A Maine Christmas...or Two

by J. S. Scott

  It made Emily want to give him everything he needed, but she was afraid. If she gave everything over to Grady and things didn’t work out, there would be nothing left, no pieces of herself to put back together. She loved him just that much, and he had the power to either destroy her or make her deliriously happy. Emily knew that with Grady, there was nothing in between. It was all or nothing.

  Trying to turn off her own thoughts, she went to the living room and turned on the Christmas tree that she and Grady had decorated together. It was Christmas Eve, and their dinner was warming, everything finished—including the huge turkey Grady had insisted on, telling her he’d eat the leftovers. Neither one of them talked about what would happen after Christmas. It was as though they were both afraid to burst the bubble of happiness that surrounded them right now.

  The phone rang, startling Emily with its shrill ringtone. It was Grady’s landline, and it hadn’t rung once since she’d gotten here.

  Walking to the kitchen, she wondered if she should answer. Grady had gone into Portland, telling her he had business to attend to, but that he’d be back by dinner time.

  It could be Grady. Maybe he’s going to be late. Answer it.

  The number was displayed as private, so she answered, fairly certain it was Grady. “Hello,” she said cautiously.

  “Where is Grady? And who are you?” a haughty female voice asked Emily.

  “I’m sorry. He’s not here. Can I take a message?” Uncomfortable, Emily shifted from foot to foot, wishing she hadn’t picked up the phone.

  “Who is this?” the female voice insisted in a nearly hostile voice.

  “I’m Emily. I’m here to visit Grady for Christmas,” she answered hesitantly, not wanting to piss off any of Grady’s friends or business associates. “Can I tell him who called?” she inquired again.

  Emily heard a sound of disgust before the woman answered, “I’m Hope Sinclair. Grady’s wife. Get the hell out of my house.” The line went dead with a loud, decisive click.

  Her hands shaking, Emily dropped the phone back into the cradle. Her heart hammering so fast she could feel it pulsating through her body, she quickly turned off all the burners on the stove.

  I have to go. I have to go.

  The need to flee was clawing at her, adrenaline flooding her body.

  I never asked him if he had someone. I just assumed he didn’t.

  There had never been any talk of Grady having a wife, but what did anyone really know about Grady Sinclair? He kept himself isolated, and maybe she traveled a lot. Or they could be separated. But he should have told her.

  Pain sliced through her body, almost making her double over in agony. And with the pain came shame. She’d kissed another woman’s husband, did intimate things with him.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered to herself in an anguished rasp.

  No. No. No.

  Emily couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, wanting nothing more than to get out of the house. She needed air, and she needed to clear her whirling thoughts—none of them good, none of them rational.

  “Noooo!” she wailed as she yanked the front door open, jammed her feet into her sneakers, and ran.

  There was snow on the ground, but she ignored it, needing to distance herself from the pain that was cutting her to shreds. It was cold, but she’d be okay if she just kept running, just kept moving. Maybe she could outrun the agony of Grady’s betrayal.

  You don’t know the truth. Don’t jump to conclusions.

  Her rational mind said it wasn’t possible, but holy hell, her heart ached, and her eyes were streaming tears, the flow trickling down her face.

  Why didn’t he tell me?

  She stopped, breathless and hopeless, at the shore. She made her way down a fishing dock that had been here as long as she could remember. It was weathered, but still sturdy. Standing at the end of the wooden structure, she looked out at the churning ocean. The sound of the crashing waves calmed her down a little, the turmoil matching the emotions that were slamming into her body all at once.

  Pain.

  Betrayal.

  Fear.

  Emptiness.

  Despair.

  Emily would have trusted Grady with her life, never imagining he’d hidden a secret that would destroy her.

  The way he looked at me, the way he treated me…was everything all a lie?

  She really needed to leave before Grady got back. Part of her wanted to confront him, but she knew she needed time. She was hysterical, irrational. Her thoughts needed to be clear before she spoke with him or she’d lose it.

  She had turned to leave, knowing she needed to go home and get herself together, when her foot skidded along the slippery, icy surface of the dock, making her lose her balance completely. One long slide, her slick sneakers propelling her sideways, and she tumbled into the churning waves with a startled, fearful scream.

  Grady arrived just in time to hear Emily’s scream of terror.

  Following her footprints in the snow when he’d discovered she wasn’t in the house, the trail had led him here to the dock. Her desperate cry had jerked his head to the end of the wooden structure, and before he could wonder what the hell she was doing on the slippery dock, she was falling.

  “Fuck!” he rasped desperately, watching his whole life take a tumble into water that he knew couldn’t be more than forty degrees.

  He shed his jacket and sweatshirt on the run and dove into the water, the frigid temperature taking his breath away, but he ignored the stabbing pain of the impact. His only thought was to reach Emily.

  She was bobbing near one of the dock posts, clinging to the wooden structure as the waves pounded at her body.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Grady bellowed over the noise of the rushing water. “You have to get out of the water.”

  Jesus H. Christ, it was cold. He knew neither one of them would survive if they didn’t get out of the water.

  “My foot’s stuck,” she screamed. “Get out of the water, Grady.”

  He could see her struggling, her head going under to try to get free from whatever had her in its grasp.

  “Get out of the water, my ass,” he growled, diving under the waves and following her legs with his hand, keeping his other arm around the post to keep from being swept away from her by the waves.

  The dock was old and weathered and her foot was lodged in a very large split in the wood, held in place by a bolt that was blocking her shoe from escaping. Grasping her foot tightly, he maneuvered it into a position where he could yank her foot free, coming to the surface gasping for air.

  He didn’t waste his breath trying to talk. He grasped Emily around the waist and propelled her toward shore in front of him. The dock wasn’t very long, and the waves helped, tossing them up on shore with very little effort.

  Knowing he had to get them warm and dry, he scooped up Emily, wrapped her in his dry coat and sprinted for the house, ignoring the pain of his circulation returning, and his clumsy motion. Jaw clenched with determination, he moved as fast as he could, clutching Emily tightly to his body.

  I have to get her warm. She’s not even shivering. She’s hypothermic.

  He didn’t stop once he came through the door. He bolted up the stairs, and set Emily in the chair in his room, and frantically started to strip her down.

  Her expression was blank, almost as if she were in shock. Grady tore her clothing as he removed it, desperate to get her out of her wet clothes. Once she was naked, he grabbed towels to dry her body and her hair hurriedly, deposited her in his bed and started piling warm blankets on top of her. “You’ll be warm in a few minutes, sweetheart. You’ll be okay.” He knew he was talking as much to himself as he was to her, trying to reassure himself that she was safe.

  Her body started to shiver, and her teeth were chattering, which was a good sign. Her body temperature
was rising.

  “Get warm,” she told him as she trembled beneath the blankets. “I’m okay.”

  She didn’t look like she was okay at all, but her eyes looked up at him with a pleading look that he couldn’t ignore. He stripped hurriedly, his own body shivering, a reaction that he knew would raise his body temperature, but it was damn uncomfortable.

  After using the towels to dry his own body, he slid beneath the pile of blankets. He doubted that he had much body heat, but he pulled Emily to him anyway, wondering if he could give her any warmth that he had left in his body through the sheer power of his will.

  Grady clutched her against him, closing his eyes in relief as he felt them shivering together, their bodies warming.

  What if I hadn’t come home exactly when I did? What if I had made another stop? Would Emily have died out there, unable to get free?

  A mammoth shudder went through his body, but it had nothing to do with his body temperature.

  “What if I had lost you? What the hell were you doing out there? That dock isn’t safe even in the summer.” His voice was graveled and anxious.

  Her teeth were still chattering slightly as she answered, “You’d still have your wife,” she ground through her clenched teeth, struggling to move away from him.

  Grady tightened his hold, not letting her escape. “What? Are you delusional? Talk to me.” Maybe she was suffering worse than he thought, because she was uttering complete nonsense. But her body was settling down, and she was only shivering lightly now; his had stopped completely.

  “Hope Sinclair,” she said with a little more strength. “Your wife.” She pummeled at his chest, trying to move away from him. “How could you, Grady? How could you kiss me and act like you cared about me when you have a wife tucked away somewhere? Was all of this just some kind of sick game for you? I was in love with you, you bastard!” Emily stopped fighting and burst into tears, her body starting to rock with heartbreaking sobs.

  “Stop. Emily. Stop crying.” Christ! He couldn’t stand to see her this way. It was ripping his heart from his chest. “I don’t have a wife. Hope is my sister. Did she call while I was gone?”

  “Yes. She said she was your wife,” she sniffed, the sobs halting. “Why would she say that if she wasn’t?”

  Grady snapped, the sight of Emily in tears unraveling him. He rolled Emily beneath him, trapping her so she couldn’t go anywhere. “Because she knows Evan sends women who I don’t want to hook up with me. She’s helped me out before by claiming to be my wife to get rid of a few of them who didn’t really want to take no for an answer.” He loved his sister and he appreciated that she wanted to protect him from an unpleasant scene, but he wanted to wring her neck for not checking with him first.

  “So you aren’t…married?” Emily glanced at him for the first time, her expression vulnerable and shaken.

  “She’s my sister and I love her like a sibling, but I think being married to her is illegal just about everywhere in the world,” he growled fiercely. “I’m fucking obsessed with you, or haven’t you figured that out yet? I think about you every damn moment that I’m awake, and then I dream about you when I sleep. There is nobody else. And there never will be. I think I knew it the moment I saw you sitting in the snow on my doorstep. You’re mine, Angel. I need you more than I need anything else on this earth. Please don’t leave me. Ever.” His voice was vibrating with emotion, his eyes burning with a fire banked for far too long. Grady didn’t care anymore if Emily owned his emotional well-being. He’d already given it over to her, and she could do whatever she wanted with it. He was hers. And she belonged with him. “Nobody will ever love you as much as I do, or take care of you as well as I will. Stay with me, Emily. I need you.”

  Grady could feel his heart skip a beat as he waited for her answer.

  Say yes. Say yes and I’ll never want another Christmas gift as long as I live.

  Her eyes were bright with tears as she nodded and murmured, “I love you, Grady Sinclair.”

  Grady took that answer as a yes because he wanted to, and it was the sweetest affirmation he’d ever heard. Right now, it was the only thing he needed to hear. He lowered his head and kissed her.

  Emily opened to him the moment his lips met hers, needing him to forgive her for doubting, for accusing him when he was innocent. She put her apology in her kiss, giving herself up totally to Grady. He’d kept her off-balance from the moment they’d met, her usual rational thinking completely out the window. It wasn’t possible to intelligently analyze the way she felt about Grady. He completed her, filling a gaping hole in her soul that had always been empty.

  Her once-chilled body burst into flames as Grady kissed her like a man possessed, his tongue entwining with hers, retreating, and then entering again with more force, demanding everything from her.

  Yes. Yes. Yes.

  His big body shuddered above her as she moaned into his embrace, her hands trying to touch him everywhere at once. Muscles rippled under her fingertips as she caressed down his back and grasped his rock-hard ass, trying desperately to urge him closer to her throbbing pussy. Pulling her mouth from his, she begged desperately, “Please, Grady. I need you.”

  “Not enough,” Grady replied harshly. “But you will.”

  Pinning both hands over her head, he ran his tongue along the sensitive skin at the side of her neck and nipped her earlobe before adding, “It took me thirty-one years to get a Christmas miracle, and you’re worth it. So now I want to savor it,” he told her in a graveled voice.

  Helplessly, she ground her hips up, her pussy flooding as she felt his hard cock so close, but not close enough. “Savor later. Fuck now,” she moaned, desperate to have Grady inside her.

  “I want to do everything with you all at once. I’ve dreamed about this, sweetheart. I’ve dreamed about having you naked in my bed for so long, I’m about to lose my mind.” He continued licking his way down her body, releasing her wrists and moving down to her breasts.

  Emily gasped when he laved over one of her nipples, the sensitive peaks responding to the feel of his wicked tongue. He pinched just hard enough to cause her body to jolt, the streak of electricity going straight to her pussy. And then he stroked her nipple with his tongue, sending a flood of warmth through her belly and into her core. “Fuck me, Grady. Please.” If she didn’t get him inside her, she was going to go completely mad. His body was sending off waves of heat, and they were about to consume her.

  “Not yet. I need to taste you first,” he replied huskily, his breath warm on her quivering belly. “And I promised to fuck you only if you begged.”

  Dear God, she was ready to grovel, ready to plead with him to have some mercy. There was only so much heat a woman could take, and she was already reaching her breaking point. “Grady…I can’t…I don’t,” she stammered, unable to form a coherent thought as his mouth stroked over her wet folds, not quite getting to where she wanted him to be, but the feel of his wicked tongue made her hips thrust forward, so damn ready for him.

  “You will,” she heard him rumble, the vibrations pulsating against her pussy.

  His fingers stroked down her outer thighs and came back up the sensitive skin on the inside, getting so very close. “Please.” All she could feel was Grady, and the carnal things he was doing to her body. He was touching her, tasting her, breathing in her scent, and it was hot as hell. “Stop savoring. Need you now,” she gasped, arching her back as she heard a satisfied groan as he dived in and she lost herself completely.

  Grady might be a reclusive sort of guy outside of the bedroom, but there was no hesitance as he devoured her. He was completely uninhibited, tasting her with his entire mouth and tongue, feasting on her like he’d never be satiated.

  “Oh…God…” Emily let go and a tortured sound escaped her lips as her ass came off the bed, offering herself up to him, needing more of Grady. She gripped the sheets of the bed, he
r knuckles white from the strength of her grasp.

  He took her legs and pushed them up with her knees bent, opening her to him, completely exposing her to his erotic torment. His tongue lashed her throbbing clit, over and over, every pass driving her higher. No mercy. Grady was on a mission, his laser focus directed on making her come. Hard. And his complete domination of her body was making her come undone.

  “You taste so sweet,” he growled as he lifted his head. “You’re almost ready to come for me.”

  Emily wanted to say she was beyond ready, but Grady was already completely consuming her again. “I can’t do this…I can’t…,” Emily rasped, her heart galloping inside her chest, wondering if she was going to climax or die. Every muscle in her body was tense, and her orgasm was rushing toward her with frightening speed. It was as terrifying as it was intoxicating, her body never reacting this violently in the past.

  It’s all Grady. His touch makes me insane.

  Her hands dove into his hair, grasping his head as he ate her relentlessly, his tongue now moving hot and heavy on her engorged clit. The tiny bud pulsated and her hips rocked with every stroke of his tongue.

  Her eyes closed, and she saw flashes of light in the darkness, her whole body sensitized and electric. Her climax slammed into her like a hurricane, and she let out a moan of complete ecstasy as she found her release so hard that she was helpless to do anything else but lay there and come beneath Grady as he sipped at her climax like it was nectar.

  “No more. Please. Fuck me.” Emily was frantic, unable to wait another minute to feel Grady’s cock inside her. She’d just experienced the most incredible orgasm of her entire life. Still, she needed…more. She needed Grady inside her.

  Climbing up her body, Grady positioned himself between her thighs. His expression was possessive and animalistic, his eyes stormy and dark. “If I take you now, I’ll never let you go,” he warned her gutturally. “Not that I will anyway. You were mine since you landed on my doorstep, Angel.” He let his cock slide along her folds, drenching himself in her juices. “Just like this, you feel so good. So warm. So incredible.” His hips moved, his shaft sliding through her folds again and again.