Page 7 of Perfect Harmony

She liked it.

He squashed that dangerous voice deep downinside. When he’d told Gracie if he found her uninvited in his bed again, hewould handcuff her to his bed on her hands and knees, pull her panties to herthighs, and spank her, she hadn’t been turned on. It was only his wishfulthinking that made him think he saw a quick flare of desire in those prettygreen eyes before she’d ran out of his bedroom.

Some women liked a little kink in thebedroom and a little pain with their pleasure. Some women craved giving upcontrol.

But he couldn’t fool himself that Graciewas one of them. If he even tried to put her over his knee for a spanking,she’d knock him on his ass.

Still didn’t stop him from fantasizingabout it though. Or, he grimaced inwardly, climbing into his bed the secondGrace was gone and masturbating to the scent of her on his sheets.

His cell phone buzzed with awhere areyoutext from Kira.

Everything would be fine. The house wasbig enough that he could avoid her. He’d have a quick bite to eat and thenmake his excuses and leave.

* * *

Grace parked in her best friend’s drivewayand stared at the house. Trepidation and exhaustion were making her handsshake. She stared fixedly at them, trying to will them to stop trembling. Hereyes ached and when she blinked, it felt like her eyelids were lined with razorblades.

She should have stayed home. She shouldhave tried her usual sleeping techniques and hoped for the best. She was in noshape to face him, not after weeks of broken sleep and now nearly three dayswithout any sleep at all, but she couldn’t stay at home and stare at the bedroomceiling. Couldn’t lie there, needing to sleep,wantingto sleep, butwide awake until the morning light seeped into her bedroom.

She took a deep breath. Driving had been amistake. Her cognitive abilities were severely impaired, and her reactiontimes were frighteningly slow. Unease settled in her stomach. There’d been afew brief periods that she had zero memory of from the drive over. She’ddriven to Kira’s house on auto pilot.

She shuddered, her trembling hands grippingthe steering wheel before she released it and climbed out of the car. Sheslammed the door shut and walked toward the front porch. It was fine. She wasfine. She’d had worse insomnia than this in the past.

Have you, Gracie?

Her inner voice sounded… afraid. Theunease grew until she could taste it in the back of her throat, bitter like thegreen tea that Addie was always trying to get her to drink.

She would sleep soon, she had to. Sure, itwould be jagged and dream-filled, but it would be better than nothing. Shepaused at the bottom of the steps, her hand gripping the railing as a wave ofdizziness swept over her. She thought longingly about the last real sleep shehad, almost a month ago when she’d fallen asleep in Gideon Walker’s bed.

She waited for the familiar heat in herbelly to start, the way it always did when she thought about the man who she’dbeen in love with for the last nine years.

There was nothing. Apparently, exhaustiontrumped lust.

She swallowed her bitter laughter. So, thekey to getting over her completely inappropriate, never-gonna-happen crush onher best friend’s older brother was complete and utter exhaustion.

Noted.

“So, how bad is it in there?”

She shrieked and whirled around and nearlytripped over her own feet. The man standing behind her grabbed her arm andsteadied her. “Whoa, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

The little rush of adrenaline was alreadyfading, leaving her more fatigued than ever. She blinked owlishly at the man.God, why did he look so familiar to her?

“Grace, right?” He cocked his head ather. “You okay?”

She stared up at him for almost thirtyseconds before it clicked in. “Lucas. You’re Connor’s best friend.”

“That’s right. Are you okay?” There wasconcern etched into Lucas’s face.

“Yes.”

He studied her for a moment longer beforejerking his chin in the direction of the house. “That bad, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been standing at the bottom of thesteps for almost three minutes. Connor told me it was just a barbeque, but nowI’m wondering if something more sinister is afoot.” Lucas grinned at her.

“Nope, just a plain old barbeque,” shesaid. “I was woolgathering.”

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