Tempting Grace: The Vaughn Series, Book 4

by Anne Rainey

Jackson stared at Grace as she closed and locked the apartment door. They were alone again, just the way he liked it. But first he had to know the truth. “You did that on purpose,” he stated. “You like to tease.”

  She pointed at him. “You were being all territorial. I don’t belong to you, Jackson, so stop acting like I do.”

  He moved toward her, watching closely as she stepped around him. She did that a lot whenever he was near. Always put distance between them. “Maybe not, but you can’t say my kiss didn’t affect you.”

  She grabbed the empty bottles of beer and went to the kitchen. He followed her, as she no doubt knew he would. When she turned toward him, he saw a vulnerability he hadn’t noticed before. Jackson was suddenly reminded of her age. She was twenty-two. He shouldn’t even be in her apartment, much less planning a decadent three days in Vegas with her. While his mind knew the right thing to do, his body didn’t really care.

  “So it affected me,” she finally admitted. “That doesn’t mean you get to act the jealous lover around my friends.”

  “I’m in unfamiliar territory here, baby. I’m not your lover, not your friend. What the hell am I?”

  “My boss.”

  He dragged his fingers through his hair and counted to ten. “I’m more than your boss, admit that much at least.”

  Grace bit her lip and stared at the floor. “You’re more than my boss.”

  Jackson felt like shouting. It was a very tiny step, but at least he was getting somewhere. “Do you want me?”

  She made an irritated sound. ”You just don’t give up, do you?”

  He moved closer until their bodies were separated by only a few feet of linoleum. “Hell, I probably have no business being here. I’m way too damned old for you. And your entire family would skin me alive if they knew what I was thinking right now. But I’m not giving up. Not until you tell me straight out that you aren’t attracted to me. If you can say that with total honesty, then I’ll leave you alone. I won’t bother you again. You have my word.” I only pray I can keep it.

  “I don’t want you to leave me alone,” she whispered. It was so faint he barely heard her. He started forward, but she shook her head. “But I need time. I’m not ready.”

  Jackson forced himself to stay still, to keep from spooking her. For whatever reason, Grace was afraid of being intimate with him. A crazy thought struck. “Are you a virgin?”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “No! Geez, Jackson!”

  He grinned. “A guy likes to know these things ahead of time.”

  “Can we please change the subject now?”

  He thought of the reason he’d shown up at her apartment to begin with and said, “Actually I came here to ask you something.”

  “What?”

  “I wanted to know about your accident.”

  Grace stood straighter and placed one hand on her hip. “Merrick told you, didn’t he?” He let his silence speak for him. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Kill him later. Right now I want to know what happened. Will you tell me?”

  “I suppose if I don’t you’ll just ask Merrick.”

  He shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.

  She sighed. “Fine. Let’s go back out to the living room.”

  Grace sat in the chair again, which irritated the shit out of him. He wanted her closer. “Afraid I have cooties or something?”

  “More like I’m afraid you’ll try to molest me.”

  Jackson made a cross over his heart. “I promise to be a good boy. Come on, Gracie, sit next to me.”

  No one was more surprised than he when she stood and sat on the couch. Their bodies weren’t touching, but it was progress. If he moved an inch he’d be able to feel her curves.

  He really wanted to move an inch.

  “Touch me and you’ll be icing your crotch for a week.”

  The woman was psychic. And scary. “You warned me,” he pointed out. “I must be growing on you.”

  She laughed, and Jackson felt triumphant. She rarely laughed. Snarled, cursed under her breath, but rarely laughed around him. A man could grow to enjoy Gracie’s laughter. “So, tell me about the wreck. Merrick said it was pretty bad.”

  “It was the day before Christmas Eve. I was driving home from my sister’s house. She’d been having a dinner party for some friends. It had snowed a lot that day. The roads were a mess. I should have stayed at my sister’s place, but I’d promised to work the next day.”

  Since the day they’d met, he knew one truth, Grace was nothing if not loyal to her word. “Where’d you work?”

  “At a grocery store. I needed the money for textbooks. I was a freshman in college at the time.” She paused. “I thought the truck driver was just being annoying. I didn’t know he’d been drinking. He swerved, I braked. Next thing I know I’m waking up in the hospital with broken bones and a headache.”

  “Damn.”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I was out for two days. Totally missed Christmas.”

  He sensed she was glossing over the worst of it. “What else, Grace?”

  When she turned her head and their gazes met. “What do you mean?”

  He put his arm around the back of the couch, careful not to touch her. “You’re not telling me everything. What else happened?”

  “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Then tell me,” he prompted. He wouldn’t let her hide from him, though she seemed to be really good at doing exactly that most days.

  She smoothed a hand over her forehead and said, “Fine. The steering wheel pushed into my abdomen. The trauma caused some damage to my uterus. It’s not that I can’t have kids, but I’m high risk for miscarriages.”

  He suddenly pictured Grace pregnant. She’d be beautiful. A woman like her would want kids, he thought. He could already picture her teaching a little blonde haired imp how to play chess and basketball and all the other games Grace excelled at. He thought of what she’d said about the steering wheel and frowned. “No air bags?”

  “The car was old, it didn’t come equipped.”

  He cupped her chin and stroked her jaw. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

  She sat up straighter and moved away, forcing him to drop his hand. “I’m lucky to be alive.”

  “But it bothers you, doesn’t it? You want kids.”

  “Yeah, it bothers me. I would’ve liked being a mom.”

  “You still can though, right? The option wasn’t taken from you completely.”

  She nodded and started picking at some invisible spot on her black slacks. “The option is there, but with the scare of miscarriage hanging over my head,” she shrugged, “I don’t know. It seems like the odds are stacked against me.”

  “With a good doctor, the right attitude and a little faith, a lot can happen.”

  She smiled, and it warmed his heart. “Thanks for saying that.”

  He winked and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “You’re too stubborn to let percentages keep you from having what you want. Even I know that much.”

  “Thanks…I think,” she said.

  He leaned toward her, noting the way her lips parted and her breathing increased. “You know what I think, Gracie?”

  “W-What?”

  “I think if I don’t kiss you, I’ll die,” he murmured as he closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to hers. Jackson inhaled her gasp of surprise and pulled her close. As his tongue dipped inside her mouth, Jackson knew he’d been right about one thing: Grace’s kiss was definitely potent.

  Grace couldn’t think, couldn’t move. Jackson pressed his lips to hers. His tongue played and teased. Her body turned to liquid fire in two seconds flat. She should push him away, send him home. Instead, she lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck. Jackson groaned as if pleased with her response, slid his arm beneath her knees and pulled her into his lap. Her body seemed so light against so much power and strength. It devastated her senses.

  He lifted his mouth from hers and wh
ispered something against her skin, then moved his lips downward, teasing her beyond measure. Grace leaned back, giving him permission to lick a fiery path along her chin and collarbone, before he zeroed in on the V of her ivory colored blouse. He kissed her cleavage and dipped his talented tongue beneath her white satin bra. She arched against him, desperate for more, so hungry for his touch all over.

  Jackson chuckled and stopped long enough to murmur, “Easy, Gracie. We’ll get there, I promise.”

  She didn’t like that answer to her body’s demands. “Faster or you can leave, damn it.”

  Jackson stopped his ministrations and stared at her in the brightly lit room. What went through his head in that moment was anyone’s guess. When he touched her cheek, she practically melted at the tender caress.

  “Is that what you really want, baby? Do you want me to leave?”

  She hadn’t expected him to take her seriously. She’d only been trying to get him moving along, to quit dawdling.

  “No. I’m just…”

  “Anxious?” he helpfully supplied.

  She clenched her eyelids shut and admitted, “Yes.”

  Jackson’s lips against her forehead forced her to open her eyes once more. His gaze held a wealth of tenderness. Butterflies came to life inside her. An entire swarm of them fluttered around in there.

  “I like you like this. Anxious, wanting me. I’ve wanted you for months, but you were so damn good at evading me.” He paused as if carefully choosing his next words. “Rushing isn’t an option, baby. I like to take my time with a woman. A good, long time.”

  “You talk too much, Jackson. That’s always been your downfall. All talk, no action.”

  “You’re mean when you’re horny.” He grinned and let his gaze travel over her torso. “Fuck, you’re a vision. I think I’d like to keep you for my pet.”

  She smacked him on the chest. “That’s the most sexist thing I’ve ever—”

  He effectively cut her off with a press of his lips to the pulse in her neck.

  “Oh, my God,” Grace moaned as she dug her fingers into his closely cropped dark hair, holding him firmly while he suckled her skin. She ached to feel those lips and that tongue lower. Much lower.

  As if she’d spoken the thought aloud, Jackson inched downward, touching off several spasms as he went. Air brushed against her stomach, and she realized he’d somehow managed to unbutton her blouse and pull it down her shoulders, exposing her torso. When his tongue flicked over one hard nipple through the soft material of her bra, Grace nearly shot off the couch. She forgot her misgivings. Her body craved his touch. It’d been so long since she’d had sex. So damn long since she’d derived any real pleasure from a man’s body.

  As if afraid she would break, Jackson lightly ran his tongue back and forth over her areola seconds before sucking her nipple into his warm mouth, satin and all. He hummed in satisfaction, and the raspy vibration of his voice tormented her. Somehow Grace found herself sprawled, Jackson’s hands on either side of her body effectively pinning her to the cushions. He surrounded her. His lethal strength and intoxicating scent filled her vision and her senses.

  While he switched to the other breast, Grace marveled at his patience. He sipped at her skin and toyed with erogenous zones she wasn’t aware she possessed. When he appeared to be settling in for a damned meal, Grace urged him lower with a tug on his hair. He obliged and moved his loving torture south. Her body reacted with a flow of moisture to her center. Every inch of her was ready for him to take her. To fuck her. He’d be hard and savage, she knew it in her bones.

  “Please, Jackson.”

  A grunt was the only indication he’d even heard her plea. By tiny increments, he tugged her slacks down, and with each piece of flesh he exposed he sprinkled her with kisses. By the time the material was all the way off, Grace’s pussy throbbed.

  He sat back on his haunches, his gaze devouring her. “You don’t wear panties?”

  Grace didn’t like embarrassment, and at that moment, she seemed to be swimming in it. “Wow, pretty observant. No wonder you’re the VP.”

  “All night you sat here chatting with Jordan and you weren’t wearing panties.” He passed a hand over his face and grumbled, “Damn, Grace. You sure know how to drive a man crazy.”

  “Oh, gee, such a sweet talker you are.”

  He reached down and cupped her mound. “You’re a real smart ass. One of these days I’m going to spank you for it too.”

  “Spanking my ass. Sounds kinky.”

  “Who said anything about your ass?” he growled. “I think I’d rather tie up these pretty tits and spank those instead.”

  His words brought an image to her mind, a totally forbidden image. Her clit swelled. She tried to maintain her cool composure, but when his middle finger found its way through her curls and sank all the way to the knuckle inside her heat, she gave up any pretense of control.

  “Mmm, just look at you. Your cunt is ripe for the plucking. I think I’m going to really enjoy making you scream with pleasure.”

  When a second finger joined the first, her hips began to move, matching his pumping rhythm. After thrusting several times, Jackson brought both fingers all the way out. She wanted to beg him to come back, but her words died on her tongue as she watched him suck her juices off each digit.

  “Tangy, but I’m going to need a little more to be sure.” He spread her wide and dipped his head between her thighs and swept his tongue over her swollen clit.

  She arched upwards, and he was there, holding her down with a hand splayed across her belly. She moaned and writhed under his assault. His tongue dipped in and out, tasting and sweeping her into a different realm. She went wild when he sucked her clit into his mouth and nibbled it. Once, twice, and she suddenly burst apart, shouting his name and flowing into his greedy mouth.

  He stayed there for long seconds after her orgasm ended, relishing the little aftershocks. Then he lifted his head.

  “Fucking beautiful,” he murmured. “So fucking beautiful, baby.”

  Amen, was all she could think as she let her eyes drift closed. Then his weight lifted, and Grace opened them again, curious as to what he was about to do. She watched him standing beside the couch, an impressive erection tenting the front of his slacks and some unnamed emotion on his face.

  He leaned down, kissed her forehead and murmured, “Sleep tight, pretty Grace.”

  Shock and mortification filled her as he walked to her door. As he turned the knob, she found her voice. “That’s it?” She sat up and grabbed her blouse. “You’re leaving?”

  He winked at her. “The rest will be waiting for you in Vegas. If you want it, you’ll have to come and get it.”

  As he opened the door and walked out, Grace saw red. “Vegas.” Her mind was already churning with all the ways to make Jackson Hill squirm. “We’ll just see who caves first.”

  Grace got up from the couch and went to the bedroom. She pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top before heading to the phone. When she dialed her sister’s number, her fingers still shook with anger.

  “Hello?”

  “He makes me crazy!” Grace shouted.

  “Uh, Grace, it might help if you start by telling me who you’re talking about.”

  Her sister’s matter of fact tone never failed to calm her. “Jackson, He was just here.”

  “Jackson from work who has the hots for you? That Jackson? What was he doing at your apartment?”

  Grace went to the kitchen and grabbed her chocolate bar from the fridge. “He said Merrick told him about my car accident and he wanted to know more about it.”

  “So he came to your apartment instead of waiting to ask you at work on Monday? There’s something missing here. What’s missing?”

  Grace plopped onto the sofa and groaned. She could still smell his masculine scent. It was going to be a really long weekend. “Well, we sort of did more than talk.”

  “Oh, my God. Did you sleep with him?”

  She fel
t her cheeks heat. Faith always seemed to have a way of making her feel like an unruly teenager. She tore open the chocolate bar and bit off a piece. “No, I didn’t sleep with him. Although, I am a big girl. I’m allowed to have sex.”

  “Yeah, I know, but you’re still my baby sister,” she reminded her. “Okay, so, you didn’t have sex. What exactly did you do?

  “We, uh, we sort of made out.”

  “Was it horrible? Is he a crappy kisser?”

  “He’s not horrible. In fact he’s so damn good my body is still humming.”

  “I just don’t understand why you won’t go out with him. It’s clear you like him or you never would have let him touch you. Why are you holding back?”

  There was the million-dollar question. “I don’t know. He’s smart, he works hard, he’s a genuinely nice guy. Overbearing and annoying, but he’s one of the good ones. Plus, he’s hot as hell. My God, the things that man can do with his hands…” her voice trailed off as she remembered just exactly how talented he was with his fingers.

  “Okay, so he’s the best thing since Mom’s double fudge brownies. Then what’s wrong with him? Does he have like an extra nipple or something? What?”

  Grace laughed. “No, he doesn’t have an extra nipple.”

  “That’s a relief,” Faith said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

  Grace sobered as she thought over Faith’s question. “I don’t know, sis. He’s just so intense. When I’m around him I feel like he can see right into my soul. I’m not sure I’m ready for a guy like Jackson.”

  “And yet you still made out with him. It seems to me like your body is tired of your brain holding back. Maybe you need to give him a chance. See where it goes.”

  “I gave him a chance tonight and he left.” Grace got angry all over again as she remembered his parting words. “Do you know what he said? He said if I wanted the rest, I’d have to get it from him in Vegas. See what I mean? He’s so annoying.”

  “Vegas? Since when did you decide to go to Vegas?”

  “Since today. There’s a big IT convention there next week. Jackson invited me to come along and check out the latest technology for Vaughn’s. When I refused, he called me chicken. Can you believe that?”