Nothing Like the First Time (19 page)

“Well
, I’ll get out of your hair, Jim, but honestly, I think we’ll be just fine.”

I didn’t know what would happen if the new restaurant took all our customers. A little competition isn’t always a bad thing, but I’d hate to lose my job at Jim’s because he couldn’t afford to keep it open anymore.

I walked down the little hallway and out into the restaurant. Grey’s smile was the first thing I saw.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“Well
, I’ve got the car, so you don’t have to drive, but we’ll have to come by and get yours later,” he said as he stood up from his stool and placed a kiss on my lips.

I inhaled and
knew he had taken a shower and put on some of my favorite cologne.

I got lost in thought. Maybe things would turn out al
l right after all. I hated things where the outcome was so uncertain, but I knew that if Grey turned out to be Kai’s father, he would step up and do the right thing. If he was a match for the transplant, he would get it done and then sort out the issue of whether Selena allowed contact. I knew I didn’t have all the answers but I also knew that I would stand by Grey whether he was Kai’s father or not. I also knew that if he wasn’t the father but by some fluke was a match to donate, then he would. He doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body, and if he could help someone out, then he would, especially if it was a child.

“Hey Carls, come in
, space cadet!” Grey waved his hand in front of my face.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” I said as I took hold
of his outstretched hand and walked out of Jim’s.

“About what?”

“There’s a new restaurant opening not far from here—I was just wondering how Jim’s would be affected.”

I couldn’t tell him the truth about what I was thinking. Not because I wanted to lie, but because Grey deserved some time without having to think or talk about the situation.

“So where are you taking me for lunch?”

“I thought the lake house. Tim and Naomi are away for a couple of weeks, Naomi’s
mother is poorly, so they’ve gone to look after her.”

“I wish we’d been able to buy the lake house, you know,” I blurted randomly.

“Oh?” The question was obvious in his voice.

“I mean when you and I were together, I always loved that place so much. It holds a lot of memories for me.”

“For me too. I often wondered what would have happened if I’d stayed in town. Would we have stayed together? Would we have been the ones to buy the lake house? But you can’t live life on what if’s.”

We talked for a little while about what we thought might have happened if things had been different. Would we have kids by now? That sort of thing.

We pulled up at the lake house and Grey got out to retrieve the spare key from under the plant pot.

“Don’t worry
, they know we’re coming. I spoke with Tim on the phone earlier.”

“
Oh good,” I said as I got out of the car.

I walked round the car
up to the front door. Grey had it open and had wandered inside. He walked back to the door with a blanket in one hand and a picnic hamper in the other.

“I thought we could eat down by the lake.”

“Sounds good.”

We wandered down towards the water in relative silence. Grey must’ve been here earlier to
organize the picnic. I smiled to myself as I considered how thoughtful and romantic my fiancé was, even with things hanging over his head as they were.

Grey laid the blanket on the
ground and then pulled me down beside him.

I sat down and he started unpacking the contents of the hamper. There was fresh fruit, salad, pasta, an assortment of sandwiches
, and a small bottle of cava with two glasses.

“Wow, this looks great!”

“Thank you, I popped by earlier to organize it while you were working.”

“I thought so. Such a thoughtful, wonderful man,” I said
, leaning over to kiss him. What I had meant as a little kiss to say thank you turned out to be a lot hotter and heavier than I expected. I pulled away breathlessly and smiled at Grey. To see him smile back at me with a look of hunger in those hooded chocolate eyes made my insides turn to jelly.

“We should eat!” my voice came out a little shaky.

“We should!” he exclaimed before passing me a plate and a napkin.

“Ooh
, napkins too, you really thought of everything.”

Grey blushed and I playfully shoved his arm. It was good to have a little of the Grey I knew and loved here and present with me even whi
le his life was being turned upside down and his future was hanging in the balance.

We ate lunch and Grey poured us a small glass of cava each. I smiled at him over my glass while I took a sip.

“So, what preparations have been made and what’s still on the To-Do list for the wedding then, Miss Summers?” Grey asked, making me sputter my cava a little.

“Well, we have the color scheme picked, as you know. I have my dress sorted, the bridesmaids
’ dresses are sorted too, and the ushers’ suits. I have asked Jodie to be my maid of honor and Naomi to be a bridesmaid. I needed someone responsible in charge of the younger bridesmaids and Jodie will be too busy being responsible for me.”

“How about the venue? Are you any closer to deciding?”

“Well, the reception will be at your mother’s so that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about. As for where we get married, no, I really don’t know. That’s something we need to decide, not just me.”

“Okay, we’ll come back to that one. I have
found the perfect tuxedo for hire, Tim is best man and I asked Ben if he’d like to be an usher.”

“Oh my goodness, I didn’t even think about Maggie, Lizzie,
or your mother.”

“It’s okay, we haven’t set a date in stone or anything so we have time to invent duties for them
if you like.” He laughed as he took in the look of abject horror on my face.

“I haven’t even thought about my family either
, to be honest. I don’t have much to do with many of them anymore. My mother lives in Cornwall, my father lives in Dorset. Then there’s my sister, she’s not even being invited. I hate her. I’d love my father to give me away but with things the way they are with my parents, I’m not sure they can both get on for even one day—so I might not invite either one. That leaves Grandma and Julie, my auntie, I don’t know if you remember her. She lives in Portsmouth now, anyway but I’d like to invite her. She lost her husband a couple of years ago, it was a motorbike accident.”

I was rambling and I knew it.

“I remember Julie. Invite her and your cousin Sarah who you used to spend all that time with as kids. As for your mother and father, you need to invite them and let them sort it out between themselves whether they can put aside petty differences for one day for their daughter. Your sister? Well, it’s not my place to tell you what to do, but I would invite her, too. She can always say no, right?”

“I guess she can
, but Saskia has always been a bitch.”

“I remember all too well as kids, but her girlfriend might have tamed her wild ways.”

Oh yes, the girlfriend, Melyssa. How could I forget? She was the reason Saskia and I were always falling out. How she could’ve tamed Saskia’s wild ways was beyond me, but they could always refuse the invitation—I could only hope.

“Doubtful. She was one of the reasons Saskia and I parted on unfriendly terms. But I’ll be the bigger person and invite them. They can always RSVP with a ‘not in hell’s chance
,’ right? One can only hope!”

Grey laughed and it was hard not to laugh with him. I loved my sister, but I hated her at the same time.
Melyssa had tried to kiss me once when we were younger and Saskia didn’t believe me. My father, Steve, had got them to move to Dorset to be nearer him. My mother Elise had believed me and it had been a sticking point between her and Father. It wasn’t like it was the reason they split up, but it was a serious bone of contention.

Grey knew all about Melyssa and Saskia being together since they were teens, but I hadn’t told him about the kiss. First, because it never actually got to that stage, she just tried. Second, because it had been around the time he was leaving and I just hadn’t told him. Now, years later, he deserved to know the truth in case there was an outbreak at the wedding.

“Melyssa tried to kiss me once,” I blurted.

“When?” Grey asked, shock apparent in his voice.

I told him about it as we packed the things back into the hamper, ready to take it inside.

“Well
, maybe they won’t come either, then—but you’re the bigger person by sending the invite. If Saskia finds out about it through your father, then she might turn up to try and cause trouble.”

“I gues
s so, I’ll just seat her at the back of the room, as far away from me as possible.”

“
Sounds like a good plan. What about the honeymoon? Do you have any preferences?”

I had fantasized
about our wedding and honeymoon a lot as a teenager, but to be honest, now the time was here, it didn’t matter where we went as long as we were together.

“Umm… how about the Seychelles? I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Not that I didn’t enjoy wedding talk
, but thinking about my brat sister and my argumentative parents was bringing the whole happy vibe down.

I leaned in to kiss Grey and he was only too happy to oblige. I felt his hand trace a path down my spine and I shivered at how good his touch felt. He started to unbutton the blouse I had on and my breathing hitched a little. I was hesitant
, not because I didn’t want him, I just didn’t want to push him too far. I let him continue to lead the way as he nudged my mouth open further with his tongue. Our tongues danced together and I yearned for his touch.

My blouse fell to the
ground and that was when Grey pulled me up to my knees in front of him so he could undo my jeans. The good thing about the lake house is that it’s secluded. I let him pull my jeans down to my knees before he gently lowered me to the ground to take them off the rest of the way.

Once our clothing was divested, I looked at Grey and the sight made my mouth water. We hadn’t made love in nearly three weeks and I had longed for him, to be at his mercy once more.

The look in Grey’s eyes told me he wanted to make love to me long and slow. I would take whatever he was willing to give me, starting with the sweet kisses he was currently placing in a line from one collar bone to the other. He held himself above me on those strong, muscular forearms and I looked down at him in all his naked glory—he was standing at attention and we hadn’t even started properly yet.

I grabbed a fistful of his hair and drew his lips to mine. Our tongues meshed together and Grey tasted of everything that made him unique. I’d been kissed by other men while we were apart but none of them even had a hint of that mouth-watering taste on Grey’s lips. He kissed me like the world was about to end and I was only too happy to return the kiss with all the pent-up passion I felt.

As my one hand remained in Grey’s hair, the other roamed down the muscles of his back to cup his firm buttock in my palm, pulling him closer against me. Grey moaned against my lips in appreciation as I moved both hands towards his hips. There’s something so utterly sexy about touching him there that words cannot describe. I moved my hands to cup his gorgeous butt and drew him closer to me still. I wanted him inside me but something told me to wait for him to initiate it.

Grey kissed along my jawline, his day old stubble tickling me as he kissed my ear and then down my neck. I felt ravenous with hunger, my appetite for Grey was insatiable. He cupped my breasts and worked my taut nipples with his fingers before moving his mouth down to suck each one in turn into his mouth. A ripple of desire spread
through me and the warmth in my abdomen told me that I was more desperate for his caresses than I had known.

Trailing one finger down my body and in between my legs, he moaned as he found I was already hot and wet—waiting and anticipating his next move. His mouth met mine in a crushing kiss as he put two fingers inside me and used them to taunt me, to tease me into an oblivion I wanted to get lost in.
Moments before I could come, Grey removed his fingers and instead inserted himself inside me. I moaned loudly as he parted me and filled me so deeply. His mouth made its way back to my breasts and he sucked one erect nipple and then the other. He pulled one nipple into his mouth and bit gently. I grabbed the back of his head and held him close to me.

Gradually, Grey built up a steady rhythm inside me and I traced my hands up and down his muscular frame.
I kneaded the muscles beneath my hands and Grey moaned in appreciation. He knew what came next. I raked my fingernails down his back and felt him shudder as I repeated the motion once more, digging my nails in that little bit harder.

Grey’s rhythm increased and so did my movements against him. I grasped his muscular frame and held tight as we searched for oblivion
, and in that moment, we came together and tipped each other over the edge.