Devlin's Grace (20 page)

She savored it and when released
Gracie brought her lips to suckle his nipples, first one then the other until
they hardened.
 
Then she fingered them,
delighting in his moans of pleasure.
 
Devlin suckled her breasts then and left love marks on the left
one.
 
His tongue zipped down her belly
and flirted with the opening to her vagina.
 
Her hands grasped his head and she said, “Go deeper.”

Devlin dropped to his knees and
plunged into her.
 
He flicked her clit
with his tongue, sending spirals of pleasure through her body.
 
Electrified and turned on, Gracie screamed with
delight as he used his tongue to bring her to climax.
 
She wasn’t nearly through, however, and
backed him onto the couch.
 
She mounted
him and rode him, her hips moving to the oldest rhythm between a man and a
woman.
 
Each movement pleasured her and
from the look on Devlin’s face, he enjoyed it just as much.
 
She teased and tormented until he flipped her
onto her back to enter with the force of arrow to target.

When she inhaled she could smell
the rank sweat, the perspiration of fear mingled with the harsh fuel and fire
stink, but beneath it Gracie caught his usual essence, the pure Devlin
aroma.
 
As he rocked her hard, she thrust
back at him until their bodies moved to some invisible music, in tandem.
 
His rock hard dick filled her full and as he
wiggled, Devlin sent amazing physical bursts through her.
 
He took her down into death, all the way to
hell as he tormented her without allowing completion.
 
Then he brought her up and took her into the
heavens to fly among the stars in an explosion of orgasm so powerful it wiped
everything else from her mind.

Gracie screamed her pleasure in
the last moments then stilled, throat sore and rested against him.
 
Her breath came in short bursts and settled
into a pace matching his.
 
They reclined
on the sofa with limbs tangled and fell asleep together.

* *
* *

She woke around midnight, stiff
and knees sore.
 
Devlin stirred beneath
her and awakened too.
 
“Jesus,” he said as
he sat up. “I’m so stiff I won’t be able to move for a week.”

“My knees hurt.” She griped, but
her smile cancelled out the complaint. “I need a shower.
 
You do, too.”

Devlin lifted one eyebrow. “I bet
I do.
 
But I need you more, babe.”

Her mirth faded. “Oh, God,
Devlin, you scared me to death.”

“I saved the kids, though.”

Understanding tempered her upset
over the risk he took.
“To make up for the little girl?”

His sigh came long and slow.
“Yeah, partly.”

“People there said you were a
hero.”

“Not me,” Devlin said. “I just
did what needed to be done.”

“You were like a warrior,” Gracie
said.

This time his grin emerged before
he spoke.
“No, just a jarhead, babe.
 
It’s like riding a bike, I guess.
 
When the shit hit the fan, I knew what needed
to be done and did it.”

With his arms around her, she
could admit it now. “When everything blew up, I thought you’d been killed,
Devlin.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“You could’ve been and I would’ve
wanted to die, too.”

His arms tightened. “I don’t plan
on leaving you for a long time, Gracie, and not unless I have to report to
commander death.”

At the accident scene, she’d wept
a little and the age old fuck-death response vented her physical fear, but now
Gracie cried against him, letting all her fear and angst go.
 
Devlin held her and caught her turbulent emotions.
 
His heart diffused and released them into a
void, leaving nothing but love.

After a long time, they stirred.
“I’ve got to shower,” he said. “Hell, it’ll be time to go to work if I don’t
get up now.”

Gracie didn’t want him out of her
sight, not yet. “We can shower together.”

Devlin cocked his head.
“In the tiny shower?
Well, we can try.”

As she gathered up her jeans, she
caught the vibration of her phone tucked in the pocket.
 
She answered it. “Hello?”

“Gracie? It’s about time you
answered,” her sister Faith said. “We’ve been calling for hours to see if you
and Devlin are okay.”

“Uh, sure, we’re fine,” she
replied, wondering how her family knew about the accident.

“Thank goodness.
 
After we saw the wreck on the news, saw you
wandering around like a lost soul and Devlin pulling the baby out of the van,
we just about died.”

Certain words stood out in the
flow of conversation.
 
“Wait,” Gracie said,
sitting down.
 
“You saw us both on the
news
?”

“Yeah, ten o’clock on all the
Springfield channels,” Faith said. “I know it’s late, so I’ll let you go. At
least I can tell the folks you’re both okay.
 
Tell Devlin when you see him, he’s a hero. The media doesn’t know his
name, though.”

“What’s going on?” Devlin barked.
“Gracie?”

Without trying to hide his
presence from her sister, Gracie answered him. “It’s Faith.
 
The wreck was on the news and the footage
showed both me and you.”

“Shit,” Devlin said.
 

In her ear, Faith gasped.
“Oh, Gracie.
 
He’s
there now? I’m not telling Mama.”

Unimpressed Faith reverted to
their baby name for their mother, Gracie frowned. “Thanks,” Gracie said, in a
dry tone.

“Oh I’m not surprised,” her
sister said. “I could see how you both feel.
 
‘Night, Gracie.”

Gracie stared at Devlin who
glared back. “Don’t tell me,” he said. “I’m a hero?”

She nodded. “Yes, but so far they
don’t know who you are.”

Relief brought back a half smile.
“Good,” he said. “I hope no one finds out.”

“Me, too,” Gracie said. “You’re
my hero, but I don’t want to share.”

Devlin’s dark eyes sizzled with
intensity.
 
“Good, babe, neither do I.”

Chapter
Twelve

Black Friday came and went,
launching a holiday season more frantic than festive.
 
From that day forward, Devlin worked longer
hours and had less time off.
 
His watercolor
of the young Iraqi girl earned him an ‘
A
’ in class and
her painting of a silly kitten got her one of the few ‘C’s she’d ever earned.
 

Gracie finished up her final
thesis paper, turned it in, aced most of her finals and graduated without any
fanfare.
 
Gracie didn’t even attend the
brief ceremony, but she’d finished her formal education and had a diploma to
prove it.
 
After New Year’s she’d start
hunting for a job, but for now Gracie didn’t mind playing house.

Unsettled weather dampened
spirits citywide and the one thing Gracie enjoyed was each evening spent with
Devlin.
 
Since the accident and his burst
of heroics, he’d grown quiet.
 
For a few
days after it happened, the media talked about the unsung hero and some
benefactor offered up a cash reward if the hero would come forward. Devlin
didn’t.
  
She might’ve worried about his
new stillness, but he acted pensive, not tormented.
 
He slept longer and he acted happy.
 
He came home with a smile despite his hours
and the larger than usual number of shoplifters.
 

Somewhere around the twentieth of
December, Gracie cuddled up with Devlin on the couch to watch a holiday
movie.
 
With outside temperatures down to
frigid levels, they shared a blanket and munched on microwave popcorn.

“So what do you do for
Christmas?” Gracie asked. At home on the farm it’d always been a festive day
and season.
 
By now, she knew her mom
would have a big cedar tree cut from the woods in place, decorated with strings
of popcorn and cranberries.
 
The old
ornaments her mother and even grandmother made long ago would find a place
among the branches along with candy canes still shiny in cellophane.
 
Their handmade ornaments from childhood would
be there and new ones from Faith’s kids would be right beside them.

“Me?” Devlin asked. “Not much,
babe.
 
I watch movies. I used to get
drunk, but I gave up drinking. It’s just another day, or it has been.
 
Aunt Marla has a Christmas Eve casual dinner
thing, but I haven’t been to it in years.
 
I thought we might go, though.”

“Aunt Marla?”

“Lauren’s mom,” he said as if
she’d always known. “She’s my mom’s sister.”

The Devlin she met last August
wouldn’t have considered it, too proud and too certain his wicked sin made him
anathema.
 
Hope stirred in her
heart.
 
Maybe Devlin’s new stillness
meant healing.
 
“Did she invite you?”

A little color pinked his cheeks.
“Well, yeah, babe, she
did,
a couple of weeks
ago.
 
I said we might.
 
It’s really up to you.”

Making a big deal over it might
unravel everything, so Gracie simply nodded. “It’s fine with me.
 
I imagine my parents expect us to come home
on Christmas Day.”

“I figured they would.
 
I thought maybe we’d stay the night, too.”

Images of sharing her childhood
bed, a double once belonging to her grandparents, appealed and Gracie indulged
in imagining waking up next to Devlin.
 
Then she shook her head, “I’d love to, but they won’t let us share a
room, Devlin.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I know they won’t.”

Devlin turned off the television
with a flick of the remote control.
 
“Then maybe I should just give you your Christmas present now.”

Since Gracie’s gift to him
happened to be a new motorcycle helmet without horns, she thought she’d rather
hold out until December 25
^th
. “Oh, I can wait until Christmas.”

He fixed his gaze on her and
shook his head. “Call it a graduation gift then.”

“I told you not to buy me
anything,” she said in protest.

By some magic, Devlin produced a
box, one about the size of paperback novel.
 
He handed it to her as she gaped.
 
“I already did,” he said. “So open it.”

Her fingers fumbled off the
pretty pink bow and undid the silver paper with great care.
 
Gracie opened it and then hit him with one
fist.
 
She’d revealed another wrapped
box, this one much smaller. “Devlin,” she said. “What is it?”

Deep within, her heartbeat
increased and skipped a few beats.
 
A
delicious anticipation shivered up her spine, but Gracie tried to ignore
it.
 
It
might be earrings, a necklace, a brooch, anything.
 
Maybe a watch, even.
Jewelry did not have to mean…

“Open it and see.”

Somewhere between her lungs and
nose, her breath caught and held. “Devlin, I’m scared,” she said.

“Don’t ever be afraid.
 
Just open it.”

Gracie undid the wrappings and
revealed a box.
 
Her fingers trembled as
she opened it and exposed an engagement ring.
 
The bright gold band supported a sparkling center diamond flanked by two
smaller stones on each side.
 
Tears
filled her eyes as she gazed up at Devlin.

“Look inside the band,” he said,
his voice gentle as a whisper.

She peered inside and saw the
inscription. “
Semper fi,”
she read.
“Always faithful.”

Devlin nodded. “It’s the Marine’s
motto, and I will be if you’ll wear my ring.
 
Gracie, will you marry me?”

Almost from the first she’d fantasized
of such a moment, longed for it and she wondered if it might be a dream.
 
“Do you mean it?” she asked in a husky voice.

He grinned. “Yes, of course I do,
you silly woman, so tell me – will you marry me?”

“Oh, Devlin, yes,” she cried.
“Yes!”

His large hand guided the ring
onto her finger and held it.
 
Devlin
lifted her hand so the diamond caught the light and sparkled.
 
“So now can we stay together at your
parents?”