on the headboard and took everything he had for me and met him with lifts of my hips, clutching hands, and whispered pleas for more.
I had to grit my teeth against the rolling, violent rise inside of my body, because I wasn't ready for it to be over, I wanted to live here, exist in this space with him for the rest of my life.
His forehead braced against mine, he chased after that feeling with the strength of his body, the unrelenting, perfect rhythm until I struggled to hold it at bay. Our breath met in harsh pants and he growled into my shoulder, increasing speed, increasing strength until I was stretched tight over the precipice, my skin splitting at the seams.
"Grace, Grace, Grace," he chanted, and made one harsh, painful snap of his hips.
I flew apart with a hoarse cry, the light bursting out in sharp shards, such an overwhelming, unending roll of pleasure, that I had to bite down on my lip so that I didn't tell him I loved him. He slowed, curling over me as my hands held him to me tightly, even though our skin was coated in sweat.
Slowly, so slowly, I came down from the high, gasping for a full breath. He turned us, and our arms and legs were so tangled together that it shouldn't have been comfortable, but it was.
He pulled back and searched my face, seemingly as shaken as I was, by the way his hand shook when he cupped my cheek.
"No tears," he whispered, wiping this thumb along the top of my cheekbone.
"Just wait," I told him in all seriousness. "We've got all night."
His mouth was smiling when he kissed me, and my heart, it had never been so happy.
Chapter 21
Tucker
Grace slept like she was a heat-seeking missile. If I turned, she plastered herself to my back, one leg sneaking in between mine and her arm over my waist. If I was on my stomach, she was buried in my side. If I faced her, her nose was glued to the middle of my chest, body burrowed under the weight of my arm and her knees tucked up close to my legs.
I didn't mind, because I was already a restless sleeper, so if she could adjust her positions to fit mine, even better.
So even though I had a king size bed, just about half of it went unused, because of how closely she tucked her body to my own.
I woke before the sun, face staring up at the ceiling, Grace's head on my chest and my arm wrapped tight around her naked back.
That was the other thing I didn't mind in the slightest: Grace slept naked, save for those tiny little black lace underwear. Something about not liking to feel air on her behind if the covers came off.
There was no rush for me to get up, I had a few hours before I needed to be at the office, and I couldn't think of a better way to start this day than catalog all the ways she'd turned my world upside down in the last twelve hours.
I rarely felt the need to curse, but if I thought our date had me wound in knots over this girl, then sex with her was a fucking revelation.
My heart felt too big for my body, too big for the room, my house, the town.
My body couldn't get enough of her, as evidenced by the fact that we woke each other three more times during the night, each round slower, sweeter, more decadent in nature.
My head had no chance of wrapping around what had happened between us, because it felt crazy. It felt like something out of a movie, something you'd watch and go, well that's nice, but it would never happen in real life.
Except it did.
She was real enough, and so was I.
The things waiting for us outside the sanctuary of my private home with no neighbors and big ol' locks on the door were also real enough, and now more than ever, I knew how far I’d go to protect this thing with her.
With the steady thrum of her heart against my ribcage, I knew that this was the best part of my life, no matter how complicated it might be. Grace was freedom and choice. A risk that I had no problem taking, because it was a risk I wanted to take. No one was forcing me into it or telling me that this is how it should be done.
"Morning,"