“Oh, yeah?” Grant lifted a brow. “Are the Draysons having another family dinner tonight?”
Shari’s eyes darted nervously back and forth. She was afraid to look at Grant directly. “No, the Robinsons.”
“Excuse me?”
She raised her eyes to find his green ones boring into her. “Your parents are in town and are meeting us for dinner.”
“I’m going to meet Daddy’s parents?” Andre asked from her side. He started jumping up and down with excitement.
Shari glanced at Grant again and noticed that fury was emanating out of every pore, and that he was trying with great difficulty to keep himself in check in front of Andre. His eyes, however, told Shari that she misstepped gravely, but she was through living in the shadows. “That’s right. So let’s go back to the hotel and get changed. How does that sound?”
Shari headed for the door. She didn’t wait to see if Grant was behind her.
Once at the hotel, she gave Andre the longest bath known to man before finally getting him dressed and letting him watch a cartoon. She entered the master suite to shower and Grant was waiting for her.
He was already dressed in tailored slacks, a pale green silk shirt and loafers. Any other man wouldn’t be able to wear a pastel color, but it brought out the brilliant color of Grant’s eyes and made him even more handsome.
“What the hell were you thinking?” He jerked to his feet from the bed. “You had no right.”
“I had every right,” Shari said fiercely. “You should have told them about me and Andre.”
“I didn’t want to disrupt their trip.”
“Excuses, excuses. Would there have ever been a right time, Grant? Or were you just going to keep them in the dark and keep Andre and me a secret forever?”
Grant turned around, surprised. “Is that really what you think after our time together here?”
“What am I supposed to think?” Shari asked, regarding him warily. “You didn’t invite them to the wedding.”
“There’s a lot you don’t understand, Shari.”
“Of course there is,” Shari said, sweeping past him into the master bath and slamming the door. None of which Grant seemed willing to share with her. He was willing to share his body with her, but his feelings, his hurts, his pains, those were strictly off-limits.
She emerged half an hour later, showered and fully dressed in a simple one-shoulder pleated dress in navy blue that stopped at her knee. She’d curled her long hair loosely, so it hung in soft waves down her back. She’d agonized about her makeup until finally deciding to be herself and keep it simple—a few brushes of mineral foundation, a touch of mascara and lipstick and she was set. Simple gold hoop earrings adorned her ears and a diamond and gold necklace, a gift for her twenty-first birthday from her father, circled her neck.
“You look beautiful,” Grant said when he saw her.
Given his previous anger at her, she was surprised by the begrudging compliment. “Thank you.”
“Listen,” Grant began, but a knock sounded on the door to their suite. Grant glanced at the door. “We’ll talk later.” He walked toward the door and paused for several seconds before opening it.
“Grant!” His mother, a tall, slender woman, stepped into the doorway. “You’re looking well, dear.”
“Yes, Grant, you are looking good.” His father shook his hand, but didn’t hug him.
“Thanks, Pops.”
Shari waited for Grant to introduce her, but the Robinsons seemed to be struggling for how to continue until she stepped forward.
“Oh, yes,” Grant said as if forgetting his manners, “this is my wife, Shari Robinson. Shari, my parents, Eleanor and Warren.”
Shari stepped forward to meet them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson.”
“I wish I could say the same, dear, but all this comes as quite a shock to us,” Grant’s mother pronounced. “We have a grandson we know nothing about, a rushed marriage, which we weren’t even invited to. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“Mother, it’s not Shari you’re upset with,” Grant said, stepping in between the two women. “It’s me. I’m the one who chose to keep our wedding ceremony small.”
“Without your parents?” She huffed, turning around to glare at him. “First that Dina woman and now this!” His mother threw her hands up in the air and walked away. Shari watched her head toward the minibar that had been set up in the room. She went about making herself a gin and tonic.
“Eleanor, really, must you be so dramatic?” Grant’s father said. “Shari.” He came toward her and held out his hand. “Welcome to the family.”
Shari found the offer of a handshake somewhat formal and instead leaned forward to hug her father-in-law. She noticed him stiffen ever so slightly before giving her a quick pat and pulling away. Did the Robinsons not hug each other?
“Where is my grandson?” Mr. Robinson inquired, looking around the suite. “And what’s his name?”
“Andre.” Grant beat Shari to the punch. “His name is Andre and he’s the most amazing four-year-old you’re ever going to meet. He’s bright and funny.”
“Just like you were,” his mother said from the couch where she’d plopped herself with her drink.
“I’ll go get him,” Shari said, and rushed into the adjoining room where Andre was watching a cartoon. She was eager for a few minutes to herself to figure out exactly what was going on out there. Grant’s parents were cold and distant. They weren’t remotely like Grant, who was warm and affectionate. Was that how he’d grown up? Was that why he’d chosen to keep Shari and Andre away from them?
“Hey, honey,” Shari said, coming beside Andre to join him on the queen-size bed in his room. He wasn’t used to having such a big bed all to himself. He’d tried to sneak in their bed last night when Shari and Grant were naked underneath the covers. She’d had to ask Andre to turn his head while she’d slid on a robe. Then she’d put him back in his own bed and stayed with him until he’d fallen asleep. She loved watching Andre sleep. Listening to his soft snoring. Touching his dimpled cheek. “You ready to meet your grandparents?”
“Are they here?” Andre asked, jumping off the bed. Before she could stop him, Andre was rushing out of the bedroom and into the master suite.
“Grandpa!” Andre went rushing toward Mr. Robinson. Shari thought he would shun her son’s wild display of affection, but instead, something must have clicked in his head, because he scooped him up into his arms and gave him a hug.
When Shari glanced in her father-in-law’s direction, tears shone in his eyes. “He looks just like you, son,” he said, looking directly at Grant. “He’s your spitting image.”
“I know.” Grant smiled broadly for the first time since his parents’ arrival. It was clear he couldn’t be more proud of Andre.
Andre wiggled in his grandfather’s arms, eager to be put down on the floor. When he was, he rushed over to greet Eleanor Robinson. “Grandma!”
She seemed surprised to hear him speak to her and she looked up at him strangely from the bottom of her drink. “I am.”
“I already have a grandma,” Andre replied, “but you can be my nana. Is that okay?”
Speechless, Eleanor looked up at Grant and then her husband. “That would be fine.”
“Good.” Andre jumped into her lap and when he did, the tumbler in her hand shook, spilling liquid onto her Chanel suit. “I’m sorry, Nana.” He looked up at Shari, waiting to be scolded.
Shari clutched her chest, horrified by Andre’s actions, and rushed to the minibar to find some seltzer water. When she found some, she rushed with a nearby linen napkin to Eleanor’s side. Given the Robinsons’ stiff nature, she didn’t know how Eleanor was going to react, but instead of scolding Andre, she chuckled. “Don’t worry. Nana shouldn’t have b
een drinking it, anyway.”
Eleanor placed the tumbler on the cocktail table adjacent to the sofa. She accepted the napkin Shari offered and blotted her lap.
“How about dinner?” Grant asked from behind them.
Shari nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”
Chapter 11
Hours later, the Robinson family returned to their hotel suite. They had gone to a famous Italian eatery where Shari watched Andre make a mess of his spaghetti and meatballs in front of Eleanor and Warren Robinson. She’d been surprised at how Grant’s parents had finally warmed up after their initial cold reception. They’d even stopped in the hotel gift shop to buy a toy for Andre before departing.
After all the excitement of the evening and his bath, Andre went out like a light. Shari tucked Andre underneath the covers, turned out the lamp by his nightstand and rose to leave. That’s when she saw Grant standing in the doorway.
“I’d like to talk to you, Shari.”
“Does it have to be tonight? It’s been a really long day.” She attempted to scoot past him in the doorway, but his large masculine frame didn’t move.
“Yes, it does,” Grant said. Grasping her by the arm, he pulled her out of Andre’s room and closed the door. When they were back in the master bedroom, he let her have it. “What the hell were you thinking, bringing my parents into this?”
“They had a right to know they have a grandson.”
“It was my place to tell them, not yours.”
“Maybe so.” Shari shrugged, conceding the point. “But when? Were you ever going to tell them? Or perhaps you were going to wait until Andre started high school?”
“Not funny, Shari.” His voice hardened.
“I didn’t think it was.”
“Then you should have stayed out of my family’s business.”
Shari whirled around. “Wait a second. I thought Andre and I were your family or at least that’s what you touted when you forced me into marrying you. Give Andre a loving two-parent home, you said.” She laughed derisively. “As if you would know what one feels like. Your parents are as cold as ice.”
The minute she said the words, Shari knew she’d gone too far. She’d hit Grant below the belt and the stormy look on his face confirmed it. He stalked toward her. “You don’t know the first thing about my family. You, who were raised a Drayson. You guys are joined at the hip. You live together. You work together. What would you know about a dysfunctional family like mine?”
Shari was surprised to hear him admit that all was not right with the Robinson family. She’d caught a hint of their ambivalence when Eleanor Robinson had immediately reached for a drink upon her arrival, but that didn’t stop Shari from retaliating now and responding to Grant’s harsh words. “I know plenty. I know what it’s like being the dimly lit star in the family. Always having your cousins or siblings outshine you. Being pitted against them in the quest to be on top at Lillian’s Bakery. We may seem like the perfect family, but we can be just as dysfunctional, Grant Robinson.”
Grant stared back at her. He understood now what he’d seen at the studio earlier when she’d run out after the judges had congratulated Carter on a job well-done. “So we have something in common.”
“If you could call it that,” she muttered underneath her breath.
“Then why did you call my parents?” Grant asked, walking toward her. “You did this on purpose to get a rise out of me, didn’t you?”
“So what if I did?” Shari lowered her lashes, somewhat embarrassed by her actions, because she had told his mother to be spiteful. “You were sweeping our marriage under the rug as if I wasn’t important.”
Shari didn’t realize that Grant had closed the distance between them until he was inches away from her face. “And you want to be front and center in my world?”
Shari’s breath caught in her throat when she saw the hungry gaze in Grant’s eyes. She knew that look because he’d had it each and every time he’d made love to her, each and every time he’d made her come over and over and over again.
Grant peeled off his jacket, yanked at the knot of his tie until it loosened and then shrugged out of his shirt. When he did, he revealed a broad chest that looked as if it had been chiseled with a hammer. His stomach was lean and Shari saw just enough of his six-pack abs before they disappeared into his pants.
“I do,” she murmured, studying him, drinking him in. He was perfect in every detail.
“Then by all means, let me show you that you are.” He rushed toward her to kiss her open-mouthed. His tongue sought hers with desperate need. In an instant he was lifting her off the ground and backing her up against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his hips so she could grind herself against his bulging erection. The friction was building in steady waves. Grant began unzipping the back of her dress while he stroked her long and deep with her tongue. She didn’t notice her dress fall to her waist because Grant was nipping at her jaw. At her chin. At her ear. Then her breasts as he pushed up her bra.
His tongue grazed her nipple. He teased, licked and sucked on the bud until it puckered for him. And then he began devouring it like he was a newborn babe. Shari bit back a scream, for fear Andre would hear her. She’d never seen Grant so take-charge and a little out of control, but never once did she stop him. When his hands fanned the spheres of her buttocks, cupping them, Shari moaned, urging him on.
Grant continued his quest by using his fingers to trace up the edge of her inner thigh and Shari stopped breathing. He paused there for seconds before he moved aside the fabric of her panties and slid his finger inside her. He made circular motions with his finger while his tongue duplicated the act in her mouth. In and out. In and out. A delighted gasp escaped from Shari’s lips.
She heard the sound of Grant’s pants buckle and a rush of air as his pants fell to the floor.
“You really want to be the center of my world?” Grant whispered.
“Yes...oh, yes.” Panting, Shari leaned her head back against the wall as his finger circled inside of her. Her breath, ragged and tangled, began to catch in her throat. She wrapped her arms around Grant’s neck, just as he removed his fingers and entered her.
Urgent and demanding, he thrust his hips upward into her and gripped her behind to keep her from falling. He drove into her again and again. Shari undulated up and down against him, lost in fantasy and in reality, she didn’t know which. Soon her orgasm was coiling within her and her nails dug into his back. Then she gave a silent scream into his neck as pure pleasure radiated through her.
Grant thrust one final time and then grunted before collapsing against her.
Once her muscles relaxed, the throbbing ebbed and her shallow breathing became normal again, Shari slid her quivering legs back onto the floor. She feared that if Grant let go of his grip on her that she’d dissolve into a pile of putty.
He held her with one strong, muscled arm against the wall and stroked her hair with his free hand. “Dear God, woman, what have you done to me?”
“Excuse me?” Shari asked, pushing aside the hair that had fallen down in her face and tucking it behind her ear. “You’re the one that was a little frenzied.”
* * *
Grant smiled as he looked down at his pants pooled around his ankles. He’d barely had time enough to unzip them before he’d taken her against the wall. Part anger, part lust, he’d wanted her. Fast and hard. And she hadn’t disappointed. Shari was an enigma. At times sweet and fragile, and at other times bold and daring. He was beginning to like all facets of his wife.
“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it,” he said, pulling up his pants.
“You’re not the only one that can be frenzied.” Shari laughed wickedly and once she had her footing, pushed Grant toward the chaise in their suite.
“What are you doing?” Grant said, l
ooking up at her as she removed her clothing that he’d unceremoniously pushed aside when he’d had his way with her.
When she was naked, she came toward him and removed his shoes first. Then his trousers and briefs until his hard throbbing member was naked to her eyes, to her lips.
Shari knelt to her knees and took Grant in her hands. His erection was taut and throbbing.
Grant watched her. His expression was tight and lustful as she slowly began to stroke him.
“I want to taste you,” she said.
“Hurry,” he groaned.
Shari smiled at him and then she lowered her head, curled both hands around his penis and licked the head.
A savage groan tore from Grant’s throat. His hands slid into her hair, bunching it, clenching it. He saw her lips open seconds before she took him full and deep inside her wet mouth. She circled him with her tongue, using light, gentle flicks and then went deep again. While the warm suction of her mouth took him higher and higher, her hands were teasing him to distraction.
As she sucked him dry, she looked up at him with a steady gaze. His eyes met hers and his teeth clenched.
“Shari, I need you now.” His voice was rough and thick with desire.
Shari obliged and rose to her feet but not before licking her lips as if he was the best meal she’d ever tasted. She spread her legs wide and then straddled him, taking him all the way inside her body. She was wet and tight and felt so good.
“Shari...it’s...so...so good.” Grant could barely get the words out.
Her body tightened unbearably around him and he could feel his penis flex inside her. That’s when she started rocking her hips against him, undulating and grinding. It was driving him mad and he threw his head back, trying to keep his body from releasing. “You’re making me lose control,” he muttered.
When Shari slowed her actions, he said, “Don’t stop!”
As much as her torturous strokes were sending him to the brink, he didn’t want her to stop.
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