Naked Choke (17 page)

“You still want me even with my troubles?” I asked.

His body relaxed and settled against me in an entirely different way. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t so upset that I felt every sinewy inch of Gray’s body pressing into mine. Even his cock nudged against my hip, full and thick. My body softened and warmed to the feel of him, recognizing his scent. My body knew him to be the man who wrung pleasure from it. My body craved him, wanted him again.

He nuzzled his nose into my neck, slipped soft kisses along the tendon then up to my ear. “You don’t have any troubles, baby. They’re mine now. You don’t have to worry about my dad or the house. You’re not alone any more.”

He shifted slightly and kissed along my shoulder, letting me know he was right there, above me, around me, surrounding me. It was as if he were shielding me from the world with his body—and I knew he would. The thought that I didn’t have to solve every problem on my own felt…good. I’d thought I had that with Jack, but it had been fake. I’d taken care of everything while he worked, and worked through all his secretaries and paralegals.

My breathing deepened and my skin came alive beneath his lips.

“I don’t know how to give someone my troubles,” I admitted, my eyes slipping shut as he started kissing down my spine.

“Neither…do…I,” he replied, kiss after kiss. “There’s one thing we do really well together.”

When a hand gently nudged my legs apart, I murmured, “Oh?”

I was lost, completely and totally lost in Gray. I heard more than saw him reach down for his pants and pull out another condom, then nudge my thighs wide with his knees. “Most people keep those in their bedside drawer,” I commented.

“I’ve never been with anyone here before.” He worked the condom on then leaned over me, his skin hot against the length of my back. “I’ll pick up a box later.”

“Gray,” I groaned, my hands curling tightly around the sheets.

“I can’t be gentle this time, baby.” His knee nudged my right leg even wider and I felt him prod my opening, the head slipping in. “I usually go and work off this restless energy in the ring, but fucking you is much better of a workout.”

As he started to stretch me open, I moaned, snagged the sheets so my knuckles turned white. “Don’t hold back,” I pleaded, needing the connection with him probably as much as he.

With one arm, he scooped under my belly and pulled me up on to my knees. As his right hand cupped my breast, he slipped in all the way, settling, and I heard him groan. I knew only Gray could make me feel complete, feel possessed, and very, very soon, feel the most intense orgasm of my life.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

GRAY

I came out of the shower and went into my walk-in closet to get dressed and couldn’t help but listen to Emory on the phone.

“I’m fine. Everything is good here so you don’t have to worry about me.”

All was quiet as she listened and I pulled on some boxers.

“Really? You have to memorize the entire meal and yell it in the hallway? What on earth does that have to do with the Navy?”

Her son. Chris. I was glad she was talking to him. I’d known she was a mother and she’d mentioned him, even saw pictures of him around her house, read his name in that fucking text, but having him be on the phone with her made him even more real. The sound of her voice changed when she talked to him; it brightened and softened. She laughed at something he said and was obviously reassured he was fine. “How many pushups? Your grandfather was right about the mashed potatoes, then?”

Her laugh had me smiling and leaning against the wall of the closet, just listening. It made me, God, it made me happy to hear her laugh. I wasn’t eavesdropping, because she’d tell me about Chris in time, but hearing the way she talked to her only child had me learning about her—her inflection, the obvious love for her son, her warmth. “Yes, I’ll come down for parents’ weekend. Wouldn’t miss it.”

I stood, went to a drawer to pull out a T-shirt.

“All right. Nine o’clock. Sure. I’m…I’m going to bring someone with me. No, Simon said he’ll see you at the end of the year because he doesn’t talk to mere Plebes.”

I couldn’t help but grin. Shit, I was crazy, smiling because she was pulling me in, letting me get closer to her son, to Simon. Her
family.
 

“I met someone and I want you to meet him. Yes, a man.” I froze, my shirt forgotten. She wanted to bring
me
to meet Chris? “No, he’s not a doctor. No, it’s not the radiologist that hit on me at your graduation.”

A radiologist hit on her?

“His name is Gray. Yes, like the color. Yes, he’s nice. Yes, he’s nice to
me.”
 

She didn’t say who I was. No, she had. She said I was Gray. She hadn’t told Chris I was Grayson Green, The Green Machine. To Emory, I
was
just Gray.
Unless she saw one of my fights on the Internet, my past was just that.
The past.
 

“Okay, go. I understand. I’m glad you’re doing well. Good. Yes. I love you, too. Bye.”

I left the closet. She sat on the side of the bed in the dress shirt I’d worn the night before, the sleeves rolled up and the tails of it brushing over her thighs. I liked it on her much better than on me.

“Radiologist?”

Her head came up and she looked me over. “Didn’t you go in there a while ago to get dressed?”

I was still wearing just my boxers and while I grinned sheepishly, I didn’t want to get off target. “Radiologist?” I repeated.

She rolled her eyes. “He sits in a dark room all day looking at films. He’s harmless.”

“What’s his name?”

She furrowed her brow. “His name? Oh no.” She held up her hand as if to stop me. “Are you planning on beating up all the men in my past?”

“If he hurt you, he might have to check his own x-rays for broken bones,” I grumbled.

She shook her head as she came to plant a kiss on my cheek. A sweet kiss. “No, he didn’t hurt me.”

I heard what she didn’t say. “Your ex then. Can I beat the shit out of him?”

This time when she kissed me, it was on the mouth and there was nothing sweet about it. When her tongue met mine, it was sexy as hell. “Yes, you can beat him up.”

I pulled back from the kiss enough to take a deep breath. “You’re distracting me from our conversation.”

She grinned against my mouth, her hand resting on my bare chest. “You noticed.”

“I notice everything about you. Do you really want me to go with you to Parents’ Weekend?”

Stepping back, she let her hand drop and the spot felt cold. She looked away. “Did I overstep?”

I reached out, tugged her back so she bumped into me. “No. I’m…it just sounded like you were including me in your family and it was…nice.”

She offered me a smile, a soft one, filled with what looked a whole lot like…love. “Good.”

Was that what this was? Was that what I felt for her? Love? Did she feel the same way? She was the most important thing in the fucking world to me, but love? I had no clue what love was. It was like trying on a suit and seeing if it fit. With Emory, she fit—we fit—perfectly. “Emory, I—”

Her cell rang, then mine only a few seconds later.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“I bet that’s Christy.”

“Which means that’s Paul on my phone.” I didn’t hide the irritation from my voice. Emory was kissing me.
She
was kissing
me.
She was being the pursuer and I liked it. A lot.

“They don’t know we’re together.
Together
as in you and me.” She pointed between us. “And also as in the same room.”

I knew what she was saying. Did we want to keep this a secret, or tell? I angled my chin. “Go. Answer it. I’ll take my call in the other room.”

***

Two hours later, I was pushing the speed limit on the highway, not wasting any time getting to Atlantic City. When Emory told Christy what had happened, she'd pulled Paul into the conversation. Emory had pulled me down to sit beside her on the bed and we talked to the couple together by speakerphone.

Yes, someone had been in her house.

Yes, she was fine.

Yes, it could be my dad who was behind it all.

I had to face him. Emory agreed, but there was no fucking way I was letting her anywhere near him. This was an old score I needed to settle and she’d only distract me. She understood, but Paul had even more, and offered to have Emory hang with them for the day.

I passed an eighteen-wheeler when my cell rang. I pushed the button for the handheld. “Green.”

“They’re painting their toenails.” Paul. “She’s safe here.”

“Thanks. I’m almost out of Delaware. Once I find him, it won’t take long.” I gripped the steering wheel. Hard. “I should be back before dinner.”

“Do what you have to. We’ll be waiting.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“You’d do the same.”

I would.

Now I knew what Paul had been telling me all along while he trained with me. He told me about Christy and I’d seen him change. He became…more. He wasn’t pussy whipped either. Christy was perfect for Paul and I knew she was everything to him. Everything.

Just like Thor. He would do anything for Laura, even buy a toilet brush. I understood now. Emory was everything to me and I’d even go buy a fucking toilet brush for her. If that wasn’t a sign I was in love, I didn’t know what was.

EMORY

I had cotton balls wedged between my toes as I sat on Christy’s couch. Paul was working at the kitchen table, papers spread out before him and he had his phone set to mute as he listened in on a conference call. I was being babysat and I knew it. A pedicure was just something to do to wile away the time. I didn’t think I needed to stay indoors and under supervision until this whole house break in thing was resolved, but if it eased Gray’s mind, I’d do it at least until he got back from Atlantic City. At least if
he
was watching me, we could be busy doing more…enjoyable things.

I could feel my cheeks flush just thinking about what we’d done together and I darted a glance at Christy, who was fortunately leaning forward and putting a top coat on her right foot. I was sore in places I forgot even got sore. I wasn’t a virgin, but the way my body ached—in good and bad ways, mostly good—I had probably reverted back to one. The way I felt with Gray was nothing,
nothing,
like it had been with Jack. If I’d known what I’d been missing, I’d have divorced him years earlier. But then I wouldn’t have met Gray. It seemed that he appeared just when I was ready for him. Was I ready for him? Was one ever ready for love?

“You must have been so scared,” Christy whispered. Paul could be heard talking about some kind of brief from the other room.

I propped my feet on the coffee table. “Yeah. Very.” I didn’t want to go into details. I didn’t really want to think about it ever again and perhaps Christy could sense it, because she switched topics.

“Gray thinks his dad’s behind it?” She dipped her nail polish brush into the bottle. “He sounds like a complete ass.”

I didn’t want to tell her that the guy was well known in the business community. It didn’t matter what his job was, how much power or money he had. A child beater was a child beater.

“Mmm,” I replied, trying to remain neutral. If Gray wasn’t telling people about his past, I wasn’t going to do so. “I don’t know much, but it’s possible.”

Christy must have picked up my vague responses. “So you and Gray?” She waggled her eyebrows.

I flushed just like a schoolgirl.

“Yeah,” I said on a sigh.

She turned to look at me, eyed me carefully. “This isn’t some fling, is it?”

I shook my head and she grinned. “Is he good?”

Oh yeah, he was
good
.

My cell rang in my bag, saving me from answering. My heart skipped a beat at the thought that it was Gray, but I quickly squelched it. He was most likely driving, focused on dealing with his dad. He needed to work on that, not me, and I understood.

I didn’t recognize the number on the display. “Hello?”

“Hello, Emory, this is Angelo Casale.”

I relaxed, thinking of the man who had given me the delicious dinner. “Hi, Mr. Casale. How are you?”

“Fine.” He didn’t seem interested in lingering on small talk. “I have heard that your home was broken into last night. Are you all right?”

Concern laced his words.

“Yes, thank you for checking. It was scary, but it’s over.”

“I would like to invite you and your friend, Mr. Green, for dinner at Casale’s tonight. I have some things I would like to talk with you about, but not over the phone.”

“Oh.” I paused. “That’s very kind of you. Gray is in Atlantic City today visiting his father, but should be back by dinner.”

“You are alone?” He sounded concerned. “I will have Frank come and stay with you, wherever you are.”

I frowned. Why would he want Frank to stay with me? “I am with my friends. I promise I am well supervised.”

I heard his laugh through the phone. “You can’t trick a mother,” he said. “I am glad you are with others, for it is not safe for you right now on your own. Have your friends join you as well.”

Christy was watching me as she screwed the top back on the nail polish bottle. I pasted a fake smile in the hopes to hide that I was worried by Mr. Casale’s words. What did he know that I didn’t? He obviously thought I was still in danger if he would send Frank to watch over me.

“You’re sure it’s all right to come?” I didn’t mean about eating, but about showing up at the restaurant and remaining safe, not that Christy would know that.

“Yes, my restaurant, I assure you, is quite safe. You, as well. As I said before, you took care of Marco, so I will take care of you.”

“Then there will be four of us.”

“Good. Seven then,” he replied, then hung up.

I tossed my phone back in the bag.

“What are we doing tonight?” Christy asked.

“We’re going to dinner at Casale’s.”

“Casale’s? I’ve always wanted to eat there. That’s right, you said you met the owner.”

“Who’s going to Casale’s?” Paul asked as he came in from the kitchen. He tilted his head from side to side, trying to release a crick. “I hate conference calls,” he muttered.