Page 22 of Her Grumpy Cowboy
“What if I want your hands on me?”I whisper.
He inhales sharply.“Angel?—”
I back into the blanket nest and hold it open for him.“Lie down with me.”
I see the uncertainty and desire warring in his eyes.Uncertainty because, for some reason, this man thinks he’s not enough for me.Desire because he can’t deny he wants me.And I want him, with every beat of my heart and every fiber of my being.
Desire eventually wins out.He lies beside me, arm around my waist, his body a furnace against mine.We lie still for a while, listening to the storm rage against the world.
“Grady?”
“Yeah?”
“The other day, you said that when you kiss me, you want all of me with you.”
His swallow is audible.“I did.”
I lick my lips nervously and take the plunge.“Well, all of me has been with you from the moment I face-planted you with a wreath.”
He groans.“Angel?—”
I cup his face.“I’m asking for all of it, Grady.All ofyou.The cracks, the scars, the wounded parts of you I see when no one else is looking.”
Silence, then a soft, devastating touch as his lips brush my ear.“I need you to understand.If I kiss you… it won’t be once.It won’t be casual.I won’t forget about it in the morning.If I kiss you, Angel, it’ll be the first of a thousand.”
He slides his hand up my thigh.The warmth of his palm through the sweatpants steals my breath.My pulse kicks hard, flooding heat through me until all I can feel is him and the dizzying weight of what’s about to happen.My fingers curl into his shirt, holding on like he’s the only solid thing in the room.
His voice is rough with the weight of desire.“I forgot what it was like to want something that wasn’t survival.And now...all I want isyou.I haven’t touched anyone in years,” he admits, his forehead resting against mine.“But I’ll give you everything, Angel.I’ll open you with my fingers and make you beg me to come.I’ll be gentle, and when you can take more, I’ll be rough, and I’ll tell you what a fucking goddess you are when you break for me.Then I’ll put you in my lap and slide you down my cock inch by inch, and I won’t let you up until you sayplease, Grady, again.”
A shiver rolls through me, sharp and hot.I arch into him, breath catching on a sound I don’t recognize as mine.Want pools low and heavy in my belly, and for a heartbeat, I can’t tell if I’m shaking because of his words or because I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.
“Good,” I gasp, my palm still warm on his jaw.“Because I’ve been waiting for you, Grady Cross.”
He goes still, like the world has stopped spinning.Then his hand finds mine, weaving our fingers together as he lowers his head.
Then, finally—finally—he kisses me.
Not tentative.Not careful.
Starved.
His kiss muffles the storm outside and erases every lonely night.It devours restraint and builds a home in my mouth.
I press closer, sliding my fingers into his hair.He responds as if he’s been holding back for years and is finally allowed to want.His hands find my waist, my hips, learning me by feel like I’m a map he never wants to lose.
I kiss him like I believe him, like I believe in this.In us.
And I do.Because I’ve never felt safer.Or more seen.Or more wanted.
No more waiting.
Tonight, I get to have all of it.The man.The heat.The promise he made that he’s now sealing with his mouth and hands.
And when he lays me down—carefully, reverently—I already know that this isn’t simply about sex.
This is abouteverything.
Chapter7
