All Over You (22 page)

He glanced up along the stairwell and saw that a new sheet of paper beckoned him onward every second step or so. He stepped up.

The second sheet was just a note:
Things you should know about me: I snore when I’ve had too much to drink.

He tugged it free and shuffled it beneath the first sheet.

Another step, then another.

A photo this time. Grace was probably ten or eleven. She was standing with her three sisters, all of whom were sporting finalist’s ribbons for a shopping-mall beauty pageant. Grace’s gaze was tortured as she stared at the camera and hunched her shoulders.

He tucked it beneath the others and took another two steps.

A note:
I sometimes drink the milk straight from the carton. And I put the juice back when there’s only an inch left.

He added it to his growing pile and moved to the next sheet.

Grace at a Halloween party, age maybe fifteen. She was wearing a ridiculous pumpkin costume and bobbing for apples, and the photographer had captured her in a moment of pure joy, her mouth open wide with laughter, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

The next note read:
I need to learn to love myself more and to trust other people.

He was at the top of the stairs.

He turned into the corridor and found another photo of Grace, this one from her university days. She had adopted the big black glasses and retro fashion, but hadn’t quite perfected the look yet. She posed with younger versions of Sadie and Claudia, both of whom sported their own embarrassing fashion faux pas.

There was one last note before he reached his bedroom doorway.

I am afraid to love, but even more afraid of what will happen if I don’t take the risk. I want to be brave. I want to be worthy of you.

He stepped into his bedroom.

She was standing in the middle of the room, naked. She met his eyes bravely.

“This is me. No more secrets. No more hiding. I want to know you and I want you to know me. I love you, Mac. And I hope you still love me,” she said.

Words crowded his throat, but they weren’t even close to being adequate and there was something he had to do first. He closed the space between them and pulled her into his arms. It had been way too long since he’d held her. He cupped the back of her head and pressed his cheek against her hair, just absorbing the fact that she was there.

“I love you, Grace,” he said. “It would take a lot more than what happened the other day to stop me loving you — but I knew you had to want to be here as much as I wanted you to.”

She lifted her head so that he could see her eyes.

“I do. I want it more than anything,” she said. “I’m sorry I’ve been such hard work. But the bad old shit is on the way out and I want to replace it with good stuff.”

His reached out to rub a thumb along her cheekbone. She smiled at him. Then, as if they had a mind of their own, his eyes dropped to her breasts.

Man, was he the luckiest guy in the world or what? He got to spend the rest of his life making love to Grace.

“Hey, up here,” she said wryly, clicking his fingers to get his attention. “I’m making a heartfelt declaration.”

“You know what would really help with that?” he said, reaching for his belt buckle.

“What?”

“If we were both naked. I think you might get your message across much more clearly then,” he said, dragging his T-shirt over his head.

“You think so?” she said, her eyes dropping to his straining erection as he stepped out of his jeans.

“I know so,” he said.

Pulling her into his arms again, he kissed her deeply and walked her toward the bed. Like a good girl, she flopped backward when she felt the mattress hit the back of her knees, and he fell on top of her. He wanted everything at once and didn’t know where to start, so he took a bit of everything — he nibbled her ear and plucked at her breasts, and kneed her thighs apart and sucked her nipples and slid a hand between her legs and groaned at how wet and ready she was.

“Grace, I love you,” he whispered in her ear as he slid inside her.

“I love you, too,” she whispered back, then neither of them spoke except to urge the other on or to issue a panting instruction.

“Harder.”

“Now.”

“Yesssss.”

“Please.”

Mac’s climax rocketed through him at the exact moment that he felt Grace’s body tighten around his. He rode the last waves home, relishing the rightness, the glory of it.

Afterward, he lay pressed against her, breathing in her scent and running her silky hair through his fingers.

“I missed you,” he said.

“I thought you might have had more than enough of me,” she said.

“No.”

“I pushed you pretty far,” she said.

“Yeah. But I’m a stubborn guy.”

“Thank you for being stubborn.”

After they’d made love for the second time, he took her through to the largest of the spare bedrooms and showed her what he’d been working on for the bulk of the day. He’d cleared the room out and started painting the walls a soft, warm yellow. If he hadn’t been called into the studio, he would have finished the first coat. He grunted with amusement as he belatedly realized that Claudia’s pointless meeting might have had a point after all — to give Grace the opportunity to break into his house.

“I thought you’d prefer this room for your study because the view is better and it’s bigger, but it’s your choice,” he said.

The cherrywood desk he’d been coveting for her was in one corner covered with a drop cloth, but he whisked it off to show her.

She spread her hands flat on the desk and turned to him with wide, tear-filled eyes.

“Mac. You did this for me after I slapped you? After I pushed you away so many times?”

“What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment,” he said. She smiled ruefully and he pulled her close. “And I know a good thing when I’m onto it. So, will you?”

“What?”

“Move in?”

“I might be stupid, but I know when I’m onto a good thing, too,” she said.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes, that’s a yes.”

Mac felt a surge of emotion as he looked into her eyes and saw happiness and love and not a trace of doubt.

Finally, they were dreaming the same dream.

ISBN: 9781426800054

ALL OVER YOU

Copyright © 2007 by Small Cow Productions PTY Ltd.

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