“I grew up in the city.”
“Did you like it?” he asked, pulling into a little grocery store he often shopped at when he was home.
Emma thought about it. “I didn’t know that suburbia existed. We went to movies, museums, zoos and anything else my mother could get us to tolerate.”
“Now you do, so if you had to pick, which would you want right now?” he was curious.
She hopped out and took his offered hand as they walked into the store together. “I think a little of both. I like that you can walk to the store or grab take out, but then I also enjoy the privacy and anonymity of the country.”
“I like both too,” he added. “We’re having burgers on the grill tonight.”
She started laughing at that. “You think buying me oatmeal is going to cancel out the dead animal food fest?”
He grinned wickedly at her. “I can eat it in front of you or behind your back. You decide, but I’m a big man who needs carnage. I haven’t had meat in five days. At any moment, my body is going to go on strike and things may stop working,” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows. “Do you really want to risk that?”
Emma stared at him openmouthed that he went there.
He kissed her and dropped an arm around her shoulders. “I guess your silence means I get my burgers.”
“Want to compromise?” she asked, pulling off her sunglasses as they strolled into the store.
Greyson was intrigued. “Let’s talk.”
“You can have your burger, but I pick the foods that accompany it,” she replied, smiling. “And my veggie burger doesn’t touch your dead cow on the grill.”
“Deal,” he said, leaning down to kiss her. The conversation, the grocery shopping, it all felt… normal. It was something he’d always missed before. Who knew buying groceries with your girl could be this much fun.
“Okay, Mr. Croft. Go get your dead cow before I change my mind. I’ll get the accompaniments to go with it.” Emma started to walk away and turned, blowing him a kiss. “I love you, Grey,” she stated, before disappearing into an aisle.
He stared after her. The words came from her so easily and made his heart pound. Greyson headed off to the meat case and was grinning like an idiot.
Yeah, he loved her too, and today he planned to show her.
Emma grabbed all the things that she needed to feed him something healthy to go along with his burger. She took her time, mulling everything over, including food and the sexy man who she was crazy about.
At first, having him not say the words back to her hurt a little, but Emma knew it was day five, and they each needed to move at their own pace. He may not say it, but he’d called himself her ‘love muffin’ in front of other men, picked oatmeal over a donut, and was taking her to his home. She’d bet he was in love and just not there yet with the words.
It would happen.
She’d bet on it.
As she grabbed the last thing on her mental list, she found him staring at veggie burgers.
“Emma, there are twenty different kinds,” he said, finally noticing she was at his side. “Help me, please.”
She started giggling at his distress and picked out the ones that she always bought. “There you go, babe. It’s all taken care of now. You’ve slayed the veggie burger beast. My hero.”
Greyson snickered until he looked down in the cart. “More veggies and soy cheese?”
“It’s for on top of your burger.”
He started laughing. “That’s not happening. That’s sacrilege. You don’t put fake cheese on real cow. You put faux cheese on wannabe veggie burgers, and then stick them in buns full of seeds and grains.”
Emma lifted the package, showing him the real cheese beneath it as she laughed.
“You do love me,” he said, taking her hand before walking her to the checkout.
“I do, but you’re not kissing me with burger breath,” she giggled as he tickled her. “Grey! People are staring at us. We’re already a spectacle with two badges and guns, and now you’re getting handsy in aisle three.”
“I plan on getting more than handsy at home,” he warned.
Her body flushed as she thought about the two of them rolling around naked in his bed. “I can’t wait,” she answered, leaning against him as they paid for their groceries.
When he whispered in her ear all the things that he was planning for the next few hours, she was sure her face went red. “Grey,” she whispered, as he handed the woman his credit card.
“Emma,” he answered back, grinning wickedly. It brought him great pleasure to torment her and make his little vixen blush.
They both grabbed a bag and headed out to the Jeep. Once inside, he pulled her mouth to his in a scorching kiss. It was a battle of tongues and teeth. Everything in him was on fire for the woman beside him. If he could, he’d pull her into his lap and take her right there and then.
“Grey,” she muttered, breaking the kiss. “Please tell me you don’t live far from here,” she said, breathing heavy.
He shook his head and started the vehicle. “I need to get you home and get you naked,” he stated, his voice low and gravelly. “I want you so damn bad.”
Emma was feeling it too. “Hurry,” she urged, running her teeth over his earlobe as he tried to drive.
Thankfully, his house was just around the corner as he was going to drag her in and take her right there.
Pulling into the driveway, he handed her a bag and grabbed one himself. He took her by the hand and brought her to the side door and unlocked it. Once inside, they dropped the bags on the kitchen counter and attacked.
“Emma, I need you,” he mumbled into her neck as he pulled her against his body.
She kicked off her shoes, and fumbled with the button on his jeans. When her hand rubbed across his erection, he moaned.
His fingers managed to get her free of her jeans as he shoved them down her hips, while backing them through his living room to his bedroom.
Emma’s lips found Greyson’s again as the heat exploded between them. She was on fire for the man as she ran her hands all over his body. She slipped out of her harness and let it fall to the floor with the agent’s shoes, and now his jeans.
They bounced off the walls, lips joined. They only broke the kiss when he pulled her shirt from her body. Croft led them down the hallway until they both tumbled onto a very large bed. That’s when the frenzy truly began.
He pulled her panties off as she pushed his gun harness from his body and yanked his shirt over his shoulders.
“Have to have you,” he muttered, running his lips across the soft mounds of her breasts.
“I can’t wait,” she answered, as they rolled together in a tangle of hands and limbs.
“Emma,” he whispered, sliding his fingers across the wetness to see if she was ready for him. He couldn’t wait to be buried in her body.
“Now,” she begged, and gasped as he forcefully moved into her body, filling her.
“Oh God,” he hissed, as the feeling overwhelmed him. She felt so damn good wrapped around him.
Neither of them moved for a few seconds as they waited to adjust and catch their breaths.
Emma wrapped her legs around his hips and stared up into his eyes. Before, in the store, her heart hurt because he didn't share the words but gazing into his eyes, the truth was there to see.
This was more than sweaty sex. It was love.
“I promise next time there will be foreplay,” he said as he started the glide in and out of her body. She quivered beneath him in response. There was no better feeling in the world, than having her shatter apart around him. With a few quick thrusts, Emma went over the edge and tried to lure him.
Greyson fought hard to remain in control. When her eyes glassed over, he waited for her to refocus. “More, honey,” he whispered as he began to move again.
Emma was feeling damn good, and she wanted to share it with him. Rolling, she placed him beneath her. He was surprised, but then eased into it
as she began riding him.
“Oh Christ,” he muttered, watching the woman above him using his body to give them both immeasurable pleasure.
“So good, Grey,” she whispered, as he filled her repeatedly.
His hands went to her hips as he guided her up and down his erection at just the right speed to make them both crazy. As her body began tightening down on his again, he knew it wouldn’t be long. He was already shaking as he tried to stay in control until she came.
“Honey, I’m not going to last,” he warned, staring up into her vibrant green eyes.
“Just. About. There,” she moaned, punctuating every word as she slid down, grinding against him.
The visual, the feeling, and this woman were undoing him. When her hands were braced on his chest, she stared into his eyes and saw his soul.
“I love you, Greyson,” she said, shattering apart around him.
With one last thrust upward and the words from her lips, he erupted hotly into her.
He couldn’t see.
He couldn’t hear.
But he could feel and every single emotion swamped him.
Emma collapsed onto his body and could feel herself being pulled down into his arm and cradled protectively beside him. She regained her ability to focus and started giggling. “You're an animal.”
Croft started laughing. “You should talk.”
Emma rubbed against him. “I’m totally creeped out,” she muttered as she yawned.
He lifted a brow. “Huh?”
She pointed to the reading chair across the room. “Your cat was watching us have sex.”
Croft started laughing because he never noticed Hairy sitting there.
“He’s a big furry, peeping tom cat.”
It felt right. “I love you, Emma.”
“I know you do, Greyson, and I love you too.” She accepted his kiss. She’d been able to see it in his eyes when they came together in his bed. “I love you despite the fact you hang out with perverts,” she said, referring to the furball.
“Do I get my nap now?” he asked, yawning and laughing at her comment.
Emma ran her fingers over his chest and nodded. “You earned it, big guy,” she said, offering him her heart through the simple act of touch.
Croft closed his eyes and reveled in the feeling of being in his bed, with his woman, and feeling safe. Only then did he do something he hadn’t done in a while.
He fell into the peace and was completely content, knowing that he was a very lucky man.
Briggs stood in the make shift lab, flipping through the paperwork the techs just handed him. They were still re-processing all the trace and evidence from the first crime scene. They were making sure nothing was missing.
“I need all the reports by tomorrow,” said Briggs. “Senior Agent Croft and the sheriff will be back in town then, and they’ll want to go over them, first thing.”
Gail nodded. “Oh, they’re gone?” she asked, wondering where the lovebirds had run off to and if it was together.
Briggs answered, wrapped up in the papers. “They went to pick up a journal in Philly.”
“Oh, are they staying there?”
He simply nodded. “Yeah, at the Croft’s house.”
Gail seethed. After they had their second date, she tried to get him to take her to his place, and he told her he didn’t do one-night stands at his home.
The tech began processing the data, trying not to think about the woman who was wrapped around her dream man.
“What a whore,” she muttered, trying to forget.
Emma glanced around the room, as she lay nestled against Croft’s body. If she had to envision what his place would look like, this was it. Greyson’s space was purely masculine, tastefully decorated, reminding her of a bedroom in a beach house. It was airy, cool, and relaxing. From the sounds of his deep breathing, Emma knew that this was his sanctuary and a place he came to feel safe.
Glancing over at the clock, she noticed they’d been in bed for an hour, and she needed to get up. They’d left the groceries sitting on the counter, and she didn’t want anything to spoil. If he was forced to eat a veggie burger, the man might weep.
Sliding out of the bed, Emma looked around for her clothing. She managed to find her panties. Well, she wasn’t walking around his house half-naked. Finding the t-shirt he had been wearing under his blazer, she slipped into it and stared in the mirror. It was way too big, but it smelled like him and that gave her a sense of total peace.
Emma picked up the rest of their possessions, and placed them neatly on the coffee table. They had dropped clothing, guns, and everything else all over the place. Straightening up, she padded into the kitchen, staring down as the fattest, furriest cat she’d ever seen as he wound his way between her legs.
“You must be the cat. I’m Emma,” she said, scratching the cat under the chin, only to have him purr loudly. “You’re kind of cute, for a furball,” she added, noticing the cat’s food dish.
“Are you kissing up to me so I feed you?”
The cat stared at her with unblinking yellow eyes.
Emma found the cat food box and dumped some of it into his bowl. “Grey was right, this cat thing is easy,” she said, starting to unpack the food in the bag and place it in the refrigerator.
As she put it away, she found coffee and stared at the coffee pot. He was probably going to need some, since he was exhausted.
Emma started searching for everything she needed, and couldn’t help but think how coming here wasn’t as bad as she thought. In fact, she found it calming and peaceful.
She really liked his home.
* * *
When he drove by the house, he saw the strange vehicle in the driveway and something wasn’t right. No one should be there, and that put him on edge. Parking on the street, he crept through the yard and down the side of the house until he was able to stare into the kitchen window.
Inside, there was a woman who he had never seen before, and she was moving around the kitchen as if she lived there. She had the audacity to walk around making coffee.
What the hell?
He knew that he needed to get inside, find out who she was, and what she was doing in his brother’s home.
Then he’d call the cops once she was subdued.
* * *
Emma tossed the coffee beans in the grinder and hit the button. She prayed the noise wouldn’t wake him up, but her choices were limited. He specified that he enjoyed freshly ground beans, and that was exactly what he was going to get. As they whirled, she didn’t hear the key in the lock behind her.
When the beans were at the right consistency, she measured them out, knowing he liked his coffee relatively strong. She grinned and hoped that they wouldn’t both be on caffeine overload the rest of the night. Although, she could think of plenty of things to take up their time if that happened.
As she picked up the unground beans to reseal the bag, she felt the nudge of the cold metal against her back and her heart stopped.
“Raise your hands and don’t move,” he said, pushing the gun into her back. “Get down on your knees!”
Emma had that horrible sinking feeling as she pictured her life ending in one well-placed bullet. She wouldn’t go down like this as everything in her said fight. Once on her knees, she’d be at his mercy.
Spinning, she caught him off guard and managed to knock the gun from his hand. It slid across the kitchen floor into the living room. In a split second, the man recovered and jumped on her, knocking her to the ground. Coffee beans flew everywhere, Hairy hissed in terror, and Emma fought for her life.
She kicked him hard in the chest and grazed his chin with her fist as she fought to scramble away and to his gun. The man was fast, and grabbed her by the ankle yanking her back.
Emma screamed as she fought to get away from him with all she had in her, but only ended up pinned beneath him. The sobs came as she was scared out of her mind.
So, this was how her life would end.
Greyson woke to Emma’s cries of distress. Grabbing his boxers and gun, he rushed to get dressed before he stumbled down the hall. There was one hell of a commotion coming from his kitchen.
Pulling his weapon, he slid to a stop. Croft was horrified to find the woman he loved being forced to the ground by a man. She was distressed and fighting hard to get free.
When he recognized the assailant, he nearly lost his damn mind. His brother was wrestling with a visibly terrified Emma on his floor.
“Dante! Get the hell off her!” he shouted, yanking his younger brother from Emma’s body.
The man looked surprised. “Grey?”
Croft dropped to his knees and pulled a shaking Emma into his body. This had to have scared the shit out of her. They came back to Philadelphia, and she was already reliving the night her brother was killed, and now some man had physically assaulted her in his home. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, holding her against him as she continued to tremble and bury her face in his neck.
Emma held onto him and let the tears fall even as her nails dug into his flesh. She fought to not hurt him as he protected her against the intruder.
“Me? What are you doing home and who is she?”
Greyson crooned in Emma’s ear until she calmed down. “Oh, I don’t know. I was sleeping in my bed while my girlfriend was in my kitchen, apparently grinding beans,” he stated angrily before wiping Emma’s tears. “I should be asking you why you’re manhandling her.”
Dante stood, shocked at the word girlfriend. “Mom told me to drive by and just check on the cat. She knew you were out of town. I saw a strange vehicle in the driveway and looked in the window. She was making coffee.”
Croft stared at his little brother. “So, you physically jumped a woman making coffee in my kitchen?”
“I thought she was a burglar.”
He shook his head in frustration. He sincerely wanted to strangle his brother, even though he knew that he meant well.
Celestia is Falling (A Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 1) Page 30