I tossed her jeans and underwear aside and went down on my knees on the floor in front of her and gently dragged her closer to me so my face was directly between her legs. She was bare and so shiny and slick with arousal. I almost growled at the scent of her, pure need roaring through my veins. I was practically shaking with desire for this woman. “Gray.” Her voice broke on my name.
She turned her head to the side, muffling a moan into the thick pillow next to her head.
“No, Kira, let me hear you,” I begged.
She looked at me, hazy confusion in her eyes, but she pushed the pillow away.
I leaned in and licked her, swirling my tongue around her swollen tissue, the taste of her bursting across my tongue and, impossibly, making me even harder. I was going to orgasm just from pleasuring her. I had never felt this desperate. She keened softly, pressing herself into my face. I sucked and licked and tasted her slick flesh for long moments as she moaned and panted, her sounds of pleasure making me feel wild. Finally I pressed two fingers into her wet entrance and she let out a small scream, her thighs quivering, as her body shook and contracted around my fingers. After she’d stilled, I raised my face and kissed back up her stomach.
Kira let out a contented sigh, taking my face in her hands as I pressed my lips to hers so she could taste her own passion on my mouth and tongue. We kissed slowly for long moments, my erection still throbbing painfully with unspent lust for the beautiful woman in my arms. I gave her one final kiss and then I rolled to the side and pulled her with me before bringing the blankets up over her. “You are beautiful,” I repeated, feeling something in my chest that felt startlingly like fear. Why do my feelings for her scare me so damn much?
She sighed contentedly again and snuggled into my chest. As I drew lazy circles on her hip, trying to tamp down my still raging arousal and the confusion of my emotions, I recalled how I’d told her she wasn’t my type. I almost laughed. Not only was she my type…it was as if she were made for me. I pushed that disturbing thought aside. I couldn’t let myself think things like that. It must have hurt her though, hearing those words from a man’s mouth—even one she disliked at the time—after her fiancé had made her feel so inadequate. Thoughts of Cooper Stratton, and my own regret, worked to cool the blood in my veins, but only moderately.
Kira’s breathing evened and she let out a small, delicate snore. She was asleep. God, if I’d realized being married would be so sexually frustrating, I might have asked for more compensation. She drove me crazy, riled me more than anyone else I knew. Yet she made me laugh, made me smile, impressed the hell out of me. She’d even bought me a damn dog. And now she’d given me even more. She’d given me her trust with her delectable body. Horny? Fuck yes. Satisfied? Absolutely.
I smiled to myself, kissing the top of Kira’s sweet-smelling head.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kira
Nerves fluttered in my belly as I knocked softly on Grayson’s bedroom door. I’d woken alone in my bed this morning, still nude and wrapped in the hotel sheets. The memory of Grayson’s mouth on me had me simultaneously stretching in pleasure like a cat and wanting to duck back under the covers. I felt happy and shy and slightly uncertain. But mostly? Tenderness warmed my heart. He had obviously understood the pain and humiliation Cooper had caused and had sought to remedy some of it. And surprisingly, it had worked. He had made me feel beautiful and desirable. And at a cost to himself. In fact, I was pretty sure he had been left severely frustrated. I felt sort of bad about that, but when he finally answered his door with a smile, I let out a relieved breath, setting my suitcase on the floor and smiling back. He had obviously survived. But he’d left my room. I wondered why he hadn’t stayed, why he hadn’t tried to satisfy his own arousal. I would have let him. I might have begged him if I hadn’t fallen asleep directly afterward, half-drunk with pleasure and the exhaustion of a long, emotional day.
“Morning,” he said.
“I expected you to be there this morning,” I blurted. Subtle, Kira. I relaxed my stance. “I mean, good morning. You…um, left after I fell asleep.”
He leaned against the doorframe, his eyes moving over my face for a moment as if trying to read my thoughts. I lowered my lashes to conceal my eyes. “I thought you needed a good night’s sleep, and I didn’t know if you’d be okay if I stayed. I didn’t want to wake you to ask. You’d had a hard day.”
“Oh.” Well, that was nice. Thoughtful. “Thank you,” I said. “For…everything.”
A satisfied smile tilted his lips. “You’re very welcome,” he said. “Ready to get going?”
I nodded, still staring at his mouth—that beautiful, sensual mouth I now knew could bring so much pleasure. When I realized those lips were curving into an even bigger, knowing smile, I ripped my eyes away and looked at the floor. Grayson chuckled softly as he grabbed his bag and my suitcase and we both walked out to the hall.
“You sure you don’t mind making a stop at the drop-in center?” I asked, eyeing him sideways as we headed toward the elevator. I loved the way he looked fresh from the shower—dark hair partially wet and tousled, his clean masculine smell meeting my nose. I wasn’t sure how what we’d done the night before was going to change anything as far as our relationship went, so I’d wait for a signal from him. Maybe it wouldn’t change anything at all. That’s what he’d indicated to me when he’d first talked about altering our deal. Temporary, I reminded myself. He wants our relationship to be temporary. Don’t get any ideas, Kira.
“Not at all,” he said. “As long as we don’t stay too long. I’d like to get back to the vineyard early enough to get some work in today.”
“We won’t stay long,” I reassured him. “Just long enough to say hi and write them a check. I have a few other charities I’d like to write checks to as well, but I can put those in the mail.”
Half an hour later we pulled in to the drop-in center’s parking lot in the Tenderloin district, one of the most high-crime neighborhoods in San Francisco. But rent here was semi-affordable, unlike most other locations in the city, and there was a high population of people who were homeless.
When Grayson and I entered the building, an old man mumbling to himself pushed past us, and the noise of talking, laughter, and a crying child somewhere in the background filled the air. I recognized the smell: sloppy joes were for lunch.
A woman with short, black, curly hair came rushing toward us, the familiar face I’d missed so much. “Is that you, Kira Dallaire?” She let out a small screech as she drew me into her arms, hugging me to her soft body.
I laughed, squeezing her tight. “Hi, Sharon.”
“Girl, I was so upset I wasn’t here the other day when you stopped in. Carlos told me you’d been by. It’s been far too long.” She looked at me with motherly love, sizing me up. “Well, you look good. But how are you? And what happened to your face?” she asked, pressing her fingers gently on my cheek and turning my head so she could see the red mark that still hadn’t entirely faded.
I smiled, Sharon’s concern a balm to my soul. “I’m good. And that is courtesy of my father, but I’m okay.”