screens. Somehow, I didn’t think he was actually looking at them so much as through them.

The hesitation raked at me. Did I push him or did I wait? Did I try to offer to let him off the hook again? Indecisiveness twisted around me like barbed wire and it dug into my soul, gouging out wounds.

“AB,” I said, finally, unable to let him hang out there alone. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I was trying to offer you a break. Once they start sending data and make the move later, you’re going to be glued to the computer.” I licked my lips. “So, you do what you need to do and don’t worry about me, okay? I’ll help if I can, you just tell me what you need when you need it.”

Then I pivoted to head back to the room where my stuff was. I was going to change into a sports bra and fresh panties. We didn’t have sunscreen, I didn’t think, so I needed to pay attention to the time out there.

Once I was upstairs, the wild cadence of my heart had my breath coming in shallow bursts. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Alphabet.

The black with the criss cross straps in the back and support in the front looked like a swim tank. The panties were a little more lace than not, but I went with it. I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and tied it around my hips before descending the stairs.

Staying up in my room wasn’t an option. If I hid away after what I’d said then I’d be lying. Our “honesty” truce had brought us a long way. Alphabet stood shirtless in the living room when I got down there. The stance caught me off guard, particularly with the top button on his jeans being undone riveted me until I forced my gaze up.

His eyes are up there, Grace . The internal stern reprimand didn’t help as much as I would have liked. It was easy to forget how down right rugged and sexy Alphabet was. Or maybe I focused on not remembering it.

Voodoo and I were already lovers. Lunchbox kissed me. Alphabet? I didn’t want to make any promises I couldn’t keep. It was easy to promise myself I’d seduce them to my side if I needed to, but they were helping me. Even if I didn’t understand every single choice.

“That looks damn good on you,” he said, the caress in his voice raking me over. “I’m sorry for chasing you off.”

“You didn’t.” I shook my head. At his skeptical look, I hurried to add. “You really didn’t, I felt like I was making it a big deal and making you feel bad, so I backed off. But I’m here, and I’m going to swim unless you have something else for me to do.”

I spread my arms, meeting his measuring look a lot more easily than I expected.

“First,” he said, raising one finger. “You weren’t making me feel bad. The hesitation was more about remembering I have to take off the prosthetic to swim.”

I frowned.

“Second,” he continued, “I don’t want to pressure you into anything and I’m not going to lie to you Grace, I promised. You’re a wildly attractive woman and I’m already interested. Getting half-naked with you in the water is incredibly appealing.”

I opened my mouth and blinked. “Okay.”

He cocked his head to the side. “What?”

“I said okay. You’re attracted to me. I like you too.” I spread my arms again. “I like all of you and yes, this is a really strange situation, how we met and stuff and this conversation is a lot more awkward than I thought it would be, but…”

It was my turn to raise a finger.

“I really like you, AB. I think that’s been part of the problem from the beginning. I have to find my sister and I didn’t understand entirely why you guys weren’t letting me go home, and yes—I was probably being pigheaded about it.”

Shut up, Grace .

“No, I was definitely being pigheaded about it. I’m having sex with Voodoo.”

He knows that Grace, shut up.

“I know you know, but you don’t know that Lunchbox kissed me this morning.”

Seriously, Grace? Did you forget how to shut the fuck up?

“Voodoo said he didn’t mind and I’m kind of unpacking that at the moment. You’re my friend. I think… you’re probably the first one who became a real friend here and I know Lunchbox and Voodoo are trying and I like them. Boney Boy doesn’t count, so I’m not going to drag him into this conversation.”

The words would just not stop coming out of my mouth.

“I guess, what I’m trying to say is that—I like the idea of getting half-naked and wet with you. I think you could use the break. The prosthetic doesn’t scare me and if you have to take it off, then take it off. But if it makes you uncomfortable, then don’t.”

Was that it? I blew out a long breath.

“Done?” His quiet question asked me the same thing.

“I think so,” I said. “I didn’t actually realize I was going to say all that.”

“Accepted.” He closed the distance between us. The shadow he cast over me as he neared blocked out the sun shining through the glass doors. My feet were all but glued to the floor.

When he lifted his hands and raised his eyebrows, puzzlement trapped me. What… Oh, I shook myself out of whatever stupid stupor I was wallowing in. He was telegraphing his intention to touch me. He was giving me time to say no.

I nodded once. His earlier smile returned as he framed my face in his palms. They were rougher than I remembered, callused. Still, the contact sizzled right over my nerves.

This close, I couldn’t mistake the scent of him for anything else. He was summer sunshine, salty breezes, and something a little sweeter. It made me think of the beach and coconut lotions. Or maybe that was just the blond shagginess of him.

“I really like your haircut,” I said, the words bubbling right out. “I should say style, I just… yeah, I like it.”

I wanted to clamp a mental hand over my mouth to shut up before I made a bigger fool out of myself.

His chuckle alleviated some of my embarrassment. “Gracie-girl, I’m going to kiss you right now, but just so we’re one hundred percent on the same page. I am attracted to you and I don’t care what you’re doing with Voodoo and Lunchbox as long as there’s room for me.”

Room for?—

I really didn’t get a chance to process his comment at all because he dipped his head and then his mouth was on mine. It was a slow burn of a kiss, a stroke of his lips. A caress. A whisper of contact. Then he deepened it with a lick of his tongue delving deep, and I pressed my hands to his chest.

His skin was hot under my fingertips. I pushed up on my toes because he was so damn tall. They were all so tall and he surrounded me, all that strength and sturdiness. He had to truly lean down so we could kiss. Thrill raced over my nerve endings and the world slipped a little sideways.

No, it slipped more than a little. He dropped one of his hands from my face to my hip and then he wrapped that arm around me and I was up, crushed to his chest as I slid my arms around his neck.

From slow burn to full scorcher, he turned me inside out with the kiss that demanded everything. Demanded and took, and returned so fiercely. The whole world shifted and then he was sitting down and I was straddling his lap.

He alternated between the drugging caress of his mouth with mine and the sting of his stubble scraping against my cheeks. The sweet and the bite, it was like chasing the salt and the lime with the tequila. It detonated my system with every bit the same force as doing shots did.

The shift in our positions let my knees slide onto the cushions as he massaged my back and then down to my ass. There was a tug, then the towel I’d been wearing vanished as he whisked it away.

“Gracie,” he whispered against my lips. “Does that answer your question?”

I dragged my head up to stare down at him. His pupils were huge and his lips shiny. If I looked anything like him, then I was every bit as wrecked on the outside as I was on the in. “What question?”

His sudden grin was the sun coming out and then he cupped my neck and dragged me in for another kiss. This close, it was all skin on skin, except my bra was in the way. It was so much contact.

Too much. Not enough.

“You’re tensing,” he said against my mouth before he bit down on my lower lip and my cunt clenched around emptiness. One kiss and I was ready to climb him like a tree.

What a kiss.

“Not a bad tense,” I promised him.

“No?” He fisted his hand in my hair, tugging my head back when I would have kissed him again. The heat in his eyes seared me right to my soul.

“No,” I promised. “A very needy tense. But not a bad one.”

I raised my left hand and covered my pinky nail with my thumb as I held up three fingers.

“Scout’s Honor.”

“Not the Scout sign,” he chided, but the low rumbling chuckle underscoring his words turned my insides to liquid and I wanted to drown in him.

“No?” I thought that was how he did it.

“Nope,” he said on a cheerful note. Then with another laugh, he devoured my mouth. Even with the bra, the rub of my chest to his had my nipples tightening. I rolled my hips against him, the bulge under his zipper a tantalizing temptation that I didn’t want to resist.

A yip from Goblin had me jerking back and we both turned to look at the dog staring up at us, head canted as if he wasn’t sure what we were doing.

“Not this time, buddy,” Alphabet said. “Go take a break.” When he lifted his chin, Goblin barked once then streaked out of the room.

I blinked after him, then Alphabet was massaging my ass. His hands were huge. It was like being surrounded and shielded on all sides. I was right where I wanted to be.

“You need a bed?” The question was so damn soft it sent flutters through my system.

I dropped my hand to his zipper and tugged it down. Then his cock was against my fingers. Someone was running commando and his nostrils flared at the contact of my hand on him.

“No,” I said, answering the question as I stroked him from base to tip and down again. The steel length of him was even hotter against my palm. “Just need this…” I arched upward and tugged my panties to the side so I could tease his cock against me.

I was already soaking, but that just ignited a whole other level of need in me. His breath came in faster pants and his hands flexed against me but he didn’t change our position or urge me to go faster.

The slow rub of his tip along my labia to my clit then back again added more slickness to him or maybe it was to me. I couldn’t look away for a moment.

Fair was fair though, so I grappled with some sanity long enough to ask, “Do you need a bed?”

“Absolutely the fuck not, Gracie-girl. I need to be in you though… so whenever you’re ready.”

We seemed to stay there, suspended in that moment when need and desire collided and I sank down. The feel of him impaling me was everything. I tilted my head back, the intimacy almost too damn much but then his hand was in my hair again and he dragged my gaze to his.

“All of me, Gracie,” he ordered. “Take every single inch.”

That was a command I was more than happy to follow.