From This Moment

by Lexi Buchanan

  I’m only half listening to Justin while I’m trying to listen to Rona and Elise talk about dresses and killer shoes. Hell, I really need to control my libido.

  Finishing our sandwiches, Rona catches me throwing glances at her. I need to take another trip to see Grace. I do feel attracted to Rona, but Grace had me hard as steel the minute our eyes connected. Grace is single whereas Rona isn’t.

  Wiping her mouth on a napkin, she drops it to the table. “If you’ll excuse me a minute.” She starts to stand.

  I stand as well.

  She looks at me. “Mmm, I can manage on my own thanks.”

  “Nick hasn’t been caught yet.” My eyes are full of laughter. “I wasn’t exactly planning on joining you in there.”

  She quickly glances over to Elise who appears to be snickering. No doubt she’s picked up on my attraction to Rona.

  “It’s just out the door to the left,” she tells me.

  “Let’s go.” I take her elbow and lead her to the restrooms.

  Before she pushes the door to enter, I stop her with my hand. She looks up at me. “How involved are you with Cade?” I find myself asking. I’m an idiot.

  “I love him, Josh.”

  I nod my head slightly. “I’ll wait here for you,” I push the restroom door open for her.

  “Thanks.”

  As I wait, I’m resting against the wall opposite the restrooms, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. Yes, I’m attracted to her and it’s cute watching her response to me. I’m actually enjoying the flirting. Hopefully Cade won’t punch me the next time we meet. For some reason though, I can’t get Grace out of my head. While I had a lock of Grace’s hair wrapped around my finger, I wondered how soft the curls between her thighs would be.

  Shifting slightly to try and re-arrange the discomfort in my jeans at the thought, I notice the restroom door start to open. About to move closer to greet Rona, I catch the panic on her face.

  Shit.

  Moving quickly, I remove my gun while moving in closer to the opening door. As Rona starts to walk out she stumbles, I grab Nick’s wrist with one hand and punch him in the face with my elbow—taking him down.

  While holding Nick down on the floor, I use a tissue to retrieve the gun from the floor, before someone else decides to pick it up.

  Within minutes Daniel, the Sheriff, comes running in and seeing that I have everything under control with Nick, runs over to check on Rona who’s down on the floor. I wanted to be the one to check on her.

  Dragging Nick to a standing position, I cuff him, just as Daniel walks over to me.

  “Well done, Josh. I’ll take him back and sort this mess out,” he tells me. Usually I wouldn’t take too kindly to someone butting in on an arrest, but, in this case, I’m only too happy, because I want to go and check on Rona.

  She makes eye contact with me. I start to walk over to her.

  “C’mon let’s get you out of here.” I pick her up in my arms. She feels really good against me.

  “Elise, can you carry Rona’s things?” Justin, lead the way to the car.” I ignore Elise, who has started to snicker.

  “I can walk. I think,” she tells me.

  “If this is all I’m going to get—humor me,” I whisper, making her blush.

  “Okay.” She starts to get more comfortable in my arms. She wraps her arms around my neck and as her hand touches my neck, I shiver. Heaven help me.

  She looks at me, obviously feeling my reaction to her touch. “Don’t get the wrong idea,” she says.

  I put my face closer to hers. “I can dream.” I look into her eyes.

  At the car, Justin unlocks the doors and Elise climbs into the back, while Justin gets into the driver’s side.

  I move to set her in the car. “Why am I reluctant to let you go?” I whisper, for her ears only.

  “Josh.” She pleads.

  “I know.” I place her into the passenger seat and lean over to fasten the seat belt. Pulling away, I look straight into her eyes. “Look after yourself, Rona.”

  “I will. Take care, Josh, and thank you for today.”

  Justin clears his throat and finally brings me back to my senses. I step back and shut the door.

  Standing on the sidewalk, I watch them drive away praying they stay safe. I really hope to get my attraction, obsession or whatever it is, that I have for Rona under control before I see her again.

  Chapter 3

  Grace

  It’s been three weeks since I left the hospital and came back to my house. Anna wanted me to stay with her for a few days, but I knew I had to go straight back to my house, otherwise I wasn’t sure I ever would.

  Tom was buried a few days after I was released from the hospital. It was a quiet ceremony and I really didn’t expect anyone to be there. I was surprised to see Anna and Beth with their husbands along with Elise and Jake. I should have known they would be there, but after what he did to Rona, I wasn’t really expecting them to be. They were there for me.

  About to leave the cemetery, I’d spotted Josh Mitchell, the man who I couldn’t get out of my dreams, standing beside his car. Watching. Since then, I haven’t seen him or heard from the police about Tom’s notebook.

  Tonight, I’m actually feeling rather mellow, although the bottle of wine I’ve just consumed with pizza may be the cause of the mellowness! I’m not a drinker and only usually have a glass of wine with friends.

  I feel as though my life is on a downward spiral. I can’t go anywhere in town these days without folk pointing their fingers at me, gossiping. I had a few friends and now I hardly have any, all because of my brother.

  Sitting back on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, I take another drink, spilling it down my top. “Hells, bells and buckles.” Standing up, I sway slightly as I walk to the bathroom, pulling my clothes off as I go.

  Switching the shower to cold first, I hope the shock of the water will sober me up. Standing under the spray, I really am shocked and scream the house down, slipping and sliding trying to turn the temperature up. Having never had a cold shower before, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but ice cold freezing wasn’t it. Screaming again, I finally find the dial for the temperature and turning it up nearly fry my skin.

  Giving up, I open the shower door and practically fall out, slipping on the bathroom floor. I end up crashing into Josh Mitchell on the way down to the floor, landing on top of him.

  Hearing a grunt in my befuddled brain, I lift my head up and look into Josh’s eyes. His eyes are dark, his pupils dilated. He has one hand on my rump and the other at the back of my head. There is also something rather hard and solid digging into my stomach. He feels heavenly. I can’t remember the last time I was this close to a man.

  I really don’t want to move because the man beneath me feels amazing, and his growing erection that I’m pressed against is causing a throbbing between my thighs. Not only that, but I’m naked so if I move Josh will get one hell of a view.

  Finding my tongue, I ask, “How did you get in here?” I can’t believe I’ve spent this time lying on Josh, enjoying myself, and it not even registering that he’s in my house when he isn’t supposed to be.

  “Heard you scream. Came in,” he struggles to say. His hand on my rump starts to move, in a caress. Never in a million years did I expect to be lying on top of Josh Mitchell in my bathroom, naked as the day I was born.

  He’s just as aroused as I am. His cock is pulsing with life against my stomach and I can’t resist rubbing against him. His head drops to the floor with a thud as he groans, his hips surge up against me with his straining erection trying to get some relief. I push against him.

  Holding me tight, he rolls over. “Grace,” he groans, looking down into my eyes.

  “Mmm.” He feels too damn good, I can’t think of anything to say.

  He rests his forehead against mine. “I didn’t come here . . . to do this.” He takes a couple of deep breaths, which pushes his groin tighter against me.

  I lick my lips
. His eyes darken even more as they follow the movement of my tongue.

  “Grace.” He sweeps down and captures my lips with his, slipping his tongue inside my mouth. Lifting my arms, I wrap them around his shoulders, pulling him closer still, and run my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. He shivers as I moan against his mouth.

  Wrapping my legs around his hips as the kiss deepens even more, I rub myself against him. He feels so good. Kissing me. Touching me.

  Breaking from the kiss, breathing heavily, Josh meets my eyes. “We have to stop. I want you,” he laughs, “but not like this.”

  “You really want me?” I whisper. I thought perhaps he just reacted to having a naked woman in his arms.

  He rests his forehead against mine again. “I came to ask you out to dinner. I can’t get you out of my head.” He doesn’t sound too happy with this statement. I am.

  “Fuck. I’ve left your front door open.” With a slight hesitation, he stands up.

  Reaching out with his hands, he helps me up from the floor, passing me my robe, which he snags from the hook on the back of the bathroom door. “Put this on. Dressed you’re a distraction. Undressed, you’re driving me crazy.”

  Chapter 4

  Josh

  Moving past Grace, I walk back toward the front of the house where the door is still wide-open letting in a chill. Stepping outside, I lean on the porch railing and take in some deep breaths. Christ, the woman nearly killed me.

  When I arrived earlier, I’d raised my hand to knock on the door and heard her scream. I managed to quickly open the door, which had a flimsy lock and raced to the back of the house where the screaming was still coming from. Pushing the door open, not realizing at the time that it was a bathroom, I got one hell of a view and before I knew it, she was against me, losing her footing, she ended up taking us both down to the floor.

  With Grace on top of me, naked no less, I didn’t stand a chance of hiding the surge of lust that ran through my body. My cock was hard and ready for action. Action it has only been getting with my fist lately. It’s a hell of a long time since I’d been with a woman. With work and the constant traveling, there was no time to hook up with anyone. One-night stands always seem to leave me uneasy and restless, so I’d stopped having them.

  I’m still standing on the porch of Grace’s home with my cock hard as steel, showing no signs of shrinking. It wanted to be between Grace’s legs. Groaning, I curse and turn to head back inside, only to smack right into the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen, in a silk lilac robe. The robe I’d passed to her in the bathroom. I certainly had no idea she would look like she does in it. When I’d passed it to her all I wanted was her nakedness covered.

  Breathing heavily, I meet her eyes. The blood in my cock surges to the tip. Fuck. Taking hold of Grace, I lift her up and carry her into the house. Slamming the door shut, I slide the lock home. Then like a savage, I push her against the wall and ravish her mouth.

  Undoing her robe, she helps me to push it from her arms. Our mouths still locked together, our tongues entwined, not wanting to part. I feel her hands on my waist. My cock jerks in anticipation. She yanks my shirt from my jeans, lifting it over my head before tossing it to the floor.

  Grace wraps her arms around my neck and climbs up me with her legs wrapping around my waist. My hands go to her butt, holding her in place. I squeeze her buttocks and rock her against the bulge in my jeans.

  Moving my hands slowly, my fingers rub against the moist heat between her thighs. She moans.

  “Josh. God, I need you.”

  I’m seconds away from orgasm. Reaching between us, I manage, with a struggle, to unbutton and unzip my jeans, freeing my aching cock.

  With our mouths still fused together in the hottest kiss I’ve ever experienced, I take hold of her butt again and hitching her further up the wall, I surge into her. She breaks from the kiss and drops her head back against the wall, shuddering.

  “God, you feel so good.”

  So close to finishing, part of me comes back to my senses. “Grace? No condom. Not been with anyone since my blood test, six months ago. Christ, one stroke and I’m going to come,” I whisper into her neck.

  “Me too.”

  I lean down and lick one of her nipples, which are hard as stone. I surge inside her as she clamps down on my cock. “Josh, move. I’m safe. Blood tests in hospital.”

  Hearing this, I do something that I haven’t done before, and have sex bareback. Gritting my teeth, I pull out and slam home, touching base inside her. Grace screams and clamps down, so damn hard on my dick. It wouldn’t surprise me if it shattered, but who cares because I’m in heaven.

  With her sex vibrating around me as she orgasms, I release my load, coating her channel with my thick cream. I can’t stop grinding against her—our pleasure is so intense. As Grace starts to relax slightly against me, I put my mouth to her breast and suck. She starts to shake again, coming for the second time. I follow her over.

  With my head resting against the wall, she runs her fingers through my hair causing me to shiver. Never in my life have I climaxed twice within seconds. I didn’t even know it was possible for a guy to do that.

  Lifting my head, I meet Grace’s eyes. Shit. She looks uncertain now that our blood has cooled. Not wanting to see that look on her face, I kiss her gently and pull out of her.

  Making sure she’s steady, I reach down to hitch my jeans up. Fastening my zipper, I look back to Grace, who is watching every move I make while still naked. To hell with this, I don’t have it in me to walk away from her right now. I’ll have to, because I have a flight to Texas first thing. This was not supposed to happen. I’d planned dinner, not sex.

  Moving back toward Grace, I caress her face with my hands, smoothing them down her body to her waist. “Will you let me stay a bit longer?”

  Lifting her hand, she pushes the hair, which has fallen over my temple away from my eyes. “Yes,” she whispers.

  Chapter 5

  Grace

  Josh carries me through to the bathroom and pushes me down to sit on the side of the tub, while he searches around for something. Watching him, I can’t believe I’ve just had the most amazing orgasm ever, up against my living room wall with Josh Mitchell. Actually, make that two orgasms. He was on the large side, something I haven’t experienced before and boy, did he feel good sliding in and out of me, not that it lasted long by the time he entered me.

  “Grace, do you have a wash cloth?”

  Oh, he wants to wash up.

  “Under there.” I point to the cabinet under the sink.

  He soaks the cloth in hot water. Wringing the cloth out over the sink, he walks over and crouches in front of me. He looks into my eyes. “Open your legs for me.” Oh god. He grins and I can’t help the blush spreading on my entire body.

  He places his hands on my thighs, using only slight pressure, my legs open. Josh takes the cloth and starts wiping his seed from between my thighs. Moving closer to my sex, my legs open wider becoming desperate for his touch. Again.

  He stands and strips his jeans off, and standing before me naked with his cock standing to attention, says, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m trying to take care of you first, before I take you to bed and make love to you properly.” He looks slightly bashful. “I didn’t mean to ravish you in the living room.”

  I laugh. “Josh, you can ravish me in the living room anytime you want.”

  Groaning, he crouches back down between my thighs. Picking up the cloth again, he dives straight in, rubbing around my clit. Reaching behind me, he pulls me to the very edge of the bath and spreads me open to his eyes.

  He gulps.

  Using the cloth, he moves from my clit to my sex, making a couple of swipes, before concentrating, exactly where I need him too.

  I’m not sure if this, between me and Josh, is anything but a one night stand, but if it is, I’m not ready to call a halt to the best sexual experience I’ve ever had. Plus, it will make my dreams hotter wh
en he isn’t here. I’m not an idiot. Guys like Josh Mitchell usually run a mile from girls like me. Girls who want permanent.

  Hearing him curse, I look down at him on his knees between my legs. His breathing is erratic as he throws the cloth behind him. “I have to taste you.”

  I’m so close. “Yes.”

  Josh puts his mouth on me. He sucks my clit. He licks my sex. “You taste damn good,” he groans, taking my clit into his mouth while he slips two fingers into me. He moves them in and out, scissoring them inside my contracting channel. “Play with your breasts.” He breathes heavily. Christ, he’s just as aroused as I am.

  Looking into his glittering eyes, I use one hand and reaching up, I massage my breasts before pinching my nipples. He places his mouth back to me and quickens the movement with his fingers in my sex. It’s so hot watching him going down on me while I touch myself. I’m not sure where shy Grace has gone.

  I hope she stays away.

  Josh’s breathing has changed and as I look down to his dick, he has it in his fist. He’s watching me, watching him and…oh god!

  “Josh,” I scream and shudder, releasing on his fingers and mouth.

  I hear him groan.

  With my breath still labored, I open my eyes and look down at Josh, realizing, he released with me. God, that was so hot, watching him fist himself. If there’s a next time, I want to do that to him and maybe use my mouth. Something I haven’t done before.

  Josh stands on wobbly legs to retrieve the washcloth. He rinses the cloth again and washes himself, then after rinsing it once more, walks over to me.

  I smile and take the cloth from him. “I need to lie down, not start again. No matter how hot you make me.”

  I stand up and wipe between my legs, throwing the cloth into the bath. Looking up at Josh, my heart fills with dread. He regrets what we’ve just done. It’s written all over his face. Although I knew he would walk away, I’d hoped he wouldn’t. He’s been in my dreams for the past three weeks and after tonight, he’s going to be in them for a hell of a lot longer.