Take a Chance

by Abbi Glines

  He lowered his head until his lips were barely brushing my ear. “You’re all I want. Forgive me for running? Please.”

  I moved away from him, putting some space there between us. “Don’t. I’m not ready to just forget that you slept with Nan or that you didn’t call me for two months.”

  Grant frowned and ran his hand through his long hair, making it even more tousled looking. “I did call. Ask Dean. He’ll tell you. I don’t know why you didn’t get calls to your phone but I was calling the hell out of it. I thought you had found out about my drunk screw-up with Nan and were done with me. Your dad threatened to call the cops if I showed up at your house. I started drinking a lot to forget you, and yeah, Nan happened to be there.”

  Had he really tried to call me? Why would Dad keep me from him? Unless he knew about Nan and Grant. That would be a reason for Dad to threaten Grant. Was he telling the truth?

  “I want to be near you. When I am, everything else fades away and I can’t concentrate on anything but you. That’s what scared me, but I’ve decided I was stupid to be scared of that. It’s special. You’re special.”

  My grandmama would tell me to ignore the sweet talk and walk away. But then my grandmama had never laid eyes on Grant Carter. He was too appealing for words. I missed him. This. Being with him. I missed it. He had shown me how to enjoy life, if only for two weeks. I had felt like I was finally living when I was with him.

  “I don’t think I can trust my good sense with you,” I told him honestly.

  “You’ll find out you can trust me. I’m not a bad guy. Deep down you know that. I just made a very bad decision.”

  Taking chances had never been my thing. I wasn’t a risk taker. I was careful. I didn’t get hurt. I protected myself. I had walls. Grant had made it past my walls once. Letting him in again was asking a lot.

  He moved over to me and put his head on my shoulder. “I’m not above begging,” he said.

  I shivered from the tingle of his breath against my skin. This was a bad idea. Grant was good at sweet-talking. With his looks and his mouth he could talk a girl into anything. If I let myself care about him any more it would only end in heartache.

  “Don’t beg. Just give me some space. I need to think,” I replied, pressing myself further away from him. The fact that I wanted to crawl into his lap and wrap myself around him was not good. I used to be stronger than this. He talked about me making him weak; if he only knew how weak he made me.

  Grant gave me this sad look that only made his face more appealing. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Don’t. You’ve been sleeping with Nan. I heard you. Do you have any idea what that feels like? To know that the loud screams that kept you up at night were actually images of someone-—” I stopped myself. I was going to say too much.

  “It keeps me awake at night. I hate knowing you heard that. I don’t even remember much about that night. But knowing you heard us . . . it kills me.”

  I looked out the window so I could open my eyes. I didn’t trust myself with those eyes of his locked on me. “Put yourself in my shoes. What if you had heard me having sex with another man . . . one you hated. How would it make you feel?”

  Grant didn’t reply. I thought maybe I had shut him up and he was going to leave me alone. I was relieved and disappointed at the same time.

  Grant moved closer to me again and his hand reached up and brushed the hair on my neck away. “The idea of some other man touching you makes me so fucking insane, I want to destroy shit. I can’t imagine it, and just thinking about it makes me shake with fury.”

  I could feel the stiffness to his body as it brushed against my side.

  “Your date with Adam haunts me. I can’t stand the idea of him touching you,” Grant’s finger trailed down my bare arm. “I don’t do possessive and crazy. Never have. But you . . . I want to wrap you up and run off with you so no one can touch you again. Just me. Always me.”

  Grant’s head dipped down and the tip of his nose grazed the skin on my neck. “You smell like heaven and hell all wrapped up into one,” he whispered.

  My heart slammed against my chest and my legs felt weak. Did he mean all that? I turned my head to look into his eyes, and the determination and desperation told me that he meant every word. Grant Carter wanted me that much. As hard as it was to believe, he had called me and I hadn’t known it. I couldn’t convince myself he was lying. He was so determined for me to believe him. I wanted to believe him.

  The memory of how good Grant could make my body feel was replaying vividly in my head. I didn’t want to remember, but he was making it very hard.

  “If you don’t trust me, I understand. Just let me near you,” he said as his hand slipped under my shirt and rested on my stomach. “I’ll prove it to you. Just let me. Give me a chance to prove it to you.”

  His hand played with the skin on my stomach and I forgot to breathe.

  “I don’t want to be another Nan to you,” I told him honestly. I had witnessed firsthand how easily he had slept with Nan then ignored her and her feelings the very next moment.

  “You’re nothing like Nan. What she and I had was shallow and based on her selfishness and neediness. She has no feelings for me and she made sure to kill all feelings I had for her.”

  I let his hand to continue to touch my skin and send tingles through my body. This might come back to haunt me, but I was good at reading people—and I believed Grant Carter.

  “So fucking soft,” he murmured in my ear, and I let my head fall back to give him more access to my neck because I was incredibly weak when it came to wanting what this man could give me. This wasn’t smart. I was making a huge mistake but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I loved how he made me feel. My body wanted more. Even if my head was screaming at me to stop this.

  He let out a pleased growl and his lips found my arched neck and took small nips as he made his way down to the top of my shirt. His hand was there, unbuttoning it, and I didn’t care. I wanted his mouth on my breasts. Grant had given me orgasms I hadn’t known existed, and I wanted that. He made my body do things I didn’t know it could do, and I wanted that.

  “So beautiful,” he said in a reverent tone as he pulled my bra down and his hands covered my breasts. I moaned in relief. The ache that had settled in them was somewhat eased by his touch. I wanted more, though.

  Grant grabbed my waist and hauled me into his lap until I was straddling him and my bared breasts were in his face. “Fuck, yes,” he said before his mouth was on my nipple, sucking. His other hand was pinching and twisting my other nipple. The sensation was causing the wetness between my legs to grow as I squirmed. A new ache was taking over. I sank down onto his lap and the hard erection in his jeans pressed against me, causing me to cry out in pleasure.

  Grant stopped sucking, and his eyes were fiery blue pools as he gazed up at me hungrily. “You need me to touch your sweet little pussy?” he asked as his hands began unzipping my jeans. I only managed to whimper. I shouldn’t be doing this but I couldn’t stop.

  The simple truth was I was horny. I hadn’t understood that term until Grant Carter entered my life. But this man made me lose it. All that control I possessed he made me forget in seconds.

  “Put your hands behind me and lift up,” he ordered. I didn’t argue. I wanted his hands on me. The excitement made my heart race and my body tremble.

  His hand slipped into the front of my jeans and two fingers slid into my panties until they rubbed right against my clit. I bucked and moaned.

  “Fuck,” he growled, and jerked his hand out. I started to beg him and he stood up, holding on to me. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he stalked to the back of the plane. Then he stopped and looked at the closed door to Dad’s room. Mase was in there sleeping. I had forgotten about Mase, and I was pretty sure Grant had, too.

  He looked at the room beside it and I knew even if we were quiet Mase would hear us. Grant turned and went the other way to the private bathroom and opened the door and slammed it
closed behind him.

  “Get them off,” he said in a heated voice as he jerked his shirt over his head.

  I glanced down at my jeans and started to fumble with them. Before I could get very far he had stripped and taken over, pulling my jeans and shirt off. Once we were both naked his mouth crashed down on mine and his tongue invaded me. Hot, minty, and hungry. I clung to his shoulders and kissed him back just as fiercely. I had missed this. The heat, the passion, the need all wrapped up into this one act. Grant’s hands cupped my bottom as he pulled me closer and continued to take nips and licks at the corners of my mouth while destroying me with a kiss I knew no one could ever live up to.

  When he pulled back he looked into my eyes then pressed one more small kiss to my lips before picking me up and sitting me on the counter. “I want inside you again, but I want to taste you. I’ve missed how sweet you taste. But you have to be quiet.” He gave me a wicked smile. “Can you be quiet while I kiss this sweet pussy?” he asked, slipping a finger into me and causing me to cry out.

  “I don’t think you can. My sweet girl likes to be loud. I can’t kiss it if you’re gonna scream,” he said as he kissed my neck and continued to run the tip of his finger between the slick folds.

  I wanted his mouth on me. I wanted it more than I wanted to breathe. “I’ll be quiet,” I promised.

  He grinned but didn’t look as if he believed me. I held my breath as he kissed his way down my body and pressed one simple kiss to my bare mound.

  Then his tongue stuck out and he slipped it right over my clit. I slapped my hand over my mouth and threw my head back as the pleasure grew.

  He stopped and I reached for his head to hold him there.

  “If you scream I stop,” he said, looking up at me with a sexy smile that made me want to do anything he asked.

  I nodded and held my hand over my mouth.

  Grant

  This was not what I had intended to do. I wanted to talk to her and ease her into talking to me. Get Harlow to smile at me and trust me as she had before I screwed it all up by being a coward. But then she’d made me think about someone else touching her. Someone else knowing how incredible it felt to be inside her and knowing he was the one making her cry out. Fuck no. I couldn’t allow myself to think about that. If she had thought about sleeping with someone else, I needed to make sure she remembered just how it was between us. I wasn’t losing her. Not again.

  The taste and smell of her made me forget everything around me. I’d almost forgotten her brother was in the damn bedroom. Small noises escaped from behind the hand she held so tightly across her mouth. I couldn’t help but grin. She was so damn adorable.

  Bringing her to an orgasm like this would make her drop her hand and grab my hair and cry out. I knew that. So as much as I wanted to, that wasn’t happening. I needed to have my mouth close enough to smother her cries when she got off.

  With one small kiss to her sensitive skin, I leaned back, causing her to reach for me and pull me back. I loved seeing proper, sweet Harlow get sexually demanding. It was hot as hell.

  “Shhh . . . I’m gonna make it feel good, sweet girl. Just wait,” I promised her, reaching over her head into the cabinet, knowing there would be condoms somewhere close by. This was Slacker Demon’s plane, after all. The second door revealed an open box, and I grabbed one. Harlow watched me as I slipped it on, then I grabbed her hips, sliding her closer to the edge of the counter.

  Her eyes went wide and locked with mine as I eased inside her. It was so incredibly tight I wanted to make a noise. I bit my bottom lip as I sank all the way in. She was like a hot, slick glove that squeezed me just right.

  “If you move I’m gonna get loud,” she said, breathlessly.

  I bent down and covered her mouth with mine before sliding back out and letting the exquisite feel of her send tingles up my spine. Harlow moaned into my mouth as I began pumping my tongue into her mouth with the same rhythm as our bodies.

  Harlow clawed at my back and I relished it. She’d leave marks that I would feel later. I wanted that. I grabbed handfuls of her hair and let out a groan into her mouth as her hips began meeting each thrust. Her knees lifted even higher until they were covering my ribs. That was my undoing. I was too close and she felt too damn good.

  “Let go,” I muttered against her mouth before covering it again to muffle her sounds.

  At my words, her tight warmth clenched me so tightly I lost it. Harlow’s cry as I reached my release made me come even harder. Feeling her body jerk and tremble under me made want to shout. This was mine. How had I thought I could let this go?

  I broke the kiss and buried my head in her neck as I gasped for air. Her nails gently raked down my back one more time, then she let out a long, shaky breath. Her legs fell from my sides and I stayed there inside her, reluctant to leave her warmth.

  “I can’t believe I just did that,” she said quietly.

  Me either, but I wasn’t going to say so. I didn’t want her regretting this.

  “You’re amazing,” I replied, lifting my head so I could see her face. The flush on her cheeks and chest only highlighted the sated look in her eyes.

  “I’m not like this. I don’t just do this,” she said.

  Here came her self-doubt. I stood up and pulled her up with me. “You do this with me. That’s all that matters. We’re attracted to each other. We have feelings for each other. This is okay. It’s not like I’m a one-night stand.”

  Harlow ran her hand through her messed-up hair and gazed up at me. “Are you sure this doesn’t make me a slut?” The true concern in her eyes was the only thing keeping me from laughing out loud.

  “Baby, it’s only been me. You’ve only been with me. Twice. That does not make you a slut. Never. Don’t consider it.”

  Harlow chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about my words. Finally, she sighed. “Okay. I guess you’re right. But . . . it’s not like we’re in a relationship, and I just . . .” She paused and looked down at us. I was still inside her and I could see that realization in her face as her pink cheeks turned even redder.

  I eased out and groaned from the release of her warmth. Harlow watched me in fascination. If she didn’t stop, I was going to be ready to go again in less than five minutes. I reached over and grabbed some toilet paper and eased off the condom before looking back at her.

  She jerked her attention off my cock and then smiled at me shyly. “I forgot what I was saying.”

  A loud knock on the door made her jump and I swore.

  “Get your damn clothes on and get the fuck out of there,” Mase demanded loudly from the other side of the door.

  Shit. Not what I wanted to deal with right now.

  “Let me talk to him first,” she said, jumping down off the counter and reaching for her panties. Her angry brother might be outside, but I wasn’t letting him ruin this for me.

  I took her panties from her hands and bent down to put them on her. Once I had them pulled up and in place I did the same with her jeans. She cooperated silently. When I fastened her bra I finally allowed myself to look at her. She had on enough clothes now that I could focus.

  There was a softness there I hadn’t seen before. I wanted to keep her right here, locked away from everyone else in this moment. She slipped her arms into her shirt and I buttoned it up before pressing a kiss to her cheek.

  Then I quickly grabbed my jeans and jerked them on and pulled my shirt on over my head. We both slipped on our shoes. I ran my hands through her tangled hair until I had it looking as if she hadn’t just been completely fucked in the bathroom.

  “Let’s go,” I told her and opened the door so she could step out.

  “Maybe you should stay in here,” she said quietly.

  I shook my head. I wasn’t scared of the cowboy. “Hell, no.”

  Harlow let out a sigh and we walked into main cabin of the plane. Mase was drinking coffee and sitting by the window, but he was facing us.

  “Not sure why this surprises me
. I saw it coming a mile away,” Mase said as he glared at me.

  “You don’t understand. It wasn’t just . . . it was . . . we were . . . ,” Harlow stuttered.

  “I screwed some shit up. Harlow and I are working through it. I’m winning her trust back.”

  Mase snarled. “No, you’re fucking her in the damn bathroom on a plane.”

  I took a step toward him and Harlow reached out and grabbed my arm. “You don’t understand, Mase.”

  He raised his eyebrows, then took another sip of his coffee. “You’re a grown woman. If you want to make a mistake, I can’t stop you.”

  The fact he was calling me a mistake pissed me the hell off, but I held my tongue.

  “Don’t say things like that. You don’t understand. But you’re right. I’m a grown woman, and as much as I love you this isn’t your business.”

  Mase smirked. “Bet our father will disagree with that.”

  Harlow moved this time. “You will not tell Dad any of this. We aren’t kids.”

  Mase took another long drink of his coffee. “Easy, tiger. I’m just teasing. Besides, he’ll figure it out himself. First, we just have to find his sorry ass.”

  Harlow

  Grant had taken a seat on the couch and pulled me down beside him with his arm wrapped firmly around my shoulders while he talked to Mase as if my brother hadn’t just caught us in the bathroom.

  Men.

  The rest of the flight went quickly, but then Grant had kept me very distracted for the first long portion of the trip. When we arrived in Vegas, Grant took my bag and we headed to the limo that Dean had sent to pick us up. I didn’t have to ask to know they were at the Hard Rock. It was their favorite place to stay in Vegas. I preferred the Venetian.

  Grant slid in behind me and sat close enough that our bodies touched from shoulder to ankle, even though Mase sat across from us and there was plenty of room for him to scoot over. I liked it, though. He was determined to stay close to me.