Page 21 of Grant’s Blaze

She wriggled again. But there was less frustration to it this time. This was also more her—the sexy, free-spirted siren that had risen from her emotional depths to expose herself to me during our time on the ocean waves.

“Okay, then. Why don’t you come and…unwrap me, big boy?”

I laughed harder, attempting to summon a matching accent to give to her Mae West flair. But my John Wayne and Gary Cooper impressions were pitiful. Elijah, who excelled at both, was fond of reminding me.

“Soon,” I promised her instead. “But first, a question.”

She huffed. “No, I can’t tell you how many ounces are in three quarts without a converter, okay?”

“All right.” I leaned in, tilting my head. “How about an easier one? Like…are you wet for me?”

A gulp made its way down her throat. “Wha—?”

“Don’t be shy now. Two seconds ago, you were Little Miss Bossy. So yes or no, Rio? Are you wet for me?”

She opened her mouth, but nothing emerged except an awkward gurgle. “I—I don’t know.”

“Bullshit.”

“Grant!”

The little black band T-shirt she was wearing was thin, almost threadbare in some spots. From the hem, I pushed the cotton up over the swell of her breasts, slowing to unhook her bra—one of the pieces I’d purchased for her on our trip, which kicked my smile higher—before taking the mounds in my hands and teasing her with some small squeezes.

“Fuck. Your nipples are so perfect, lady. Just look at these pert little beauties.” I smirked as she gasped, reacting to how I scraped my thumbnails over both her erect little nubs. “Are you telling me now that even with such hard, throbbing tits, you have no idea what state your pussy is in?”

Rio whimpered as I rolled her red nubs between my thumbs and forefingers. When I gave them both a deliberate tug, she finally cried out, “All right, all right! I’ll tell you!”

I rewarded her with an approving growl but took a second to pluck at her angry peaks once more.

“Grant! All right, I’m wet! I’ve been soaked from the second I saw you at Elijah’s.” She cut herself off with another whine, high and achy and beautiful, that nearly derailed my efforts to get her shirt up and over her head.

Impatiently, I tossed the garment onto the floor beside me. At least that was where I thought it went. My gaze didn’t rip an inch from the half-naked nymph before me, already making it hard to remember my breath. Who was I kidding? I was just hard, period. Everywhere. And getting harder by the minute.

“You are so stunning,” I finally managed to say. “Do you know that, Rio? Do you get even half that truth when it leaves my lips? Every damn time I say it? Do you have any idea how much I—”

Whoa. Watch it, big guy.

I commanded it at myself, just to make sure every cell of my brain got the message. I needed to keep my head fully in the game or I was going to say something I regretted—aka something that overly scared her. Yeah, she’d been hearts and flowers and swelling orchestrations about declaring she was ready to go public about our relationship, but that was before I saw the thin glass beneath her bold trumpets. She wasn’t necessarily ready to go down the I-love-you path with me.

“Grant? How much you what?” she prodded. My bright little minx hadn’t missed a second of my slip, of course.

“How much I need you, Blaze.” Quickly, to get her mind back on what was happening here and now, I leaned over and kissed the sweet swells of her breasts again. And then traced along her collarbone with my tongue.

“Look at this perfection,” I murmured into her succulent skin. “You are flawless, woman.”

She gasped and arched her back. “Only for you, mister. Only with you. Always…”

“I need to remember you exactly this way,” I uttered. “Will you let me take your picture? Lying here like this?”

She opened one eye. Then the other. “Ummm…”

I laughed again. Once more, it wasn’t intentional. I’d spoken from my heart, but she’d also reacted from hers, and it was so damn adorable that I simply busted up with joy.

“Okay, why are you laughing now?” she groused.

“Sorry, baby,” I said sincerely. “I guess you had to see it all from my point of view. But I’m serious about the pictures. I want to have you near me all the time.”

“But you don’t even have a phone right now. Are you using one of Elijah’s?”