by Melissa Blue
Stepping away from the scope, he gestured for her to take a turn.
“Are you sure?” She looked between the both of them.
Grady glanced at his brother and then it dawned on him this was new for them. He didn’t bring women up here and neither did Wade. As much as this was his brother’s work, Grady visited enough they could consider this their second home.
There was no rule against bringing women, they just hadn’t. Until Eva. As much as he wanted to give her comfort, Grady didn’t want to trample over the hard-worn relationship he and his brother had rebuilt.
“Can she look through the telescope?”
Wade dragged his attention away from the mountain of papers on the desk to smile politely and say, “Go ahead.”
She was short enough to not have to bend. Her hands flew up to the sides of the scope and she gasped. “It feels so close.” She shifted like she wanted to climb through the glass and fly to the stars. “And it’s so clear. I can see the pink stuff just like in the pictures. Oh, my God.” She laughed, her gaze sweeping between him and then Wade. “You get to do this for a living?”
“It’s part of it,” his brother answered, wearing a bemused expression.
He loved talking about his work. Loved it more when someone was excited about his life’s work. No small wonder that space and time was his favorite subject to geek over, and that Doctor Who was his favorite TV show. It’s how Grady fell into Firefly. Cowboys in space? Wade had watched it first and dragged him into it.
Eva asked, “What drew you to it?”
“Don’t get him started,” Grady muttered.
“No.” She glanced at Grady, a reproachful tone in her voice. “I really want to know.”
Because his work was a passion, that’s all Wade needed. Grady chuckled. “You only have yourself to blame.”
She playfully shushed him, her attention fixed on Wade.
His brother said, “The short answer is that whenever I looked up, everything else seemed so small and insignificant in comparison. I knew scientifically what the stars were made of. I wanted to know how they got there. Maybe I could figure out why they were there. I never got that question answered. Not knowing annoys me.” Wade reached down behind his desk.
He tossed a blanket at him. “Get out. Your flirting with her is distracting. And go grocery shopping. The food here is only serviceable.”
Grady caught the blanket. “I’m eating out tonight,” he said mostly to piss Wade off.
His brother only grunted. Grady tugged her from the telescope. She made sputtering noises and then finally came away with him.
“What’s that for?” she asked when they were back outside in the balmy air.
The summer night had darkened considerably but he could still find his way on the hillside. Concentrating on that, he said in an absent manner, “I’m taking you to the spot my brother and I go to all the time.” He paused. “I see you didn’t ask him about his problem.”
She shrugged. “Seems rude to show up to someone’s job and say, ’hey, I suspect something more is going on with you. Tell me.’”
“He would have respected you for asking.” He had to stop a moment and check the trees. He gestured toward the direction they needed to go. “Now he’ll wonder about the impromptu visit and probably ask me about it.”
“And what would you tell him?”
Wade used a tough, glib exterior whenever he had to talk about his disorder. “You were wearing tight jean shorts and I couldn’t see a panty line. I so wasn’t ready for you to go home yet.”
They didn’t fall far from the same tree.
She playfully punched him in the arm. “I’m being serious.”
“So am I.” He stopped right at the dip in the hill and laid out the blanket. “But the question is, after talking to my brother, do you still think something is wrong with him?”
“No,” she said but answered with uncertainty. “It’s just…some of the things you’ve said makes me think something is going on. You both have good paying jobs so you didn’t need to live with each other. Stuff like that.”
He thought back on the things he’d revealed about his brother. Wade’s diagnosis wasn’t something Grady ever felt comfortable sharing. It wasn’t his secret to reveal. “Your instincts are on point, but why does it matter?”
She was quiet for a moment. “What do you mean?”
“Why do you need to know?” He didn’t ask the question in a harsh tone, just matter of fact. “Is it going to change your first impression after meeting him?”
“No, but…” She stopped in her insistent tone and then laughed. “Ah. You got me. You probably even guessed I’d lose my nerve and not ask Wade.”
He smiled. “And what did you learn, grasshopper?”
She only shook her head for a moment. “Knowing what’s wrong with me isn’t going to change how you see me.”
Yeah. He liked to cut to the chase but sometimes he had to take the long road to get to the destination. That much he’d learned from being an instructor. Grady wasn’t dumb enough to make the observation out loud. She’d finally relaxed with him. He was curious about her back-story but didn’t need to know the details. Definitely didn’t need to remind her why she shouldn’t be here on this hill with him.
When he’d seen her in the coffee shop, he pretty much made peace with what he would have to do. Was it a crazy risk to be with her? Fuck, yeah. But it felt right. And he didn’t become everyone’s rock because he was soft or because he made the easy choices.
Glancing at her, he said, “You’re here with me now. That’s important.” He leaned back onto the blanket. “It’s a clear night. Let’s look at the stars.”
“You’re crafty,” she said and then settled in closer to him.
It was nice, real nice to have her warmth beside him. He folded his hands behind his head and took in the sky. She sighed and scooted over until her hip pressed into his. On instinct he straightened his left arm. She rose long enough to use his limb as a pillow.
After a few quiet minutes, she murmured, “I see what your brother means.”
She didn’t have to explain. It was why, for the past year, they’d spent a shitload of time on this hill without talking. Grady might not feel the same depth of wonder as his brother when he looked up. Though he understood more than the average Joe about the cosmos because of Wade. Yet, looking up at the sky still left him in a state of awe. And he wanted to share this sacred space with Eva.
“You should hear him give the universe-is-connected speech,” Grady said. “He always starts off with a Carl Sagan quote: ‘If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.’”
“Huh. That’s really deep.”
“Exactly. While you’re sitting there with your mind half-blown by something that simple, he tells you about trees, we breathe in that oxygen while it breathes in our carbon monoxide. When we die our bodies turn back into dirt. One day, a tree sapling will grow and the process starts over.”
She flashed him a grin that he could still see in the shadows. “So we’re breathing in dead people?”
He snorted and turned his face in her direction. “Yup, but the way he tells the story, gender stereotypes aside, it makes you want to cry at the beauty of his world—universe-view. It’s the circle of life speech, if you add in the universe and poetry.” He lifted his arm, forcing her to roll into him.
Darkness cloaked most of her features though he could make out her eyes. They’d widened at the action. Her hands rested on his chest as though to brace herself, but her leg tangled with his.
Eva’s breath caught and that was all he needed to hear as confirmation she didn’t too much mind his subtle manhandling. He murmured, “We got to the part where we play it by ear.”
Her reply was breathless, “I’m starting to think this was your goal all along.”
A corner of his mouth twisted into a smile. “You don’t sound too put out.”
“I’m being rec
kless,” she said in a rush. “Might as well have something good to regret tomorrow.”
“Why would you regret it?” He lifted her chin with his finger. His pulse was going wild at her reaction to him. She was damn near vibrating.
“Can’t remember,” she muttered as he trailed a finger over the pulse in her throat.
“Your skin is so damn soft.” Her heartbeat was as wild as his, but desire wasn’t the only thing reflecting back in her eyes. “What are you scared of?”
She tilted her head up and kissed him quiet. Nope. Didn’t mind that. He drew his hand down to the hem of her cotton shirt, lifting it until his palm met the scratchy lace of her bra. She moaned into his mouth, pressing closer to him, dipping her tongue between his lips—once, twice…more.
Her tongue was hot and wicked, and he kept up, suckling the tip whenever she gave him the chance. He worked his fingers underneath her bra and pushed up. His brain was screaming at him to go slow, to not spook her but her nipple pulled tight beneath his hand.
He broke the kiss long enough to wet the tip of his thumb and then rolled the hard bud until she was panting in his mouth. He widened his caress, starting at the tips of her breasts and down to her stomach. It wasn’t enough. He wanted her naked and wet. Shuddering and moaning his name would be nice, too.
“On your back,” he whispered, easing her onto the blanket. When she was settled, he rested on his side, braced on his forearm.
Her shirt was up to her neck. The way the bra cut across her breasts they looked fuller, ripe for a bite of his mouth. The denim shorts skimmed the tops of her thighs. Eva, like this, half-dressed and aroused, needed to be burned in effigy.
His control threatened to snap. “I’m going to start you off slow.”
A flash of pink cut through the pitch black. She was licking her lips. “Aren’t you worried someone will come this way?”
Go slow, dammit. Pouncing on her wouldn’t do anything but make the caveman beating inside him happy. “Only my brother does and he’s working.”
He cupped her breast, kneading gently before bringing his mouth down. He licked her nipple, her areola then sucked her softly. Again, then again and then he let the bud slip through his lips. Her gasp was sharp.
Shit. He pulled back. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She reached up, gripped his hair and yanked him back to her.
He chuckled, but now he knew what she liked. He sucked and licked her breasts and when she started to gyrate her hips, he introduced teeth, nipping at the sensitive curves. He could have feasted on her all night, letting her choppy moans and his heavy breathing be the only thing to fill the silence.
But he wanted more, so much more than to hear her aroused and to taste her sweet skin. He placed open mouth kisses down her torso, shifting his position so that she was beneath him, caged between his legs.
Her grip on his hair tightened. “Grady, you’re driving me crazy.”
He dipped his tongue into her belly button. Her hips rose from the blanket. That silent yearning was the sexiest thing he’d ever experienced.
“Eva, can I take off your pants?” The words may have been polite but his voice had gone rough.
She unbuttoned and unzipped her shorts as an answer. He pushed her hands away and tugged at the denim and found a thong beneath. The no-panty-line mystery solved. Grady curled his fingers around both and dragged them down, kissing every inch of skin as it was exposed. Took a long while. He had to lick and nip his way back up to the juncture between her legs.
He spread her open for him. Fuck the dark. It kept him from seeing just how pretty in pink she was. But that was all right. He didn’t need to see to make her his with just his lips. He bent, using only the heat of her as a guide, and sucked the right fold into his mouth, tasting her cream already. She was that wet.
Eva moaned, her heel riding up his spine. He moved his mouth to the other side, not trying to steady his heavy breathing. He knew it would brush against her clit. His intent.
She shuddered and that heel dug into his back just a bit more. He traced the fold with his mouth closed and then sucked it. She was bare and slick so she glided over his lips and tongue easily. Her groan sounded strangled.
He was going slow, reveling just a bit too, because he’d imagined what the scent of lavender and cinnamon would smell like on her pussy. Now he knew the musky scent. A pang of hunger made his mouth water.
“Grady…” There was a desperation in her voice that he’d never heard before. “You don’t have to go slow.”
He lifted his head. “Are you sure?” He grasped her thighs and pinned her legs back as far as they could go in this position. “Only say yes if you’re absolutely sure, Eva.”
“I can’t take this slow. Please.”
“Start the count,” he said.
“What?”
“The game we’re playing, remember? Count backward to one hundred until you come. Let’s see if you can make it to one.”
She whimpered and then he could feel her hands in his hair. She closed her fists. “100, 99…”
He closed his mouth over the swollen hood of her sex and rolled her clit beneath his tongue. Soft brushes at first until she tried to squirm and urge him to give her more. She was still counting, missing numbers, moaning too long and trying to pick them back up. He didn’t stop or let up. Grady wanted this to be better than the audio she’d sent him. It wouldn’t be her fingers giving her pleasure. His mouth. Him. No one and nothing else.
She went from fifty right to thirty in the next breath. Not good enough. He flicked his tongue harder and faster. Her hips strained against his hands and she cried out. Then again louder. She trembled beneath his palms but he continued licking and sucking her into oblivion. The first orgasm ripped through her. She pushed with her heels into his back to crawl away. He took his mouth-fucking back to slow until she came down and then started again.
Grady didn’t have a condom. This would have to do and he wouldn’t be done until she begged him to stop. But that was fine. All of it was. His dick being harder than granite. Not knowing what she felt like wrapped around his cock, milking him, leaving him drenched in her cream. She never made it to one. That was more than fine.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Standing in line for her morning coffee in the Brew and Bagels, Eva couldn’t help the smile. There were a handful of things she’d learned from the night before. Astrophysicists could be poetic or bro dude cool. A man who could recite a defunct Sci-Fi TV series, by rights the very definition of a geek, could blow the back of your head off.
And she’d never learn.
Only the last wasn’t fair to herself. The line moved and she drifted with it, her smile faltering. It couldn’t be helped. Her sister hadn’t talked to her since the day before, but Lauren’s voice still chattered in Eva’s head.
You did, what? Where? With who?
She rolled her shoulders and tried to concentrate on the coffee menu. One night with Grady had only taunted her. A single night and—the hairs on the back of her neck prickled with such an intensity her heart kicked into overdrive. A familiar musky scent of aftershave hit her next.
Eva would forever connect that smell with freshly cut grass, balmy summer nights, the rasp of a five o’clock shadow between her legs and Orion’s Belt. She bit into her lip to cage the instinctive moan. So, yeah. Eva didn’t have to turn around to know the heat brushing against her back was Grady.
He was supposed to be well past his morning wood, but he had leaned in close and pressed his hard cock into the curve of her ass.
“Good morning, Eva.” His voice held a deeper rasp, making it much more gritty.
Oh, yeah. The morning did something sexy to his voice.
She only allowed herself a moment to glance at him. His lids were low, his attention fixed on her ass. Given, his front was plastered to it. The tilt of his head brought up visions of him watching himself sink into her as he fucked her from behind. And after last night she knew he’d wrap his
hand into a fist in her hair as he pounded into her.
Self-preservation forced her to say, “Good morning, Professor Addison.”
Four words and a wall slammed down on his expressive eyes. He took a step back and shoved his hands into his pockets. The problem was she didn’t feel a twinge of guilt at his reaction. If they were going to play with fire for the next few weeks, the least they could do was behave while in public.
And maybe some part of her was waiting for him to prove the past repeated itself. She’d have a whimsical need to visit him after hours and she’d find him tangled up with another co-ed. Or the Dean would find out what they’d done and feel the need to harshly reprimand her instead of him.
She knew all too well professors had groupies. There was just something sexy about the knowledgeable older man. A professor who looked like Grady probably had a dedicated circle of English majors writing fan fiction where he was their Mr. Darcy or their Awakening.
The guilt didn’t lessen as a cold front wafted from behind her. “Grady—”
“Don’t. Wouldn’t want you to be late for class.”
She shivered at the arctic tone. He was pissed. She couldn’t blame him and couldn’t fault herself. No matter how different this was, too many parts felt familiar. No one could know. The chemistry was explosive. So much was at stake.
But…He never spoke a word about his career or why he couldn’t let anyone know how he felt for her. He’d taken her to meet his brother. Eva didn’t doubt if she’d ask to meet his friends he’d introduce her to them. From what she could glean, they already knew about her.
Her heart began to pound harder. Dammit. Shortness of breath would come next. Her vision would dim. Just standing in line with him behind her sent that wild, shaky out-of-control feeling racing through her. This was the damage her previous mistake had left. That one great love, the one that defined you, was only supposed to leave an ache in your heart. Those who were only left with that… Lucky fucking bastards.
