Selling Grace: A Light Romance Novel (Art of Grace Book 1) (39 page)

"It wasn't anything that we need to dwell on," he said, interrupting me as usual. "We can just leave it in the past. It doesn't need to impact the work you're doing for me."

I almost did drop the subject at that, nearly losing my nerve. But after another bite of muffin, I reminded myself that leaving it unresolved would just cause more tension, more awkwardness, and it was better to get it all out now, painful as it might be in the short term.

"No, I want to know what you were thinking!" I said after I'd finished chewing. "You were having so much fun out with me, and then all of a sudden, this barrier just came down across your eyes, and you shut down. What's going on?"

Sanford turned to look at me, and I started to retreat back a step, in case he exploded in anger at me. But his face looked conflicted, not angry, and I watched him chew on his lower lip pensively. God, he even made that expression look sexy.

"I have a... history with women," he finally said. "I prefer to not get involved with anyone. It tends to be cleaner, overall."

Well, that answered none of my questions. "And I'm messy?" I asked.

His eyes dropped down, and I remembered with a pang that I'd chosen a white shirt covered in old tomato sauce stains to wear. Maybe not the best choice, considering the question I'd just asked him. "Look, I just think that you probably don't want to have anything to do with my problems," he finally said, although he didn't sound too sure of his own words.

My mouth dropped open. He thought that I didn't want anything to do with him? That I was the one trying to move past whatever happened last night and forget it?

"I'm not- Hey, last night was the most fun I've had with you!" I answered, not even thinking about what I was saying.

His eyebrows climbed. "What?"

I took a step towards him as I tried to think about what I wanted to say, how I could express myself. "I mean, last night, you were funny, and charming, and flirty, and it was... well, it was a lot of fun!" I pointed out. "And then that kiss, right on my front step like we were teenagers coming home from prom-"

Was he blushing at that last remark? Why did the thought of us as teenagers bother him? "Again, I said that I was sorry for that-"

"I don't want you to be sorry!" I burst out. Oh man. This time, I was the one interrupting him, but I didn't care. "Come on, that was a great kiss, but you can't even own it-"

"Great?"

Oh. I'd said that. "Well, yeah," I replied, wondering if I should backtrack a little. But hell, it had been a really good kiss! And now, even with the way that Sanford was chewing his lip a little as he looked down at me, he still seemed strong and powerful and totally like he could sweep me up into his arms and make me crazy with lust if he tried.

"So you don't want to pretend that last night ended once we got back to the mansion-"

Oh, this was ridiculous. He might be sexy and charming when he put his mind to it, but Sanford definitely had some blind spots, especially when it came to women. I moved in, crossing the last step between us, and reached up on my tiptoes as I slid my arms up and around his neck.

At least I didn't have to scale him like a tree, I thought distantly as his mouth came down to meet mine, and then we made contact, and I didn't think about anything at all except how much I wanted this.

God, he tasted so good! His arms, after a moment, wrapped around me, pulling my hips up against him and sliding down to feel the curve of my ass, how it fit against his hips and thighs. Even through the two layers of jeans that separated our bodies, I felt him harden, pressing against me as he hungrily kissed me back.

When the kiss ended, he leaned back a little, looking down at me, and I saw the hint of a question in his eyes. I opened my mouth, beating him to the question.

"If you ask me 'Are you sure?', I'm going to knee you in the balls," I gasped out breathlessly.

His eyes widened slightly, but then he smiled down at me. "I'll put my tongue to a better use, then," he answered.

Ooh, I liked the sound of that. I also liked this new smile on him. It was devious, dark, promising all sorts of fun, evil, delicious things that he wanted to do to me. I couldn't wait to find out what they might be.

And suddenly, with Sanford's hands still on me, I was acutely aware of the fact that we were standing in a bedroom. A dusty, old-fashioned bedroom that probably hadn't been used in at least a decade, likely longer, but still. There was a bed, just a few steps away from us.

And from the way that Sanford stiffened against me, I was fairly certain that this fact hadn't escaped him, either.

He kissed me again, maybe so that I wouldn't speak up and point out how close we were to the bed, but that just made things worse. I felt a hunger for the man, deep and primal, rushing up from within me. I'd been doing my best to suppress it up until now, telling myself that it wasn't going to happen, that he didn't like me that way, that it was a bad idea.

Well, it was still a bad idea. But now, it seemed very, very likely to happen, and I wanted it more than anything. From the way that Sanford bumped against me, from how his hands moved over me and pulled me close, I was certain that he wanted it, too.

"Mistake," I gasped out, when my lips were momentarily free for a few seconds.

He just pulled me closer, and his hand slid up my side, from my waist up to my bust. "Are you asking me to stop?"

Good god, no. Sanford's fingers brushed against my bosom, and I moaned as his fingertips slid over where my nipple poked out into the fabric of my bra, hyper-sensitive and crying out for his hand, his mouth, his kiss...

"I'll take that as assent," he murmured into my ear, biting at my earlobe.

I couldn't say no, didn't want to say no. The two of us staggered, a drunken four-legged organism, over to the bed.

Chapter Eighteen

*

Either my dry spell has lasted far, far too long, or Sanford is an actual god of sex.

Heck, it might be both, now that I think about it. My thoughts are finally starting to flow again, after being turned off for the last solid hour or so. I have gone a while since I've let a man carry me off to bed, or even since I've gone out with someone capable of carrying me anywhere. But I have had a few experiences before Sanford, and I am certain that they weren't anything near as good as this man.

We landed on the bed in a tangle of arms and limbs, both of us feeling up every inch of the other that we could reach. Sanford somehow twisted as we fell so that I came down on top of him, my knees landing on either side of his hips so that I straddled him. He immediately pulled me down for a kiss on top of him, wrapping one hand around the back of my neck and tangling his fingers in my hair. His other hand slid up along my side, pushing my shirt up towards my armpits.

After that kiss ended, I angrily pulled off this shirt, tossing it aside. How dare it encumber me, blocking Sanford from tracing a line of kisses down across my neck, along the line of my collarbone or over my chest!

With my shirt off, I was naked from the waist up except for my bra, and I saw Sanford's eyes greedily track towards it. "Damn," he whispered aloud, as he pulled me back down on top of him again.

I almost laughed in pure happiness. Hah, take that, Carly who was on the cheer team back in high school! The bad boy has found a new girl's boobs to admire, now!

A moment later, Sanford's fingers made quick work of my bra's clasp, and the undergarment slid off of me. Immediately, as the soft fabric fell away, his hands scooped up my breasts. He kneaded them, caressing my nipples and making them pop out like turkey timers, and guided me down so that his mouth could take them inside.

When his tongue found that first areola, any remaining thoughts drained out of my mind, like someone pulling the plug in a tub. Fire burst in my belly, coursing up my spine and flowing into secretive places that had been abandoned for far too long. I moaned, leaning forward and pressing down against his face until I could only see the top of his dark, curly-haired head.

I needed more, needed to show him the same pleasure that he now conveyed to me. My fingers, clumsy with desire, scrambled down across his chest, pulling open the buttons of his shirt. I probably tore at least a couple of them off instead of undoing them as I intended, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I'd get him another shirt, or fix it for him later. I needed to feel the heat of his bare chest beneath my fingers, run my hands over the dark, short little hairs as he moved beneath me.

For a moment, looking up at him, I paused as I noticed two tattoos across his chest, and I almost laughed at them. "I didn't know these were here," I said, tracing my line along one of the two tigers that snarled from atop his pectoral muscles.

He shrugged. "Like I said, I'm okay with cats." But he immediately transferred his attention back to me, and the fact that I'd also lost my top - and I quickly forgot all about those tomcat tattoos on him.

I pushed my hips down, grinding against his crotch as he flexed up against me. I felt him, hard and stiff and hungry for me, even through his jeans. I needed to release that masculinity, so that I could hold it in my hands, inside me...

"Patience," Sanford said to me as he took a breath between nibbles at my nipples, but I didn't have any remaining patience. I scooted down a little so that my fingers could find the button on his jeans, popping them open and yanking roughly at the zipper. Come off, damn pants!

And then he was out, hard and warm and alive in my hands, and we both gasped in unison.

If the women at the wine bar knew what Sanford was packing in his pants, they'd be flashing their tits at him the moment that he walked in. This thought skittered across my mind for an instant, a drop of water in a hot pan, before my desire swept it away. I tightened my grip around him, sliding my fingers back and forth and making Sanford grunt in arousal.

He didn't pull my hand away, however. No, he played dirtier than that - he transferred his attention to my jeans, although I had a few seconds' head start as he struggled to get them down over my round rump.

Still, he managed, and then I was the one gasping and writhing as his big fingers slid between my thighs and pressed up against my cotton panties. They were plain white, not sexy at all, but that didn't seem to slow him in the slightest. He pushed in, the curve of his hand fitting perfectly into me as he pushed all my buttons, wiggling those thick fingers back and forth, and I went mindless on top of him.

"Holy shit," I cried out, slumping forward as my arms gave out beneath me at the warmth and arousal of his touch. "Oh god, Sanford, no, wait! You're going to make me-"

"Yes," he hissed back, and I couldn't even muster up the control to point out to him that he'd interrupted me once again.

Ecstasy ripped through me, wiping out all of my control, dropping me down to land on top of the man, a soft, plump, shaking bundle of overexcited nerves as my mind shattered and I writhed against his fingers.

He rode with me, moved against me, his hand not pulling away. He kissed me, and his lips and tongue held such hot and fiery hunger that I could scarcely believe this was the same man who coldly scolded me a couple of weeks ago for hopping over his back fence.

"Oh my god, oh my god," I said, as I finally came back down to earth, or at least down from heaven to stand on the clouds.

"I'm not done yet," he replied, and his hand finally dragged off my sodden panties, making them vanish off the side of the bed. I didn't care where they went, didn't care if I never saw them again. I needed to be nude, to press myself against Sanford, feel his hard body on every inch of mine. I needed him to take me, dominate me, make me belong to him and use me.

He pulled himself up, muscles standing out and looking like a bronzed Greek god as he loomed over me. I didn't want to look down at my own body, pale and chubby and terribly out of shape, but I could drink in the sight of him forever. He leaned in and kissed me again as he moved on top of me, as his hips settled in between my thighs and my legs wrapped around his ass.

For a moment, I thought he would say something else. Maybe he was going to ask me if I was sure about this, or just warn me about something. Whatever it was, I didn't want to hear it.

I reached up and pulled his mouth down to mine, and his hips came along for the ride. They pushed down, and for just a second, I felt sharp resistance, so painful that I nearly screamed as he stabbed at me.

And then my body gave in and opened up to take him, and I shattered again as he filled me, slowly but surely consuming me as he slid inside.

I couldn't even tell how long the sex lasted, but it was amazing. By the time that he finally groaned and gave one last thrust deep inside me, collapsing down to press against me, his hot skin burning against my own, I was worried that I might never be able to walk again. It was totally worth it, of course, but still. He'd driven me numb with pleasure from the waist down!

"I think you broke me," I moaned out, my tongue feeling stiff in my mouth and scarcely able to form words.

"Same to you," Sanford groaned out beside me. "God, the way you wrapped your legs around me-"

"The way you moved your hips up when you pushed in-"