“Show me, Drake. Teach me.”
Grace drowned in the feel of his touch and the way her body responded with each kiss and whispered endearment. She had never felt as loved or as wanted as she did wrapped up in Drake's arms, and the realization unnerved her. Grace had always believed sex was something shared between the one person you would spend the rest of your life with, and she was experiencing the most beautiful, delirious, heady things with a man she would only have for a short time. She knew the moments they were sharing in the little hotel room, nothing else could ever compare to. She was saddened, at the same time overjoyed, feeling the way she did with him.
He kissed down her belly and to the juncture of her thighs and Grace shuddered at the soft kisses he pressed to her thighs. “What are you doing?”
“Loving you,” he said softly, and Grace cried out a keening cry as his tongue dipped into her folds. Where his fingertip had been, swirling her to heights she had never known before, his tongue followed, and the sensation was more than she could imagine. Her body bucked and writhed on the bed as he tasted her, and she lost all concept of time and reality as his mouth devoured her most intimate secrets.
As the pleasure swept over her, her body stiffened and she grasped his head, holding him still until the waves subsided. Her head lolled on the pillow and she gazed at Drake, who had come to lie beside her with a smirk on his lips. “Show me how you orgasm,” she finally whispered when she had enough breath to speak.
His eyebrow arched and he shook his head. “No.”
“I need to know.”
“Why? Planning on seducing some stud?”
Grace stared into his eyes, which had gone dark and brooding. “Maybe.”
“Right, because I'm supposed to be teaching you how to have a healthy relationship. Okay, well, here.” Grace blinked as he jumped off the bed and unbuttoned his pants, pushing them down his legs. His underwear followed and she gulped.
“Oh.”
“This is my dick, Grace. I'm sure you learned it's called a penis. No, it's a dick. And I like it to be touched and stroked and kissed. You want to learn how to please a man, then do that.”
Grace sat up on the edge of the bed and chewed her bottom lip. “Don't be angry.”
“I'm not. I just can't keep visiting some fairy tale land that I get to have more than this with you. So you want to know how to be with a man other than me, I'll show you. We both need to realize that white picket fences aren't in our future, right?” She watched as he ran a hand through his hair and a hand across his forehead.
“Maybe in the future...” Grace offered, her voice tentative and soft.
“What, four or five years from now? Sneak around until then? No, Grace. You deserve more than that.”
“Drake, I think I'm in love with you,” she whispered.
“Don't say that. You don't know what you want,” Drake quipped back.
“Fine, I won't,” Grace choked out. “This weekend is all we have. Then we pretend nothing happened.”
“Fine.”
“Show me how to touch your...your dick.” Grace stumbled on the word as she spoke.
She gasped as Drake stepped forward, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly. “I'm sorry.”
“Don't,” Grace whispered against his mouth. “Just teach me. Nothing more.”
Drake took her hand and stepped back, placing it on his dick and Grace swallowed nervously. “Touch it like this.” She followed him guiding her hand up and down, circling the tip of his penis and back down again. Soon his hand fell away and his head lolled back. Grace couldn't stop a smile from crossing her lips. She stroked him faster and faster, the guttural groans coming from his throat her guide. She grasped tighter and his moans grew louder until her cheeks colored from the sound.
Grace watched the play of the lamp light across his muscles as he clenched and tightened under her touch.
“Stop!” he rasped out and Grace released him.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No. Just stop. I don't want to make a mess.” Drake leaned against the wall and took a few slow breaths. Grace sat mesmerized, staring at his beautifully hewn body.
“You said I could kiss it...” Grace murmured.
“Not right now,” Drake whispered from between gritted teeth.
“Why?”
“Because I can't be in control right now.”
“Maybe I don't want you to be in control.” Grace stood and closed the gap between them.
“If you don't stop we will need the condoms,” Drake warned her, but Grace didn't care anymore.
“Fine.” She stared into his eyes and wrapped her hand back around him. “Get the condoms.”
“I don't want to take your virginity, Grace. It should be someone else. Someone better,” Drake rasped out and Grace shook her head.
“I want it to be you. I don't want some fumbling boy to make me feel incomplete. I want it to be you.”
“I can't give you anything more than this.”
“Then make it enough,” Grace whispered, her eyes full of tears as she pressed her mouth to his. She gasped as Drake swept her into his arms and with a low growl lowered her back onto the bed. Her gaze followed him as he stepped back and bent to pull the box of condoms out of the bag.
“Are you sure?” He paused with his finger barely under the flap of the box.
“I'm sure,” Grace promised.
He seemed to be in a rush as he ripped open the box and pulled out the roll of condoms with a flourish. She stared as he opened one and rolled the sheer condom over his dick. “Come here,” she whispered, patting the bed beside her.
“You got it.” He smiled as he jumped onto the bed beside her. She found herself swept into his arms and his kisses that had seemed intense before were mild compared to the ones he gave her now. Grace kissed back just as fervently and the throb she had felt before came to life between her thighs. She moaned into his mouth as his hand came between her folds again and stroked her to a frenzy.
“Drake!” she cried as he stopped suddenly, when she hung on the edge of the precipice of pleasure.
“Tell me to stop. If you don't, I'm going to make love to you, Grace.” She stared at the man she had no doubts about loving and drowned in the liquid depths of his dark eyes.
“Don't stop,” she breathed and she parted her legs as he moved between them. She reached up and touched his jaw, feeling the tension there.
“Last chance, Grace,” he gritted out and Grace shook her head.
“Don't stop.”
His mouth claimed hers and she grasped his shoulders, kissing him deeply. She felt him press into her and a sharp pain blossomed deep inside her. “Ow!” She gasped.
“Shh,” he whispered against her lips and kissed her again. As he withdrew and then filled her completely, she sobbed out against the quick pain.
“Drake!”
“I know, sweetheart,” he murmured against her ear, his lips gentle against her neck. “It should stop soon.”
As he rocked into her, slowly at first, Grace winced at the tenderness she felt there, but it soon subsided and was replaced by pleasure. Her nails dug into his back and she rocked her hips up into his instinctively, needing to get closer to him. His mouth trailed down her neck to worship her breasts and Grace arched up as she came, moaning his name.
His movements became frantic and fast, and Grace held him until with a shuddering pump of his hips he stopped. “Are you okay?” She heard him whisper.
“I-I'm fine,” Grace responded. The emotion coursing through her body and ending with a sad thump in her heart was something she wasn't ready to deal with.
“We should clean up. Do you want to go first?” Grace felt empty in more ways than one as he withdrew.
“Sure.” She couldn't meet his eyes as she hurried into the bathroom. Stepping into the shower she turned the knobs and waited for the water to get warm. When it was warm enough she closed the curtain and turned on the showerhead. Warm water
beat down on her shoulders and she scrubbed herself with a bar of soap she found in a basket on the toilet.
Pink tinged the water as she rinsed herself and she sighed, thinking back to a talk her mother had given her about her flower being special as a girl. I've given my flower away, to a man I can't have.
Once she felt clean, she stepped from the shower and dried herself with the plush towel hung on the rack, then slipped into the white robe hanging on the door. Staring into the mirror she still saw the beautiful girl in the mirror, but sadness tinged her eyes and pulled the corners of her mouth down. Forcing a smile on her face, she left the bathroom.
“Are you okay?” Drake asked her and she nodded.
“I'm perfect.”
As he kissed her, Grace steeled herself against the emotion that flooded her and she pulled back. “Go clean up.”
“Be back in a minute,” he promised her, his smile bright.
Grace begged her brain to remember every moment of the night they had shared as he closed the bathroom door. She stripped off the robe and began pulling her clothes on. Once she was dressed, she picked up her purse and pulled her shoes on. She paused at the desk and saw the hotel stationery sitting there. Picking up the pen, she scrawled a note across the pad and let herself out of the room.
The note said,
Thanks for the memories. - Grace
Her head hung low as she hurried to the elevator and stepped inside. She rode it down and walked out into the lobby. At the front desk she rang the little bell and asked for a cab. Within five minutes one sat at the front door and she hurried out into the crisp air to get inside. As they drove away from the hotel, she closed her eyes against the barrage of tears that coursed down her face.
Chapter Fifteen
Drake stepped out of the bathroom and found the room empty. “Grace?” His pulse sped up. She's gone! He pulled on his pants quickly and a knock at the door made him smile. As he opened the door, he sighed. “Grace, I knew you'd be back...”
A light flashed in his face and he realized that standing in front of him was Patricia, not Grace. “I knew something was going on with you and the girl at the bar. All I had to do was follow you. You shouldn't have pissed me off, Drake. We could've been good together. Now I am going to ruin you.”
“You've got no proof, Trish.” Drake swallowed nervously.
“No? I bet I can get them to look at you with what I've seen. I have pictures of the girl leaving this room in tears, and now you're in the room. Bet they won't like that. You know you'll be fired.” Patricia smirked as she leaned against the door jamb.
“Don't do this,” he begged.
“The room smells like sex. Oh my God, you fucked her, didn't you?” Patricia laughed. “Oh, boy, what a scandal this will be.”
“Dammit, Trish, don't do this. I know I was short with you but don't hurt her, she's a good girl.”
“Is she even legal?”
“She's almost nineteen.”
“Oh, I can see the headlines now. Gorgeous Professor Lures Innocent Girl to Bed. Was she a virgin?” Drake winced at the lecherous glow emanating from Patricia's eyes.
“Nothing happened.”
“Bullshit, and you and I know that. Little girls don't run from hotel rooms sobbing their hearts out without them leaving their flower's kiss on the sheets. How did you convince her to do it? Told her you'd flunk her? I mean you did good taking her out of town.”
Drake reached out to her with a hand held up in peace. “I’m not her teacher. Don't do this.”
“Why? You afraid you'll lose your job? Because you will, it doesn’t matter that she’s not technically your student.”
“No. I don't want her to be hurt.”
“Wrong answer. Now, I am going to do it. If you had just lied, been an asshole and said you were worried about your job...but no. You love her. Don't you?” Patricia laughed and Drake froze.
“No. I don't love her.”
“You're such a liar. I can see it in your face. You don't want your precious teenager to be hurt because you love her. When you were wrapped up in the bed with her, did you see a future with her? Because I know when we fucked, you damn sure didn't have that look on your face.” Patricia's eyes filled with tears. “I am going to ruin you.”
“I'm begging you not to.”
“You should've thought of that before you dumped me and fucked her in the same night. You're a fucking jerk.” She turned to leave and Drake grasped her arm.
“I know I'm a jerk, and I'm sorry.”
“You will be.” Patricia jerked her arm from his grip and hurried down the hall.
Drake leaned his forehead against the edge of the door and groaned. “Dammit!” He closed the door and pulled his phone from his pocket. He dialed her number over and over again, leaving endless messages, begging her to call him. Eventually her phone went straight to voicemail and he threw his cell at the wall, grimacing at the dent the corner left in the plaster.
“Grace, you need to answer the phone...” He sat down on the edge of the bed and buried his head in his hands.
The smell of their lovemaking permeated the room and he could almost still taste her on his tongue, and feel the way she dug her nails into his back. She told me she loved me. I should have protected her. But instead I gave into what I wanted. Dammit.
Chapter Sixteen
Grace sobbed silently in the back seat of the cab as he drove. She gave him directions to home and they rode through the late night. She wanted to throw up at the fare she could steadily see going up as he drove, but she wanted her mother more than anything right that moment, and she had been saving money up from working, so she could afford it. Fingers of dawn were just barely trickling over the horizon as he pulled up in her driveway. Staring for a moment at the little white house with the green door and the perfect picket fence, she smiled. Home sweet home.
Grace smoothed her hair as she pulled her debit card from her purse and the cab driver ran it through his machine. She had paid nearly four hundred dollars for him to drive her home and a queasy feeling rushed up her throat as she took her card back and exited the car. With her head hung low she walked up the front pathway to the door and knocked on the green door of her childhood home.
When her mother opened the door, Grace broke down into tears and sank to her knees. “Mom, I need you,” she choked out, her voice barely a whisper. Annie stroked her head and held out her hands. Grace took them and stood, walking into the house.
“Grace, it's six in the morning, what are you doing home? Oh my God, what happened to your face?” Annie hissed and Grace wiped at her eyes as Annie closed the door.
“Can we have some coffee, Mom?” Grace moved into the kitchen and began preparing coffee before she let her mother respond.
“Grace.” Annie touched her hand and she glanced at her mother.
“What?”
“Talk to me.”
“I don't know how to start,” Grace admitted as she dumped the coffee grounds into the paper filter.
“From the beginning is usually good.” Annie smiled reassuringly and Grace sighed, the weight of her sins burdening her shoulders.
“Remember that red dress?”
Annie nodded. “Of course. You looked so pretty in it. So grown up.”
Grace filled the carafe with water and dumped it into the pot before rubbing her eyes and turning to face her mother. “It has gotten me in a lot of trouble. The first day I got to school, I went and got this haircut and all these new clothes. That night my roommate and I went to a party. I sort of let her pressure me into growing up. But I wanted to, if that makes sense.”
Annie nodded. “Okay...”
“Well, the next night we went to a club and I met a man...” Grace's voice trailed off and she closed her eyes thinking of Drake.
“And?” Annie probed and Grace was pulled from her reverie.
“I kissed him. Then I found out something about him and we went our separate ways for a while. And last night we bum
ped into each other at the library and I ran my mouth and then I went to the club with Christina again and this jerk was there and I had a drink and then he slapped me when I wouldn't let him touch my boobs and this guy jumped in to save me and then we ended up being reckless...” Grace rushed the words out and she turned back to the cupboards to find a cup for the brewing coffee.
“Oh my,” Annie murmured. “What do you mean, reckless?”
Grace's hand shook as she poured some coffee and replaced the carafe to the hot plate. “I have been lost these last few weeks, Mom. I lost myself and I didn't know how to find me anymore.” She turned back to her mother and nursed the cup of coffee. “Do you know what it's like to feel completely wrecked by someone and not know how to fix it?”
“No, I've never felt like that, but why haven't you been telling me this on the phone?”
Grace took a sip of the dark brew. “What was I going to say, Mom? That your perfect little Gracie was having a mid-life crisis or something at eighteen? No. You wanted to hear I was having the time of my life and learning so much. You didn't want to hear that I was messing around with guys ten years older than me and that I couldn't process how I felt.”
“Tell me the truth. What happened?” Grace flinched at her mother's tender touch on her arm.
“I had sex with him last night, Mom. I am in love with him and I can't have him.”
“Oh, Grace...honey, how could you give away your most precious gift to a man you barely know?”
Grace felt guilty as she stared into her mother's face. “Mom, I love him. I wanted to be close to him. I know you believe it's wrong, but I don't feel anything we did was wrong. Nothing. And I won't let you make me feel dirty after he made me feel beautiful. Perfect. Wanted.”
“Oh. Grace. God should be making you feel that way. You should be filled with him and shine so brightly that a man wants you without sex, until marriage. What good Christian boy will want to be with you now?” Annie sighed and poured herself a cup of coffee. “You really mucked things up, sweetheart. You let your heart rule over your head. Have you really been going to church or have you been letting that slide too?”
Saving Grace (Wild Rose Book 1) Page 11