You Complicate Me

by Isabel Jordan

  Yeeeessss.

  Thank God, Nick thought as Grace bit her lip and nodded her agreement.

  For all his good intentions of taking things slow, of showing Grace how much she meant to him and how much he respected her, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could’ve held out on her. It was getting to the point that not even dead puppies and obscure baseball stats could keep his baser instincts at bay. The need to be inside her was starting to overrule every other need he had, including the need for air. If he had to choose at the moment, he’d definitely take Grace over air.

  He stripped and got a condom on faster than he ever had in his life, all under her watchful, lust-filled eyes. Shit, just the weight of her gaze on him was enough to damn-near make him come. She was right about one thing for sure.

  This would not be their only time together. He’d never get enough of Grace Montgomery. Not ever.

  When he reached under her and lifted her off the bed, she squealed, but didn’t back down. Her fingers threaded through his hair, fingernails scraping along his scalp. Chills swept over his skin. God, it felt so good to have her hands on him, her tongue stroking his.

  Her legs looped around his waist and tightened as he put her back against the wall and leaned into her, pinning her there with his weight, rocking his hips against hers. With a groan, she dug her heels into his back and pulled him closer. “Yes,” she whispered against his mouth. “Now.”

  No more than half a second later, he was starting to slide into her, his hands cupping her ass, her fingernails digging into his shoulders. Her mouth fell open on a hiss as he slowly started to lower her onto his cock.

  His thoughts at that point devolved quickly. Tight, wet, hot, heaven. Jesus. Had anything, anyone, ever felt this good, this right, in his life?

  She squirmed and let out a desperate whimper. “Oh, God. I want you so bad, but it’s been too long and you’re way bigger than I’m used to. I don’t know if I can take all of you like this.”

  Well, shit, if that didn’t do wonders for the old ego, nothing ever would. “You can.” You will. “I’ll stop whenever you want me to. You’re in charge.”

  But her fears were unfounded. Her head thunked back against the wall and her eyes fell shut as she proved him right. She took every last inch.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Her only answer came in the form of an unintelligible grunt. “Do you want me to stop?” he clarified.

  Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.

  Grace’s eyes flew open and her nails dug into his shoulders. “God, no! Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

  That was pretty much all he needed to hear.

  Nick drove into her, hard and fast, just like she’d asked. She cried out so loud with every thrust he was pretty sure their neighbors would be complaining any minute. Not that he cared. Nothing short of the National Guard was going to stop him at this point.

  Their combined desire was damn near animalistic.

  “I swear I’ll fuck you all night if you want me to,” he whispered in her ear, his voice so rough and urgent he barely recognized it as his own. “I’ll make you come so many times, so hard, you’ll see fucking stars. I won’t stop until every fucking guest on this floor knows my name because you’ll be screaming it so loud.”

  She let out a gasp/moan combo that reached down and gripped his balls in a velvet vice. Every muscle in his body tightened and burned, and he knew he couldn’t last much longer like this. He had to focus if he wanted to make sure she was taken care of before he got off.

  Nick shifted so that both his hands were under her again and pulled her in tighter against him, flexing his hips at the same time to make sure the base of his cock hit her clit with every thrust.

  “Oh my God,” she cried, her eyes drifting shut. “Don’t stop! Please don’t stop.”

  As if that was even an option at this point.

  Her head dropped to his shoulder and her hands clutched desperately at his biceps as she finally—finally—came, screaming his name just like he’d promised she would, her body tightening and pulsing around him. And that’s when he lost control.

  If he’d ever really had any with her, that is.

  He came harder than he ever had in his life, buried as deep within her as he could get, with her face pressed into his neck, her heart pounding against his, her harsh, rasping breaths a perfect mirror of his own. It was as close to a perfect moment as Nick imagined he’d ever had or would ever have.

  Being with Grace, right from the start, had been fun. No matter how complicated their personal and family situations were, being with Grace was easy. But this, this feeling of peace that he felt right now wasn’t something he had any experience with. Being with Grace was like coming home.

  Maybe it was that uncharacteristically deep thought, or maybe it was the fact that he was most likely dehydrated, but whatever the reason, that’s when Nick’s legs gave out.

  Stumbling, completely spent, he dropped to his knees, dragging Grace down with him. She squealed and clung to him like a sloth, knocking him flat on his back on the hotel carpet.

  Shit, he thought, waiting for her to get pissed at him. Talk about a mood-killer.

  Then, in typical Grace fashion, she did something that shocked the hell out of him.

  She started laughing.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  The rest of the night went pretty much exactly as Nick had promised. Her naked ass had been on every surface of both their hotel rooms. A few of their neighbors complained to hotel management about the noise, and one of them (*cough*Gage*cough) resorted to banging on the wall and shouting creative, anatomically impossible threats at them in an effort to get them to turn down the volume.

  Normally, Grace would be embarrassed by the fact that everyone on their floor knew exactly what they’d been doing all night. (And, yes, they did indeed all know Nick’s name now) But at the moment? She couldn’t care any less if she tried. It seemed that, oh, twenty or so orgasms could wring shame and embarrassment right out of a girl.

  And sometime around six in the morning, as she dropped limply onto Nick’s sweaty chest, completely spent, possibly dehydrated, and most likely ruined for all other men, shame was the farthest thing from her mind.

  “Holy God,” Grace panted, pressing her forehead into the spot where Nick’s neck met his shoulder, taking a moment to appreciate the masculine scent of his skin, which was also all over every inch of her own body. Every. Inch. “What the hell was all that?”

  Nick chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. “That’s what happens when you have days and days of foreplay.”

  This was the first time they’d talked all night. Well, actual conversations, at least. Grace didn’t imagine the oh-God-yes-right-there and Jesus-yes-harder-faster exchanges they’d had really counted as conversations. And their time between condom changes had mostly been spent on kissing, gently roving hands, and some really intense eye contact. No one gave sexy eye contact like Nick O’Connor.

  Grace shivered. Yep. It was official. She was ruined for all other men.

  Nick must’ve mistaken her shiver for a chill, because he reached down, pulled the balled-up comforter off the floor, and draped it over her bare back. The fact that he was considerate, thoughtful, and a sex god was going to be a major problem for her when they both went their separate ways after the wedding.

  The thought alone brought tears to Grace’s eyes and she was forced to choke back a sob.

  “Hey,” Nick said, shoving his hands into her hair and gently pulling back so that she was forced to lift her head and meet his gaze. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re having regrets already.”

  “Regrets?” Who the fuck would ever regret the kind of night they’d just had? “Are you insane? No way. It’s just that…”

  He kissed her forehead, which was like an ice pick to her heart. Why the hell did he have to be so damn perfect?

  “It’s just that what, angel?” he prompted gently.
<
br />   “I’m just going to really miss you, is all,” she blurted, horrified that the tears she’d been blinking back now rolled down her cheeks and over her chin before landing in pathetic little puddles on his chest. “When the wedding is over and I go back to LA and you go back to Chicago, I’m really going to miss you, okay?”

  His eyes roamed over her face as if her features held the secrets to all of life’s mysteries. When he brushed her tears away with his thumbs, her heart cracked open just a little more. “You don’t have to,” he whispered.

  She frowned, confused. “I don’t have to what?”

  “Miss me.” He shrugged. The gesture was careless, but the look in his eyes let her know his words were anything but. “I can work from LA just as easily as I can from Chicago. That’s one of the main benefits of the job. My apartment in Chicago is a month-to-month lease, and everything I own can fit into the back of my truck. There’s nothing there that’s really worth going back to, especially since Sadie’s not there anymore.”

  Grace blinked down at him. “You’d…you’d consider moving to LA? For me?”

  His smile was equal parts sweet and sinfully sexy, and it stirred her libido in a way she wouldn’t have thought possible after everything they’d done during the night. “After last night? I’d consider moving to a dirt-floor hut in the outer reaches of fucking nowhere for you, angel.”

  He was heart-attack serious, Grace realized in amazement. He really would uproot his entire life to be with her. “Nick, we’ve known each other such a short amount of time. Is it crazy for us to be thinking like this?”

  He reached down and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. “Probably. But I don’t really care. Look, as amazing as last night was, there’s more to this—this connection between us—than just sex. I want to see where this goes. And there’s no way we can do that if we’re on opposite sides of the country. Do you feel the same?”

  Grace bit her lip. “I do. But I feel like a really selfish bitch for letting you uproot your whole life so that we can, what, date?”

  He leaned up and caught the lower lip she’d just bitten between his teeth, making her moan before letting go to whisper against her mouth, “I’ve never had anyone be selfish for me before. It’s crazy hot.”

  She giggled. “You’re just saying that because I’m naked, on top of you, and only recently finished giving you an early morning blow job.”

  He gave her ass a sharp swat with his free hand and grinned evilly when she yelped. “Always the argumentative lawyer, aren’t you?”

  “It’s kind of my thing.” Her smile slipped as she added, “I’m serious, though. I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret.”

  He didn’t miss a beat before saying, “The only thing I’d regret is letting you go without figuring out exactly what this thing is between us.” He kissed her then, sending sparks through her entire body. “I need more time with you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”

  Grace lost a few seconds of coherent thought as he traced the shell of her ear with his tongue, but in a sudden burst of clarity, the enormity of their conversation dawned on her and she jerked up.

  “Holy shit,” she squealed. “Did we just agree that you’re moving to LA?”

  He laughed. “So, you’re OK with this?”

  She shoved a hank of sweaty hair off her forehead and let her eyes rove over his face. He looked rumpled, sleepy-eyed, and gorgeous. And he was all hers. “Of course I am. I feel like I’m getting the better deal out of this.”

  “No way,” he said quietly, pushing her hair behind her ears. “I’m a lucky man, angel.”

  Grace shot her best naughty smile as she rocked her hips against him. “Not yet, but I think you’re going to get lucky again very soon.”

  His eyes darkened a split second before he reversed their positions and flipped her onto her back. She let out an oomph that turned into a moan as he slid his tongue and lips down her neck, over her breasts, across her belly, then…lower.

  “No,” he whispered against her inner thigh. “I think it’s your turn to get lucky again.”

  She wanted to protest that it wasn’t her turn at all. In fact, if they were keeping score, she was ahead of him roughly three orgasms to one. But one long, hard stroke of his tongue through her wet folds obliterated that thought.

  “Oh, God,” she murmured, her thighs falling apart helplessly. “I guess it’s my turn after all.”

  And ten minutes later, everyone on their floor heard just how lucky Grace was.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  “So, is your name Nick, Jesus, God, or Oh-My-God-Don’t-Ever-Stop? I’m confused because I heard you called a lot of things last night.”

  Grace stabbed her fork in Gage’s direction and mumbled around a mouthful of pancakes, “Keep your mouth shut, Gage.”

  Nick just smirked and dove into his own breakfast, not looking the least bit embarrassed that half the hotel knew what they’d been doing all night. But then again, what did he have to be embarrassed about? From all the screaming she’d done, he came off looking like a sex god.

  Which, now that she thought about it, wasn’t at all far from the truth.

  “Ugh,” Gage muttered, reaching across Grace to grab the coffee decanter. “You have absolutely no shame. The fact that you’re blushing so hard right now, Grace, just tells me you’re replaying the whole thing in your head.”

  Grace took a sip of her orange juice before scoffing and saying, “I am not.”

  She totally was, though.

  Grace lifted her eyes from her plate and found Nick pinning her with a look so hot and potent it let her know that he too was reliving their evening (and morning) in his head, right here at the breakfast table. One corner of his mouth lifted as their gazes held, and she had a brief fantasy about him throwing her down on the breakfast table and fucking her right there amid the pancakes and French toast and bacon platters.

  So sticky.

  She could honestly say that was the first sexual fantasy she’d ever had in a Cracker Barrel. Not sure if that was necessarily a good thing, but there was no denying it was kind of fun.

  Gage grumbled, “Now you’re just being smug about it. That kind of joy this early in the morning is just gratuitous, really.”

  “Jealous?” Nick asked mildly, snagging a piece of bacon off the plate in front of Grace. Seeing as he’d given her more orgasms than she’d ever had in her life over the course of one night, Grace decided she wouldn’t stab Nick’s hand with her fork for daring to touch her bacon. A lesser man would’ve been hospital-bound for fork-removal by now.

  Gage glanced up as Sadie approached their table. “Totally,” he said quietly, his eyes not leaving her face.

  Sadie flushed a deep red, and shrugged out of her jacket, taking a seat next to Nick. “Sorry we’re late,” she said, slightly out of breath.

  Michael came in behind her and threw himself down in the chair next to Grace. “Pass the coffee and keep it coming,” he muttered.

  “Sure thing, princess,” Gage said, shoving the decanter to Grace, who passed it over to Michael.

  Michael glared at him. “Really? The princess thing again?”

  He shrugged. “If the tiara fits.”

  Sadie quickly turned a giggle into a cough when Michael leveled her with a sharp glare. When she grabbed a plate and reached for the platter of pancakes, Michael cleared his throat pointedly and said, “I thought you were worried about fitting into that wedding dress.”

  Sadie drew her hand back from the platter as if it had scalded her. “Oh. Yeah. You’re right. Maybe I’ll just have some coffee, too,” she said quietly.

  Grace wanted to shake her. No! Don’t let anyone talk to you like that! Tell him to go fuck himself while you shovel pancakes down your throat, if that’s what you want to do!

  And she wanted to smack her little brother upside the head. What was the matter with him? This wasn’t the sweet kid she’d helped raise. When had Michael turned into
such a monumental douchecanoe? Was it just the stress of the wedding that was causing him to turn into a groomzilla, or was there more to it than that?

  Not that it really mattered at this point. She’d promised Nick she would stay out of Sadie and Michael’s relationship. So, here she was, quietly (with gritted teeth) staying out of it.

  And it really kind of sucked this time.

  One look at Nick and she knew it sucked for him, too. He was looking at Michael with an expression only slightly friendlier than the one he usually gave Brad.

  But Gage, who hadn’t made any promises to stay out of anyone’s business, swore under his breath and reached forward to stab a stack of pancakes with his fork. He dumped them on Sadie’s plate without ceremony. “You should eat what you want. And a few pancakes today aren’t going to keep you from fitting into a dress tomorrow.” Then he jabbed his fork in Michael’s direction and added, “And it’s none of your damn business what anyone eats.”

  Michael’s eyes narrowed on Gage. “It’s not any of your business, either. She’s not any of your business.”

  Well, well, Grace thought, it looked like her formerly clueless little brother was finally noticing that something weird was going on with Sadie and Gage. Good for him. But the breakfast table was hardly the place for such a discussion, so she tried to lighten the mood by saying, “I think I’m going to have T-shirts made up that say, ‘It’s none of your damn business what anyone eats.’ I’d wear mine every time I went to a restaurant.”

  Nick grinned at her, but there was still tension in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but whatever it was got swallowed whole by the sound of trinkets, wooden checkers sets, and jars of BBQ sauce hitting the floor in the little general store in front of the restaurant. The sounds of heated debate followed.

  “What on earth is that all about?” Grace asked.

  Gage raised a brow at her. “I’ll give you three guesses,” he began dryly, “and the first two don’t count.”