Saving Grace (26 page)

"
Go
d,
Grace, you don't have a bed?
" He lowered me onto the
mattress and brushed a stray hair from off my face. I heard Lea whispering, but her words were too muffled and soft. "Grace, baby. Please open your eyes and take these aspirin." I looked at him though small almond
shaped
slits,
I couldn't get my eyes any wider.
God, he was beautiful
, he looked like an angel
. I hoped I didn't say that out loud. I swallowed the pills and closed my eyes
again
.

"Lea, wait. We can't leave her in these clothes
,
she's soaking wet from sweating. Find me something she can we
ar
to bed. I'll leave, so you can change her," Shane whispered.

My door clicked closed and my shirt was yanked over my head. "Grace, help me here, you're like a dead weight," Lea said. I
tried to open my eyes wider and help
her pull the rest of my clothes off
, I'm not sure of my succe
ss though
, because she cursed at me the entire time
. "How come you didn't tell me you were sick, I got so scared when you didn't answer the door when I knocked."

"I don't think I'm sick. Gabriel was here," I whispered back.

She let go of the hold she had on me and I collapsed back onto the mattress with a thud
.
M
y eyes flew open
. Holy crap she dressed me in a tiny pair of boy shorts and a tank top, of course they were made of lace.
I squeezed my eyes shut tight cringing
o
n the inside.

Shane was kneeling next to me again and pulled up the covers to my chin. "Get, some
slee
p,
babe.
" Cool lips touched my forehead.

I opened my eyes
halfway
and placed a hand on his face. He leaned into my palm. "Don't
g
o,
Shane. Stay with me."

A slow smile spread on his lips, "Okay." I felt the mattress move as he got up. My eyesight was foggy, but I watched as
Shane stroll
ed
across the
room, pulled off his shirt and jeans,
and threw them into my hamper. I watched the tattoos move against his muscles wearing only a pair of boxers as he walked to switch the light off. The m
attress moved
next
me
as he crawled under the covers and wrapped his arms around me pulling me in tight.

His raspy voice whispered softly into my ear, "Ar
e you okay, does anything hurt?"

Sleep was pulling me under and
heaviness
covered itself around my body.
Just stay with me Shane. The devil says he loves me, and
he's
coming to get me
. Crap, I hope I didn't say that out loud.

S
oftly
he
placed his lips on the nape of my neck, just below my ear, and kissed me. "Shut up and go to sleep, Grace."

I kept waking up in the darkness of my room to someone screaming, only to realize it was my own voice
that was screaming
.

"
Shh
," Shane murmured, his hand brushing over my cheek. "You're
saf
e,
Grace;
I won't let anyone ever hurt you again." His lips pressed a soft sensual kiss over mine.
A thousand butterflies caressed their silky wings along my heart, making it drum faster. His words filled me with hope and the longing I felt for him, the pull in my chest
,
was overwhelming
.

His arms wrapped themselves around my body
tighter
and he gently pulled me closer to him, until my head rested on his smooth chest. Right over the sound of his beating heart, that thundered strong and even under his warm skin. I drifted back to sleep from the music playing through his body.

When I opened my eyes next, a soft glow filtered through the curtains. A soft
piano
melody wafted through the air from
somewhere else in the room; a haunting song that churned the feelings of my soul;
Hallelujah
by
Rufus Wainwright
. My breath caught in my throat when Shane's low raspy voice sung along in quiet whispers
close to my ear
.

Our bodies were tangled together under my sheets and his warm breath played gently along my skin, sending small shivers through my body.
The overwhelming feeling of intimacy, of love and desire, lapped itself like waves along my skin. Every part of my body that touched up against his was like a small fire over my flesh. My legs were wrapped tightly around the hard muscles of one of his thighs, and I feared the slightest shift of my hips would be my undoing.

Shane's
hand drew
small slow
circles along the
exposed
skin of my
lower back, traveling over the sheer material of my shorts until his fingertips met with the bare skin of the back of my legs. My pulse quickened and I gasped for air.

H
is body shifted,
and
as
his fingers danced delicately down
my legs to the back of my knees
,
he
p
ressed
his thighs harder between my legs. I trembled
.

He lifted his face over mine and our eyes locked in the soft low light
from the window
that gingerly
fell over our bodies.
Those blue
eyes searched mine
with a
hard intensity and an exquisite
burn
slowly spread down my cheeks, crawling
hotly
over my neck and across my chest.

Then he slowly rocked his thigh against me and a deep
blush stole ov
er the
skin
of his cheeks.
Oh my God, Shane wa
s blushing
. The simple idea that being with me
,
wrapped around my body could cause this man to blush...took my breath away.

Not being able to stop myself, I rocked back and forth matching his rhythm
. I closed my eyes and groaned inwardly, the butterflies inside dancing along my insides, desperate to take him inside me.

Shane's fingers slid up the back of my thighs again reaching the lacy trim of my panties. He pressed his thigh harder a
gainst my core and tightened one
hand cupping my bottom, gently running his fingers along the lace trim
with another
, slipping every once in a while beneath them.

I whimpered
from the overwhelming tension building between my legs, making me drive my hips against him.

I dug my teeth into my bottom lip in an effort to hold back a moan, but it came out anyway.
Sliding my hands along the tight muscles of his stomach, I could feel his body tremor beneath my own fingertips. My whole body engulfed itself in fire.
I needed him inside me
.

"
God Grace,
" he
murmured
bringing his lips closer to mine, hov
ering over them breathing me in,
"
I never needed someone before the way I need you
." Then his lips to
uched mine, soft and gentle; savoring, nipping and kissing my lips like I was a piece of candy.
My heart thudded so damn loud in my chest that I wondered if Shane could
hear
it, I damn well knew he could feel it slamming itself up against his chest.

"Baby, I need to taste you," he growled.
His
breath was rough and jagged. He trailed his tongue along my jaw, nipping and sucking at my skin, down my neck and licked hungrily at the top curve of my breasts.

I tore my hands from his skin and yanked the material of my top that was keeping his
lips from my
tasting more of my
skin.
My insides turned liquid and I melted into his mouth.

"Hey!" Lea banged on the door. Shane's body tensed
alongside
me and he groane
d pulling himself away. "Pizza'
s here," she said as she burst into my room. "Let's
g
o,
Grace, you need to eat something."

I lifted the sheets over my head and quickly fixed my shirt, "No, go away," I moaned. The ache in between my thighs was maddening, I squeezed my knees together to try to find some sort of relief, but it wasn't enough.
And Shane's one hand still cupping my ass didn't
help me AT ALL.

"I got one of the pies with
spinach and black olives
," she sang trying to tempt me.

Shane
's deep raspy chuckle
shook the mattress and he p
lucked
the covers from
over my
eyes
, but both our bodies were still covered
. Lea, Conner, Tucker, and the
entire
Mad World
band
shoved their heads in through my doorway.
DISLIKE!
Shane leaned
his face into my neck panting, "I'm locking the
damn
door next time."

"Next time?" I breathed
biting down on my lip hard
.

"Yeah, Grace.
Next time
,"
he whispered
pulling back his head to look at me
.
Blue eyes locked on mine.
An intense slow burn swirled in their depths.
Oh my God, why are my friends still
STANDING AT MY DOOR!
The tension that twisted and tugged between my
thighs was driving me insane.
I was just on the edge, the release my body craved, right there,
just
a little friction more.
One of his hands skated across the front of my panties real slow, taunting me, a sexy mischievous edge to his eyes.

Digging my teeth deeper into my lip
,
I clutched at his hand and pressed it against me hard,
silently begging him with my eyes for more.
His eyes dilated into thick black pools and his lips parted in heavy breaths.
I rocked myself against the palm of his hand
, he lifted my ass with one hand and pressed against me with his other
until my insides
tensed under his touch,
exploded and my entire body quaked with pleasure, "PIZZA, YES, PIZZA!"
I shattered and came undone
right
in the palms of his hands.

Everybody still stood at the door, waiting.

"That was the
most exquisite
thing I have ever seen," Shane whispered into my ear.
"And I'm so damn sorry."

My heart thudded and my scalp tingled as my stomach dropped. "Sorry that happened?"

"No, Grace," he whispered into my hair nuzzling my neck. "I'm sorry I had to stop."

Lea shoved my
audience
and Shane out of my bedroom so I could pull myself together. "Gray, you may want to take a shower, you've been in here since Tuesday," she said.

"What do you mean since Tuesday?" I laughed. "What day is it now?" I pulled my arms through the sleeves of my robe and noticed I was wearing something completely different
than
what I remembered Lea dressing me in on Tuesday night when Gabriel had visited.

"It's Thursday night."

Apparently,
I had slept
for
two full
days.
Gabriel's influence on my life seemed to be getting worse.

"Maybe you should
make an appointment to see a doctor or something tomorrow," she offered as she gently pushed me down the hall and into the bathroom closing the door behind us. "I wanted to take you to the hospital that night, but Shane said after you took the aspirins your fever went down immediately so he just stayed with you." She grinned wickedly.

Turning on the shower as hot as I could
,
I stepped in and closed the curtain behind me. Lea, of course stayed. "You told me Gabriel was here and that's why you were sick," she said.

I didn't answer her. I just stood under the hot stream of water and scrubbed myself clean.

Lea tore the shower curtain back and crossed her arms watching me, "You better tell me what the hell is going on!"
Was there no privacy in this apartment at ALL!
I closed the curtain back up and rinsed the suds off my skin.