Chapter 9

Ryan

I couldn"t believe what she was saying. In truth, it was everything I wanted and probably needed, yet for some reason, the idea of a no-strings-attached plan didn"t sit well with me. Probably because I wasn"t convinced that there was a way to get Gracie out of my system. I was still willing to try.

Without a word, I got out of the Jeep and walked around to the driver"s side. I opened her door and pulled her out to cradle her in my arms.

"Oh," she said in a gasp of surprise.

I didn"t even make it to the door before my lips found hers.

My body felt like a live wire about to erupt. I couldn"t get her naked fast enough.

When I reached her front door, I stopped in irritation.

"Keys."

"It"s unlocked."

I growled. I didn"t like the idea of her being out here in the woods unprotected with doors unlocked. But I was also grateful to just open it up to carry her over the threshold and kick it closed behind me.

Only then did I set her down.

Her hands fisted in my hair and held me to her as I kissed her until my head spun.

I found the swell of her ass and squeezed before lifting her easily so her legs could wrap around my waist.

A low guttural noise sounded deep in my throat as she grinded against me completely uninhibited. I loved it.

With her legs balancing her against me, my hands moved up to the hem of her shirt and she reluctantly pulled away long enough for me to remove it.

Before she could kiss me again I dipped my head lower and lightly nipped at her breasts through her bra.

She moaned in pleasure when I hit just the right spot.

I unclasped her bra and discarded it, taking a moment to revel at the sight.

"You"re so beautiful."

I didn"t waste time on unnecessary foreplay as I sucked one pert nipple between my teeth, making her cry out in a mix of pleasure and pain.

"I"m going to make you come so hard," I told her as I moved from one breast to the other.

"Yes."

Her legs unwrapped from my waist as she slid down my body. I was surprised by how much I missed the closeness, but she wasted no time unclothing me.

Kissing, licking, tasting, nibbling, hands groping each other, it was like we both had a desperation to learn every inch of each other.

My heart pounded with excitement, and I couldn"t even manage to get her to the couch before I had her up against a wall and pressing myself inside her.

Once fully seated, I stilled and just looked at her. Her eyes were as wild and crazy as I"d imagined they"d be. Her hair was mussed, and her lips swollen. I"d never seen a more beautiful sight. This overwhelming sensation of needing to claim her as mine came over me.

I pushed that insane thought from my mind and plundered her body with all the built-up tension and frustration I"d been carrying since she walked into Clarence's office nearly thirty-six hours earlier.

Her mews and cute little noises spurred me on and her soft moans and increasing cries made me feel like a god. And as my body tensed on the precipice of release, one word came to mind—home.

And I knew right then that I was screwed because I was never going to get this woman out of my system. If anything, knowing what she feels like milking me and memorizing her sounds and look on her face as she came would only torment me further alone at night in my bed.

Gracie was everything I wasn"t and everything I shouldn"t want.

Things would never work out between us, but for this one moment, I was going to throw caution to the wind. This was about me and her, meeting our needs and nothing more. I couldn"t even allow myself to consider an us, just me and her. And for right here and now, nothing else mattered.

As her quivering body began to still and her kisses stalled, I slowly released my hold on her where she was pinned between me and wall.

When her feet hit the floor, for one long awkward moment we just stared at each other in confusion and unspoken questions.

Was it as good for her as it had been for me?

Did she want to do it again? Because I sure as hell did.

What did this mean?

I didn"t want to consider the answers to any of those questions myself let alone ask them aloud.

"Um, would you care for a drink?" she asked.

I burst out laughing, breaking some of the tension between us.

She relaxed and smiled. "You should laugh more often. It"s nice."

"I laugh."

"Not much. You"re always so serious."

I was pretty sure my eyes darkened at her comment because she rolled her eyes and shoved me away, putting some space between us.

I didn"t like it at all.

Shaking my head, I pulled her back into my arms and kissed her again. It was as if kindling had still been simmering and a spark ignited once more the second we made contact.

I was surprised to find myself already half hard again.

This time we did make it to the couch and then finally to the bed.

It wasn"t even dinnertime yet, but we"d skipped lunch and spent the entire day ravishing each other.

"I"m hungry," I said.

"Again?" she asked in surprise. "I"m not even sure I"ll be able to move tomorrow."

I laughed. "I meant for actual food this time. Want me to order something in or raid your kitchen to make us something?"

"You"d cook for me?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Let me rephrase that. You know how to cook?"

I groaned. "Of course I can cook. I rarely eat out, at least not for breakfast or dinner."

"Huh. Well, you won"t find much here. I can"t even successfully boil water. Plus, I"m usually at the station and someone else is always cooking."

"I thought you guys took turns with that."

"We do. It"s called pizza or having your sister make us a lasagna. That"s about as much as I can handle."

"You can"t live off of pizza and pasta."

She pointed to herself, and I enjoyed the way her skin pinked as I studied her. It felt like I had every inch of her body memorized after our festivities of the day.

I"d never experienced anything like it before. Sure, I"d had plenty of sexual experiences. Always discreet and best described as polite interactions. Nothing even remotely close to this.

Gracie made me feel wild and free in a safe space to do so. I"d never been so bold or reckless with a woman before.

I frowned as I noticed her hips and the slight bruises from my fingers where I"d held her against the wall the first time we"d gone at it like animals in heat.

I wanted to laugh at my analogy, but it seemed accurate.

"What?" she demanded.

My smile turned to a frown. "I bruised you. I"m sorry."

"Pretty sure you don"t need to apologize for that."

"Did I hurt you?"

"Um, well, hurt definitely is not a word that comes to mind."

We both laughed and my stomach rumbled in protest.

"Food, woman. I need food if I"m to survive the night. I do need to keep my strength up."

Her jaw dropped in surprise. "Again?"

"You make me sound like an animal."

She threw her head back and laughed. "I"m pretty sure you"re the definition of an animal if today is any indication."

I stared at her until she became slightly uncomfortable. "So, am I out of your system then?"

She bit her lip and slowly shook her head.

"Then we should probably keep working on that." I winked at her, and I was pretty certain she swooned.

*****

Gracie ended up ordering an entire lasagna and had it delivered. Apparently, this was not an uncommon occurrence, so Gia wouldn"t think anything of it. But Gracie insisted that I hide in the bedroom until Gia left.

I felt horrible about that. It was my sister for crying out loud. She would never spread gossip about us. She may be a little surprised by it, but she wouldn't tell anyone.

And did I even care if she did?

Normally yes. I preferred to keep my personal life private and be discreet about my affairs. But I didn"t think it would bother me if the rumors started either. Or maybe I was just telling myself that in the post best-sex-of-my-life bliss.

I didn"t want to make things any weirder than they already were though. So I retreated to the bedroom when Gia pulled up.

Using the time efficiently, I checked my messages and then remembered my car was still sitting at the fire station. That could certainly start some tongues wagging and cause Gracie a few headaches because they all knew we had arrived at the fire together.

A quick call to Jennifer to ask her to pick it up was all that took. She didn"t ask questions and never pried into my personal life. I appreciated that about her.

Gracie walked in carrying two heaping plates of lasagna with two bottles of water tucked under her arm and set them on the bed.

My jaw dropped in surprise and then locked in horror.

"What"s this?" I asked in a strained voice.

"Dinner. You said I had to feed you, so I"m feeding you."

"In bed?" I blurted out in disgust. I"d never eaten anything in bed. I didn"t even take a glass of water to my bedroom. There was no reason to ever eat or drink in bed.

She laughed. "You look like you"re going into shock. We"ve already done a lot more than that in this bed."

A slow smile crossed my face. "If I"m eating in bed, Gracie, it will be you, not this lasagna."

I got up and took the plates from her and walked out into the kitchen. I had to take a second and actually find the table amongst all the clutter she had there. But soon we were sitting down and eating a proper meal. My actions seemed to amuse her.

We ate in a comfortable silence. It was strange to me just how at ease I felt around Gracie. I didn"t have a need to pretend to be anyone else. I could just be me and that seemed to be enough.

Once we were done eating, I gathered up our plates and went to wash them along with the rest of the dirty dishes she had stacked in the sink.

"You really don"t have to do that," she insisted. "I"ll get them later."

"I really do."

"Because they"ll drive you nuts if you don"t?" she guessed.

"Exactly. Trust me, just let me do it real quick, and then it"s done and over with and we don't have to worry about it."

"I wasn"t worried about it to begin with," she insisted.

It boggled my mind that anyone could leave a sink full of dirty dishes like that, but I also knew that not everyone was like me. How many times growing up had Mom tried to shoo me out of the kitchen, telling me to leave it to the housekeeper? Eventually she"d come to understand that it was just something I needed to do. I didn"t badger others to clean or even ask for help, but for my own sanity it had to be done. Besides, it only took a few minutes and then it was done so I could relax again.

"Now, how about dessert?" I asked her.

She frowned. "I didn"t get anything for dessert. There might be some cookies in the pantry."

I was going to ignore the fact that she didn"t even know what she had in her pantry because I had other things on my mind at that moment.

"I was thinking of something sweeter."

"Check the freezer. I usually have ice cream but honestly haven"t spent much time here the last few weeks."

I shook my head and gave her a devilish grin as I lifted her into my arms and carried her down the hall.

"Perhaps something better, and in bed."

"Oh. Yes, please."

So I took her back to bed and then I feasted on the sweetest dessert I'd ever had.