“Hey. Are you back yet?”
“Of course, got here this afternoon. I have to work tonight, remember? Although, right now there aren’t any calls so I doubt I’ll be doing much. I guess everyone’s with family.”
“So, you’re home then?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I’m pulling up right now.” Maybe it was a little foolish to come here before going home, but after being around his family for so long he’d been a little sentimental. He started toward the door but she was already there in a green T-shirt and that funny jeans skirt.
It was awkward standing on the doorstep, watching him walk up as if she’d been waiting for him. Still, her stomach knotted and she gave him a smile. With all that stubble on his face and his hair falling to his eyes, she assumed it was a long trip and tiring flight back. Still his eyes were warm when he smiled. Warmer yet, when he slid a hand around her waist and dropped a quick kiss on her mouth.
“Did you miss me?” he asked, looking into her eyes.
“I, uh … ”
He laughed. “Better not answer that.”
“I did, actually. I slept late everyday and no one woke me by beating down the door.”
“That’s it? You didn’t miss my hellacious hands or boulder-like body?” he teased.
Well, I did think about that a few times BUT …
“You wish.”
She opened the door to her apartment smiling as his hands never left her waist. Inside, he shoved the door closed with a foot and picked her off the floor to kiss her solidly, wetly, until she clung to him.
“Hmmm.” He spoke against her mouth. “I missed
that.
Thought I’d imagined it. Thought I’d imagined this.” He slid a hand up her leg as he buried his head in her hair.
“Well, let’s just not waste any time now, Grant,” she said sarcastically. They’d been in the door less than a minute.
“Okay, let’s not.” He picked her up and carried her down the hall, dropped her on the bed, and covered her with his weight.
“Hey! I was kidding. I meant it sarcastically.”
“I know. Don’t say what you don’t mean though. Someone might take you seriously.” He eased his hand up inside her shirt, pressed his mouth against her lips and melted his weight into her. She thought the shirt was coming off until he very gently dug his fingers into her skin — and tickled her.
“Stop it! Don’t do that.” She shoved hard against his chest, pushing him on to his back.
“What? Too personal for you? I was just trying to make you laugh. Why can’t you just let go and enjoy yourself?”
“I can enjoy myself. I
do
enjoy myself. I just don’t like being tickled.”
It reminds me of …
“Dad used to do that to me all the time. He wouldn’t stop until it hurt and I was doubled over and kicking him to stop.”
He frowned. “Sorry.”
“How would you know?” she said.
Grant pulled himself to a sitting position and laid a hand on her leg, stroking it with his big fingers. He stood and held out a hand, the frown still implanted on his features.
“Let’s go get those gifts,” he said.
She’d ruined the moment she knew it. His face closed up like a steel trap.
“I did miss you,” she said as she grasped the extended fingers.
“Yeah. Yeah. You missed having me bang on your door for coffee every day. I get it.”
She tried to catch his attention but he just looked away into space. “No.” She slid a hand up his T-shirt and rested it against his abdomen. “It wasn’t the coffee I meant.”
That caught his attention. His eyes came down to meet hers, his lids half-closed.
“So, it
was
my boulder-like body then?”
She laughed and kissed him hard on the mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled back. “Sure. Of course. That and you’re wonderful personality.”
He kissed the line of her neck up to the earlobe and looked back at the bed.
“Gifts, Boulder-man, gifts.” She pulled him toward the kitchen.
“Okay.” But he kissed her again, pressing her into the wall halfway down the hall, his tongue lazily delving to mesh with hers, persistently pushing her brain into hot lava mode.
Who cares about gifts anyway?
Jenny had always been somewhat of a control-monger. She realized that one of the things about Grant’s touch that differed from other men was her lack of need to steer it. Before him, she’d always wanted to lead things a certain way, as if she had to prove herself. Or maybe it was just a need to feel more than she thought she had inside. A need to feel
something at all.
She felt every little contact now and the clarity of that made her giggle.
Grant pulled his head back. “Now you laugh? I tickle you and it makes you mad but this is funny?”
“No! Not funny. It’s just that I feel it. I’m not trying to force things. I just want — ”
“What? You want what, Jen?”
“This.” She stroked a hand down his neck and rested it on his collarbone. “You said you wanted me to enjoy — ”
He didn’t let her finish. He put a finger to her lips and shushed. Then gently he lifted the green cotton from her body and slipped the denim “bite me” skirt down her thighs, letting it drop to the floor. She followed suit by shrugging his shirt up his chest to his armpits and when he lifted his arms and pulled it over his head, she fumbled for the zipper of his pants.
They slid to the floor in a pile of clothes and she made love to him on the carpet in the hall. Or maybe it was the other way around, he made love to her, and it was exactly what she’d wanted it to be.
Yes! I feel that. I feel it all.
When she opened her eyes, his were boring down on her. He’d obviously recovered a little faster and though his heart was still racing against her chest, his breathing had returned to normal. “You didn’t say it.”
She looked puzzled
. I’m not saying THAT. I don’t know you that well.
“Holy, lightning, hell. I was waiting for it.” He grinned.
“God, what an ego you have. If I could have said any words at all, that would probably have been the ones to say.” She sighed. “Thank you.”
“For what? This? You’re thanking me for touching you? Surely you’re kidding.”
“No. Just for being here. It’s good. You’re — ” He hugged her so hard, her face was planted against the dampness of his chest, muffling her words.
“It really
is
good, isn’t it? Not just the sex, but all of it. You’re not trying to be something else and neither am I.”
Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking.
He stood up and pattered to the kitchen without even looking back. His naked backside rippled as he moved. She reached for clothes and slipped on what she could before attempting to rise.
“Don’t get up,” Grant said as he came back around the corner with the packages from the kitchen. “Let’s open them now. Right here.”
“Can I get dressed first?”
He smiled and yanked on the T-shirt that was over her neck. “No.” He tossed it toward the bedroom door where it hooked the hinge and dangled.
He slipped to the floor leaning against the wall opposite her and handed her the box, complete with head indention. She lifted it to shake but he grabbed her wrist and shook his head. “Don’t. We’re lucky I didn’t break it the other night. I held my breath when you tossed it on the couch just waiting for the sound of crushed glass.”
She ripped the paper. Two bottles of the Italian wine from the restaurant and two wine glasses. “That must have been a pretty uncomfortable pillow.” She arched a brow then caught herself. “It’s perfect. Let’s drink it tonight.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Your turn.” She lifted the bulky, poorly wrapped package to his lap. He ripped the paper off in seconds, admiring the basket.
“A picnic basket.” He surveyed it. “Awesome.” He leaned forward to kiss her but she put a hand to his chest.
“Open it.”
When he lifted the clasp and looked inside, he grinned. “It really is true then, that great minds think alike. You gave me this, I gave you that.” He waved a hand at the wine. “It all goes together as if we meant it to.”
“Together.” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d used that word. Probably when she and her mom and dad were just that … together. Now, there’s no such thing. Never will be. She picked up the torn papers, wadded them, and carried them to the trash bin.
Can’t possibly be another family together moment. Not after that, not after watching and knowing she could do nothing to stop it. No, she’d not do the together thing anymore. When she reached to grab her remaining clothes from the floor, he wrapped fingers around her wrist.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” She gently pulled her hand from his grasp and slipped back into the skirt, then went to retrieve the T-shirt.
“Liar.” He sat naked and cross-legged on the floor staring at her. “You didn’t like the gift.”
“No! I loved the gift. It was great.” How could she explain? He had a big family, everyone around him at this time of year. She had her mother and the new boyfriend. She didn’t belong anymore, anywhere.
He stood, dressed, and took the items back to the kitchen, disappearing from view.
“We’re using them now,” he called out.
“What do you mean?”
“Just let me handle it. I’m good at this. Go take a shower or something. Or come talk to me.”
Curiosity got the best of her and she rounded the corner to find his head buried in the fridge. He was pulling out all sorts of things and dropping them on the corner while talking to himself.
Yeah, that … and that … oh, this will work.
He lifted some cheese and surveyed the package.
When he looked up, he gave her a dazzling smile. “Picnic on the beach, okay?”
“It’s kind of cold for that, don’t you think?”
“We’ll take a blanket.”
“I might have to work.”
He pitched an eyebrow at her. “Really? On the day after Christmas? If you get a call, I’ll go with you. We’ll take your car just in case.”
She opened her mouth to protest but he started slipping things into the basket. The wine. The cheese. Sandwich meat, crackers, bread, and cookies. He opened the pantry, grabbed a bag of chips, and held it up teasingly. “Gotta have these. I know you can’t resist them.”
“Okay, you got me there.” She remembered the crumbs on his chest and navel. Jenny changed clothes, grabbed a blanket, and they were on the way.
Together
.
Jenny had only been inside the door five minutes for the wedding and Grant swore she intended to ease right back out. The look of panic as she attempted to melt into the wallpaper was almost humorous, or pathetic. He excused himself from his family and headed straight to the doorway, intending to intercept her before she got a toe through. She shook her head at him and mouthed the word, “no.” He nodded and mouthed back, “yes.”’
Grant pursed his lips and stepped up the pace. He slipped an arm over her shoulder, palm against the wall, and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “Don’t you dare bale on me, Jen. It’s just a damn wedding, and it’s not like they haven’t already been here once before.”
“I know, but I don’t know anyone. I shouldn’t be here.” Her eyes were almost terror-stricken.
“You know me. And Josh. And Lauren and Hodge. It’s just a family thing anyway; there’s hardly anyone else here.” He grazed his fingers down her arm and entwined them with hers.
“Grant, your family is here.”
“Yeah, so what? Don’t tell me that scares you.” He made an exasperated tsking noise.
“They’ll think … ”
He waited for her to finish but she didn’t. What was she afraid of? That they’d think this was serious? Or that she’d like them?
“They’ll think I’m all wrong for this.”
“I don’t know what the hell that means but I seriously doubt anyone looks at a wedding guest and thinks, ‘Oh, that person is all wrong for this wedding. Send them away’.”
“I meant they’ll think I’m all wrong for — ”
“Me? Who gives a shit? It’s none of their business.”
“I’ve seen your ex’s pictures.” That caught his attention. How? He’d thrown out all the pictures at his apartment. Hodge maybe?
“Then you’ve seen the antichrist. You should know they all hated her. So no matter what you do, they’ll like you.” He knew he was right about that and not simply because they thought anyone could be better for him than Emma. Jenny may overdo the dry wit sometimes, but she was genuine.
“They hated her?” He thought he saw her Adam’s apple almost eject from her neckline. “Then I should really make an impression. You have to know I’m not good at pretending to enjoy this type of thing. It … it’s annoying.”
“Then be annoyed. Be totally pissed off. Be whatever the hell you want to, just be it
here
.” He pulled her away from the doorjamb.
“You don’t mean that. You know you don’t want me to embarrass you.”
He laughed. “The day I let you or anyone else embarrass me hasn’t come yet. Embarrass yourself if you want to, but if you leave, I’m not the one who’ll be upset. Hodge and Lauren are. Okay, maybe I would be, but this isn’t about me. Lauren thinks of you as a friend for some reason.” He knew why but didn’t say it.
You’re the only person that liked her at her worst without knowing who she was.
“Come on, chicken.” He pushed her in front of him and started guiding her toward his family.
“I don’t understand why everyone’s getting wedding fever right now. After all this time.”
“I’m guessing someone else you know is getting married. Don’t worry; I’ve been immunized for that.”
“I wasn’t talking about you
.
I don’t even
know you
and frankly I’m not into all that anyway. Remind me to send my mom to your doctor though.”
Oooh. Now I get it. That’s a relief.
“So, Mom and Dougie decided to take the plunge too?”
“Doug. And yeah. Stop calling him Dougie. It makes him sound like a kid and he’s about as far from that as can be.”
Just as Grace stepped forward to open her mouth and talk to Jenny, Grant pulled on Jenny’s arm and yanked her back to him. He stared into her eyes. “I don’t blame you for being mad about it. You still miss your Dad and Dougie … Doug is no prize it sounds like. Still, it’s your mom and you want her to be happy, right?”