Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
I giggle.
“I thought you’d say too bratty.” I smile up at him. “I’d ask for a kiss, but...” I tilt my head at the gravestone and nod.
“Woman, if I could kiss you in front of your brother, you’d have known how I felt a lot sooner,” Grant growls, glancing at the headstone thoughtfully. “Feels damn weird saying that when we both know he’s not really in there.”
“But it feels like he’s here anyway, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Grant answers after a pause. “It does.”
We stand there for a few minutes, hand in hand, his warmth and his big jacket and his bigger presence wrapped around me like a blanket.
For the first time in ages, I don’t feel so alone.
It really is like Ethan’s right here, right now, standing with us.
Hopefully, giving us his blessing.
I feel like that blessing stays with us as we slip away, still hand in hand.
It’s a serene walk back to the truck with Grant’s fingers in mine, chasing away the October chill.
In the car, I’m happy to bundle myself up in his jacket like a blanket and snuggle against his side, drowsing while he drives.
Nothing breaks the quiet growl of the engine and the soothing whir of tires on the road until we’re almost home.
Then Grant’s voice rises up like low thunder between us.
“Sorry it wasn’t anything spectacular tonight,” he says. “First date in a cemetery—if you want to call it that.”
“It was exactly what I needed. No fooling. Plus, we had dinner and a movie. Extra points for that.”
He snorts with amusement.
I rub my cheek against his shoulder before I make myself pull away as he turns into the driveway and parks. We slip out together, and as we walk to the door, I steal his hand, tangling our fingers together.
The possessive squeeze he gives me sends a fresh wave of butterflies spinning through me.
“I needed to feel like I was part of something,” I say softly. “To feel like I was home. Everything’s been so off-kilter for so long, Grant.” We climb the porch together and stop, locking eyes in the shadows and the pale-gold glow of the porch light. “I’ve never felt like I fit in anywhere. Now, I wonder if it’s because I was so busy running away from the only place I ever did.”
He gives me one of those long, stern Grant looks I used to find so unreadable.
Only, now I realize he’s just taking me in.
Staring because he wants to.
Because he wants to see me.
Because he wants to warm me to my core with nothing more than a glance that says, woman, you are beautiful.
Mission accomplished.
I’m burning just as much from his gaze as the heat of his palm settled against my cheek.
“And where do you fit here?” he whispers.
“...not sure yet.” I sway toward him, smiling like I’m about to come apart. “But I’d like to find out.”
The kiss comes like a summer rain.
Slow and quiet, then suddenly it’s a rush of pure adrenaline drenching me as his lips take mine, possess me, drown me in a world that’s nothing but Grant.
Here, there are no worries.
I can’t be sad or stressed or afraid. Not when his arms wind around me this tight and his beard tickles my throat.
The raw, rough taste of him melts against my lips like the warmest salted caramel.
I’m so hard-wired with need that I moan almost instantly, some hot tight core inside me knotting up even as the rest of me goes loose and melty with desire.
His shoulders feel so strong under my palms, manly muscle stretched over iron bones.
I can feel his heartbeat against that powerful barrel chest, a wild thudding that echoes my own—and for a moment that tender, slow kiss turns thieving and renders me breathless, so powerful my knees go out and my whole being ignites.
Holy hell.
When we break apart, I’m panting.
Clutching my trembling fingers in his jacket and looking up at him in a daze.
He’s so handsome, and the evening light flutters in his dark eyes like moths searching for a gold-lit heaven.
“Inside?” I whisper hopefully.
Please say yes.
This ache for him that’s built inside me my entire life might tear me apart.
Grant’s only answer is a loud, needy growl before he pulls away and practically breaks his house key, jamming it into the lock like a man possessed.
I bite back a giggle, covering my mouth with my hand.
I feel like a giddy little girl again, knowing he wants me that much.
And that feeling only intensifies when he gives me a familiar dirty, disgusted look. But it’s also so much more now.
There’s no mistaking what’s underneath, coursing like blood.
That smolder.
The same heat that burns incessantly in my core and trembles through me as he shoves the door open and pulls me inside the dark house.
God, I want him right here, right now, but I don’t want the anticipation to end.