“Then you’re lucky to have been raised by a man who loves you like you are.”
“I don’t even know who the other guy is.”
“So ask your mother.”
“I don’t want to know,” he snapped. “He was some dude she met at a party and never saw again. He didn’t mean anything to her.”
“That has to be frustrating, and I’m sorry. But what’s important in that equation is that you and your father mean everything to her. You mean enough that she’s tried to protect you for all these years from finding out something that could hinder your relationship with him.”
“Or protect herself from everyone finding out about her lie,” he said angrily.
“Maybe. But she’d already told her husband the truth, and it didn’t change how he felt about her. I’m not a parent, but I understand why your mom kept it to herself. By the time she realized what might have happened, Alexander was changing your diapers and helping to take care of you. He loved you. The other person was nothing more than a way to relieve her stress for a little while.”
His hands curled into fists as he paced.
“Grant, your mom doesn’t strike me as someone who would put herself before her children, and you said your father gave up his dream of going to Paris to paint so you would have a stable upbringing. That says a lot to me about the man he is and about what your parents thought about before you were born.”
He stopped pacing. “I know. It’s such a fucked-up situation. Thanksgiving is next week. Am I supposed to go and pretend everything is okay?”
“Don’t stress over Thanksgiving. Let’s just get through this week and deal with that next week.”
“I just wish they’d told me this shit years ago.”
“I know it’s hard, and I know you’re hurting. I don’t want to minimize any of that, but I keep wondering if it would have changed anything if they’d told you when you were eighteen, like you said they’d planned. How do you think you would have reacted? Would it have been different?”
“I don’t know. I was so angry then, I might have taken off and never come back.”
She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him, pressing a kiss to his chest. “Then as hard as it is to hear, I’m going to be selfish and say I’m glad they didn’t tell you, because I would have lost out on falling for the most honest, caring, incredible man I’ve ever met. And my best friend would have been sad for the rest of her life, wondering what she’d done to lose the brother she loved.” She kissed his chest again. “Not only that, but look at what you did for Saul today. You got him a discount for his prosthesis. If you’d disappeared at eighteen, you’d have missed out on helping him and all the other people you’re trying to find a way to help.”
Grant’s arms circled her, and he touched his forehead to hers. “God, Pix. How do you do it?”
“Do what?” She ran her hands down his back and grabbed his butt, earning a sexy grin.
“How do you know just what to say to get me to see light in the darkness?”
“I just say what I feel.” She reached behind her, lowering his hands from her back to her bare bottom.
Flames sparked in his eyes, his strong, rough hands groping her ass. “Pix,” he growled.
“Shh.” She slicked her tongue over his nipple, feeling him get hard against her. “I want to make you feel good, and I need the practice.”
She kissed her way down his body, dragging his boxer briefs off, and wrapped her hand around his cock. She licked the crown, and he made a hissing sound, his body going even more rigid. She took him in her mouth, sucking as she worked him.
“Fuck, baby. I need you.” He lifted her off her feet, and her legs circled his waist as he lowered her slowly onto his shaft.
“Oh…” She felt every inch of him penetrating her. “So deep,” she panted out.
“Too much?”
“No. I love it.” She wrapped her arms around him and used his shoulders for balance as he clutched her ass and began moving her up and down. Heat chased up her core, spreading like wildfire as he took her slow and deep. “Faster.”
She sealed her mouth over his as he pumped his hips faster. Then they were on the move, and her back hit the wall with force. His eyes hit hers, but she kissed him harder, letting him know she was okay. He held her there, thrusting harder and deeper. He tore his mouth away. “I love being inside you.”
He grabbed her hair with one hand and tugged her head to the side, eating at her neck as their bodies slammed together. She clawed at his back, his thick shaft filling her deliciously, his teeth and tongue driving her out of her mind. But she wanted more. She didn’t even know what more was, but she needed it.
“Hold me tighter,” she pleaded.
He gripped her ass with such force, she was sure it would bruise, but the delectable pleasure searing through her was worth it. “Yes! Don’t stop…Oh God…Grant…”
He tugged her mouth down to his, driving into her at breakneck speed. Scintillating sensations prickled every inch of her. Her eyes rolled back, and she tried to keep kissing him, but every molecule of her being was tingling, perched for release, and she couldn’t control her mouth. Her jaw hung open, and his tongue plunged against hers as he let go of her hair and gripped her ass with both hands. Yesss.
GRANT WAS LOST in sheer, heavenly bliss. His fingers moved between her legs as he felt himself go in and out of her tight heat, drenching them with her arousal. Every thrust took him higher. She was panting, moaning, begging. “Faster. So good…love that…so deep.” She was a goddess. His goddess, and every bit his voracious, sensual genie set free.
“Your mouth, baby. I need it.”
Jules crushed her mouth to his, and an electric shock scorched through his body. She grabbed his shoulders, moving faster along his shaft, kissing him like she’d never get enough, and he knew he wouldn’t. He pounded into her. Her legs tightened around his waist, sending heat searing down his spine. His balls tightened as she slammed down on him. Her head fell back and she cried out. Her body clenched so tight, she milked the come right out of him. Their bodies pulsed and thrusted as they hit a crescendo, a stream of erotic noises filling the studio. They came down from the peak in a series of rough, jerking aftershocks, until she went boneless in his arms. They stayed there against the wall, their hearts hammering, bodies slick with perspiration.
“Is it…?” she panted out. “I love this position.”
He laughed against her shoulder and kissed her neck. “I love every position with you.”
“I want to try everything with you.”
He flooded with too much emotion to speak.
She leaned her head back against the wall, her chest heaving, eyes filled with worry. “Oh no. I said something wrong, didn’t I? Do I sound like a slut? Is it a turnoff?”
Her sweetness slayed him.
“No, beautiful. You said something so damn right, you rendered me speechless.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
JULES TURNED OFF the hair dryer Sunday morning and heard Grant talking on the phone in the other room. He sounded happy, and she warmed all over. He’d had a tough week. A tough year. She’d worried that the news about his father might drag him under, but outwardly he seemed to have redirected all of the anger and confusion he’d harbored into determination in different areas of his life, like coming together with her, painting, and figuring out ways to help other amputees. But she worried about him because he wasn’t talking much about his parents or the paternity situation, and she feared he was avoiding it rather than dealing with it. He hadn’t even made a decision about Thanksgiving, and she didn’t want to push him one way or another.