by Lara Norman
Reagan and Grant came in from the kitchen, and Davis never expounded on his career prospects. Alex felt some tension in the air and wondered if there was a story there. She rose to greet Reagan instead of dwelling on it.
“Hi, Reagan. Your home is lovely.”
Reagan hugged her and then sat in an armchair. “Thanks, Alex. It used to be barren and white until I got my hands on it.”
“Where’s Hudson?” Alex asked.
“Finishing up some grading at the college. He’ll be here soon. I made lunch, so I hope you’re staying long enough for that.”
“Absolutely,” Alex answered with a nod.
“So, Reagan, you want us over here tomorrow night for dinner?” Grant asked. “We were thinking of doing some touristy stuff tomorrow during the day.”
“Yeah, late afternoon would be nice. We’ll have dinner and then maybe watch a Christmas movie. Then the day after, I’d love to have you here early and we’ll open gifts before having the big meal around one.”
“Sounds good.”
They all heard keys rattling in the door and soon Hudson was coming in. Reagan hopped up to greet him, and Luna was the only one to look on with a smile. Davis looked indifferent, and Grant was trying not to scowl.
“Grant,” Alex mumbled.
He broke his stare and looked over at Alex. “Yeah?”
“Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“You’re frowning at your sister.”
His faced smoothed out, and he rested his hand on hers where it sat on her knee. “Oops.”
“How is everybody?” Hudson asked as he came into the living room.
“Great,” Luna replied.
Davis just nodded, and Grant didn’t say anything, either. Alex decided to speak up. “Good to see you, Hudson. How was work?”
Hudson looked a little startled at her question. “It was quick, thankfully.”
“That’s good.”
Reagan went back to the kitchen while Hudson disappeared down the hallway to put his things away. Soon, they all settled at the table in the kitchen which was a little crowded.
“I’m going to pick up a folding table for tomorrow. I wish I’d thought of it sooner. We don’t really have enough room for all of us in here,” Reagan said.
“It’s not a problem,” Davis said. He was squished very close to Luna, so of course, he didn’t care.
They passed around the food and nobody had much to say. Alex wondered why it was so hard for everyone to have a conversation.
“Davis, how are your parents?” Grant asked.
“The same as always. Bitter that I chose not to come home for Christmas this year.”
“You don’t see your parents every holiday?” Alex asked.
“Not every one of them, no. They aren’t as bad as Hudson’s parents, but we don’t get along all that well.”
“That’s too bad.” Alex fell silent again as she ate.
“They don’t approve of Luna, much the same as the Clarks don’t approve of me,” Reagan piped up. Davis glared at her, and Alex wondered why. There was something she was missing, clearly.
“But you’re just friends, so why does it matter?”
Davis glanced at Luna and then down at his plate. Nobody answered Alex’s question, and she decided to remain quiet for the rest of the meal.
Grant was also very quiet, but she’d noticed he was like that most of the time, anyway. He wasn’t the chatty type around anyone but maybe her. She kind of liked that he had more to say to her in particular.
“Okay, so, when we’re all done eating, we might as well part ways. I can see how much this is boring everyone,” Reagan spoke up.
“No, it’s not that,” Luna said.
“It’s just a lot of new people at one time. It’ll be better tomorrow and even better the day after that,” Davis said to cheer her up.
Hudson snorted. “Ever the optimist.”
“You betcha,” Davis said without rancor.
Alex wondered if the two of them didn’t like each other.
Grant stretched his arm out and rested it on the back of Alex’s chair. “Davis, you should come to visit again sometime. It was great to have you.”
“Grant,” Reagan warned.
“What, Ray, I can’t like your friend? He’s friendly, he’s considerate, he’s respectful.”
Hudson got up from the table with his plate and turned on the water in the sink. Everyone else sort of felt the need to get up, then. They cleared the table quickly and moved to the living room.
“I think we’re going to go,” Luna said.
“Yeah, us too,” Grant agreed.
“What happened?” Alex asked quietly.
“Hudson doesn’t like me,” Davis stage whispered.
“That’s not true,” Reagan protested.
“Anyway,” Luna said before a fight could break out. “Let’s go, Davis.”
Grant handed over Alex’s coat and they stopped in the foyer to hug Reagan goodbye. They thanked her for lunch, and Grant held the door for everyone.
“That was weird,” Alex commented on the way to the car.
“Oh, Hudson doesn’t like me because he thinks I have a thing for Reagan,” Davis said from behind her. She looked at him over her shoulder. Davis seemed perfectly nice to her, and Grant liked him.
“And Grant doesn’t like Hudson, but he does like Davis, which annoys Hudson,” Luna added.
“And of course, you gain pleasure from that,” Davis said to Grant.
Grant just grinned.
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Luna said, and they separated to their respective cars.
“But I thought Davis is in love with Luna, and everyone knows it,” Alex said right before Grant opened her door. He was doing the driving this time since he’d been there and knew his way around.
They got in the car and Grant answered her question. “I don’t get it, either. Davis is kind, rich, and a gentleman. He’s only a few years older than Reagan, too.” He sighed. “But, he is in love with Luna. Luna doesn’t want to get involved with him because she says she’d get in between him and his parents, but I don’t think that’s why.”
“Then, why?” Alex watched Grant’s profile as he drove to their hotel.
“She thinks he’s a snob.”
“What?”
“She grew up poor, and he grew up rich. She has a problem with his status.”
“Doesn’t that make her the snob?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Alex dropped her her head back. “Tomorrow is going to be so odd.”
“Uncomfortable, most likely.”
Grant pulled into a parking lot and Alex looked up and out her window. It appeared to be a very nice place. “Grant, are you sure?”
He parked under the portico and got out, coming around to open her door. “Yes, I’m positive.” He held out his hand. “Come with me, please.”
She was grateful that they would have a reprieve from the awkward situation at Reagan’s house. The hotel lobby was well furnished, and the staff were wearing crisp uniforms. She hung back a bit while Grant checked them in. She was positive she didn’t want to know how much he was paying for their room. She would be tempted to offer to pay her share again, and that was a fight she didn’t want to have.
“Are you ready?” Grant said as he found her looking at an aquarium.
She smiled up at him. “I’m more than ready.”
Chapter 20
The room was what Grant had hoped it would be. It was done in black and shades of gray; the carpet looking more like an abstract painting. There was black wood paneling on the wall behind the bed, and the first word to come to Grant’s mind was sophisticated. They looked around and freshened up before he suggested they head out for some sightseeing. Alex was interested in seeing the college, which was across the street, and Grant wanted to do some things closer to D.C. the next day. It was exciting to have a girlfriend again, someone he could spend his time with and ge
t to know. He was already picturing Alex in his life in the future and it didn’t scare him, for a change. It made him happy. She made him happy.
“How about we walk around the campus for a bit, and then go to dinner?”
Alex smiled at Grant as they rode down in the elevator. “I’d like that.”
“Tomorrow, there are things in D.C. we can do before we go to Reagan’s. Museums, monuments, whatever you want.”
“That sounds fun.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
They chose to walk across the street to view the campus. All the buildings were red brick and looked very old. Alex couldn’t tell what the architectural style was, but it was impressive and attractive. The weather wasn’t too cold and walking kept them warm as they viewed the large M done in red tulips in the center of a traffic circle. They didn’t walk the entire campus, but wandered for about an hour before heading back to retrieve Alex’s car.
Grant found a steakhouse nearby and took her there. Though the food was good, Grant was eager to get her back to the hotel. It wasn’t as though they hadn’t had any time together since she had been on break from school for the past week; it was just that he craved her all the time. He wanted to try something new with her, and he couldn’t wait to get started.
Alex had no idea what direction his thoughts had taken. She was enjoying the meal and the wine, and Grant had no trouble holding a conversation with her.
“And then he claimed he had no idea what he did with the homework he was assigned!” she finished her story.
Grant chuckled. “I remember those days. I lost everything that was ever given to me, I swear. One minute, it was in my bag and the next, I couldn’t find it. It was like work jumped out of my backpack.”
“Well, you aren’t allergic to work now,” she pointed out with a wink.
“No, and that’s because now I’m working with my hands instead of trying to write an essay. I was good at algebra”—he returned her wink—“but I still lost my homework all the time. Mom would be pissed at me on a constant basis.”
“At least you were good at the subject I teach. That makes me happier.”
He gave her a cocky grin. “I’m smart like you, Miss Banks.”
“I think so,” she said on a chuckle.
“Tell me something.” He shifted in the booth until he was closer to her. “Why don’t you have an Italian last name?”
“Oh, my dad’s dad isn’t Italian. His mother is, and my mother is, but he carried my very un-Italian last name. That was a question I got asked in school all the time. ‘If you eat spaghettini and spumoni, why aren’t you a rigatoni?’ was the common taunt.”
“Clever,” he said dryly.
“Yeah, not so much.”
He ran his forefinger lightly over her shoulder. “I like you just the way you are.”
She smiled and leaned very close to him. “I feel the same.”
He kissed the spot he was rubbing. “Are you finished?”
“I am.”
“Let’s go.” He left cash in the check folder and took Alex’s hand as they stood.
They made it back to the hotel in record time. Grant brought their luggage up to their room and set it by the closet. He opened the bathroom door and gestured to Alex. “I would like to suggest you have a hot bath.”
She looked at the tub. It was bigger than the one she had at home. “That would be nice.”
“Don’t be surprised if you wind up with a guest in here with you.”
She giggled and then covered her mouth. “I won’t.”
He left her alone in the bathroom and she turned the water on while she undressed. It had gotten about halfway full when she stepped in and sank into the heat. It was almost luxurious, and she made it even more so when she found bath salts on the edge of the tub. She poured some in and closed her eyes to inhale their fragrance. She just sat for a minute while the water rose higher around her, and when the door opened, she smiled up at Grant in all his naked glory.
He came in the room and stood by the tub, and she was so tempted to reach out and touch his cock. It was semi hard, and she knew she could take it all the way to pulsing if she set her mind to it. Instead, he stepped into the tub at the opposite end and sat. His long legs had nowhere to go, and he ended up keeping them bent at the knee.
“It’s not quite as romantic as I had hoped,” he admitted with a frown.
Alex laughed as she had to move her feet around to keep from hitting him in the balls. “The tub is big, but not that big.”
“Come here.”
Alex shifted to her knees and crawled over, allowing Grant to lift her and straddle her over his lap. He moved away from the end so he wouldn’t hit the faucet with his back, but it was still uncomfortable.
“Damn,” he muttered. There went his fantasies of tub sex.
“It’s the thought that counts. I was going to sit here and soak up the fragrance from the bath salts, but I think moving to the bed would be more fun.”
“I think you might be right.”
She got up first and yelped when he proceeded to smack her ass as it was right in his face.
“You have a great ass.”
She looked down at him. “I have a fat ass.”
“You do not.” He frowned. “You think it’s fat?”
“Well, yeah.” She indicated her very large butt as though it was obvious fact and not her opinion.
“I don’t like a flat ass, so don’t ever worry about it.”
Alex had always felt that her thighs and ass were a bit too big for the rest of her body. She supposed her tits balanced it all out, but she couldn’t help being envious of girls like Luna. “Seriously?”
“I promise.”
She got out and took a towel from the rack, and Grant followed her after pulling the plug. Grant wouldn’t have called the look he gave her sappy, but Alex would have.
“I love you, Grant. Thank you for going out of your way to be sweet to me.”
His grin was blinding. “I love you, too.” He gave her a kiss. “But I don’t consider it out of my way.”
Alex dried quickly and pulled her hair out of the updo she’d worn it in all day. Grant stood behind her and massaged the back of her head once her hair was free. They were both facing the mirror, and he watched her watching him. He moved his hands so that they were drifting down her arms, and then he crossed them to her nipples. At a head taller than her, Grant’s chest made the perfect spot for Alex to rest her head. He manipulated her nipples, pinching, rolling, and squeezing them.
“I love it when you pinch my nipples, Grant.” She read the lust in his eyes through his reflection.
“Fuck, I fucking love your breasts. Perfect,” he mumbled as he continued to work them.
Alex felt herself grow wet. “You fucking turn me on.”
“Always. I want you always wet for me.”
She moaned. He removed one hand and trailed it lower, and she saw how her chest turned red from her arousal. Grant inched his fingers along her belly and between her lower lips, finding the proof of how wet she was. He lifted his hand and showed her how they glistened.
Alex groaned when he raised his hand over her head and watched in the mirror as he sucked them in his mouth. He dropped his hand again and went back to her pussy, first swirling his forefinger over her clit and then in long strokes. Her hips bucked forward without any conscious thought from her brain, and she moaned again at the gathering sensations. One hand continued to play with her nipple while the other played with her pussy.
“Oh, ohh . . .” She clenched, coming hard seconds after he latched his mouth to her neck. He didn’t let up on her, and she felt the repeated pulsing as her orgasm went on and on.
Her knees trembled and she thought she might drop to the floor, but Grant banded both arms around her middle. He kissed up and down her neck, his hard cock pushing insistently into her lower back. He shifted, and it slipped between her cheeks.
“I need you, Alex. Now.”
&n
bsp; “Yes,” she whimpered. “Take me now.”
He pushed her forward until she braced her hands on the counter and looked down at her plump ass. He took the base of his cock in hand and one of her cheeks in the other. He spread her wide and looked down to where her wet arousal coated everything. He watched as he pushed past her folds, her slippery walls pulling him in. There was a tightening in his balls that he relished, welcomed, even as he knew it meant he couldn’t last long with her. She gasped as he thrust hard, harder, and kept going when she met him with backward thrusts of her own. He glanced up at her in the mirror, then focused fully on her beautiful face.