CHAPTER 26
GRANT

I couldn’t believe I’d admitted that to her. It was insane how special Theresa made me feel. She made me feel alive, important. Like I had something to provide and contribute. I had been a bratty little kid who had lied, cheated, and stolen to get by until I’d fallen into construction. To many people, I was a brainless idiot who was always angry but Theresa saw me as something much better than that.

I threaded my fingers through her hair and massaged her scalp. I could feel her heat radiating against my body. Her legs were straddling me as her face nuzzled into my neck. I was staring out over the ocean while holding my most precious gift against my chest. I slid my hand up her leg, wrapped my arm around her and pulled her closer, and she willingly melted into me.

I was never going to get used to that feeling.

I tangled my hand in her hair and brought her face to meet mine before my lips connected with hers. But it wasn’t the loving, tender kiss I’d given her before. It was urgent. Passionate. My tongue licked her lips and demanded entrance, and she gave it to me without hesitation. Her head tilted off to the side and fell right into the palm of my hand. Her hair fell around our faces, hiding us from the world as our tongues danced. My cock was growing, throbbing and coming to life as she rolled her hips into my body.

She wanted to leave the past behind last night.

And now it was my turn.

With each stroke of my tongue against the roof of her mouth, I buried the past. I left the angry, lonely eighteen-year-old where he needed to be and allowed myself to be the strong, successful man I’d become. My hands fell to Theresa’s ass, and I cupped her luxurious cheeks before I hoisted her into the air. She giggled into my lips. A sweet, sensual tune as the sheet began to fall from her body. I felt her naked breasts swinging against me as her hands raked through my hair.

I sat her on the edge of the railing and slid my hand up to palm her fleshy globe.

“Give me one more day,” I said. “One more day before reality has to intrude on us. One more perfect day with you, Theresa, and wherever we go from here? I’ll accept it.”

My eyes whipped up to hers as my thumb danced over her engorged nipple. I watched her eyes flutter closed as her head leaned back. I kissed her neck, nipping at the milky skin that blended in with the sand below. There was nothing, no one except the two of us. No sounds except her moans and the crashing of the waves against the sandy shoreline. I reached down with my tongue and lapped at her puckered nipples, feeling her shiver against me as I held her close.

“Just one more,” I whispered. “Give me that.”

“Okay,” she said. “One more day.”

I crashed our lips together as she tightened her legs around me. I picked her up from the railing and walked her back inside. My knees hit the edge of the bed, and we went tumbling as the breeze from the ocean poured through the open balcony door. I unraveled her from the bedsheet and took stock of my prize. A present wrapped solely for me and only there for my eyes to behold. I slipped between her legs and kissed down her chest.

We spent the entire day in bed, wound around one another, sharing endless amounts of ecstasy. She was my breakfast, my lunch, and my dinner. I kissed every part of her, drank every ounce of her, kissed her and fucked her and pinned her until her body ached for me to stop. I was insatiable.

When I came to early the next day, our bodies were a tangled mess of limbs. Theresa’s face smashed into my neck and her leg tossed over my waist. My arm crooked underneath her neck and my legs were spread, accommodating the whole of her as she had slowly climbed into my lap as she slept. The balcony door was still open, and the morning sounds of the crashing ocean waves filled the hotel room with a salted chill. I pulled the covers closer to our bodies and ran my fingers through Theresa’s hair until she stirred.

I sighed, thinking about all the things I would have to return to.

Boston held my life and my company, and they would need me eventually. Even though Matt and I had an agreement that allowed me to stay until further notice, that still meant I had to go back at some point. But would Theresa come with me when all was said and done?

I didn’t want her to have to face her dad and her brother. She was strong, but I didn’t like the temperament of Hollis or her father in the hospital. I knew they thought they were looking out for her, but they couldn’t see that they were just trying to control her like Ike had. Maybe they weren’t abusive and didn’t have ill intent, but they were controlling nonetheless. Theresa was showing me she was strong but it felt wrong to leave her to handle it by herself. I wanted to be there for her if things went south, to stand in her corner and pipe up when they tried to railroad her. She didn’t deserve that kind of treatment from them any longer. She’d lived under people’s thumbs long enough.

But if I went against her wishes and stayed, I’d be no better than them in her eyes.

I wished life was simpler. I wished life could be like the hotel room we were lying in. Where we fucked as much as we wanted, ate food we didn’t have to prepare for ourselves, and woke up naked beside one another to the sounds of the ocean outside. I wanted to whisk her away and be irresponsible together; buy a cabin in the woods or a mountain-top home and be snowed in with her for months. I wanted to tell her she could leave the pathetic receptionist job she was working and come with me. We could travel and indulge in whatever reckless adventures she wanted to. I would give her anything. And everything.

But once I was gone back to Boston, would she realize that I had been her reckless adventure? That sleeping with me and defying her father and pissing off her big brother had been enough? Would she really leave the security of her job, her best friend, and the only town she’d ever known, just to be with me? Could I ever really give her all that she needed?

The thought that she might come to realize that she didn’t really want to be with me caused an ache in my chest that grew in intensity every time I breathed. I didn’t want to leave her, I wanted to stay and plead my case. But that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted me to go home and let her deal with her family however she needed to. On her own terms. On her own. Period. I looked over at the clock and saw it was already ten in the morning. Theresa was still fast asleep against me, but I knew she would want to get up and get out of there. My hand slid from her hair to her back, and I massaged her muscles until she slowly rose from her slumber. She grunted and stretched, her body pressed dangerously close to mine as she gripped me tightly, and I watched as her eyes slowly opened.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Ten,” I said.

“Wow. I can’t believe I slept that long.”

“I can,” I said, grinning.

She playfully slapped my chest before running her fingertips down the divot of my muscles.

“I need to go get cleaned up.”

“We both do,” I said. “But you can go first.”

“You sure?”

I leaned my head over to hers and kissed the top of it before I sat up.

“Yep. I’m sure. You first, then me.”

I turned around and watched as her beautifully naked body sauntered to the bathroom. Her skin held several new marks, but none of them were left in anger or violence. They’d been left in lust, in passion, in love.

I got up and shut the balcony door, but not before I took one last whiff of the salted air. Theresa was humming in the shower, completely oblivious to the tension filling the room. Or maybe that was her way of attempting to dissipate it. I didn’t know. But the longer her shower dragged on, the quicker I wanted to get out of there.

It was easier to rip off a band-aid than it was to slowly peel it back.

I hopped into the shower after her and was in there less than five minutes. I washed up quickly then toweled off my hair and got dressed so I could get the fuck out of there. I wasn’t good with goodbyes. I didn’t like them at all. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Theresa. I wanted to pack up her things and take her with me. I wanted to be by her side forever.

But I had to play this her way or it would get me nowhere.