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She nodded, not wanting to echo his words, but not sure how else she could express what she was feeling.
He lowered himself back down and curled one arm underneath her, lifting her hips to receive him. He wasn’t hitting her at the same angle anymore, but the way their bodies melded together more than made up for that one technical detail. His eyes were inches from hers now. He nipped at her lips as he drove deep and hard. His arm held her crushed to him as they moved together in a rhythm that felt as though she’d always known it.
He took her closer and closer to the edge, and she clung to him. “Grady!”
He nodded and drove faster until he pushed her over the edge, sending her flying away as the world shattered around her. Then he tensed and thrust deep and hard, his release pulsating inside her, joining them in a way she wasn’t sure she’d ever recover from.
When they finally lay panting, he buried his face in her neck. She brought her hand up to stroke his hair. She wanted to tell him so much, but she held back. Maybe she was getting carried away. He’d told her last night that he didn’t do relationships. She’d hate for him to think that she was coming on too heavy, getting in too deep too soon. She felt as though she was, but there was nothing she could do about that. She didn’t need to inflict it on him. Especially if it might send him running.
He nibbled her neck, sending shivers racing through her. Then he lifted his head and looked down into her eyes. His didn’t twinkle, it was more like they shone with … something. There was a tenderness in them that made her heart beat faster.
He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I told you we’d set the world on fire.”
She nodded happily.
His smile faded, and she tensed, wondering what was coming next. “But Hannah, I had no idea that you’d steal a piece of my soul.”
She looked up at him in surprise.
He gave her a rueful smile. “Don’t go anywhere. I need to get rid of the condom.”
She could only watch as he got up and disappeared into the bathroom. Who knew that lean and athletic could be so sexy? Or that he had such a great ass? Her hand came up to cover her heart. It was still pounding at what he’d just said. She wanted to dismiss it as just a line, but the look in his eyes, and the way she was feeling herself after what they’d just shared, told her that it’d be a mistake to dismiss it. She didn’t know what to do with the words he’d just spoken, but she was smart enough to know that he hadn’t offered them lightly.
~ ~ ~
Grady’s heart was pounding hard when he came back from the bathroom and slipped under the covers again. And it wasn’t from physical exertion. He’d gone and let his thoughts slip out of his mouth. And he was hoping that hadn’t been a mistake. He wrapped both arms around Hannah and held her close. “Did I just freak you out?”
She pressed her lips to his collarbone and shook her head, but she didn’t speak or look up at him. He sighed. That wasn’t a great sign. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I should have kept that thought to myself but …” He took a deep, steadying breath. “I can’t take it back.”
She tilted her head back and looked up into his eyes. “You meant it?”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t say shit like that if I didn’t mean it. I don’t know what just happened between us but …”
A small smile played on her lips. “Don’t look so worried. If we’re baring our souls here, then I will confess that I felt it too.”
“You did?” Happiness bubbled up in his chest.
“I did. I … I felt … I feel … Shit, I don’t know, Grady. We just connected in a way I’ve never felt before. You feel right.”
He closed his eyes as a wave of relief rushed over him. “You feel like home.”
Her hand came up to cover her mouth and tears shone in her eyes.
Panic clawed at his throat. “Was that the wrong thing to say?”
She shook her head rapidly, and two fat tears rolled down her cheeks. “It was the perfect thing to say. I told you a little bit about my relationship with my mom. Well, she was a good person, I don’t mean anything bad about her. But she and my dad … well, their marriage was far from perfect. I was much closer with my dad. And the last thing my dad ever said to me …” More tears rolled down her cheeks, but she brushed them away. “I was dating a guy, he wanted us to get married, and I knew it wasn’t right, but everyone loved him. I talked to my dad about it, and he made me promise him that I wouldn’t ever get married until I found the person who felt like home. He didn’t say it out loud, but I knew that he and my mom had never felt that way about each other. Their marriage was more of a business arrangement than for love. Oh, shit!”
She was watching his face as she spoke, and she must have noticed the moment he latched onto the word marriage.
Her eyes grew wide. “I wasn’t saying … I didn’t mean. Grady, I’m sorry, don’t freak out on me?”
He smiled and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I’m not freaking out. I … We’re not ready to go anywhere near it, but for the first time in my life, I don’t feel the need to say that I’m not cut out for marriage.”
Her eyes grew wider still. His heart felt as though it might beat right out of his chest. He didn’t know what the hell had possessed him to say that – other than it being the truth. He just couldn’t understand why it was true. He’d always said that he wasn’t cut out for marriage. Always run scared from even the mention of it – not that he’d been with more than a couple women long enough for the subject to even appear as a tiny spec on the horizon. Yet here he was telling Hannah … what? What exactly was he trying to tell her?
He looked into her eyes. “I know as well as you do, that it’s way too soon to even consider the possibility. But I guess I’m saying that … with you … it could be a possibility.”
She blew out a big sigh. “Are you going to run scared at the first chance you get?”
