Christian snorted and pressed a finger to her lips to silence her. “If you're not comfortable with this, it's fine,” he said. “As I said earlier, I just want you to feel comfortable.”
Grace shrugged and stood. “Yeah, well, hiding away for the rest of my life isn't going to make me feel any safer,” she said boldly, tossing her head with a bit of fake bravado that Christian easily saw through.
He really admired the woman's courage and strength. “Well, if you're sure,” he said, shrugging. It was, after all, her decision: for all that Christian wanted to keep his mate safe, he also didn't want to stifle her, and if she wanted to do this, that was her decision.
“You said something about a dress for me?” Grace asked tentatively. Christian led her over to the closet where the dress was hanging in a plastic sheath.
Once she was in the dress, she was even more stunning than Christian had expected. For a moment, he couldn't even put together the words to tell her how amazing she looked. “Wow,” he breathed finally, walking around her so that he could see her from all angles. “You look absolutely… I've never seen anything like it.”
Grace plucked nervously at it. “Are you sure it's not too much? I just...”
Christian's look turned protective again. “If you're not comfortable in it-” he began but Grace was already shaking her head.
“No, it's just… I've never worn anything quite this fancy before. Ever.” She shook her head again, offering up a dazzling smile. “It's just going to take some getting used to, that's all. Truth be told, it'll kind of help me out at this party, I think, if I don't feel like myself!” She laughed nervously, and Christian pulled her close.
“You can still back out,” he reminded her. “Whenever you want to, for the entire evening, you can still back out. I'll make the excuses, say you're not feeling well or whatever. Don't worry if you want to leave early.”
But rather than leave early, Grace absolutely surprised the both of them. She'd never felt this comfortable amongst the socialites before, not when she'd been attending parties with Liam.
Of course, this party seemed to draw a more cultured crowd, but… Well, she was almost having a good time. The stories that were being told were entertaining, and she felt hardly any stress at all with Christian's hand down on the small of her back, leading her around the room from one group to another.
There were very few people there from the party at which Christian had bought Grace, something he noted with an internal sigh of relief. Although he'd suspected they wouldn't run into many of the same crowd, he'd been a bit worried about it all the same, for all that he'd reassured Grace that everything would be fine.
He quickly located Orlovsky and smiled at him. “Nice to see you again, Orlovsky,” he greeted. He tugged Grace forwards a little. “And I'd like you to meet Grace, my partner for the evening. Grace, this is Mr. Orlovsky, the man I told you about.”
Grace smiled prettily at the man, even though she moved a step closer to Christian while she did so. “Pleased to meet you,” she said. “I heard you and Christian are working on some sort of business deal?”
“That's correct,” Orlovsky said, his eyes roaming over Grace and seeming to like what they saw. He gave Christian an approving look that Grace wasn't too happy with, but she chose not to comment on it, instead remembering what Christian had said about not letting anything happen to her.
She held her head a little higher. “I've read over the documents you've submitted,” Orlovsky said to Christian, “but I'm afraid I'm not fully on-board with your terms regarding...”
Grace tuned them out, instead turning her attention to the rest of the members of the party. She wondered what brought them all together like this, if they could possibly have interests in common or if they were just here to network like Christian was. As the two men continued to talk about whatever business deal they were attempting to strike, Grace began to get bored and fidget.
Finally, she turned back to Christian and his business partner. “Oh, shop talk is so dull!” she exclaimed, startling both of them. “Why would you let it ruin such a fabulous party? You're totally ignoring all these beautiful people around you!” She hoped she hadn't overstepped or ruined the deal in anyway, but–
Christian's mouth twitched into a smile that he hid behind his glass of wine. Orlovsky was looking around the room as though suddenly realizing they weren't in his office. “Well—yes. Your woman has an excellent point,” he said to Christian. “Why don't I have my secretary fax the signed documents to you in the morning?”
Grace shook her head as the two men shook hands and said their goodbyes. As soon as she was out of sight, she turned to Christian. “That was ridiculous!” she said. “You could tell as soon as you met with the man that he was already on board with whatever documents you had already sent to him; he was just trying to push your boundaries.”
“True,” Christian agreed. “You said you were a secretary? I may need you to take over that position for me; you've got a good eye.” He shrugged. “Orlovsky's only test was really seeing if I'd show up here tonight. It's his party; my being here gives him bragging rights over most of the town since I don't usually come out for these sorts of galas. So yes, his mind was made up the moment he saw me walk in that door.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Men!” she muttered. She was smiling though. “Let's forget about work then, hmm? We've got all weekend together now, right?”
Christian chuckled. “That we do,” he agreed.
They didn't stay too long at the party, though; after only a couple hours, Christian led her back out to the limo where Pearson was waiting to take them home. Christian began loosening his tie almost as soon as they were out the door…but there were other parts of his attire that he really needed to loosen.
As soon as they were in the limo, he straddled Grace, enjoying the way her hands fell automatically to his hips to shift him closer. He kissed her heatedly even as the limo was just pulling away from the curb.
“You have no idea how badly I wanted you in there,” he said, voice rough with desire. “Seeing you like that, flirting with everyone and charming all? You were perfect, absolutely perfect.”
Grace grinned crookedly and pulled him in for another kiss, feeling exhilarated. “I can't believe I did so well either,” she confessed. “I kept expecting to feel scared, but with you there with me...” She trailed off, shrugging, as words escaped her. It was too difficult to focus on what she was saying when Christian was grinding needfully against her, his erection pushing at her clit through the layers of clothing.
She reached down between the two of them and easily opened the button on the man's slacks so she could slide her hand down inside his boxers and get a hand on his desperate dick. Christian groaned, dropping his head down on her shoulder. “You have no idea how good that feels,” he mumbled against the side of her neck, unable to keep himself from rocking his hips forward into her waiting grip. “Shit.”
“Were you thinking dirty thoughts about me in there?” Grace asked, voice playful.
Christian let out a wordless noise of affirmation and struggled to sit up. “Was thinking about how good you taste,” he answered, punctuating his words with a drawn-out kiss. “Was thinking about how much I like your breasts,” he continued, beginning to slowly unzip the back of her dress and helping her to remove the material so he could kiss her soft skin.
“Was thinking about how much I wanted your hands on me,” Grace confessed, looking shyly up at him.
Christian shook his head and began stripping them both, heedless of the fact that they'd reach their destination in only another minute or two. He couldn't wait that long, not with this beautiful vixen here in front of him, waiting for him to pleasure them both. “You're going to be the death of me,” he groaned.
Grace laughed musically and slid her dress off the rest of the way, stretching pornographically and relaxing back against the seat. “Oh?” she asked, all traces of shyness gone. “Well, that's a shame.”<
br />
“I don't even know who you are,” Christian mumbled, covering her body with his own once more, “but I like this.” He thrust shallowly up into her, relishing the way she scrambled to find purchase against the smooth, leather seats and then settled for clenching her fingers around his shoulder blades, urging him on.
“Harder,” she begged. “I need you to fuck me harder.” She moaned as he slowed down, teasing her. “Christian,” she groaned. “I was so good for you tonight, though. Don't tease me, please. I was so good. I want you to fuck me up, fuck me real good. Please.”
And there was no way he could ignore a plea like that, was there? Christian snapped his hips forwards, letting her heat envelope his full length only briefly before he pulled out and pushed back in again. After only a minute of this, his thrusts became choppy and erratic, and soon he was spilling his seed deep within her cavity, both of them coming at the same time.
They lay there in the back of the limousine for a long time, until Pearson tapped lightly on the window. Then, Christian groaned but shifted dutifully, knowing the driver was reminding him that if they slept back there, they'd wake up with kinks in their necks and backs. Still, he didn't want to disturb the sleeping angel next to him, so rather than wake her as well, he lifted her carefully into his arms and carried her gently into the house.
Chapter Six
The weekend passed in a bit of a blur. When they weren't having sex, they were recovering from having sex, and when they weren't doing either of those things, they were doing other things together like watching movies (which was invariably interrupted with more sex, and more recovery from sex). Grace didn't think she'd had as much fun on a weekend in her entire life. She certainly hadn't laughed so much in a while.
One thing that bothered her a little was the fact that they stayed in the house the whole weekend: she was starting to feel antsy and wanted to get out and see the surrounding world again. But Christian maintained that it was safer for her to stay inside and lay low for a little while, just in case. She'd been annoyed at first, until he added that also he'd be jealous of anyone else capturing her attention while they were outside—that was sweet.
On Sunday, though, she could tell something was up. Christian hadn't been there when she'd woken up from a post-coital nap, and when she'd gone looking for him, she'd found that he was tucked away in his office...with the door locked.
She stood outside for a moment wondering if she should knock, but she could hear him shouting in the phone at whoever was on the other end. Instead of knocking, she crept slowly back upstairs and feigned that she was just waking up when he returned a little while later.
There were other signs of weirdness as well. On Saturday night, she woke up alone around 3:30am. It wasn't strange to wake up by herself every so often, and it had happened numerous times over her stay there—but what was odd was that when she headed to the kitchen to get a drink of water, she was just in time to hear someone come in through the front door.
She froze on the stairwell, panicking a little at the thought that someone might be breaking in. What if it was Liam, come to take her back and sell her off to someone else who was less kind? Or what if it was someone else from the ring of criminals, like the man who was angry that Christian had outbid him at the last second? It could be anyone or anything...and they were coming her direction.
Grace swallowed hard when the light in the front hall flicked on, revealing her standing there in the middle of the stairwell, but also revealing Christian by the front door. He blinked up at her. “What are you doing up, sweetheart?” he asked, sounding and looking exhausted. “You didn't have to come looking for me.”
“I just was going to get a drink of water,” Grace said, her voice small to her own ears. The next thing she knew, she was sinking down onto the steps, tears pouring out of her eyes. The fear of being kidnapped again seemed to hit her at the most random times, but when it did hit, the feeling was pretty intense. She couldn't seem to quit crying.
Christian was up the steps in a couple seconds, gathering Grace into his arms. “Hey,” he murmured into her hair. “Hey, it's all right, I'm here now, I'm right here.” He hated the way the woman trembled against him and hated himself for not having been there for her when whatever it was had triggered this panic.
He'd needed to go for a run, though, needed to exercise his panther form; he'd been feeling restless for days now and was afraid he'd do something he might actually regret if he didn't for a run to let some of the tension out. Not that he thought he'd ever hurt Grace, but he didn't want to claim her as his mate before she was ready for it. Sex was one thing; mating was a lot more intense.
“Sorry,” Grace said, pulling away. She sniffled. “I just...wasn't sure who would be coming through that door. I thought maybe someone was breaking in, and you weren't here to protect me. I mean, you're a free person, but I...don't particularly like waking up alone at the moment.”
Grace ducked her head, embarrassed that she'd even just said that. Christian didn't owe her anything; he wasn't beholden to her. If he had other things he wanted to go do, he could go do them, even if it was the middle of the night.
Christian felt awful as he helped the young woman to her feet. He didn't know how to explain to her how much he wished he'd been there with her when she'd woken up, especially since waking up alone had clearly shaken her.
“I'd like to be there for you every time you wake up,” he sighed, inwardly scolding his panther. “I just had this...thought about work stuff. And I knew that if I waited until the morning to act on it, I'd forget it. So I went downstairs and filled out some forms and just went down the driveway to drop them in the mail.”
He didn't feel good lying to her, but on the other hand, the last thing he wanted right now was to tell her that he had shifted into a panther and gone for a run to ease some of the tension that came with being her destined mate but not formally mating with her just yet. At best, she just wouldn't believe him, and he lacked the energy at the moment to show her proof by shifting into his other form.
At worst, she'd be even more frightened—maybe even frightened enough that she would refuse to stay there any longer. And Christian wouldn't be able to blame her: he was a wild animal, and while his human side was always technically there, he didn't have the same level of control over himself when he was in his other form.
Of course, she was his mate and he'd never hurt her like that, but she didn't know that—and that was a whole 'nother can of worms.
He led her slowly down to the kitchen so that she could get her glass of water. She'd given his explanation a doubtful look, but she didn't comment on it, for which he was grateful.
In the kitchen, she leant back against the counter as Christian got her a glass of water. He was mysterious, she had to admit—but not mysterious in a way that she feared. She was more just curious about him and about what he'd been up to.
“Stop thinking so loud,” Christian said with a smile, handing her the glass and standing so that his hands were pressed against the counter on either side of her, hemming her in. She felt safe there, even though by all rights she probably shouldn't.
She swallowed down the water and then carefully set the glass off to the side without breaking eye contact with Christian. She smoothed her hands down his sides and pulled him forward so she was cupping his ample behind and he was stood there between her legs.
They stood there for a long moment assessing one another, and then Grace tilted her head to the side. “You know,” she said slowly, “I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to get back to sleep, with how wired I am—that panic and the surge of adrenaline really woke me up! Know any ways that you could wear me out a little?”
Christian smiled wickedly at her. “I get the feeling you might have some ideas,” he said.
Grace raised an eyebrow innocently. “Me? I'm not so sure...”
Christian slid a hand between her legs, pleasantly surprised to find how moist she already was. “Look at you,�
�� he said, “already ready for me to fill you, right here in the middle of the kitchen. You naughty girl.”
Grace moaned as he stroked lightly at her, doing her best to get a hand on him as well. They took turns playing with one another, letting their feelings build slowly, until Grace was biting her lip to keep from swearing and it was all Christian could do to keep up a steady rhythm and still remember to breathe. They were so incredibly compatible, Grace reflected, each of them seeming to know exactly how to get the other hot.
They came at nearly the same time. Grace started laughing softly; she felt so good just then. Christian smiled fondly at her. “Come on,” he sighed. “Let's go back to bed.”
Chapter Seven
Grace had expected that she'd go back to her home and her job eventually, but she found herself staying for longer and longer at Christian's mansion. Before she knew it, somehow she'd been there for nearly a month—and she still felt comfortable, the intimacy growing between the two of them.
She no longer felt like such a prisoner, although she didn't like to stray far from the house for strictly personal reasons (she still was afraid in the back of her mind that one of these days, Liam was going to show up and drug her again). In fact, it kind of seemed like things had worked out a little too well: sure, she'd had a horrible experience, but from that experience, she'd found herself living with the man of her dreams, and he showed no signs of getting sick of her.
Christian had, however, returned to work as usual at this point, which meant that there were some days when he was out in the office for the whole day (he could do most of his work from home, but sometimes he needed to oversee a particularly tricky deal or something like that). Still, Grace wasn't often left totally alone unless the servants had the day off or were out running errands.
It was the little things that kept Grace there, though. Christian was wonderful to her. Even on the days when he was off at work, he would always check up in the middle of the day to make sure she was all right, and usually he would bring home cookies or some other sweet treat from the bakery in the evenings.
Romance: Auctioned To The Panther: BBW Dragon Shifter Romance Standalone (Wild Shifters Book 2) Page 4
