“How did you two meet?” Mandy asks.
“Grace was stalking me.”
I gape and twist to look up at Raide. “I was not stalking you!”
He chuckles. “Lady, you were.”
“I was not.” I turn back to the crowd. “I wasn’t. He was just everywhere I was.”
Lynn laughs. “I bet he was following you. Why wouldn’t he? You’re lovely, Grace.”
I beam and turn back to Raide. He winks down at me and pulls me back into his side. “You guys want to stay for a drink?” he asks.
“I’m in,” Lynn says.
“Could use one after today,” Edgar adds.
We all migrate to the front porch, and Raide brings out a beer for everyone. I curl up on an old swing chair beside Raide and listen to them all catching up. Edgar talks about his property, and Lynn tells me about the coffee shop she owns down in Denver. Mandy is studying at college to be a doctor. Their laughter fills me, and my heart aches. I realize, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m part of something.
Don’t get me wrong—I have Kady, Dad, and Vance, and they’re amazing, but they’re individual people. I haven’t just sat with my family and laughed, joked, and talked about life. These people are good people, they’re kind and funny, and I’d do anything to be a part of something like this. My chest cramps, and I have to focus on taking a few deep breaths just to calm myself.
“Are you okay, love?” Lynn asks.
Raide’s hand is on my leg, and it tightens, causing me to jerk and lift my head. “Sorry, I’m okay.”
“You look sad.”
I force a smile. “I’m just thinking about how nice this is. My family … we don’t do things like this.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Lynn sympathizes. “That must be hard.”
I nod, but say no more.
“You okay, baby?” Raide murmurs into my ear.
“Yeah,” I say softly. “I’m good.”
We continue on with the conversation, and Raide’s hand never leaves me. It’s on my leg or around my shoulders or holding my hand. It feels nice to be important, to be special, to be wanted.
“God do you remember that time you and Raide got busted making out at Lookout Point?” Benny laughs, and my head snaps up.
Mandy is blushing and Raide is glaring.
“God, yes,” Edgar mutters. “I had to explain to the cops why my sixteen-year-old daughter was kissing an eighteen-year-old in a car at midnight.”
“You two dated?” I ask softly.
“For a few years,” Raide says in his own mutter.
“We were engaged,” Mandy says, and it feels like someone has slapped me clean across the face. “We were going to get married but then—”
“Kelly,” Benny says softly.
“Kelly?” I ask.
“My sister,” Raide says, and I realize he never told me her name, and I must have missed it in the file.
“Oh.”
“Childhood sweethearts, these two were. Raide went to the same school and was always the jock,” Edgar teases. “He was in the foster family across the road, they were a good family, and these two hit it off.”
God. Engaged. He was engaged to her. You don’t just get engaged for no reason. He must have loved her, adored her.
“He was such a jock,” Mandy laughs. “Do you remember when you carried me out of that ice cream place over your shoulder because that man was looking at me?”
My chest gets tighter.
“Yeah,” Raide mutters, and I guess everyone takes the hint he doesn’t want to talk about it, because Lynn quickly changes the subject.
“Well, we should let you two get some rest. It’s getting late.”
We all stand and say our good-byes, then they’re gone and Raide and I are alone once more. We go back into the cabin, and this time Raide locks the door. The sun has just set, and the sounds of the night fill the small space.
“They’re lovely people,” I say.
Raide turns to me just before he reaches the bathroom. He’s got his shirt bunched in his hands, ready to lift over his head. “Yeah, they are.”
Our eyes lock, and so much passes between us. He knows I want to ask, but what he doesn’t know is that I won’t do it. Not because I don’t want to know—I do—but because it’s none of my business. I’m never going to be anything to Raide. I can’t be. I care about him, I want to help him, but the cold hard facts are, I’m going to betray him in a big way, and he’s probably going to get locked up because of it.
That very thought has tears burning under my eyelids. Raide notices and drops his shirt, striding over to me. He wraps his big arms around me, crushing his body to mine and holding me close. “It was a long time ago, Grace. Don’t love her anymore. We dated, I cared once, but we wanted different things. She wanted a white-collar kind of man, and she struggled when Kelly was down and being difficult. She didn’t know how to handle her. I realized then that the love I felt for her wasn’t what I thought it was. I could never be the man she wanted. She pushed for me to go into professions that would put me high in the business world. That wasn’t me, so I broke it off. She’s a good girl, but she’s not the girl I was ever meant to spend my life with. When I got charged, she didn’t call me for weeks. I thought I meant more to her—I mean, we grew up together, and we’d been on good terms the last few years since we broke up. She admitted I wasn’t the best fit for her either but she didn’t have the guts to call off the engagement . She’ll always be like family now, but that’s it. She let me down. I thought she’d be there when I needed her, even if we weren’t together, but she wasn’t. I don’t go back when my trust is shattered.”
Oh. God.
I don’t go back when my trust is shattered.
I cry hard, but I let him go on thinking it’s over Mandy. Because if he knows what I’m really crying about, there’s a good chance I’ll be in Mandy’s place and he’ll never trust me again.
And if that happens, I’ll lose him forever.
Chapter Seventeen
Hot lips glide down and over my breasts. Raide is over me, his body hard, rippled, and big. His hands are slightly rough, but he knows how to use them without inflicting pain. He’s got two days’ growth, and it tickles my skin as he moves. He’s sliding down my body, slowly, agonizingly. He reaches my breasts again, and his tongue lashes out to flick my nipples. First one, then the other.
I arch up, and his hands go to my hips to push me back down. He wants it slow, he wants it meaningful, he wants to give me what I’m so afraid to take. His big body is warm, his skin heating mine in the most glorious way. His mouth is soft as it glides over my skin, going lower and lower until he’s between my legs. Gently, he parts them, and I let my knees drop to either side.
“Fuckin’ sweet,” he murmurs.
I can feel his hot breath over me, causing my clit to throb. I want him to hurry up, I want him to give me what I need. He’s so close, and I’m squirming. “Raide,” I beg.
He drops down farther and his lips close around the ache that feels like it’s already about to explode. I groan and thrust my hips up, only to have them pushed back down. He sucks my clit deep into his mouth, and my hands fist the bedsheets as he devours me. Inch by inch, he moves up and down my sex, tasting me, flicking his tongue, thrusting it deep inside. I arch and cry out his name as my orgasm nears.
“Baby,” he growls against my flesh. “Come.”
I do, with a ragged, desperate cry. My body jerks and I slap the bed beside me as I explode into his greedy mouth. He pulls away slowly and I can still feel the intense throbbing between my legs as he slides his body up and over mine. He reaches over, takes a condom, and moments later he’s sheathed and ready. His hand comes up to curl around my neck while his other hand guides his cock home.
He inches in little by little, stretching me, filling me. Bliss. When he’s deep, he lets out a puff of air and then drops his forehead to mine. He starts moving, driving his flesh in an
d out of mine. I lift my leg and wrap it around his hip, using my foot against his ass to push him in harder. He grunts and takes hold of my hips. “Hold on.”
He flips me over until I’m on my hands and knees. He lifts my hips and then he’s inside me again, this time I can feel him deep, hitting those delicate places and causing my body to explode with sensation. I cry out, gritting my teeth and clawing at the bedsheets as he starts fucking me the way I need him to. The distinct sound of skin slapping together can be heard over our ragged breathing and groaning. I tilt my hips and reach down to find my clit. I create fast, deep little circles until I’m exploding around him.
“Raide!” I scream. “Oh God.”
“Fuck. Me.”
He’s grunting hard, pounding hard, and after a few more intense thrusts, he stills and roars his release. It’s vocal, it’s loud, and it’s hot. His hips do a semi-jerk and then he collapses over me. I let my knees go and land flat on my belly. Raide comes down over my back, his hard, chiseled body flattening me to the bed.
He lifts himself up with his elbows and leans down to press a kiss to the back of my neck. “You’re fuckin’ sweet, lady,” he murmurs there.
“I can’t say the same about you.”
He chuckles and rolls us both, then he adjusts me until I’m tucked into his arms, face on his chest.
It’s silent a moment as we catch our breaths, then I decide to ask him a question I’ve wanted to know since the start. “Raide?”
“Hmmmm?”
“Why me?”
He turns and stares down at me. “What do you mean, why you?”
“What drew you to me enough for us to be here?”
He looks back up at the ceiling. “It was the first night I met you and you didn’t throw yourself at me.”
I giggle. “Shock and horror.”
He laughs. “Yeah, it surprised me. Most girls are flirting within seconds. You didn’t. You gave it to me and you held your own. Then when I saw you again, I knew you were trying to get my attention. I couldn’t help it, you intrigued me.”
“Did you really think I was stalking you?”
He snorts. “For a while, yeah. Till I saw you at the club with your cousin, and I realized you weren’t.”
My cousin. God. “But we never really spoke. I mean we ran into each other but—”
“Speakin’ of, why did we run into each other so much? Denver ain’t a small place.”
I swallow but say, “No, but we both either live or have friends on the same side of town. It would seem we frequent the same places. Sometimes people meet because they have similar interests. I like clubbing and I’m into guns. So are you. It does happen, you know? I’m sure there were plenty of places you didn’t see me.”
“Yeah,” he says. “You’re right about that.”
Thank heavens he dropped that one. Denver isn’t a small place; therefore, it is actually highly unlikely we would end up in so many of the same locations, at the same time, and so frequently. Even if we did live on the same side of town, it’s not logical.
“So why the interest in guns?” he finally asks.
I shrug. “I learned self-defense because of my dad. He thought it wouldn’t hurt to teach us girls how to use a gun. We all learned, but I was the only one who loved it. I loved the power. I loved the strength and security it gave me, so I decided to keep practicing.”
“Fair enough.”
Change-of-subject time. “Benny’s family, they seem lovely.”
He smiles. “Yeah, they’re like the family I didn’t have.”
“They’re good people.”
“Yeah, they sure are.”
I yawn and turn into him.
“Go to sleep, lady,” he murmurs against my hair. “Tomorrow I’m goin’ to kick your ass at shooting.”
I laugh. “Dream on, buddy.”
He chuckles. “Night, baby.”
“Night, Raide.”
* * *
“Three targets!” he yells. “Best shot wins.”
I grin and give him the thumbs-up. He gives me a grin that’s even bigger, and we both line up with our guns. Raide shoots first and he’s a solid shot, hitting the target with ease. He hits right in between the fake man’s eyes.
“Nice!” I yell.
“Do one better, baby.”
I shoot my target right in the heart, a perfect clean shot. Raide whistles low and his eyes twinkle with lust. He shoots both kneecaps next, hitting the target exactly where they would be on a real person. I do mine’s elbows.
“What’s goin’ on here?”
We both turn to see Benny striding up the path to the open field we’re in.
“Target practice!” I yell. “You can be the judge, Benny.”
Benny rubs his hands together and in a loud voice starts saying, “And Grace is in the lead, but Raide is coming up fast. Oh no, it looks like Grace has tripped. Raide is taking his stand, he’s aiming his gun—”
“Dude!” Raide yells. “It’s not a horse race.”
Benny sighs and rolls his eyes. “You’re so boring. Fine, tell me the terms.”
“Best shot wins.”
“Wins what?” he inquires.
My cheeks go pink and Benny grins. “Well, I know what Raide’s prize is.”
Raide chuckles.
“What does she win?”
I’m grinning again. “He has to take me on a romantic date.”
Benny bursts out laughing so hard, he has to clutch his belly.
I put a hand on my hip. “What’s so funny?”
“Raide wouldn’t know how to do romantic if it kicked him in the face. It makes me want to let you win just to see how hilarious that would be.”
Raide purses his lips at Benny and I giggle.
“Let’s finish this, shall we?” Raide says.
I wave a hand. “After you, handsome.”
Raide lines up his gun and fires off round after round. When he’s finished, the target has a hole in his forehead, his heart, his elbows, knees, groin, and stomach. He did it quickly and effortlessly.
“Shit, don’t think you can beat that, honey,” Benny mumbles.
“She can’t beat it,” Raide smirks.
“No, I’m pretty sure she can’t.”
They laugh and I glare at the two of them. While they’re still laughing it up, I spin and aim my gun. I hit every single hole Raide made—perfectly, so my bullets don’t go outside the space at all. When I’m done, I put the gun down and spin.
Their faces are blank, but their eyes are wide. Benny has his mouth open slightly.
“Laugh at this, boys,” I say, spinning on my heel and heading back toward the cabin. “Oh, and Raide? Make sure you get me nice flowers.”
Score one, Grace.
Chapter Eighteen
I’ve just gotten out of the shower when Raide comes through the front door. His eyes are lusty, he’s all sweaty and gorgeous, and he strides toward me like the world is about to end and he needs to give me one final kiss. When he reaches me, his arm hooks around my waist and he pulls me toward him. “Raide,” I squeal. “I just showered.”
He doesn’t answer me. Instead he tugs my towel until it drops, then he spins us toward the bed and with one quick shove, I’m on my back. He takes my knees and lifts them before spreading my thighs wide. “That was so fuckin’ hot,” he growls, dropping to his knees. “Never met a woman who makes me so fuckin’ hard.”
Oh.
Yes.
His mouth drops to my clit and he sucks it, hard. He devours me like a crazed animal, licking and sucking until I’m bucking on the bed, thrashing from side to side, begging for more. He slides two fingers inside me and he fucks me with them. I come so hard, I hear nothing but white noise for long, blissful moments.
He pulls his mouth away and stands, staring down at me. “Wear a pretty dress, lady. We’re goin’ on a date.”
I grin up at him and watch as he walks into the shower, tossing his shirt as he goes. I get up qui
ckly, finding a dress. I don’t have many, my last-minute packing job didn’t allow for it. I settle on a summer yellow halter dress that is tight to my waist and then flares out around my knees. I use the mirror near the lounge and sort my hair. I leave it down, knowing it’ll naturally curl. I pin my bangs up and then slip on a pair of white sandals.
I haven’t looked this girly … ever.
Raide comes out of the shower wearing a pair of black jeans still unbuttoned at the top. I let my eyes follow him as he moves around the room, shuffling through his tees. His muscles stretch and pull as he bends, and God, his ass looks good in those jeans. He settles on a black, long-sleeved, button-down shirt. He slides it over his arms, rolls the sleeves up to his elbows, and leaves the top two buttons undone.
He looks … amazing.
“Well, look at you,” I breathe as he’s running his fingers through his hair and shoving his feet into his black boots.
He reaches down and ties them, then strides toward me. “You look beautiful,” he says, wrapping his fingers around the back of my neck and pulling me close for a deep kiss. When we pull apart, he takes my hand and leads us to the front door.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
It’s been around four hours since the shooting win, so I don’t figure he’s gotten anything ready by then. Still, just being with him is calming and real, it’s all I need.
I figure he’s going to lead me to the car, but he doesn’t. He leads me up a small path to the flat spot where we were shooting earlier. When we reach the top, I stop and gasp.
It’s nothing special. It’s not even something amazing. But what it is makes my heart crack into tiny, happy pieces.
He’s gotten an old table and two chairs, and thrown a white sheet over them. There are candles, which look like they might have come from Lynn’s house, and flowers that have been picked from the surrounding bushes. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, because it’s the most amazing thing someone has ever done for me.
“Raide,” I breathe.
“It’s as romantic as I come, lady.”
“It’s perfect.”
We walk over to the table, and there are plates covered with some sort of foil. Raide pulls my chair out and I sit, then he unwraps my dinner and I laugh out loud. A burger, fries, and a shake.