Page 55 of His Saving Grace

Chapter 12

Masonkepthisgaze glued to her ass as she walked to the stream. His fingers itched to get a hold of her. She knelt down at the water’s edge and bent over to wash her hands. Her pants pulled tight, and he swallowed a groan. She was killing him. Slowly, but surely, he was dying.

Alright, maybe that was a little dramatic. And she had taken great care of him last night. It had been one of the best experiences of his life. Just thinking about it had his cock hardening behind his fly.

She stood and turned, sashaying her way back toward him. Her hips swayed, and he was hypnotized by their rhythm. She kicked off her tennis shoes, pulled off her socks and then sat down, tucking her legs under her. It took all of his willpower to not reach over and pull into his lap.

He didn’t want to come on too strong and freak her out. She’d just started to open up and relax around him. No point in ruining all of it by letting his dick call the shots.

It’s not all about getting her naked, and you know it.

It was true. Something about her drew him in, threw him off kilter. Until he figured out what the hell it all meant, he needed to be cautious. No one had ever affected him the way she did. All of this unknown shit terrified him. He didn’t like unknowns.

Problem was, there was a part of him—a big part—that didn’t care. He still hadn’t figured out what she was hiding, and it niggled at him, but as time passed, the urge to know got less and less. He shifted on the blanket, his hip and thigh sending little flares of pain cascading down his leg.

Maybe you don’t want to know.

He winced, blaming it on his sore leg. Of course, he wanted to know. Whatever it was might affect his family. They were his number one priority. He had a lot to make up for. Fifteen years worth.

Grace stared at him, her eyes fixed on his leg as he squirmed around like a fucking toddler. Humiliation burned through him and his face grew warm. And now he was fucking blushing. Again.

“Here,” she said, and scooted over next to him.

He was about to tell her he was fine, that he didn’t need her help, but then her hands were on his thigh and he couldn’t get the words out.

The heat from her hands soaked through his jeans, the pressure she exerted on his sore muscles straddling that border between relief and agony. He clenched his teeth to stop from making a mortifying sound. Like a moan or something. His cock didn’t get the memo, straining painfully against his fly.

If she noticed—although he wasn’t sure how she couldn’t—she didn’t react. Just continued with her massage. His thigh muscles slowly relaxed. He let out a deep breath, and she looked up at him.

Her cheeks were that gorgeous shade of pink, the barest hint of a smile on her lips. “Better?”

Unable to resist, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. It was a barely there kiss, a tease. He pulled back, and she sighed, her closed eyes fluttering open. He kissed the tip of her cute, upturned nose. “Much better.”

Her eyes had shifted to a rich green, the gold flecks highlighting the heat pooling in their depths. She swallowed hard, and then swayed forward, almost like she was going to kiss him again.

He cleared his throat and pulled away. Hurt flickered across her face and then in the space of half a heartbeat, her features smoothed out. A sliver of guilt stabbed him, and he wanted to reach out and brush his fingers along the smooth skin of her cheek, wrap them around the back of her neck, pull her in for a real kiss. The deep and dirty kind.

But he didn’t. Because his feelings for her were confusing the shit out of him, and they might be clouding his judgment. Whenever he was around her, everything else fell away, and the desire to strip her naked and lick every inch of exposed skin overwhelmed him.

But it was more than that.

He wanted to see her smile and hear her laugh. He wanted her to be happy, because he got the impression it was something that had been missing in her life for too long.

She scooted away from him and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed to not reach out and grab her, drag her onto his lap, tell he was sorry for pulling away. Show her just how sorry he was. Instead, he picked up a plate and started piling on food, suddenly ravenous. And at least the food would take his mind off of other, dirtier things.

That line of thinking caused his cock to twitch in his jeans. He’d been so hard last night he’d been unable to sleep. He was the biggest idiot in the world for turning down her offer. But he was being honest when he told her he wouldn’t sleep with her without a condom. While he was clean, he wasn’t going to risk a surprise pregnancy.

They ate in silence, a touch of tension between them. He hated that he’d caused it, but wasn’t sure what to do to fix it.

Maybe you should start by apologizing for being an asshole.

Yeah, that was probably a good idea. “Do you want some wine?” Okay, so not exactly an apology, but it seemed to do the trick. Grace looked up at him and smiled. Tension that he hadn’t realized had crept into him, released and he grinned back at her.

He balanced his plate on his lap and reached for the bottle of local cabernet sauvignon he’d picked especially for this evening. While not a wine connoisseur by any stretch, this one had come highly recommended at the froofy wine shop he’d visited in town earlier today. Since his go to was usually a beer or two, he’d wanted something a little more impressive. Not that he was trying to impress Grace, or anything.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the plastic cup he held out. Their fingers brushed, and a spark of electricity zinged through him. She drew in a quick breath, her gaze sharpening.

They stayed like that, staring at one another, the tension between them morphing into something hotter, heavier. Intoxicating. Tantalizing.