An Ounce of Hope (A Pound of Flesh #2)

by Sophie Jackson

  His tongue poked out between his open lips. “You have such great tits.” His thumb circled her. “Perfect. Look how they fit my hands.” He watched, his gaze hot and enraptured as her breasts moved and rippled under his ministrations. “Fuck, Grace, I want— Will you let me, can I suck them?”

  His words were so unintentionally erotic, Grace could do nothing but nod.

  He leaned closer. “I’ve got you. You’re safe,” he murmured. “And so fucking sexy.”

  And then his mouth was on her.

  His burning tongue wound around her nipple, flicking, teasing, and sending electricity coursing through her veins. It was wet, sloppy, and made Grace call out and sag against him. He hummed into her skin, sucking harder, grabbing tighter, breathing harder. Grace’s body twitched and grew wet, desperate for friction, but fearful of having his body over hers, holding her down. She pushed her hands into his hair, sighing at its thickness between her fingers, wanting nothing more than to bury her nose into it and breathe him in. She held him close.

  She was safe, she reminded herself. He wasn’t going to hurt her.

  “Feels so good,” she murmured, knowing from the ache between her legs that she could easily come from his mouth on her chest alone.

  Max’s reply was muffled but loud and, when Grace looked, she saw that he was rubbing himself furiously through his sweats with the heel of his hand.

  “Oh, God,” she gasped, yearning flashing through her. “Please let me see.”

  His mouth never moved, but his eyes darkened impossibly further as they flickered up.

  “Could you come?” she asked. He nodded, his lips sliding against her. “Show me.”

  He pulled down his waistband and underwear faster than Grace could take another breath. The head of his cock slapped his belly, glistening and so very hard. No cock she’d ever seen was pretty, but Grace would say that Max’s was magnificent. He was thick and long and when he twisted his fist over its bulbous tip, Max moaned and sucked her harder. That was good to know for when she touched him there.

  And she would touch him there.

  There was no question.

  Desire curled in her belly, tighter and tighter as images of them doing more, going further, pummeled her mind until she, too, was pushing her hand into her pants and into her underwear. She was drenched and burning. One swipe of the pad of her thumb against her clit and her back arched. Her head hit the headboard and she cried out.

  Max released her nipple with a loud smack of his lips, his eyes widening when he saw what she was doing. “Fuck, are you touching yourself?”

  She bit her lip and nodded—his words gasoline to an already furious inferno. “Close.”

  Even though her eyes were closed, Grace knew Max’s fist had sped up. The bed shook and his grunts got louder, his breath hot and wild on her throat.

  “Are you imagining it?” he asked. His voice was wicked, dark, and hungry. “Are you imagining what my fingers would feel like on you, in you? What my cock would feel like as you rode it?”

  So close.

  So near to falling.

  “Yeah, you are. I know you are. You know I’d fuck you so good.” He licked her jaw. “Right after I’d devoured you down there, I’d slide right in and have you screaming my name.” He heaved a breath. “I’d do anything you damn well wanted me to, woman. Anywhere. Shit. Fuck, Gracie, can I come on you?”

  And those were all the words she needed to explode into a thousand pieces.

  As her back bowed and white-hot ecstasy all but sliced her in two, Grace was aware of warmth splashing up the middle of her torso, while Max’s guttural groans were enough to keep her orgasm rolling incessantly through every inch of her body. She wished she’d been able to see him come, but her eyes were forced shut by the pleasure vibrating her very bones, bright lights filling her vision. She pulsed and gasped while Max’s voice became gruff and breathless in her ear.

  “I’ve got you, Gracie,” he husked. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

  As she calmed and her body returned to the earth, his hands and face gradually moved away. “Fuck,” Max bit out after a moment where their heavy breathing was all that could be heard. “Christ, I needed that.”

  Grace regained the use of her eyes just as Max dropped back onto the bed, making it bounce. His pants were back in place; while his arms spread wide, a small smile played on his face and he closed his eyes. The faint gleam of sweat across his chest looked good enough to lick. She imagined he tasted exquisite. Glancing down, Grace saw the remnants of Max’s orgasm, white and stretching from her belly button to her collarbone. Grace couldn’t remember seeing something so sensual, something that should have been dirty and gross, but just . . . wasn’t.

  If anything, it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. It was freedom and hope. It represented what she’d overcome. It represented what she made Max feel, what she could do for him, what she was capable of doing to a man, this man, and for the first time in years, Grace’s confidence stood up a little straighter. She didn’t even feel the need to cover up her naked chest.

  “Are you okay?”

  Grace looked over at Max. His brow furrowed gently when he noticed where her attention was.

  “Was it all right that I did that?” he asked, sitting up and reaching for some of the leftover toilet paper.

  “It was . . .” Grace took the paper he held out to her but made no attempt to move or wipe Max off her skin. She stared at him. “It was hot as fuck.”

  Max’s laugh exploded out of him, making his face crinkle and his shoulders shake. “One orgasm and she’s got a mouth on her like a sailor.” He shook his head and rubbed his hands through his hair, making it stand up in a million and one different directions. “Well, hell, we might just have to try that shit again sometime.”

  Grace grinned.

  You bet your ass we will.

  “So, do you have plans for July Fourth?”

  Grace looked over at Ruby, who was running at her side. She was red in the cheeks and breathing hard, but she kept up with Grace, stride for stride, despite the two of them being running buddies for a grand total of four days.

  From the ass crack of dawn until late every night, Max had been working with his uncle Vince out of town and, as a result, was too tired to do anything, least of all run. It wasn’t good news for Grace’s libido, but she tried to be understanding. Ruby had eagerly stepped in as Grace’s partner, citing the need to get rid of her muffin top and get ready for new bikinis. Grace couldn’t see even a hint of a muffin top on Ruby’s petite frame, but kept quiet. Ruby had always been nice to her, with the added extra of being really fun to be around.

  “July Fourth? Not that I’m aware of.”

  “Great! Wanna come to my dad’s cabin for a few days? There’s a group of us goin’. We do it every year. It’s by the lake so you can swim every day, we go out on the boat, we grill, cook s’mores, get drunk, fool around, plus the fireworks are incredible. It’s good fun.”

  It sure did sound it; still, caution itched at Grace’s neck. She wasn’t working and she’d made no plans with Kai, knowing that he’d be jetting off somewhere with his new set of boobs or his buddies. “Um, I don’t know.”

  “Oh, come on!” Ruby encouraged. “It’ll be fantastic. You’ll know most of the people there.” She started lifting fingers with each name. “Me, Josh, Dad and Mom, obviously, Caleb, Buck and a couple of his lady friends, and Max.”

  That piqued her interest. Grace slowed to a walk, placing her hands on her hips. “Max is going?” She tried to hide the obvious curiosity in her voice, but from the glint in Ruby’s eye, she’d failed miserably.

  “Mmhm,” Ruby replied with a smirk, still jogging on the spot. The cute, pink, bow-shaped clips she had in her hair to keep her short bangs back bounced as she did. “What’s going on with you two anyhow?”

  Grace shook her head, the image of his orgasm all over her still fresh and still sexy as all get-out. “Nothing’s going on. We’re
friends.”

  Ruby’s mile widened. “You like him, don’t you?”

  Grace cleared her throat and avoided Ruby’s smiling eyes by pretending to stretch. “Who are we talking about?”

  Ruby snorted. “My cousin. Max. You know, the guy you’re always with, the guy you can’t stop looking at, the guy who lights up every time you walk into the room.”

  Grace’s head snapped up. “He does not.”

  “Ah!” Ruby retorted with a grin and a pointing finger. “But you’d like him to.”

  Grace exhaled, not knowing whether to be relieved or hurt that Ruby was playing with her. She rubbed a palm down her face and kicked at a nearby stone, confusion drying her throat. Over the weeks, and with all the time she’d spent with him, it had slowly become apparent that her investment in the agreement she had with Max was tilting toward something less friends-only and more dangerous, something scary and new.

  “Yeah,” she murmured toward the ground. “I like him.” The confession should have been freeing—it was the truth, after all—yet the words made Grace hollow. She looked up.

  Ruby was standing closer, no longer moving. She smiled gently. “Max is a decent guy. He’s messed up, which isn’t surprising given what he’s been through, but he has a good heart.”

  Grace nodded in agreement. “He does.”

  Ruby crossed her arms. “You could be good for him.”

  “I don’t know.” Grace sighed.

  He’d told her, in no uncertain terms, that he couldn’t give her anything but his body. A few weeks ago, Grace had been fine with that—and she still was. Sometimes. Other times, when his hands were on her . . . She gave her head a shake and breathed. She knew she was being ridiculous. It wasn’t anything other than excitement she was feeling. Excitement about the progress she was making with intimacy, at the leaps she’d made being with a man. Besides, she knew, deep down, she wasn’t ready for anything serious, either. It was just . . . Max made her feel ready.

  “Look, come to the cabin,” Ruby said quietly. “See what happens. Max is always chill when he’s at the lake. You two can maybe have some fun.” She cocked an eyebrow. “If you get my meaning.”

  Grace laughed, shielding her heated cheeks with her hands. Yeah, she got Ruby’s meaning and, she had to admit, if going to the cabin meant she and Max could be alone to have some more “fun,” then she was all for it. She could brush aside her confusion and treacherous emotions for now.

  Hiding her feelings, good or bad, was not a new thing for her or her heart.

  The drive up to the cabin was as long and hot as it always was. Max was grateful he wasn’t the one behind the wheel for once. He was sitting in the back of his uncle’s pickup, alongside Ruby and Josh, admiring the views and looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation. He couldn’t wait to get in the lake. It was amazing this time of year, and the treks into the mountains were great for walks or runs. He’d have to show Grace. She’d appreciate it for the photography potential.

  When Max had learned that Grace would be joining them all at the cabin, he’d been pleased. He was genuinely happy that she’d made friends with Ruby and that everyone had welcomed her so thoroughly. But that was just his family. They were cool like that. He liked that they liked her and that she was becoming less and less timid, becoming braver, more inclined to take on new challenges. He was proud of her when he heard her sass the way she did when it was just the two of them.

  He just didn’t like it when she did it with Deputy Asswipe.

  Max hadn’t peeked at the truck following theirs. He’d managed to ignore the urge for at least thirty minutes already and he wasn’t backing down now. Nope. He didn’t give a flying shit that Grace was in Deputy Asshole’s ride with Buck and two random women. Not at all.

  He fidgeted, checking his cell. No signal. Damn mountains.

  He glanced back.

  Buck waved back wildly between the front seats, nudging Grace, who laughed and waved, too.

  Fucker.

  Max noted the deputy’s sly expression and clenched his fist. He understood that Uncle Vince had known the deputy for a long time, but did the prick really have to join them at the lake? The answer was apparently yes, since, as Ruby explained, he’d been doing so for the past four summers. Whatever. Max only just managed to resist the urge to flip the bird or write out a text message to show the jerk later, describing in detail how Grace’s tits tasted and felt on his tongue, or what his orgasm looked like all over her skin, or the smell of her body after she’d come. But that might have been a tad overzealous.

  Nevertheless, those particular images had entertained Max and his cock no end for days. Dammit, he couldn’t wait to get Grace alone again, so he could see what else she had lurking under that innocent quiet of hers. The tigress he’d glimpsed was ridiculously hot, and Max knew that once he got the chance to tear away the rest of her apprehension, she’d be unstoppable.

  The man she’d end up with would certainly have a tomcat on his hands. He just hoped to God that it wasn’t Deputy AssBandit. For whatever reason, the dude rubbed Max the wrong way and how he looked at Grace, as if she were a piece of meat or something, made Max’s teeth grind. He wasn’t good enough for her and Max was more than prepared to set that shit straight anytime the prick wanted.

  Thirty minutes later, with a barrage of hootin’ and hollerin’ from the truck’s occupants, Max’s uncle pulled up outside the cabin. The place hadn’t changed one bit since Max’s last visit, twelve years before. Predominantly logged, with a few modern metal and glass embellishments that Uncle Vince added over the years, the six-bedroom cabin sat one hundred feet back from the water, a gorgeous lake three miles long and one mile wide. Max had spent many a summer swimming, fishing, and boating on that lake with his uncle and his father, and as he stepped out of the truck and took in the beauty of it, nostalgia trembled through him. The memories he had at the cabin were happy ones, trouble-free ones, ones that every kid should have.

  “Penny for them.”

  Max startled at the sound of Grace’s voice. She was standing at his side in a pair of denim shorts, a pink tank top, and matching flip-flops. As always, her toes were painted the exact same color as her outfit.

  “Nice ride up?” He cocked an eyebrow over his shades.

  She shrugged. “Buck was entertaining as hell. Caleb wouldn’t let us put music on. Good music, at least. His tastes leave a lot to be desired.”

  “Color me shocked as hell,” he muttered sarcastically, causing Grace to snort. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the glare off the water.

  “My goodness it’s beautiful here.” She breathed in deeply. “I can see why you like it.”

  Max peered over at her. Her eyes closed as she tilted her face up to the sun. She’d put her hair up into a messy bun that was unable to hold a handful of curling tendrils that hung from it. His eyes roamed over her shoulders and throat.

  “Yeah,” Max murmured. “Beautiful.”

  “Guys, come on!” Ruby yelled from behind them, making them both turn. “Get your bags and get changed. Dad’s gonna start the grill while we have a swim.”

  “Best do as she says,” Grace said out of the corner of her mouth. “She can be scary.”

  Max snickered and watched her bound back over to the deputy’s truck. Back at his uncle’s truck, Max yanked his own bag from its bed and slung it over his shoulder. “Which room am I in?”

  Ruby paused and chewed on her lower lip. Max tilted his head. He knew that fucking look from when they were kids. “What did you do?”

  “Well,” she answered, elongating the vowel. “Buck’s friends won’t share a room, so we’re one short. You’ll be okay to share, right?”

  He pulled his shades down his nose so he could glare at her better. “With whom?”

  Ruby grinned. “Your buddy.”

  Max’s brows snapped together in confusion. “My what?”

  “Hey, Grace!” Ruby called out, the volume of her voice belying
her tiny stature. “You don’t mind bunking in with Max, do you?”

  Max turned to see Grace shake her head and quickly drop her eyes to the ground. Max spun back to his cousin, opening his mouth to unleash a barrage of what-the-fuck?

  Ruby held up a hand. “Oh, stop,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “You’re such a drama llama!”

  “A drama llama?” Max spluttered incredulously. “Are you fucking high?”

  Ruby laughed and shook her head. “Look, it’s simple. Grace can either share with you or with Caleb.”

  “Fuck that,” he hissed.

  “As I thought,” she replied with a knowing smile. “So chill your bean, dude. It’s just a hot woman in your room, is all. Relax.” Ruby slapped his belly and hurried up to the house.

  Max exhaled and stretched his neck, making it crack.

  Well, this was sure to make shit interesting.

  Max opened the bedroom door and threw his bag down at the foot of the bed. The huge bed. The only bed in the entire fucking room. He put his hands on his hips while he watched Grace place her bag next to his. She pressed her lips together and pinched her shoulders, looking small and maddeningly nervous.

  “Listen,” Max started with a wave of his hand toward the room. It was at the front of the house with picture-perfect views across the water and up the mountains, which could be accessed through French windows that opened onto a private balcony. “Don’t worry about all of this. I’ll get some blankets and sleep on the floor.”

  “You will not!” Grace retorted firmly. “This is your break, too.” She cleared her throat and glanced at the bed, then back at Max. “I trust you. It’ll be fine.” She fingered the duvet cover. “Sort of like friends having a sleepover.”

  Max stared at her for a moment before bursting out laughing. “Sure, a sleepover, but don’t for one minute think I’m having pillow fights with you in my underwear.”

  She didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, my friends and I don’t bother wearing underwear during our pillow fights.”