Page 47 of Doctor Grump

But he didn’t.

My words seemed to give him more fortitude to torture me because he grinned wider instead as he slowly, ever so slowly slipped himself inside me—inch by insane inch. My mouth dropped open at the feel of him, and he chuckled.

A sudden thought popped into my head.

Two can play that game.

I squeezed my thighs together experimentally and watched as his eyes rolled back in his head. His hands tightened around my waist, squeezing.

“God, you’re so soft,” he said. “So lush.”

Then, he gently grabbed my thighs and pushed them up around my ear, rocking into me again and again until we were both losing ourselves in the night.

* * *

“So, what happens now?”I asked as we lay there. I had been lying on Ian’s chest for the past few minutes, trying to catch my breath and control the feelings rushing through me. Feelings of passion. Feelings of love. It was terrifying but also invigorating, the insane realization. Somehow, I had fallen for Ian, the one man I never should have, and it seemed like no matter what, I was headed for heartbreak.

Although, he was still here, unlike the first time we had sex. He also hadn’t immediately declared the whole thing a mistake, scurrying off after I fell asleep. No, he had been here when my eyes opened again, and the world returned to me, his large hand a comforting presence as they traced circles on the skin of my back. He hadn’t been looking at me. Instead, he was watching the ceiling, but there was a look on his face I hadn’t seen before—a look of peace and acceptance.

I wondered what he was accepting.

God, don’t do this to yourself, Piper. Don’t start making signs out of anything.For all I knew, he was just thinking about the best way to let me down so I would not be angry about the whole thing.

It sucked because I did this all the time. I had the tendency to fall for emotionally unavailable guys, and it always ended in disaster for me. I hated that it was happening again.

I tried to distance myself, to roll off to the other side of the bed, but his arms tightened around my waist, preventing my escape. So I lay there in silence for a few minutes until I couldn’t take it anymore and finally asked him the question.

“What do you mean?” Ian asked, and I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t play dumb now. The last time we did this, you said it was a mistake. What’s the scenario this time? Is it another oopsie that we’re never supposed to talk about?”

He was silent for a few seconds as he thought about it. “No. It’s not a mistake.”

My heart jumped in my chest, but I told myself not to get too excited. This could mean anything. I needed clarity. “Meaning?”

He turned to me, his eyes filled with an emotion I couldn’t describe. “I care about you, Piper.”

“I care about you too,” I told him.

“I care about you a lot,” he elaborated. “Enough to give this thing a try.”

Wait, what?

I stared at him, confused as to how to take what he just said.

First of all, care? It was a weaker emotion than what I felt but more than what I hoped for. Would it be enough? Or would it be like some of my past relationships, where I did most of the emotional heavy lifting and dated assholes who barely appreciated me? I told myself never to do that again, making a firm decision that I would only date men who reciprocated my energy.

Which was likely why I had been single for so long.

“I would like to try with you,” he said.

“Try what?”

“I…Shit, I don’t know how to do this.” He sighed. “I haven’t been in a relationship in a long time. Not since just after Kendy’s mother, and that only lasted for a month. I’m not sure I’m good at them or good at being with people in general. And I do not doubt that I will likely make mistakes along the way and may even hurt you. But, I would like to try.”

His words were a red flag, but his honesty warmed my heart. Ultimately, it was also one of the things that convinced me. If I were smart, I would say no, because Ian was the exact type of man I told myself I wouldn’t date anymore. But…people could change, couldn’t they? And Ian had so much potential. He wasn’t giving me the exact words I wanted to hear, but I had taken chances on less, and just because they hadn’t worked out didn’t mean I had been wrong. I refused to let the hurt of my past dictate my future.

Plus, the sex was…insane, though this entire thing might just be my hormones speaking.

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