Bewitching You

chapter Twelve



Sofia followed him into the guest bedroom. Nervous. Sex in the light of day was much different than sex by moonlight. He was going to be able to see everything. Every flaw. Why had she opened her big mouth earlier, saying he could do whatever he wanted to her? Was she so naïve not to realize he’d want her naked in the bed?

Oh, boy.

“Come here.” He sat on the edge and pulled her to him. His hands slowly slid up her skirt to her panties. The granny panties, for the love of Pete. How humiliating. She really needed to do laundry…and buy some less pathetic underwear.

He didn’t seem to notice as he caressed her inner thighs and stared into her eyes with unadulterated lust.

Holy cow. Her hands trembled slightly, she noticed, when she placed them on his shoulders.

His strong, broad shoulders, firm to the touch.

The man was perfect from head to toe, which was why she was still standing there. Seeing him naked in the daylight was so going to be worth it.

As though reading her thoughts, he tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it to the ground. “Your turn.”

Removing her top wouldn’t be a problem, she supposed. Her breasts were one part of her body she was proud of. She pulled her shirt over her head and was happy to see she’d put on the sheer white lace bra today. At least there was that.

Gray seemed pretty happy about it too. He brushed his thumb over her nipple until it was hard and slid his tongue across the lace.

Heat rushed down from her stomach to slide between her thighs.

He reached around her back, found the latch to her bra and unsnapped the material. The pretty lace thing dropped to the floor and the warmth of his hands replaced it. He massaged, kissed and suckled, arousing Sofia so much that her knees almost buckled underneath her.

“Why don’t you lie down?” he said gruffly.

Sofia shook her head, not ready yet. She raked her fingers through the hair at his temples and leaned her forehead against his.

He began to unbutton her skirt. Five buttons, thank God. This should take him a bit.

She sucked in her stomach as her nerves quaked and her body shivered.

“Why are you nervous, Sofia?” He stopped at the third button and settled his hands on her hips. “What’s wrong?”

She gulped down. “I’m not as thin as what you’re used to, am I?”

His sexy, dark gaze rolled over her. “Trust me, sugar—if I weren’t crazy, in-over-my-head attracted to you, I wouldn’t be undressing you right now, I wouldn’t have made love to you last night, and I wouldn’t get a hard-on just watching you walk down the hallway.”

“Oh.” That was nice to hear. But… “You can agree, though, that you’d still be with her if you hadn’t found out about her sleeping with your brother, right?”

“Probably.”

“Oh.” Not so nice to hear.

“But I’d be miserable because I wouldn’t have the smart, sweet, incredibly sexy woman from my dreams in my arms. If I’d only known you were real, Sofia. Had I realized that it were really possible to be as happy as I was in those dreams, I would’ve left her and I would’ve found you. I promise you that.”

A tear brimmed and rushed down her cheek, and she swiped at it. Why was she so emotional lately?

“But you haven’t seen me naked in the daylight yet,” she warned.

“I have, over and over again, and I want to see you again if you don’t mind.”

Sofia imagined he was right. He had seen her multiple times. Just not in granny panties. She finished unbuttoning her skirt and slid it and the panties down at the same time.

There. That was that.

Then she dared look into his eyes to see his expression. They were heavily lidded as he slid his hands over her waist and down her hips to her thighs and back up again.

“So goddamn sexy, Sofia,” he said huskily. “I want you.” He looked up and met her eyes. “Can I have you?”

She nodded. He could have whatever he wanted, if he kept calling her sexy. Her body, her heart, whatever. Anyway, she loved the guy, and in such a short time. As if her emotions were running on overdrive when it came to him.

Full speed ahead without brakes. Just a sputter now and then, when her insecurities got the best of her.

She followed his lead as he climbed back on the mattress and pulled her on top of him. She straddled his hips and felt him grow hard underneath his boxer briefs.

Instinctively, she pressed her heat down against him, wanting more.

He groaned and tugged his boxers out from under her. “Now I can feel you. Do it again.”

Sofia was wet, she could tell by how easy it was to slide against him, almost allowing him to enter her at one point. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing. She’d been on the pill since she was sixteen. Her mother had insisted on it. Just in case some a*shole wanted to get frisky. Sofia wouldn’t end up pregnant and alone.

Gray seemed to be enjoying how she worked her body. He bit into his bottom lip, and his hands grasped tightly to her waist.

Sofia took delight in having the power to please him. She leaned over, pressed her breasts against his chest, and brushed her lips against his.

They kissed slowly, seductively, as he lazily brought one hand up her back until it was bracing the nape of her neck. Then he deepened the kiss, doing with his tongue what Sofia knew he wanted to do with his erection.

Why make him wait? The tip of him was right there, ready to enter. It teased as he prodded up against her. Sofia decided to take it a step further, and maneuvered around until the head of him slipped inside of her.

“Sofia.” He exhaled. “Baby, I need to put on a condom.”

She slid down farther, taking him as far as she could. No pain this time. Just warmth that flowed through her body. She sat up slowly, bracing her hands against his chest and inching him the rest of the way until she was straddling him again.

He closed his eyes and inhaled some steady breaths. “This feels really good. Please tell me you’re protected.”

Sofia nodded. “The pill. I’m on the pill.” She pushed off him slightly and sat back down.

He groaned.

“Did I do that right?”

“Oh, yeah. But do you mind if I get on top?”

The manly-man act again. Wonderful. The man had control issues, for sure. Wants to drive her car. Wants to drive her. “What if I want to drive?”

He stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “Trust me, I won’t disappoint you.” He sat up and gripped onto her backside. “Hold on.”

Sofia wrapped her arms around his neck and decided to go along for the ride. He flipped her over onto her back and immediately thrust deep inside of her. She gasped and felt instant and surprising bliss.

One of his hands was still on her bottom and the other braced against the mattress beside her head. He withdrew halfway and glided back in several times in a steady rhythm. Warm pressure built inside her. On the brink of release, she pressed her head against the mattress and gripped his shoulders.

“There’s one more place I want to show you.” He gripped her calf and eased it over his shoulder. “My flexible little cheerleader.”

“You got to be kidding me.” She moaned, relishing in the impossible tightness, how he filled her completely.

Gray kissed her lips and whispered, “Come for me.”

At his words, she cried out his name, pouring out her pent-up desire, a raging fire burned from her belly to her toes. And he reacted, jerking, filling her with his warmth.

He fell on the bed beside her and pulled her into his arms. “Not disappointed I drove, are you?”

Sofia shook her head, taking delight in the aftershocks.

~ * ~

Gray held her limp body in his arms for several minutes, happy he was able to please her to the point of exhaustion. If she asked for more, he’d give it to her. He’d give her anything.

He loved her. It had to be love. He was drawn to her, wanting to spend every second with her. And in such a short time. Three days ago, he wouldn’t have believed this was possible, to care this much for a woman. But here he was, heart wide open and filled with what could only be love.

How could it be?

He didn’t want to question his heart; it felt so right. Yet he couldn’t tell her. What kind of man falls in love with a woman in two days?

Well, he had to admit the dreams had helped. He knew her, everything from what made her scream with pleasure to what made her laugh. That kind of closeness he’d never had with a woman. He was able to be himself, not the man his brother’s death had forced him to be, but the real Grayson Phillips. The woman in his arms had put the paddles to his chest and enlivened his dead spirit.

She sighed heavily underneath him. “You’re my hero, Gray,” she said in a little girl voice.

Laughing, Gray propped himself up and kissed her lips.

She blushed and smiled cutely. “Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

~ * ~

Rachel crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Where have you been?” she asked Hayes, who also had his arms crossed as he stood in the middle of her living room.

“You can’t sit around in your apartment all day, Rachel. It’s not good for you. What are you thinking?”

“I was waiting for you. I thought you were coming back.”

“I never promised that. I said I would if I could.”

Angry and desperate, she held her hand to her chest, wanting to ease the ache. “We don’t have much more time together. Where did you go? Who’s more important than me?”

He shook his head. “You know I have to take care of Gray. I hurt him and I want to fix it.”

“You hurt me too. You left me, Hayes.”

“I know.” He reached out, but seemed to change his mind. “But I can’t change the past. I can only attempt to make the future better.”

“For Grayson?” Rachel let go of the tears welling up in her eyes. “Is he with that waitress?”

“Yes, but you don’t need to worry about that.”

“I knew it.” She tried to keep her hands from shaking. “Did he f*ck her?”

“Rache, why do you care?”

“He was going to be my husband. I was going to spend the rest of my life with—”

“Because I wasn’t here,” Hayes yelled, startling her. “If I hadn’t died, he never would’ve proposed to you, and you never would’ve accepted.”

“But you did die,” she yelled back. “Grayson was all I had left, and you took him from me. Now I have no one.” Her legs grew wobbly, and she collapsed onto her knees. How absolutely pathetic. But if she couldn’t have Hayes, what was the point of ever getting up?

He knelt beside her and disappeared as he wrapped his arms around her. “You have you, baby. Don’t ever forget that. You’re too good to be trapped in a loveless marriage. Life has too much potential. And you…”

Rachel felt him lift her chin with his finger and kiss her lips. She savored the nearness, the honey taste of his lips, the soft yet firm caress.

He released her too soon and reappeared before her. His eyes were reddened. “You are too beautiful and intelligent and sweet to sit inside this apartment and act like life is over. If you really want someone to love you, then love yourself, baby. You deserve that.”

His words stung. Was he right? In her heart, she knew he was. She couldn’t remember the last time she could look in the mirror with pride, knowing she was the woman staring back at her.

“Will you promise me something, Rache?”

She nodded, swiping the tears from her face.

“Do something for yourself with no one else in mind. Not Grayson, not me, and most definitely not your parents. Make it special. Make it count. Something you’d never give yourself in a million years. Can you do that?”

“I could try.”

“Good.” He stood and helped her to her feet. “I love you, Rachel. You can always hold that in your heart. I can’t give you happily ever after, but you can find it on your own.”

“Hayes?”

“Yeah?” He held her close. She could tell he was struggling to be all there for her because of the way his body trembled.

“I love you too. I always will.”

“I know. I have to go. Don’t forget your promise to me.”

He faded slowly from her touch and her sight.

Then he was gone.

Rachel let the last tear fall from her cheek. That was it for crying. She’d be strong. She had to be. For herself.

The white envelope her mother had left her was sitting on the coffee table. She picked it up and glimpsed inside at the plane tickets.

Something she’d never do in a million years? Oh, yeah, this was it.

~ * ~

Gray helped Sofia into the boat. She shook out a blanket and dropped down with the picnic basket and her sketchbook. There was only one seat for the rower, so Gray sat there with a fishing pole he’d found in the basement. He’d try some bologna for bait, like his dad had shown him many years ago.

He glanced at their surroundings. Trees lined over half of the lake’s bank, but it seemed most of them were removed or didn’t grow on this half.

Only a few stood, shading the water. It was beautiful all the same.

The skies had patches of clouds here and there. No major threat of rain. They’d have a couple of good hours out on the water, at least.

The boat seemed like it’d had its day. The red and white paint was chipping and some parts of the wood were splintering. But the boat was sturdy, and the water looked tempting. Speaking of tempting, Sofia had on a white tank top, no apparent bra, and khaki shorts she’d changed into after they’d showered together. Originally, he’d wanted to take her right back to bed to satisfy the growing need to have her as close as possible. To hold her and make love to her until they couldn’t stand it anymore. Sofia convinced him otherwise, reminding him of the boat and what a fun time they’d have.

He still wore his jeans and that was it. Sofia had insisted on washing his clothes again. They were hanging on the line next to some bed sheets and a couple pairs of her panties she’d blushed about after he’d noticed them.

“Okay, Captain Phillips, I’m ready.” Sofia pulled a large pink-flowered floppy hat out of the basket and stuffed it on her head. She looked adorable.

After launching the boat away from the dock, Gray grabbed the oars and started rowing to the middle of the lake. He couldn’t help but wonder if in an alternate universe, he’d be out on the ocean with Hayes in a much larger boat. They’d drink beers and fish, not caring if they caught anything because they’d be laughing at a stupid, pointless joke—the best kind—and having the time of their lives.

Of course, now Gray would want Sofia to be there to laugh along with them. She’d fit in perfectly with her down-to-earth sweetness and sense of humor.

Snap out of it, Gray. Hayes isn’t coming back.

But he did have Sofia. “You ever come out here before?”

She glanced at him from underneath the ridiculously large brim. “When I was a kid. I used to visit Nana during summer break, and she’d send me out here if I started whining about being bored. The Amish kids would come over and swim with me. There were tons of them, and they all seemed to be related in some way. The girls, for the most part, just stared at me as if I were some sort of specimen to analyze and whisper about. The boys were bolder. They stripped down to their underwear and jumped right in. Needless to say, I had more fun with the boys. Actually, I had my first kiss out here.”

“Really? Tell me more.” If only to hear the sound of her voice.

“I was twelve, just starting to fill my training bra, if you know what I mean. His name was Elijah, and he was sixteen. He was really cute, despite the bowl haircut and suspenders.”

Gray laughed. “I can’t believe your first kiss was with an Amish kid.”

“What’s so funny? He had game like you wouldn’t believe.”

“What did he do? Woo you with his horse and buggy?”

“No, he cornered me in back of the shed.”

“Hmm.” Gray didn’t know how to respond to that. His shoulders tensed at the thought of how naïve Sofia must have been at the age of twelve. He pulled the oars in and laid them out behind him. “Did he do anything else besides kiss you?”

She smiled up at him, the shadow from the hat covering her face. “Jealous?”

“Of you getting taken advantage of by a sixteen-year-old Amish kid? Where was your grandmother during all this?”

“Taken advantage of? Please. He kissed me. That was all. And maybe brushed his hand against one of my boobs accidentally on purpose. It was all innocent.”

“Did it happen more than once?”

“No.” Sofia sighed and slumped down. “That night I dreamed of him making out with this girl named Johanna. She hated me. The little twit used to call me Fancy Nancy.”

“So you dumped him?”

“More or less.” She shrugged. “I spent the rest of my time here locked in the guest bedroom. I hate my dreams sometimes.” Her eyes grew wide and she grasped his knee. “Not the ones of you, of course. Those are my favorite.”

Gray leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers. “I could see that last night.”

She rearranged her hat and sat back on her bottom.

“What was up with the other dream? The one that frightened you?”

Frowning, she glanced down at her sketchbook she’d placed in her lap. “There’s nothing I can do yet for that vision. I can only hope I figure it out before all those people die.”

“How often do you have these sorts of dreams, where you feel obligated to help?” He pinched off a piece of bologna he’d retrieved from the picnic basket and baited the hook of the fishing pole.

“Depends. Sometimes nightly, sometimes once a month.” She opened the sketchbook and put her pencil to it. “Doesn’t that make you want to run screaming from here?” A half-giggle stopped short.

“Is that what other guys have done?” Gray had wondered why she’d remained a virgin into her twenties.

“No, they never got the chance to.” Her hand whipped across the page, but she held the book at an angle so Gray couldn’t see. “You’re the only one who’s passed the dream stage. I usually find out a man’s not my destiny before the second date, before they’ve had the chance to find out about my little gift.”

He cast the line into the water, pleased with where it had landed. “Do you think I’m your destiny then?” The question slipped off his tongue. Although he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

She looked up for a second and then back to her drawing. “Time will tell, I suppose.”