by K. A. Linde
There was no hesitation. There was no holding back. There was only Grant and me. This was what it was supposed to be like.
I’d spent so much time thinking about what it would all be like and whether I’d be comfortable moving forward that I’d never let myself just be in the moment. But none of that anxiety plagued me tonight.
His tongue continued its work, making me squirm, and then I felt him ease two fingers inside me.
“Mmm,” he groaned. “You’re so wet.”
My cheeks heated at the admission. Everything about us being together right now was turning me on. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it made me tense anyway.
“It’s a good thing.”
He started moving his fingers in a come-hither motion inside me. That released all the tension I’d been holding.
“You know another good thing, Princess?”
Whatever his tongue is doing?
He swept his tongue across my lips again, and I whimpered.
“The way you taste.”
“Mmm?”
He repeated the motion. “You taste so fucking good.”
I felt the beginning buildup register in my core and radiate out through my body. No one else but Grant had ever made me feel this good. Or maybe I’d never dropped my defenses long enough to open myself up to this. Well, my body was open now, and it was all I could do to hold on to the covers before an orgasm arched my back right off the bed. I moaned as I rode out the wave of euphoria that followed.
“Nothing sexier than your face when you come.”
I smiled hesitantly and inched closer. “I think you should take these off,” I said, snapping the waistband of his boxer briefs. I fought for the confidence I always had outside the bedroom.
Grant was out of the rest of his clothes and pushing me back onto the bed again within a minute. Our bodies pressed tight, our lips melded together, my fingers digging into his hair, his grasping my hips desperately. I could feel the need rolling off of him in waves. And it was rolling off of me, too.
I could feel him ready between my legs, and Lord knows Grant had completely warmed me up.
“Ari,” he breathed into my neck before planting a soft kiss on the skin. “I want you tonight, love.”
My heart beat wildly at the pet name. He used a million-and-a-half different names as if they were commonplace but never that one.
“You always want me.”
He kissed me again. “That’s right. I do.”
I wanted to tell him to continue, but I didn’t know how.
As if sensing my unease, he spoke up, “Can I take you tonight?”
I swallowed hard, and after only a moment’s hesitation, I nodded. I wanted Grant McDermott like I’d wanted nothing else in my life. I definitely wanted him more than I wanted to keep my virginity.
Grant slipped on a condom he’d retrieved from the nightstand and then moved to cover my body again. He managed to look completely confident and hesitant at the same time. I wished I knew what he was thinking, but all I could concentrate on was what was about to happen. Fear pricked at the back of my mind, and I bit down on my bottom lip to try to dispel it.
This was Grant. This was what I wanted.
Our lips met softly, and then I felt his dick press up against me. My apprehension was palpable at this point. I swallowed, and he smiled softly.
“Ari, I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.
I met his gaze. “Then, don’t.”
He kissed me again. “Don’t be afraid to tell me if I am.”
I nodded because I was too worried about what would come out of my mouth. Grant leaned over and tenderly kissed me once more. He eased forward slowly…so slowly in fact that I felt a slight tremble in his arms as he held himself back. He pressed farther into me, and it took everything I had not to clench up at the pressure.
“Fuck, you’re tight,” he growled.
A tremor tore through my body as he pulled back an inch and then pushed forward all the way into me. I fit around him like a glove. Despite the pressure and stretching, I felt complete, whole. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable but not entirely comfortable either. In that moment, I realized my entire body was shaking.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his brown eyes full of concern.
I managed a smile and nodded. I was fine, just momentarily freaking out. At least it didn’t hurt like I’d thought it would.
“I’m going to move now.”
He gradually pulled out of me and then back in. The slow buildup was torturous. He was so gentle, so perfectly controlled, that I wondered if he was feeling anything at all.
One look at his face told me that he was feeling everything just fine.
I reached out and touched his arm. “You don’t have to be so gentle.”
Grant smirked at me and shook his head. “Yeah, I do, Princess.”
“Would it be that bad?”
“Bad?” He chuckled and then pushed into me harder.
I gasped at the feeling. My eyes bulged.
“Amazing.” He nibbled on my earlobe and then kissed his way down my throat. “If I took you how I wanted, I’d end up tearing you in half. We have time to get to that.”
My fear spiked through the roof, but I was tinged with a sense of curiosity. And then all thoughts were lost. Grant grabbed both of my hands in one of his, and he held them above my head as he continued to slide in and out of me. He picked up his pace and moved his other hand to grasp my hip. I was breathless at the feel of him.
My whole being shook. It felt so good, better than anything else I’d ever felt, yet it was also painful. It was a mixture of the two. It was both hot and cold. Down was up, and up was down. The world tilted. My body ached and pleaded and retreated and demanded. It was so many things all at once that my thoughts, feelings, senses mingled together into an indescribable sensation. It was a bit like reaching the top of a roller coaster right before I felt like I was going to plummet to my death and a bit like the first time I’d gotten tipsy and still more like riding with the top down in the convertible. It was all of those things and none of those things and so much more that I could never even think of.
“Fuck,” Grant grunted under his breath. His body shuddered against mine, and then he was still.
My breathing was ragged, and I was shaking from head to toe—not just light shaking, but uncontrollable trembling.
Grant seemed to recover himself, and he pulled back to look at me. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Um…just shaking,” I stated the obvious.
He took a few seconds to get rid of the condom. Then, he yanked the covers back and rolled me toward him. “Was I too rough? Did I hurt you?”
“I think I’m fine. It was…it was good. Overwhelming,” I breathed.
“You felt amazing.”
I giggled and leaned against his chest. “You sound like you want to go again.”
“Babe, I don’t think you’re going to be able to walk tomorrow.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought about that. “What about skiing?”
He grabbed my chin in his hand and kissed me roughly on the mouth. “You think I’m letting you out of my bed now that I’ve got you in it?”
“Seriously, you can’t keep me in here all day,” Ari said, flopping back on my bed. “I’m going to need to eat.”
“I’ll order us something.” I shot her a devilish smirk.
We’d spent the rest of the night tangled up in my sheets. I’d wanted to go again, but I was too afraid of hurting her. She was fragile enough, and while I’d been gentle, I could tell that she was sore by how much she winced when she walked. I would give her a day and see how she was feeling then.
It had been more than three months since I’d had sex. It had to be a record. Now that I’d tasted it again, I was dying for more. I couldn’t believe I’d held out for twelve hours straight already. If it were up to me, I would have been riding her all night.
“Can’t we just go downstairs and get brea
kfast?”
I leaned against one of the bedposts and arched an eyebrow. “I’d be happy to show everyone what we were doing last night.”
Her cheeks colored pink. “I think you’re exaggerating.”
“Go ahead and try walking around the room then.”
Determined, she stood and started toddling around the room.
I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “Babe, you’re all wobbly and waddling around like a penguin.”
She glared at me. “What did you do to me?”
I strode over to her and pulled her against me. “I fucked you.”
“So crude.”
“Are you saying you don’t want me to fuck you again?” I asked, pushing a hand up into her hair.
“I didn’t say that.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“Maybe we could do it again,” she whispered hesitantly. Her hand landed on my chest.
“Are you asking me to fuck you?”
“Maybe.”
My hand slid down between her legs and gently rubbed against her. She winced and retreated from me just as I’d expected.
“I think I’m going to have to save you for dessert.”
“I think I’ll be better after your show tonight.”
I loved her enthusiasm. I kissed her on the mouth. “We’ll see. But first…breakfast.”
Room service arrived sometime later, and I threw some clothes on to go answer the door. Vin was lounging around in his boxers, watching some CrossFit championship on ESPN. I shook my head and opened the door. The guy wheeled the tray into the room, and then he was gone after I tipped him.
“What’d you get me?” Vin asked, hopping off the couch to examine the food.
“Nothing. Fuck off.” I pushed the food toward my room.
“You’ve been in there all night and morning. Do you guys even come up to breathe?”
“Nope.” No use telling Vin any details.
“I ended up fucking her ginger friend last night.”
“Cheyenne?” I asked. It was still shocking that I’d managed to remember other girls’ names longer than a couple of seconds.
“Yeah, bro. She’s a total freak in the sheets. We should swap, and you should try that out.”
I stopped walking and tried to keep my temper on lock. The last time I’d reacted on Vin, it had fucked up our rehearsals for the next week. I gritted my teeth. “I don’t think so.”
“Yeah, you never were into redheads.”
“Did I discriminate?” I didn’t remember it that way.
“You didn’t used to.”
I could hear the annoyance in his voice but chose to ignore it. We had a huge show tonight. If Vin had something to say, he could fucking say it after the show.
“I wish I’d seen where Sydney went off to though. Think I could get her into a threesome with the ginger?”
“I’d assume it wouldn’t be Syd’s first, but she’s my cousin, so shut the fuck up about her.”
“She’s a goddamn cocktease. You should say something to her, Grant. I’ve been wanting in that ever since I took her virginity. I’m fucking obsessed with her.”
To my credit, I didn’t throw Vin across the room like I wanted to. I had beat the shit out of him when I first found out. Luckily, Sydney had enough sense not to actually be interested in my dipshit friend for a repeat performance. Her teasing was pretty entertaining, but fuck, I still wanted to kick his ass for ruining my little cousin.
“I’m not saying a word to her, and you should just fucking leave her alone. Concentrate on Cheyenne. She’s crazy about you.”
Vin cocked his head back like I’d just said the most shocking thing. “Since when are you the fucking voice of reason? You been hanging out with Miller too much, bro.”
Speak of the devil, Miller’s door cracked open, and he walked out in a clean pair of jeans and a band T-shirt. Sauntering out right behind him was Sydney, still in the clothes she’d been wearing the night before. Fuck!
“What the motherfucking fuck?!” Vin roared.
“Oh, Vin, baby,” Sydney said in a chipper voice. “It’s so good to see you.”
“Bro, are you fucking my girl?”
Miller leaned against the doorframe, crossed his arms, and gave Vin the best eat-shit-and-die look I’d ever seen from him. He didn’t need to say a word. That look had done the trick.
“Whoa!” I said, slamming my hand down onto Vin’s chest. “Fucking chill out. You were fucking someone else last night.”
“He fucking knew I was into Sydney!” Vin cried, trying to push past me.
He had more bulk than I did, but I wasn’t going to let my brothers kill each other. Miller was tall and lanky, but I knew firsthand that he packed a punch. He had been taking jiu-jitsu and various other martial arts classes since he was a kid.
Sydney rolled her eyes. “Vin, baby, calm down.”
“Don’t fucking tell me what to do!”
I shoved Vin backward. “Don’t talk to my fucking cousin like that, jackass.”
The other doors to the suite opened, and Aribel and McAvoy appeared out of nowhere. McAvoy came over to help block Vin’s path to Miller.
“What’s going on?” Aribel asked.
“We got it covered, Ari. Just go back into the room.”
She gave me a look that said, No chance in hell.
“You motherfucker!” Vin yelled at Miller, ignoring the bodies standing between them. “You broke code.”
“What code?” Miller was completely calm. “Did you claim her? Is she sharing your bed? Has she been there since high school? No. And last I checked, Sydney is perfectly free to decide where she wants to spend her nights.”
Sydney turned and smiled at Miller. Oh fuck! This hadn’t been just some scheme on her part, like normal. She actually liked Miller. Well, just fucking great. Way to split up the group, Ono.
“Vin is just overreacting. I don’t have time for this,” Sydney said with an exaggerated eye roll. She turned, grabbed her parka, and walked out of the suite.
I fucking knew she was going to be a disaster.
“We have a show in ten hours,” I said. My eyes darted between the two guys. “Are you going to fucking get over this shit before then?”
“There are going to be scouts,” McAvoy said, surprisingly coherent. His eyes weren’t even bloodshot. He nodded his head at me when he saw me notice.
“This is huge for us,” I repeated Miller’s words back to him.
“He fucking slept with Sydney.”
“Yeah, we all got that,” Miller said.
“Enough!” I yelled at both of them. “You should just go find your ginger and fuck her the rest of the afternoon to get over this.”
“Hey! That’s my friend!” Aribel called.
“You want to go for a spin, honey?” Vin asked with a wink.
Aribel narrowed her eyes.
I was ready to knock that shit look off his face, but McAvoy jumped between us.
“He’s just pissed. He doesn’t need a broken nose, too.”
“Maybe he does,” I growled.
“Look,” McAvoy said, raising his voice.
That caught our attention. He never raised his voice.
“We have a fucking show tonight. We shouldn’t be arguing over some fucking girls. It’s about the music. It’s always been about the fucking music. Why have I been the only one who seems to remember that lately?”
Miller stood up and dropped his arms. Vin looked away from McAvoy’s gaze. I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. These were my brothers. We didn’t need to be arguing like this.
“He’s right.”
“Yeah,” Miller said.
Vin continued to look off toward the TV.
“Vin?” McAvoy prompted.
“Yeah. It’s about the fucking music.”
“So, go get laid, blow off some steam, whatever you need. But when we step onto that stage, this shit never happened.”
Grant stormed back into the room li
ke a thundercloud. Our breakfast had been forgotten in the midst of Vin and Miller’s fight. He slammed the door closed behind him, scooped me up like I weighed nothing, and tossed me back onto the bed. I bounced once and then lay flat.
“Are you turning into a caveman on me?”
“Is this some new thing?” he asked, yanking his shirt over his head.
“I suppose not. Are you pissed about Sydney?” I could tell he was, but I wanted him to talk to me about it.
“I knew she’d fucking be trouble on this trip the moment she called and asked me to take her with me. She’s a fucking mess—bed-hopping, wearing those ridiculous clothes, acting like a dumb slut.” He shook his head in frustration. “She’s actually a really smart girl. Full scholarship to the University of Tennessee, straight A’s, on the fucking Dean’s list. She’s just a fuck-up in her personal life.”
“Doesn’t sound like anyone else I know.”
Grant turned his dark eyes on me, and his whole body softened. “Nah. I’m not as smart as Sydney.”
“You wouldn’t say you fucked up your personal life?”
“Last I checked, you’re in my bed, Ari. I’m a fuck-up, that’s for fucking sure, but I must have done something right because you’re here. Or maybe I’m a real fuck-up, and you deserve someone better than me.” The words tumbled out of his mouth before he even realized what he’d said.
A part of me knew that he felt that way, but still, I didn’t think he’d actually meant it.
“I think you’re spouting off stuff that you don’t mean,” I whispered, grabbing his hand.
“How do you know I don’t mean that?”
“Because you don’t.”
He didn’t say anything. Up until we’d gotten involved, I would have thought the very same thing. Actually, I’d spit that at him when he first pursued me.
“You’re just worked up about the argument. I can think of better things to take your frustration out on other than yourself.”
His eyebrows shot up, and a small smirk crept onto his face. “I have a feeling I like where this is going.” He crawled onto the bed after me.
“If Vin was instructed to fuck Cheyenne all afternoon to get over the argument, I think it’s only fair that you take your own advice.”