“Yup. He was all for it. I promised him I’d help him hire my replacement, though, so he’s not just left hanging.”
“Janelle from my Boulder studio will be out here helping me until you’re here full-time, so no rush. Oh, and I also meant to give this to you earlier.” I lean over and pull a folder out of my bag.
“Here’s the information to get certified,” I say, handing it to her.
“Oh, amazing. Thank you,” she says, flipping through the packet.
Even though she’s been clear about the fact that staying here in Grand Lake forever isn’t her plan because of the situation with her ex-husband Daryl, I still want to give her the chance to find a career she loves. I promised her I’d pay for her certification if she decided she wanted to be an instructor as well.
I look around the space, tears threatening to fall as I think about how hard I’ve worked to get my second studio off the ground at 25, just two days shy of my 26th birthday.
The pop of the champagne bottle Steph opened brings me back to the moment. She pours us each a glass and we lift them in a toast.
“To the soft launch tomorrow night—to another successful studio and your birthday.”
The launch is amazing. The turnout was bigger than expected, we had several people already sign up for memberships, dozens bought class packages, and most importantly, my family made the drive from Boulder to help me celebrate.
I glance around the room, and the whole scene is playing out like a movie. I see my friends and family laughing and smiling, drinking champagne and mingling. My heart feels so full, but as I look around, I can’t ignore the niggling feeling that something is missing.
I pull my phone out of my pocket for the hundredth time, hoping to see a missed call or text from Grant, but still nothing. Only a few texts from friends back in Boulder congratulating me or apologizing for not making it to the launch.
“Sweetheart, your mother and I couldn’t be more proud of you.” My dad hugs me, planting a kiss on the top of my head. I shove the phone back into my pocket and turn to hug him.
“Thank you, Daddy, for everything.”
“Your mother and I are going to head home. You know how she gets nervous on the roads after dark.”
I say goodbye to my parents, and within another hour or so, everyone else. Now it’s just Steph lingering to help me clean up.
“I’d say it was a pretty damn good success,” Steph says, leaning against the door frame of the office.
“Yeah, I agree.” I stand, following her as we walk around and pick up empty cups and bottles.
“I kind of thought that—”She stops mid-sentence and I glance up to see why.
That’s when my eyes land on Grant standing in the entrance with a bouquet of roses in his hands. His hair looks disheveled in the sexy way it always does, a small curl hanging down his forehead over one eye. His smile looks lopsided, like he’s unsure if he should fully commit to it or if I’ll throw him out the moment I see him.
He looks effortlessly seductive, and the dark stubble on his jaw looks a little longer than normal. He drags his eyes deliberately up my body, settling on my lips for a second before meeting my gaze. I’m suddenly very self-aware.
“Hey, Grant,” my words come out uncharacteristically breathy.
“Leigh. Stephanie.” He says our names in a low rumbling voice that instantly has my body in need.
“Hey, Dr. Rossi.” Steph smiles, grabbing the two trash bags after slipping on her jacket. “I’ll just be heading out,” she says, giving me a huge smile out of Grant’s view before ducking out.
“What are you doing here?” I go back to sweeping the floor even though I’ve gone over the same spot about five times.
“Thought I might stop by and get in a workout and tell you congrats and happy early birthday.”
He takes a few steps forward, but I don’t want to look at him. His tone was heavy with innuendo. I do it anyway. I glance to my right, and my eyes land right on his belt buckle. My mouth goes dry and I swallow down the lump that forms. His black dress pants are fitted, sitting just below his waist. His hands are shoved deep in his pockets, stretching the material even tighter across his ample crotch. My mouth salivates, images of his girthy manhood begging to spring free. I jerk my eyes back to the broom, redness blooming on my cheeks.
I feel him behind me as he takes another step closer. He places the flowers on the countertop before reaching around me and grabbing the broom.
“Leigh.” My name on his lips has my stomach doing flips. I can smell his cologne—spicy and rich.
I turn around to face him and my eyes are chest-level. The top two buttons of his Oxford are undone, exposing his tanned olive skin. My tongue darts out instinctively, wetting my lips, which have gone dry.
I’m so close.
So tempted.
All I have to do is reach out a few inches and grab his shirt, pulling him to my lips. But I can’t. I can’t keep putting myself in this position.
“Look at me.” His voice is barely above a whisper. His places the very tip of his finger beneath my chin, lifting slightly till my eyes meet his.
His eyes darken, hungry with need. His hand snakes around my body, pressing against my lower back as he closes the distance between us and his lips devour mine.
I want to resist him but I can’t; I’m completely at his mercy. My mouth opens, allowing his tongue to slide inside and explore. He steps us backward until my back hits the high countertop, snapping me back to reality.
I push against his chest, turning my head to break the kiss and stepping away from him.
“No. No, Grant. You can’t keep playing with my emotions like this.” I shake my head but he reaches out to grab my hand and pulls me back against him. He spins us around, his hands straddling my head as he plants them against the wall behind me.
“Look at me,” he growls. His voice is demanding this time and my eyes snap to his.
“I’m not playing with your emotions, Leigh. I want you.”
18
Grant
She stares up at me, not knowing if she should trust me. I get it, but I’m not playing anymore, and it’s time she finds out just how serious I am.
I run my nose up her neck, stopping to suck her earlobe into my mouth. Her hands shoot out to grab at my chest.
“I know you don’t want to throw something so good away,” I murmur in her ear. “Something so earth-shattering you only experience it once in a lifetime.”
I slide one hand up her neck, wrapping it around her jaw to keep her head still while my other hand slides down her body, over her breasts and stomach until I reach the waistband of her pants.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes find mine and I press my forehead against hers as my hand slides beneath the fabric of her panties, straight to her wet center. Her lips part and she gasps as my fingers slide softly between her folds. I want to tease her.
“You know you’ll never find another man who can please you like I can, Leigh.” Her lips part, her breathing growing faster as I gently slide the tip of my finger inside her heat.
“No man can make you come like I can, sweetheart. No man can have you wound so tightly with desire. No man can make you tremble and fall apart. No man can have you dripping with need like I do right now.”
I growl as I nip at her bottom lip, sucking it into my mouth as it takes over hers. I gently flick my tongue against hers before delving inside. I plunge my finger into her, her head falling forward as her hands grab at me frantically.
She moans, panting my name is I plunge a second finger into her wetness. The sounds her lips and body are making are driving me wild and I feel like my cock is about to tear through the zipper of my slacks.
Her fists tighten with handfuls of my shirt as she bites down on her bottom lip, her eyes squeezed shut as her orgasm washes over her. Her legs shake as she rides out the waves of pleasure, collapsing against my chest when it subsides.
But the moment only lasts briefly before
she’s straightening out her clothes and stepping out of my embrace, shame or disappointment washing over her face.
“Leigh,” I reach out and touch her hand, but she walks past me.
“I know you want me, Grant. I know we’re great in bed, but that’s not what this is about.” She doesn’t look at me and just continues to walk around and finish picking up empty bottles and cups, shoving them into a trash bag.
I know she’s hurting and I want her to trust that I want more than that too. I step to the chairs in the corner and begin to fold them to put them away.
“What would we have named the baby?”
The room grows silent. The plastic bag she’s carrying stops rustling and her footsteps still.
“Don’t do that, Grant.”
“Don’t do what?” I turn to look at her, but she’s staring at the bag in her hand.
“Don’t try to turn this into something it isn’t. Don’t try to—”
I slam the chair I’ve just folded against the others leaning on the wall, the loud crash startling her. Her eyes snap to mine and I can tell she sees the anger in them.
“What about my feelings on all of it, Leigh? Hmm? I lost a baby too. I know you were the one who felt it more—who lost more—but don’t act like I can’t grieve this too.”
Her eyes are the size of quarters and her mouth pops open like she’s about to say something, then it snaps closed again.
I step around the chairs to lock the door to the building before turning my gaze back to her. She’s still standing there gripping the bag. I step toward her, taking it out of her hand and placing it on the floor.
“Come here,” I say as I step toward her and hold out my hand. She looks at me then down at my hand. “Now,” I snap, and she obeys.
I walk us into one of the studios, flicking on the dimmable switch to a soft glow. I shut the door behind us. I place my hands in my pockets and walk around her.
“I’m done playing games with you, Leigh. We’re going to have a serious, adult conversation about us. About what I want. You understand?” She nods. “Tell me you understand,” I say as I stop in front of her.
“I understand.” Her voice is soft, with a touch of uncertainty in it, and I like it that way.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. We’re both adults. You told me to think about what I wanted with us.” I step closer to her, reaching down to slowly unbutton her blouse. Her eyes fall to my fingertips but she doesn’t tell me to stop.
I finish undoing the buttons and slide the shirt down her arms and onto the floor. The button on her pants is still undone from where I got her off only moments ago. I drag the zipper down the pants before sliding them over her perky ass and down her sculpted thighs. They pool at her feet and I grab her hand, helping her step out of them.
She’s standing in the room in only her sheer white lace bra and thong. I can see her nipples poking through the material and I bend my head, sucking each one into my mouth. She gasps as I swirl my tongue around each hard nub before releasing it.
I reach behind her, undoing the clasp and tossing the bra on the floor before repeating the process with her panties. I step behind her, cupping her bare breasts in my hands as I turn her to face the mirrored wall.
“Look at yourself,” I murmur as I play with her nipples, rubbing my fingertips over them, around them—pulling and tugging on them. I don’t break eye contact with her.
“I’m going to take my clothes off in a second and then I’m going to put you on one of these Pilates machines and I’m going to fuck you seven ways from Sunday. You understand me?”
She nods her head and I step away from her, removing my clothes in seconds. She watches as my cock springs free from my pants, already glistening with precum. I step toward her, walking her back until she hits the mirrored wall.
“But first, I want you on your knees. I’m going to look down my body and watch as you take my cock in your mouth, okay? I’m going to fuck these pretty little lips first.” I drag the tip of my thumb across her bottom lip, her pink tongue shooting out to lick where my finger just was.
I grip the back of her neck, pulling her mouth to mine to kiss her heatedly before pulling her away and slowly lowering her to her knees. I place my palms flat against the glass as she does what I tell her. Her tongue darts out, licking at me teasingly before I’m gripping the base and pressing past her lips and down her throat.
I’m rough and I know it. I can hear her gagging and choking as I thrust myself into her over and over again. I’m so close and I can feel my balls tightening as I grunt. I look down at her and see tears at the corners of her eyes as she grips my hips and takes me deeper.
I pull out abruptly, pulling her up by her elbows and spinning her around to face the mirror.
“Palms on the glass,” I command before grabbing her waist and pulling her feet back so her legs are parted and her back is curved, pushing her ass out. I drop down to my knees behind her, gripping her ass and spreading it so I can lean in and lick up her slick folds.
“Gaah!” Her face is pressed against the mirror as I continue my assault on her soaking wet pussy.
“Fuck!” I shout as I bury my face deeper in her, lapping at her relentlessly until she’s spasming around my tongue, her sweet juices flooding my mouth.
“You have the juiciest, sweetest pussy,” I murmur as I stand, kissing her up her ass, her back, and all the way to her neck.
“I need more,” she says as she releases her hands from the mirror and tries to turn to face me, but I grab her hands and plant them back on the wall.
“We’re not done talking yet, Leigh,” I say through gritted teeth, because the self-control I’m hanging on to by a thread right now is wearing seriously thin. My cock bobs at her ass cheeks, threatening to part them and enter her from behind.
“I told you we’re going to have an adult conversation about what I want.” I place my hands on her waist, gripping her tightly. “Look at me,” I say, and her eyes meet mine in the reflection of the mirror.
“Are you still on birth control? NuvaRing?” I ask, and I see confusion mar her face.
“Yes,” she says softly, and I nod. “How’d you . . . ?”
She told me in the past she was on birth control, which is why she wasn’t worried when the condom broke the first time we were together, but she never mentioned the type of birth control she was on. I knew it was the vaginal ring, though, because I felt it on my dick when I was buried deep inside her.
“I felt it rubbing against my cock,” I say, not taking my eyes off hers.
I reach down, running my hand up her inner thigh and right into her pussy. I take my ring finger, thrusting all the way inside, her heels lifting off the floor as she gasps. I hook the tip of my finger, grabbing the edge of the ring inside her and pulling it out of her body.
I see her eyes go from hooded and lustful to concerned, dropping down to my hand between her legs with her NuvaRing on the end of my finger. I toss it on the floor, my eyes never leaving hers, and I tell her what I’ve been dying to say for the last few weeks.
“I want you pregnant.”
19
Leigh
Every nerve ending in my body is buzzing with desire for Dr. Grant Rossi. His finger is so deep inside me, the pressure is causing me to rise up on my tippy toes.
Those words seem to echo in the utter silence of the room around me.
“I want you pregnant.”
My heart is thumping in my chest like a freight train barreling down the tracks. I stare at him, searching his eyes to see if he’s asking or telling . . . he’s telling.
No, he’s commanding, and it causes my insides to melt into a puddle of goo.
There are no questions in his eyes.
No hesitation as he spins me around, lifting me by my waist and pressing my back to the mirror. I wrap my legs around him instinctively. He turns, walking us over to the Pilates reformer.
Oh, he’s serious about fucking me on the machine.
Warning bells are going off in my head. We need to actually talk about what this means—not Grant’s version of talking, which is telling me and I just obey. But just as I tell my brain to open my mouth and say something, he slides me down his body, laying me back on the platform of the machine and sliding his hands up my inner thighs. He plants my feet on the floor on either side of the machine, fully exposing me to him.
“Don’t. Move,” he says in that demanding voice that instantly has me wanting more. He dives down, his tongue exploring every single inch of my womanhood. He consumes me so thoroughly—more than any man ever has—and in less than a minute, stars are exploding again behind my eyelids and my legs are shaking.
I open my eyes, looking down my body as I see him stroking himself and wiping the remainder of my release off his face.
“That is the sexiest image,” I murmur, biting my bottom lip as I try not to lunge forward and attack him.
He continues stroking himself, leaning down to plunge two fingers deep inside me, again eliciting a long, low moan from my lips. He removes them just as quickly then brings them to his mouth, licking them clean.
“I take it back. That is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
He grabs both of my hands, pulling me up and spinning me around.
“On all fours,” he says, pushing between my shoulder blades till I’m on my hands and knees before him. He’s quiet—not touching me—and I look back to see if there’s a problem, but he’s just looking at me, slowly pumping his hand up and down his thick, vascular shaft.
“You have no idea what you do to me, do you?” he asks, reaching forward with one hand and running his fingers over my slit, dipping it inside and then dragging the wetness up over my asshole. He repeats the process two more times, only this time he presses against the tightness, dipping the tip of his finger inside.
“Oh,” I gasp. Nobody has ever been inside this part of my body before. I swing my head around to look at him.
Only For Forever: An Enemies to Lovers, Small Town Romance (Men of Rocky Mountain) Page 12