Page 69 of Gracefully Yours

After finishing my food, I stood up to go rinse my plate off, standing in front of the sink, foot tapping to an indecipherable rhythm on the ground.

“What—” An arm snaked around my waist, spinning me around, pinning me in between the counter and his powerful body.

And then, wordlessly, Daniel kissed me.

His lips met mine, and I practically moaned into his mouth as I let my tongue brush against his, surrendering to the maddening inferno that was between us.

I broke away, reddened cheeks and swollen lips and all, and instead of actually saying something, I just… escaped. Disappeared up the stairs to let my heart calm down.

Because what was that?

What were we doing here?

And why did it feel like that kiss wasn’t fake?

CHAPTER16

Daniel

Grayeyes above me, rolling back into her head as she takes me in, inch by inch, taking her own pleasure, riding me—

My fist wrapped around my dick, stroking up and down my shaft as I pictured Charlotte’s face in the throes of pleasure as she got herself off on top of me. I tried not to entertain this fantasy before, but the memory of her writhing beneath me was too alluring.

I couldn’t bear being so close to her anymore, not without touching her. The scent of strawberries followed me everywhere, and then there was her parading around the house in those tiny spandex shorts. I was going crazy with need, but I was respecting her boundaries.

She’d escaped after I’d kissed her a few days ago, and I’d took that as a sign. This was fake, and even if our bodies responded to each other, that was all it was. I’d been giving her space ever since, knowing how stressed she was with the wedding only days away.

“Daniel?” Her voice came over the sound of the shower as I was getting closer, but this wasn’t dream Charlotte, this was—

“Oh!” Her cheeks pinked as she entered my bathroom, clearly catching me jacking off to thoughts of her. Obviously, I hadn’t locked my door.Fuck.

I whipped around, wishing I had somewhere to hide, but the shower door of the master bathroom was completely clear, and even the fog did little to hide me from her.

“Charlotte,” I groaned. “I thought we agreed not to come in without knocking.” I braced myself against the shower wall, leaning my head against the cool tile. But I supposed we had broken a lot of our rules last weekend on the ski trip. But she was the one who had insisted on them in the first place, hadn’t she?

“Well, I knocked, and you didn’t answer, and your dad was on the phone, and I didn’t realize you were in the shower, and—”

I wondered if I turned around right now, if her cheeks would be pink. If she was as embarrassed as I was of the position she’d caught me in.

“I’ll call him back,” I practically barked out. “Anything else?”

“Um…” Her voice was silken, barely a whisper. “No.” I kept my eyes on the wall, knowing if I turned around, if I looked at her, that her cheeks would be bright red.

I grabbed my towel, wrapping it around my waist, sending a word of apology to my weeping cock.

Except for when I turned around, she didn’t look embarrassed at all. She looked… annoyed? Was that the emotion that flared through her gray eyes?

“What?”

She shook her head, leaving the bathroom and me standing there, dripping wet. The water was dripping into my eyes, but I didn’t care. I followed her, determined to figure out what had upset her.

Charlotte had retreated into her bedroom.

Because even though we’d had amazing, mind-blowing sex last weekend, nothing had changed for her. She’d come home and holed herself up in her sewing room. I knew she was finishing her dress, but she’d barely come downstairs for dinner every night before retreating into her bedroom.

“Charlotte,” I practically barked, finding her standing in the guest bedroom. “What did I do?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I just…” My girl wouldn’t make eye contact with me. “It’s stupid. Never mind.”

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