Stages of Grace - By Carey Heywood Page 0,86

times, then looking back at my confused look, "Just wanted to make sure he isn’t here."

He nudges the door to his bedroom open with his foot and kicks it closed behind us. Claiming my mouth once more, he eases me onto his bed. I tug at his shirt, and pausing for a beat, he pulls it off. He lies down next to me, pulling me on top of him. Our clothes are shed and heaped on the floor by the bed in moments. I feel timid about my body. It had been so dark on the boat the night before. This feels more intimate, like there is no part of me I can hide. Ryan takes his time exploring my every curve. When I feel like I can't take it any longer, he reaches for a condom.

Locking eyes as he sinks into me, Ryan groans. I giggle at his expression. He playfully nips at my chin before rocking his hips against mine. It's no laughing matter when he lifts my leg to his shoulder. I twist my hands into the pillows behind me, arching to meet him over and over again. Sitting up, his hands are vices on my hips, setting a pace that ignites something within me. Feeling I'm close, he leans back down to cover me, and I wrap my legs around his waist. Placing one hand on either side of my face, his lips find mine, and I cling to him as I come undone. He collapses on top of me only moments later.

"So beautiful." He dances soft kisses all over my face.

"This doesn’t even seem real."

"Very real." He moves to kissing the tops of my shoulders.

"Like too good to be true."

"Nope. Just the right amount of good and very true."

"You are so silly."

"And you are heavenly."

"How is it possible that you didn’t have a girlfriend when we met?"

He leans back, resting his head on his hand, fingertips of his other hand drawing lazy circles on my thigh. "I've never been much of a going out guy. When I moved here, I was so busy with the business and became such good friends with Kate I just wasn’t in a position to meet many girls."

"Do you like me just because I'm around?" I say it jokingly but am insecure in his feelings for me.

"The very first moment I saw you, Grace, in the airport, I thought who is this blue eyed, blonde goddess, and what must I do to make her mine? I was very bothered when I learned you had a fella, but you were so amazing I figured you could not be single."

"Hush."

"Do you miss him?"

I pull Ryan to me. "I miss what we had, but that was long gone before I met you."

"I'm very happy you feel that way," he says before covering my mouth with his.

Epilogue

It's been seven months since our date on the boat. I've stopped applying to other places, content to work with Ryan. My ease in the office takes a lot of pressure off and lets him concentrate leading tours and managing the equipment. He talked me into moving in with him full time months ago. We still have dinner almost every night at Kate's. She's been teaching me how to knit different things. Figuring out how to use circular needles was not fun.

I now know how to make hats, infinity scarves, leg warmers, and fingerless gloves. The idea of an Etsy store ignited something in me the moment Jack suggested it. I spend my free time researching other stores to get an idea of what's successful and what isn’t, I’m not very tech savvy, but Jennifer loves that kind of stuff, and during down time at work, explains different websites and how they can work together to save me time. One example is creating a Facebook entity page and linking it to a Twitter page. Whatever is posted on the Facebook page can automatically post to Twitter. One post, two websites.

Jennifer is also helping me design a theme to use for my Etsy page. It isn’t live yet, but I've created an account. It took me some time to decide what to name my store. I finally decided on Cuyahoga Knits as a way to include my parents in my present. The idea came to me one day while Ryan and I were driving into work. He had the radio on an 80s station and an REM song I'd never heard came on. I couldn't believe what I was