Page 75 of Paths
She shakes her head slowly as a tear falls, and I swear, she might as well have turned a knife in my gut. All that pain I experienced months ago—the rope, the pipe, the broken bones, dislocated joints, and concussion? Nothing compares to now.
Now, it’s crippling.
Until she knocks the wind out of me when she utters, “Yes.”
I take a moment to let that sink in. But a moment is all I need. Right now, it’s the sweetest word in the world.
*****
Maya –
I said yes and I meant it.
But I think I might be losing it.
What the hell am I doing? I have no business wearing a man’s ring after only knowing him for such a short time. Not after knowing the last one for so many years and it turning out as badly as it did.
But something in me doesn’t care, because this feels different. I’m different. And it doesn’t have anything to do with taking a chance on Grady. He’s Grady, after all—solid, sweet, protective, and loving. He is who he is, and there’s not a single disingenuous bone in his body. I don’t know how I know this to be a fact, but I do. I feel it.
This is different because of me. Finally, after twenty-eight years, I’m in a place where I feel comfortable in my own skin. After living my life being told what I should want, what I should do, and who I should do it with because of some status that needed to be upheld, I’ve finally found my place.
Who knew it would be in the middle-of-nowhere-Virginia and with a bruised, battered, and irritable man, who underneath it all is none of those things.
But I barely have a second to process this, because just a moment ago when I admitted I want him, Grady was many strides away from me. The next instant, my face is being held in his big hands with his mouth on mine.
His kiss is bruising and desperate as he holds me tight.
He tears his face away but stays close when he questions, “Yes?”
Loving his eyes, especially the way they’re looking at me now, I don’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Fuck,” he clips, and his hands move low on my hips.
Digging his fingers into my skin through the thin material of my dress, he fists and pulls. The next thing I know, my dress is being yanked up and over my head. Standing here in my strapless bra and panties, I reach for his shirt, wanting to touch him—really touch him. Not like when I’m working on his shoulder or snuggled up to him before sleep. I want all of him.
I rip a button off his shirt trying to get them undone. After taking his time to run his hands along my bare skin, my hips and ass, he cups my breasts lightly before one hand reaches around, nimbly unhooking my bra with one single flick of his fingers. It instantly falls to the floor.
I keep at his shirt, wanting nothing between us. The second I push it down his arms, I lift, pressing my bare breasts into his muscled chest. His light dusting of chest hair rubbing against my sensitive nipples radiates pleasure through my body.
“Never wanted anything more than you,” he says as his hands move on my bare back, gliding down to my ass. “Never let myself want anything before.”
His words only cement what I already know.
I need him, but even more, I want to give him everything he needs.
“I want you, Grady. All of you,” I confess.
I feel his thumbs dip in my panties at my hips and he pushes. When I’m standing bare in front of him, he rocks back a half-step to take a look at me. His hungry gaze rakes over my body, leaving me warm and tingly all at the same time.
His eyes come back to mine, his hands go to my ass, and I’m up. My legs circle his waist and I wrap my arms around his shoulders to hang on. Holding me with one arm, I feel his fingers drag through my wet pussy right before he fills me with two fingers, and I can’t help but press down on his hand.
“Do anything for you, Maya. You’ll never know how you saved me from myself. I was at my lowest, had no one. Just watching you on those fucking cameras was the only thing that got me through. To have you here, like this? Never thought this would happen.”
As I let his words sink in, he carries me into the bedroom, coming down with me as my back hits the bed. Kissing me one more time before letting go, he runs his hands down the front of my body. Teasing my breasts on his way, his eyes never stray from his touch, his fingertips rough on my overly sensitive skin.
“Wouldn’t even let my mind want you like this in the beginning. That would’ve been too painful, to think of you like this, you giving yourself to me. If I allowed myself those thoughts and this didn’t happen? I’d come undone.”
“Grady,” I moan. He’s killing me with his words.
