by Pamela Yaye
Tielle smiled, realizing he believed he was alone in the big space. “Hello,” she said once he’d set down the tray.
Grae turned with surprising swiftness for a man his size. “Tel,” he breathed out.
“Did I scare you?” she asked.
“Relieved me.”
She laughed. “Sorry.”
“No need. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
Tielle only waved a hand. “There’s been enough apologizing for one night.” She focused on stirring her soup.
“Definitely,” Grae agreed and then motioned to the sofa she occupied. “You mind?”
Tielle continued to stir. “Will I find myself on my back if I let you sit next to me?”
His low, easy chuckles filled the room. “That won’t happen for at least another half hour. I’m too hungry and aggravated to put you in any compromising positions.”
“Ah...so that’s the secret...” Tielle savored a spoonful of soup.
“Secret’s right, so keep it to yourself,” Grae playfully suggested.
“Whatever works, right? I think I feel better being tucked away in my favorite place.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Grae said. “I remember how much you always enjoyed it, thought some of that might rub off.”
“Grae, how long do you think everyone’s gonna tolerate Faro’s bonding time before they hit the road?”
“Hard to say.” Graedon cut into one of the thick bourbon scallion chicken strips. “I think everybody’s still too curious about what he’s up to.” He winced. “Sorry for sounding suspicious.”
“I think you’re right.” Tielle stirred the creamy soup. “The situation calls for a fair amount of suspicion.”
Her admission caught Grae off guard. “Do tell,” he urged.
She shrugged and enjoyed another helping of soup. “Something feels off.”
“Insincere?”
“I don’t know...forced somehow, maybe? Like he’s looking for something.”
“Yeah...” Grae spoke around the cream spinach pinwheel he’d just popped into his mouth.
“Guess it’s still too early to get any real line on what he’s after. We’ll probably be here the whole time trying to get to the bottom of it.”
“Great.” Grae’s agitation was more pronounced over the realization of how far he was from tackling the issues between himself and Tielle.
They ate in silence for a time. When they’d had their fill of dinner, they remained on the sofa. The fire’s raging intensity worked its magic, weighing their eyelids, rendering their bodies boneless as relaxation set in.
* * *
Overnight, the promised heavy snow set in. The atmosphere provided perfect sleeping weather, but in Desree Clegg’s room, sleep wasn’t in session. Des sat around a coffee table laden with all the fixings for a well-stocked tea party. Joining her were three of her cousins.
Conversation had taken a backseat to delighting in the array of teas and fattening pastries decorating the table. Slowly, discussion worked its way back into the gathering.
“I think we should thank him for treating us to a dazzling weekend and then hit the road first thing in the morning,” Desree said.
Layla snorted. “This is a gorgeous place, Des, and Faro’s footin’ the bill. No need to act too hasty.” She added another cream Danish to her saucer. “And that snow’s been coming down steady for over an hour. Chances are good the road’s been cut off, anyway.”
“That’s a good point,” Shelly Clegg agreed. “Faro’s just tryin’ to find a way to improve Grae’s awful mood by apologizing in front of all of us and masking it behind group healing.” She twisted a still-pouty mouth. “Get us to reveal our mess and make his look better than it is.”
Desree sipped from her cup and held it as if hoping to draw calm from the warmth penetrating the ceramic. “I have a feeling it’s more than that.” Her tone was reflective, haunted.
“There she goes, y’all,” Janie Clegg groaned. “Des and her conspiracy theories.”
Laughter roared at Desree’s expense for a time.
“He’s always been a crafty child,” Des pointed out through her own laughter. “Doesn’t do anything without a reason behind it, and I’m not willing to say that tonight was just about him apologizing to Tielle and Grae. He could’ve had a family dinner at his house for that.”
Desree’s point of view appeared to take hold. Silently, the group contemplated the logic of it all.
“What reason would he have?” Layla asked.
Desree flexed her fingers around her mug and sighed. “Guess we’ll have to wait until he shows more of the hand he’s holding.”
* * *
While the oversized sofa before the library fireplace could fit two people quite nicely, its ability to do so was terribly strained when one of those people was Grae. He and Tielle had taken up opposite ends of the long chair. Grae’s legs stretched along the length of Tielle’s smaller frame, providing wonderful support for her back while she dozed on her side.
Grae had been first to awaken from the nap they’d fallen into after dinner. The fire wasn’t roaring quite so furiously, yet it presented its enthusiastic flames and a seeking warmth from the wide hearth. The vibrancy of those flames, however, was still unsuccessful at capturing Grae’s attention when it competed against the sight of Tielle at rest.
Inching closer, he eased one leg off the sofa, careful to keep the other behind Tielle’s slumbering form. He thought over how often he’d planned a trip to Vancouver over the past year...and what became of those plans. Now he was there, and she was within touching distance. He smoothed a few fingers through her hair. He was there with her, and they were caught up in family melodrama, of all things. The reality of it was turning him inside out.
Grae’s fingers gently stroked through her unbound hair, which was held back from her face by a thin braid wrapped about her head. Tielle fidgeted, on the verge of waking. She turned on her back, the move forcing open the bodice of the casual quarter-sleeved frock she’d worn for dinner. The hem had already risen to a suggestive position along her thigh. The V-neck bodice parted to reveal glimpses of the perfect breasts he’d missed.
“Dammit, Tel.” The curse was playful, albeit tortured. She dozed with no clue or care for how insane she was driving him.
“Ti.” He prayed she’d awakened before his lack of restraint asserted itself. “Tel.”
He rubbed her thigh, telling himself it was merely to help her waken, when every stroke only sent the hem of her dress higher.
She shifted again and sent his hand sloping to her inner thigh. Completely her fault, of course. Then, as if she hadn’t tortured him enough, a faint sigh escaped her parted lips as though she were thoroughly and beautifully relaxed.
He leaned close to whisper, “Honey, wake up for me.”
All the while, the hand at her inner thigh smoothed closer to what he hungered for. The pad of his thumb commenced a slow assault along the folds of her sex, still secure inside her panties. His thumb glided slowly up and down the cottony fabric. Grae felt his eyelids growing heavy as sensation stirred wildly inside him.
He left off the urgings for her to awaken, preferring to dry-suckle her petal-soft earlobes as his touch to the middle of her panties grew more insistent. Tielle’s movements on the sofa took on a new intensity. Grae let loose a groan, feeling the subtle arch of her hips when she offered herself to him.
Offered herself to him?
She’s asleep, for God’s sake, he berated himself, yet he made no effort to remove his offending fingers. Her smell tantalized him, reminded him. He’d missed her so. Why did he let it all go so far?
Squeezing his eyes shut tightly, he refused to let such regrets infiltrate the pleasure hazing his brain. He could just feel slight dampne
ss seeping through the material of her most intimate apparel.
His mouth went dry for wanting her. He wanted his mouth there at her entrance to drink in the sweet milk of her need. He wanted to inhale her exquisite aroma and lose himself inside the tight well of her desire.
“Babe, wake up.” He clenched a fist, resisting the need to take his touch to a deeper level.
Seconds later, the decision was taken from him. Tielle gripped his wrist in one hand and guided his fingers with the other.
Chapter 6
“Tel, I—”
Her sudden movement sent apology to his tongue until he understood her intentions.
“Tel?” His tone was uncertain, and he felt like an absolute heel for arousing her from her sleep.
It was, of course, a thing he’d done many times during their marriage. Those nights he’d return late from the firm, from a meeting about a new campaign, from arguing with his brother... He’d come home to find her asleep and toy with her until she woke and gave him what he craved.
He’d never felt like a heel for doing it before.
Guess there’s a first time for everything, he thought.
The fact that Tielle was asleep, however, was still up for debate. She gripped him with a surprising strength for someone under the veil of sleep.
“Tel?” His head dipped closer, and he attempted to observe her captivating face.
The fire still blazed, though not with quite as much fervor as it had earlier. Her face remained shadowed, yet Grae could see that her eyes were closed—out of pleasure or drowsiness, he could not be sure.
A mixture of both, perhaps?
He received his answer moments later when the softest cries radiated up from her throat, past the sultry part of her pouted lips. Whether deep in sleep or on the verge of waking, she was apparently lucid enough to have insinuated his middle finger inside her panties. Inside...her.
Mouthing curses, Grae shut his eyes and let himself be taken by undeniable satisfaction as he touched her, really touched her. He grunted a little as his finger slid higher. She was dousing his skin with her need, and he wondered how in heaven he’d done without her for over a year.
She was murmuring something—the same word wrapped up in a moaning cry. It nudged Grae right to sanity’s edge when he realized she was chanting his name. Her hips arched slowly, steadily, and her thighs parted wider to receive every inch of his finger.
Grae used his thumb to stimulate the nub of flesh just slightly above her center. Arrogant approval sent a smirk tugging at the curve of his mouth as her cries gained breadth and volume. He didn’t care who overheard. This was a treat he’d been denied for far too long.
Tielle’s eyes flew open suddenly. Their inviting cognac depths seemed to stir with equal parts astonishment and delight before her lashes settled as she crested on the waves of exquisite pleasure he kindled.
Her chanting cries resumed, gaining volume, and then Grae did mind who might overhear them. He wanted no interruptions, and as they hadn’t thought to lock the library door...
“Babe...shh...” His nose nuzzled hers, his tongue outlining the plump curve of her mouth once, twice, and then delving inside to tangle with hers.
Tielle was a happy participant in the kiss, though she intermingled moaning Grae’s name in the midst of it. Intimate, indulgent conversation flowed then—softly and intended only for their ears.
“Don’t stop,” she sobbed.
“Keep your voice down.”
Her soft laughter surged.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.
“Liar,” she countered.
Grae deepened the kiss while filling Tielle with another thick finger that sent her shrieking on the cusp of climax. Not to be outdone, Tielle extended a shaky hand, her intention to release the gleaming silver buckle securing the belt at the jeans he’d chosen to dress down the shirt and jacket he wore that evening. The jacket had been tossed over the back of the sofa some time ago.
Grae murmured her name during the kiss. He was torn between sampling what his fingers explored and somehow exercising caution. She deserved more than a quick round of satisfaction from a man who had walked away because she wouldn’t bow to his will.
* * *
The lusty thrusting of his tongue on hers began to show signs of cooling. Infrequently, he sighed her name, but Tielle was in no frame of mind—or body—to hear words that hinted of anything other than those of the most pleasurable variety.
“Grae, please.” She put his free hand to the breast almost bared past the bodice of her dress. She arched, biting down hard on her bottom lip when exquisite sensation lanced through her from the spot where her nipple grazed the middle of his palm.
“Hell...” Grae’s voice was ragged and low, yet he managed to turn the tables and clutched Tielle’s hand then. He secured Tielle’s hand near her head.
Again, Tielle’s eyes flew open. She frowned. “What’s wrong?” She could feel his ardor cooling.
“Not this way. Not here,” he said.
“Do you want to go to my room?”
He chuckled. “Not quite what I meant.”
“Your room?” She sounded hopeful.
“Both rooms.”
Her expression turned gleeful.
“Separately.”
Glee transitioned to disappointment.
“I can walk you,” he offered.
“I don’t want you to walk me. I want you to—”
“Tel...”
She rolled her eyes, knowing what it sounded like when his mind was made up and would remain unchanged. She pushed at the hand that had been treating her so beautifully. It had turned into a cold reminder of what she was being denied.
Heated, Tielle fixed her clothes while scooting from the sofa. “Don’t bother. I can walk myself.”
“Tel, babe.” He set a hand to her waist. “Don’t go away mad.”
“Don’t worry, Grae. Mad isn’t all I am.” She shoved him aside and left the sofa, storming out of the library in her bare feet.
Graedon claimed the spot Tielle had just vacated. Resting his head on the sofa’s arm, he groaned.
* * *
“So how’d you leave things with her?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s somewhere in this house still cursing me.”
Leo’s chuckles deepened as they had since the onset of his phone call with Grae. “It’s never a good thing to have a woman that fine pissed at you.”
“I got that part, Leo. If you could give me the trick for getting her unpissed, I’d be grateful.”
Leo’s sigh wasn’t reassuring. “If I knew that answer, I’d not be thrice divorced.”
The two had been talking for over a half hour that morning. Grae had been up since well before sunrise after a night of restless sleep. Sleep? He doubted he’d closed his eyes for more than twenty minutes once he’d finally returned to his room.
Thoughts of Tielle angry with him, however, weren’t the only things jockeying for space in his cluttered mind. He’d also called to discuss his brother’s weirder-than-normal behavior the night before.
“It was like he was hinting at something, but trying to veil it behind confusion,” Grae said once the conversation had returned to Faro. “I got the impression he already knew whatever it was he wanted the rest of the group to own up to.”
“So he just came at everybody with this and demanded they join him in this cleansing session?” Leo asked, following several quiet moments.
“He said something about things...changing in the family after a certain point.”
“What?” Leo’s voice hitched on something akin to astonishment in addition to curiosity.
Grae didn’t notice, owning Leo’s query up to proof of surprise over Faro�
�s increasing aptitude for strangeness. Besides, he was too weary to wax on conspiracy theories. After all, he was in the midst of hungering insatiably for his wife—ex-wife—and trying to concoct a way to win her back while surrounded by his drama-prone family.
“Did anything else seem off?” Leo asked.
Grae’s sigh rounded out into a groan. “Whatever this supposed change is about, apparently it all happened when we were kids.”
“He said that? Grae? What’d he say exactly?”
“Come on, Leo, you know him. A bunch of nothin’.” Grae scratched at his muscle-packed abdomen and silently summoned the will to push out of bed.
“What exactly did he say?”
Leo’s insistence succeeded in drawing Grae from the tousled covers. “He said drama in our family has been around since he was a kid. He could recall a time when it wasn’t like that. Said he was old enough to remember the love we used to have for each other. That verbatim enough for you?”
“Keep me posted, all right?” Leo urged.
Grae didn’t seem to notice the hollow element in his uncle’s voice. “There’s some kind of group session with the retreat’s therapists tonight,” he went on, relaying the events on tap. “Won’t that be loads of fun...”
Grae’s obvious sense of foreboding seemed to ease a bit of Leo’s dread. “Remember the best part is that you’re getting to see more of Tielle than you have in a year.”
“Yeah...” Grae settled onto one of the two armchairs in the bedroom alcove. There, he bowed his head and conjured the image of Tielle from the night before. The missed beauty of her breasts and arousing curves...the way she felt next to him, how she sounded in his ear as he pleasured her...it definitely wouldn’t be difficult to recall the best parts about being there.
“Keep me posted, all right?” Leo repeated the instruction and ended the conversation seconds later.
Grae set his mobile on the windowsill before propping his bare feet on the accompanying armchair. He massaged his eyes and then directed his gaze toward the ceiling. He thought of what he’d said to Tielle about being in his assigned room while she was just there above him and within walking distance.