Finally, Grant moved, methodically setting his wineglass down on a wooden coaster, then turning his full attention back to her. How he had the presence of mind to use a coaster when she was in her most flattering bra waiting for him was beyond her. Forcing herself to take a real breath, she decided she had to move him along. “What are you—”
“Good thing I changed my sheets.”
Unlike that night at the park, there was nothing careful about this kiss. All there was, was him. His lips. His face. His neck. He kissed with bold strokes and teasing nibbles as his hands ran over her body, sending cravings shooting through her veins. Slowly, Grant began to work his way down her neck, kissing along her breasts toward her tightening nipples. His hands applying pressure low on her hips, sending heat to gather and throb between her legs.
Sam shimmied, trying to get closer to him as she reached for the hem of his shirt. He leaned off her just long enough for her to pull the sweater over his head and toss it on the floor. Then he was back, trailing lush kisses along the curve of her breast where her skin and her bra met. The feel of him wanting her was enough to drive Sam absolutely out of her mind. She wiggled beneath him, trying to reach either the button of his pants or the drawstring on hers—she didn’t really care which as long as they were both naked soon. Grant made a sound in the back of his throat that caused her to shiver as she reached between them.
Working a hand underneath her, Grant pulled her into a seat on top of him in one motion that would have impressed her if it hadn’t created more space between them than she wanted. Grant kissed along the edge of her jaw and nipped at her earlobe, causing tingles to run through her. Nuzzling her neck, he panted, “Not here. Condoms. Clean sheets.”
“Yes.” It wasn’t the most eloquent phrase she’d ever said, but it was all she needed to say at this point. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sam’s brain gave her body the command to roll off Grant’s lap and onto the couch. For three seconds, Sam felt like ice water had been dumped on her. She missed the feel of Grant. The warmth of his bare chest against hers.
Then he jumped up and reached for her. The force of him pulling her up to stand brought her back in contact with him, and she relaxed once more. Wrapping both hands around her ass, Grant kissed her hard as he walked them backward. Sam heard him knock into the coffeetable. Later she’d check to make sure they hadn’t spilled wine all over his nice rug. Right now, with Grant’s hands moving to the drawstring of her pants, she didn’t care if they’d dumped a whole bottle on the ground.
Sam stepped gracelessly out of her scrubs and laughed as they knocked into a wall in the hallway. “We are going to be covered in bruises if we aren’t more careful.”
“We are going to be sore anyway, with you in that underwear,” Grant whispered as he backed her into the bedroom and kissed her again. He tasted like sweat and wine and promises about tonight that he could keep.
Yanking down hard on his pants, Sam paused to watch Grant kick them to the side in a manner that was as silly as it was sexy. As they stood there in their underwear, it was all Sam could do to not leap on him and wrap her legs around his waist. Instead, she waited while Grant pulled her to him, closing the gap between them as he kissed her neck and reached around her back for the clasp of her bra. Pulling back slightly, Sam put a hand on his chest and said, “Before this comes off, I have two questions. First, anywhere you don’t want to be touched?”
“What?” Grant said, his eyes glassy with lust as he played with the edge of the fastening on her bra. “Oh. No. You?”
“No choking,” Sam said, tracing the tip of her index finger along the waistband of his boxer briefs.
Grant tilted his head to one side. “Feels like that goes without saying.”
“You’d be surprised.” Sam shook her head. Tracing her other hand along the ridges of his collarbones, she added, “If you don’t say it, those are the ones who try without asking.”
“Don’t have to worry about that with me,” Grant said, closing his eyes as his lips tilted into a smile. When he opened them again, the thirsty look had returned. Placing his hand over hers, he brought it up to his lips and kissed the inside of her wrist. The touch of his mouth to the soft skin there sent a tingle down her spine. Pulling her handaway, she leaned in again, this time kissing him in slow, languid turns. They had all night, and she planned to prolong the delicious inevitable until neither of them could take it anymore. She moved to kiss the spot behind his ear, and Grant pulled back a fraction of an inch to look her in the eyes, his lips swollen as he asked, “What’s the second question?”
Sam smiled against his lips and whispered, “Anywhere you do want to be touched?”
A lopsided grin crossed his face, and Grant leaned in to kiss the sensitive spot just between her jaw and her throat, then whispered, “Yes. But our underwear needs to come off for that.”
Chapter Nineteen
Sam drummed her fingers on the steering wheel of Duke’s rust bucket as she crept along the pickup zone at San Francisco International Airport. A small part of her wished she had just told her mom to take a cab or get a rideshare, but Sam knew that if she did that, her mother would knot herself into something resembling emotional chain mail by the time she reached her hotel. It was better for everyone if she just picked her up.
She had almost resigned herself to circling again when she spotted her mother hauling a massive aqua suitcase out of the door toward the end of the terminal. Sam started waving right as her mother started digging through her purse, ostensibly to find her phone so she could call her. Seeing an opening in the traffic, she slid through it and pulled up right beside her mother as her cell phone started to ring. Since the autodescend function on the passenger window had stopped working last week, she answered as she watched her mother clean her sunglasses on the hem of her flowing shirt while holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder.
“Hi, Sammy. I’m outside, but no rush if you’re late.”
Suppressing a giggle, Sam said, “Look to your right.”
Her mother pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it as if Sam had said something absurd. Then when nothing happened, she looked to her right and jumped about two inches back from the curb.Shouting at the window and into the receiver, her mom said, “You’re here!”
Sam grinned at the familiar face on the other side of the window—which was squeaky clean thanks to Duke’s insistence that no one’s mom should ride in a dusty car. In spite of all the angst her mother’s visit had caused, Sam felt her irritation slipping away at the sight of her. Her hair was longer than the last time Sam had seen her, but she was otherwise unchanged. Diana Holbrook still had the smile creases around her eyes and the lines on either side of a mouth that was just as likely to sing you a bedtime song as it was to mumble under her breath if something didn’t go her way. In short, she was still the same mom that Sam loved.
Jumping out of the driver’s side door, she called, “Hi, Mom!”
“Hi, baby,” Diana said, running around to the trunk of the car and holding her arms out wide for a hug. “I didn’t recognize you in that car.”
The way she saidcarlet Sam know her mother was well aware that it was a clunker but that she was too polite to say something like that within hearing distance of others, lest they think she was an elitist. Which she was, but that was beside the point.
Wrapping her arms around Diana, Sam breathed in deeply, letting the smell of her mom’s fabric softener and her grapefruit shampoo envelop her. The combination instantly took her back to when she was a little girl.
“Oh, I am so happy to see you, sweetheart,” her mother said into her hair.
“Good to see you, too, Mom.” Sam released her mom and fussed with the lock on the trunk. “I can get your suitcase if you want to get settled into the car.”
