by Ciana Stone
“Well, I’m sure Cody will be happy to let her kids spend more time at your place.”
Billy laughed. “God love em, them kids can plumb wear a man out.”
“I don’t doubt that. Well, we’re holding up the line so we better get out of the way. Come have a beer with us when you take a break here?”
“I’ll do that.”
“See you in a bit.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and waited for Grady to shake his hand before entering.
The moment they walked inside, she became aware of several things. First, that mouthwatering smell of barbecue; then, the noise. Voices raised in conversation and laughter mixed with the music from the jukebox beside the stage.
Next was the surprising number of heads that turned to look at her and Grady. More than one female face wore an expression Charli interpreted as either jealousy or resentment. She could appreciate that. If the situation were reversed, she’d probably take a look at whoever was with Grady and think lucky bitch.
Then there was Grady and the way his eyes seemed to take in everything. She’d seen men who did that same thing because it was ingrained in their behavior from years of training and experiences. It was curious to see it happening here in the bar with Grady, but she put the thought aside for later.
Finally, it wasn’t lost on her that she was being checked out by men they passed as they made their way through the bar in search of an empty table. Grady spotted a booth at the far side and pointed.
Charli nodded and they headed for the booth. By the time they were seated, Cody was standing beside them. “Hey. Y’all want beer?”
“Sure.” Grady answered and looked at Charli. “You?”
She shook her head. “Not a fan. Iced tea, please.”
“You got it. Wanna go ahead and order?”
“Sure,” Charli replied. “My usual.”
“And you?” Cody looked at Grady
“Barbecue—no bread, coleslaw, and sweet potato.”
“Her usual. Okey dokey. Be right back with your drinks.”
Charli looked around at the people and then back at Grady. “Have you met Cody’s husband, Jaxon?”
“No, but I hear he’s a good guy.”
“He is. You know they have two kids.”
“Yeah, one’s theirs and one isn’t?”
“The little boy is theirs. They adopted a little girl. They’re both beautiful kids, but I don’t know how Cody manages to keep up with them and run this place with Hannah.”
“She’s been pretty much a bundle of energy herself since she was a kid.”
“And still is.”
Just then Cody returned with their drinks. The conversation was light through dinner, sparked only by a couple of shared looks that had Charli wishing it was time to head home and hopefully into bed.
When the music started up and people started filing onto the dance floor, Grady stood and offered his hand. “Dance with me, Charli.”
“With pleasure.” She put her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet and onto the dance floor.
Charli had been flirted with, charmed, seduced, and wooed in her life, but never had it all happened at once. That’s what it felt like to dance with Grady. He teased with his touch and his body, tantalized with a brush of his lips on her ear lobe or a slide of his hand across her butt. He seduced as he pressed tight to her and looked directly into her eyes, promising with a twist or tilt of his pelvis against her.
And he wooed as he sang a line from the love song into her ear and followed it by a kiss on her cheek, a slow soft kiss that left a tingle long after his lips moved away.
By the time the band’s first set was done, Charli was damp with more than perspiration and her libido was redlining and screaming for her to do something about it.
“Something to drink?” Grady asked as he led her toward the table.
“Water and fresh air would be nice.”
“Then come with me.” He took her hand and led her to the bar where he paid for their meal along with two bottles of water and then headed outside.
“Well, it’s not much better out here,” he commented as they stepped outside. It was a typical summer night. Hot and still with not a breath of a breeze.
“There seems to always be a breeze at the lake.” Charli said as she unscrewed the cap from the bottle he’d handed her. “Sometimes more than others, but pretty much there’s always a little.”
“Bet the water is getting pretty warm by now.” Grady said and tilted his bottle up for a long drink.
“You’d think so, but Liz said that Cooper had the lake dredged out when he first bought the place. He expanded the lake and added another fifteen feet to the depth so there are places now that are as deep as thirty feet. Thanks to the flash floods of last winter, the lake filled up and hasn’t cooled off as much.”
“Which means it’s pretty much the perfect night for a swim, wouldn’t you say?”
“I would.”
“Then how about we head back to your place and do just that?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Grady took her hand and together they walked to his truck, got in, and headed for her place. They were both quiet for the first few minutes, then he opened the conversation.
“So, you’re pretty much a local now, having been here for six months, eh?” he asked.
“Yep.” She looked out of the window at the moonlight on the passing scenery as she answered. She was curious as to how much he would ask about her past.
“What brought you to Texas?”
“What makes you think I wasn’t already in Texas?”
“You don’t sound like a Texan.”
“No? Then where do you think I’m from?”
“First guess would be somewhere in the Appalachians.”
“That’d be a good guess. Tennessee.”
“But you’ve been away from there for a while. It’s tamed your accent.”
She looked at him. “Yeah, it’s been awhile since I’ve been back to Tennessee.”
“You still have family there?”
“Nope. Mama and Daddy and my younger sister, Dani were killed in a flash flood when I was eighteen. They were on a bridge when it gave way and the truck was swept away.”
“I’m sorry. Guess you were lucky you weren’t there.”
Charli nodded and turned her head away. “I was in Bristol, enlisting. I didn’t want to go to work as a cashier at some local store and sure didn’t want to get married and have a passel of kids to tend to and—well, I was a tad too big for jobs people wanted a pretty little gal to do. So enlisting seemed like the way out for me. I just didn’t know I’d be leaving home with no one to come home to anymore.”
“That had to have been rough. Do you have any other family?”
“My mama had two sisters They both live in Memphis and have grown kids and grandkids. She wasn’t all that close to them. I remember seeing them maybe two or three times when I was growing up. My dad had a big family, but he wasn’t close with them. Some kind of falling out before I was born. I never even met my grandparents on his side or any of his siblings. So, yeah, technically I do, but none that I know.”
“Making the service your family.”
“Yep.”
“Until you left.”
“Yep.” She hoped her noncommittal response would turn the conversation away from her past, and luckily it did. When they pulled up in front of her house, she opened her door, then looked at him. “Wanna come in?”
“I do. But I won’t.”
“I thought you wanted to take a swim?”
“I do.”
“Then what’s stopping you?
“Because I spoke without thinking at the bar. If we go for a swim, we’ll have to get naked.”
“And?”
“And if we get naked we’re not going to stop at swimming.”
“Again, and?”
“And you’re not ready.”
“For what?”
“For
what I can give you.”
“If I submit, you mean.”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re right, Grady. Skinny-dipping is definitely a bad idea. So, all righty then. I had fun. See you.”
With that, she slid out of the truck, closed the door, and headed for the house. She wasn’t going to argue with Grady. As much as she’d hoped the night would end with them in bed, if he wasn’t into it, then so be it. By the time she reached the front steps, she heard him behind her. He took hold of her arm and she stopped, letting him turn her to face him.
“I had fun, too.”
“Good.” She pulled her arm from his grip. “Be safe going home.”
“I will.” He moved closer, put one hand behind her head, and tugged her to him for a kiss.
Charli got it. He liked to be in control and if he got her all hot and bothered, he won. But two could play that game, so she eagerly accepted the kiss and devoted herself to making it one that would keep him awake most of the night.
Her hands gripped his pants on either side of the belt buckle, then worked up until her arms were wound around his neck and her body was plastered to his, chest to groin. She undulated against him, feeling the reaction taking place in his jeans. Yeah, he was affected, but then so was she. More than she’d ever admit. If given a choice, she’d snatch his clothes off right there in the front yard and ride him like a prize bull.
She gave a little moan in her throat when he pulled away from her lips and let his trail down her neck as his hands traveled up to cup her breasts. His thumbs circled her nipples, making them harden even more. She waited until his lips steered a course toward her breasts and then she pulled back. “Like you said, it’s not time. Thanks, again, Grady. I really enjoyed it. Good night.”
His expression told her he hadn’t expected that, but he didn’t voice the thought. Instead, he gave her that smile—the one that she was quite certain could melt the coldest of woman’s reserves. “See you soon, sugar.”
She smiled and turned away to walk up the steps. Charli looked back over her shoulder after she unlocked the door. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
As she watched him walk away, she wondered which, if either of them, had won the skirmish tonight, or if they’d both find themselves lying awake wondering what it would have been like if he had come in.
Chapter Nine
“Whoa! Ease up, killer.” Tom Greene released the heavy bag and stepped back, breathing hard.
Charli shook out her arms and shoulders and paced back and forth in front of the heavy bag. They were near the end of a two-hour workout and she hadn’t expended half of her pent-up energy and frustration.
Her date with Grady had left her with a week of sleepless nights, followed by a month of wondering what the hell had happened and about to the point of beating herself up for coming on too strong. She hadn’t heard anything from Grady since he left her house that night they went to the Honky Tonk and wasn’t about to be the one to initiate contact.
Had she misread him completely, and he wasn’t interested, or he was playing some kind of game? She didn’t know and it was driving her nuts. So, she channeled that frustrating into physical things.
She and Tom had been working out together for the last five months. Every Saturday morning they met at the gym, worked out for a couple of hours, sparred with some of the locals if anyone showed up, and finished the morning with breakfast at the diner.
Charli loved her Saturday mornings at the gym. She worked out on her own every day but Saturdays were special, and Tom was one hell of a taskmaster. He pushed her to do more and do better. She liked that.
It was a shame she and Tom didn’t have any chemistry between them, but they were meant to be exactly what they were. Friends who knew the other would have their back if needed.
“Looks like no one’s gonna show up to spar,” he commented.
“We can spar.” She gave him a grin.
“Not gonna happen, killer. I got a date with an engine and then a date with blonde.”
“Ingrid Stalwealther from the boutique?”
“How’d you know?”
“Eyes in my head, bro. You and she have been flirting for the last month. I wondered when you were gonna break down and ask her out.”
Tom grinned. “So, you mind skipping breakfast? Jimmy got in a carb for that ‘58 Chevy we’re putting back together and I want to put in some time on the car today before I head home and get the yard mowed and house cleaned.”
“You need to hire a housekeeper and yard guy.”
“Not happening. I’m a DIY kinda guy.”
Charli laughed. “Indeed you are. Okay, bolt, dude. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“You’re on the roster for tomorrow, right?”
“Yep. And you’re off, so keep that gal up late and sleep in tomorrow.”
Tom grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, then jerked his head up and to one side. “Looks like you might have a sparring partner after all. See you on Monday, Charli.”
“Yep. Have a good one.” She turned and frowned. Grady Judd walked toward her, with a gym bag in one hand and a pair of gloves looped over his shoulder.
“You looking for a sparring partner, hot stuff?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, then this is your lucky day.”
“Is that so?” She walked over to the ring.
“It is. Unless you don’t fight men.”
“Honey, when you’re my size, it’s hard to fight anything else.”
“Good point.” He climbed into the ring and started loosening up.
Charli watched, doing a bit a stretching herself.
“Miss me?” Grady asked.
“You been gone?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, but you never noticed, right?”
She gave a slight shrug. “Been busy.”
He rolled his head, then his shoulders and smiled. “You ready?”
“Born that way.”
Less than a minute later, she was feeling far less confident. Grady was bigger, stronger, and lightning fast. She needed to find an advantage, something she could use to get him off balance.
It came to her. She stripped off the tank top she wore over the sports bra. The bra was wet with sweat and therefore slightly transparent.
Grady grinned. “Low, Charli, so low. Trying to play the sex card.”
“Trying?” She gave a pointed look in the direction of his crotch. “Come on, big guy, show me what you got.”
“Oh, I’ll show you.”
Charli wouldn’t have admitted it, but a thrill shot through her at the undisguised hunger in his voice and the look on his face. She then cursed that thrill for the time it cost her. She had barely enough time to throw a block and deflect his punch. As it was, her arm vibrated from the impact and he was pressing forward on her.
Damn. It was all Charli could do to avoid his fists and feet or block them. He left her no openings at all for attack. Which meant all she could hope for was to outlast him. Maybe he’d tire from the attack and leave an opening.
She hoped, but didn’t believe it would happen. Grady wasn’t your average “spar-at-gym” for shits and giggles kind of guy. She’d seen men fight the way he did and there weren’t many of them. They were focused and they were lethal.
Charli called on every bit of training she’d ever had and the tense minutes passed with only the sounds of their breath and the hiss of air from the movements to break the silence. The warrior within was in awe of his skills and strength. The woman inside was making it difficult for her to focus.
He was incredible, all primal male. His muscles bunched and lengthened with his strikes and the air sizzled from the speed of his blows. Watching him woke something inside her that had been dormant her entire life, the desire of a woman who longed to be bested by an alpha.
Damn, but she wanted him to be strong enough to beat her. Maybe he was, but the only way she’d know is if she was all in. To hell with defense. It wa
s time to fight. Wiping all other thoughts from her mind, she exploded into attack mode.
Grady sensed a change at almost the same moment she launched her offensive. And at that same moment, he became aware of something else. Her arousal. He could smell her. The scent enveloped him, making him burn for her. The challenge he found in her attack woke something else he kept in check. The need to beat her. Not hurt, but beat. He wanted to conquer her and then take her, dominate her completely.
He knew without being told that it was what Charli wanted as well. She’d never submit to a man. She would dominate and take what she wanted unless a man was strong enough to turn the tables on her and if he was, Grady was willing to bet that she’d be the dream every man sought.
Damn. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He wasn’t supposed to want this. But he did. He was determined to be that man. So, he upped the game, deflected her salvo, and countered in a way she didn’t expect. He used judo moves, forcing the fight to be waged up close. That way his superior strength was an advantage.
Grady grabbed her arm and twisted up as he turned so that he ended up behind her with her arm bent up against her back, hips pressing backward to relieve the pressure. The higher he pulled her wrist the more she bent forward and the more her firm ass pressed against him.
A grin split his face. He had her. Or so he thought until her free hand reached back and wrapped around the back of his head. He realized his folly as she displayed superior skill and leverage and effectively flipped him over her shoulder.
Grady cursed, hit the floor and rolled, then came up scissoring his legs to catch her ankle and send her sailing. He was on her the second she hit the floor. They rolled over and over, each of them trying to gain the advantage and pin the other.
It was exhilarating and the single most erotic moment he’d ever shared with a woman. Every breath, every slide of skin was electric. Grady thickened to full erection. He saw her eyes widen at the realization and he pressed the advantage of the moment, rolled her over onto her back and pinned her hands to the floor as he straddled her body.
“Get off me,” she rasped in a hoarse tone.
“Or what?”
“Or show me that the main event lives up to the foreplay.”
