“Is that what you really think?” My voice broke on the last word, the hurt catching in my throat. My heart felt as if it were being pierced with thousands of shards of razor-sharp glass. “Is that what you really believe I’m capable of?”
“I know exactly what you’re capable of,” Grant said, stalking towards me. His eyes flashed. “I’ve learned that you’re capable of more coldness and deceit than I thought a mortal woman could be. I learned that, much to my regret, on what was supposed to be our wedding day.”
“How dare you!” I exploded, leaping to my feet. I slapped him across his face, my vision blurring with tears. “How dare you say that I don’t care!? The whole reason I didn’t marry you is that I care too much!” My voice cracked further and the tears fell faster as the words I’d sworn I’d never say spilled from my mouth. “Every time I looked at you it stabbed me in the heart, how much I cared and how much you didn’t—”
“Lacey—” he started, but I couldn’t stop blabbing.
“—because it was all just an act to you! It was all about company PR! How could I stay when I knew you didn’t l—”
Grant closed the space between us with a single stride and clasped my shoulders, yanking me into his arms and devouring my lips in a passionate kiss.
My eyes slid closed automatically at the overload of sensation, and before I knew it I was kissing him back, savoring the taste of his mouth. The scent of him filled me as I melted into his arms, his strong hands holding me tightly to him as we wound around each other.
We kissed as though it were about to be outlawed, we kissed as though we could breathe each other’s essence into ourselves, we kissed as though kissing were the only thing keeping the world from ending.
Our lips broke apart and I almost staggered, dazed. Grant’s eyes gleamed with desire and he leaned in to claim me once more. Somewhere through the fog of lust in my brain a small siren of responsibility blared, and I managed to get out: “But, the company—”
Then Grant kissed me again with an urgency like fire, and I forgot anything but him.
“The company can wait for now,” he murmured as we broke apart, a devilish smile playing upon his lips. “But I can’t wait one moment longer for you.”
? ? ?
He guided me to his bedroom, laying down next to me as he kissed slowly down my neck. He teased and nipped around the collar of my silk shirt, slowly pulling it off over my head. He looked at my breasts in awe, and then buried his face between them. He growled. I tried to remember how breathing worked.
Sliding my skirt up my legs, he slipped a finger under the lace of my panties, massaging me in a delicious and tantalizing rhythm. Oh how I wanted him inside me again, and I bucked against his fingers as he stroked me. So good. So right. Wait.
Was this a good idea? Maybe it wasn’t a good idea—maybe—his lips trailed kisses back up my neck, his mouth claiming mine again, and oh yes, it was. It was a very, very good idea. Consequences be damned. I fisted the bed sheet in my hands, writhing beneath him.
“Come for me, Lacey,” he demanded, sliding in his finger, first one, then two, and then the third, stretching me, still not quite filling me up, oh God, I needed him to—
His questing fingers found my g-spot, and I moaned as he intensified the pressure. Using his thumb to tease my clit, I felt myself getting closer to the edge. His strong fingers continued thrusting into me, perfectly, and the whole world went a blinding white as red-hot heat rippled outward from my core, leaving me helpless as an epic orgasm tore through my body like an earthquake.
I slowly came back to myself, feeling Grant settling himself on top of me, the lovely weight and heft of him, the strength of his arms and legs, the warmth of his skin.
I stroked his hair, his cheek, the strong line of his jaw, before taking his hand and pulling his arm around mine. He squeezed me tight.
The cool night air danced in through an open window and ruffled the silk sheets, but I was warm in Grant’s embrace all night long. And as far as I was concerned, there wasn’t a single place in the world I’d rather be.
EIGHT
The tropical sunlight played teasingly over my skin, warming me, though not as much as Grant’s gaze as it traveled the line of my bikini-clad body. The spray of the waterfall made his skin glisten as though each muscle had been made of polished marble, and the sun off the water wasn’t one bit more brilliant than his smile.
“Come on in, the water’s fine,” he drawled, beckoning me into the turquoise pool surrounded by bright flowers. “And don’t feel as though you have to bring the bathing suit…”
I slid into the pool, the rushing of the waterfall nearly drowning out the rapid beating of my heart, the cool water doing nothing to quench the fires he had lit inside of my veins…