The Mind (The Reluctant Romantics #1.5) (6 page)

“Love you, too.”

My cell phone rang and I saw Grant’s name on the caller ID. He had my address and my number.

“Smooth, Grant,” I answered with a small amount of attitude.

“Rose, I can’t get you out of my head. Do you miss me yet?”

I felt a tug in my chest but refused to flatter him. I was excited to hear from him but terrified at the same time. Because time was the issue and I hoped he wasn’t expecting too much from me.

“Thanks for the sandwich.”

“Anything for you. Can I see you this weekend?”

I smiled at his request, though he couldn’t see it. I was elated at the thought of seeing him again. I had convinced myself that it wouldn’t extend beyond last night, but deep down, I hoped for more and was happy he felt the same. I paused only long enough to toy with him and not seem so eager. I wasn’t sure of what I could offer, but I knew my weekend was lighter than usual. “Yeah, sure. What did you have in mind?”

“Your body, your lips, and your perfect ass.”

I felt the heat radiate through me and melted into my recliner. “So, it
is
sex you’re after.”

“It wasn’t. Now all I can think about is how you feel around me: so tight, so perfect. God, you are so beautiful. I want you so fucking bad right now. I want to lick you until you are so wet you scream for me...scream my name while I spell it on you with my tongue.”

I’d never had a man talk to me this way, and I was already on the verge of losing it. I couldn’t even pretend to play coy.

“Grant,” I breathed out over the phone, my chest heaving, my lower half tingling out of control.

“I’m hard as a rock. Tell me, baby, will you touch that part I want to lick so badly and tell me if it’s wet?”

“Grant!” I looked around as heat crept up my face. My cheeks burned with a perfect mix of embarrassment and need. This was a boldness I wasn’t used to, and I felt the flutter rush through my every limb.

“I know it is. I’m going to push myself so far inside of you this weekend that you’ll forget you ever had another lover.”

I’d forgotten last night, though I hadn’t bothered to tell him that, that no one had ever come close to him in the bedroom. I moaned in remembrance. I couldn’t help it. I knew his dirty talk was vulgar and some women would be offended by it, but I wasn’t. Just thinking about his perfect hair falling over my breasts as he gazed at me, pounded into me, was enough to make me do what he asked. I slid my hand down to the delicious soreness between my thighs.

“I am...wet.” My voice was barely a whisper.

“Don’t do anything about it. Rose, promise me you will let me take care of it.”

“How long until this weekend?” I threatened with a small smile.

“Two days, but I promise it’ll be worth the wait.”

“Two days, Grant. The clock is ticking.” I hung up with a smile on my face. He lived in Tennessee, and there was no way this could get in the way of my last semester of school.

This could be fun.

****

My phone rang on Friday night and I smiled as Grant’s name flashed across the screen.

“Where are you, beautiful?”

“Home. I just got out of the shower.”

“Are you alone?”

I smiled and stared at my naked reflection in the mirror. I had pampered myself with every product Jen owned. “Yes.”

“Perfect, let’s start right now. Go unlock your door then get into bed.”

“Grant, aren’t you going to at least take me to dinner?”

“I’ll take you anywhere you want. Just do it.” His voice was commanding yet hopeful, and my hesitation vanished.

I walked to my front door and unlocked it then scurried to my bedroom, still nude, and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Are you there?”

“Yes,” I answered nervously.

“Lie down and close your eyes.”

I heard my bedroom door open but kept my eyes closed as he’d asked me to. I heard his voice closing in on me.

“Oh, baby, fucking beautiful,” he rasped out in greeting. I heard the rustling and zip of clothes as I lay there, vulnerable, completely aroused, and expectant. “You are every dream I’ve ever had.” His first touch was a light kiss on my lips before he took my lobe between his teeth. His hands fisted in my hair and his mouth moved in a trail over my neck and then clamped down as he sucked my skin before gently biting. I was so close my whole body was trembling, and I cried out as he nipped at me. “Are you wet for me, Rose?”

“Grant, now. I need it now.”

I didn’t feel anything else until his tongue plunged deep inside of me while he simultaneously gripped underneath my thighs, pulling me to the edge of the bed. I gasped out in ecstasy as my body arched in surprise. He took my sex in his mouth, flicking his skilled tongue over it again and again until I came with a huge rush, screaming out to him, pulling his hair through my hands.

“So perfect.” He dipped his fingers into me and I began demanding him for the only thing that could cure my ache. “Keep them closed.”

His mouth latched onto me again, every inch of my sensitive flesh already on fire.

“I can’t take it,” I moaned as he relentlessly assaulted me with his mouth.

I could hear the smile on his lips as he replied, “Yes, you can. You can come. I feel it...right here.” I shook my head in disbelief again, shivering in delight, calling out to him. I opened my eyes and saw his gloriously naked body over mine, his eyes burning into me.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” Without giving me a chance to answer, he took my mouth so tenderly I had no choice but to answer with my kiss.

“Please, Grant, take me.”

“I intend to, Rose. I intend to take all of you: your heart, soul, body, and mind. Even when I do have all of you, it still won’t be enough.”

“Why are you talking like this?” He guided himself to my entrance and pressed himself into me achingly slow, stopping before he gave me all of him.

“Because, Rose, I’m falling for you already, and I can’t stop thinking about you, or us, or our future, or this.” He buried himself inside me, and I felt the relief. My protest fled immediately.

He took me with a gentleness that made my chest tighten and resolve melt. For the first time since we’d met, I thought he might be onto something.

****

“Grant, I have to study. I had fun and all but you have to go.” I tried not to make eye contact as he lay in bed next to me, strumming his fingers over my skin.

“Fun . . .” he muttered in disbelief. I had no choice but to look over at him.

“Fun? That was fun?” His eyebrow quirked as he waited on me to answer, and I had to resist the urge to fill his dimple with my tongue.

“Oh, baby, you are already hell bent on breaking my heart,” he said playfully before tilting my chin towards him. “This isn’t just sex, Rose. I want to know you and not just in this way. If you hadn’t attacked me and I still had no idea how good it felt, I would have waited. But now I do so . . .” His eyebrows swept up in a double tap before his tone changed. “Seriously, you can’t kick me out. I won’t let you cheapen this to bullshit.” He groaned in frustration, swiping his hand over his face. “Fuck...I sound like a girl.”

I pressed my head into my pillow, equally frustrated, before I turned to him. “Quit making this into something that it’s not. I like you. I do. I love sleeping with you, but I’m so close to finishing school. I have to stay focused. I don’t have the time to fool around with stuff like this.”

He stilled his fingers and adjusted his pillow so he was closer to me. “Rose, this is the most important thing you will ever do besides being a doctor.”

“And what is this again?”

“It’s love, Red, or, at least, it
will
be.”

I rolled my eyes as the butterflies began to circle each other from my stomach to my chest. Looking at him made me want, touching him made me raw, and hearing his words made me weak. Even so, the reasonable woman in me was still fighting.

“Right, Grant, and five or ten screaming orgasms constitutes love?”

“No, it doesn’t and stop being so damn pessimistic. I’m not asking you to be the misses yet. I’m asking you to keep an open mind.”

“I can’t help it. This is crazy talk.” We hadn’t made it out to dinner last night and I had barely escaped him this morning for a shower. I thought I was home free until he whisked me back to bed. I was starving, and I knew I had to at least manage going over the rest of my notes for Monday’s rounds.

He took my nipple in his mouth and I let out a small cry.

“Grant, I’m spent!”

“Come again, Rose.” He grinned up at me as he made his way down my bare stomach and buried his head between my thighs. His tongue whispered to me and now trained by it, I fell apart against his mouth. He grabbed the last condom from the nightstand and buried himself to the hilt as he lifted my neck to his waiting mouth.

“God.” I pulled his hair hard and he smiled at my vicious, aggravated plucking of his hair and quickly replied to it, turning me over on my hands and knees.

Every thrust was delivered without apology and I cried out, urging him to go harder. Grant slid his hand around my hip, touching my sensitive tip, beckoning me to obey him. “Come again, and again, and again.” My body replied to his order as he grunted out shooting his heat into me and with one last hard push held himself there, biting into my shoulder. When we recovered, I jumped off the bed, chest heaving, and glared at him in frustration.

“Stop it! Put that damned thing away. I can’t take it anymore.... Maniac!”

He laughed at my outburst and after a short pause, I joined him in near hysterics.

He lay back on my pillow, beautifully bare, his hands behind his head, accentuating his bulging arms, a smug expression on his face. “I prefer insatiable, but only for you.”

Blowing out a puff of air, I watched a slow smile creep across his face. Suddenly aware I was just as bared to him, his eyes roamed my body and I could see the new naked scenarios of the two of us taking shape in his mind.

“Unh unh, nope.” I put my hand up in protest before I turned and fled to my bathroom for my second shower, making sure to lock the door. I was overwhelmed, excited and terrified because of his effect on me. It took a small eternity for me to calm myself beneath the water. I was intoxicated and definitely losing ground. He completely had me under his thumb sexually. Besides the skills I’d already shown him, my bag of tricks was empty. I’d only had a handful of sexual partners and he was by far way more experienced than I was. I was lucky that I found my sexuality young and was able to bring myself to orgasm, but this man could do it with so much ease that it frightened me. Experience or not, I seemed to have the same effect on him. I felt the soreness between my legs and vowed to give myself a break. The thought of his tongue on me led my lower half to protest, and I immediately found myself wanting him again. I threw an all-out fit, scrubbing my body with exfoliant and shaving my legs. He had to go. He was in my head, under my skin, and merciless in the bedroom. I had a goal to meet, a fellowship to earn. I needed all of my wits about me and he was fucking them into oblivion.

I found him in my kitchen with breakfast made. He pulled out the seat for me as I gave him a wary look.

“You aren’t leaving?” I tried to ignore the hurt look on his face though it pained me to see it.

He brushed off my rude comment as he kissed my cheek. “We’ll go to my land. You can study there.”

“I will not. I can study just fine here.”

“Come on, Rose, all I’m asking for is a day, I won’t distract you. I will keep my hands to myself. I have to leave again soon.”

“Fine,” I said, forking a bite of omelet. “You made me breakfast so I’ll give you one day. Then you’ll leave.” I met his eyes and saw another hint of sadness as I picked up a piece of toast.

“You would think you would be in a better mood with all the good stuff I just gave you.”

I grinned at my plate then at him. “I’m exhausted. I’ve never had this much sex.”

“And you never will again with anyone else. Eat before it gets cold. I’m going to grab a shower, if that’s okay.” I nodded my head and waved off his kiss, still a little frustrated.

Focus, Rose.

Now get up and go get into the shower with him.

Damn it!

I’m not the kind of woman who throws out years of hard work for a man and never would be. I knew I was treading a fine line. Although I was ahead in my curriculum—because that was where I felt secure and comfortable—Grant put me at risk of losing that safety. I could easily get lost in him sexually. I already had. The whole situation made no sense. But why did it have to? I was having fun. I’d earned it.

No more debate. Just go with it.

However, I refused to just go with it. I had worked too damn hard. I drummed up some strict rules as I sat there eating my breakfast, baffled at how take charge he had really been since that first night. I had given him way too much leeway and now it seemed I was paying for it. I would have my fun but I would have to make a few things clear today.

Resolute and satisfied, I dressed in shorts and a simple white tee then laughed when he exited the bathroom in the same outfit.

“Great minds,” he muttered.

“Yeah, great minds. Let’s go, Grant. Daylight is wasting.” He leaned in to kiss me and I put my entire hand over his mouth.

“Just a break is all I’m asking.”

He nodded and turned my hips, holding them while walking behind me in the hall. “You do know that people have the weekends off for a reason.” I shivered at his breath on my neck.

“If this is the way we are starting this day, I’m not going.”

He pulled the front door open as I grabbed my purse and keys then turned to him.

“I can see how important this is to you. I won’t say another word about it.” He seemed sincere and I nodded as I walked past him.

He lifted me into the passenger side of his monstrous black truck and kissed my hand before he shut the door. I found myself looking for him in the rearview mirror as he made his way to the driver’s side. It was hot, sweltering. I looked at the thermostat as he cranked the car and saw it was nearing one hundred and six degrees. That was Texas in August for you. Grant scanned me as he started the truck and saw I was melting in my seat. I felt the air come on and tilted my head back, exposing my neck in anticipation of the relief that was coming, but to my horror, I felt the heater on full blast.