Chapter 27
Kate
Kate had been dreaming about him. She dreamed Grant was slowly caressing her, telling her how much he wanted to fuck her.
“Do it. Do it,” she would say. “I need you. Take me. Please, I need this.”
Then suddenly he was. She gasped awake. Her eyes opened, and she stared into his dark eyes. “Do you want me?” he asked her. “I can leave if you’d like.”
“Don’t go,” she whispered, reaching a hand up to cup his face, to make sure he was real. He slid a hand under her, lifted her hips, and slowly but surely thrust into her. He didn’t break eye contact. He rested his forehead against hers, and she felt his breath on her face. Her mouth was open as she panted, trying to kiss him as she felt the length of him slide in and out of her. God, he felt good. She bit his chin to muffle her cry as she came, and he buried his face in her neck as she felt him shudder and come in her. Then he did kiss her, long and slowly and deeply.
“I can’t live without you,” he told her. “I need you in my bed.”
She stroked his face. The room was chilly, but his body radiated heat. She traced the muscles on his back with her nails and felt him shiver. He pulled her up with him farther up the bed and snuggled them both under the covers. Then he wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep.
Kate wanted to fall asleep. She wanted to feel the bliss of being in the arms of the most perfect man she had ever met, but she couldn’t help but remember how disgusted he had seemed when he asked her how many men she had been with.
It wasn’t that many, she tried to tell herself. She wasn’t randomly hooking up. She had been in relationships with these men. It just hadn’t worked out. Maybe there was something wrong with her. Did Grant actually care about her? Or was he only using her as an easy lay? Maybe she should have played harder to get. She should not have fallen for him quite so quickly.
She lay awake until the sky started to lighten. She didn’t know how to explain what Grant was doing at her grandmother’s house, but she didn’t want to wake him, either. She shifted in the bed and sighed. Grant woke up at the motion and yawned, smiling at her.
“I think you need to go home.”
He looked at her incredulously.
“Are you seriously kicking me out?”
“You can’t stay here,” she whispered. “My grandmother will have a heart attack.”
“I thought she was starting to like me.” He grinned.
“Not like that. She still thinks I’m a great person, and I don’t want to ruin her high opinion of me. Plus, she’ll tell your father, and I’ll lose my job.”
“You won’t lose your job,” he scoffed.
“This is not up for discussion.”
“Why are you suddenly being so cold with me? You were so willing last night.”
He gave her a sexy look that made her shiver. She tamped it down.
“It’s complicated” was all she could say. He kissed her, and she tried hard not to kiss him back. She felt him smile against her mouth.
“Can I have a goodbye fuck?” he asked, grinning at her in the low light.
“No,” she said coldly, pushing him away. “I need to shower; I’m a mess. I’ll see you at your house.”
She wrapped the sheet around her and watched him dress and leave. She felt sad. She wished they could have a normal relationship, but they couldn’t. She needed to end this somehow. Maybe she could slowly wean herself off Grant.
No, this is it, she swore to herself. She was going cold turkey off Grant Holbrook. Jones, she corrected herself as she struggled to comb a tangle out of her hair. She checked the birth control implant in her arm just to be safe. The last thing she needed was a baby. She shuddered. That would make this whole situation a hundred times worse. She looked in the mirror at her reflection. Her eyes had dark circles.
“Grant is not good for you,” she told her reflection. “He is a bad decision. Stay away from him.” He probably wouldn’t even want her once he realized that he could have his pick of women from upper-class New England families. Ones who didn’t have the baggage Kate did.
“He was only with you because of convenience,” she told herself. “He had pent-up sexual frustration, and you were a too-willing outlet. Once he calms down, he was going to dump you, anyways. It’s better this way.”
Kate was determined to keep her word. She had breakfast at her grandmother’s house then went over to the Holbrook estate. She went over the itinerary with Grant for that day, steadfastly ignoring the come-hither looks he was giving her.
After a day of fundraising lunches, coffee socials, and networking cocktails, she had the driver take them back to the estate. Grant tried to kiss her, but she slapped his hand away in the car, and he sulked the entire way back.
She dropped Grant off at his house and stayed for a bit to chat with Stefan, then she left promptly at seven to go back to her grandmother’s house. They watched British comedies that Kate had seen a thousand times. She drank tea with no sugar and then went to bed early. She lay there wondering if Grant would come to her. He didn’t.