Saving Grace (17 page)

Those gorgeous blue eyes widened and
for a few heartbeats (I heard mine
clearly pounding hard against my rib cage) he just stared into my eyes.
Then his
eyes seemed to darken as
my words slid right over him and his hold on me chang
ed. He tightened his grip on my wrists
, his whole body stiffened and he pulled me closer to him
.
He sucked in a slow deep breath and his eyes went to my mouth. God, did I want him to kiss me.

Letting go of one of my wrists,
he gently laced his hand through my hair. A hot rush of adrenaline shot through my veins.
Please kiss me. Please kiss me
.

"Are you two coming in? Lunch is
almost
on the table
!" Caroline yelled from the doorway.
Seriously, right now?
Did she not see the
ridiculously perfect man just about to kiss me?

Shane let out a low
audible moan and his hands fell to my waist and turned me towards the front door. "Ah...yep. We're um...coming, Mrs.
R,
"
he said breathlessly.
One hand slid to the small of my back and gently pushed me to walk
alongside
him
in
to the house. His blue eyes looked down at me and he brushed a strand of dark hair that fell
across my cheek behind my ear.
Th
at
damn beautiful smirk
that was
on his face made me want to climb up his body and lick his lips
. Oh, dear God, I'm in trouble
.

We walked into the house and I just knew my cheeks had to have been flaming bright red because of the questioning look from Lea I was getting.
I bit my bottom lip and looked away from her quickly.

"There's the comatose kid! How are you feeling
,
Gracie?" Lea's father, Anthony
asked
, opened his arms out wide and grabbed me in a giant hug. "Ah, Jesus, Caroline! You're right
,
she's all skin and bones." He shoved me in front of one of the plastic covered dining room chairs and pushed my
shoulders
down until I sat
. He kept one hand on my shoulder and the other he held out for Shane to
shake. "Hey, and the
rock star
i
s here too! How you doing
,
son?"

Shane shook his hand and offered him one of those killer smiles of his, "Hey, Mr. Rossi. Thanks for having me today. I'm doing great. How have you been?"

Anthony Rossi, who has acted as my father for the last ten years, stepped up closer to Shane. "
Good, good
,
son.
I'm sure glad that everything was settled and you didn't have anything to do with hurting our Gracie. Lea told me that you were the one to help her when that son of a bitch got his hands on her. We're forever in your debt, Shane. I knew you couldn't have hurt
her." He slid in front of the dining room chair at the head of the table and sat down leaning back with his arms folded across his chest. A serious expression crossed his features, "So did anybody get the son of a bitch, yet? Or am I going to have to make some calls..."

"Shut up, dear." Caroline cut him off
while placing an enormous platter full of spaghetti and meatballs on the table
. She waved her hands at him to settle him down. "Let's have a nice delicious Sunday lunch and not talk about all this horror, please." She fanned her hands over her face
dram
a
tically
, "You men can talk about all this
Law and Order
,
CSI
crime stuff after eating, Grace has been through enough already. She doesn't want to hear anymore."
She walked back into the kitchen only to re
-
emerge with more food
;
salad,
Italian bread, garlic knots and a huge pitcher of water with slices of fruit floating in it.
Holy crap, she wasn't kidding about fattening me up!

Lea and Conner sat down next to each other in the two seats across from me, leaving Shane to sit in the chair next to me. My body shook with anticipation. Not only because I was sitting so close to him, but because I knew what Sundays were like at the Rossi house. Crap was about to fly and it was
Lea's favorite game and mine
.

Ever
y Sunday we had
ever spent
eating with her parents w
e secretly played what Lea and I called
Oh Dear
. It's really easy and quite funny if played correctly. You begin the game with two unsuspecting parents that ask the most inappropriate questions to thei
r children. The game starts when one parent player asks another player an inappropriate question while eating dinner. That player has to come up with a funny verbal comeback to the said question without offering up any truthful answers. The winner is the first person to make a parent say
Oh Dear
.

Caroline served everyone a heaping plate of food while Lea and I acted like two thirteen year olds giggling and waiting for the game to start.

Caroline dumped three gigantic mounds of spaghetti on my plate and topped it with four meatballs, three gar
lic knots and a half of a
loaf of Italian
bread. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. "Gracie, dear. When was the last time you ate any food?"
And the game begins
.

"Um, I had a handful of
Tic-
tacs
on Thursday," I answered. Lea looked down into her food so she wouldn't start laughing already. I slurped up a long strand of spaghetti.

"I can
tel
l,
dear. Don't you girls ever cook for yourselves? You do know how to make nutritious foods, don't you?" She leveled her glare at Lea.

Lea looked thoughtful while she chewed on her food. She took her time swallowing and then answered. "Well, we did make some Spam with Oreo Cookie glaze last Wednesday. That was yummy, right guys?"

Shane and Conner looked at her like she just popped her head off.

"I see," Caroline grumbled. "Well does anyone have any good news or surprises to tell us?"

"I won a whole dollar in a scratch off game!" I sang.

"Have you been drinking, dear?" she
reprimanded me.

"No more than usual," I smiled.

She gave me a little knowing smirk and put her attention on Lea. "Well, Lea
,
I
just can't understand why you're not married yet,"
she baited.

"
I'm just lucky, I guess.
No really, I mean, I love Conner and all but I'm holding out for Johnny Depp," Lea answered batting her eyes.

"And you
,
Grace? What's your excuse?"

"I'm waiting for the zombie apocalypse, that's the theme of the wedding I want. I figured all the guests could just eat each other and I could really save a few bucks on food, you know?"

"N
o,
n
o,
Caroline. W
hy
should these girls
buy the cow when you
could
get all the milk for free
?" Anthony added joining in the game with us.

"Oh my. Well, I just want to know if either of you will be giving me grandchildren anytime soon
?"

"I'm allergic," I laughed.

"Conner's family eats their young, so that's a no go for us," she smiled.

"Oh dear," she
mumbled
.

After eating, we all sat around the living room too stuffed to move. Shane sat next to me on one of the smaller couches and every so often he'd move and brush the back of his hand against mine sending jolts of electricity up my arm.
Then when everyone else was in a heated discussion about who to name the grandchildren after, he slowly slid his pinky along the side of my hand and up to the tip of my elbow. My breath caught. He must have heard it because his eyes instantly locked on mine and one side of that beautiful mouth lifted up in one of his sexy grins.

"Want to take a walk?" he asked in a husky whisper
that I could feel softly fall against
my neck
.

I couldn't help but smile at that beautiful face. "I have a better idea. Want to go for a bike ride?"

Disappointment settled over his face, but he still agreed, "
Yea
h,
sure
, but I was kind of hoping I could hold your hand while we walked
."

I laughed knowing full well he had no idea what I was really asking him for. "Come on,
the garage is out back
, and I'll let you hold my hand
." I looked over to Lea and smiled, "S
hane and I are going for a ride. W
e won't be too long."

Lea smiled wide, eyes twinkling, "Sure when you guys get back we can get ready and go somewhere on the beach to dance tonight." She gave me a wink. "Have fun."

I grabbed our jackets and we threw them on. Leading him through the backyard I warned, "You might want to zip
up;
it gets pretty cold by the ocean if we ride fast."

Opening the garage door, I let out a low sigh. One of my most prized treasures sat before me.

"Oh, fuck me. Grace, I thought you said bike! That's a..."

I handed him a helmet from off one of the shelves and placed one on top of my head. My matte black Harley Davidson Super Low 883 sat in the middle of the room, Shane's mouth hanging
open wide next to it.

"A Super Low 883?" I laughed. "You still up for a ride
,
Shane?"

"Crap
,
Grace! Every single day I spend with you...you have managed to shock me and turn my world upside down..."

I raised my
leg, slung it over the bike,
and pushed it out of the garage and backyard into the front of the house. Shane walked
alongside
me stunned.

"Grace, there's no freaking way I'm riding bitch behind you."

I slid myself over the gas tank and patted the
s
eat
behind me. Then you drive I said throwing him the keys.

"
God, you're so damn beautiful
."

He threw his leg over the bike and placed the key in the ignition turning it. The engine roared to life and the vibrations sent shivers through my body. I always felt so powerful with a motorcycle beneath me, between my legs, but now I had Shane behind me and I felt whole, breathless,
and
insane with want.
He expertly kicked it into gear and eased off the clutch. Then he
kicked h
is feet up
and I placed my feet on top of his. He wrapped one hand around my waist while the other steered. I leaned back into him and smiled as we cruised down the streets alongside the sandy beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.
He wrapped one
arm around me and held my hand.
I prayed
the cops
didn't
stop us
for riding like this.

The salty cold air stung our faces and bit at our ungloved knuckles. The powerful hum and heat
of the
engine under my legs did nothing but add to the intense desire that burned through me
to just spin around and wrap my legs around him.
We drove along the side of the crashing waters for a good
two
hour
s
until he drove up onto the boardwalk and kicked the kickstand down with his foot. Leaning the bike to one side
,
he climbed off and help
ed
me get down. Wordlessly
,
he took my hand and pulled me onto the beach, over the san
d and right to the cold waves
that crashed themselves against the shore.
We both shivered from the cold of the air and the ride, but I never felt hotter in my entire life.

He sat down on the sand and pulled me down
sitting me beside him. Our hands linger
ed
in eac
h other's and neither of us said
anything. We just quietly stare
d
out over the shimmering waters of the Atlantic savoring the
warmth that had
sparked an inferno in our hands. Butterflies with wings afire dance
d
along my skin.