Page 88 of Holding Grace
“Great.” I forced myself to take a step back, then another. The last thing I wanted to do was walk away from her, but it was what I needed to do. “See you for breakfast then. Sweet dreams.”
Grace took a deep breath, then nodded as she let it out. “You, too.” She bit her bottom lip, looking more tempting than any woman had a right to, then turned and headed for her bedroom on the opposite side of the apartment.
I did the same, all the while wishing Grace and I were heading for the same bed.
––––––––
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, I was lying in bed, hands stacked behind my head, staring up at the ceiling when I heard something. I listened hard, trying to figure out what it was that I’d heard.
A few seconds later, there was a faint knock on my bedroom door.
I sat up as I called, “Come in.”
In the faint light from the hallway I saw Grace, dressed in a washed-out t-shirt and a pair of the short shorts she typically slept in. I couldn’t read her expression. Was she sick?
“Gracie, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
She took two steps inside my room then stopped. “I’m okay, it’s just...I can’t get warm. It’s like I’m chilled all the way through. I thought about taking a hot shower but then I thought maybe if you...if you held me for a little bit, I’d warm up.”
If I...
I wasn’t strong enough. That was the immediate thought that filled my mind.
I wasn’t strong enough to have Grace in my bed, to hold her, feel her against me, and not do anything else. It would be my own personal version of hell on earth.
It was too much.
She caught my hesitation and started to back up. “Never mind. It was...”
I threw the covers back and moved toward the center of the bed to make room for her. “Climb on in.”
I wasn’t strong enough, but for her, I would be. She needed me. I couldn’t say no.
Grace hesitated, then started toward me. My body tightened at her approach, even as I told it to calm the fuck down. No matter how much I wanted her, this wasn’t that, and my body needed to get with the program.
She sat on the edge of the bed and looked over her shoulder at me. “How do you want to do this?”
Oh, sweetheart. There were so very many ways I could answer that, none of which were appropriate for the situation.
Pushing aside the images in my head, I answered her. “Why don’t you lie facing away from me and you can be the little spoon.”
She did so without comment, staying close to the edge of the bed. As casually as I could, I reached my arm around her waist and pulled her into me, her back to my chest, my legs lined up behind hers.
She was stiff at first, then slowly, gradually relaxed back into me.
Which was a blessing and a curse.
She felt fucking incredible.
That was it – both the blessing and the curse.
My fingertips rested on the satin skin of her stomach where her t-shirt had ridden up a little, and as she relaxed a little more, her firm sweet little ass nestled right against...
I focused on my breathing, trying to relax and keep my body’s reaction at bay.
Take a breath in. Let it out. In. Out.
Grace shifted a little and her ass bumped my crotch. I bit back a groan and squeezed my eyes shut.