Page 16 of The Fear
He had never been into the pixie cute type. That was more Gunn’s style.
She’d already said she’d date his twin brother. But not him.
Now that he thought about that, that stung. More than a little.
Of course. Women tended to want either of them at first, but when it came down to it, most preferred his brother over him in the end. It had happened multiple times before.
He knew he was only half the man his twin brother was. He’d known that for fifteen years, when they’d almost lost Greer. Nothing much had changed since then, and since Gunn had taken his appointment at the church, that had gotten even clearer to Grady.
This woman probably saw right through him to the fraud he was beneath. She always had liked to yank his chain when she could, too. He could have no secrets from her. She’d always see right through him.
That just pissed him off and had him doing probably one of the stupidest things he had ever done.
Grady scooped her off her feet again. And covered her mouth with his own when she squeaked in surprise.
Hala gasped, her mouth opening under his. Probably to curse at him or something. Well, he wasn’t going to give her a chance. She already knew what an asshole he was. Might as well just reinforce that now.
He pressed his lips to hers once, then pulled back. To give her a chance to tell him to stop. He’d stop the instant she told him no. Period. Always. But he wanted to kiss her more than he had ever wanted to kiss a woman before.
He really didn’t want to stop though. “Tell me no. You say it, and I’ll step back right now.”
She didn’t, though. Grady waited and then…he went for it. She could always kick him—again—if she didn’t like it.
His hand cupped the back of her head. His arm snuck around her waist, and he pulled her as close as he could get her. Female curves pressed against him. Tempting him completely. Hala hadrealcurves there. He hadn’t noticed that before. He sure as hell didnow.She was tiny, but she wasn’t exactly scrawny now.
He wanted to touch, to feel her a hell of a lot closer.
Grady had to settle for just a kiss. She’d figure out what a jerk he was soon enough. And kick him even harder than she ever had before.
For now, he just held her close and kissed her.
Feeling pretty damned certain he’d just given her his soul forever.
10
Oh,holy tuna fish.Grady Hiller knew how to kiss. Hala had to admit, she didn’t have a great deal of experience, but she wasn’t a virgin, and she had beenkissedbefore. Enough to know when the guy kissing her definitely knew what he was doing.
Grady knew what he was doing. From the first touch.
Yikes.
Her lips were even tingling. His hands weren’t straying where they shouldn’t, and she definitely hadn’t given him permission to kiss her. But…she was glad he was.
He was the first man to kiss her in years. Since that day her own boyfriend had tried to force her to do what he wanted. She’d fought him and he’d gotten angry. Violent. Then Hudson had just been there in time to make him stop.
Her brother had been with a friend of his that day, doing a talk to the pre-law students. They’d walked over to her apartment near the law school to take her to lunch. They’d heard her yelling for her boyfriend to get off her, that she’d saidno.Hudson and Mac had broken down the door to get to her.
Hudson had nearly killed her boyfriend that day, especially when he saw the marks on her face, on her neck. Her ex hadgotten six months but hadn’t served a day in prison for what he’d done. Hala had retreated a bit after that. She was better now—but she’d never forget. She had been leery of men ever since.
Finding a guy she could trust—it was so impossible.
But it had been so close. The trauma of that day had impacted her forever. She knew how trauma worked.
She’d been nervous when alone with a man ever since. She hadtrustedher boyfriend. More than she had any guy before. And he had betrayed that trust in the most elemental of ways. She hadn’t risked dating again. Until Luis.
Luis hadn’t made her feel likethis.
She just now felt like she had put a good part of it behind her. Luis had been a good start.
