“Oh my God, North,” she breathes, cradling the side of my face. “You weren’t exaggerating when you said you had to grow up fast.”
“I know I can’t give her much. I can’t give you much—”
She sits up in my lap, sparks pluming in her eyes. “Look, I can tell…I could tell the second I walked in here that you’re worried about how I’ll see this apartment. You’re worried about money. But look at your selflessness. Your courage. Don’t you realize that character has so much more value than dollars and cents? Your character.”
“I know you believe that, beauty.” I slide my fingers into her hair, tugging her close so I can speak against her temple. “I know you want to believe that. But it gets old, not having options. Living hand to mouth. Character only takes a man so far.”
“Well it takes him all the way with me,” she whispers, slowly picking up one of my hands and placing it on her breast—and the surprise move makes my balls squeeze painfully. Robs me of breath. “And if you don’t think I value character over money, I’ll just have to prove it to you.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me, Gracie.” I thumb her nipple, gritting my teeth when it quickens into a little bud. “Especially not on your back.”
“I know that,” she says shakily when I tug her top down slightly, just so I can the start of her areolas. “I’m going to get on my back for you of my own free will.”
“Keep talking like that and you’re going to lose your virginity on this couch.”
“When you touch me, it doesn’t matter where I am.”
“Fuck, baby,” I growl, overcome. Head spinning. I turn and throw her down on the cushions, coming down hard on top of her, moaning into her neck when she opens her knees, welcoming my hips into the cradle of her thighs. “You can’t wait, either. You need it.”
She tugs on the hem of my polo, pulling the garment over my head and rendering me shirtless. “This is you. Don’t wear nice shirts for me.”
My lips twitch. “Yes, Gracie.”
Before I can devour her hot fucking mouth, she stops me with a hand on my chest. “I was thinking of something on the drive over.” My need to get inside of this girl is momentarily eclipsed by the need to know everything happening in her head. Every goddamn thing. “You go to school with girls. Don’t you?”
Where is she going with this? “Yeah…it’s co-ed. Public school.”
Her blue eyes cloud over. “Well I don’t like that.”
A disbelieving breath puffs out of me. “Gracie, you’re…you can’t be jealous.”
She pouts at me.
And my dick gets so hard, I worry if I fuck her now, I won’t last two pumps.
This girl is possessive. Of me. I can’t believe it.
I love her putting a claim on me. But I don’t want her jealous. God, no. It burns me alive, her having the slightest bit of that green emotion swimming around in her beautiful head. Obviously I’m never going to stop being jealous over her. Every time a man glances in her direction, I’ll want to rip out his throat with my bare hands. But Gracie isn’t dealing with that shitty feeling on my watch. Not happening.
I lean down and kiss her long and hard. Then I tear myself away, standing and striding to the kitchen, taking a Sharpie out of the drawer and returning to where she now sits up on the couch, all mussed up and horny. “What is that for?”
“Write on me. Write all over me.” I lay down on my back, slapping a hand to my stomach and chest. “Sign your name on everything you own—and beauty, that’s every square inch. That marker won’t wash off. Not for days. And you can trace over it, make it dark again the next time I see you.”
“Really? A-are you sure?”
“Dead sure. Let everyone know.”
She’s already straddling my hips, the warmth of her pussy snuggling down on my cock. When she leans forward to start writing, a smile curling her lips, those tits are halfway out of her tank top, swaying with her every movement. And God, God, if she’s going to be the death of me, I’m going to go so fucking happy.
Before she puts the Sharpie to skin, I cup the back of her head and force her to meet my eyes. “Gracie. You will be the last female I ever touch. You’re the only girl who will ever exist for me. Done deal. Done. It was like that the second I saw you in the Hellmouth. I was yours and you were mine.”
“It was the same for me,” she breathes, writing the word Gracie across my abdomen, then moving to the cuts on my hips, writing mine, don’t touch. With every stroke of the pen, my cock grows harder until I’m stiffer than steel. “Do you want to sign me, too?”
I squeeze her hips, rocking her on my dick and watching her eyes glaze over. “I’m going to leave more than enough marks on you.”
She leans down and whispers against my lips. “Inside and out.”
“Gracie,” I groan, lifting her with a thrust. “It’s time to put it in.”
Her nod is frantic, her fingers clumsy on the fly of my jeans—
The front door of my apartment busts open, smacking off the wall. I go to spring forward to protect Grace, until my brain begins functioning again and I realize there’s no danger. So instead, I drag a hand down my face, cursing the gods of timing.
“Zip your pants up, please,” Tulip calls from the kitchen, plastic bags rustling as she sets them down on the counter. “I don’t need to be scarred for life.”
Grace dives off of me, scurrying to the far end of the couch.
I watch her go like a man who just had his lottery winnings snatched away.
“Oh my God,” she mouths at me, fixing her hair.
“Sorry,” I whisper back, my heart booming over the fact that she obviously wants to make a good impression on my sister.
A moment later, in walks Tulip, sizing up Grace with a sniff. “Are you going to help me get an A on my science project or spend the whole day making out with my brother?”
Grace shoots to her feet, nervously smoothing her skirt. “Science. Let’s, um…” She sticks out her hand for a formal shake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Grace.”
Tulip stares at the offered hand like it’s a freshly fallen moon rock, shaking it slowly, peering at Grace a little more closely than before. “You were right. She is beautiful.” She lets go of Grace’s hand and clomps back toward the kitchen. “Let’s hope she can make a homemade battery, too.”
And right there before my eyes, my sex kitten girlfriend goes full nerd, gasping with excitement, smiling at me as she follows me sister into the kitchen, both of them rifling through the supplies and already chatting happily. “I know the exact variables to use,” I hear her say.
Christ, this girl. She’s a goddamn wonder.
I’ll be in love with Grace Foster until the day I die.
Seven
Grace
Tulip’s face lights up when the lightbulb blinks on and off in a glowing pattern.
“Holy hell, North,” laughs the girl. “Your girlfriend’s a genius.”
I’m still flushing from her use of the word girlfriend when he leans down and gives my neck a quick kiss. “Among other things.”