Giving It All (12 page)

Sure, he could help out at Anderson’s, but honestly, how much help did they need with Greg, and if his mother had her way, Anita? And did he really want to work in an auto parts store for the rest of his life? He was only twenty-eight years old.

He couldn’t worry about that now. It was an option he’d think about later. Right now, he had to focus on helping his father recover and figuring out what the hell Greg was up to at the store. His days of riding an adrenaline high were over.

Chapter Twelve

Ellie collapsed on her couch. The headache from hell that had been plaguing her for the last hour threatened to turn into a full-blown migraine. She didn’t get many of them, but when she did, they laid her flat. She knew she shouldn’t have had so much caffeine today, but it seemed like every client she went to offered her either coffee or iced tea. It would have been rude to refuse, so she’d drunk a cup here, a glass there, until she was wired and her head was throbbing.

The half a pot of coffee she’d had that morning probably hadn’t helped either. When she’d woken up naked and alone at four in the morning, her first thought had been disappointment that Grant hadn’t come after all, then panic that she hadn’t finished prepping for her clients.

She’d jumpstarted her brain with the coffee and then worked without stopping for the next four hours. Even though most of today’s clients were small, they still deserved all her attention. The difference between a refund and having to pay could be as simple as a single tax law. Most of today’s clients used her once a year for their tax returns. They didn’t comprise the bulk of her practice, but they’d been some of the first to hire her when she’d gotten out of college.

“You look like you’ve been run over by a truck,” Grant said from the doorway to her apartment.

She was going to have to put an alarm on the top stair or something. How did he move so darn quietly?

“Thanks, that’s just what every woman wants to hear.” She opened one eye and saw he carried a covered plate. “Is that for me?”

“Yup. Mom made you a plate of her fried chicken. She figured you probably hadn’t had a chance to eat supper.”

“She figured right. I’ve had about a dozen cookies, at least five brownies and some of the driest, most tasteless lemon cake ever made, but no actual dinner. No wonder I have a headache.” She started to get up off the couch, but Grant waved her back.

“Stay there, I’ll get you something to drink. Do you have any tea?”

“No more iced tea. I’ll just have some water, please. The glasses are in the cabinet to the right of the sink. Silverware is in the drawer below.”

In next to no time, Grant had her dinner set up on the coffee table in front of the couch. She felt a little awkward eating in front of him, but then the smell of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and biscuits filled the air and she didn’t care anymore. She tucked into the meal like someone would steal it from her if she stopped eating.

“I haven’t had fried chicken in ages,” she said when she finally came up for air. “It seems silly to go through all that work for one person, and the store bought kind never tastes as good.”

“That’s the truth. How’s the headache?”

“Better. A few aspirin and no more caffeine or sugar and I’ll be good as new.” She took the dishes to the sink and started washing them. Now that she didn’t have the food to distract her, she felt tense and a bit nervous around Grant.

His note had indicated he wanted to pick up where they’d left off, but he hadn’t made a move on her. Could he have changed his mind now that they weren’t in the heat of the moment? If he had, then why had he come see her? He didn’t have to stay while she ate. He could have dropped off the plate and left. She wished he’d say something, do something, give her some clue as to what was on his mind, but he just sat on the couch and watched her.

Realizing she’d all but cleaned the enamel off the plate, she set it in the drying rack on the side of the sink and dried her hands. “I haven’t had a chance to look over the information we got from the store. Today was crazy busy and last night—”

“Last night, you passed out like you’d been hit by a two-by-four.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. You could have woken me.”

“I thought about it, but you looked so peaceful, I just couldn’t do it.”

Could this conversation get anymore awkward? What was she supposed to do now? Her libido suggested climbing on his lap and kissing him, but her brain shot that down. She wasn’t Pansy Campbell. It just wasn’t her style to throw herself at a man. What if he pushed her away? The very thought made her wince and hunch her shoulders.

“No wonder you have a headache, you’re tight as a drum. Come here, I’ll give you a massage and see if we can loosen up some of those knots before your head explodes.”

“That would be great, thanks.”
Understatement of the year.
Just the thought of having those wonderful hands on her again was enough to get her heart thumping.

“Sit on the floor in front of the couch.” He tossed one of the throw pillows on the floor between his feet.

Ellie gulped. She’d be right between those rock-hard thighs. Her head would practically be in his crotch. Lord, she hoped she didn’t embarrass herself.

“You might want to take off your shirt so I can get to your shoulders. What do you have on under it?”

Ellie looked at her blouse like she’d never seen it before. The white, French cuff shirt was one of her favorites because it went with everything and the cotton blend breathed even in the heat and humidity. She wore a plain cotton camisole with a built-in bra underneath. Why hadn’t she picked something sexy and lacy?

“Just a cammy. It won’t get in the way.” She could have sworn she heard him swear under his breath, but when she looked up at him, he had the same placid expression on his face as before.

Slowly, her fingers fumbling, she unbuttoned the shirt and hung it on the back of a kitchen chair. His eyes watched her every move and they practically singed her flesh as she crossed the room to him. Heat pooled low in her belly and spread like molten lava through her body. Her nipples poked out through the thin cotton and she would have been mortified if Grant wasn’t looking at them like a kid who’d found a brand new bike under the Christmas tree.

Her heart raced as she sat on the pillow he’d put down for her. Immediately, she felt surrounded by his scent. He wore jeans again, and the smell of laundry soap mingled with something clean and spicy. She squirmed a bit in her seat as she remembered feeling his jean-clad leg rubbing against her mound as she came.

“Just relax and let the doctor get to work. Your headache will be gone in no time,” Grant said as he applied his strong fingers to the back of her neck.

Headache? What headache? The part of her anatomy that was aching now was much lower.

“So what had you so busy today? More unprepared clients?” he asked as his hands worked the knots in her shoulders. He had the best freaking hands.

“No, today would have been relatively easy if I hadn’t overbooked myself. It’s just hard to push off an eighty-year-old retiree and tell them they have to wait three weeks until I can do a return that will only take an hour of my time.”

“So you crammed the eighty-year-old in, even though it meant you probably had to work through lunch.”

“Yeah, but I got cookies out of it.”

“And lousy lemon cake.”

“That was at Mrs. Johnson’s house. Did you know she has fifteen grandchildren? I heard about each and every one of them, all the way down to the baby who’s only four months old but already smart as a whip.” Ellie couldn’t hold back a moan as Grant worked a particularly tight spot at the base of her head.

She felt loose and relaxed as his hands worked their magic, kneading and rubbing along her neck and shoulders. He worked his way down her arms, easing tightness in her biceps she didn’t even know she had. It wasn’t until he reached her hand that she realized he’d dragged the strap of her camisole down and was stretching it over her fingertips.

His mouth grazed the side of her throat and nipped her earlobe, distracting her as he slipped the other strap off, exposing her breasts to his gaze. And his touch.

Ellie’s breath caught in her throat as he gently cupped her tiny breasts in his large hands.

“I’ve been thinking about doing this all day. And most of last night. And probably half of yesterday too.”

“That must have been awkward when you were talking to Mrs. Thompson,” she said while she could still form words.

He circled her nipple, coming closer to the nerve-rich point before backing off to stroke the valley between her breasts. Ellie bit her lip to keep from begging him for more. Her pulse thudded in her veins as he skimmed ever closer to where she wanted him.

“I feel like I’ve been walking around with a woody ever since I got back to Dale,” he whispered in her ear before tracing the shell of it with his tongue.

Ellie clutched his legs, holding on for dear life as he finally,
finally
stroked her aching nipple. She arched her back, trying to press herself closer to his hands as he pinched and teased her sensitive tips. Dimly, she was aware of the difference between the only slightly yielding flesh of his right calf and the artificial hardness of his left, but it couldn’t hold her attention as he stroked and fondled her.

“Watching you come just from my mouth on your breast was one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen. Do you think you can come just from my hands on you?”

There was no way she could answer that. Her nerve endings were on fire and her entire body craved his touch. He gently sucked on the column of her neck as he stroked her. She thrust her chest out farther and arched her hips. God, her panties must be soaked through by now, and still he tormented her.

“Come for me, sweetheart.” He pinched both nipples as he bit gently on her neck.

And she did. Wave after wave crashed over her, swamping her senses. She dug her fingers into his leg as she trembled with aftershocks.

“That is so fucking hot,” he groaned in her ear, sending vibrations skittering through her body.

She sat there between his legs and caught her breath, her heart was still beating furiously and she could feel the coiled tension in his thighs right next to her head. Once again, she’d had an orgasm and he hadn’t.

That was going to change.

“I think turnabout is fair play. You’ve made me come twice. Now it’s my turn.” She turned and knelt so her mouth was even with his torso.

Never taking her eyes off him, she undid his belt buckle. Her fingers trembled a bit as she unfastened the top button of his jeans. “Good call on the button-fly,” she said, sliding the next rivet out. His erection pressed against her hand and she couldn’t resist a stroke of his hardness through the denim.

Only two buttons to go, and as she slid his cock free, she was able to answer a question that had been on her mind for a while. SEALs did indeed go commando.

“Lift your hips,” she ordered, tugging at his pants so she could get better access.

He hesitated and Ellie looked at him, wondering at the delay.

“My left side took the brunt of the shrapnel. It isn’t pretty.”

“Pretty is overrated. I like strong. Drop ’em.”

As he shoved his pants to his knees, she avoided looking at the gray sleeve thingy that encased his left leg from the knee to mid-thigh. Instead, she concentrated on his cock, stroking it firmly first, then feathering her fingers along its length until she could fondle its soft head. The part of her mind that wasn’t focused on giving him as much pleasure as possible worried that she’d do something wrong, something to make him feel uncomfortable about his scars or leg, and that would ruin everything.

Damn it, she wasn’t going to let that happen. Spreading his thighs as far apart as his jeans would allow, she leaned in and captured his cock between her lips. While one hand fondled his sac, stroking the sensitive area behind it, she used the other to pump his length as she ran her teeth and tongue over his leaking tip. She lapped up the salty drop and drew him deeper into her mouth.

“Christ!”

He thrust his fingers into her hair and gripped her head as she laved and sucked and loved every inch of his cock. The feel of his muscled thighs brushing against her bare torso made her moan with delight as every move she made rubbed her over-sensitized skin against the soft hair of his legs.

She heard a phone ring in the distance but ignored it. Grant’s fingers clutched at her head and he thrust his hips forward as he came.

Ellie sat back on her heels and surreptitiously wiped her mouth with a napkin left on the coffee table. Grant lay back against the couch cushions, his body relaxed but his chest heaving. She’d laid him low and it felt great.

I am woman, hear me roar.

“That was incredible,” Grant said as he finally opened his eyes. “I don’t even know what to say. Thank you?”

“You’re welcome. I still owe you one, if we’re keeping count.”
Lame!
Gah, what the hell was she supposed to do now? Suddenly uncomfortable with her near nakedness, she pulled her camisole back into place. The soft cotton brushed her nipples and she shivered at the sensation.

Grant groaned. “You have the most amazing breasts.”

“I’m just barely a B cup.”

“It’s not the size, it’s the way they react. Do you know what a turn on it is knowing I’ve given you two orgasms and I haven’t even gotten your pants off yet?”

“Ah, no, but if it works for you, I’m all for it.”

His cock twitched and she was amazed to see him getting hard again. Her mouth went dry and she licked her lips and tried not to stare at his lap.

“When you look at me like that, I want to tear your clothes off and lock you in the bedroom for at least a week,” he whispered.

“When you say things like that, I want to let you,” she whispered back, her voice husky with renewed desire.

“That could be arranged.”

Ellie reached for him, intending to drag his head down for a kiss, but a creak on the stairs had Grant jumping off the couch. She’d barely grabbed her blouse by the time he’d tucked himself back in and fastened his pants. Something told her he had practice getting redressed quickly.

“Knock, knock,” Mrs. Anderson called through the screen door.

“Come on in,” Ellie replied, her voice still thicker than normal.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to steal Grant back.”

“Oh, no problem, he was just keeping me company while I ate. Thanks for dinner, it was delicious. I haven’t had fried chicken in ages. I just finished washing the plate. Hold on, I’ll get it for you.” Ellie knew she was babbling but couldn’t stop herself.