by Lara Norman
“I remember being close to our parents, too,” Reagan said. “I think we would have stayed that way.”
Grant said, “Instead, they’ll never meet their grandchildren or see how their own children turned out.”
He sounded a little bitter, and Alex couldn’t blame him. He’d been through a lot while fixing their mistakes. His life would have been very different if he hadn’t had to go to work at seventeen to support his sister.
“Anyway, dinner is going to be ready any minute, but I guess you’re not hungry?” Reagan said to Alex.
“No, not even sort of,” Alex responded with a laugh. “I ate two people’s share of food.”
“I forgot to thank you earlier for bringing the lasagna,” Grant said. “You can take home any leftovers, but it might steal the show over my turkey breast and disappear.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of taking it with me. I made it for you, so it’s yours.”
Reagan smiled at this exchange. She hadn’t seen her brother this happy and almost relaxed in a long time.
The timer went off in the kitchen and Grant got up. Alex had been leaning on him so she sat forward when he moved. She stayed put while he checked the food, leaving her alone with Reagan and Hudson.
“I love your jeans,” Alex finally said to Reagan to break the silence.
Reagan looked down like she’d forgotten what she had on. “Oh, thanks. I think I got these at the thrift store. That’s where I usually shop. Since I have a job now, though, I tend to splurge here and there when I find the perfect pair of pants.”
“It’s hard to find anything that fits my ass and my long legs,” Alex said with a wry grin.
“Oh, I have the same problem, except it’s my ass and my short legs.” Reagan giggled.
“And tops always have an armhole gap if they fit over the boobs. Or they fit at the arms and then they’re way too tight over the girls,” Alex said.
Reagan laughed. “Absolutely. I feel like you and I should go shopping together since we have some of the same problems.”
“That would be nice.”
Grant came back into the room then and everyone looked over at him expectantly. “Food’s ready.”
They trooped into the kitchen and served themselves before sitting at the table. Alex got a drink and a roll and sat with everyone. They made small talk while they ate and it was awkward again. Alex liked them so far, but she didn’t like to spend the time getting to know them through meaningless chit chat. It wasn’t how she was built. She couldn’t speak freely, at least in her mind, because she was worried about saying the wrong thing. She knew it was her fault and not anyone else’s, but it was still there in the back of her mind to be careful what she said.
“Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of each other soon,” Reagan said to Alex as she finished eating.
“That would be nice.” Alex gave Reagan a warm smile. She had tried to be friendly and include Alex in the conversation, and Alex appreciated it.
“What is everyone doing for Christmas?” Hudson asked. Alex noticed he didn’t talk very much. She wondered if it was because Grant still had a problem with his age.
“I can always have it here, but you know I only get Christmas Eve and Day off,” Grant said.
“That’s too bad. I have two weeks off, it would be nice if we could do something together,” Alex said to Grant.
“Maybe I can figure something out. I haven’t taken more than a day here and there the whole time I’ve worked for the shop. I’ve never asked because I needed the money. But now it’s not so tight, so maybe I’ll ask.”
“We can host Christmas if you’re willing to come,” Reagan said.
Hudson nodded. “I’m not going back to my parents’ house unless they apologize to Reagan, which my father said would happen when hell froze over. So feel free to spend the time with us and not worry about who we’re going to be with.”
“It wouldn’t be bad to travel to College Park,” Grant said. “Alex and I will talk about it and see if we can make it happen.”
That seemed to close the conversation. Everyone got up with their plates. Reagan insisted on loading the dishwasher so everyone else made their way to the living room. Hudson sat on the chair again so Grant and Alex could sit on the couch. It was so uncomfortable that Alex didn’t know what to say. She knew that Grant and Hudson weren’t exactly tight with one another, but she hadn’t realized how hard it was for the two of them to hold a conversation. Alex was beginning to feel sick to her stomach from the tension in the air just as Reagan came out of the kitchen and sat on the arm of Hudson’s chair.
“We were thinking of getting out of your hair,” she said to her brother.
Grant shifted on the cushion next to Alex. “You don’t have to go on my account. I know it’s a little weird still, but we’re making progress.”
“We are, but I want to give you two time together for the holiday. I’ll be back tomorrow after your shift is over. We can have dinner.”
Grant had told Alex that Reagan and Hudson were staying until Sunday afternoon, even though Grant had to work. They’d booked a hotel because they didn’t want to make Grant uncomfortable by sharing a room in his home.
“Okay, then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Grant walked them to the door, and Alex got up and hovered near them all. She was pleased when Reagan hugged her, but then Hudson just nodded in their direction and left. She supposed she didn’t have to win them over on the first try, but it bugged her that she hadn’t.
“That was bad,” she said as Grant closed the door and locked it.
“It wasn’t that bad. I’ve gotten used to the awkward silences when Hudson and I are in the same room. I have a hard time not throwing barbs into the conversation when we try to chat.”
Alex snorted. “He seems perfectly normal.”
“So do serial killers until after the fact.”
Alex punched Grant’s arm. “Be nice. He makes her happy.”
He rubbed his arm. “You’ve got a mean punch.”
She grinned at him. “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”
He didn’t answer, just pulled her in and pressed his lips to hers.
Chapter 17
This was what Alex had been missing. The raw need, the passion. Grant hooked his arms under her knees and picked her up, carrying her down the hall and kicking open his bedroom door. Alex’s breath came with difficulty from being so turned on. Grant’s strength stirred something inside her. It didn’t hurt that he looked down at her as though she was something to devour. She shivered, smiling up at him and tracing her fingers over his jaw. Her pussy pulsed in anticipation as he walked over to the bed and set her down with extreme gentleness.
“Grant.”
She reached for him, pulling his neck until he met her for a kiss in the middle of the bed. He molded his hands to her breasts as he kissed her, shifting so that they were both on their knees. She whimpered and held on tighter when he pinched her nipples. He broke away from her lips to kiss her cheek, his breathing sending tingles down her spine when he moved to her ear.
“God,” she bit off on a choked sound when he pinched both nipples and sucked on the spot just behind her ear. Always on the edge with him, she felt that pulse inside her deepen.
“Fucking hot, Alex,” he mumbled.
She found his waistband and worked at the button in the darkened room. She needed him so bad after the time they’d spent apart. It had been so many weeks and she couldn’t wait any longer. She drew the zipper down and plunged her hands inside, finding him hot and hard. She stroked and fondled while his breathing wavered and his hands steadied on her shoulders. He grunted and let out a curse when she ran her thumb over the leaking head.
“Alex, I need you to get out of these clothes. I’m dying to be inside you.”
She let him go so she could work on undressing. Grant stood and pulled off his boots and his clothes, tossing everything in the corner. Alex was still in her panties when he fin
ished undressing and joined her.
“Let me,” he said in a voice gone husky.
She lay back and watched as Grant kneeled between her legs. His cock was straining in her direction, and she wanted to put it in her mouth. She forgot all about that as Grant’s breath hit her panties.
“Fuck,” she squeaked.
He peeled them slowly off, torturing her with his snail’s pace. When he flung them in the floor, he returned his attention to her body. He settled his hands on her thighs and started with a long, slow lick up the length of her pussy. Her body reacted; her hips surged up to his face, her legs shifted restlessly, and she stuttered out a moan. He didn’t stop there, flicking her clit with the tip of his tongue and then switching back to licking. She was moving so much he had to hold her down, and she nearly burst when he sucked on her. It only took one more touch to her clit to have her grabbing his hair and holding him to her as she screamed incoherently.
Grant moved up and knelt between her legs. She was still reeling from her orgasm when he yanked her ass down to meet him and slid inside her. She gasped, small tremors still running through her. She found her ass in the air and her feet on his shoulders as he plunged into her repeatedly. She had to brace her hands over her head when he began to drive her further up the mattress and into the headboard. He kept up his pace, and she couldn’t remember a time that he was ever hotter. She began to push against him, slamming their bodies together as she cried out and he grunted. He bruised her hips with his death grip when he came.
“Oh, my God.” She took a breath and let her arms drop to the mattress. She was limp.
He kneaded her ass a couple of times before he released her so he could fall to the bed beside her. “Yeah.”
When they’d both cleaned up, they climbed back in the bed together. Alex rested her head on Grant’s shoulder and looked up at the ceiling.
“I like Reagan,” she began.
“Good. She’s grown up to be an amazing woman.”
“We should go to their place for Christmas. Even if you only get two days, they’re not too far away. It would be worth it.” She ran her hand over his chest, feeling the ridges of his muscles.
“You’re right. I want to see if I can get more time, but I do want to go back to College Park. You should see how she is when she’s comfortable in her own skin. “
“I can imagine. She tried to include me in the conversation whenever there was a lull. I didn’t know what to do or say because I wanted to impress her. I got so in my head that I kind of panicked.”
“You did fine,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you were panicking. They’re very nonjudgmental.”
“And yet you really don’t like Hudson.”
He sighed and shifted, wrapping his arm around her. “It’s not his personality I don’t like; he seems fine. It’s their age difference and the fact he was her professor. They swear they weren’t together while he was teaching her, but from a few things they’ve said, I don’t believe that. I don’t know what he was thinking.”
“He must really love her if he was willing to risk his career for her.”
He groaned. “You’re not supposed to make a good point when it comes to him,” he said wryly.
“Too bad. I’m logical.” She laughed.
“Well, I think it’s a bit disgusting. Bad enough that I think of her as my daughter half the time, and then I have to picture her being a grown woman doing grown woman things, but to add to that the idea that she seduced an older man and almost got him in trouble? It’s too weird.”
“He makes her happy, babe.”
“I know, and that’s the only thing that keeps him alive some days.”
She laughed at his dramatics. “You’re so bad.”
“Just protective.”
“That, I can see for myself.”
He ran his hand over her ass and she moved her leg over his waist.
“There’s something I wanted to do earlier, but you sort of took my breath away when you plowed into me. I forgot.”
He squeezed her ass cheek. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
Instead of answering, Alex shimmied her way down his body until she was between his legs. She ran her hands over his thighs and cupped his balls, listening to his breath catch in his throat. She rolled them in her palm for a moment and watched as his cock came to life. She stroked up and down a few times as it grew harder and leaned down to run the flat of her tongue over his balls. He gripped her hair and then gentled his hand. Alex rose so she had a better angle and licked his shaft. She circled the head with her tongue and he gasped, his hand going to her hair once more. She sank down and engulfed him in her mouth, bobbing up and down a few times. He let out a groan as she came up again and hollowed her cheeks to suck on the head.
“Fuck!”
Alex lowered herself again until she felt him hit the back of her throat. She came up again to keep from gagging and circled his balls in her hand one more time. She was throbbing for him once more, her pussy tingling at the sounds of his pleasure. Unable to resist, she straddled him and sank down.
“Alex,” he moaned as he clutched her hips.
He lifted his pelvis to meet hers and she began to move in an undulating pattern. She rose and fell over his chest, her hair falling over the both of them, and she scooped it back behind her shoulders. He went for her breasts and squeezed them in his large hands as she rode him. She leaned down and pumped her hips forward, creating a new sensation deep in her pelvis.
She whimpered as her orgasm crept in, the tingling beginning in her toes and working its way up. She felt it in her spine and then her pussy, her inner muscles clamping down on him as she shuddered and clenched her thighs. He grabbed her hips and pushed up into her several more times until he came with a grunt.
“Good God,” he said in her hair as she lay her head close to his. “Every time I think it can’t get any better, and then you prove me wrong.”
“That was really sweet.” She kissed his neck a few times and he tightened his hold on her.
“I think I’m going to need a shower.”
“Mm. I’ll join you, but no funny stuff.”
They got in the shower together once the water warmed up. Grant ran the soapy washcloth over every inch of her skin. He made her feel cherished and completely wonderful as he worshipped her.
When they got out, Grant took a towel and rubbed her dry. He draped it over her shoulders so she could tackle her hair and dried himself.
He took her hand and looked into her eyes, brushing wet hair out of her face. “I love you.”
He said it so quietly, she thought she was hearing things. “What?” she whispered.
“Oh, I’m sure you heard me.” He held her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly.
“Oh, Grant. I can’t believe you.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“I love you, too, you dolt.”
He grinned at her. “I’m so glad to hear you say that.”
“I never thought you’d say it. I never thought you’d feel it.” She put her hands on his biceps and kissed him again.
He let go of her face and took her hands in his. “I may have thought at first that I wanted something else, but I’ve had feelings for you for a long time, now. It’s been months.”
“Months? I suffered over thinking you’d leave me if I loved you, and you already loved me.”
“I’m sorry about that. I was freaked, and I didn’t want to acknowledge that those feelings were real. So, don’t feel bad that I didn’t say them out loud. I wouldn’t even admit them to myself.” He led her out of the bathroom and to the dresser where he pulled out one of his t-shirts and handed it to her.
“You’ve been amazing to me, so don’t worry about it too much.” She pulled the shirt over her head and loved the feeling of wearing his clothes. She belonged to him and he belonged to her.
“I want nothing more than to crawl into that bed with you and go to sleep. Mostly because I want to wake up with you.�
�� Grant pulled on a pair of boxers as he spoke.
“That’s sounds perfect.”
“And I’ll make you breakfast if you get up early enough.”
She groaned. “Shit, you have to work, don’t you?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“That’s okay. I’ll find something to do at home. Maybe I’ll pull out some Christmas decorations.”
“You’ll come to dinner with us, won’t you?”
She felt herself go warm. “That would be really lovely. Thank you for asking.”