Chapter 6
Grant
I COULDN’T LET HER LEAVE. I don’t know what had come over me, I don’t know what I was thinking, but one thing was certain, I had to keep her up there with me. If I let her slip through my fingers now, I’d never have another chance like it.
I’d forgotten about the photos, but now that she’d found them, I figured it must have been fate. God wanted her to find those pictures. That’s what I told myself.
I looked at her. She was stunning. My cock throbbed with desire. I wanted to rip her dress off and slam her down against the hay. I wanted to make her beg me for mercy. Fuck. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be secretly in love with a girl for pretty much you’re entire life, and all the while, you’re certain that you’ll never be able to be with her?
It’s torture.
I wanted to touch her. I wanted to caress her hair. I wanted to taste her sweet, honey lips. Just once.
I knew it was wrong. I knew it was a betrayal of the trust her father had placed in me, but I didn’t care. At that moment, I lost all control of my thoughts. I wanted her like a starving wolf wants a lamb. No amount of reasoning could turn me away from what I wanted.
“There’s a clasp at your neck,” I said.
She looked at me, startled. Her hand went to the back of her neck, where a mother-of-pearl clasp held the straps of her dress secure.
“Yes, there is,” she said, nervously.
“Open it,” I said.
Her eyes widened. She was shocked. But I couldn’t help it. The heart wants what the heart wants. People often suppose that men are simple creatures, with simple appetites, but I’m here to tell you that nothing is further from the truth. In some ways we’re simple, sure, but our hearts are every bit as complicated as women’s. Our emotions are every bit as deep.
I’d lusted for Lacey for years, I’d crushed on her intensely for vast swathes of my life. But this was more than lust. This was beyond mere desire. This was a yearning in my soul that I couldn’t control. My voice was speaking not just for the present, but for all the countless nights in the past I’d spent craving the warmth of her body.
I’d spent my life waiting for her. No relationship I’d ever been in had lasted more than a couple of weeks. I was Lacey’s, heart and soul, and something inside me wanted to make her mine.
“Grant,” she whispered. Her mouth formed the word but her voice made no sound.
It was our only chance. Never again would I have her in a situation like this. The music wafted in from the warm night outside. The flame from the lamp made the shadows look as if they were dancing to the intoxicating jazz. Faith and Jackson’s wedding had created a romantic magic that filled the night air completely.
“Just this once,” I whispered.
“What?”
“I’ve known you seventeen years, Lacey. Seventeen years I’ve stopped myself from making a move. Seventeen years I’ve treated you like family.”
“I know,” she said, her voice trembling.
“So don’t you think I’ve earned one night?”
“What are you talking about?”
“One night of pleasure, Lacey. One night of passionate love. Tomorrow, we’ll pretend like it never happened.”
“We won’t be able to pretend,” she said.
“We will,” I said, desperate to persuade her. I wasn’t sure if I was right, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to get the taste of her lips out of my mind once I kissed them, but at that moment I’d have promised her anything. “I swear to you, nothing will change, Lacey. We’ll go on as before. And this one night of lust will be our little secret.”
“I don’t think I can,” she whispered, her eyes filled with tears.
I didn’t know if she meant she couldn’t make love to me, or she wouldn’t be able to forget we’d done it afterwards, but my cock was pulsing with desire. I could smell her perfume and the shampoo in her hair. I could see the glistening light on the wetness of her lip. There was no way I could resist. I had to have her.
“Give me one night, Lacey, and I swear I’ll never ask you for another thing in the world.”
Her head was shaking, she wanted to say no, but she was hesitating. She was on the cusp.
“I don’t know, Grant. You and the brothers and Faith are the only family I have.”
“One night, Lacey, and afterwards, I’ll never mention it again. I promise you that.”
A single tear fell from her eye, flowed down over her cheek, and landed on her lap. It made a mark where it landed on the blue silk of her dress.
“I don’t think so, Grant.”
I put my finger over her lips. “Shh. Don’t say anything. If you climb down the ladder, I won’t stop you, and I won’t ever mention this again.”
She shut her eyes. She made to get up but then stopped. She stayed put.