Claiming Grace (Ace Security Book 1)

by Susan Stoker

  “I broke up with her. The last I heard, she was married and had a child on the way. It’s been three years for me, Grace. I haven’t even been interested in sleeping with anyone in all that time. I took care of my own needs, if you know what I mean. But here I am, harder and more turned on lying fully clothed with you than I have been with any other woman I’ve ever been with.”

  Grace bit her lower lip and stared at him before asking disbelievingly. “Three years?”

  “Yeah, Smarty. Three years. So this isn’t just because I’m a guy and you’re a girl. You’re Grace. My Smarty. The woman I’ve wanted since I was seventeen. I’m not going to mess this up, at least I hope not. I want you to know that I want you for you, not because I need to get off. Got it?”

  “Okay, but I’ve never . . .” she paused as if embarrassed, then hurried to finish her thought. “I didn’t really like it.”

  “Did you come?” He knew what “it” she was talking about.

  She blushed bright red, but answered, “No.”

  “Did they even try? Go down on you? Get you wet at all?”

  “No on the oral sex. My first wasn’t interested in anything but sticking his dick in me and getting off, and that was fine with me because it wasn’t exactly comfortable. The others said they weren’t comfortable with oral, and honestly, neither was I. And yeah, I’ve had a bit of foreplay and used lube, but the Earth didn’t exactly move, if you know what I mean.”

  “So they weren’t complete assholes then? Didn’t hurt you?” Logan murmured before looking her in the eyes again.

  “No,” she said softly.

  “Grace, I promise you here and now, whenever we get around to making love, you’re gonna like it.”

  She smiled at him then, a teasing little grin that made his libido kick up a notch. “I will, huh?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “I want you to like it too,” she insisted.

  “Have no doubts on that score, Grace. I will.”

  “I’ve never gone down on a guy before.”

  Logan groaned, a new picture now in his head. Before it had been Grace lying under him looking up at him in wonder as he pushed inside her for the first time. Now it was Grace kneeling between his legs as she looked up at him with her big brown eyes before opening her mouth and taking him inside. She had no idea what her not-so-innocent words were doing to him. “At least I get one of your firsts. I’ll teach you. Show you what I like. And you can tell me what feels good for you when it’s my turn.”

  “You really want to do that with me?” she asked uncertainly, her brows wrinkling adorably.

  “Oh yeah,” Logan breathed. “I really want to do that with you.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “And now we need to get up. I can’t talk about this anymore without wanting to act on it, so please have some mercy on me.” He smiled as he said it so she knew he was teasing . . . mostly.

  “Kiss me?”

  Logan moved his hands to cradle her face, his favorite way of holding her as they kissed. “That I can do. I hope you get used to my lips on yours, Grace, because I have a feeling I won’t be able to stay away.”

  Logan leaned forward the inch or so it took for him to reach her and kissed her long, slowly, and sweetly. Showing her how much he treasured having her in his life again. She followed his lead, not changing the kiss into the passionate embrace they both knew was simmering below the surface, just waiting to explode.

  She nipped and licked at him, just as he did to her. Finally, Logan pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. “Thank you for letting me see your letters. Thank you for not giving up on me, even if I let you down after only eleven months. And thank you for trusting me with your secrets. I know we still have things to discuss, but I appreciate your trust.”

  “Thank you for kidnapping me,” she said immediately, poking him in the chest to emphasize her point.

  “I should’ve done it nine years ago.”

  “Maybe.” She lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “But better late than never.”

  He laughed again and sat up, pulling Grace with him. “Come on, we need to get ready for company. You sure you want to do this today?”

  “Yes. It’s time. I need to come clean about my parents and how they’ve behaved toward me.”

  “Their reign of terror ends now,” Logan told her, helping her stand up next to the bed.

  “I hope so.”

  “It will. Come on, we’ll watch TV and relax until everyone gets here. Are you nervous?”

  “You’ll be there?” she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

  “Of course.”

  “Then, no, I’m not nervous,” she said with a small shake of her head.

  Logan had no idea how he’d gotten so lucky, but he wasn’t going to blow it now. He didn’t even know most of what she’d been through . . . but figured he would in a few hours. It didn’t matter, he’d guard her tender heart from the world from here on out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Grace looked around at her friends. They were waiting for her to start. Blake looked relaxed, sitting on one of the recliners next to the couch. He was leaning back and had one foot propped on his knee. But there was something about his too-relaxed stance that belied his irritation. He was pissed. But Grace appreciated him trying to bank it for her.

  Cole, on the other hand, wasn’t trying to hide his anger. He was pacing back and forth in front of the couch in agitation. Grace had told them that she’d been locked up in her room for the last week or so and given them an overview of her life inside the Mason mansion. She didn’t know Cole that well, but she wasn’t scared of him . . . exactly. He and Felicity were close friends, and she knew his bark usually was much worse than his bite. But she was thankful he was pissed at her parents and not at her.

  Nathan was the wild card of the group. She’d always thought he was the soft-spoken Anderson brother, but looking at him now, she wasn’t so sure. He was standing with one leg bent, his foot resting flat on the wall behind him, his arms crossed, fists clenched. When they were teenagers, Grace had watched him ignore taunts and teasing from their classmates, but the second a girl caught the attention of the bullies, he turned into a different kind of man and never hesitated to jump to her defense. It was obvious that he was outraged and pissed off at the way Grace had been treated by her parents. He was ready to do battle for her.

  Grace was glad to see Felicity at the door. Logan had told her Felicity would be coming by, and she needed some girl time. When she’d heard what had happened to Grace, she insisted on joining the Anderson brothers and Cole.

  Grace took one look at Felicity and fell into her arms. It was nice to have a friend who knew her almost as well as she knew herself there to talk to. She also appreciated that Felicity had brought over a suitcase full of clothes and things she’d need since she was going to be staying with Logan for a while.

  Then there was Logan. Grace looked over at him. They were on his couch; she was sitting right next to him, almost in his lap, and Logan was holding her hand. Even though he’d had a bit more time to get used to the idea that her parents weren’t good people, he was still highly agitated, as evidenced by the way he pressed his lips tightly together and fisted his free hand on his thigh.

  She wanted to comfort him, but curling up on his lap and kissing him probably wasn’t appropriate at the moment.

  “What went on at the dinner with the Grants?” It was Logan who asked. Even though it had just happened, it seemed so inconsequential to everything else.

  “They want me and Brad to get married and have a son they can steal from me and raise as their own.” Grace laid it straight out, not beating around the bush.

  “Jesus,” Cole breathed.

  “No fucking way,” Nathan swore.

  “That bitch,” Felicity hissed from her perch on the edge of the coffee table.

  Blake merely pressed his lips together tightly.

  The only outward sign from Logan was the tightening of his fingers
around hers. “Go on. How do they think that’s gonna work? Did they invite the Grants over to talk about it?”

  Grace appreciated his restraint. She knew he was upset, but he was keeping his cool so she could explain. “Yeah, pretty much. They paraded me downstairs and told me if I did anything to embarrass them, they’d lock me in the crawl space instead of my bedroom.”

  “How have they gotten away with locking you in your room for so long?” Blake asked. “Didn’t the servants notice?”

  Grace shrugged. “They get paid enough to look the other way. It’s not like my parents are beating me or anything.”

  “Look at me, Grace,” Logan ordered.

  She did and saw he wore an intense look on his face. “It took me a long time to realize this, and Cole had to help point it out, but just because they aren’t hitting you doesn’t mean you haven’t been abused. We’ve talked about this.”

  Grace shrugged self-consciously and glanced at her best friend. “Felicity said the same thing, but it’s not the same as what happened to you and your brothers.”

  “You’re right, it’s not,” Logan agreed. “But they sound to me like textbook abusers. They started out by controlling your behavior, convincing you they were doing it to protect you. They put unrealistic expectations on you and kept moving the finish line so you could never reach any of their goals. They’ve withheld their affection from you your entire life. Dangling it in front of you like you were a dog expected to please its master. They manipulated you so you don’t trust your own judgment, substituting control for love. Not to mention that they constantly tell you you’re stupid and no good. They monitor the money you spend and try to make you marry a man you don’t want in order to have a baby for them.”

  Grace stared at Logan for the longest time. She was scared to say what she was thinking. When he laid it all out like that, she’d sound stupid if she argued with him. Besides, the last thing she wanted to do was point out her shortcomings, especially when it seemed like he wanted to finally be with her.

  But Logan knew she was holding something back. “What is it? Tell me what you’re thinking behind those beautiful brown eyes.”

  She didn’t look away from him as she said softly, “I should’ve realized what they were doing and left just like you did. But I’m weak. I wanted them to love me. Why didn’t I just leave?”

  “You aren’t weak, Grace. Not even close,” Logan told her.

  “I could’ve left. I could’ve walked out of my job a thousand times, but I didn’t. I just kept going back every time they said they needed my help. They made me feel like they needed me. And that was the closest thing I could get to being loved by them. Even if it was a lie.”

  “Grace, look at me,” Nathan said.

  She turned her head to Logan’s brother and bit her lip, worried about what he was going to say.

  “Being weak would’ve been becoming like them. Manipulative and hard. Weak would’ve been believing everything they’ve told you over the years. Not bothering to write my brother. Not registering to take the college classes you want. Not making friends with Felicity because your parents didn’t approve. For years, you’ve defied them in the only way you knew how. Sometimes being strong isn’t about having the most muscles or talking back. Being strong is about standing up for what’s right, even when it means you get hurt in the process.”

  She let go of Logan’s hands, stood up, walked over to Nathan, and put her arms around his neck. She squeezed him hard and sighed in relief when she felt him return her embrace. She whispered in his ear, “Thank you.”

  She pulled away, not wanting to embarrass the sensitive man who she now understood a bit better. She looked shyly back at Logan.

  “I’m in awe of you, Grace,” he said, resting his forearms on his thighs and leaning toward her.

  She shook her head in denial, “You shouldn’t be.”

  Logan ignored her protest. “You’ve grown up in a battlefield, but you’ve stayed the same sweet person I met when I was sixteen. I swear, you don’t ever have to go back or talk to them again. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep them away from you.”

  “I’ve made so many mistakes in dealing with them, I don’t want to make another.”

  Logan reassured her, “You’re not alone anymore.”

  “I’ll be there for you too,” Felicity added, coming over to wrap an arm around her waist. “You’ve fought this fight for a long time by yourself. You’re not alone anymore, girlfriend.”

  The other men added their assurances as well, and Grace smiled a small smile and looked around at her friends through the tears in her eyes. She had no idea what she’d done to get so lucky, to have such awesome people supporting her, but she was thankful for it.

  Blake broke the heavy silence that followed. “What’s your parents’ plan with the Grants? How were they going to make Bradford marry you? Can you tell us more about the dinner?”

  Grace nodded and went to sit back down next to Logan. She looked over at Blake. “The dinner started out like most of them do. Lots of small talk and some discussion about business. Since Alexis was there, the Grants tried to steer clear of a lot of the work stuff, though. They said something about how she wasn’t really interested in the family business. Bradford might be an architect, but I think Alexis is still searching for what she wants to do with her life.”

  “Did the Grants seem upset about that?” Blake asked.

  “Surprisingly, no. I remember thinking how great it was that she’d be able to do whatever she wanted. It was just one more thing to convince me that my parents had never acted like they truly loved me. They hadn’t ever supported me unconditionally. The Grants were proud of their kids, no matter what they did.

  “Anyway, talk turned to Bradford and me and how we were still single. My mother brought it up, said that we’d make a good couple. Everyone laughed, except for her. She insisted that she was serious and that it would be a good business decision to tie our families together. The Grants seemed confused at first, but when my mother started talking about how, if their two companies merged, they could be the biggest firm in Colorado, they finally realized she wasn’t kidding.”

  Grace took a deep breath and rushed to get the rest of the story out. “It got really uncomfortable then, and we all moved to the sitting room. I didn’t say anything, because of my father’s earlier threats to cut their brake lines . . . I was freaking out, scared out of my mind not only for me, but now for the genuinely nice people sitting in front of me. I used to think that there was no way my parents would ever do anything like that-that all their threats were just empty talk-but considering what they’d done to me and what they’d said, I just wasn’t sure any more.

  “They argued back and forth, Mrs. Grant telling my mother that she’d never force her son to marry anyone he didn’t want to marry, and then, my mother threatened them not-so-subtly by saying that if Bradford didn’t marry me and produce a son that they might start losing business.”

  “She flat out said that?” Blake asked, sitting forward in his chair.

  “Yeah. Needless to say, it didn’t go over very well, and the Grants left soon thereafter.”

  “It’d be Margaret’s word against theirs,” Nathan warned his brother as if he knew what Blake was thinking.

  “True, but now there are witnesses other than just Grace. By threatening the Grants, they’ve opened themselves up.”

  “My mother will deny it,” Grace warned. “She’ll say that everyone misunderstood her. It’s what she does. She’s good at manipulating people into believing what she wants.”

  Logan patted her hand. “Probably, but if five separate people say they heard her threaten the Grants, it’s more believable. What else? After Brad and his family left, what happened?”

  Grace looked up at Logan with huge eyes. “I went upstairs.”

  “I was watching, Grace,” Logan said in a soft voice, trying not to spook her. “What did she say to you before you went to your room?”


  She looked down at her lap rather than into the eyes of the strong people around her. “The usual. That I’ll do what she wants, or I’ll disappoint her and she’ll hurt one of my friends.”

  “How does she think she can force you guys to marry?” Cole asked, perplexed. “This isn’t medieval England. Forced marriages disappeared a long time ago.”

  Grace snorted. “They exist; you just don’t know about them. You’re right in that she wouldn’t hold a knife to our throats and parade us in front of a judge, but she has other ways. Money talks and so do threats and bribes.”

  Her words hung in the air like a grenade falling in slow motion.

  “What has she threatened you with?” Nathan asked in a hard voice next to her.

  Grace shrugged. “What hasn’t she?” She really didn’t want to get into this, but her friends had come over to help her, and she’d already decided that she’d do anything she could to break free of her parents once and for all. If she embarrassed herself in the process, it was just a part of the painful process. “When locking me in my room didn’t seem to be having the effect they wanted, she threatened to have me committed, Felicity killed, ruin your business, Cole, cut brake lines and have a car accident arranged to hurt one of you.” Grace’s words trailed off as she finally realized the effect her words were having on the others in the room.

  If she thought her friends were angry before, it was nothing compared with how they felt now. Not liking that she made them that way and wanting to fix it, Grace hurried to backtrack. “But usually it was just things like giving me a bad review at work or telling me that I was stupid.”

  “Did she tell you to stay away from me back in high school? Threaten you with something?” Logan asked in a tight voice.

  She refused to look at him, but nodded. “Yeah. Of course she did. She hated you and your family and couldn’t stand that I even talked to you.

  Logan lifted her chin and turned her face so she was looking at him. “What threats did she use to keep us apart?” he repeated in a gentle voice.