Champagne and Daisies

by SJ McCoy

  She leaned toward him and cupped his face between her hands. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, either. I tried, and I tried, but …”

  He leaned toward her and the words no longer mattered. They dried up in her throat as she lifted her lips to meet his. His kisses were just as amazing as she remembered. Her body reacted to him the way it had before—her heart raced, shivers ran down her spine, and her hands found their way into his hair. She moaned as he slid his tongue into her mouth. He was just as hot, and he turned her on just as much as he had that first time. She’d tried to convince herself that it was just the champagne, that she and Grant had been so good together because all their inhibitions were gone. It wasn’t true. There was undeniable chemistry between them, and she was lost in its grip once again.

  They finally came up for air, and Grant smiled. “Do you think we should take it inside?”

  She nodded breathlessly. She didn’t want to stop, but they’d have to get out of the car and into her bed before she’d be happy.

  She opened the front door and pulled him through after her, pushing him up against the wall once he was inside. “I’ve dreamt about doing this every night since, you know?”

  He slid his hands down her sides and pushed up the hem of her dress. “Every night,” he murmured. “Every morning, every time I see you in the office.”

  She gasped as he slid his fingers inside her panties and stroked her. “I want you, Grant.”

  “I want you, babe.”

  She grabbed his free hand and started leading him toward the bedroom. She didn’t bother to turn any lights on; she was in too much of a hurry.

  He tugged her hand. “Wait.”

  She stopped and looked at him. He had a problem?

  His smile said he didn’t. He jerked his head at the sofa. Moonlight streamed in through the patio door, illuminating the cushions. It looked like a spotlight, shining down on an empty stage, waiting for the next act to unfold.

  She smiled and led him toward it. “It’s perfect.”

  He nodded and sat down, pulling her with him. As he leaned in to kiss her again, his hands were already at work, pushing up the hem of her dress and sliding her panties down. She was busy, too, unbuttoning his shirt, pushing it off his shoulders. He sat back and shrugged out of it. Wow. The moonlight reflected off his muscular shoulders and bathed him in soft light. She chewed on her bottom lip as he wriggled out of his pants. Then she remembered she should probably get out of her dress. She got to her feet and started to pull it up over her head, but he caught her arms.

  “You look so beautiful in that.” The way he looked at her made her feel beautiful. His eyes were hungry as he ran his gaze over her.

  “Thanks, but I think I look better without it.” She pulled it up and off, then unclasped her bra and stepped forward, so she stood toe to toe with him.

  He slid his arms around her waist and drew her to him. Her nipples stiffened as they met his hard chest. The muscles in her stomach tightened as his hard-on pressed into her belly. She reached her arms up around his neck and looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes. “Hi,” she said with a smile.

  “Hey.” He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I wasn’t sure we’d ever do this again.”

  “Me neither, but I’m glad we are.”

  He nodded and walked her back to the sofa. They stretched out in the moonlight, lying face to face. He smiled and planted a kiss on her lips. “Me too.” He turned onto his back and pulled her up, so she lay on top of him.

  She pushed herself up on her elbows and smiled down at him. “Am I in charge here?”

  He nodded. “Yup. I want to watch you in the moonlight.”

  “In that case …” She sat up and ran her hands over his chest, then gasped as his hand closed around her ass.

  “I want you, Chelsea.”

  “I want you, too.” She positioned herself above him and sighed as he guided himself inside her. “I. Want. You!” She gasped as his hips thrust up and he filled her. She found her rhythm, moving with him, faster and faster. He felt so damned good. She opened her eyes and found him focused intently on her face. She smiled and brought her hands up to caress her breasts. His focus shifted, and she closed her eyes again, forsaking the visual to better enjoy her other senses. She rolled her nipples between her fingers and thumbs and moaned as she felt him grow harder inside her, his fingers digging into her ass as he drove deep inside. “Oh, God, Grant!” She couldn’t hold back. She let herself go, and her orgasm tore through her. She heard him gasp and then felt him find his release deep inside her. He gripped her ass tight as he came, pulling her down to receive each thrust, pounding into her, sending waves of pleasure racing through her, over and over until she was spent.

  Eventually, she slumped down onto his chest and buried her face in his neck. He brought his hand up and tangled it in her hair. “Even better than I remembered,” he breathed.

  She chuckled. “It was. I was kind of hoping that maybe I’d idealized the memory or that it was just the champagne.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her up into a sitting position. “Are you serious?”

  She smiled through pursed lips. “Partly, I guess, but not really. Part of me hoped that we weren’t that good together. It’d make life simpler, you know?”

  He nodded and gave her a rueful smile. “Yeah. I do know, but I can hardly call it bad news that we’re great together. What do you think we should do about it, though?”

  Chelsea smiled and rolled off him. “How about we get cleaned up first before we think about it?”

  While he was in the bathroom, she went into her bedroom and pulled her PJs on. When she came out, he was sitting on the sofa in just his jeans. Yum!

  He smiled. “I know I said you looked beautiful in that dress, but you’re just as gorgeous in your jammies.”

  She laughed. “You don’t need to sweet-talk me anymore, you already got what you came for.”

  He gave her a stern look and held his arm out. “Come here. We need to talk about that.”

  She went and sat beside him, wondering what they needed to talk about.

  He slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “See, I think we have a problem.”

  She looked up at him uncertainly.

  “At least, a misunderstanding.”

  “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

  “Do you really believe that I got what I came for? That that’s all I want?”

  She shrugged. Part of her kind of knew it wasn’t, but she didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t know where that conversation could go.

  “I think you know that’s not true, don’t you?”

  She shrugged. “It’d be simpler if it were true, wouldn’t it?”

  He smiled. “Yeah, it would. But I don’t need simple. Do you?”

  She shook her head. “I suppose not.”

  “I won’t deny I wanted you, I wanted this again, but I want more than that, Chelsea. Like I told you earlier, I’d like to take you out, go for dinner, hang out, do stuff together. Date.”

  She nodded. She couldn’t keep the silly little smile off her face. “I’d like that, too, but what happens with work?”

  “That’s up to you. I can bow out. Tell your dad that I’m not comfortable being paid for a job that we all know won’t amount to anything.”

  She sighed. “But I like you being at Zosca.” She looked up at him, surprised to hear those words come out of her own mouth.

  “Even though I give you a hard time?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I know a lot of what you’re saying makes sense. I know I’ll use at least some of it going forward.”

  “So, you want me to stay?”

  “I think I do.”

  “Okay. I’ll stay then, but maybe I should talk to your dad anyway. I don’t feel right taking his money.”

  Chelsea smiled. “See, you’re more like me than you want to admit.
”

  He gave her a puzzled look.

  “If it were all about the money, you wouldn’t care.”

  “No, it’s just that, well, it’s the principle of the thing, I …”

  “Exactly. Principles are more important than profits, right?”

  He pursed his lips, but they both knew she was right.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Grant tensed when he heard a car approaching the cottage. He’d stayed here last night with Chelsea—and what a night it’d been. They’d made love on the sofa again, in the moonlight, and then later in bed—and then again, this morning in the shower. It seemed his desire for her just couldn’t be satisfied.

  Now it was almost ten. They’d decided they were going to spend the day together. Go for a drive in the hills. She was in the bathroom getting ready, but now someone was here to see her. And, whoever they were, they no doubt weren’t expecting to see him. He had a crazy urge to go hide in the spare room, but he made himself sit still. “Someone’s here, Chelsea,” he called, grateful that his voice didn’t give away his nervousness.

  She came out, tying her hair up into a ponytail as she did. “What? Who is it?” She peered out the window. “Oh, it’s Smoke and Laura.”

  Damn. He’d hoped it might be Cameron—he seemed to be okay with Grant and Chelsea, but her older brother, Smoke, seemed much less enthused.

  Chelsea laughed. “Don’t look like that. It’s ten o’clock in the morning. You could have just come over. He doesn’t need to know you spent the night.”

  Grant made a face.

  “Hmm,” her smiled faded. “You’re probably right. He was onto you last night.”

  Grant groaned. “I kind of knew that, but what did he say?”

  “That he wouldn’t interfere, and I can tell him about it when I’m ready.”

  Grant smiled. That meant she must have told her brother something about the two of them. The knock on the door brought him back to the moment.

  “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.” She smiled at him before she went to get it.

  “Hey, you two. Good morning. Come on in.”

  Smoke and Laura came through to the living room. Smoke stopped dead and scowled when he saw Grant. His wife tried to make up for it, giving Grant a big smile. “Hi, it’s nice to see you again. Did you have a good time last night?”

  “Yes, it was great, thanks.” Grant wanted to kick himself as Smoke’s expression grew darker. He was pretty sure that Laura had a meant at Gene’s party, but Smoke was assuming something else.

  “We did, too,” Laura gave him a conspiratorial smile. “Didn’t we, Smoke? We have to get back to Summer Lake this afternoon, but we wanted to see you before we go.”

  “I can get going,” said Grant. He wasn’t being a coward in the face of Smoke’s disapproval—not really. He was being considerate; Chelsea didn’t get to catch up with them very often, so he should leave them to it.

  Smoke scowled at him again, but Chelsea laughed. She came to stand beside Grant and slid her arm around his waist. His arm automatically came up around her shoulders as she leaned against him.

  “Stop it, Smoke. You’re not going to scare him off.”

  Laura laughed. “You tell him, Chels. And you,” she turned to Grant with a smile, “I know you’re just trying to be diplomatic, but you’d better start standing your ground with this one, or he’ll walk all over you. He can be a jerk sometimes.”

  Grant met Smoke’s gaze. He didn’t want to piss the guy off, but he didn’t want to come off as a pussy either. He gave him a rueful smile. “Sorry, dude. I guess guy code goes out the window when women take over.”

  Smoke continued to scowl for a moment, but Grant could see it was barely concealing a smile. Eventually, he nodded. “It’s them who’ll walk all over you if you don’t watch yourself.”

  Chelsea laughed. “Phew. So, now the ice is officially broken. How long have you got? Do you want to stay for some lunch?”

  “Sorry, we’ve not got long,” said Laura.

  “No,” Smoke gave Chelsea a pointed look. “I just wanted to chat with you about what you said last night. I have a few ideas.”

  Grant had a feeling that whatever it was, Smoke didn’t want to discuss it in front of him. “I can make myself scarce if you like?”

  Chelsea looked up at him, then back at Smoke. He could tell it was something she wanted to talk about with her brother, but she didn’t want him to go.

  “How about,” said Laura, “you and I pop over to the deli for sandwiches? I’m going to need to eat before we fly home, and you can pick up something for you and Chelsea to have once we’re gone.”

  Chelsea nodded. Smoke didn’t look happy. Grant got the impression that he was even more protective of his wife than he was of his little sister. “Or I could go by myself?” he suggested.

  Smoke’s face relaxed, but Laura shook her head. “I need to see what I want.”

  Smoke laughed and looked at Grant. “Thanks for trying, but like I say, they walk all over you, if you let ‘em. I consider myself well and truly whipped.”

  Grant chuckled. “I’m trying my best here.”

  “And I appreciate it,” said Smoke.

  Chelsea tightened her arm around his waist and smiled up at him. “I do, too.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Did he spend the night here?” asked Smoke as soon as Grant and Laura had left.

  Chelsea rolled her eyes. “Yes. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  Smoke blew out a sigh. “Sorry.”

  “So you should be. You can’t just come barging in here and give him a hard time like that. You could scare him off, and then I really would be pissed at you.”

  He gave her a rueful smile. “I don’t think I’ve got any worries there. He doesn’t seem like he scares too easily.”

  Chelsea grinned. “He doesn’t, does he? Anyway, never mind all that. We agreed I’ll tell you about Grant when I’m ready, and I will. For now, let’s just say that I think the story has started another chapter.” She smiled, and Smoke smiled back at her.

  “Good. I think I like him, but as you said, that’s not the point. It’s not what I came to talk to you about.”

  “No, you were going to help me figure out how to sell my shares.”

  “Or give you some other ideas. What do you think of a loan? Would it be realistic to think you could pay it back over time?”

  She sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know, Smoke. I don’t think I like that idea. I mean if I borrowed the money, then I still wouldn’t own Zosca, not really; the bank would.

  He shook his head impatiently. “Not a bank loan. I mean I could lend you the money.”

  “Oh!” She frowned. “Why?”

  He shrugged. “Why not. I’d give you a better rate than a bank would. It’s just, I don’t know. I sold out my interest, and I’ve always regretted it.”

  “You have? But you’ve done so well on your own. You’ve got the planes and the charter company and everything. You must be doing well to be able to lend me enough to buy Zosca.”

  “Yeah. I’ve done great; it’s not that. It’s just that I sold out of the family business. You know? I didn’t think it mattered, and it didn’t at the time, but things change. Look at me now, Laura and me. We might even have kids one day.”

  Chelsea gave him a questioning look.

  “No! Not yet, and probably not ever, but we might. And if we did … well, I kind of feel like I did them out of their heritage. They won’t ever be a part of Hamilton-Groves, even if they want to be.”

  “Wow. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you felt that way.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You live and learn. But if you can, I’d like you to learn from my mistakes. I think you’re a lot more likely to have kids than I am. I’d hate for you to one day end up feeling the way I do now. I know you’ll have Zosca, you’ll leave your own legacy, just like I will with the aviation side of things, but …”
he shrugged. “Maybe I'm being too sentimental?”

  Chelsea laughed. “It seems like there’s a lot of that going around.” She stared at him for a long moment. She wouldn’t have thought that he had a sentimental bone in his body, but it seemed love had changed even him. She grinned as an idea struck her.

  “What? I can tell you’ve got one of your hare-brained schemes going on in that little brain of yours. I just saw the lights go off.”

  She laughed. “You know me too well. How about this? I think this is awesome. I need money, I have Hamilton-Groves shares. You have money, you want Hamilton-Groves shares. How about you buy some of mine?” His eyebrows knit together, but she held up a hand to stop him before he could speak. “I don’t mean all of them because if I’m honest, I never wanted to sell them all, even before you went all sentimental on me. What about half and half? I sell you half my shares—and then we’ll both still own a part of the company. Then, if you really want to lend it to me, I can borrow the rest of what I need to buy Zosca from you.”

  He smiled. “When did you get so smart, little sis?”

  She laughed. “I always have been, but I stay quiet about it till it suits me to speak up.”

  Smoke nodded. “I like it. It’s a win-win. Let’s figure out how to make it happen.”

  “Yes,” she grinned. “The sooner, the better, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Me too, I’ll get right on to my accountant when I get home.”

  Chelsea frowned. “Won’t you need to talk to Laura about it first; make sure it’s okay with her?”

  He laughed. “I already did.”

  “Oh, good. I’d hate to think …”

  Smoke shook his head. “What’s mine is hers, and what’s hers is mine. We make joint decisions.” He made a face. “Maybe that’s not true. Maybe what really happens is that we respect each other’s decisions.”

  “I like that. That sounds like a better way to be to me. So many people seem to lose their individuality when they become a couple. I can’t imagine that.”