AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She tilted her head to the side.
“So how does it feel to hear yourself say that?”
Grant laughed out loud, the sound nearly garish in the quiet.
“This is like being with Bernard all over again,” he chuckled. “My therapist. Dad thought I’d do better with a guy, for some reason. Probably thought I’d try to hook up with a woma—” Grant stopped. Perhaps not the best audience, his mind postulated. Thanks a lot, Grant shot back. Isn’t your job to stop me before I say something stupid?
In that moment the wind picked up speed. Fat flakes swirled in from the north to frost Melinda’s eyelashes and nose. It looked like they’d reached the end of their sojourn.
~
Probably thought I’d try to hook up with a woman, Grant had almost said.
“Got it,” Melinda bit out as she fought against the pang of jealousy in her chest. “Well, I’m freezing. Mind if we go inside? Not that it’s not magical out here—it is,” she added shortly. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yes,” Grant said. “Beautiful.”
Melinda swallowed, envy replaced by another sensation as the timbre of his voice softened her joints and melted her defenses.
Grant bit at the fingertips of one glove and shook out his hand. Slowly, he reached to take a lock of her hair between his fingers.
Melinda couldn’t have moved if the trees had erupted in songbirds. Or elves. Or singing elves.
Eyes on hers, Grant traced his index finger down the curve of her cheek. Then his thumb ventured across the trembling surface of her lips. Her weak gust of breath escaped into his palm.
“Dammit.” He wrapped both hands around her upper arms. “Tell me to leave you alone, to stop touching you.”
Melinda stared, dazed at the fire in his eyes.
Well, look at that. Oatmeal with a side of sob story and the mountain man was all torn up. But did she want him to leave her alone? Melinda’s stomach flipped. No. He scared her, disoriented her, and saw inside her, but he drew her to him like the proverbial moth to the flame.
“No,” she whispered.
Relief washed over his features and he shifted his weight from hers.
“No,” she repeated hastily, “I’m not stopping you.”
And then she moaned into his mouth as it crushed hers. His kiss was hard. Distraught, like there were words unsaid, more to be understood. Her arms hung at her sides as his body ruled hers.
“Stop me,” he urged, his breath hard against her mouth.
“What?” Her eyes could barely open.
His hair tickled her face as he angled his forehead over hers. “This is wrong. I’m taking advantage of the situation. Of you.”
She slid her arms around his neck and pressed her body into his embrace.
“Dammit,” he growled and took her mouth again.
His kiss told her everything. She tasted his remorse at the way they’d met and the ways he felt he’d failed her. She tasted his loathing for himself and his desperation to be forgiven.
As suddenly as it had begun, it was over. Grant ripped his mouth from hers and she stumbled. He steadied her and she blinked at him, mouth ajar.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded. She could barely keep upright.
Grant laughed and her intoxication evaporated.
“I’m cold too, Gorgeous,” he said. “Let’s forgo the majesty of nature for some warm beverages on the couch.”
