CHAPTER 12
GRANT

Fuck. This woman was going to be the death of me. I’d seen her out of the back window crossing the edge of the property. I’d seen her in those tight little shorts and her thin tank top, carrying that damn bottle of wine in her hand. If Hollis had seen her, he’d have been furious. But thankfully, I could slip away from him, tell him I was headed out for a walk to clear my head.

All I could focus on now was her silky skin.

Her hair barely covered her breasts, but I knew what they looked like. How good they felt in the palms of my hands, her nipples puckered between my teeth. It took so much willpower to walk up to her slowly. To alert her that I was there instead of retaining the element of surprise. I was sitting behind her, watching her puckered breasts glisten in the sun with her body sprawled out and her head on my chest.

The willpower I had amazed even myself, because I wanted to sink my every inch into her and have my way with her.

I stroked her skin with my fingertips, watching as it heated underneath my touch. The goosebumps that popped up smoothed a grin against my cheeks. I gazed down into her beautiful face before my eyes trailed along her body. Taking in her practically naked form as her legs spread wider to catch the sun on her thighs. Damn it. I wanted to be between those thighs, lapping up her juices and nibbling on the tight little bud that would bring her so much pleasure.

I stroked my thumb along her pouty lower lip and watched her slowly pull it between her lips.

Holy hell, this woman was going to kill me.

“So, what made you come out here and get naked?” I asked.

Her eyes fluttered up to mine, and I could feel my cock jumping to life.

“Just communing with nature,” she said with a grin.

But I didn’t think that was funny. Her lying out here naked and vulnerable to anyone who walked by wasn’t fucking funny to me. Anyone could’ve found her out here. She was lucky it was me who saw her crossing the damn backyard and not Hollis or Ike for that matter.

Theresa shifted her body to face me and brushed against my growing cock. She positioned herself so she could look up at me and I bit down on my tongue. I saw that look in her eyes. That lustful, darkened look I’d seen the night before. She wanted me. I knew she did. And the slight hitch in her breath when I touched her confirmed my suspicions. Her eyes fell to my lap, and I knew she saw my cock tenting my shorts.

“You want the truth?” Theresa asked.

“Always,” I said.

“I wanted to be reckless.”

“You’re out here naked in the sun because you wanted to be reckless?”

“Yes.”

I chuckled and shook my head as her body scooted closer to mine.

“Then you got it,” I said. “Because me being alone with you is completely reckless.”

My eyes fell to hers as she crawled closer to my body. I wanted to dirty her up in every way possible. Muss up her hair and fuck her against the creek and slip into the water with her and take her the way she deserved. But I kept my hands planted into the ground. Even as she put her hands by my hips and knelt to sit eye-level with me, I kept myself under control.

I kept the animal inside caged.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” I said. “Anyone could’ve walked by.”

“Hardly anyone knows about this place.”

“Hollis does. And you know he would’ve killed you if he’d seen you the way I’m seeing you now.”

“Maybe it’s time I stopped letting Hollis and my father control who I should be.”

“It isn’t a matter of who you should be. It’s a matter of you staying safe.”

“And you think you can keep me safe?” she asked.

I know I can keep you safe.

“Like I said, anyone could’ve walked this way.”

“What? Should I be worried about the big, bad wolf?”

Images bombarded my mind. Scenes of Theresa in nothing but red lace and tied down to a bed. Spread for me and ready to feast. I felt a wolfish grin cross my cheeks as electricity sparked behind her eyes. Images of kicking up dirt as I pounded into her body assaulted my mind. Blinding me to the throbbing of my cock as her hands fell to my chest. It was killing me, not touching her. She was killing me. My mind raced with want for her as her tits swung dangerously close to my chest.

I wouldn’t be strong enough to resist her if she pressed into me.

I wouldn’t be strong enough to keep the animal caged if she let me take her.

I was ready to devour her. I closed my eyes and saw myself dipping between her thighs. Ripping that damned red lace off her body and swallowing down her sweet juices. I saw myself nibbling on her tits until they were covered in my marks. Mine. Mine. Mine. I chanted it as I slammed into her. Filling her with my cock as she wiggled and writhed against the red leather ties that bound her to my bed.

To my body.

To my heart.

I opened my eyes as my heart slammed hard against my rib cage.

“Seriously Theresa, it really wasn’t a good idea for you to be out here alone like this,” I said.

“You really know how to ruin the moment, don’t you?” Theresa asked.

She groaned and rolled her eyes as the moment dissipated. She sat back on her heels before she turned her back to me. She curled her knees up to her chest and placed her chin on top of them, and I felt frustration welling inside of me. My cock was aching, and my balls were hanging low with the need to release. My entire body was screaming at me to wrap my arms around her. Take what was mine and leave her breathless and sweating and covered in my cum. I shook my head as she sighed heavily, and I stood up just to put a little more distance between the two of us.

“Some fun you are,” she murmured.

“Your brother won’t see it that way if he comes looking for me,” I said.

She snickered and shook her head as she reached for her tank top. She pulled it back over her head, her movements telling of the anger she felt at the situation. I was angry, too. I wanted her. I wanted her more than I had ever wanted any woman in my life, and I couldn’t have her. Shouldn’t have her. I backed up from the towel as she pulled herself up, picking the fabric up from the ground before snatching the bottle of wine.

“Believe it or not, Grant, I can take care of myself.”

I watched her take another long pull from the wine bottle before she bent down to grab her phone.

“Are you driving?” I asked.

“Why the hell do you care?”

“Because you’re Hollis’ sister and I don’t want anything happening to you.”

That was why I’d fucking come to town in the first damn place.

“Really?” Theresa asked as she spun around. “Is that why you care? That’s the only reason? Because I’m Hollis’ sister?”

Her eyes were heated, heavy with anger as her chest heaved. She was gripping everything tightly in her hands, white-knuckling them and threatening to shatter the glass bottle in her palm. I shoved my hands into my pockets, forcing myself not to reach out for her and pull her into me, press my lips to hers, strip her of the measly fabric that clung to her body and cover her in a sweat-drenched tirade of wolfish desire.

But instead, I bit down on my tongue to keep from answering.

Her look turned from anger to sadness and it nearly broke me.

She turned away from me, and I couldn’t take it any longer. I reached out and grabbed her arm. I spun her around back into my arms, and she squealed, her body pressing heavily against mine. She looked up at me from underneath those long eyelashes, and I felt my heart skip a beat.

What the hell had this woman done to me?”

“I’m worried about you,” I said. “That’s all.”

And as quickly as it had switched the first time, her innocent doe eyes narrowed to slits as she pushed me away.

“I’m a big girl, and I can take care of myself. I don’t need you, or my father, or Hollis trying to map out and manipulate my every move,” she said.

“This isn’t about trying to control you, Theresa.”

“It is. It’s always been about that. My father expected something of me and did whatever he could to get it. He expected his daughter to go to school, get a business degree, and come work for him. And that was what I did because I wasn’t given any other choice. He threw you out of the house because he thought you were a distraction, right?”

I clenched down onto my teeth to keep from confirming her question.

“Right? My father threw you out because he thought we were fooling around and that it would somehow ruin my chances of getting into college, didn’t he? And it’s insane, you know that? That my father had blatantly manipulated the situation because he thought he knew what was best for me.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and I felt anger bubbling in my gut.

“And Hollis is no damn better. Telling me who I should and shouldn’t date. Wanting me to move in with him because he thinks I’m not capable of taking care of myself. I’m twenty-six goddamn years old!” she railed.

I bit down onto the inside of my cheek to keep from telling her that her own actions were what made Hollis feel that way. That if she hadn’t wasted eight years of her life on a verbally abusive and controlling asshole, Hollis wouldn’t think she needed saving. None of us would.

“But you?” she asked with a harsh laugh. “You, the man with the tattoos and the terrible home life and the business that’s all your own. You, who got everything you have now by breaking the rules and living life by your own means and on your own dime. You come out here and tell me I shouldn’t be out here exploring the reckless abandon I feel so deeply in my body waiting to burst out and claim a life I never got a chance to lead. And you try to frame it in the context of you giving a shit about me? If you cared so much, why did you stay away so long?”

Tears began streaming down her cheeks. Her words were like a punch to my chest. I did give a shit about her, more than she knew. I saw a strong woman struggling in front of my eyes, and I wanted to make it better. I thought that if I’d come into town and helped her get away from Ike that, somehow, it would make things better.

But it had made things worse. And I realized now that she felt I’d abandoned her. The thought of it nearly took my breath away.

“Don’t do it,” Theresa said. “Not you. I can’t—I can’t handle it from you. I’m used to it from everyone else. But not you, Grant.”

I watched her turn on her heels as she began to walk across the clearing. I resisted the monumental urge to run after her. I’d been looking at this entire process through a very biased lens. I thought Ike was the issue. I thought Ike was the reason Theresa had retreated into this pathetic shell of an existence. But all of this had started long before Ike came along. Her formative years that were supposed to be spent struggling to find a balance between what was expected of her and what she wanted from herself were instead used by others to manipulate her into what they felt she needed to be.

And in some ways, I had been no different.

Ike wasn’t good for her, and I’d never apologize for intervening the way I did. But it was manipulative, and it was me assuming I knew what was best for her instead of her deciding on her own. But she’d been with that bastard for years, and I wasn’t sure if she’d ever have left on her own.

I wasn’t sure of anything any longer.

I watched her walk into the woods, and she didn’t even bother to look back. She was angry and hurt, and with good reason. The sun was slowly beginning to set, and a chill was creeping in from the creek behind me. If Hollis saw Theresa walking out of the woods with me following, it would only make things worse.

So, I hung around until it got dark before I headed back to the house.