Playing For Her Heart

by Megan Erickson

  She was topless now, those breasts he loved on full display. But he wasn’t fully hard, not at all. Because this…this wasn’t sexual, he realized. She was doing something, making some sort of statement so he said nothing as she slipped off the skirt and stood before him in nothing but a small pair of panties.

  She bent and unzipped the bag at the end of the bed. Her hands were shaking, the zipper clicking as she wet a cotton ball with some sort of liquid and rubbed it over her face. The makeup, the heavy black on her eyes, the red lips, the rouged cheeks. It all came off on a couple of cotton balls, which she tossed into the small trash can beside the desk.

  She swallowed, staring at him, her eyes red and shining. Her lips trembled and he wanted to reach out to her but her body language was telling him to stay back, so he did.

  She took a deep breath, pulled out a pair of loose cotton pants, slid them on, and then tugged a large black T-shirt over her head that said in white lettering, There’s no place like 127.0.0.1.

  Her shoulders shook now, her eyes brimming over with tears. Her lips formed an O, as she took a couple of breaths to settle herself. And then she looked him right in the eye and said, “Hi, Grant Osprey. I’m Chloe Talley. Nice to meet you.”

  …

  She was fully clothed. In fact, this was one of the few times she’d been fully clothed in front of Grant. And yet, she’d never felt so naked. Not ever.

  There was no costume. No persona. No attitude. This was Chloe. As Grant should have met her the first time.

  Her hands shook, and she couldn’t stop worrying the inside of her cheek but despite all of that, she knew she was in the right place.

  Her nerves meant she realized how important this was.

  Grant hadn’t moved yet. He stared at her, that blue stare the most intense she’d ever seen. His usual humor was nonexistent on his face. This was serious. This meant something.

  Last time they were in a hotel room, she’d walked toward him, while he stood taking her with undisguised lust. That was all it had been then.

  Now, there was a whole lot more to the look in Grant’s eyes.

  This time, when she took a step forward, he took one, too, and they both kept walking until they met in the middle at the foot of the king-size bed.

  Grant was smiling down at her while he cupped her cheek and she hadn’t realized it was possible for someone to look at her like that. The way he drank her in, soaked her up, well, she wasn’t sure how she’d lived without all this time.

  She reached up and gripped his wrist with her fingers, leaning into his hand.

  “Hi, Chloe,” he said. “I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful than you right now.”

  She tried to stop the tears, but they came anyway. She’d known this would be hard, but she hadn’t expected to be this emotional. She hadn’t expected to feel so raw and exposed but she should have known. This was Grant after all. He’d always been able to see right through every facade she threw up.

  “I’m sorry it took me so long,” she said. “But I had to put my heart back together. I had to get my head straight, before I could commit to you. And I’m still nervous. I’m still worried that I’m not going to be everything you need. But I want to try.”

  Grant shook his head, the tender expression never leaving his face. “I don’t need anything. I just want. I want you, Chloe. All of you.”

  She didn’t even flinch when he said her name while his thumb caressed the corner of her mouth. It felt…good. And right. Her heart was definitely back in her chest, because now it was beating double-time at his words. It was her—Chloe—present in that moment with Grant. How had she gotten so lucky?

  He wore only a pair of sweats slung low on his hips. She ran her hands up his stomach, over his chest, before laying her palms on his shoulders.

  “When you took off your shirt in the hotel room that first time, I got into the role and imagined you had these muscles from, you know, Aric’s grand revenge plot.” She brushed his biceps with the backs of her hands. “I pretended these were from wielding your mighty sword.” She trailed her fingers down his torso and then patted his thighs. “That these legs were from riding your trusty steed.”

  “Midnight,” he said softly.

  “Yes, your horse Midnight.” She smiled. “And now, well I think these arms are from helping Sydney stir a particularly tough batter and these legs are from climbing your stairs or pacing your office.”

  “Chloe…” he whispered, his voice full of reverence.

  “I like the reality better than the fiction,” she said. “And I’m not sure I ever thought I’d say that.”

  “Fuck, I need to kiss you,” he growled and then his hands were fisting her hair and his lips were on hers, his tongue pressing into his mouth. Her skin was tight and hot all over. She wanted her clothes off. She wanted to touch him as much as possible, full contact.

  She ripped herself from his kiss and tore her completely nerdy T-shirt over her head. Grant got the silent memo because he shoved down his sweatpants, stepping out of them like they were fire.

  His cock was hard, standing out from his belly like a proud soldier. She kicked off her pants and underwear, then grabbed his shaft, and stroked it once. He groaned and they fell to the bed in a tangle of limbs, with Grant’s body on top of hers.

  He gripped her shoulders, pinning her to the bed, effectively slowing the frenzy. She rocked her hips and he moaned. “Chloe, hold on. I want this to be slow, okay? Slow.”

  Slow sex was a new concept to her. Fast was the game, get in, get some, and get out before the clock struck midnight and the carriage turned back into pumpkin.

  Except she didn’t feel like a pumpkin. She was Chloe, naked with the man of her dreams and yeah…she wanted this to last, too.

  “You’re right,” she said breathlessly.

  He blew out a calming breath and then began the torture.

  If anything happened to Grant, she was going to donate his tongue to science—mental note to ask him if he was an organ donor—because that thing needed to be studied.

  He was wicked with it, tracing her collarbone, circling her hard nipples. He dipped it into her bellybutton as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

  And then he grinned up at her before sticking his face between her legs and giving her the best oral sex of her lifetime.

  He was a master at knowing how fast, how much pressure, and exactly where that little bundle of nerves was that made her toes curl. This time, he added fingers, curling them inside until he touched that same spot he had before, the one no one had ever found. And the dual stimulation had her drenched, writhing on his hand and tongue until she was whimpering in a hoarse voice.

  She was so turned on, and the orgasm was such a slow build, that she wasn’t even sure it had hit her until Grant said, “Yeah, that’s it, I can feel it, sweetheart, come for me.”

  Her muscles were squeezing his fingers and sounds were coming out of her mouth that might have been prayers. She wasn’t sure.

  Grant crawled up her body, massaging her thighs. He was grinning, lips red. “How’re you doing?”

  “I’m pretty good.” She sounded like a frog.

  “Did you lose your voice already, Princess? Good thing you don’t have to talk to do your job because man, I’m not even close to being finished with you.”

  She grabbed his neck and crushed his lips to hers, tasting herself and not caring.

  She wrapped her legs around his hips. His hard cock rubbed along her wet, sensitive flesh. She rolled her hips and smiled against his lips when he groaned.

  “Go get a condom and claim your woman.”

  Grant laughed and was off the bed in a shot, running into the bathroom. He came out holding a condom, grinning like an idiot. “You’re lucky I keep one in my bag.” He rolled it on as he knee-walked between her legs on the bed. He dropped to all fours, hands on either side of her head. “Hey there, Chloe.”

  She ran her hand through her hair and let it rest on the bed abo
ve her head. “Hi, Grant.”

  He closed his eyes slowly, then fired her with the blue laser when they popped back open. “I think that’s the first time you said my name to me,” he said softly.

  She felt the smile drop off her face as her stomach rolled. She hadn’t realized she hadn’t even said his name. This man was definitely her dream man for still wanting her after all this. “Really?”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “You’re saying it now.”

  “Grant.” She licked her lips, tasting his name on her lips, savoring it on her tongue. “Grant, Grant, Grant—”

  He cut her off by kissing her and entering her at the same time.

  She gasped into his mouth and clutched her shoulders. When he began to move his hips, there was no rush to the rhythm. He pulled back so he could watch her face. He’d stop when he was in to the hilt, grind his hips, then pull back out, each thrust a blow to her mind and her body.

  Because the whole time, he was whispering things like, “beautiful” and “gorgeous” and “I dreamed about this” and “thank you, Chloe.”

  And she thought about saying, I love you, Grant.

  But there was time. There was plenty of time, so instead she watched his face, this beautiful, caring man who wanted her.

  So when he whispered, “Say my name,” she didn’t hesitate.

  “Grant,” she said through a lump in her throat.

  “Fuck yes,” he whispered. He shoved his face into her neck, bit her skin, and she came. She came apart on Grant’s cock plunging inside of her, Grant’s breath in her ear, Grant’s breath saying her name like a prayer.

  And then it was Grant who came inside of her on a long moan, whose hips stuttered. And it was Grant who stroked her hair as she burst into tears.

  …

  Chloe’s fingers grazed Grant’s chest as he lay on his back. Every once in a while, he’d feel a nail, but mostly, it was soft touches, like a feather.

  He squeezed her tighter to his chest and closed his eyes.

  He couldn’t remember a time when the sex had been…like that. Sex where he stared into his partner’s eyes. Sex where the journey was better than the destination. Sex where hearing his own name was like coming home.

  He liked rough sex. He liked dirty talk. Chloe did, too, if their previous encounters were any indication. But to know now that they could also have sex like this, where they took their time, where they—Jesus Christ, made love—well then wasn’t that the ultimate?

  He hadn’t realized he wanted that, the type of lovemaking they’d just done. But now that they had, he couldn’t imagine living without it.

  Chloe shifted in his arms so she could look him in the eye. “So, are we going to try this?”

  He cupped her cheek. “Yeah, we are. I want to take you out to a fancy dinner. I want to snuggle with you on the couch under a blanket while we watch bad action movies. I want to see you in my kitchen, cooking with my daughter.”

  Her eyes were wide. “I want those things, too.”

  “And you’re okay dating a washed-up single dad?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re not washed up, you’re thirty-two. I love your daughter, and I love what a great dad you are.”

  “Sydney’s more my parent. I think my only use to her is taste-tester.”

  “I highly doubt that.”

  “You just wait until you’re there and she yells at me for leaving my boxers on the floor of the bedroom. She shames me.”

  Chloe’s laughter was musical as it rang out in the hotel room.

  “I like making you laugh,” he said.

  “I like when you make me laugh,” she answered.

  “Yeah? Well I have this hotel room until tomorrow morning so there’s plenty of time to make you laugh a lot. Hard and fast and slow. Maybe…about three times.”

  Chloe bit her lip. “Is this what I have to look forward to with dating a single dad? You using euphemisms for orgasm.”

  Grant shook his head. “Nah, Sydney’s smarter than me. She’d see right through them. So, how about those three times?”

  She pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I like even numbers.”

  He rolled his eyes. “God, fine. Just give me, like, half an hour of recovery time.”

  She hopped off the bed and began digging in her bag again. “Hey,” he leaned up on his elbows, “maybe twenty minutes if you don’t put clothes on again.”

  She grinned and pulled out a clear plastic tub. “I brought fuel.”

  “Fuel?”

  She threw the tub at him and then crawled onto the bed. He pulled off the lid and breathed in the smell of chocolate chip cookies. “Oh my God, I’m getting hard again over chocolate.”

  Chloe winked at him and reached into the container, grabbing a cookie and taking a bite. “You brought me treats at my parents’ and I figured I’d repay the favor.”

  “I definitely love you.”

  “You were unsure before?”

  He shoved a cookie into his mouth so he didn’t have to answer that.

  When they’d scarfed down several cookies, Chloe rested her head on his stomach. “I thought of you as a Ken doll when we first met,” Chloe said, her breath hot on his chest.

  He looked down at her as she propped her chin on a fist to meet his gaze. “A Ken doll?”

  “Yeah, you know, all blond-haired and blue-eyed with a square jaw.”

  “Did you play with Barbies a lot when you were little?”

  She nodded. “They always ended up naked on the rooftop of my Dream House. Because I had a Skipper, too, and what they did on the rooftop wasn’t appropriate for her little eyes.”

  His little sex fiend. “Ken’s kind of a hard ideal to live up to, isn’t he?”

  Chloe scrunched her nose. “Not really. When I take off your pants, I’m much happier at what I see than when I took off Ken’s pants.”

  Grant figured he should be grateful about that. “Poor Ken.”

  “Poor Barbie,” Chloe muttered.

  He laughed, hard. And Chloe laughed, her green eyes scrunched, her mouth wide.

  She sobered then. “Were you serious about coming to grief counseling with me?”

  “Of course I was. I’d come with you in a heartbeat.”

  “Thank you.”

  He rolled onto his side so they faced each other. “Thanks for not throwing me out of your parents’ house when I showed up unannounced.”

  “I wouldn’t have done that.”

  He tongued the roof of his mouth as he thought about the right way to word what he planned to say next. “You know, I don’t have a problem with role-playing again. Or anything you want to do, really. That was fun, right?”

  Chloe’s cheeks stained pink, but she nodded.

  “And this… Well damn, I’ve never had what we just did and I think that’s why I was so stubborn about not playing the game anymore, Chloe. Because I didn’t want to just play for your body, I wanted to play for your heart.”

  “Grant…” she whispered.

  “And I feel like now I got some of it, even if it was just a little bit. And I hope I did what I told you I would. I hope I gave some of mine back.”

  Her eyes were wet, really wet, and she was blinking a lot. He didn’t apologize though, because he wasn’t sorry. Not at all.

  “You did, Grant,” she said, her voice still a little hard. “You did.”

  He kissed her nose, then her lips, then nibbled on her ear, until she began shifting her legs restlessly.

  “So, even numbers, right?” he asked.

  “Two down, two to go,” she said.

  He hummed as he settled between her legs and palmed her breasts. “Guess I got work to do then.”

  Epilogue

  Chloe snipped off a couple of buds of the rhododendron bush and eyed the plant critically.

  Grant’s house, while beautiful, had been severely lacking in the landscaping department. He’d tried to say he didn’t care about gardens and flowers. But when she was o
ut there, on her hands and knees digging in the dirt, he found numerous reasons to be out there with her.

  Most of those reasons involved standing behind her, commenting appreciatively on the size and shape of her ass.

  As she dropped on all fours to pull a rogue weed from in front of the black-eyed Susans, Grant whistled from behind her.

  “That’s great, sweetheart. Now maybe arch your back a little more.”

  “Don’t you have something better to do?” she huffed.

  A pause, then. “Nope, pretty sure I have absolutely nothing better to do.”

  She rolled her eyes, but she smiled. Her body had never been a source of self-consciousness for her, no that had been all focused on what was inside, but Grant’s approval and compliments on every part of her, inside and out, still filled her with warmth.

  It’d been a year since that day he’d followed her to her parents. In that time, she’d moved in with him and Sydney. Ethan had frowned at that, saying it was too fast, but she and Grant had been through a lot together and no one made her feel as valued as Grant did.

  Even if right now, her value was apparently her ass.

  “Wow, there are a lot of weeds, here, huh? You’re going to be on your knees for a while.” Grant tsked. “Such a shame.”

  She wiggled her ass and he groaned. “Don’t tempt me right now. We’re outside and it’s the middle of the day—”

  She began to roll her hips and looked at him coyly over her shoulder.

  His eyes were narrowed, a bead of sweat dripping down his temple. He wore a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, his hair adorably rumpled, and his eyes were on her ass.

  “Later tonight,” he said, his voice low, “I expect you just like this on the bed, naked, and I’ll spend a good half hour with my mouth between your legs.”

  She never got tired of that mouth. What it did and the words it said. “You promising?” she asked.

  His gaze lifted to hers. “Oh definitely.”

  She smiled at him, then straightened up quickly as the back door of the house slammed open. “Dad! Chloe!” Sydney’s voice carried on the breeze.