by Jill Shalvis
He’d pulled on a pair of sweatpants, barely. They were so low on his hips as to be indecent, giving her a good look at his broad back that led down to a very sexy pair of twin dimples, and a hint of a tattoo.
Grace grinned wide, unable to help herself as she ran her fingers over the sweats, nudging them down enough to expose…a lightning bolt. She laughed softly, and he muttered a very bad word.
“Why are you still here?”
“You have a concussion,” she reminded him. “I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Mild concussion. Jesus. Stop hovering.”
“Okay, I’d like to talk to Dr. Scott, not Asshole Josh.”
He snorted, then let out a long-suffering breath. It hadn’t escaped her that he hadn’t moved. And he was looking extremely tense, his muscles rock hard with strain, which was confirmed when she stroked her hand along his back and felt the stress there.
Aw, the poor baby. Leaning over him, using two hands, she began to work the tension from his shoulders and back. She thought about massaging his ass as well, but she didn’t want to take advantage of the man when he was down. “Tell me what I can do for you,” she said softly as she worked.
He let out a muffled groan into his pillow. “That. Don’t stop. Ever.”
“I won’t.” Especially since touching him was pure pleasure. His skin was warm, smooth, and smelled so good she wanted to eat him up with a spoon. “What else do you need? Anything.”
He groaned again. “I’m going to hope that promise doesn’t have an expiration date.”
She went still, then laughed softly. “You can think of sex now?”
“I can think of sex always. It’s a special, God-given talent. Wake me up later.”
“But—”
“Much later.”
Hmm. “Tell me what to look for, Josh.”
She couldn’t see his eyes since they were closed, but she sensed them rolling around in his head in annoyance. “Brain damage,” he said. “Bleeding, swelling, loss of muscle control. Death.”
She gasped. “What?”
“But if I’m still in pain, death is fine,” he said. “Just leave me dead. DNR.”
Do not resuscitate. Doctor humor. “That’s not funny, Josh.”
“Look, it’s not a big thing, okay? As long as my elevator goes to the top floor, let me be.”
“But how will I know?”
“Grace.” His voice held annoyance, frustration, and—his saving grace—affection. “You’ll know.”
“Okay, but you need to get better soon,” she said, just as annoyed, frustrated, and affectionate. “So I can smack you.”
Chapter 22
Life without chocolate is like a beach without water.
Josh?”
He had no idea how much later it was when he heard her whisper his name. He thought how odd it was that only the day before the sound of his name on her lips would have made him hard. Now he wanted to strangle her. “No,” he said.
“I haven’t asked you anything yet.”
He pried open one eye, noted the clock on his nightstand said midnight, and closed it again. Maybe she’d think he’d died.
“Josh.”
He sighed and rolled to his back. She wasn’t going to give up. Ever. He knew that now. “I’m still breathing.”
She sank to the bed at his hip and put her hand on his bare chest. Her fingers stroked him lightly, from one pec to another, her pinkie dragging over his left nipple.
His annoyance abruptly faded, and the age-old question of whether or not an injured man could get aroused was answered.
Yes, he could.
“Are you nauseous?” she asked.
“No. And I know my name, and I’m not hot or cold. I’m just right.”
“Can you follow my finger?”
“Grace, I have a finger for you.”
She sighed. “Fine. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Eight,” he said. “Eight hours.”
“Uh-huh…”
He knew she was totally humoring him, but her hand was still gliding over him, and her touch felt so good that he didn’t give a shit. In fact, he fell asleep just like that, sprawled out like a dog begging for his parts to be stroked…
And woke up a few hours later, overheated. It was a fever, he thought dazedly. He’d joked about dying, he’d mocked death, and now he really was going to kick the bucket.
Then his blanket moved. And moaned softly.
Not a blanket. It was Grace.
It was two in the morning, dark except for the bathroom light, which slanted over his bed.
Grace was still in her cute, gauzy little sundress. No shoes. He was under the covers, and she was on them, so she must have fallen asleep during one of her million checks. He was flat on his back, and she was curled up into his side, her head on his shoulder, hair in his face, breathing steadily, deeply, doing that almost-but-not-quite snoring thing, which made him smile.
The smile made his head hurt and reminded him why she was here in the first place. But he hurt a lot less than he had several hours ago. So much so that he rolled, tucking her beneath him.
She came instantly awake with a confused, befuddled, “What?”
He stroked the hair from her face. She’d stayed with him. She’d worried about him. She’d not left his side. He tried to remember the last time someone had been there for him instead of the other way around—and couldn’t. “You nauseous?” he asked.
She blinked. “Uh…”
“What’s your name?”
She blinked again and narrowed her eyes. “You’re making fun of me. I’ve been worried, you know, and—”
“Are you feverish?” He pressed his lips to her temple. “Nope.” He stroked a hand down her throat to her chest, spreading his fingers wide as she’d done to him, stroking sideways. He loved her breasts. They were full and soft.
Except the nipples.
Her nipples were always hard for him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Seeing if you’re getting a chill.”
“By copping a feel?”
“Are you cold, Grace?”
“No.”
He smiled and lowered his head, lightly clamping his teeth on her nipple over her thin sundress.
She gasped.
“If you’re not cold,” he said, “then you’re turned on.”
“There are other options!”
“Name one.” He switched to her other nipple, and she moaned, arching up into his mouth, her fingers gliding into his hair and over his injury.
Which made him hiss in pain.
“Oh God, I’m sorry.”
Keeping a hold of her, he rolled to his back so that she straddled him. Then he urged the spaghetti straps to her elbows and tugged her dress to her waist. “Always.”
She frowned. “Always what?”
“You always make me feel better,” he said, cupping a breast.
She made a sound of pure arousal even as she shook her head. “Josh—”
He tugged her bra cups down and pulled her over him so he could suck her into his mouth.
“Oh. Oh, that feels so good,” she said shakily. “But you’re not up for this.”
Gripping her hips, he ground against her, showing her exactly how “up” he was.
“Josh, seriously. You need to be still, not—”
“I’m going to be very still.” He reached out and blindly opened his nightstand drawer, producing a condom.
He knew he had her when she took it. She tugged the sheet from between them, then untied his sweats and pushed them off before rolling the condom down his length. He ran his hands along her sweet thighs, pushing her dress as high as he could. She rose up and took him inside her.
She gasped, then covered her mouth with her hands. Watching her fight to keep in her moans of pleasure drove him right to the very edge. Gripping her tight, he thrust up inside her wet heat, hard, and oh, Christ. Christ, she felt amazing.
&n
bsp; Warm hands covered his on her hips. She pulled them from her and lifted them to the headboard above his head, tightening her fingers on his. “Still,” she whispered. “You have to stay very still.”
He opened his eyes to find her face only inches from his. Deep blue orbs stared down at him, and his breath lodged in his throat.
Apparently satisfied that he was going to relinquish control, she let go of his hands and skimmed hers down his shoulders and chest to his stomach and back up again. And then she began to move on him.
Slow.
Achingly slow.
Grace’s hips rocked, and her head fell back as she took her pleasure from his body. Every time he so much as rocked his hips, she stopped. This was her ride, and she had places to go. And it was a hell of a ride. She nipped gently at his lips, nothing guarded or shielded in her gaze, nothing held back. He could see anything and everything in those eyes, and he didn’t understand how it could be, but this between them just kept getting better.
She was going easy, clearly not wanting to hurt him, but he needed more. He rocked up, changing the angle, creating a deeper penetration. Inhaling sharply, she bowed over him, entwining her fingers with his as she kissed him, her muscles quivering as the pressure built. Lost in the sight of her, he whispered her name, and then again.
It sent her skittering over the edge, her entire body shuddering in gorgeous relief above him, and he groaned as the wave took him under right along with her.
It was the most erotic experience of his life.
“I should go,” she whispered against his jaw.
“A minute.” He pulled her into him and stroked a hand down her damp back. “In a minute.”
Grace opened her eyes and nearly leaped right out her skin.
Toby was nose to nose with her.
And so was Tank.
Toby was on a stool leaning over the bed. Tank was actually on the bed.
On her.
At least until she sat up and dislodged him. With a reproachful look, the pug rolled aside like a boneless glob. Grace looked at Josh, who was flat on his stomach, sprawled out, and thankfully covered by the blanket.
Equally thankfully, she was fully dressed—and not covered by the blanket. Huh. The doctor was a bed hog.
Toby smiled at her. “Whatcha doing in my daddy’s bed?”
Yeah, Grace, whatcha doing in his daddy’s bed? She tried not to eyeball Josh’s sweatpants on the floor behind Toby as she reached for the book on the nightstand. The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners. “Reading him a bedtime story,” she improvised. Which was better than explaining the middle-of-the-night bootie call.
“It’s not bedtime,” Toby said.
And to think she’d been excited when he’d started using his words. “Well—”
“Hey, Squirt,” Josh said, opening his eyes. “Cereal for breakfast?”
“Yeah!”
“How about you go pour it.”
“By myself?” Toby asked.
“Yep.”
“Oh boy!”
Toby leaped off the stool and ran for the door.
When he was gone, Grace covered her face. “Oh my God.”
“He didn’t see anything.”
She rolled to her feet. “I was in your bed! We could have scarred him for life!”
“Grace, we weren’t doing anything. Well, I wasn’t. You were snoring.”
“I don’t—” She smoothed her dress down and searched out her sandals, shoving her feet into them. She glanced at herself in the mirror over his dresser and groaned. Hair, wild. Lips, swollen. Face, flushed.
Nipples, hard.
“Dammit!” She clapped her hands over them. “It’s like they’re broken!”
Josh let out a low laugh. “They just like me more than your other parts.”
She didn’t know about that. Her other parts liked him, too, a lot.
He got up much more slowly than she. Naked, of course. The man didn’t have a single ounce of self-consciousness in his entire body. Not that he needed to. “What are you doing?” she hissed. “Put some clothes on!”
“Christ, woman.” He appeared to be holding his head onto his shoulders. “Shhh.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Your head didn’t seem to hurt so badly a little while ago.”
“The brain is motivated to avoid pain by seeking pleasure.”
“The brain, huh? Because I’m pretty sure the body part that was seeking pleasure sits quite a bit lower than your brain.”
He let out a low laugh, but it was weak. Softening, Grace slid her arms around him, trying to guide him back to the bed. Not a hardship, since he was warm and sleek and hard.
Everywhere.
The hardest part of him was poking her in the belly. Seemed her nipples weren’t the only things broken.
Looking both amused and pained at the both of them, he extracted himself from her grip and strode butt-ass naked to the sweats on the floor, which he pulled on. “What’s up for you today?” he asked.
“The usual variety of jobs. Tomorrow I have another interview.”
He froze for a beat. “Seattle?”
“Yeah,” she said, more than a little distracted by the way the sweats sat so low on his hips. “You have a few more nanny applicants.” It was her turn to pause. “One of them is Sarah Tombs, Mindy’s sister, from the florist shop. She’s going to an online college and is looking for a way to work part-time. I could check her out if you’d like.”
“That’d be great.”
She nodded. “The other is Riley.”
“Amy’s Riley?”
“Yes. She’s taking college classes in the mornings,” she said. “She needs a job for the afternoons or evenings. She loves kids, she loves Toby, and more importantly, he loves her.”
Josh said nothing to this as he pulled on a T-shirt, his muscles bunching and unbunching in a way that made her lose her train of thought again. When he finally spoke, it was a complete subject change. “I heard you picked up a few more clients.”
“Yeah, it’s getting totally out of hand. Mindy brought me her paperwork. In grocery store bags.” She shook her head. “What is wrong with people?”
He smiled. “Lots.”
The smile made her want to hug him, and maybe love him up some more. Stupid smile. She backed to the door. “I’ll be back in time to get Toby.”
“We’ll be okay today. Do what you have to do.”
“You’re not going to work?” This had her heart stopping short. “You’re not better.”
“I’m fine. Just not fine enough to treat people.”
She looked him over carefully. He had shadows beneath his eyes. His brow was furrowed. His mouth was tight. He was holding it together—the guy clearly knew no other way—but he was feeling like shit. She shook her head. “I’m going to cancel the floral deliveries—”
“No. Don’t.”
“You’re—”
“Fine,” he said finally. “I’ll pick up Toby from school and take him to the pier. We’ll play arcade games and eat crap.”
Aw. She pictured it, Toby running around in hog heaven, and Josh trying to find something to eat that wasn’t a hot dog. “You’re a good dad, Josh.”
He didn’t have any obvious reaction, but she knew him now and felt his surprise. Had no one ever told him such a thing? The thought made her heart melt. And it wasn’t the fleeting kind of melt either. It was the kind that made her want to burrow into him and make him feel good some more. In lots of ways…
Which in turn reminded her that she was this close to a job—finally—and he was this close to getting a nanny, and then this time with him would be over.
And when it was, there’d be no reason to see him. At least no reason that didn’t involve doing what they’d both said they didn’t want to do—have a relationship.
Chapter 23
The best drug is chocolate.
The next day, Grace had her Seattle interview and got on the road heading back to Lucky Harbor. He
r passenger was a big, shiny, fancy file folder with a formal offer and all the big, shiny, fancy benefits that went with it.
It was a really good offer. It didn’t involve shoe boxes filled with receipts, modeling various body parts, or doggie poo. It didn’t involve grumpy paraplegics or terrifyingly adorable Jedi warriors. This job would be all checks and balances, spreadsheets, and detailed analysis programs for a midsized bank with growth potential.
No messy emotions.
Now it was just a matter of deciding if she wanted it. This thought was so disconcerting that she had to pull over and stare at herself in the rearview mirror.
Of course she wanted the job. It was a good salary and had full benefits. It was what she’d been aiming for, and it would make her family proud.
But it also meant walking away from all the things and people who’d come to mean so much to her.
The break’s over, she told herself firmly. Fun was fun but it was time to follow through on her life plans. Past time.
She headed to the pier. She’d called Sarah for a preliminary nanny interview. They were meeting in twenty minutes at the diner. She was halfway through town when she saw Anna on the sidewalk, wheeling furiously along, steam practically coming out of her ears. Grace pulled over and got out of the car. She could tell Anna had been crying, but since she didn’t have a death wish, she didn’t mention it. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?”
“Well, it looks like you’re on a mission to kill someone,” Grace said. “And since you won’t look good in an orange jumpsuit, I thought we could discuss.”
“I’d totally rock an orange jumpsuit.”
“No one rocks orange. Talk to me.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “You even sound like him now.”
Grace sighed. There was no hurrying a Scott, ever. “You getting in the car or what?”
Anna took a moment to swipe the mascara from beneath her eyes. “Yeah. Sure.” Once she got into the front seat, she looked at the folder Grace had set on the dash. “What’s that?” she asked, opening the file without waiting for an answer.
