Page 39 of Never Always
He grins, turns off the television, and approaches like a stealthy killer. He grabs me around the waist and picks me up as he heads for the bathroom. “You want me to shower shark you?” he asks, tone mocking.
I bang on his back. “You’re supposed to protect me, not kill me with idiotic sex verbiage.”
“Fire, I could go on all day.” He sets me down in the bathroom and flicks the light on.
I tilt my chin up. “But you won’t because I don’t like it.”
He smiles at me. “If you say so. Let’s save the bareback fuck for tomorrow night. After my first day back at work. I have a plan of sorts. Seeing as I don’t have a condom right now, take off your pants. Actually, take off all your clothes.” Thankfully the alcohol has worn off a touch. I guess thinking about the killer next door is a buzzkill.
What plan could Grange possibly have? I obey, watching him watch me gives me the heady sense that he might lose control. But he’s proven to be stalwart in the control department. “When will you kiss me?”
Grange lifts me on my bathroom counter and sinks to his knees. Taking my legs, he wraps them around his head. “Right now.”
Then he makes me come so hard I nearly forget he neglects the lips on my face.
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I’m sitting on my kitchen counter, knees pulled up to my chest as Grange pulls a batch of chocolate chip cookies from the oven. He’s whistling and smiling and it’s just this average night in, together. It feels right. I’m sated and the happiest I’ve ever been.
“This is your trial run,” I exclaim, reaching my hand out for a treat as he passes by with the hot cookie sheet.
“Ah, ah, ah. You have to wait till they cool down.” Grange is shirtless in my kitchen and I’m pretty sure the image of him wearing my pink baking mitts would make a calendar somewhere. He looks more delectable than the cookies.
“I’ll have to cook the sides at your house,” I say. “You have the double oven and we’ll have casseroles that need cooked too. Remember I’m from the south, Corrick. Thanksgiving is like a calorie-laden meal that could feed an entire country for several weeks. I have to go big. It’s what us Klines do, even if I don’t agree with it.”
“Have you always hosted the meal?” Grange asks, eating a cookie he told me I couldn’t have.
When I narrow my eyes, he pulls closer to me and I grab him between my legs. I open my mouth and he gives me a warm, gooey bite. I hum. “Oh, this is good.” After I swallow, I say, “I have. It’s like my holiday contribution. Plus, Sue-Ellen can’t cook at all. It’s tragic. The pretty genes clogged up the domesticated duties, and she’s just stopped trying.”
“So, you got it all is what you’re saying? The looks and the kitchen skills.”
I wrap my arms around his neck. Instead of denying it, I go with it. “You could say that. And I have you.”
“That you do,” Grange says, lips almost touching mine. “About tomorrow night.”
Sex. I throb everywhere, desperate for him. I nod, his forehead pressed to mine, the sweet scent of chocolate clinging to the air. “Bring a bathing suit and I’ll meet you at the gates of my work at six.”
Leaning back, I raise one brow. “At your work?”
“The plan, remember?”
“Again, at your work?”
“I’m not going to fuck you at work, Fire. It’s just… a date first. We can go back to your house or mine after. It’s something I think you’ll like.”
My breathing speeds. “Okay,” I say tentatively. “When are we going to shop for Thanksgiving?”
He scoffs, smirking. “That’s your job. I don’t grocery shop.”
He reads the dissatisfaction on my face.
“Kidding. Whenever you want. Tuesday after work?”
I kiss him on the tip of his nose and push away to get my own whole cookie. Taking a bite, I say around a mouthful, “I spoke to the farm I ordered the fresh turkey from; they have a buffer every year and don’t sell out intentionally. Adding a turkey to my order was easy. Tuesday will work. It will be busy though.”
He grins. “I’ll protect you from the rabid grannies in the produce department.”
“And the coupon toting Sally’s in the bakery?” I sling back.
