by Evelyn Glass
Grayson and Tommy move as one, rushing towards the two men. Tommy pins the goon down, using all his force to dominate him. As Morrison sees how the tide is turning, he decides to cut his losses and starts running towards the street, but he’s nowhere near fast enough. Grayson tackles him from behind, sending Morrison crashing to the ground, crying out in pain as his face hits the concrete.
“You fuck! You broke my fucking nose!” Morrison whines like a little bitch, as he tries to slow the flow of blood that’s rushing out of his nose like a tidal wave.
“I’m going to break more than that, Morris. Your nose is the least of your problems.” Grayson flips the man over, raising his fist, ready to smash Morrison’s head against the concrete.
Grayson sees the exact moment that realization dawns on Morrison. The fear in his eyes is palpable. “Come on, Grayson. Don’t be that way. You know I wouldn’t really have hurt her.”
Grayson shakes his head at the sniveling man underneath him. “It looks like you already have, Morrison.” Grayson looks over at Adriana, who’s standing with her back to the wall, watching them both.
“That wasn’t me. That was Mr. Elliott.” Morrison gives up his comrade in arms so quickly Grayson’s surprised it doesn’t make his head spin. “Kid, don’t hurt me. You’re not a killer.” Morrison holds his hands up in front of his face, looking as pathetic as any man whom Grayson has ever seen.
Grayson feels the conflict playing out inside of him. There’s nothing that he wants more right now than to let out all the anger that Morrison has made him feel over the years. He wants to make Morrison feel the fear and the pain that he put Adriana through.
“Grayson, don’t.” Adriana’s voice is quiet, but it carries over the noise in his head.
He takes in the plea in her green eyes and realizes that no matter how much he wants to hurt Morrison there’s something else that he wants more. He wants to be the man whom Adriana needs him to be, the man whom he knows he can be for her. That’s more important than any thought of revenge or selfish need of his own.
He looks down at Morrison and releases him in disgust. “I’m not going to hurt you, Morris, not physically at least. But you and your little friend here are going to go away for a very long time, a lifetime if I have anything to do with it.”
Grayson is vaguely aware of the sound of sirens as he walks towards Adriana, enveloping her in his arms. They hold onto each other, clutching each other so tight that it’s impossible to tell where one of them ends and the other begins.
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
ADRIANA
Grayson’s kisses leave a trail of fire behind them, as he follows the line of her jaw, over her collarbone, paying particular attention to the sensitive area at the base of her neck. She breathes in deeply as his expert fingers dip into the softness between her thighs.
She gasps at his touch in her most intimate of places. His mouth covers her nipples, first one and then the other, circling them with his tongue, scraping his teeth against them, making her pussy ache with want for him.
“You’re so beautiful, Adriana.” Grayson looks up at her, and she feels the heat of her blush spread across her face. “It’s a little late for shyness, isn’t it?” He looks at her with that gorgeous smile of his that makes her stomach flip over.
She doesn’t think that she’d be able to reply—even if she had something to say. The way his fingers are stroking her slit is making it difficult to think about anything else, let alone form sentences. Grayson must see how turned on she is as she lifts her hips to him, squirming against his fingers and riding them as he teases her clit. He covers her mouth with his, invading her lips with his tongue, possessing her completely.
Adriana moans against his mouth, her fingers grazing the hard muscles of his pecs and then his abs, as she allows her hands to wonder down towards his happy trail. His erection is hard against her hip, and the knowledge that he’s as turned on as she is drives her crazy. She grasps hold of his shaft, feeling how swollen with need he is, and she starts moving her hands up and down the length of him.
As they touch each other, Grayson leans over her, pulling her bottom lip and biting it playfully. The action crosses the line between pleasure and pain. It’s exactly what she needs; it’s the catalyst to her explosion.
“Come for me, Adrie. Let go.” His whispers spur her on as his fingers sheath themselves inside of her, making her buck and cry out as her orgasm overtakes her. “That’s it, baby.” Grayson holds her to him as she shakes from the force of her climax, kissing her head softly and tenderly.
She looks up at him from under heavy lids, satisfied but nowhere near done yet. She smiles at him coquettishly and wriggles out from underneath him. “I love you.” She kisses him deeply, as she maneuvers herself to lie on top of him. “And I love your cock.” She raises an eyebrow at him as she takes him between her hands, guiding him towards her entrance, slick with her own juices.
“You have no idea how much it turns me on to hear you say that.” Grayson looks at her with eyes burning with desire.
“Say what?” Adriana looks at him in faux-innocence. “That I love your big, hard cock? That I love it when you’re inside of me?” She watches his appetite for her play across his features, and she wonders if she’ll ever get used to how damn gorgeous this man is and that he’s hers. “I want you to take me; I want you to love me.”
Grayson locks eyes with her, his hands on her hips, guiding her slowly down onto his shaft. She gasps as his tip enters her and then the rest of him inch by delicious inch. They don’t take their eyes off each other, as Adriana starts to move above him. She feels him penetrating her, again and again, filling her up.
“Adrie, God I love you.” Grayson reaches up to cup her face. His fingers trace the bruise that still hasn’t quite disappeared from her cheek, and she sees his expression darken.
“Stay here with me, Gray. Don’t go there.” She watches him, pulling him back from the dark place that he goes when he’s reminded of what happened to her and how things could have ended so differently.
She leans over him, her hair creating a curtain around them as she kisses him hard, sucking on his lip and distracting him from his gloomy thoughts. Her hips start moving faster, and Grayson picks up on her change in rhythm, driving into her harder.
They’re both moaning in pleasure at the exquisite contact. She tightens her pussy’s hold around his shaft, and she watches as Grayson’s eyes bulge. “Holy shit, Adrie.” He grabs hold of her hips and flips her over so that she’s underneath him. He circles her clit with his thumb, as he buries himself in her again and again.
Adriana squirms underneath him, arching her back and pushing up against him to allow him to get even deeper inside of her. “I’m close, Gray.” She can barely breathe she’s so turned on.
“Come with me, Adrie.” His words stimulate her—in time with his fingers and his cock—and she feels herself rising up and up and up. Pleasure overtakes her as she climaxes, crying out.
Grayson follows her a split-second later, calling out her name as he spurts inside of her, clutching her to him. Grayson collapses on top of her, breathing hard and planting soft kisses on her lips and along the remnants of the bruise on her cheek.
“I love you, Adrie.” He whispers the words against her lips. Now that they’d started to say it, it was like neither of them could say it enough.
“I love you too, Gray.” She wraps her arms around him, feeling languorous and satisfied beyond measure.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get tired of having you here, in my bed.” Grayson smiles down at her, looking at her as if she were the best thing he’d ever seen.
They hadn’t been able to get enough of each other—despite spending every day and every night since the fight wrapped around each other, barely inches apart. They have barely surfaced from Grayson’s bedroom for anything but food and water, and Adriana could safely say that she could have stayed like that forever.
But the time has
come for the most momentous event in their relationship to date, more than her being taken and used as leverage over Grayson and more than him almost being beaten to within an inch of his life in the ring to save her. This moment was going to be more impactful than everything else they’ve been through; she was about to meet Grayson’s family.
“What are you so nervous about? They’re going to love you.” Grayson is lying in bed watching her as she flits about the room, trying and failing miserably to keep her cool.
“How do you know that? You can’t know that!” Adriana knows that her voice is verging on hysterical. However, knowing that Grayson’s mom and sister are on their way from the airport is bringing out that side of her.
Grayson smiles ruefully and opens his arms to Adriana. She goes to him automatically, as if her body is no long under her control. She sits on the bed, and he envelops her in his embrace. With that, it feels like all the tension is seeping out of her.
He whispers in her ear. “They’re going to love you because I love you.” He lifts her face up towards him and kisses her deeply, his tongue exploring her mouth so deliciously she feels her knees begin to wobble.
Absently, she wonders if she’ll ever get used to the effect that he has on her. She wonders if she ever wants to. “It’s just…it’s the first time I’ve ever done the meet the parent thing. I don’t have much practice.” She shrugs her shoulders, wishing that she didn’t sound quite so small.
“I’m glad that this is important to you.” Grayson rests his forehead against hers. “It is for me, too.” He kisses her again, deeper this time. His hand starts to draw ever decreasing circles on the smooth skin of her back.
She feels her body responding to him and the tingling start between her thighs, as he touches her. She knows that now isn’t the time to let herself go, not when his family is about to arrive. “Grayson, you don’t play fair!” She wriggles out of his reach, laughing. “I’m not going to meet your mom for the first time from your bed.”
“But you’re so beautiful when you’re lying in my bed.” Grayson throws her one of his deadly winks and ducks as the cushion she’s just thrown at him goes sailing over his head.
CHAPTER FIFTY
GRAYSON
Operation: Meet the Family couldn’t be going any better. He watches as Adriana and Kay sit together by the pool, talking and laughing, thick as thieves. Adriana looks up, sensing his eyes on her, and she smiles at him. It’s one of those smiles that makes him feel like his heart has just skipped a beat, and he grins like a fool.
Willow and Tommy are busy by the outdoor bar, trying to pretend that they’re not flirting with each other. Grayson wonders how long it’s going to take for them to figure out what he and Adriana already know.
West is fixing Grayson’s mother another drink and telling her some story that makes her throw back her head and laugh. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of seeing his mom happy, not after he spent years seeing her do little else apart from cry and cower in the corner.
This is his family. All the people whom he loves are in one place, and it’s the best feeling in the world. He takes a swig of his beer, his eyes return to Adriana and the lines of her face and body that he knows so well. God dammit, she’s beautiful. He shakes his head like he can’t quite believe his luck.
“I’m so proud of you, Grayson.” His mom has snuck up beside him, and she clinks her fresh glass against his bottle. “The national championships…it’s amazing.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Grayson throws an arm around her shoulder, barely able to believe it himself. This is what he’d been working towards and what he’d wanted for as long as he could remember, but it all paled in comparison next to what he could have lost.
“West was telling me that it’s a lot of traveling, fighting the champions of different states, a lot of days on the road.” She’s clearly going somewhere with this, and Grayson looks at her, waiting for her to ask the question that she’s circling around. “How does Adriana feel about it?”
“She understands. We’re talking about her taking an extended holiday from the hospital so she can come on the road with us. We’ll make it work.” Grayson shrugs, not because he doesn’t care, but because he’s completely certain that there’s no reason to worry. He and Adriana can get through whatever life throws at them; they’ve proven that already.
“She’s lovely, Grayson.” His mother’s voice brings him out of his thoughts.
He smiles at her. “She is. She’s everything I want. She’s my soulmate.” It sounds so simple, but there’s a world in that one phrase.
The night that he’d gotten Adriana back, they’d talked about his past and his history with Morrison. He’d told her everything from beginning to end, not leaving anything out, not wanting there to be any more secrets between them. He’d seen where secrets had gotten them.
She’d been silent throughout his whole story until he reached the end, soaking in everything he was telling her. When everything had been said, she hadn’t raged at him for waiting all this time to tell her. She didn’t call him a monster or a murderer or any of the things that he had been afraid she would call him. She didn’t tell him that she needed time or space to think about it. All she did was look straight into his eyes and plant a kiss on his lips that was so soft and so full of feeling that he felt like his heart would explode with love for her. He’d held her so tight that night, barely sleeping. It was as if he was afraid that she’d be gone again in the morning. But she wasn’t. She was right there by his side, as she had been every day since.
“So what are you going to do about it?” His mom raises an eyebrow at him in an expression that he recognizes as one he’s inherited from her.
“How did you know?” He can’t believe that in the short time she’s been here that she’s managed to figure things out so completely.
“Mothers know these things.” She reaches over and takes the beer bottle out of his hand. “The sun is about to set. This would be a good time.” She nudges him slightly, encouraging him with a smile.
He takes a deep breath, preparing himself for what he’s about to do, not because he’s unsure, but because he feels like all his future happiness hangs in the balance of a one word answer. He feels in the pocket of his board-shorts, checking for the umpteenth time that the square box is still there. He’d been carrying it around, waiting for the perfect moment and life, as it does, had gotten in the way. Now, there are no more excuses. Now is the time.
He stops in front of Adriana and Kay who look up at him curiously. “What’s up, Gayson?” His sister laughs at the expression on his face. “You look like you’re having a moment.”
Adriana tilts her head as she looks at him and he sees concern cloud over her beautiful face. “Gray, is everything alright?” She gets to her feet, looking around as if there were some danger threatening them yet again. He wonders how long it will be for her to let go of that fear that’s followed her around since Morrison took her. She still doesn’t sleep through the night. When she wakes from one of her nightmares, he holds her, his heart breaking. The bruises and scratches on her body have faded, but the emotional wounds ran deeper and would take much longer to heal. But they would get through it; together they would find a way through.
“Nothing bad. At least I hope not.” Grayson reaches out and strokes her soft cheek, unable to be close to her without there being some contact between them.
She looks at him questioningly, her green eyes curious, unsure of what’s coming next. Here we go, he thinks, as he gets down on one knee.
“Grayson.” She breathes his name as she watches him, her eyes widening.
“Holy shit!” Kay’s whispered exclamation breaks the tension a little.
“Adriana, I love you more than I thought I could love anything or anyone. I can’t imagine my life without you. I found you ten years ago, and I messed it all up. Then, I was lucky enough to find you again. I’m not going to let you go this time. I know now that I can’t be without you,
that being without you isn’t anything close to what living should feel like.” Grayson pulls the box out of his pocket and his hands shake a little as he opens it, showing her the ring set with diamonds and emeralds that match her sparkling green eyes, eyes that now look like they’re filling with tears. “Adriana, will you make me the happiest man alive? Will you be my wife?”
The silence is deafening and for what feels like the longest seconds of his life, he starts to wonder if he had scared her, if she thought they were moving too fast. But when he looks up into her eyes, he can see that there are no questions in them, only answers.
She kneels down in front of him, taking his head between her hands and resting her forehead against his. “Yes, Grayson. How could my answer be anything but yes?” She laughs and a single tear tracks down her cheek. He wipes it away, like he will all the tears that come after them—for the rest of their lives.
THE END