Gray
I lay in bed, my arms wrapped around Tessa, her head resting on my chest, trying to absorb everything that had just happened. I believe the term for what we were doing was cuddling. Not my favorite word. This was not something I did. Not before Tessa.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“I agree. Wow.” Bend wow over the couch and fuck it wow.
I felt her head move. Felt her eyes on me. “But you didn’t even— I mean, you still have your pants on. Are you sure you don’t want to… You didn’t even get your pleasure.”
“Oh, Tessa. You couldn’t be more wrong. I fucking did. I may not have come, but I did get off.” Got off on her kiss and the feel of her lips. I got off on the taste of her against my tongue. Christ she was sweet. Pleasure from the way her hands gripped my shoulders. And ran through my hair. From listening to the sighs and gasps and cry when she came.
“Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”
“Trust me, you’ll be the first to know.” Or maybe not since I was still hard. Painfully so. But seeing Tessa’s body—the scars—the woman had been through a lot. The last thing she needed was to get tangled up with a man like me. I’d love more than anything to make love to her, but right now, especially because she was a client, probably best to back this up. If anything more happened between us, it should only be after careful consideration.
What I wasn’t going to examine was the gut punch I got when I saw Tessa’s scars. Looking at her body and knowing the pain she’d lived through killed me. The strength it must have taken to be where she was today blew me away.
“When we walked through your house…I saw the hospital bed…saw the wheelchair…saw the safety rails, the walker, the crutches… I thought they all belonged to your grandmother. The one you said had lived with you. I thought you were putting off the reno because you were still dealing with her loss.”
I felt Tessa’s shuddering breath against my chest. I ran my hand over her shoulder, along her back and down over her hip, my hands moving slowly and firmly over her, touching her soft skin and scars. Her body had gone rigid in my arms, even though I’d been trying for the opposite effect.
“You don’t have to tell me any details. I think I can guess.” I wanted to know, although that wasn’t my most pressing need. Because more than that, I needed to ease the tension I felt pulsing through her. Pulling her closer, I kissed the top of her head. “Are you a novice sword juggler?”
Thank God she laughed. She turned her face into my chest and giggled. Her body relaxed into my arms, and I felt her lips soft on my skin. She ran her hand lightly back and forth over my abdomen.
I had to grit my back teeth with how much I liked her hand on me.
She sighed. “Car accident. Three years ago. An eighteen wheeler hit my car. I was in the hospital for a bit. Then I transferred to an inpatient rehab hospital, and then home where I continued with outpatient therapy. And now I’m finding my way back.”
She made it sound so simple and easy. Downplaying it, or maybe she was still unable to talk about it. Something she’d said during the walk-through of her house came to me… All I know is I want this room changed top to bottom. Starting with the ceiling. That far corner by the front window has a web of cracks in the plaster. If you stand near the bed, the crack looks like an evil grin. It’s creepy and disturbing. Right. Because Tessa had spent days…weeks…months lying in that hospital bed staring at that damn ceiling. Fuck.
Using my arm, I rolled her up, so she lay fully on top of me, lined up, her breasts to my chest. My cock pressing against her belly. Her chin resting on my chest, so I could look into her eyes.
“Something tells me you glossed over a lot.” I leaned up, placing a kiss on her lips before rolling us over and reversing our positions. Her back against the bed, her eyes looking up into mine. “I will have lots of questions later. But I have a really important one right now.”
Her eyes went wide and darted away before coming back. She licked her lips and whispered, “What?”
I stared into her eyes for a long moment. “How sensitive are your breasts?”
“Um…what?”
“How sensitive?”
“Very.”
“Just what I wanted to hear. Time for me to go to work.”
Tessa wasn’t lying about her breasts; they were amazingly sensitive, and that was a reward all its own. I held her breasts in my hands, squeezing and holding. I rolled us again until I was under her and sat her up on my stomach so I could watch her face as I caressed them, pinched and tweaked her nipples. She threw her head back, face up to the ceiling, as a soft groan left her throat. God, she was beautiful.
She tilted forward, placing her hands flat against my chest, but froze, sitting up on a gasp. “Oh, my God, Gray!”
“What? Did I hurt you?”
“No. Your wall—it’s amazing. The color is breathtaking. Your brothers were right.”
I blinked at her. Was she kidding? I was doing stuff here. Good stuff. I grabbed her and rolled again, putting her back under me, flat on her back.
“Babe, your breasts are amazing. And I’m trying to give you breathtaking. Pay attention.”
“Pay attention?” she asked, blinking up at me, like I’d said something shocking. And then she said, “I’ve been trying to.”
I got back to work. I kissed my way around her breasts, teasing with my tongue, and then sucking a nipple in my mouth, sucking on one while my fingers worked the other. I took my time. I got as much pleasure from her breasts as she did. Almost. She surprised me when she came. Pulled in a sharp breath and shuddered under me.
A few minutes later, Tessa was in my arms again, draped across my body, newly relaxed, her soft caramel-colored curls of hair spread soft across my chest. We were cuddling again. “Tessa?”
“Hmm?” Her finger traced a soft pattern over my skin, which I liked very much.
“Just FYI… When I have you naked in my bed, and I have my lips on any part of your body, and I’ve got you hot and panting and seconds away from rocking your world… Please don’t mention my brothers.”
“Gotcha, boss.”