Love Restored

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Graham carried her to the couch and set her down on her feet so her heels were pressed to the back of the fabric and her butt rested right on top. When he tugged on her shirt, she lifted her arms, allowing him to slowly strip it from her body, their gazes never leaving each other. The coolness of the room sent shivers along her skin, goose bumps emerging.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said softly, his voice gruff.

  With his eyes still on her, she reached around and undid the clasp of her bra. It fell into her hands in front of her, baring herself fully to him. He reached out and tugged on one nipple almost casually, though his gaze was still on her eyes.

  “I love your nipples. I can see them when you get excited or cold through your shirt. No matter how thick your bra is, I always know when your nipples are hard.” He lowered his head and took one into his mouth, flicking his tongue back and forth over the turgid peak.

  “Jesus,” she groaned, her head falling back. He rolled her other nipple between his fingertips before switching sides and biting down. Her knees shook as he pulled away and pressed her breasts together with his hands, massaging and squeezing.

  “I love fucking these,” he growled before licking each nipple and pulling away again. “They’re too big for my hands, but for my cock? Just the right size. And hell, I love watching you overfill my hands with these gorgeous tits of yours.”

  “Are you going to wax poetic about my boobs for the rest of the night, or are you going to make me come?”

  He grinned at her before holding one breast and slapping at her nipple. She let out a shocked gasp that ended on a moan as the sharp sensation shot from her nipple to her clit.

  “Holy hell,” she gasped.

  “Get mouthy with me again, babe. We’ll see how long you last before you’re coming on my hand, my face, my dick.” He moved quickly, his hand going up her skirt and around her panties as he speared her with two fingers. She screamed his name, her body shaking—though still only close to the edge, not falling over it. “You’re fucking drenched for me, Blake. Think you can come like this? With just my hands and your skirt still on? If you come right now, I’ll eat you out and lick up every sweet drop of your cream. What do you say?”

  In answer, she rocked her hips, gripping his forearm to keep her balance. The fact that his veins popped out on his very muscled forearm as the rest of his hand was hidden by her skirt just made her hotter. She rolled her hips, fucking herself on his hand as she inched closer and closer to the edge.

  When he pressed his thumb to her clit, she came, her knees shaking and her body breaking out in a sweat. Graham lowered his head to her neck and sucked, keeping her orgasm going as long as possible, longer than she’d thought possible.

  He slid his hand out from under her skirt and licked his fingers clean before groaning. “Fuck, I missed your taste. On your back. Spread your legs. Now.”

  Because she wanted to come again, she did as he ordered. Next time, she’d order him on his knees to eat her out, but for now, she just wanted his head between her thighs, his beard scraping her skin, and his tongue on her cunt.

  She spread her legs, and Graham quickly stripped off his shirt before kneeling down in front of her and burying his face between her knees. Her body bowed as he licked her, sucked, and bit. When his hands joined in, she shook, coming hard enough that she was sure she’d almost strangled him as she clamped around his head. He pressed down on her inner thighs with his hands, spreading her even more as he licked along one side of her cunt, then the other.

  She tried to pull away, her body shaking, needing him, but he kept going. When the softness of his beard scraped her clit, she came. Again.

  She’d freaking come from his beard.

  “In me,” she panted. “Now.”

  He was naked with a condom on in the next blink. Where he’d found the damn thing, she didn’t know, but right then, all that mattered was that she was about to be fucked.

  “You’re so fucking gorgeous when you come,” he growled as he slid his cock between her folds, teasing.

  She reached between them and squeezed the base of his dick. “Less talking. More fucking.”

  He thrust into her to the hilt, and they both shouted. When he leaned over her, gripped the back of her neck, and forced her gaze to his, she fell for him all over again.

  “Just you and me, Blake. No one else. Nothing else except this, except what we have. You understand? It’s just you and me.”

  She nodded, though she didn’t understand at all. And when he started to move, she fell into rhythm with him, her body and his becoming one, her soul breaking because she knew he might never be hers in truth.

  But when he slowed, their eyes locked, her heart thudding and her mind whirling. They came together. This wasn’t just fucking, it was making love. She didn’t know what it meant, what it would mean in the future. When they fell into a pile of limbs on the couch, he tucked her close, and she closed her eyes, afraid he’d see too much.

  He ran his hands down her body, and she burrowed into him, hiding her face.

  She was in love with Graham Gallagher, and the idea that she’d have to let him walk away when the time came hurt more than she’d thought possible, more than she could bare. She shouldn’t have risked herself, but she’d never been good at making the right decisions.

  So Blake would do what she did best: protect her daughter and try to do the same for her heart.

  Again.

  14

  Graham checked the time on his phone for the eighth time in the past thirty minutes and called himself all kinds of fool. Blake and Rowan would be at the site any moment to pick up Graham for lunch. The fact that Blake would take her daughter anywhere near the place she’d grown up in spoke volumes. But, apparently, she wanted to ensure that Rowan knew as much as she could about where she’d come from.

  In light of the custody papers being filed, Graham agreed. Though nothing had come from the other family’s claims as of yet, Graham knew it was only a matter of time until the other shoe dropped and things began rolling quickly. Things like this took time to come to fruition, and while they waited and let the lawyers handle things, Blake was doing her best to keep Rowan as comfortable and happy as possible.

  And since Graham wanted Blake in his life, he was doing the same and getting to know her daughter, as well. It surprised the hell out of him that he was even going to spend time with Rowan when his thoughts and emotions were going in a thousand different directions, but he couldn’t change things now. He’d told Blake he cared for her, and that meant he had to get over the past.

  Easier said than done, especially when he wasn’t sure what he wanted in the first place.

  However, no matter what happened, he couldn’t let Rowan get hurt because of him. He didn’t know what he’d do if anything like this had happened to Cynthia, so he’d do his best to keep this other little girl safe.

  “Hey, when do you knock off for the day?” Owen asked as he walked into the room Graham worked on, tablet in hand. “Do you have time to look at a few invoices with me?”

  Graham pinched the bridge of his nose. “I never have time to look at invoices with you. Isn’t that why we have you?”

  Owen flipped him off, and the crew chuckled, including the new guy they’d hired to replace Gary. Thankfully, their former subcontractor would be back in the fold in a few weeks, but until then, they needed another set of hands, and this new guy, Sean, seemed to know what he was doing. Graham hated the fact that anyone had been hurt to begin with, and because of the accident itself, they had a whole lot more paperwork to deal with.

  Most of that had fallen onto Owen’s lap, and as much as Graham teased his brother about it, he knew he had to help with his share. He’d been in charge of the site that day, and he took his responsibilities seriously.

  “Shut it. When do your woman and her kid get here?” Owen asked, and Graham rolled his eyes.

  “In a bit. What’s up? What do you need?” Graham asked. />
  “An assistant and a beer, but right now, I just need your signature on a few things.” Owen flipped through the papers until he landed on the right one. “We have our custom historical floor guy coming in next week, but I still don’t think it’ll be what we need.”

  Graham ran his hand through his beard. “We’ve already had this argument. If you don’t like him, why did we hire him?”

  “Because he’s worked with us before and won the bid, but I don’t know.”

  “Owen.” Graham didn’t have time for this shit today, not with Rowan and Blake showing up at any minute.

  “I think this job is going to be too big for him. We took a chance on him because he’s worked with us in the past, but he’s also on the other bids with Murphy’s site, and he fucked up there. Remember.”

  Graham let out a little growl. “Yeah, he brought the wrong planks, said the other shit was on the wrong truck or some crap.” He ran a hand over his face and went through options. “Okay, he shows up next week to finalize the bid and show us what he has. If there’s something off, then he’s out. We don’t need to work with him if it’s going to fuck things up. It’s not in the contract that we have to keep up with this if he’s not meeting his end of the deal. We gave him a pass on Murphy’s site, but we can’t on this one.”

  Owen scribbled things down and worked on his tablet at the same time. “I still don’t like the sound of that, not when we don’t have a backup.”

  Graham snapped his fingers as he thought of something. “There’s the other guy, Samuel something. He was eager to work with us. He’s a small company but organized. You like organized. If our normal guy flakes like it’s looking he might, then we get the new guy.”

  “That’s going to fuck up our projections,” Owen complained.

  “Yeah, well, they’re looking fucked up as it is, and you’re the one that brought it up. If our current guy makes nice, then we’re good. If not, we need a backup. I’m not going to go over-budget or screw up our timeline because of one guy who can’t get his act together. Plus, the historical society is riding my ass over something that I need Murphy for. So if our brother can’t get back here to this site and finish up the other, then we have an issue. And frankly, the only reason Murphy isn’t here now is because of the floor guy. So we’ll fix this.”

  Owen went through the numbers with him while they walked back to the office trailer on-site, and Graham nodded along. It used to be easier when they weren’t the bosses and could just work with their hands. But now, everything relied on their decisions, and it was hard as hell to make sure they didn’t constantly fuck up.

  But Graham would do what he did best while his brothers did their best, as well. In the end, they’d make this place shine.

  They just had to get dirty along the way to get it done.

  When they reached the door to the trailer, he saw Blake’s car pull up and he patted Owen on the shoulder. “Meet you inside?” he asked.

  Owen followed Graham’s gaze and smiled. “Take your time. It’s good to see you guys together.”

  He heard something in Owen’s voice that worried him. “We’re taking it slow. Just feeling each other out.”

  “You’re spending time with her kid, she’s coming to visit you at work, and she’s coming to a place that has deep and personal memories for her. Because of you. I think you’re beyond serious, Graham.”

  Graham ignored Owen and the way his brother’s words made more sense than he’d like them to and jogged toward Blake. Before he could reach out and hug her hello, Rowan ran up to him and threw her arms around his waist.

  He took a step back at the impact but wrapped his arms around her small shoulders. The lump that usually made its way into his throat didn’t come this time. When he saw her, he no longer thought of the daughter he’d lost who wouldn’t grow up; instead, he saw a little girl who brightened his day and deserved far more than a custody dispute and any feelings of being unwanted.

  He’d call that progress if he could figure out the path he was on.

  “We’re here!” Rowan said as she bounced around him, though he kept his hand on her shoulder so she wouldn’t fall. “Mom said we’re going to the salad place for lunch.” She crossed her eyes. “I hate lettuce, but I like putting things on lettuce. And then after you eat your salad, you can have soup and mac and cheese and chili and rolls and cornbread and pizza and cookies and sweets and then ice cream. All because you ate a salad!”

  He couldn’t help but laugh as she kept going on and on about the things she’d have at the salad place. He wasn’t a fan of lettuce either, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell Rowan that. If this were one way to get the kid to eat her vegetables, he’d take Blake’s side on this. Plus, he knew from experience, the more you filled yourself up with salad, the less likely you’d be to eat too many sweets and carbs afterward.

  “Are you hungry, then?” he asked as she twirled around on one foot, pretended she was a ballerina.

  “Starving,” Rowan said as she put the back of her hand to her forehead and pretended to swoon. “But Mom said you’re going to show us the place she grew up in first.” Rowan quieted down and toed one foot along the sidewalk. “Is that okay?” She leaned forward and beckoned to him, so he bent so she could whisper in his ear. “Will it make Mom sad if we look?”

  And with that, he fell for Blake’s little girl just as hard as he’d fallen for Blake. That Rowan would want to take care of her mother’s feelings above all else spoke of how Blake had raised her.

  Graham kissed her little cheek and gave her a fist bump. “We’ll take care of your mom,” he whispered back, not quite answering the question. He wasn’t sure how Blake would feel, but if she was here at all, then she was set on showing Rowan around. Graham would help them then because they couldn’t be alone. Not now. Not ever.

  Blake cleared her throat. “Hi, by the way.”

  He straightened and slid his hand on the back of her head before bringing her closer. “Hi.” He kissed her softly then, aware that it was the first time he’d fully kissed Blake in front of Rowan. “Welcome back to the site.”

  Blake’s eyes widened, and she gave a cautious look in Rowan’s direction. Graham looked as well, and only saw stars in Rowan’s eyes. Blake’s whole body stiffened, but Graham did his best to soothe her. He might have made a mistake kissing Blake in public, but he wouldn’t take it back now.

  He’d fallen in love with Blake Brennen. Her daughter, as well. Now he just had to figure out what to do about it.

  Graham took one of her hands and held out his other toward Rowan. “Ready for the tour?”

  Rowan slid her small hand into his and nodded, a bright smile on her face. “Yep! Do I need a hat like those guys?” She pointed to his crew, who were working hard and doing their best to try and look like they hadn’t just been staring their way.

  Graham shook his head. “We aren’t going inside, actually. I’m going to give you the tour from the outside in the safe zones. When we get closer to being finished, I’ll take you and your mom inside.”

  Rowan looked so disappointed, he had to hold back a laugh. “But I’m sure I can find a hard hat that fits you if that’s what you really want.”

  The little girl raised her fist to the air and cheered while Blake groaned.

  “What?” he asked.

  “She’s going to want to wear that around the house now,” Blake said dryly. “She’s already been using my measuring tape from the toolbox to measure things for you to build or fix. If she picks up a hammer, I’m afraid my little girl is lost to the construction bug, and I’ll have to be worried for my drywall.”

  Graham chuckled but led them to the trailer anyway. “If she’s going to want to play, I might as well teach her a bit how to be safe about it.”

  “I know a little home maintenance, but not enough to feed her curiosity I don’t think.”

  Graham nodded. “Then I’ll help.”

  Rowan walked into the trailer first to meet with
Owen, who gave her a high five and knelt down to talk hard hats and tablets. That gave Graham enough time to kiss Blake a little harder and smile.

  “Hi again.” He brushed her hair back from her face.

  “Hi,” Blake breathed. “And stop that.”

  “Not going to,” he promised.

  “We’re going to need to talk about this,” she warned.

  “Good.” Because they needed to for sure. Something was changing between them, and though he’d told Owen it wasn’t serious, that had been one hell of a lie.

  Graham looked up as his brother walked toward them, his phone in hand. “I need to answer this. Have fun today.” With that, Owen left, and Rowan started to wander around the small trailer that hosted their office on-site. It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.

  “I’m going to go get you both a hard hat,” he said with a smile.

  “I don’t need one, do I?” Blake asked as her phone rang. “I thought we weren’t going anyplace she could get hurt.”

  Graham shrugged. “If she wants one, there’s no harm in her wearing one. As for you, if she’s wearing one, you’ll look cute in it. Now, answer the phone, and I’ll be right back.”

  Blake’s eyes narrowed then widened as she looked at her read out. “It’s my lawyer.” She answered. “Hello? Yes, can you wait one minute for me to get outside so we can talk? Thanks.” She hit mute on her phone. “Go get the hats or whatever and I’ll be right outside the door. Is she safe in here alone” She bit her lip, and Graham wanted to kiss her worries away.

  “She’ll be fine,” he promised. “Right, Rowan?”

  Rowan was currently playing with four pieces of wood samples, making building blocks for herself. “Yep! I won’t leave. Or look at anything I shouldn’t. Promise.”

  Blake nodded, her phone in her hand, and they walked outside the trailer to stand on the tiny walkway that led to the ground below.