by Anne Rainey
“Yeah, the green made me look sickly.” She looked Gracie over and made a tsking sound. “You look like you’ve been hit by a truck, young lady.” She plopped a large duffel bag on the floor and hobbled over to the couch. She sat next to Gracie and patted her thigh. “You may as wel tel me everything. I know there must be a reason for that big hunk answering the door wielding a gun.”
Gracie pointedly eyed Wade’s weapon. He merely shrugged and tucked it into a hidden holster against his ankle. And why did that seem so sexy? “Uh, it’s a long story, Jean.”
She hopped up. “I’l get the coffee started then.” She looked at Wade and pointed to the pizza and napkins strewn about. “You, make yourself useful and clean up this mess.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Ma’am? Cal me that again, and I’l flatten you. It’s Jean.”
“Right, sorry. Wade Harrison.”
She grinned and nodded. “You’re trainable; I like that in a man.” She was already heading for the kitchen and missed the frown Wade tossed her way.
“She’s interesting.”
“She grows on you.”
He grunted and started cleaning up their dinner. She felt guilty sitting there while everyone else worked. She started to stand, but Wade was too quick. In a heartbeat, he was in front of her, pressing on her shoulders. “Don’t piss me off by trying to get up. I wil paddle your ass, Gracie.”
“That’s supposed to sound threatening, but right now it just sounds sort of fun.”
He frowned as he crouched in front of her. “You feeling okay, honey?”
Actual y, she did feel a little . . . off. “Loopy. Why do I feel loopy, Wade?”
“The meds. We should cal your doctor and see about getting the dose adjusted.”
“Good idea. I’l do it tomorrow. I won’t need another one tonight anyway.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stood. She watched, fascinated by his every move as he picked up the box and several used napkins. “Can I trust you to sit stil while I throw the pizza out?”
She gritted her teeth against the need to do something, anything. “Yes.”
“Good, I’l be right back.”
Gracie slumped against the couch. “I’m not going anywhere, clearly.”
6
“I should wring your neck for not tel ing me about al this, Gracie.”
As if she hadn’t heard those words before. “Get in line,” Gracie muttered.
“Wel , what’s done is done.” Jean turned her attention to Wade. “So, you’re going to catch this guy, is that it?”
“Yes, I am.” Wade stood at the front of the room, staring out her window, his entire demeanor on alert. Was he looking for her stalker? It gave her the wil ies to think he could be out there right now, watching, waiting.
“Good. What can I do?”
Wade kept his face averted as he replied, “Your only job is to help Gracie.”
“It won’t be the first time I’ve helped someone with a cast. My youngest, Brian, broke his arm when he was in the fifth grade. Jumped off a barn roof. Crazy kid. It nearly drove him crazy until it healed.”
“How’s he doing these days?”
Jean quirked a brow. “You mean since you dumped him?”
“I did not dump him! We had one date; that’s it.”
Wade slowly turned around, his brows scrunched together. “How long ago was this?”
“Last year, and it real y wasn’t anything. Brian is a nice guy, but the chemistry wasn’t there.”
Jean waved her hand in the air. “He said the same thing, but I had hopes. Four kids and not one of them have seen fit to give me grandkids yet.”
Good Lord, if she’d known the woman had plans of babies and happily ever after, Gracie never would have gone out with her son in the first place. “Uh, anyway, the doctor said it’s a fracture. He didn’t seem to think it was too bad.”
“Don’t you worry; you’l get the hang of using one hand pretty quick. Just be glad it wasn’t your dominant hand.”
“I don’t want Gracie pushing herself, though. That wrist and those bruises need time to heal.”
Jean snorted. “Gracie isn’t some delicate blossom, Wade. And she’s not about to let a broken wrist and some bruises keep her down. You might want to coddle her, but if she doesn’t want to be coddled, then nothing you say or do wil change that. She’s got a mind of her own.”
“Don’t I know it.” Wade groaned as he moved away from the window and sat in the easy chair adjacent to Gracie. “I need to know your schedule, Gracie.”
She hadn’t even thought of how tired he must be. The only sleep he’d gotten was in that horrible chair at the hospital. “You need to go home and get some rest, Wade.”
He put his elbows on his thighs and leaned closer. “Weren’t you paying attention when I said I was going to be your shadow?”
She blinked. “Wel , yes, but—”
“But nothing.” Wade said, as if he were somehow lord and master. “I’m going to be here day and night until this guy is caught.”
Gracie tucked her hair behind her ear, annoyed and too tired to fight him anymore. “You want to sleep here?”
“Where’d you think I was going to sleep?”
“At your own home, of course.”
“The bad guys don’t stop being bad just because the sun goes down. You need protection from this asshole, and since you won’t stay at my place, I have no choice but to stay here.”
She sighed. “You can be real y infuriating.”
“I’ve been told.”
She shifted her arm in an attempt to al eviate the stiffness. It didn’t work. “You can sleep on the couch.”
Jean laughed and pointed to Wade. “If it were me, no way would you be sleeping on the couch, sugar.”
Gracie’s mouth dropped open. “Jean!”
Color stained Wade’s cheeks as he stood. “Uh, I need to get a few things out of the trunk. Maybe Jean can help you get ready for bed before she leaves.”
Once Wade was gone, Jean turned toward her, al signs of joking gone. “You’re lucky to be alive, young lady.”
“Yeah, I agree.” Gracie couldn’t even focus on the accident, not with the thought of Wade sleeping in her home rattling inside her head. He’d be a few feet away, al night long. An image of him al sprawled out on her couch, his shirt gone, jeans unbuttoned and riding low sprang to mind. She had to remind herself to breathe.
“You like him, huh?”
Jean’s question tore her out of her little fantasy. “It’s complicated.” She didn’t know what she wanted from Wade, but she had a feeling it wasn’t just a quick tumble. She stood and waited for Jean to do the same. Together they walked to her bedroom.
When she entered, Jean flipped on the light, and Gracie grabbed a nightgown from the dresser drawer. She held it up, wondering what Wade would think of the plain garment. The white cotton, knee-length gown was soft and comfortable, and sleeveless, making it easier to put on over her cast. Stil , it was horribly plain. She looked up and saw her reflection in the dresser mirror. Crap, coupled with the bruises al over her face she’d be lucky if he didn’t run screaming.
“You know what I see?”
Gracie wasn’t sure she wanted to hear Jean’s next words, but she shook her head and said, “No. What?”
“I see two people dancing around each other. He’s not here because you’re his pal. He’s here because you belong to him, and he’s not about to let some freak hurt you.”
“I haven’t even agreed to go on a date yet! How could I possibly belong to him?”
Jean shrugged. “It’s in the way he looks at you, possessive, hot. He’s teetering on the edge of control, if you ask me. You could have him eating out of your hand, sweetie. So, what’s the holdup?”
She threw the gown on the bed. “My life is a mess! My dad showed up at the hospital drunk. His only child is in a car accident, and he shows up drunk and starts cussing everyone out. I have a creep
y stalker intent on making me his ‘love.’ I have to work two jobs just to keep my head above water because Dad’s always drinking away his rent money. I’m just not up for more drama in my life. I need to straighten some things out before I can even think of having a relationship with a man as dominating and tense as Wade.”
Jean picked up the gown and started to smooth out the wrinkles. “Take it from me, life wil always be ful of drama. There wil always be something more pressing, always be stress. But a man like the one out there”—she pointed toward the living room—“vowing to protect you at al costs, wel , they don’t come around every day. Keep pushing him away, and he may just take the hint.”
The idea made her heart speed up. To never know Wade’s touch, his kisses, to never feel him buried deep inside her where she so badly needed him the most, sent a shot of panic through her bloodstream. “I-I don’t want to push him away.”
Jean smiled. “I thought not. So, maybe tonight when you two are alone, you can show that boy what ‘protect and serve’ real y means.”
For the first time in days, Gracie laughed, so hard her bruised body protested. “I think you might just be onto something, Jean.”
Wade paced the length of the living room. He should have known he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Al he could think about was how sweet and al uring Gracie had looked in her nightgown earlier. The oversized cotton sheet shouldn’t have been sexy. In fact, he’d been secretly grateful she’d picked something so concealing to sleep in. He didn’t need any more provocation where Gracie was concerned. Then she’d moved toward the couch and placed a sheet and a pil ow on the coffee table for him, and she’d inadvertently put her body on display for him as the light from the table lamp turned the gown al but transparent. She’d turned around and smiled at him. The soft curves of her body, so close, yet so far out of his reach, had been a temptation he nearly hadn’t been able to ignore. Hel , he’d had to leave the room just to keep from jumping her.
Wade had seen Gracie in her prim little outfits at Serene Comfort and thought her body perfect. He’d seen her in the flimsy hospital gown and knew instinctively that her ful , round breasts would fil his palms; the curve of her hips would create the perfect cradle for his cock. Stil , nothing could have prepared him for the eyeful he’d gotten earlier.
“Fuck,” he growled. Pushing a hand through his hair, Wade fel onto the couch and wished like hel he had the right to simply go to her, slip in between the sheets, and spend the rest of the night touching, tasting. He wanted to hear her cry out his name as she climaxed. He ached to strip her bare and lick every blessed inch of her.
“Don’t you ever sleep?”
Wade shot off the couch so fast he ran his shin into the coffee table. He cursed and twisted around, then froze. Gracie stood in the entrance of the dark room, her fiery red hair a disheveled mess. She’d removed the sling from her injured arm and was now cradling her fractured wrist in her good hand. He stepped around the couch, closing the distance between them. “You okay?”
She winced. “I rol ed over on my stomach and caught my wrist on the bedside table.”
He felt like a complete shit. He’d been wal owing in unrequited lust, and she’d been in pain. “Come on, you need your sleep.” He cupped her elbow and took her back to her room. Wade didn’t bother with the light. He’d memorized the layout of the entire place hours ago. He led her across the room and held the covers up for her to slip beneath. He tucked her in and started out of the room, away from temptation, when Gracie’s quiet voice floated over to him.
“Don’t leave.”
Wade looked over his shoulder, for the first time in his life unsure what to do. “You want me to stay?”
She clutched the blanket in a white-knuckled fist. “I-I’ve been denying myself for so long, and I’m just so tired of it. I’ve let him dictate my every move, Wade.”
Knowing he should let her sleep, but unable to ignore the pleading in her voice, Wade covered the distance in two strides. He sat down on the bed, and their bodies touched. He had to grit his teeth against the need to pul the blanket away so he could be closer to her. The green fire in her eyes pul ed at something in him, something basic and primal. Even in the dark he could make out the need in those gorgeous green eyes. He fingered one of the straps on her gown and murmured, “I’ve been thinking about you al night. This nightgown . . .” He wasn’t sure how to put his thoughts into words. He sucked at poetic, romantic moments.
Her shoulders seem to slump. “It’s shapeless and blah, I know.”
“Hmm, maybe. But it’s also see-through in the right light.”
Her eyes grew round. “It is?”
He smiled, tracing the delicate line of her col arbone. “Every curve was on display for me earlier. It’s a look that’s been burned into my psyche, baby.”
She bit her lower lip and looked away. “I didn’t intend to entice you.”
Her sweet innocence made him want to hide her away from the big, bad world, even as he imagined al the wicked things he wanted to teach her. “I know. But you need to understand something, Gracie.”
“What’s that?”
“Everything you do entices me,” he admitted, his voice hoarse with emotion. “I see you walk, and my cock gets hard. You tear strips off my hide with your wicked tongue, and it’s al I can do to keep my hands to myself.”
“I’ve wanted you, too, Wade. Turning you down has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
He lowered his head until his lips brushed hers. “Then I propose we make up for lost time.” He kissed her, careful to go slow, to be gentle, but when he licked over her bottom lip and her taste hit his tongue, everything in him shifted, changed. So soft and plump and delicious. Christ, wild horses couldn’t drag him away from her now.
7
“Sweet as sunshine,” Wade whispered. He let his tongue tease the seam of her lips until final y she sighed and let him in. Mint, and the warm flavor of Gracie. Hel , a man could become an addict. He lifted his head and stared down at her. Gracie’s eyes were closed, and her tongue swiped over her bottom lip, as if reliving their kiss. When she started to lift her injured hand toward him, her eyes flew open, and he could see the pain there.
“I forgot about my wrist.”
I should not be here. “You’re in pain. I should let you get some rest, sweetheart.” He had to force the words out between clenched teeth.
She quickly looked away. “You didn’t like it.”
He didn’t have to guess at what she meant. He cupped her chin in his palm and forced her gaze back to his. “I loved it. I want more. I want al night. I’m so damn hungry for you I’m about to self combust.”
She lifted her good hand and pressed it to his chest. “Then why do you want to leave?”
“Only an asshole would try something with you right now.”
A spark of fire lit her eyes. “I know what I’m doing. You aren’t taking advantage of me. Injured or not, I would stil be lying here aching for you.”
His cock leaped with joy over the bold admission so quietly uttered. Stil , he tried one last time to do the right thing. “You’l be pissed at me in the morning, Gracie. When we come together I want you smiling the next day, not fretting over whether it was the right thing to do or not.”
She placed her palm on his chest, directly over his heart. As if she held some sort of power over him, his heartbeat accelerated. “You aren’t listening, Wade. I’ve wanted you from the moment you came into Serene Comfort. Even before you asked me out. I’ve kept my hands to myself for so long. Now, I want to know what I’ve been missing.”
Something inside Wade snapped. Hearing the ache, the desire, in her husky voice was too much. Hel , he wasn’t a damn saint. “You’re sore and bruised, sweetheart, and nothing on this earth could convince me to make that ache worse.” When she started to speak, to continue pleading her case most likely, he plowed on. “But I can give you a taste of what’s to come.”
Gracie had a sexy little smi
le on her lips, and her hair was like satin. The perfect red halo. It covered the pil ow and gave him a perfect view of her slender, delicate neck. He might wel have been a vampire in some other life because the need to taste her pulsing vein with his tongue and bite into her pale, ivory flesh there, marking her, was nearly overpowering.
Wade leaned closer and whispered, “Looking at you in this bed is turning me on right now, baby.”
“Good. That means we’re on the same page then.”
He chuckled at her matter-of-fact tone and reached out to stroke her cheek with the tip of his index finger. “Close your eyes for me,” he gently ordered.
She shook her head in denial. “I want to see you.”
“And you wil , but first, close your eyes.”
She obeyed, and Wade’s cock hardened. He wanted her total submission; nothing less would do. Not for him. He wanted to seduce her, to mesmerize her into doing as he wished. Her lashes began to flutter open, but he touched each lid with a kiss, effectively keeping them closed.
“Keep them that way until I say.”
She remained quiet, but her lids never lifted, thril ing the hel out of him by her sweet surrender. He caressed her hair with his fingers, stroking the silky tresses. “I love your hair, sweetheart. So soft and baby fine.”
Wade trailed his hand down the silky length to smooth one finger over her neck. He touched the pulse beating wildly in her throat, and it seemed to quicken right under his fingertip. Leaning in, he inhaled her feminine fragrance. “Your scent is making me nuts. Bet you didn’t know I’ve thought about you like this, did you, Gracie?” Her mouth fel open, tempting him. He covered it with his own, tasting both surprise and arousal. He kept it quick; otherwise he might not be able to stop until he had her under him, his dick firmly locked inside her tight pussy.
“At night, when the rest of the world is asleep, my thoughts drift to you. I imagine you lying under me, your soft body pressed against mine as I take you, fil you. I’ve had my fair share of hot, erotic dreams of you, sweetheart.” His voice grew raspier with the fever that ran through his veins.
