by Lee Kilraine
“Gray! What are you doing here?” Tessa stood in the doorway, Sully in her arms, her face softly lit by the porch light.
“I know you stocked up microwave meals to get through your reno, and you’ve probably been dreaming of heating up that frozen turkey, gravy, and succotash delight, but I brought you a pizza in case you were still hurting too much.” I smiled and held up the box, trying to tempt her.
“Too much to push the buttons on the microwave?” Her gaze ping-ponged between my face and the pizza, before sticking with the pizza. “You got it from That’s Amore? I love their pizza.”
“I know.” I could tell. If she looked at me the way she was looking at the pizza in my hand, I’d have already jumped her. “I saw the pizza box in your recycling when I was here last week. I took a chance and ordered the Tessa Madigan special.”
That got her eyes back on me. “You did? So you’ve got a pepperoni, onion, and bacon pizza in that box?”
“That’s what I’m saying.” I nodded at her. Before I could say another word, she grabbed me by the placket of my button-down shirt and pulled me in.
I lifted the plastic bag in my other hand. “So, I didn’t need to bring a pint of coffee toffee ice cream and some muscle cream that Ash said the Roughnecks trainer uses on the players and is rumored to work miracles?”
“Holy cow, you were already my hero for bringing my favorite pizza.” She blinked up at me, sucking in a breath so deep, I watched her breasts lift and fall. Nice. “Bringing my favorite pint of coffee toffee and cream because I’m sore too? I’ll nominate you for man of the year, especially if the cream is any good. I’m still a little sore.”
“The team swears it works on more than muscles. Apparently they slather it on bone bruises, contusions, and even—other places—and it works miracles. I thought with it still raining, maybe it could help.”
“Thank you, Gray.” Her eyes glowed up at me and I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from volunteering to help her apply the cream that very second.
Sully barked once for my attention and happily gave me a proper slobbery, excited greeting once Tessa put him on the ground.
“Hey, big guy.”
“Let me toss the ice cream in the freezer and then we can eat in the family room.” She took the grocery bag and disappeared into the temporary kitchen while Sully and I set up the pizza in front of the TV.
“Tessa, you good if we catch some of Ash’s game while we eat?” I called, only to turn and find she’d already reentered the room. “Sorry. Thought—”
She smiled and handed me napkins and a container of hot pepper flakes. “That’s fine. Fair warning, I’m not a hockey fan.”
“Don’t let Ash hear that.” I shook my head in warning. “He’ll make it his mission in life to convert you. Everyone who knows Ash ends up a hockey fan.”
“I don’t have anything against hockey.” She shrugged as she slid two pieces of pizza on a plate and passed it to me, before serving herself. “I was into academics and never played sports. Want something to drink? I have bottled water and chocolate milk.”
“Gosh, that’s a tough choice. Pizza and chocolate milk? I think I’ll go with water. You sit. I’ll grab them.”
“Water’s in the door in the fridge. And I’ll have you know, chocolate milk goes with everything,” she called to my back, which meant I could grimace at the idea of chocolate and pepperoni and onion. “But I’ll take a water too.”
For the next hour we sat on her couch eating pizza, watching hockey, and talking, with Sully curled up on his bed in the corner. We stuck to safe topics like local restaurants we enjoyed, music, design, we even touched a bit on Tessa’s reno. Safe topics. Funny that Tessa’s reno was considered a safe topic now. It seemed not too long ago that topic used to end up in fireworks.
I had questions about her injury and rehab and Paul—but it felt too good, the place we were in right now. Getting along with Tessa was still so new. Only since I presented her the kitchen plans…and since she came to my apartment. Since she came in my apartment.
“Okay, Gray, I’m sitting here with a dilemma.” Tessa sat on the opposite end of the couch biting her lip and frowning.
Well, crap. Dilemmas usually involved saying “no” to something. Which was fine. It wasn’t like I brought the pizza, ice cream, and muscle salve to try to get into Tessa’s bed. Although, if I were being completely honest, while I didn’t bring that stuff to get into Tessa’s bed, the longer I’d sat here with her—listening to her, watching her, smelling her soft perfume—it might have crossed my mind that it could end up there.
“Here’s my dilemma: I would love to ask you for a massage with the muscle cream…”
“And you’re afraid I’ll take advantage of the situation and try to turn it into sex?” Time to be a nice guy, asshole.
“No. I’m afraid you won’t.”
“Damn. You’re like a damsel in distress with that dilemma.” I felt my lips quirk into a smile.
“Pretty much,” she said.
“So, I’d almost be rescuing you by having sex with you.”
“That’s exactly what you’d be doing.” She smiled at me, but then turned serious. “But—since I’m a modern woman—I promise to rescue you back one day. When you need it. I’ll owe you. If that works for you…”
“Oh, it works. In fact…let’s go. I’ll take Sully out to take care of business, while you go get naked on your bed.”
Damn, she blushed. “I’ll just clean up the—”
“Tessa, I know how to put pizza away. I got it.”
“Okay. One last thing… I left you a note on the fridge.”
I watched her walk down the hallway, before checking the note. It was short and sweet and left me grinning:
You’re fired. Contessa I. Madigan.
Opening the back door in the empty kitchen for Sully to do his thing, I stepped out and stood on the patio while the dog sniffed around the perimeter of the fence. Guard duty, looked like. Any other night, I’d be impressed that he took his job so seriously, but not when I had Tessa getting naked in her bedroom.
“Sully, boy, do your thing,” I called over to him.
Instead, he turned and sat in the bushes and stared at me. Dude.
“Look, buddy, I’m about to make your mistress feel very good. Very, very good if I have any say about it.” He still sat there staring at me. I stared back. “You’ve got to get with the program here, Sul. Here’s what you’re missing. If I make Tessa feel very good, that makes her happier. Happier people give more treats… See how that works out for you?”
“Hey! Gray!” I ran my gaze down the back of the house until I saw an open window and a slim figure in the shadowed inside. “Why are you picking right now to have a heart-to-heart talk with my dog?”
“He’s not cooperating, that’s why.”
“Sully, potty!”
Guess who did his business?
“Gray!” Tessa called from the window again. “Come in here and do me!”
Chapter 21
Gray
“I just want to say, you have a beautiful body.” She did. It was all lean muscle and bone. Like a runner. She didn’t need extra curves to be sexy, but maybe it was in her mind to get back to the way she was before the accident. “A spectacular ass.”
“Ha! Scars are not sexy.” She was lying on her stomach, her face turned toward me on her pillow. We were in Tessa’s bedroom, the room across the hall from the one with the hospital bed. This room was smaller, but I guess it wasn’t crowded with bad memories.
She’d stripped down to her panties—a very sexy barely-there scrap of pink silk.
“Got news for you…” I reached down, grabbed her hand and placed it against the fly of my jeans covering my rock hard cock.
Her head popped up in surprise. “Is that because of me?”
“All because of
you. And not the first time.”
“Well, sure, over at your place.”
“That wasn’t the first time either.”
Her eyes went big, blinking at me. It was like she didn’t know how fucking beautiful she was.
“Okay, tell me where it hurts.” I squeezed some of the cream on my hand, then rubbed my hands together to warm it up.
“Um…everywhere.”
I hated that she was in that much pain, and you can bet I was going to make sure I hit everywhere.
“Wait! That was a fib. Mostly I hurt on my right side. Right arm, shoulder, ribs, hip, leg. That’s were all the breaks and the pins are.” Her eyes flicked up to me before her long lashes hid them. “I just said everywhere so you’d, you know, touch me…everywhere.”
“Naughty girl.” I grinned. “Sounds like there may be a spanking involved now.”
“What!” She rose up on her elbows.
“Kidding. Relax. Here we go.” I started at her feet and ankles, moving up to her calves. I focused on her right side, but every inch of her body got some attention. I pressed my thumbs firmly into the muscles while massaging with my fingers as I worked my way up to her thighs.
I discerned two different moans. One when I hit one of her aching spots. I’d ease up a little but spend some extra time on it. The other moan was breathier when I hit a sweet spot. For those, I’d add my lips and tongue.
“Time to flip,” I said, my voice rough and edgy. I’d just finished massaging her lower back and ass, so yes, I was on the edge.
She rolled over, her eyes dark with desire.
“Beautiful.” I ran my gaze over her face, down to her breasts, her stomach and pink silk. “And I thought your back side was my favorite. So wrong.”
I ran my hands and fingers over her shoulders and down her arms, kneading her muscles before stroking lightly along to the next spot. I added another squirt of cream to my hands and moved on to her right thigh—the one she said was the source of her worst pain.
“Close your eyes,” I said, and she did with a sigh while I massaged into her thigh until I felt her give the pain over to me. I moved on to the other leg when she moaned, her eyes fluttered open, glittering up at me. “Did I hurt you?”
“No. No. I feel…really wonderful. I’m just”—her hips wiggled restlessly—“uh…I guess you could say needing attention other places. You know, other places.”
“Other places?” My eyes took in her flushed cheeks, her tightly pointed nipples, and the way her teeth nibbled at her bottom lip. I looked back into her eyes, hot with desire. “Ah, other places.”
She nodded. “I mean, if that’s something you want.”
“Oh, I want.” I lifted her pelvis, pressing her legs wider, and placed a kiss against her pink panties where she was damp. Using my tongue, I licked her clit through the silk. It only took a few swipes of my tongue before she shattered.
“Tessa? Are you good now? Or do you want more? We can stop right here.” Bringing her pleasure, watching her lose control, had me rock hard. I was damn close to going off too. Fuck, I was torturing myself, but even if she called the whole thing off right now, it would have been worth it. “You tell me what you want.”
“I want more,” she said, her voice soft, but sure. “I want you.”
Whew. Okay. I was more than ready. But… “That sounds excellent, but maybe we should talk about any limitations—I don’t want to hurt you…and you—”
“Gray, can we just go with the flow. I promise if anything hurts, I’ll let you know.”
“You have to mean it. The slightest twinge, you let me know so I can stop.”
She drew an “X” over her heart and her lips quirked up into a sexy smile.
That worked. I was already bare foot, so I tugged my shirt over my head and tossed it, unzipped my fly, grabbing the condom from my wallet, I ripped it open and rolled it on before pushing my jeans off with my boxer briefs.
Tessa lay watching me. Her eyes luminous and intent and focused on my cock. “Oh my. Now I understand your cocky attitude at my mention of making comparisons when your pants came off that first night we met.”
“Me? A cocky attitude? I have no recollection of that.” I pressed a knee on the bed, moving up and over Tessa, resting my weight on one elbow.
I moved my hand to her face, the pad of my thumb gliding whisper soft on the skin along her cheekbone, my eyes looking into hers, seeing her beauty, yes, but her strength too. Sliding my hand down, cupping her jaw with my hand, I tilted her head back, bent my head, and touched my lips to hers. She smiled, her green eyes bright with wanting me.
There was a rush of panic, a heart-stopping moment when it felt like she was seeing more than anyone else ever had. But then I looked in her eyes and something moved in my chest. And the unsettling realization that for the first time, I didn’t feel a need to protect the deepest parts of me. Or maybe I just wanted her more.
“Gray, I need you now. Inside me.”
I rolled away, dragging her panties down her legs, before moving back over her, carefully keeping my weight on my forearm next to her shoulder.
I ran the edge of my teeth down the line of her neck.
One hand wrapped around her rib cage, my thumb stroking the underside of her breast. Moving down to caress her hip, while I took my time kissing, tasting, and licking back and forth between her breasts, teasing her nipples into hard aching points. I slid my fingers down her quivering belly, slipping them between her thighs. She moaned, dark and needy while I ran a finger along her seam, feeling her arousal, ready for more of me. I looked down into her face, felt something catch deep within me. She nipped my bottom lip telling me she was ready. Fuck. I was more than ready too. I kissed her again.
Her legs wrapped around my hips. Her fingers gripped my shoulders, her head fell back, and her legs tightened around me as I slid into her heat. A soft moan tumbled from her throat. I pressed in slowly, eliciting a groan of pleasure from Tessa. I stilled a minute, letting her adjust before I began stroking her, long and slow.
I grabbed her hand with one of mine, interlocked our fingers, pulling her hand up over her head, holding it there as I rocked into her. Harder. Faster. Absorbing the feel of her—of us together.
“You good?” I checked.
“Never better,” she gasped and bit my chin.
My other hand slid up the back of her left thigh, pulling her leg tighter around me.
Her spine arched on a gasp. “Gray!” I tilted her face to mine and our gazes met and locked.
Her eyelids began to flutter down.
“Tessa…stay with me.”
She panted, but her eyes came back to me.
I pulsed hard into her. Again. And again. Our breaths spiraled up and out of control.
Tessa cried out, her body shuddering under mine. My own orgasm ripped through me just after, squeezing my balls and sending a current through my gut up into my chest, shaking me hard and deep.
I shoved my face against the curve of Tessa’s neck and breathed her in. Settling. Coming back down. Finally able to move, I dropped down on the bed next to her.
Hell, that was…like nothing I’d ever had before. The sex act by itself, when two people were seeking mutual pleasure, had always been physically satisfying. But nothing more. I’d given women my cock before—but kept myself disengaged. Closed off.
I’m not sure I could even put a name to it—a label on it—not sure I’d dare to. All I knew was for the first time ever, my heart felt satisfied too. Can a heart have an orgasm? Because I think mine did. Which I was keeping to myself, thank you, because I knew how whack that sounded. Maybe the best way to describe what just happened in this bed was that it felt like I cracked open my chest and gave Tessa free access.
So not entirely comfortable, since I’d never let a woman this close before. But weirdly not uncomfortable. A
ny other time…any other woman…I’d be long gone by now. I didn’t feel the need to get up and out of Tessa’s bed. I didn’t want to. And yes, that scared me just a little.
“Tessa?”
“Still here… Although I think I’m floating somewhere up near the ceiling.”
“I like hearing that.” I wanted to be able to give her orgasms that shot her over the moon. I was on my back, one arm wrapped around Tessa, my other hand resting on my chest. I rolled toward her, shifting us both until I had her tucked against me, her back to my front, our legs comfortably tangled, and one hand on her belly. “Do you mind talking about it?”
“No. That was the most amazing sexual experience I think I’ve ever had.” She sighed and it ended on a happy hum.
I felt a smile spread over my face. “Yeah, I’m going to have to agree with you there. But, I was talking about your accident. And your recovery.”
As if on cue, her body went stiff in my arms. Just the slightest bit. Just enough to let me know how hard this was for her still. Which, yeah, because three years was nothing. Three years was yesterday when it came to pain.
“It’s not easy, but I can talk about it. A little. But…I have a few questions about your brother. The one who’s missing.”
“Fair enough. I guess this sharing thing and opening up is a two-way street. So, about the accident…”
“I’m not sure how much more there is to tell. You already know the details: A truck driver fell asleep behind the wheel and crossed the center line.”
“Not those details. After the crash…what happened after.” I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms tighter around her. I couldn’t think about Tessa lying in the twisted metal wreckage.
“Some of the memories after the crash are sketchy. I was in a medically-induced coma for a week while the doctors tried to reduce the pressure in my brain. More surgeries than I want to or can remember. Eventually I moved from the regular hospital to a rehab hospital.”
“You were at Meadowbrook.” One of the nurses at the front desk had said Tessa was one of their success stories and one of their favorite patients. It was easy to see why with the way she and Sully had lit up the faces of other patients. Patients still immobilized in bed and those relearning to walk on the parallel bars or treadmills in the large exercise room.
