Chapter Eighteen
Beau’s hope lifted when he pulled up in front of Ida Summerfield’s house and saw Grace’s truck in the driveway. That hope sank as quickly as it had risen when he accepted the invitation to come in and realized Grace wasn’t there.
She’d left a note on the refrigerator telling her mother she was at the shop with the girls, whoever they were. Ida offered to fix coffee, but he declined. Theo and Sherri were pulling at each arm, wanting him to play a game.
What he wanted was to get back in his car and go to the apothecary shop to find Grace, but he had promised the children and couldn’t let them down. An hour later, Ida shooed them upstairs to get ready for bed and Beau took his leave.
Five minutes later, he pulled into a parking place in front of the apothecary shop, right beside what looked like Mysti’s car. Beau got out and went to the door. It was locked. He tapped on the glass and waited.
It took a minute before someone pulled back the shade enough to peer out. A moment later, the door opened. Grace looked at him through the screen door. He could see light coming from the direction of the back room of the shop.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I really need to talk to you.”
She cut a look over her shoulder and then directed her attention back to him. He thought she was about to tell him to leave, so was surprised when she pushed the door open. “Come on in. Everyone’s in the back.”
“Everyone?” He waited as she closed and locked the door.
“You’ll see. Come on.”
Grace led the way. Beau was surprised when he got a look at the occupants of the back room. His sisters, Mysti and Ravyn, along with Sabine and Ily.
“Girls’ night at the apothecary shop?”
Ily snorted. “Cute, but seriously?”
“Then what?” He walked over to the bottles and vials on the worktable. “Is that—“ He pointed to a container that looked very much like it held blood.
“My blood.” Ily answered and then continued. “I thought maybe if we had dragon’s blood, we could fully recreate the formula Mr. Summerfield made for your mother and if we had that, we could then make progress with a true antidote for the poison.”
“Did it work?” Beau asked and then held up a hand. “No, wait. Hold on. What do you mean, you used your blood? What would make anyone think that your blood would be the same as a dragon? That’s—“
“She knows,” Mysti interrupted.
Beau jerked his head around in her direction. “Pardon?”
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
“Everything,” Ily answered, and when he turned his attention to her, she continued. “She, Sabine, and I linked minds. She knows everything.”
“Everything? As in—“
“As in everything Sabine and I know—all our experiences, memories, everything. And we know hers.”
Beau’s gaze locked with Ily’s at the last statement and he heard her in his mind. Yes, we know about you and Grace and what happened and we know how she feels about you—but I’m not revealing anything about that. You need to get that from her.
Beau turned his head to look at Grace and asked the question uppermost in his mind. “Are you okay?”
He saw the almost immediate welling of tears in her eyes, and it touched something deep inside him. Many people had made fun of her when they were young for her “soft heart,” as it was called. He knew that Grace felt things deeply, and it concerned him how this sudden knowledge was affecting her.
“Yes. I mean, maybe I’m just crazy but…but yes, I am.”
“And this concoction?” He gestured toward the worktable. “Did you get it right?”
“I don’t know. Ily will have to take it back to the lab and test it.”
“Are you going to do that tonight?”
“No, I’m going home,” Ily announced and then looked at Grace. “But if it isn’t right, will you continue to help me?”
“Oh yes, of course. And I’ll look again to see if I can find anything my dad might have written down about the cloaking spell.”
“Thanks.” Ily gave her a smile and then turned to look at the other women. “You ladies ready to ride?”
“If you are sober enough to drive,” Mysti replied.
“Are you serious? I’m a dragon,” Ily said.
“Then let’s do it,” Sabine agreed. “I’m ready to get back to my baby.”
Ravyn looked over at Grace. “You need a ride?”
Grace cut a look at Beau. “No, I’m good, but thanks. And thanks for including me in the evening. It was—amazing.”
“And we’ll do it again,” Mysti promised and headed for the door. “’Night, little brother.”
“Good night, ladies,” Beau replied at the end of the chorus of good-night wishes.
Grace walked the women to the door, locked it, and then returned to the workshop area. Beau was sitting on the counter, waiting.
“How are you? Really?” he asked.
She walked over to him and hopped up to sit beside him. “Not even in my wildest dreams could I have dreamed up the things I’ve seen and heard and—and tapped into the last few weeks. The world… No, I take that back—reality isn’t what I believed at all. It’s so much bigger.”
“And?” he asked.
“And I feel small and a little foolish, but amazed and excited and a little scared and…” Her voice faltered when their gazes met. “And ashamed.”
“Ashamed? For what?”
“I promised you could trust me and I treated you so badly. I’m sorry, Beau.”
Beau couldn’t stop himself from putting a hand on her knee and squeezing gently. “Don’t you apologize. You were shocked and rightly so. It’s not every day your childhood sweetheart turns into a tiger.”
Grace surprised him by chuckling. “You can say that again. I sure didn’t expect you to get naked and go animal on me.”
“I won’t do it again.”
“No? Well, damn, and here I had my hopes up.”
“That I’d shift?”
“No. That’s you’d get naked.”
Nothing could have surprised or excited him more. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond and the hesitation had her filling the silence. “Unless you’re no longer interested.”
“Oh, I’m interested.” With that, he slid off the counter, took one step over between her denim-clad legs and pulled her to him.
The moment her arms went around his neck, his temperature rose ten degrees. When she wound her legs around his body, molding herself to him from chest to groin, he broke out into a sweat.
And when her lips parted against his and deepened the kiss, his mind went blank to all but one goal. Make her his. Claim her. Give her what no other man could.
Grace had never felt anything that felt more right than his kiss. How could she have denied for so long what she felt for him? She pulled back to consider his eyes. “I never did stop loving you.”
He moved his hand up to cup her face. “And I’ve never loved anyone else.”
All the desire and longing she had suppressed for so long rose to the surface. She slid her fingertips over his broad shoulders and down his strong chest.
Beau pressed her more firmly against his groin. She felt his need and it fueled her desire higher. Abruptly he ended the kiss and eased her back on the counter. She watched his face as he unfastened the buttons on her shirt and parted it.
His head lowered and a moment later, she felt a slow lick across the top of one breast. “Beautiful,” he mouthed against her skin as he worked the lace cups of her bra beneath her breasts to free them.
“Hmm.” She could barely breathe. It’d been months since she’d had sex and the last sex she had was not good, so if she didn’t count that, it’d been… hell, forget it. Time for that little voice in her head to shut up and let her enjoy the moment.
Beau moved his lips from her breast and claimed hers in a kiss that had her fingers tightening in his thick hair as her lips began a plunder of her own. God, he tasted good. Beer and steak and something that was all male and triggered her hormones into a frenzied dance. She couldn’t remember being this turned on since…well, probably the last time Beau kissed her.
Kissing and fondling, they divested one another of clothing. He took her hand and tugged her toward the sofa, but she resisted and pulled him to her for another kiss.
“Here,” she murmured against his lips and tried to lay back on the counter
“Nuh-uh,” he argued. “Couch. I’ve been fantasizing about this since I was a teenager. Come on, Grace. Get your sweet ass over to that sofa.”
Something about the way he said it, a hint of command in his voice had a thrill running through her. “Or what?” She teased and ran her hand down his body to his erection.
The smile he gave her was the most deliciously wicked thing she’d ever seen. He wrapped both arms around her, cupping her ass to pull her against him. “I guess I’ll just have to turn you over my knee and give you a good spanking.”
She nearly came right then and there, but the game was way too much fun to lose it this early. “Really? And I suppose you think I’m just going to let you?”
She accompanied the tease by taking him in her hand and rubbing the head of his erection against her sex.
He dug his fingers into her ass and pulled her even tighter against him. “Oh yeah, baby. That I do,” he breathed. “I think you’re not going to just let me, but before I’m done, you’re going to beg me.”
“Hmm, promises, promises,” she countered a second before his lips claimed hers. He backed her to the opposite wall and knelt in front of her. “Spread your legs.”
As soon as she did, she felt his tongue lapping the length of her sex. “Just like I remembered. Sweet as honey. Turn around, baby, so I can get to you better.”
She turned and bent at the waist so that her sex was at his eye level. He spread her legs wider and started licking her.
She was hugging the wall inside a minute. Every few seconds his tongue would move from her vagina to her clit, making her moan and press back against him. She could feel the vibration begin in her belly, knowing that she was just moments away from orgasm.
“Oh, God, yes!” she cried, and then groaned in protest when he moved away.
“It’s so rude to leave a girl stranded like that,” she complained and turned around to see him walking over to the work counter.
“Is this coconut oil?” he asked as he lifted a large bottle.
“It is, why?”
Beau smiled as he picked up the bottle and returned to where she waited. He poured a liberal amount of oil into one hand. “Stand with your back against the wall.”
She wasn’t sure what he had in mind, but obeyed anyway. She was literally quivering with arousal, her nipples puckered and hard and her sex wet.
He started on her shoulders, working his slick hands slowly down her arms, then up again. When he reached her breasts and palmed her nipples in slow circles, she moaned.
The moan was muffled by his mouth in a plundering kiss that was all tongue and teeth. She let him enjoy his invasion for a while, then took control, tangling both hands in his hair to feed off him.
The slow burn that had started in her nipples had already escalated into a raging fire that was spreading out from those sensitive buds, making her arch against him. His erection pressed against her belly, throbbing and hard.
She reached down to take him in one hand. “Hmm.” She bit at his lip when he moved away from the kiss. He took hold of her wrists to force her hands from him.
“I didn’t say you could touch me,” he said with a smile. “Bad, very bad. I guess I’m going to have to administer that spanking sooner than I realized.”
At first, she thought he was just teasing, but when he turned her to face the wall and said, “Bend over, baby,” she realized it was no tease.
The sexy rasp of his voice was as much of a turn-on as his demands. She bent over and braced her hands on the wall. The first smack on her ass made her jump. The second sent a sexual charge through her. He spanked her slowly and precisely, each slap ending with a caress.
After ten smacks, she was squirming. Her ass cheeks felt like they were on fire and her sex was like an inflated balloon between her legs. On one level, she wanted him to stop. But the submissive side of her sexual nature wanted more. “Please,” she breathed.
“Please what?” He paused, running one hand between her legs to stroke the wet folds of her sex while the other hand squeezed her ass. “Please, I want more?”
“Yes, more. Please. More.”
“Then bend your legs for me. That’s it, just a little more. Now spread your legs, babe. That’s good. Bend forward just a little more.”
She’d just gotten herself into positive when he penetrated her sex with his finger. The sensation was as potent as a jolt of electricity. It ran straight through her body and took up residence in her sex. She cried out, then inhaled sharply as his oil-slicked finger probed inside her.
“Christ, you’re tight. Tight and hot—a wet dream come to life.”
She wanted to acknowledge the compliment but could only moan as he stroked in and out, each time going deeper. She reached between her legs to fondle herself and he slapped her ass a strong smack.
“Not yet, baby. I’ll tell you when to come.”
Grace replaced both hands on the wall, fingers splayed wide and tense as he continued his sensual assault. Just when she thought she’d go mad with the longing, he withdrew his fingers, turned her around, and picked her up.
As her legs circled him, he carried her to the sofa. Her back had barely landed when he reached between them and guided his erection inside her. Grace gasped. It had been awhile, not just since she’d had sex, but since she’d had sex with a man as well-endowed as Beau, and despite having had two children, she wasn’t quite accustomed to it.
“Do it,” she breathed. “Take me, now, Beau. Please.”
Later, he would realize that he been waiting for fourteen years to hear those words slip out of her mouth and to know that she was his.
He pressed slow and steady, feeling her stretch to accommodate him, sliding inside her. The groan that came from her when he pushed inside her was one of longing and surrender, one that robbed him of reason and control. He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her to him, impaling her on his length.
She cried out, but moved against him, offering him all that he wanted. He stroked slowly, easing out just an inch or so, then pressing deep. He knew she struggled to accommodate him, knew that he was taking what she’d offered to no one else. That alone was enough to start the tremors in his belly as an orgasm started to swell.
He tried to prolong it, to move slow and easy, but the need was too great. She was his and the male inside demanded that he take her.
His breath came faster and harder as climax threatened to overwhelm him. “Baby, I can’t hold it.”
“Yes,” she breathed, matching him in passion and need, the seductress giving way to the animal in her nature that longed to be taken, to be dominated. “Now, now, now!”
With a groan, he exploded. She screamed as an orgasm rocked her, her body rolling and bucking.
They both went limp and after a moment, he rose enough to roll off her and then wrap himself around her, the sweat of their bodies making them slick. For a few minutes, there was only the sound of their rapid breathing. Then breath slowed and languor set in.
In time, the air started to cool them, and she rolled over to face him. Beau looked into her eyes and emotion made his chest feel full and tight.
Grace smiled up at him. “Well, I remember you as being good, but my God, Beau. Is this what being a Shifter has done to you, cuz damn.”
“Damn as in you’re ready to run again or damn as in—“
“As in, holy shit you’ve got mad skills.”
Beau laughed and in a moment, she laughed too and before it was over, they were laughing like crazy, hugging and kissing. When they rolled off onto the floor, Grace lay back and blew out a breath.
Beau lay on his side and looked at her. She was more beautiful now than she’d been when they broke up in college. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he said softly and reached out to run his fingers over her belly.
Grace smiled at him. “I can’t believe we’re here.”
“Did you think of me, Grace? All those years?”
“Are you kidding? I have a vibrator named Beau.”
Beau grinned. “Oh yeah? You thought of me when you masturbated?”
“Every time.”
“Show me?”
“I will. But not on this floor.”
“Then come home with me.”
She rolled over to face him. “I want to but I have to be at Mama’s when my kids wake up.”
“I really like your kids.”
“They really like you.”
“Then maybe this weekend we could all go somewhere. Sort of a family trip?”
“Where?”
“Let me surprise you. I’ll make all the arrangements.”
“Okay.”
“Seriously?”
Grace’s smile vanished. “I learned so much, Beau, being connected with Sabine and Ily. They’ve endured so much, suffered and fought and sacrificed and yet they haven’t let it rob them of the ability to love—or forgive. I realized that in comparison, I’ve had it easy, and my pain was largely self-inflicted. I should’ve run away with you when you showed up at my wedding, but my pride wouldn’t let me, and because of that I lived with a man I didn’t love for all these years.
“But I got something precious out of it. My kids. And because he cheated, I was set free to come back home. To you.”
“Don’t leave just yet.” Beau took hold of her long hair and pulled her up to him. Their parted lips met and their tongues twined, tasting the essence of one another. Still joined in the kiss, he rolled her over and eased inside.
Grace smiled up at him and Beau found himself with a new wish. Until now, his wish had always been that he’d have a chance to win her again. Now, he wished that he’d see her smiling at him every night before he fell asleep and every morning after he awoke.
He wished that she and he and her children could be a family, and that one day they could have a child together. Beau wished for that and saw the love shining in her eyes.
And for the moment, all was right with his world.