The Seduction Vow (8 page)

She faced Neal at the foot
of the bed, her thoughts and emotions skittering all over like
marbles dropped on a wood floor.
Forgot to
put on the mood music and the candles too. Should I have changed
into the lingerie? Too late. At least my room’s tidy and the sewing
machine’s covered. Wish I had space for all my stuff. But I’ll save
up for someplace nicer. Maybe by—

Neal grasped her arm and pulled her to him.
His palm was warm on the side of her face, and his gaze locked on
hers with an almost audible click, holding her fast.

“
I think you’re pretty
awesome,” he whispered.

Awesome
, her brain echoed as rational thought slipped
away.

He cupped her jaw, tilted her face, and her
lips naturally parted, waiting for what came next. His mouth
covered hers. Anticipation hadn’t fooled her into remembering
wrong. If possible, this kiss was better than the one the other
night. Maybe because she craved it even more.

Soft lips nibbled hers lightly, his tongue a
feather, tickling them. She leaned in farther and parted more with
each teasing touch. Not only her lips but her pussy opened, and in
her core, something unfurled. As their kisses deepened, her need to
control things crumbled. She gave herself over fully to sensation,
until she was a mere bundle of eager responses to his every
touch.

She stroked her hands up his back. The
muscles bunched under his shirt. But she needed to feel them. She
slid her hands underneath the fabric, and hot, smooth skin nearly
burned her palms.

Neal stopped kissing her long enough to peel
his shirt over his head and toss it aside. And, oh goodness,
somehow she was missing her top too. His hand cupped one breast
through her bra, gently kneading, a thumb brushing the peak of her
nipple through the fabric. She breathed faster.

Neal’s other hand pressed the base of her
spine, keeping her close to him. The hardness beneath his fly
pushed against her tender, aching sex, and a hot bolt of lust
slammed through her. She wanted that, wanted it right now.

She gripped his ass through those tight
jeans, hauling him even closer, and was rewarded by his quiet groan
against her throat. His mouth moved lower over her chest, across
the swell of each breast. He glanced up, checking in with her, and
Graci gave a little whimper of approval. He pushed her breasts
above the cups of her bra. The exposure to his sight made them ache
even more, her nipples painfully tight.

When Neal cupped one breast and licked it,
then covered her nipple with his mouth and sucked, the sharp, sweet
ache shot confetti and fireworks through her system. Her pussy
turned to jelly. Was it possible to come merely from having him
suck on her breast?

Graci pushed her hand through his soft, fine
hair. Curls looped around her fingers, and his head was warm and
hard underneath. She gently urged him toward her other breast. He
obligingly gave it equal attention. More pleasure, more gasps of
delight, and she wanted even more than that.

She pushed him away. “I want…” She quickly
stripped off her bra and the skirt she’d taken so long to shop for.
Dressed only in her panties, she lay on the bed. Neal stripped to
his boxer briefs and joined her there, lying face-to-face. The only
separation between those parts that desperately wanted to click
together was underwear.

This was all so easy, as natural as
breathing. How had she gone so far with Joey and not been desperate
to break through that final barrier between them? Maybe her
hesitation had been based on her Catholic roots, even though she’d
sworn it wasn’t. But maybe somewhere deep inside, she’d known Joey
wasn’t a man she could completely trust. Maybe sex meant too much
to her to share it with him.

Neal lay with his head resting on one arm,
those blue, blue eyes focused solely on her, making her suddenly
shy. She dropped her gaze to his right arm and stroked her fingers
over the Celtic pattern circling his biceps. The ink was so vivid,
it seemed she should feel more than skin, but smooth satin and
light hair were all her fingers experienced. She leaned to kiss the
tat on his neck, some odd gremlin or goblin. His voice vibrated
into her lips when he spoke.

“
Yeah. That’s the one I
regret. Stupid art, and a really stupid time in my
life.”

Graci smiled and moved on, sampling the salt
of his skin and nuzzling beneath his jaw. He squirmed at the
sensation, so cute that she wanted to tickle him more.

Neal slid his hand down
between them until he cupped her pussy. Her underwear was thin
enough that the heat of his palm baked right through, and his
finger easily found her clitoris. He circled it lightly. Her body
contracted like one giant fist.
So
good. She wanted to purr like a cat and arch into
his touch for more petting.

But when he started to push his hand under
the waistband of her panties, he paused.

“
Graci, how far do you want
to go? I know what
I’d
like, but this is practically our first date. Is sex really
what you want? I could just bring you off, or we could stop at
making out.”

Again with the options. She appreciated his
caring but didn’t want to think that hard. She’d done far too much
thinking over the past days. Now she simply wanted to float along
on a wave of physical sensation. Maybe she didn’t need him to be so
considerate. Maybe she wanted him to just do it.

She leaned to kiss him and stroked his
erection through his briefs, distracting him from all those
questions. The bulge filling her hand was fine, but she needed
more. She slid her hand into his briefs and gripped his weight and
girth. She slid her hand up and down his length, and he groaned
softly. Good. She continued to stroke him—long, slow glides of her
fist.

Then Neal slipped his hand
into her pants to touch her, and that was
really
good. He rubbed her clit
until her body twitched, and the tension within her drew tighter
and tighter. So long since she’d enjoyed the feeling of a man’s
hands on her. When he slid a couple of fingers inside her while
still managing to keep the pressure on her clit, Graci nearly lost
it.

She couldn’t concentrate on doing the same
for him, not when Disney-cartoon magic sparkles were gathering at
the edges of her vision. Within seconds, she bucked beneath his
touch, flying up out of herself in rapture. Too soon. That wasn’t
how she’d meant for it to happen, but she’d needed this too
badly.

When the flashing lights faded away, she
opened her eyes and resumed her stalled motion on Neal’s steel-hard
cock. Oh, he needed this too. No doubt about it. But she didn’t
want to make him come this way. Maybe it was time for one of those
condoms and the next step.

She opened her eyes. Neal had propped himself
on one elbow to look at her.

“
I’ll get a condom,” she
suggested as she let his erection slip from her hand.

His hand rested on her stomach, fingers
tapping out a silent melody. “Maybe not tonight,” he said at last.
“I’d love to do it. But I don’t think it’s time yet.”

Are you kidding me? It’s
time. It’s long past time. I have to do this. Tonight!
But even as her lusting body protested, part of
her relaxed in relief. Sex changed everything, either bringing
people closer together or driving them apart. If she wanted to keep
Neal as a friend, sex might ruin things.

“
Are you sure?” she asked.
“I can at least finish you off. It’s not fair to leave you all
worked up.”

“
That’s okay. I’ll survive.
Maybe next time.” He speeded up the rat-a-tat beat on her stomach.
“I’ve been thinking about you all week. I really like spending time
with you, and I don’t want to be that guy you use to get over your
ex. I’m starting to feel like an item on that list of yours.
There’s no hurry. Let’s take it slow and see where this
leads.”

Graci couldn’t speak. He’d caught her
labeling him as a transition guy. In all her agonizing over what
her feelings were about sex, she’d hardly given any consideration
to what Neal might want, or if he might feel used.

He’d been like a prop in her personal play,
but she no longer saw him that way. He really liked her, and he
could envision a more long-term relationship with her. His feelings
could be hurt.

Suddenly, losing her virginity on a deadline
had just become a lot more complicated. Maybe she simply wasn’t cut
out for casual sex.

Chapter Seven

“
So, have you nailed your
‘plus one’ for the wedding?” Tara rolled in with all the subtlety
of a semitruck.

“
Keep your voice down,”
Graci warned as she put a dish of empanadas in her mother’s oven to
keep warm. “My family’s up in my business enough about this
breakup. I don’t need to have my mom asking questions about my
dating life.”

“
Ah, so you admit you’re
dating Neal.” Tara moved closer, still swiping a towel over the
same plate she’d been drying almost the entire time Graci had been
cooking.

“
I admit nothing. We’ve
gone out a couple of times. We may go out again. But I don’t know
where we’re headed, or if we’re headed anywhere. And I’m certainly
not about to ask him to go with me to a wedding, especially not one
that’s still months away.”

“
You like him, though. I
can tell. You started blushing when I said his name.”

Graci didn’t answer as she started putting
away ingredients. Sometimes silence was the only way to deal with
Tara.

“
What’s he like? You guys
have anything in common?” Tara lowered her voice at last. “I know
you don’t have sex, but have you…gotten close? I bet he’s good with
his hands.”

“
Who’s good with his
hands?” Luis clomped into the kitchen and started rooting around in
the fridge. “Is my little sis gettin’ busy?”

“
You keep your mouth shut.
If you say something to Hugo, or, God forbid, Mom or Dad,
I’ll—”

Her brother turned from the
fridge, beer in hand, and grinned, his dark eyes twinkling almost
like the old Luis. “You’ll kill me. Got it. I swear I won’t say a
word,
if
you tell
me who the guy is.”

A little shiver shot up Graci’s spine at the
words “kill me.” She couldn’t hear them without thinking of Luis’s
tour in Afghanistan. She was so grateful to have him home in one
piece that she punched him hard in the arm. “Cut it out.”

“
His name is Neal,” Tara
volunteered. “He’s a musician and a teacher, and the exact opposite
of Joey.”

“
Well, that’s good. That
guy was a douche.” Luis sat on the edge of the center island and
popped the top on his beer. He handed a second one to Tara as she
hiked herself up beside him, legs dangling. They clicked bottles
before taking a long swallow.

Graci folded her arms and
leaned her back against the counter. “I thought you
liked
Joey. You were
always nice to him.”

“
I was nice to him because
I didn’t have a choice. He was your fiancé. What’d you do with the
ring anyway?”

“
I gave it back, of course.
Why would I keep it?”

“
Could have pawned it,”
Luis said.

“
It was your ring. You
deserved to do whatever you wanted with it, especially after the
way he treated you,” Tara added.

“
Fucking asshole,” Luis
growled. “I’d seriously like to beat his smug face in.”

“
I’d like to help you.”
Tara’s wide brown eyes narrowed. “You know he cheated on her,
right? He didn’t just break up. He moved his shit to some bitch’s
place. A woman from work, apparently.”

“
No. I didn’t know. Graci
didn’t tell me that part, only that he ended it. Now I
really
want to kick his
ass.”

Tara shook her head. “Asshole.”

“
Fucking asshole,” Luis
agreed.

They drank in unison.

Graci couldn’t help smiling at their show of
support. Besides, Tara and Luis together had always been hilarious,
like some old-time vaudeville team. When they weren’t bickering,
they were in perfect harmony.

“
I heard you’re working for
Hugo now you’re back.” Tara changed the subject. “How’s that going?
You two were always like oil and water.”

Luis shrugged. “It’s work. It’ll do for
now.”

“
You have something else in
mind?” Tara regarded him over her beer with that assessing gaze
Graci knew too well. Tara always seemed to be full of big plans for
other people.

“
Don’t know yet.” Luis
picked at the label on his already empty bottle. “The tech work I
did in the army doesn’t really translate to any job in the private
sector. Not a lot of call to defuse IEDs. Right now, I’m happy
working on cars.”

“
Nothing wrong with that.”
Graci shot Tara a look to silence her. The last thing Luis needed
right now was to be quizzed on his future. He’d returned from his
tour seeming exhausted. If all he wanted to do was work in Hugo’s
garage while he regrouped, that was fine. No pressure. No demands.
That was what he needed while he recovered.

Tara took the hint and
changed the subject again. “Did I tell you I was this close to
landing a part in a touring production of
Les Mis
?” She held her finger and
thumb an inch apart.

“
Cool. For what part?”
Graci asked.