Nothing Like the First Time (13 page)

“I couldn’t comprehend? No, I couldn’t because it couldn’t possibly have felt the same for me
, could it?” I asked, a little outraged.

“No. You may have missed me, but you got on with your life. I may have had a life but it was left unfulfilled.”

“Grey, I don’t even want to get into this with you right now but you should know that I got on with my life because you left. You left me, so don’t blame me for how your life turned out. You went to amazing places and did amazing things. You chose that, not me. As for getting on with my life, I have never had a relationship for longer than a few weeks here and there. I was empty, I couldn’t love someone when I hadn’t stopped loving you.” I was at boiling point and was about to blow my top.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have put it like that. Please forgive me for being insensitive. I know you were hurting too
, but when I was gone, I had no idea what was going on with you and I felt empty. Yes, I did it to us, I left, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a right to hurt, too.”

“Grey, we both hurt
, and we both had to make the best of the life we had. My feelings don’t matter less than yours, and that’s pretty much how you’re making me feel—like my feelings are inconsequential. I don’t want to talk about this anymore, can we please drop it?”

He wrapped his arms around me and I snuggled into his chest. A couple of tears silently fell down my face and I quickly wiped them away.

We stayed cuddled up on the sofa for a while, not saying anything to each other.

“I love you
, Carly Summers,” Grey whispered.

“I love you too
, Grey. I don’t like arguing with you.”

“We’re going to have our ups and downs like any couple do
es, baby, but I promise we’ll always make up,” he said as he turned my face toward his.

He placed a chaste kiss on my lips. It was like
he was asking for my permission. Was I ready to let things go? I couldn’t stay mad at Grey for long, so I opened my mouth to him and licked slowly across his mouth, sucking his bottom lip gently into my mouth. The kiss quickly turned from gentle to passionate. I turned in his embrace to make it easier to kiss him with every unspoken feeling. I wanted him to know the past didn’t have a place in our future—we would always know it was there, but we didn’t have to discuss it.

As we broke apart, I looked him in the eye and could see his feelings like a mirror of my own.
We’d both had different lives, but we’d both suffered in our own ways. Both of us had felt the emptiness where the other belonged, an aching, yearning for the gap to be filled—but try as we might, we couldn’t fill it without each other.

***

Later that night, after I’d submitted my finished article and Grey had caught up on some emails about future jobs, the phone rang and I smiled as Jodie’s face appeared on my screen.

“Hey
, lady!” I answered.

“Hey
, yourself. You got any plans for tonight? Matt’s working at Sinners so I wondered if you and Grey wanted to come with me.”

“Umm… I’d have to ask Grey if he feels up to it, he’s in the shower at the
moment. I’ll text you in a bit.”

“Tell him he can ask the DJ to play
“Pour Some Sugar On Me” again and you can dance all slutty with him,” she laughed.

“Will do. Text you shortly
, babe.”

“Okay
, but hurry up!” she said as she rang off. Typical Jodie.

I went to the bathroom and asked Grey if he felt up to going. I told him what
Jodie said and no sooner had I said that, he agreed to go. I laughed as I went into my room to choose what to wear.

I was
looking in my wardrobe when Grey came up and wrapped his arms around me. His body was warm and still damp from the shower. I inhaled the sweet smell of whatever it is that makes Grey smell so good.

“The dress,” he said close to my ear, making a shiver run down my spine.

“Sorry?”

“You’re wondering whether to go in jeans or a dress, right?”

“Umm… yeah.”

“Well
, I say the dress,” he said as he smacked my ass and walked to get himself dressed.

“Okay. I’ll just grab a shower.”

“Hurry up, we want plenty of dancing time.” He flashed his beautiful smile my way.

I took a nice hot shower, got dried
, and straightened my hair. I applied a little makeup and slipped into the red dress Grey had laid on the bed for me. I found my black flat shoes and when Grey asked why I wasn’t wearing heels, I said the flats were easier to dance in and I was less likely to break my neck. He laughed and called us a cab.

Chapter Eleven

Having had an awesome night on our first double date with
Jodie and Matt, we ventured out together more often. Grey was recovering well from the accident, even if he did keep needlessly apologizing to me. I still hadn’t mentioned the ring, although I did wonder a few times if I had imagined the whole thing—maybe because of lack of sleep at the hospital I had hallucinated or maybe it was a dream. But whatever it was, I was embarrassed to broach the subject with him.

Tonight was date night. Grey and I were goi
ng out to a karaoke bar and I was looking forward to hearing him sing, though I didn’t know about getting up myself. As I wondered what to wear, the doorbell rang. I quickly went downstairs to find Grey on the doorstep.

“You’re early,” I remarked as he stepped through the door. I noticed he had
a garment bag with him.

“I know. I thought I’d get ready here, if that’s okay? Mother has her friends round and I don’t
fancy the Spanish Inquisition.”

“Oh okay, sure
, you can get ready here. I was just deciding what to wear.”

“Something comfortable but sexy
, like those butt-hugging jeans you have and a cute t-shirt.”

“Butt-hugging jeans?” I laughed.

“Yeah, you know the ones I mean, they’re my favorite jeans.” He winked and smiled my way.

I led the way upstairs and went into my en-suite to run myself a bath. Grey hung his bag on the door and joined me.

“Is there room in the tub for two?” Grey breathed close to my ear, tickling the spot that really made me squirm.

“There might be,” I teased.

“What do I have to do to convince you?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Hmm… Let me think.”

I turned in his arms and stood on tiptoe to kiss him lightly. His response was to grip me tighter and deepen the kiss. We stood there for a few minutes, kissing and holding each other before I turned the taps off and started to undress.

I took my clothes off nice and slow so that Grey got a good view of the body he craved so much. His eyes wandered my curves and I saw them come alight as I took my bra and panties off.

As I sat on the edge of the tub with my feet in the water, Grey came behind me and laid a trail of kisses from one shoulder to the other—his kisses were warm where my body was cool in the air of the small room. I felt him lift my hair as he kissed his way up my neck towards my ear—he made his way down the side of my neck and then repeated the motion on the other side.

The sound of his clothes hitting the floor elicited a small smile that he couldn’t see. I lowered myself into the tub, luxuriating in the bubbles that smelled of vanilla. I scooted down to make room for Grey and he lowered himself in, placing his legs on either side of me. I lay back against his warm chest and he wrapped his arms around me. We sat like that for a while before the water started to cool down. I ran some more hot water and while I did that, Grey washed my back—he then instructed me to lay back in the water, wetting my hair. As I sat up, he lathered the shampoo in my hair
. I smiled to myself that Grey was so thoughtful. When he was finished, I rinsed off the shampoo and he put the conditioner in.

Once I was washed, I stepped out of the tub and allowed Grey the room to wash himself.

I went into my room, walked over my iPod dock, and selected one of my favorite albums,
Violator
, by Depeche Mode. “World in my Eyes” began to play and I set about getting dried and dressed. I found the jeans Grey had been talking about and teamed them with my favorite retro t-shirt—it has a heart on the front and it says True Love.

As I finished getting dressed, Grey en
tered the room with a towel draped dangerously low around his waist—I could see a hint of his iliac crest. I know it’s perhaps a little odd to have fantasies about that perfect V shape, regardless, I still fantasize. I had caught myself thinking about it at the oddest times—I could be writing an article or bussing tables, whenever the thought strikes me, I just smile and remember the way it feels—I have memorized the rise and fall of it, how it feels to trail my fingers or my lips across it.

Grey coughed and I
realized I had been staring too long. I raised my eyes and as I did, we locked stares. He crossed the room in just a few strides and dropped the towel from his waist before grabbing the hem of my t-shirt and lifting it up, pushing my arms up to allow him to take it all the way off. Then he undid my jeans and helped me shimmy out of them. I stood before him in my bra and panties, wondering what exactly he had planned. I didn’t have too long to wait as he undid the front clasp of my bra, shrugged my arms out of it and threw it aside. Next, he pulled my panties down and cast them aside too, not caring an ounce where they landed.

I stood naked before this handsome god of a man and yet I felt like I was the one bein
g worshipped. His gaze spread goose bumps on my skin, yet made me feel warm inside at the same time. If he didn’t touch me soon, I might just combust.

I saw hunger in his gaze and knew that we’d be very late to this karaoke bar.

His hands were suddenly on me and his lips came crashing down over mine. He edged me back toward the bed and as my knees hit the side, they buckled. He had me completely at his mercy—far be it from me to deprive him of something that brings him so much joy—plus, I’m selfish and revel in the fact he only looks at me and touches me like this, no one else.

Grey knelt down and put my legs over his shoulders, drawing me closer to his warm mouth. His light kisses made a delicious warm
pool in my abdomen and my adrenaline spike in anticipation. He slowly nibbled his way down from one knee to my center and then made his way back up toward the other knee—he really knew how to get my heart racing. As he kissed his way back down, I looked up and saw this beautiful man between my legs. What a breath-taking sight. I pulled myself up onto my elbows and watched Grey smile up at me before he kissed a trail down my other leg, then licked my sweet spot. He sucked at my nub and licked me delicately before delving his tongue inside me. I heard a groan in the back of his throat and that ramped the heat in my abdomen up a notch. I put my hands in his hair and played with the damp curls.

Soon Grey’s hands could be felt pulling me closer so that he could use his fingers to play me like a melody—I was riding the high and the warmth was soon at boiling point.
As he sped up his pace, I began to come around his fingers and that delicious tongue of his. He sat back and I watched as he slowly put his fingers to his lips and sucked my essence from them, moaning in delight as he did. Standing from the floor, he lay me back and I wriggled further up the bed. I could feel his eagerness as he maneuvered himself above me—he held himself on his upper arms and leaned down to claim my mouth. I could taste traces of myself and it made a small flame flicker in my belly. I was more than ready for whatever he had planned.

As Grey’s lips devoured mine, I reached down and guided him inside me.
I needed this and I would go on needing this for the rest of my life. Grey lifted me slightly from the bed so that he could push deeper inside me and I felt him fill me up in a way that I had missed over the years and craved time and time again in my days alone—but he was here now, and from this moment on, I planned to do everything I could to make him as happy as he made me. As he moved deeper and harder inside me, he quickened his pace—I was only too happy to match the rhythm and help us reach the ultimate goal of our united climax. I could feel it building inside me and saw by the look in his eyes that Grey was close too—moments later we were both spilling over into the best kind of ecstasy there was.

***

As we entered the karaoke bar that night, I was still feeling the giddiness from earlier in the evening. We ordered drinks and sat at a small table not far from where the small stage was set. Grey held my hand in his and smiled that broad smile of his—he was up to something, I could just tell.

We’d been there about ten minutes—listening to people singing and watching them give it their all—when the host of the evening called a name out that was all too familiar. Mine. I looked at Grey and he smiled sheepishly at me. I wanted to sit down and say no, refuse to budge from my seat, but I knew that was churlish and pointless.

I walked to the stage, and before I had chance to choose a song to sing, I was given the microphone and the words to a song flashed up on the screen. It was a song I knew by heart so I didn’t watch the screen as the words flowed from my mouth.

I poured my heart into singing the beautiful song, locking gazes with Grey throughout.

When I was done, I left the stage with wobbly legs. It was funny how I hadn’t been nervous while I was singing, but as the crowd in the bar applauded, I felt butterflies in my tummy. The next few people sang a mixture of songs, old and new. I sat listening and smiling. I might have had mixed feelings about going to a karaoke bar, but it actually wasn’t bad.

I waited until Grey left the table to go to the gents before going to the host and signing Grey up to sing—I’d have my revenge—but I left the song choice open to Grey. When he returned to the table and heard his name called, he smiled at me and I’m sure my heart skipped a beat.

Grey made his way to the stage, said something that I couldn’t hear, and then he turned to face the crowd. He opened his mouth and his velvety voice burst into song.

I sat
mesmerized and the noise in the bar fell to a dull whisper as their attention was caught by Grey. I could see all the women lusting after him and the looks in the men’s eyes said they wanted to be him. I realized just what a lucky woman I was. 

As the song ended, the whole bar erupted into applause—I stood clapping my hands together as he made his way back toward me. He wrapped his arms around me and placed his lips over mine. The
eyes of the whole room were upon us and I didn’t care one bit, let them stare.

***

As we arrived back at my place, Grey waited until we were inside before nudging the door shut and wrapping me in his embrace. His lips claimed mine in a kiss that was rough, yet passionate. The day old stubble on his face tickled as he kissed his way to my ear.

“Take your clothes off,” he whispered.

I took my coat off and hung it from the rack, then I pulled off my boots and placed them on the shoe rack. I pulled my t-shirt over my head, dropping it on the floor in the hall. Next to go were my jeans—Grey’s eyes were captivated by the sight of me shimmying out of them. I was left in my bra and panties as I wandered up the stairs, Grey stood at the bottom watching me go up. I discarded my bra next and threw it over my shoulder.

“Leave the panties on,” Grey’s voice came from right behind me—I hadn’t heard him closing in on me.

“Whatever you desire,” I said in a sultry voice that even Jodie would be proud of.

Grey took my hand in his and led me into the bedroom. He shut the door behind us and pulled me to him—he turned us round so my back was to the door and hooked my one leg around him
. Pulling my panties to one side, he slid one finger inside me.

“Mmm… you’re so wet already,” he breathed against my neck as he nibbled his way down one
side.

“And it’s all for you, baby,” I whispered into his ear.

After making me come up against the door, my legs were jelly as he lifted me and carried me to the bathroom. He placed me on my feet inside the shower and stripped down to join me. I turned the water on and slid down to my knees—I looked up at Grey, who smiled his approval at me. He stepped into the shower, pulling the door closed so we wouldn’t get the bathroom wet.

***

After a good night’s sleep, I woke with my alarm at 7:30 a.m. I was working the breakfast shift at Jim’s. I looked over at Grey, who was lying on his stomach with the blanket pooling around his waist—he looked so handsome and peaceful that I didn’t want to wake him. I took a quick shower, pulled my hair into a bun, so as not to wake Grey by blow-drying it, and then applied a little makeup. I left for work at 8:30, leaving a note on the pillow for Grey.

I pulled into my usual parking space and walked into work. Jim smiled as I entered the office to put my purse into my locker.

“Morning, sunshine,” he said in his fatherly tone.

“
Good morning, Jim,” I said as I put my apron on.

“You look chipper for such an early shift
.”

“Do I?”

“You sure do. Kenya will be pleased to have such a happy person showing her the ropes.”

“Kenya?” I asked, never having heard the name mentioned before.

“Yeah, she’s the new girl. She’s meant to work Saturday nights but I thought we’d ease her into that one gently.”

“Oh, right. She here yet?”

“Nope, not until 9.”