Beyond Beautiful (Love in Providence Book 2)

by Heather MacKinnon

  The butterflies in my stomach took flight at his promise, the anticipation zipping through my veins. He reached into his nightstand drawer, withdrawing a foil-wrapped package. Using his teeth, he ripped it open before sheathing himself. I watched as his big hand gripped his even bigger dick and had to squeeze my legs together to relieve some of the pressure.

  He tossed the wrapper aside and got on all fours before crawling across the bed toward me. Reaching out, he wrapped both hands around my thighs and spread my legs wide. His eyes fastened onto me and I would have felt embarrassed if I hadn’t seen the hunger in his gaze.

  His dark eyes roamed up the length of my body until they reached my face. “You’re so goddamn beautiful, Belle.”

  In that instant, I’d never felt more wanted. More adored. More appreciated. I felt my insides bloom like a flower as I preened under his heavy gaze. My back arched, and my legs tensed as I waited for what came next.

  He crawled closer until his hips were snug between my thighs and his dick was pressed against my center. His hands landed on either side of my head while he continued to rub himself against me. His lips met mine, and I pulled his head closer, kissing him hard.

  We stayed like that for a while, our lips and tongues dueling while he pressed himself against me over and over. It felt amazing, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing would be until I had all of him.

  “Remy, please,” I panted

  He kissed along my jawline and down my neck. “What do you want, beautiful?”

  “You.”

  He sucked at that patch of skin on my neck again and my back arched, my pebbled nipples rubbing against the coarse hair on his chest.

  “You have me. All you have to do is tell me what you want.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to get my brain to function properly. I wasn’t used to this. To being asked what I wanted. To being in control. I kinda liked it.

  “I want you inside me,” I finally said.

  He nipped the sensitive skin of my neck once before sitting up, his dark gaze roving over my naked body. It felt like he was touching me. Like his eyes could caress my skin. Trailing from my face, to my heaving chest, to the place I needed him so badly.

  He gripped his dick in one hand and my thigh in the other before pressing forward. I felt the tip push against me and held my breath. My eyes squeezed closed again at the sensation.

  “Look at me,” he said.

  I opened my eyes to find his heavy gaze fixed on me.

  “I wanna see you as I take you.”

  My stomach hollowed as his deep voice rumbled against my overheated skin. I did as he asked, holding his gaze as he pressed forward again, rewarding me for my efforts.

  I felt his thick length stretch my insides and fill me in a way that felt familiar and completely new at the same time. He pushed and pushed, slowly entering me as his eyes held mine. His jaw was clenched, the muscles in his shoulders tensed as he bottomed out inside me.

  “Holy shit, Belle.”

  Holy shit indeed.

  He felt much bigger than he looked, and my heart hammered in my chest as I got used to his girth. Finally, when I’d almost had to resort to begging again, he started to move.

  He withdrew as far as possible before surging back inside me, slamming his hips against me and making my eyes roll back. He gripped my other thigh and lifted my legs in the air as he pulled out and thrust forward again.

  “Keep your eyes open, Belle. I wanna see you.”

  It was a struggle, but I did as he asked. There was already sweat dotting his forehead as he kept up a steady rhythm.

  “You feel so good. So wet for me,” he grunted as he picked up speed.

  I moaned loudly, words beyond me at that point. How he was still stringing them together enough to make my belly clench I wasn’t sure, but I loved it. Every dirty word that fell from his lips drove me higher.

  His hands slid from my thighs to my waist and he pulled me closer until I was partially on his lap. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on as his tempo increased even more. His grip was almost painful but somehow not tight enough. Needing something to hold on to, I wrapped my hands around his forearms, feeling the strength in his flexed muscles, my fingernails digging into him when the pleasure reached an all-time high.

  “Remy,” I moaned.

  “Are you close?”

  I nodded quickly as my orgasm galloped toward me like a herd of mustangs. Wild and free and so overwhelming, I wasn’t sure I’d make it through.

  Remy grabbed one of my thighs and slung it over his shoulder as he leaned over me again. His lips found my nipples, and he licked and sucked before finally biting down, and that was all it took.

  My head slammed into the mattress as my fingernails dug into his arms and I clenched around him. He continued to pump into me, his pace picking up again, dragging out my orgasm. When I thought I couldn’t take anymore, that I’d actually come apart at the seams from the pleasure, he stilled above me. His hands squeezed so tight as he groaned, the sound low and sexy and almost enough to push me over the edge again.

  His fingers flexed where they held my thighs as he twitched inside me. Finally, he released a big breath and fell forward. His lips pressed against mine in a kiss so sweet and sated it curled my toes.

  When he pulled back, he pushed a lock of hair off my sweaty forehead and tucked it behind my ear. “That was amazing, Belle.”

  My lips curled into a grin and I did something I never did. I reached up and pulled his face back to mine, kissing him again until I forgot all my reasons for not doing things like this. For not prolonging the intimacy after sex. For not just smashing and dashing as I liked to call it.

  But in that dark room, I let myself break one of my rules. I let the glow of a good orgasm eclipse my reasonings and drown out those voices in my head. I let myself fall asleep in the arms of a man for the first time in years. And in that instant, I didn’t regret it one bit.

  Chapter 5

  Remy

  I woke up slowly, the weak sunlight barely peeking through my blinds. Taking a deep breath, I pulled her vanilla scent into my lungs, and my lips curled with a smile. Scenes from the night before played like a movie behind my closed eyelids.

  The sex had been phenomenal. Maybe the best I’d ever had. She’d been so receptive to me. So responsive to my touch and everything I’d done to her. Which had been a lot, but it hadn’t even scraped the surface.

  Even now, my dick twitched with hopeful thoughts of having her again. Maybe I could get another taste before she left. Maybe I’d get to taste her everywhere this time.

  I rolled over, reaching for the beautiful brunette I’d fallen asleep holding, but my hands hit only cold sheets. Cracking an eye open, I scanned the bed, and then the room, but Belle wasn’t there. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and took another look around, but it was still as empty.

  Could she be in the bathroom?

  I crawled out of bed and trudged through my room and over to our shared bathroom, but it was dark like the rest of my apartment. That was when I finally had to admit she was gone. And that she’d left without saying a word.

  I walked back into my room and grabbed my phone to check the time. It wasn’t even six yet and there was no way she needed to be up that early for church. And besides, with how cold the sheets were on her side, she’d probably been gone for a while.

  The question was: why?

  Thoughts of our conversation in the Uber the night before flashed through my mind as I took a heavy seat on the edge of my bed. She’d gone on and on about her distaste for relationships, but I hadn’t imagined she was this flighty. That she’d sneak out in the middle of the night just to avoid intimacy.

  I shook my head and flopped back on the bed.

  It wasn’t like I was going to wake up and ask her to marry me for fuck’s sake. The most I would have asked for was one more taste. One more stolen moment before we both went back to our lives. Was that too much to ask?

  Apparen
tly for Belle Garcia, it was.

  I crawled up to my pillows and laid down, hoping I could go back to sleep, but my mind wouldn’t rest. It spun with thoughts of Belle and our night together. I couldn’t get her out of my head, convincing myself that if I’d just been able to have her one more time, this wouldn’t be a problem for me. That I would have been able to let her go and move on if she’d just stayed a couple more hours.

  A little voice in my head called bullshit, but I stifled it.

  Finally, after a half hour of tossing and turning I realized I wasn’t going to get any more sleep and I should just get up and get on with my day. No matter how shitty it looked.

  I threw on a pair of gym shorts and a tank top and grabbed my keys. If I couldn’t work off this energy inside the beguiling woman I couldn’t stop thinking about, I’d hit up the next best thing.

  I hopped in my car and took off for my office building. They had a state-of-the-art gym on the ground floor, and I took advantage of it as often as I could. As soon as I got there, I got on the treadmill and cranked it up, hoping I could outrun the thoughts I couldn’t seem to get out of my head.

  When that didn’t work, I took to the punching bag. Maybe I could beat the ideas out of me.

  Things like knocking on Belle’s door and demanding an answer for why she took off.

  Or convincing Bailey to give me her number so I could get in touch with her.

  Or slipping a note under her door with my number with a plea for her to call me.

  Each idea got more pathetic and ridiculous, making me glad I was on the opposite side of the city. I needed to work this out. Run this off or punch it out of my system before I got within a hundred yards of her again.

  If she’d already run, and I hadn’t even done anything, I bet she’d look a lot like an Olympic sprinter if I were to try to push for anything more.

  I needed to accept the fact that what we’d had was a one-time thing. One night was all I’d get with Belle and I needed to be happy with that and let the rest go. She wasn’t for me.

  What would I want with a girl like Belle, anyway?

  One with a mouth so foul she put sailors to shame. One so allergic to relationships she had a whole philosophy about the institution. One so argumentative she could pick a fight in an empty house.

  No. I didn’t need a complication like Belle in my life. I had too much going on as it was. Between work, watching out for Ryder and taking care of Gramps, I had enough on my plate without chasing down some flakey woman. It was probably a good thing she left early and saved me from making a mistake.

  As I punched the bag harder and faster, I willed myself to believe all that.

  A couple hours later, I finally stumbled out of the gym and into the showers. My legs shook as I adjusted the water temperature. I stepped into the shower and let the hot water wash away the sweat, hoping it would take the thoughts of Belle with it.

  “Stop being a little bitch, MacAlister,” I chided myself, depositing some body wash in my hand and lathering it up.

  I ran it over my sore muscles, hoping the clean scent would get the smell of vanilla out of my nose. I set the soap aside and rinsed off, my hand brushing against my hardened dick. I took it in my hand, stroking a few times as I let images from the night before flood my brain.

  “This is the last time,” I promised myself. “After this, you’re done.”

  I repeated those words over and over as I jerked myself, my head full of Belle. The way she tasted. How smooth her skin felt beneath my hands. How wet she got for me. How tight she’d felt around me.

  Scene after scene flashed behind my eyes as the pressure built until finally, I came hard, my dick twitching with release. The tension in my shoulders lessened the smallest degree as I dispensed some more body wash to clean myself off.

  “That’s it, Rem. Get her out of your head now,” I reminded myself as I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower.

  I dried off and walked back into the locker room to check the time on my phone. It was close to noon by then, and if I wanted to get some paperwork done before heading to Gramps’, I needed to get a move on.

  Thankfully, I always kept a pressed set of professional clothes in my locker. I threw on my customary Oxford and slacks, fastening my watch around my wrist and checking my pockets for the essentials.

  It was probably safe to assume Ryder and Bailey hadn’t made it back to our apartment yet. They were probably just checking out of the hotel, or maybe getting some lunch. Even knowing this, I pulled my phone out and shot him a quick text.

  Me: Hey, man. I’m at the office already and then heading over to Gramps’. You two home yet?

  I didn’t have to wait long for his response.

  Ryder: No, Dad. We’re just checking out of the hotel now.

  I rolled my eyes and pocketed my phone.

  What a shithead.

  He was right though. I did tend to be overprotective when it came to him. Not like he hadn’t given me reason to. After having two manic episodes in under three years, worrying wasn’t something I could help.

  I knew he was properly medicated now and attending regular therapy to monitor his bipolar disorder. Even though it had been almost four years since he’d had an episode, they were still fresh in my mind. I’d almost lost him during the last one and that knowledge wasn’t something I could just get rid of. I’d buried too many family members, and I vowed he wouldn’t be next. Even if I had to annoy him to death through text. I wouldn’t drop the ball again like I had last time.

  I walked upstairs to the nearly empty office a few minutes later. With a sigh, I sat at my desk and powered up my computer. I didn’t love working weekends, but I did love being on top of my job and that was all that mattered to me.

  When Belle had asked how someone so young could have risen to such a position in a company like this, I’d brushed her question aside. I didn’t like bragging, but I’d fought tooth and nail to get where I was. And I knew half the people under me would have killed for my position, so I had to do everything I could to stay at the top. If that meant working late and coming in on weekends, that was what I’d do.

  A few hours later, I pulled my head from out of a stack of papers and glanced at the clock.

  “Shit.”

  It was later than I’d expected, and I still needed to get to the grocery store before heading over to Gramps’ house. I powered everything down and straightened up my desk before grabbing my briefcase and heading for the door. What few people had been in here when I arrived had all gone home before me, but that was how it should be. The guy at the top had to be one of the first to arrive and the last to go home.

  I hustled to my car and hopped on the highway, heading north toward Cumberland where Gramps lived. After a quick stop at the store to pick up some essentials and dinner for tonight, I drove the remaining miles to his house and parked in the driveway.

  The little white Cape Cod house with blue shutters looked exactly the same as it had my whole childhood. We’d grown up a couple towns over and our parents had taken Ryder and me here for dinner every Sunday. My grandma had been an amazing cook, and we’d all left stuffed and loaded up with more leftovers than we knew what to do with.

  Grams and my parents had all been gone for years, which left just Gramps, Ryder, and me. Our once robust and warm family had deteriorated piece by piece until we were the only men left standing. Unfortunately, there was division within our ranks.

  Ryder hadn’t spoken to Gramps since right after his first manic episode. Gramps, being the old, set-in-his-ways man that he was, hadn’t understood Ryder’s condition at all. Instead of being supportive, the old man had basically told him to straighten up and fly right.

  I hadn’t agreed with Gramps and I’d tried to explain to him what kind of disorder it was. That it wasn’t something he could help. That it wasn’t something he could just turn off. That he needed our help and support above everything else. Eventually, Gramps started singing a different tune,
but by then it was too late. The damage had been done and Ryder refused to speak to him.

  I hadn’t given up on them yet, though. I still routinely asked Ryder to come along with me to visit him, even though he’d turned me down every time. One day I knew he’d agree. One day he’d put aside his old hurt and let Gramps apologize for being insensitive and misinformed. One day, what little family I had left would come back together, and I’d be the glue that kept us that way.

  I grabbed the grocery bags from the back seat and walked up to the familiar old house, letting myself in with the key.

  “Gramps?”

  It took him a second too long to answer and, in that instant, every terrible scenario possible flashed through my head. What if something happened to him? What if he fell? What if he was sick? What if he was dead?

  “I’m in here, Rem!”

  I released a big breath and let the tension in my shoulders ease out of my body. Gramps was fine. I didn’t need to worry. He was healthy, he had a good healthcare team, and he’d be around for years to come. I wouldn’t be losing him anytime soon.

  I set the grocery bags down on the kitchen counter and went searching for him, knowing exactly where to look. Gramps was posted up in his favorite recliner, the television turned to the game show network.

  “It’s spout off, off shore, you idiots!”

  I pressed my lips together to smother a smile as my grandfather screamed at the group of college kids on the television.

  “How’s it goin’, Gramps?”

  He glanced at me before returning his attention to the television again. “I’d be better if the morons on this show could tell their asses from their elbows.”

  This time, I couldn’t prevent the laugh that shot out of me. I shook my head and took a seat on the couch nearest Gramps’ chair. “Why don’t you sign up to be on one of these shows?”

  He waved a hand at me and shook his head. “Nah, I’m too old for that crap. I like yellin’ at ‘em from here better.”