The Mind (The Reluctant Romantics #1.5) (9 page)

In response, Grant pushed his briefs down, revealing his mouth-watering erection. With hungry eyes, he stroked himself a few times, looking at me naked in front of him.

“Do it again,” I ordered and watched him close his eyes as he took himself in his hand, stroked again, and let go. He grabbed a condom of the floor wordlessly, except for the eye fucking, and tore it with his teeth. I watched him slide it on, my center aching to be filled. “When I come inside you this time, I’m making you mine.”

Eyes locked, I made my way to him, kneeling and naked as the setting sun pierced through the trees behind him. He placed his hand behind my neck, pulling me in. I licked my lips and met his kiss. It was slow and sweet. He pulled me away gently, his fist twisted in my hair as he spoke.

“Rose, maybe you’ve convinced yourself you are incapable of love right now, or even worse, not worthy of it. Don't let one dickhead cheat you out of what every single person on earth deserves.”

“And what's that?” I whispered, completely leveled by his kiss.

“Love, baby, love. It’s your time to be loved, and I’m the one who’s going to do it.”

“Please, Grant, give me time to—”

“I’ll give you whatever you want.”

He cut me with his gentle words, sincerity filtering through his eyes. Loving hands brought my hips down over him and I gasped in pleasure, wrapping my arms around his neck. I moaned his name over and over between strokes as he tugged at my hair, kissing me thoroughly. He stopped his thrusts to rub me back and forth over him, working himself deeper inside. Our kiss morphed into something else entirely. Our carnal touches turned tender. I lifted myself slowly above him and gently let myself down, feeling every inch of him. Closing my eyes, he stroked my face with his fingertips and kissed my forehead. I reopened them, suddenly emboldened by our connection, and drank his blue eyes in as I took another slow plunge on top of him. He was throbbing and so deep. I lingered above him, riding him slowly. A cry of defeat escaped my lips and a wave of emotion washed over me as I came, shattering around him. I held his eyes as he pulled me into another deep kiss. My heart soared as he whispered to me, his intent clear, “It’s you, baby. I know it is. Just take it and I’m yours.” He came then and buried his head in my chest, wrapping his arms around me, holding me tight against him. I felt the dam burst and realized I had been in over my head since the minute I had laid eyes on him.

“I’ll take it, Grant.” I tilted my head down to get a look at his face still buried in my chest and saw his hidden smile. He rose to his knees with me still wrapped around him and laid me beneath him. It was the first time I realized the true meaning of making love because that’s exactly what we were doing.

You know those stories? The ones where the couple meets and they marry days later and remain married for sixty something years? I’ve always been a fan of those stories. I mean I’m not naïve enough to believe that a good majority of those weren’t shotgun weddings due to a soldier leaving for war, or a woman suddenly in the family way. The notion seemed so damned old-fashioned now and my generation is so quick to divorce these days. Those stories become less and less, and are considered a Hollywood type marriage, meaning the time frame from beginning to end spans the length of the time it takes for the two actors to fall in love, marry, shoot the movie, and divorce by release day.

The question I’d been asking myself over and over again when I wasn’t mind deep into labs was: Am I Hollywood or old-fashioned? My parents fell in love in a month, or at least that’s the way they explained it. In all honesty, I never in a million years thought it was possible for me. I credited myself with a level head and as I sat surrounded by books, I was sure it was still on straight. I hadn’t missed a single class, rotation, or lab.

But I wanted—no, I
needed
this thing with Grant to work because after only three weeks in what I was feeling was not just lust, and it was far more than affection. I had nobody to prove anything to aside from myself. I wanted to believe he was sincere in his sudden feelings for me. I wanted more than anything to believe that it wasn’t just our amazing sex, which was in a category of its own, that kept my mind occupied with thoughts of him and that damned house I’d help build in my mind. Because if I had to visualize the rest of my life, that’s exactly what I would picture. And he is exactly the type of man I would want to spend it with, given he didn’t have an ugly head yet to rear. But was that really my fear? It didn’t seem possible for Grant to have a Hyde. He was warm, caring, doting, and seemed hell bent on pleasing me. I was hesitant about going along with his whole ‘love at first sight’ scenario. Like for some reason I would need to justify it to myself when all it did was cheapen the authenticity of it. I mean, wasn’t that the point? And as if he’d read my mind, my phone rattled with a message.

Grant: I’m working on this plane and I keep thinking I’ll own it one day. What do you think about flying everywhere together?

Rose: I think it would be a dream. Seriously, you’re a pilot, too?

Grant: Of course. But I won’t mention the mile high club. That would be cheesy.

Ten seconds later...

Grant: Would you like to join the mile high club?

I laughed loudly as he continued his rant. I found he did that a lot. Especially when I was studying or in class and wasn’t quick to answer a text.

Grant: Of course, that is unless you’re already a member. Then don’t tell me. Fuck. I would hate that. Okay, now you have to tell me. Baby, you there?

Rose: I’m here.

Grant: Well, are you going to tell me?

Rose: No.

Grant: That’s just cruel. Don’t forget you’re a screamer.

Rose: No I’m not.

Grant: Not yet.

Rose: Is that a threat?

Grant: I have moves you haven’t had yet, baby, and I will have you screaming on a plane. Now send me a naughty picture to get me through the day.

Rose: You are so random and hell no.

Grant: Chicken.

Rose: No way, you have no idea how many channels it has to go through to get to you.

Grant: Give me something.

Rose: No.

Grant: Prude.

Rose: Pervert.

Grant: I’m waiting.

Rose: Hold your breath too, you ass.

Grant: God I miss you. Now I’m hard. I love it when you get feisty. Where are you?

Rose: Home

Grant: Perfect, pull down your panties and show me where you want me.

Burning was all I could feel as my pulse kicked into overdrive. The way he felt inside of me when he swiveled his hips and went deep was all I could think about. Now I was aching deep inside, a part that only Grant had touched, only Grant could seem to fill.

Becoming bold with thoughts of him and the way he made me feel, I slid my panties off and went to the bathroom. Ten minutes later, I was sweating as I contorted my body in every odd angle trying to capture a decent naked picture of myself. With my foot propped on the counter, I was just about to snap a money shot, or so I thought, when a door smacked painfully into my side, sending me flying through the air. I landed on the toilet, my phone escaping my hand only to fall dead center of the throne with a loud plunk.

“Jennifer!” I shrieked, looking at my ruined phone then reaching for a towel above me that was hanging on the rack. Jennifer stood silent for all of the three seconds it took for her to assess the situation before she immediately sat on her ass at the bathroom doorway, erupting in hysterical laughter.

Neither of us really had any body shame and had seen each other naked a hundred times, but this was different entirely. I buried my head in my hands and shook it back and forth in embarrassment. I’d never been that ‘sexy’ girl and trying had turned into a disaster.

“Okay...so,” Jennifer started in an attempt to soothe me. Her cackling ceased temporarily but her shit eating grin remained. “I guess every woman gets curious to see her goods at least once.”

“It’s not that,” I said, my face flaming a bit. “I was trying to get a sexy shot for Grant.”

Jen looked at me for a split second before bursting into more laughter. “Rose, and you thought taking a shot from underneath would be the best plan? Oh, buddy.” She laughed. “No, no, no. Flat on your back, legs spread, and with way better lighting. You want my selfie-stick?”

I pursed my lips, wrapping the towel firmly around me. “Such an expert.”

“I’m in a long-distance relationship so, yes, I am somewhat.” She stood and looked me over. “You’ve got it bad for him and before you protest, that’s a good thing. I like Grant for you. I got to know him a bit before I decided he could have you.”

“You could have told
me
,” I said, grabbing a plastic bag from underneath the sink and using it to wrap my hand so I could fish my phone out of the toilet.

“I just did,” she said with a grin. “I fucking hate what David did to you and—”

“Dead horse, Jennifer, and this is not about David or getting over him. That’s over, been over,” I cut her off. “This is about Grant and this is
way
different. I can be one hundred percent me when I’m with him and he seems to accept me.”

She nodded as I brushed past her. “I’m happy for you, Rose.” She followed me into my bedroom where I dressed in preparation to go buy a new phone.

“It’s just shitty timing because I want that damned spot under McGuire, you know. I know that’s all I need to concentrate on, but now I want him, too. He’s agreed to take a back seat to school, but I don’t know how long it will last. My schedule will only become more demanding.”

Jen sat on the edge of my bed. “The man for you will wait as long as it takes. Look at me and Alex. We haven’t seen each other in two months but we do the work, and the wait is almost over.” Her voice shook as she looked up at me, happiness and excitement seeping out of her every pore. “God, just thinking about the next few months makes me fucking...giddy,” she piped, teary eyed.

“You two give me hope,” I said, grabbing my keys.

“Where are you going?”

“To get a phone not covered in a death strain.” I winked. “And you can leave your selfie-stick on my bed.”

She chuckled as she followed me out. “Thatta girl. And remember good lighting and use a soft filter.”

“I think I’m falling for him,” I said, pausing at the front door and turning to look for her reaction. “And I’m not doing a damn thing to stop it.”

Jen simply nodded, taking her seat on our ancient blue couch and opening her laptop before pausing to look up at me. “I’ve got your back.”

“Love you, bitch,” I said before making my way out the door.

“Just remember to give credit where credit is due,” she called after me before I closed the door. I made it two steps before I heard her again. “You know when you two decide to name your kids!”

****

I practically skipped to my car in light of her support and the realization that I may, for the first time in years, be in love. I wanted to call my sister and tell her but was already afraid of an adverse reaction. Dallas hadn’t been a fan of anything love related in some seriously long years. She’d had one love, her ex, Dean, and like my own experience, it had turned out just as bad. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the crap she would give me if she knew I had fallen in love with a man in mere weeks. So on the trip to town, when I asked myself the question of whether or not Grant and I could fall in love in the blink of an eye and live that way forever, I was sure, like everything else Grant had predicted, he could make it true. We,
together
, could make it true.

It would be our story. We would have one of
those
and it would start with him declaring to me within five minutes of meeting that I would become his wife.

So instead of calling my sister, I purchased a new phone and when Grant sent his next text, I sent him one in return. It was a picture of a woman, hopeful of falling in love and completely bared to him, both in body and soul. I could see my vulnerability when I studied it. I could see the hope in my eyes and the flush of my body. I could also see my confidence, and for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t ashamed of the un-manicured woman I wasn’t. I was proud of the woman I was. Whatever high I was on was due to his affection for me, I knew it wasn’t going to end anytime soon. So with both my mind and my heart in agreement, I jumped in with both feet.

****

I felt her nails dig into my arm before I saw Rebecca’s face. “You bitch, what did you say to my boyfriend?” she hissed, pulling me to her and taking me away from the deli line at
The Bistro
.

“Take your hands off me or so help me, psycho, we won’t be talking.” I was way too old for this shit and knew better than to threaten an angry bee but stood my ground. I had the strength of an eighty-year-old woman, but I could bark like a scary Chihuahua.

“We had a good thing going then you come along and he won’t even talk to me!”

“Let me make this perfectly clear:
he
came to
me
, I did nothing,” I said, darting my eyes around to see who was watching.