They grabbed dinner with his family at the resort, where they were waited on by Al Berns, a seasoned waiter who had worked there since the kids were young. After he took their orders, Al said, “This feels just like old times.”
It might have felt that way for Al, but it sure as hell didn’t for Grant. Today had felt better than the old times he remembered and had given him hope. He looked around the table, longing to have his family back in his life and for Jules to remain by his side…and frustrated by his own need for answers. He’d spent years focused on survival, where every minute detail and possible outcome had been thought out, strategized, and troubleshot to the nth degree before ever embarking on a mission. Maybe his current life wasn’t so different from those missions after all. He’d prepared to conquer the demons of his past with his parents, and he couldn’t have anticipated what they’d told him. But now that the bomb had been detonated, ignoring the aftermath wasn’t an option, or they’d all bleed out.
Jules squeezed his hand. She’d become a part of him, flowing like blood through his veins. He saw her in his mind as he painted, thought of her a million times during the day. By the time evening came, he was ravenous to love her. He wanted to keep his promises about being a better man, and that meant dealing with the cloud hanging over him and his father. He couldn’t do that today, but this was a start. He and his father were making the effort, and that felt good. He knew they had plenty of rough water to ride out as they dealt with their new reality, but at least now they were sitting in the same boat, paddling in the same direction. As long as that continued, maybe they could weather any storm.
When Al walked away, his siblings burst into laughter, drawing him back to their conversation as Keira said, “Old times? I can’t remember the last time we all had dinner here.”
“I can,” Grant said. “It was a week before I left for the military, and I can assure you, it was nothing like this.”
His father lifted his glass, and they all followed suit as he said, “Here’s to a new beginning.”
“How about we make that plural?” Grant winked at Jules. “To new beginnings.”
AFTER DINNER THEY said goodbye to his family and headed back to his place. A cold gust of wind blew across the dunes as they climbed the porch steps.
“That was so fun, but I’m freezing all the way down to my bones.” Jules turned in his arms, cuddling against him as he unlocked the door.
“Sounds like I need to get you into a warm shower and love you all the way down to your bones.” He kissed her lips, her chin, and then he pulled down the collar of her sweater and kissed the dip at the center of her collarbone.
“Yes, please,” she said softly.
Ten minutes later he was sitting on his shower chair with Jules standing between his legs, her face tipped up at the warm spray as he washed her back. Her body was a work of art, all sleek lines and soft, feminine curves. She’d become even more trusting, open and eager to explore sexually, telling him all her dirtiest thoughts and desires. She brought out the wildest beast in him, wilder than anything he’d even known existed. Nothing was off-limits for them.
He ran his hands down her waist and over the slope of her hips to the supple globes of her ass. She sighed longingly, and he pressed a kiss to the dimples at the base of her spine. She arched her back, pushing her ass higher. He slid his hand between her cheeks, teasing over forbidden territory and earning a low moan. His cock throbbed. He’d never been an ass man, but with Jules he wanted to breach every boundary, possess every inch of her. She thrust her hips back with another enticing moan, and he played with that sacred spot, snaking his other hand around to her front, giving her the attention she deserved in all the right places.
“Lord have mercy,” she panted out.
He brought his mouth to her slick skin, loving her with his hands and kissing her back as he pushed the tip of his finger into her ass. She gasped but sank lower, taking his finger deeper. “That’s it, baby. Fuck it like it’s my cock in your gorgeous ass.”
“Yes,” she said in one long breath as his finger repeatedly breached that tight hole.
He pushed two fingers on his other hand into her slick heat, working her clit with his thumb. “I wish I had your mouth, too. I want all of you at once.”
His words earned a needy whimper as she rode his fingers in her ass and her center harder and faster.
“If I had two legs, I’d take you against the wall right now, burying my cock deep in your ass and fucking you with my fingers as I claimed your sexy mouth with mine.”
“Oh, Grant.”
Fuck…
A bead formed at the tip of his shaft as he worked her into a writhing, panting frenzy, and his name flew rough and urgent from her lungs. Her ass and sex clenched greedily around his thick digits. Every thrust of his fingers earned more tight pulses, prolonging the peak of her orgasm until she was barely breathing. He gathered her against his chest, kissing her back.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, baby. I need to see you.”
She turned, her eyes at half-mast, her body flushed, her nipples dark and hard as he circled one with his tongue and sucked it into his mouth. His hand slid from her backside and between her legs again, teasing over that no-longer-forbidden spot. She fisted his cock, stroking him perfectly.
“I want you in me everywhere,” she said roughly as she straddled him.
She sank down onto his cock. Her pussy was tight and felt so fucking good, he pushed one finger into her ass.
“That feels so good,” she said needily.
“One day that’s going to be my cock.”
“Yesss.” Her eyes closed and her head fell back as she rode him.
He grabbed her face, pulling her mouth down to his, and pushed another finger into her ass, earning a long, pleasure-filled sound. Warm water rained down on them as they devoured each other. Their muffled moans and the sound of their wet flesh coming together echoed off the walls. He worked her faster, loving her everywhere. Heat seared down his spine, and he tried to stave off the rushing explosion, but it was like trying to hold back a tsunami. He thrust his hips and she arched her back, tearing her mouth away as they surrendered to the ecstasy crashing between them. She cried out, and he groaned against her wet skin, until they had nothing left to give. He rinsed his fingers under the warm shower spray and held her tight as she clung to him, their bodies jerking with aftershocks.
“You okay, baby?” He kissed her cheek as she moaned softly against his neck.
He reveled in these moments after they made love, when they were both unguarded, their emotions twining together into thick, unbreakable bonds. In those intimate times, nothing else existed, and a future he’d never imagined for himself—a future he now desperately wanted—became clearer with every beat of their hearts.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“TARA AND I are doing a photo shoot at the bluffs tonight for Swank,” Bellamy said Wednesday evening at the Happy End. It was almost seven and they were cleaning up from their fall centerpiece creation class so they could close for the night. “I’m modeling the long red dress that came yesterday.”
“I bet you look fantastic in it.” Jules tossed a handful of fake leaves into a plastic storage box.