by Mia Carson
They might have only met that week, but their rushing emotions told a completely different story. The sense of being home overwhelmed Grace. This was what it meant to be in the arms of someone who cared for her, who might even be able to love her. At first, when he’d kissed her, she had convinced herself it was all part of the act, but as the day wore on, as he held her close out on that dance floor, something changed, and not just within her.
Chase changed. His gaze changed from lust-filled to a confused need surrounding them both in that darkened cabin.
Her head fell back when his kisses traced down her neck to her breasts again, her hands driving into his long hair and tugging at it when his tongue swirled patterns on her skin. Nothing had ever seemed so right before. Grace could only imagine what it would be like when they connected fully.
Chase tugged at the zipper of her dress, and it glided down her back, the dress parting to reveal more bare skin. She pulled his shirt out of his pants, needing to touch the muscles taunting her throughout the day. They shivered, and he cursed, crushing her against his body while his mouth claimed hers fiercely.
Grace smiled against his lips, a swell of pride filling her chest at knowing she made him react like that with one touch. She shifted her arms enough so the dress slid down her body, and when it pooled at her feet, Chase took a half step back to look at her mostly-naked silhouette.
Beneath the dress, she wore only a red lace thong, along with her heels. Chase’s eyes flared with desire, and for her first time being bared to a man, Grace was as comfortable as if she still had clothes on.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered hoarsely and reached out a hand for her hip.
Grace moved into his touch and went to work on the buttons of his shirt. “I have my moments,” she smirked. When she finally freed the last button and shoved the silk shirt over his broad shoulders, Grace wanted to feel every inch of that chest and run her tongue along his perfectly outlined pecks and abs. “You’re not so bad yourself, Loki.”
He growled deep within his chest as she flattened her palm over the tattoo marking him, the two snakes intertwined in an S, biting each other’s tails. She pressed her lips against it, and Chase picked her up, while she wrapped her legs around his waist, and backed them up against the nearest wall. His arousal grew between them, and she gasped to feel him swell so quickly for her… all for her. Her nipples brushed against his bare skin, and she shivered at the tingling shooting through her body. Every nerve came to life, bursting with desires she never felt so strongly around any other man. Not that any other man had ever done this with her.
“Chase,” she whispered in his ear while his mouth teased her earlobe.
“Yes, Graceland?”
She gasped when he sucked harder on her lobe and at the way her name rolled off his tongue so easily, not mocking at all. “I… uh, should probably mention something to you.”
“Don’t tell me, you’re a lesbian and this is all part of the act,” he muttered with a laugh.
“No, no… not that, but I am a… a… you know what.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, while Grace waited for him to catch up to what she’d said and drop her quickly.
Chase paused his kissing and leaned back, his eyes overflowing with arousal and something that made her gasp. His hands gripped her hips harder, and his lips turned up in a crooked smirk as he said, “You’re a virgin? How is that even possible?”
“It doesn’t bother you?” she asked, worried.
“That I get to be the first man to drive you to the edge of pure ecstasy over and over again?” he growled, shifting his hips so he pushed against her. “God, no, not in the least.”
They stared deeply into each other’s eyes, and Grace found herself lost in his swirling green depths, as if she were watching the stars in the night sky soaring overhead. There was so much more to this man than she first assumed, so many layers and hidden pieces she wanted to discover, and as he carried her away from the wall to the bed, Grace clinging to his body, she realized how much trouble they both were in. His eyes never left hers as he set her on the edge of the bed and knelt before her. Gently, his hands traced her shoulders, down her arms, and back up before they moved to her breasts, heavy with want.
As his large hands cupped them, Grace sighed, and when his thumbs brushed against her sensitive nipples, she reached out for him. Chase lowered his head and pulled one firm nipple into his mouth, sucking hard while a strong arm moved to hold her to him. Her hands wound in his hair, pressing his head even closer in her need to have him touch her. His tongue licked the peak until she thought she’d go cross-eyed from the sensation. He grunted when she moaned and moved to the other nipple. Warmth spread from her soft folds, and the urgent need to be touched there filled her so intensely, her thighs parted, and when Chase caught the movement, he cursed against her skin.
“You want me?” he asked roughly, releasing her breast as his hands slid to her thighs.
“Yes,” she whispered, digging into the sheet as his palms glided down her legs then back up, pressing against her inner thighs, moving so close to that sweet spot. “Chase.”
Delicately, he removed one of her heels, kissing her thigh as his fingers worked. His lips moved higher and higher as he relieved her of the other, and his fingers looped into her panties. “I’m going to make you cry out my name more than once tonight,” he promised, and with a quick pull, dragged her panties down.
Completely bared before him, Grace’s eyes were drawn to his. She held his gaze as his hand slid up and brushed against her most intimate place. She was wet—she felt it—but when he did, his eyes narrowed and he grunted. Gently, he moved his palm to cup her, rubbing against her before he tugged at her clit. The sudden explosion of want consumed her, and she fell back to her elbows on the bed. And he didn’t stop. Slowly, he shifted his hand and filled her with a finger. The sensation made Grace sigh, and when he pulled back to replace one with two, she spread her legs wider for him.
“You’re going to drive me insane,” he muttered and kissed close to those wet folds. Grace didn’t know what he was going to do until his lips closed over her clit and he sucked hard enough to make her moan with the pleasure rippling over her body. His tongue teased as his mouth moved and his fingers thrust inside her, stretching her.
Grace held onto the bed, losing all sense of where she was or what was happening. This weekend was meant to be a simple acting job. There had been no intention of kissing this man, no intention of falling for him as hard as she was, but every touch, every brush of his lips and caress of his mouth felt more natural than breathing. Grace couldn’t stop her heart from leading the way and plunging blindly forward into this man’s arms. She raised her head, needing to see his eyes, and when their gazes met, she knew in a terrifying and exhilarating moment, she was not alone in those thoughts.
Chase’s fingers quickened their pace, and he sucked harder on her clit. Grace moaned as the pressure built within her. So close… She was so close to that edge. “Chase… God, don’t stop,” she gasped, her hips lifting of their own accord and her hands cupping her breasts. He growled between her thighs, and when release overcame her, she cried out his name, trembling in his hands and melting as if he were the sun and she had flown too damn close to it.
Her chest heaving, Grace lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling as Chase chuckled between her thighs. He lavished her legs with sweet, soft kisses until she couldn’t stand it any longer and sat up. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him deeply, wanting to show him what else he did to her in those few moments of complete bliss. She was branded for life—she knew it deep down. No man’s touch would ever feel so damn right. Her hands moved down his chest to his belt and undid it, followed by his pants.
“Graceland,” he whispered against her lips, and as she shoved his slacks over his hips, she moved back across the bed and he followed as if pulled by her. His body covered hers, teak-wood and rain flooding her senses, and she breathed him deeply into h
er lungs as his fingers brushed through her hair.
With his erection warm between their bodies, Grace shivered, clutching his back as he leaned down and kissed her. Their tongues danced together in a lazy waltz that increased when his knee parted her legs. Grace braced herself when his tip pressed against her folds, but he entered her slowly, letting her body adjust to his size. With each glide in, her body cried out for more, her hips lifting to take him as deeply as she could.
“God, Grace,” he grunted. “I’m not sure how long I can do this.”
“Then don’t wait,” she urged. “I can take it.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he argued, but she knew the slight pain would be worth the pleasure it would bring them both. Grace raised her hips when he entered her again and dragged him forward until he was seated deep within her. She gasped, wincing at the sharp bite of pain. “Graceland?”
He started to pull out, but she held him there, letting the pain slip away as the pure joy at having him inside her took over. She rocked her hips and smiled up at him, rubbing away the frown lines on his forehead. “I’m perfect,” she whispered. “Chase…”
She didn’t have to finish the thought before he grunted, and as he thrust deep, drew her mouth to his. With each shift of his hips, Grace was driven to a new height of bliss, heat consuming her body as he moved within her, touching her in places beyond her body. It was as if he reached inside and found her very soul and caressed it with his kisses, with every time he pulsed within her sweet depths.
His breathing was ragged, like hers, and he rolled them over so she straddled him without having to pull out. She gasped at the burst of pleasure from the shift, and he held her hips, driving up into her hard and fast.
Something stirred deep within her, and she moved with him like a beast fighting to get free. The rapid explosion of pleasure was insane, but Chase didn’t stop when she cried out. Instead, he swelled even more and swallowed her cries with his mouth, sitting up so their bodies were crushed together. His arms held her close, held her shuddering body wracked with ecstasy beyond what she ever thought possible.
Chase grunted at the moment of his release, filling her with an intense heat. Grace was amazed to find she wasn’t burned by his touch. The room swam around her in a blur of colors before they tumbled back to the bed, Chase holding her tightly as he kissed the top of her head.
“I’ve never had sex like that,” he admitted, sounding as confused and amazed as she felt.
“Never?” she gasped against his chest.
“Never,” he answered, and she heard the honesty in that one word. “What the hell did you just do to me, Graceland?”
She smirked and a real laugh she hadn’t heard in a long time escaped her lips. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
6
Moonlight filled the cabin as the yacht rocked gently on the waves. Music trickled down to them from the upper deck, letting Chase know the party was still in full swing. Not that he cared to rejoin them. No way in hell was he leaving Grace’s side. She lay beside him on her stomach, watching the water out the windows.
Unable to resist, he ran his fingers through her curls, loving the way one motion made her whole body shift to his touch. He knew exactly how she felt. He was drawn to her with the same intensity. When she moved, so did he, and vice versa. It might have been an act, but the way they’d been all day could’ve fooled him. Especially after he took her in bed and was overcome with an overflowing need to simply have her as his, and not just sexually. He wanted Graceland more than he wanted anything else in his life. He even thought maybe, for some insane reason, this was a woman he could trust.
But tomorrow was Sunday, the last day of their time together. His brow furrowed, wondering how he might get her to stay with him… if she would even agree to date him for real.
His eyes drifted to the tattoo on her back, and he traced the lines gently. “You going to tell me the story behind this?” he asked. The black panther stretched from the base of her spine all the way to her shoulders, its long, lithe body climbing across her skin on a bed of vines and roses.
She smirked, glancing over her shoulder. “You’ll laugh.”
“Will you tell me if you got it for a reason?”
“That I did,” she agreed and rested her chin on her folded arms. “I did one of those quizzes to find out what your spirit animal is and… well, this was mine.”
He trailed lower down her back, his need for her growing again as he reached her soft curves and went back up. “What does it mean? The panther.”
She hesitated, and he wondered if he would ever get anything truthful out of this woman turning his life upside down so easily. “It’s stupid, really.”
“Can’t be that bad,” he insisted. “Tell me, and I’ll tell you something no one knows about me.”
“What are we doing? Sharing secrets?” she asked with a wry smile.
He shrugged. “Why not? You have somewhere else you want to be besides here with me, just talking?” He hated how much it bothered him to know she might say yes, might shun him like Tiffany had, but Grace rolled to her side and faced him.
“The black panther,” she told him quietly, “is about removing the mask and having the courage to stand alone.”
The hurt in her eyes twisted his heart, and he held her cheek. “You’ve had to do that a lot?”
“Which part?” she asked on a breath.
Chase leaned down and kissed her, just a soft brush of his lips on hers, but it sent a ripple through his soul. “You won’t be alone forever,” he told her as he leaned back.
For a long moment, they stared into each other’s eyes, and Chase sunk deeper and deeper into those brown and amber depths, not sure he ever wanted to leave. He hadn’t thought he’d started a dangerous game when he found Grace to play his fiancée, but now, as the rest of the world fell away, all the careful walls he’d built around his heart cracked.
“So,” she said quietly, “what are you going to tell me in exchange for my tattoo story?”
“What do you want to know?” Usually, the last thing he would want to do was spill his entire life story to someone, but with Grace, all he wanted to do was tell her who he really was and in turn, hope she let him in, too.
She studied his face intently and reached for his hand, entwining their fingers. “What’s it like being an architect? Designing buildings. I could never do that.”
He chuckled. “Honestly? Most days, it’s boring as hell. I don’t get to design so much anymore now that I run the company, but I try. Like the theaters—they’ll be like nothing Seattle has ever seen before once the restoration is finished. Maybe the face-lift will help you.”
Her eyes darted away, and her hand stiffened. A mask slipped over her face, and Chase frowned. What had he said to bring that back out? “Yeah, maybe. Not sure what’ll happen.”
“Tell me about your parents.”
She laughed sharply. “You want to know what I told your mom or the truth?”
Chase felt he was getting dangerously close to crossing some invisible line, but couldn’t stop his curiosity from dragging him onward. “Both.”
“I told your mom they’re living happily married and retired in Florida on a beach somewhere.”
“And the truth?”
She sighed and rolled onto her back, glaring at the ceiling. “The truth is ungodly complicated.” Her arm flopped over her face, and she refused to say anything else on the matter.
“If it makes you feel better,” he told her, “my parents weren’t always this happy.”
“Really? They seem pretty damn chipper to me,” she laughed.
“Yeah, but Dad was a workaholic for a while, and Mom threatened to leave him a couple of times unless he got it together. For a few years, I didn’t really have a dad,” he said, remembering those dark periods in his parents’ marriage. He’d been a teenager, watching his family crumble until his dad had seen reason and changed his ways.
“That�
�s why your mom was telling me about you being a workaholic,” Grace muttered. “Think she’s worried about you—or us, I guess.”
“Like father, like son,” he confirmed.
He fell silent, content to watch her chest rise and fall with each breath she took. He pictured every night like this—comfortable, with a woman beside him who didn’t make him suspicious of her actions. With Tiffany, he had walked on eggshells, afraid to set her off on one of her tantrums, and then he found out she had cheated on him multiple times. It was a nightmare. Everything he did for her was for nothing, and until Grace, he never thought he’d get over it.
This woman, though he’d only caught glimpses of who she really was, took the darkest time of his life and without even realizing, obliterated it. And they’d only spent a few days together.
The clouds covered the moon and the room darkened. “Damn,” Grace whispered, pulling Chase from his dangerous thoughts of finding a way to make this weekend last longer.
“What’s wrong?”
“The moon, it went away,” she whispered and lifted her arm from her face. “When I was little, I used to talk to the moon. Every night, I’d wait ‘til Mom passed out and creep out onto the fire escape. For hours, I’d sit there, pretending the moon was so much more than what it was.”
He grinned, picturing a smaller version of the still small Grace, her hair a crazy mess around her head as she sat on the fire escape. “What did you talk about?”
“Escaping.” Her answer was so quiet he almost didn’t catch it. “A way out, a way to follow my dreams.”
“And you did, didn’t you? You became an actress?”
She turned away from him, hiding her face. “That’s also horribly complicated.” She sat up, her back to him, and her shoulders sagged. Chase knew she hadn’t told him everything about her life, but whatever weighed her down was serious enough to dash the good mood she’d been in. He remembered yesterday when his mom said she thought Grace had taken ill. Was this what bothered her then, too? What was she hiding? Hell, she might have worse trust issues than he did.
