“To bathe. And to shave. Trust me, you don’t want to see what’s underneath it.”
Very gently, she touched the patch. “Does it hurt?”
“Sometimes. Not as much as it did for years, until a surgeon cleaned up the mess as best he could.”
When she slid a finger under the elastic, he reached up and pulled her hand away. “I told you, you don’t want to go there. What you should want to do before committing yourself to living with me is watch what I have to do to get mobile. And get a good look at my back.”
Reaching up, he grabbed the trapeze and heaved himself into a sitting position. “Take a look. Do you want a man they whipped like a dog every day for months before one of the bastards gouged his eye out?”
Raised scars, some as thick as Andi’s finger, took her attention from bulging biceps and triceps as powerful-looking as she remembered. The healed welts striped his back from shoulders to ass. Evidence of old infection marred pale skin she remembered being smooth, tanned, and fit. “They caused the back injury by doing this, didn’t they?”
Gray nodded. “It just got exacerbated by the fall I told Brett about. There’s a cyst that formed after one of the beatings. It’s pressing on the spinal column and interfering with the nerves that make my legs work. The spinal cord itself is intact, or so they tell me. I opted not to have the cyst removed because there’s a substantial risk that the surgery might leave me a paraplegic, for real.”
He grabbed the bar again and swung himself into the wheelchair beside the bed. “Think you can stand it, baby? Living with a wreck of a guy like me? “
“I can take it. Your scars bother you a hell of a lot worse than they bother me,
baby
. Now let’s put on some clothes and go see what our son is doing.”
* * * * *
“He’s thrilled,” Andi said that night after they left Brett nodding off to sleep in Gray’s guest room. “Thank you.”
Gray smiled. “I think I’m the one who ought to be thanking you. I never dreamed when I decided to come home that I’d find myself a ready-made family. One I’d actually taken part in creating. You ready to clue me in on what to do to stay on judges’ good sides?”
“Sure, though I don’t know why I should be helping the competition.”
“So I don’t embarrass you, maybe?” His lopsided grin made her think of things far more fun to do than talk about the
“There is that. Come on, let’s snuggle up on the sofa and I’ll give you some pointers.” A very few pointers. What Andi wanted was to get close to Gray, not talk about judges or cases or anything but them. She wanted to show him…wipe away his obvious worry that she found him less than he’d been before.
She needed to make him realize she found him more than the hot young DEA operative who’d known every move…how to use his agile mind and powerful body to turn her every way but loose. More than the cocky, self-assured lover who’d promised to call her when he came home.
Much, much more. The Gray Syzmanski she’d fallen in lust with had grown up…aged like fine wine. Mellowed. The old Gray wouldn’t have wanted to spend an entire day entertaining his son, and he wouldn’t have gotten all choked up over the beauty of a spectacular sunset. Though he still made her pussy water the way her mouth did at the sight of fine, imported chocolate, now he also touched her heart.
As she watched his expression darken while he fought to unlock his braces, Andi realized she had a tough, tough job ahead if she wanted to win his love. Tougher than any case she’d ever argued. But more important, too.
For herself. For him. And for their little boy.
* * * * *
What the hell had she gotten herself into?
Andi’s family thought she was nuts. Her boss and most of her coworkers thought she’d taken leave of her senses. And sometimes when she thought about it, she was none too sure they weren’t absolutely right.
It had seemed so simple to say yes to Gray’s offhand proposal two weeks ago, so right to tell Brett they were getting married. Wrong.
Today she’d had to listen to her boss’s tirade. Harper couldn’t have cared less if she married Godzilla so long as he didn’t work for Winston Roe. Gray did, however, which meant she wouldn’t be allowed to prosecute anybody that any of that firm’s lawyers was defending. So far Harper had jerked her off three meaty cases she’d been looking forward to trying. Too bad Landry and his team’s track record was so good that it attracted the cream of the well-heeled criminal population.
Her parents and siblings had reminded her how Gray’s mother had treated her before Brett was born. They’d hinted—hell, they’d said it flat-out—that the only reason the blue-blooded bastard was willing to marry her now was because no one else would be likely to have him, considering the extent of his disabilities. They’d shrieked when she told them they’d be living in the house his mother had left him, scoffed at the idea that her bungalow was too small for them to modify to fit Gray’s special needs. Andi hadn’t been too happy about moving to Gray’s childhood home, either, but it would beat commuting every day from the beachfront condo.
The huge diamond solitaire Gray had put on her finger last weekend winked up at her, mocking her. Reminding her he might be a lowly associate at Winston Roe for the moment, but he came from big Tampa money, big society. Reminding her she’d first seen it on his mother’s finger, catching sunlight when the woman had stood in the doorway of that big house and told Andi very politely to fuck off.
Now, following the day from hell, she had to grit her teeth and go with Gray to decide what they needed to buy to make that white elephant monstrosity on
* * * * *
A little while later Andi let out a sigh as she stood with Gray beneath the chandelier in that foyer.
The only thing that made all the hassle worthwhile was Brett. The news that Andi and Gray were marrying had made his face light up with joy. He thought living in Gray’s big house would be neat, probably because he was fascinated by the huge swimming pool and a curved staircase where Gray had told him he used to slide down when his parents hadn’t been looking.
“I’d never imagined myself living here, but it will be more convenient than commuting from the beach, and Brett won’t have to change schools,” Gray said. Brett was staying overnight with her parents, so today they were alone in the big, pretentious house. As if he sensed her discomfort, he squeezed her hand. “You can change anything you don’t like.”
“Including that?” she asked, glancing toward the huge painting of his mother that hung above the living room fireplace.
“It’s coming down as soon as we get the workers in here. If you like, we’ll have one done of you to hang in its place.”
“No thanks. Maybe we can find a nice landscape. Unless you want a portrait of yourself.”
“Sure. A nude. That would be the talk of Tampa, for sure.” Gray laughed, obviously more comfortable than she in the mansion that had been in his mother’s family since the early nineteen hundreds. “Come on, we need to pick out a bedroom.”
And try it out? Andi could barely wait to have sex with Mrs. Syzmanski’s son in this mausoleum the woman had tossed her out of. Payback for the old bat, even though she was dead. “Okay. Lead on.”
The master suite was obviously out, since Gray had mentioned that it occupied most of the second floor. Good. She had no desire to sleep in the same room where his mother had lived and presumably died. Andi paced her steps to match Gray’s as they moved along a corridor lined with what she supposed had once been children’s or servants’ rooms.
“Here’s the room I thought we’d like,” he told her, standing aside and letting her enter a large room dappled with late afternoon sunshine. “It’s got a door to the patio and pool. And a bathroom big enough to install rails and such.”
“Wanna try out the bed?” It was big and inviting, with a flowered coverlet and fat pillows stuffed into matching bolsters. Crazy. The house had been empty since Gray’s mother died, but it looked as though someone came and cleaned it every week. Andi figured somebody probably did.
Gray shot a dubious look at the king-size bed. “I’m game if you are. Ever fuck a guy with leg braces?”
“Have you forgotten so soon?” If it was the last thing Andi did, she’d get them past this awkwardness, show Gray she wanted him no matter what or how. Moving next to him, she ran her hand down his fly, cupped his balls through the fine material of his linen slacks.
Gray leaned harder on his crutches, moaned at her touch. “No, baby, I haven’t forgotten. Jesus, I wish I could hold you.”
“Lean on me.”
“I’m too damn heavy for you to hold up. Spontaneous sex just isn’t going to happen.” His muscles tensed when she ran her palm along the length of his cock. “Let me go sit on the bed and do what I have to do. Meanwhile, you can strip off your lawyer suit and get naked for me.”
“You want to watch me strip?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m just going to ditch the essentials, myself.” His gaze burning her as she slipped off her jacket and skirt, he balanced on his crutches and fumbled to loosen his belt and unzip his pants. “Damn. Come here and help me get these off. My belt’s caught on one of the braces.”
His enthusiasm had definitely taken a hit. Andi guessed it pained him to have to ask for her help, but she pretended not to notice when she slid down his boxer shorts to join his pants around his ankles. “Sit down and I’ll get these off. Don’t want us going to the restaurant later with you looking all wrinkled.”
“All right.” Gray couldn’t help noticing how sexy Andi looked in her silky slip and high heels. Too damn sexy to be taking the pants off a cripple. “Maybe this isn’t a great idea.”
“Oh, I think it is.” Rising gracefully, she stood in front of him and played with his cock until it stood at attention again. His balls tightened when she cupped them in both hands. “Gray, do the braces need to come off?”
“Not unless they bother you. But you’ve still got on too many clothes.”
She smiled and slid her hands back up his cock, using a finger to spread the drop of lubrication at its tip. “What do you want off?”
Everything. No. He’d like her to leave on those damn high heels and… “Are those pantyhose?”
“Thigh-highs. I was thinking about coming here with you this morning when I put them on. And guess what? I’m not wearing any panties.”
More blood slammed into his cock. “Then leave ‘em on. Shoes, too. Just get rid of this slip and come straddle my lap so I can suck your nipples.” Gray rubbed his fingers over her breasts, her belly. God, the silky stuff felt so soft. So sexy. How the fuck—
“But I wanted to suck your cock.” She pouted, but she did as he’d asked. After slipping the silky confection down her body, she unhooked her bra. Her nipples stuck out in hard little points, as if they craved his tongue…his teeth.
His mouth watered. “Later, baby. Right now I want…” He wanted to toss her on her back and suck her cunt, and then fuck her until this time tomorrow, but for him that was only fantasy. “…I want you to climb on my cock and take a ride while I snack on your pretty, pretty breasts.”
“Okay.” She started to straddle him, then stopped and studied the padded black velcro strips that held the braces to his thighs. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” The only thing that hurt was not being able to give her what he knew she wanted. What he wanted, too. Then her hot, wet cunt began to suck him in. It felt incredible. So incredible he forgot his regrets. His doubts. “Oh, yeah. You have no idea how it makes me feel, knowing your pussy’s wet for me.”
He lowered his head, brushed a rosy, erect nipple with his tongue. Brushed her firm silk-clad thighs with his hands. The play of her muscles when she rose and fell like the tide, slow and shallow, then deeper until his balls rested in her swollen slit, fascinated him. Fluid, effortless motion he could duplicate only with the help of machines.
Her whimpers of pleasure when he took her nipple between his teeth and suckled her like a baby banished thought, left him only with feeling. The sucking pressure of her cunt on his cock, the smooth texture of her breast against his lips, the lace of her thigh-highs against his seeking fingertips.
She smelled good, like the white jasmine that twined around the patio doors. Better, mingled with her woman’s musk, a smell nearly forgotten during his captivity. Gray let go her nipple, sank his teeth gently into the pale flesh at the base of her throat, tasting, remembering. Trying to ignore the overwhelming need to come. Had to make this good for her, too.
He slid a hand between them, beyond her slick, hot labia. Tangling his fingers in her damp red-gold pubic curls, he remembered… “You promised me you’d shave your pussy for me when I came home.” He found her swollen clit, dreamed of tasting it as he worried it between his thumb and forefinger.
“Mmmm. Sorry. I forgot. But I’ll tell you something now. Be good to me like this, big guy, and I will. Oh, yesss,” she hissed when he increased the pressure and lined open-mouthed kisses up her neck, along her jaw, her earlobe.
She clamped down on his cock with her incredible, creamy cunt. If she didn’t stop it, this would be over. And Gray desperately wanted it to last. “Careful or you’ll make me come.”
“That’s the general idea. Feel good?” Once again, she sank on him all the way to his balls and squeezed his cock with what felt like a velvet vise. “Tell me what you want, how you want it.”
With his free hand, he cupped her breast while he rubbed her clit and tried to recall the Preamble to the Constitution. “I want to get up, back your pretty ass against the wall, and fuck you until we’re both cross-eyed. But that’s not about to happen. Baby, all I can reasonably expect is to help you come. What can I do?”