Chapter Nineteen
“Hey, Nick,” Grace shouted toward the open door between their rooms as she tossed her card key on the bed. “Can we talk for a…oomph.”
Grace promptly forgot whatever she was going to say when Nick wrapped an arm around her waist, spun her around, and pinned her to the wall with his weight.
His mouth was on hers—urgent, hungry, demanding—before she could say anything else. Her fingers immediately tangled in his hair. His arms banded around her so tight they nearly forced the air from her lungs, and man, he felt so good against her—so hot, so strong, so safe. And his mouth…
Sweet Christ, did he know how to kiss. He kissed her like she was water and he was a man dying of thirst. The fact that he was with her—kissing her—was overwhelming and comforting and terrifying all at the same time. It was almost too much. He was almost too much.
He slid his fingertips up under her sweater, letting his big hands span her ribcage, thumbs dangerously close to her nipples which were, of course, on high alert.
He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers as she gasped for air, much like Sadie had during her panic attack. “I missed you,” he whispered.
“I guess so,” she choked out. “Jesus.”
“And did you miss me?”
“Are you fishing?”
He grinned. “Like Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It.”
She bit her lower lip. It was kind of embarrassing to admit how much she’d missed him. So instead, she opted for a prim, “I guess I’m not entirely displeased to see you.”
His grin widened, and she let out a sharp burst of laughter as he dug his fingertips into her ribs and proceeded to tickle the hell out of her.
When she begged him to stop for fear that she’d pee herself, thankfully, he complied. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?” he asked.
She blinked up at him. Huh?
He smirked in a confident, cocky way that only really hot men could pull off. It was the kind of smirk that said, “I’ve seen you naked and I can see it all again any time I want.”
Stupid, tall, smug, obscenely good-looking man.
“You came in here saying ‘Hey, Nick, can we talk,’” he prompted.
Oh, right… “Has your sister ever had panic attacks before?”
His brow furrowed. “Not that I know of, why?”
Grace gave him a brief rundown of the panic attack, leaving out Gage’s part in the whole thing. No need to start some kind of brooding, alpha-man war between the two of them. The whole thing was already weird enough as it was. Why add extra crazy to the mix?
When she was done, Nick took a step back and shoved a hand through his hair. “She’s probably just nervous,” he finally said. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
Grace frowned. The bride breaking out in hives and having to be torn out of her wedding dress was nothing to worry about? This thing had Runaway Bride written all over it, as far as Grace was concerned. “I don’t know, Nick. It was weird. And all the decisions she’s been having so much trouble with? Have you really talked to her lately? I mean really talked? Are you sure she wants to do this?”
His hands shifted to his hips and she could tell he was a little irked by her questions. “Look, Grace, I know you don’t approve of this marriage, and, hell, I can’t say that I’m thrilled about it, either. But I know my sister. When other little girls dreamed of being ballerinas and princesses, she dreamed of being a wife and mother, of having a nice, normal family like yours. I’m going to believe she wants this marriage until I hear her say otherwise.”
The emphasis he put on the word her made his point abundantly clear. He wasn’t going to listen to conjecture. And she shouldn’t either, really. She was a lawyer, for God’s sake.
He put his hands on her shoulders and tipped his head down so that she could look at him at eye-level. “Grace, Sadie deserves to be happy. You have no idea what she went through when we were growing up. She just…shit, she just deserves this, okay? Please don’t actively interfere and look for ways to ruin it for her. And for your brother. Can you do that? Can you just…go with the flow for the next few days and let what happens happen? Please?”
It was the please that was ultimately her undoing. And the intense look he fixed her with. And the press of his hard body against hers.
Oh, who the hell am I kidding? I never stood a chance against this guy.
Grace nodded slowly. “Sure. I can, um, go with the flow. I won’t interfere. You have my word.”
His answering kiss was hard, fast, and left her leaning against the door to support herself, gasping for breath.
“You won’t regret it,” he whispered against her lips.
An image of Sadie and Gage eye-fucking each other popped into Grace’s mind.
“God, I hope not,” she muttered.