State of Grace Read online

  “I’ve always cared,” he admitted truthfully.

  She finally turned to look at him, and he wondered why he never noticed how mesmerizing her gray eyes were, like deep pools of silver. Pearly white teeth emerged to gently bite down on the lush center of her bottom lip.

  He silently cursed.

  If he’d doubted his attraction to her before, he now had rock solid proof about to burst out of his pants.

  “We can’t stand each other,” she said flatly, “I don’t know what game you’re playing at right now, and quite frankly, I’m too exhausted to play this time.” Even though her voice was soft, he could hear the accusatory note it held before she turned back to watch the waves.

  “Don’t look away, Gracie,” he commanded softly. She stubbornly kept her gaze trained straight ahead, and he sighed deeply. “I don’t know why I expected anything else,” he muttered as his hand shot out to grasp her chin and turn her towards him once again. He dropped his fingers so they embraced her throat, and he lazily rubbed the pad of his thumb against her wildly racing pulse. Her pretty mouth set in a mutinous scowl, but she didn’t pull away.

  He took it as a sign of encouragement.

  “I don’t hate you. Never did. You just make me crazy,” he said simply.

  Her scowl deepened, and her eyes turned from tired to flashing silver before he could get out another word. “I make you crazy? Me?” Incredulous, she pointed at herself.

  Even though he was completely aware that getting her worked up was counterproductive to his bizarre goal of getting her to soften towards him, he couldn’t help himself from treading into dangerous territory. That was simply how nuts she made him.

  He shrugged. “Yeah, you. We can’t be together for more than thirty minutes without you ranting about how my car is a gas guzzler or my dates are bimbos.”

  He noted with a perverse sense of amusement that the rise and fall of her beautiful breasts was getting deeper and quicker. A dull flush began to crawl over her exposed skin.

  “Face, Sean. Face,” she snapped heatedly. “Can you concentrate on my face while we’re talking? See, this is exactly what I’m talking about!”

  “What?”

  Finally, she scooted back from him. She lifted her hand, and he knew without fail that hand would end up in his face, wagging a finger at him. He sat back and grinned.

  “First of all,” she shook her finger at him, and it was all he could do not to laugh, “I only said you drove a gas guzzler after you called my Prius a wimpy, wuss car. Second of all, you constantly pick on anyone I’m dating – you who have absolutely no room to talk. It’s not my fault if your dates have the same IQs as their silicone implants!”

  Although he privately agreed with her, he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing he felt the same way. It was getting tiresome going out with women who were only interested in the newest fall collection or celebrity gossip.

  “You told me that you’d found my test results for low sperm count on Lucas’s desk and moved it into my bedroom in front of my date and the whole family during Thanksgiving dinner,” he ground out.

  “That was only after you accidentally turned on the sprinklers in the freezing cold on my date as he was walking up the drive! The poor guy ended up with a cold for three weeks and refused to see me after that!”

  Sean remembered it clearly. He’d seen the shmuck she was dating the night before with another girl. When he’d realized that was Grace’s boyfriend the next day, he only did what any decent guy would do. Little did she know that the idiot had stayed away from her because Sean had threatened him as he sat shivering in his car.

  At the recollection of the memory, his chest rumbled with laughter, and he faintly heard a low growl from her throat as she shot up from her place beside him. She wobbled a bit, feet shaky in the sand, and he stood up to catch her.

  Still, laughing, albeit not as hard, he bent his forehead toward hers when she placed her hands against his chest to break her fall. Instead of his mouth meeting hers, he was caught by an unpleasant wave of shock as he fell backwards, ass landing in the sand. His hands on either side of him, he shook his head and looked up at the angry female in front of him. Memories from an earlier time, when they’d been in exactly the same position, flooded his mind.

  “It’s not funny,” she fumed. “You tortured me for close to twenty years, and this is not funny, and if you honestly think I’m going to let you put your grubby hands all over me like I’m one of your bimbos, you need to ask yourself whether or not you absorbed some of that silicone into your brain through osmosis, you jerk.”

  She spun on her heel, which wasn’t as easy to do on sand as it was solid ground, praying fervently she wouldn’t trip on her shaky legs as she stalked off the beach and into her villa. Furious at herself, she jammed the keycard into the lock, needing to get into the privacy of her own room so she could lick her wounds and scream in private.

  The door wouldn’t budge.

  She realized she was using the wrong side of the keycard to get in. “Fuck,” she cursed, frustrated. Before she could turn the card right side up, large hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her back so that her ass was cradled against hard, male heat.

  She froze, barely breathing.

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking, too.” Warm lips pressed against her nape as he murmured against her skin.

  Her brain splintered like fragile glass, into a million tiny little shards.

  Still paralyzed, she tried to make sense of what was happening, but she never got the chance because he’d spun her around, his body pressing hers into the door.

  Eyes wide, she stared mutely at him, unable to break away from the intense heat etched into his handsome features. He wound his hands in her hair, and tightened his hold, keeping her head steady so she couldn’t break eye contact. She let out a little moan when he rubbed his hard length against her suggestively.

  Unable to escape physically, she closed her eyes

  Every cell in her being felt on fire, leaving her skin highly sensitized. Solid proof of his erection pressed once more against her soft center and her tenuous grip on sanity dissolved.

  “This is crazy, what are you doing?” she whispered, her eyes still glued shut.

  “Look at me, Grace.”

  She heard something raw in his guttural command and was helpless to do anything but obey. She opened her eyes, and he smiled grimly in satisfaction.

  Seconds ticked by as his eyes burned into hers. She felt a pulse between her legs acutely as the ache inside her grew and intensified. Confused and aroused, her breath escaped her mouth in short, light bursts of air.

  “I wanted you the second I saw you today. I wanted to peel that dress off right there at the wedding so I could get between those sweet thighs. I want to fuck you into oblivion and watch your face as I made you come.” His grip tightened in her hair and pulled her head back, positioning her as he wanted before his mouth slammed onto hers.

  Stars.

  That was the only thought that registered dimly in her brain as his mouth took possession of hers.

  She was seeing stars.

  She’d been kissed before, but every memory she had of any prior kisses faded into oblivion. Nothing like what he was doing to her now. He assaulted, dominated, and seduced her with his mouth. He lightly nibbled at her lower lip, groaning as she opened wider for him, and then laved away the light stings of his teeth with his tongue. He sucked her lip into his mouth, and gently tugged before releasing her, only to thrust his tongue into the warm, wetness of her mouth.

  Releasing her hair, he ran his hands up her sides, before he finally settled under the swell of each breast. She was perfection under his hands but as he took her with his mouth, a flicker of awareness taunted him with the unpleasant reminder that she was his best friend’s little sister.

  This soft, lush body he molded under his hands was off-limits, and he knew that better than anyone.

  But it still didn’t stop his m
outh from tearing away from hers or the words that came next from escaping.

  “I know this is probably fucking weird to you. It’s fucking weird period. I want to be inside you—no, I need to be inside you. I want to put my mouth all over your body and hear you moan. I want to slide so deep inside of you that you won’t know where you begin and I end. I want to do it over and over again, and I want you to watch me do it. Pretty damn sure you want me too, but if we do this, it’s because you walk into this with eyes wide open, okay? I’m not going to take advantage of you. We can do this as two consenting adults, but you’ll have to decide.”

  An eternity passed as she watched him with those big gray eyes, shallow bursts of air raggedly leaving her kiss-swollen lips. The longer she stared, the louder that voice in his head screamed this was a seriously bad move, and Lucas would kill him if he ever found out.

  He swallowed hard and was about to turn away right when the lips he was quickly becoming obsessed with parted. His heart raced while he waited for her to speak.

  “My brother can’t find out,” was all she said.

  She quickly turned away from him before she lost her nerve, her shaking fingers found the right side of the keycard, and at the beep, she pushed the door open. She stepped inside and turned around to face him, her expressive gray eyes glassy with want and need. Trembling fingers reached behind her to find the zipper on the back of her dress, and she slowly tugged it down. Her hands fluttered around the neckline of her bodice, and she began to inch it downward as she stepped deeper into the room.

  Hypnotized, he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

  He groaned when she bit her full bottom lip nervously. She was driving him crazy, and there was no way out of the asylum.

  He stalked closer, and she stepped backward. Even though she’d invited him in, she darted away from him like startled prey.

  Sean could feel his control spiraling. After the incredibly hot kiss and the antagonizing reveal of her sexy skin, inch by inch, he wasn’t sure if he was going to last much longer.

  He hadn’t even touched her yet.

  She stood a little more than a foot away from him, her dress half removed, already. Wordlessly, he reached out and hooked a finger between her breasts, dragging the material down to her waist. The tops of her breasts spilled over the intricate lace cups, and his mind blew apart into a million pieces.

  “Can’t believe you got away hiding all this for so long, baby. I need to get my mouth on you. Would you like that, Gracie? Do you want me to suck on your nipples?” he questioned her with a raw drawl.

  She swallowed, feeling her already hard nipples turn into pointed tips at his words. Embarrassed by her body’s obvious response, she cast her eyes downward. “Yes.”

  “Yes, what?”

  “I want you to,” she murmured, color staining her cheeks.

  He pushed further. He wanted to hear the words come out of her mouth. He needed to hear it in her voice. “Say it, Gracie.”

  “I want you to suck on my nipples.”

  His blue eyes flashed with approval. He growled low in his throat as something primal reared itself in him. Before she could blink, the distance between them was gone. His mouth devoured hers. He couldn’t get enough of her lips, the little sounds she made, or her shy tongue seeking out his.

  Mindless to everything but his addictive mouth and sensual touch, she found herself flat on the bed, staring up at him. His mouth captured hers in another slow, drugging kiss. Moaning low in her throat, she wound her fingers through the silken strands of his dark hair.

  She tried to concentrate, to focus on being in this moment with this man that drove her to the edge of her sanity in every which way, but his mouth seemed to be everywhere all at once. His lips skimmed the smooth surface of her stomach, peppering small, hot kisses across her sensitized skin. She was lost, awash in sensation as he slid his palm beneath the curve of her thigh, his stroking touch both arousing and soothing at the same time. She writhed listlessly on the bed, gasping as his same hand slipped between her legs. His fingers applied slow, but firm pressure to her slick center. She cried out sharply at the sensation of his hands pressed on the lace against her skin and arched her hips up for more.

  Suddenly, he reared back.

  Her protest died on her lips as his warm eyes burned into hers. Her pulse pounded crazily as she waited for his next move.

  He was lost. Never had he imagined she’d be so responsive, so perfectly primed at his touch. He pressed his palm against her, and she arched into his touch, moaning softly. When he felt how wet she was, he wanted to tear off her dress, rip off her panties, and slam into her. Needing to regain control, he clenched his jaw and pulled his hand away.

  “Stand up, Gracie.”

  She shuddered at the curt command but managed to bring her feet to the floor. He turned to sit on the edge of her bed, facing her.

  “Take it off.”

  Hands shaking, she obeyed. Reaching behind her, she pulled the zipper down all the way and slid the dress down her thighs, letting it fall to the floor.

  His gaze never once breaking from hers, he brought his hands to the waistband of his pants and popped his fly, needing to give his cock room. Slowly he pulled the zipper down, reaching into his briefs to stroke his erection. She stood there, like an angel in white lace, watching his movements with those wide gray eyes. Her plump breasts strained for freedom against her bra, and he drank in her half-naked state. Her waist dipped into a sensuous curve above healthy hips. White lace boy shorts hugged those hips and her phenomenal ass. At that precise moment, he found her choice of panty far sexier than any thong he’d ever seen.

  “You’re so sexy, baby,” he murmured, “I think I’m going to fuck you all night long.”

  “This is crazy,” she whispered, but he could see the mixture of excitement and fear in her eyes.

  He tipped her chin up so she couldn’t turn away. His warm gaze caressed her, surprisingly soothing her frayed nerves. “You scared?”

  Her tongue reached out to wet her lips. Need rose inside her sharply, and if he didn’t touch her soon, she was pretty sure she was going to combust just from the way he was looking at her. She couldn’t figure out why he seemed to be taking his sweet time when she was about to go up in flames. Judging by the size of his erection, he looked like he wasn’t too far away either.

  “A little.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her as a silent challenge, and she lifted her chin, accepting. Wanting—no needing—to torture him as much as he was torturing her, she lifted her shoulder, gently shrugging down first one bra strap, then the other. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she swallowed and reached behind her to unhook her bra. Grasping the edges of her bra between her index fingers and thumb, she slowly peeled the cups away, letting the bra fall to the floor.

  Heat blazed from his eyes. “Cup your breasts. One in each hand,” he ordered roughly.

  She hesitated for a moment before doing as he instructed her. As her soft hands met her sensitive skin, she gasped at the sensation.

  He used his free hand to crook a finger at her. “Come here, honey. Don’t let your hands go.”

  He wasn’t sure it was possible to get any harder, but as she swayed those delightfully curvy hips towards him, hands cupping her breasts, his erection turned to stone. She stopped, just a few inches away from the bed. She stood there, lush curves, eyes glassy, hair tumbling over her shoulders, waiting for him.

  “Closer,” he whispered, and she inched forward until her breasts were within reach of his mouth. “That’s it, baby girl. Give me one. Put it in my mouth,” he ordered harshly, leaving his mouth open to take her offering.

  Grace let out a sharp cry as the wet, hot heat of his mouth drew on her nipple. The tug of his lips in soft, rhythmic pulls shot a dart of pleasure straight to her pussy. He swirled his tongue around the hard tip before biting gently, then sucking lightly until she cried out again. Releasing her breast from his mouth, he lightl
y blew the tip before he looked up at her.

  “Knew you’d taste good, baby,” he whispered darkly. “Give me the other one now.”

  Heart racing, she took rapid, shallow breaths before bringing the tip of her other breast to his welcoming mouth. Somewhere along the way, he’d let go of his erection and now his hands were sliding beneath her panties, cupping each globe of her ass. “Mmm,” he hummed against her breast as he squeezed firmly. The tip of one long finger dipped into her wet heat, and she threw her head back in pleasure.

  He released her nipple suddenly. “I want you to watch what I’m doing to you. Look down,” he ordered, waiting for her to comply before bending his head to take it back in his mouth. One of his hands traveled away from her ass before coming to rest on her pussy. His finger stroked the damp area around her clitoris, but still he didn’t touch it.

  Mindless and afraid he’d stop again, Grace kept wild eyes trained on his every movement. She could only imagine the erotic sight they made with his dark head at the breasts she still held for him, freeing his hands up so that they stroked roughly, urgently between her thighs.

  “Sean, please,” she pleaded breathlessly.

  He released her breast from his mouth and looked at her from under hooded eyes, keeping his hands between her thighs. With ease his fingers found the hardened nub buried between her slick folds. Pressing hard, he rubbed his finger back and forth. “That what you want, baby?”

  She shook her head yes, no, she didn’t know. Magic fingers strummed her sensitive clitoris. He inserted a long finger in her heated sheath, and she cried out softly as her hips bucked against his hand.

  He looked at her as he played her like a fine instrument. A litany of soft cries poured out from her lips as she tried to ride his hand. His eyes memorized every arch of her body, every deep, drugged breath she took. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his conscience tried to reason with him again. This was Grace. He stilled his fingers against her rolling hips as every memory of her he’d ever had flashed before his eyes.