He hadn’t been expecting that. The night they spent together was amazing. The only thing it inspired for him to get back was her, in his bed. “Why would I want to get back at you?”
“For beating you at your own game. Turning the tables. Letting you wake up alone for the first time. You could’ve felt used or irritated that I left, especially when I wouldn’t see you again. Dating me just so you could drop me is a real possibility.”
“Wow,” Grant said. She really did think poorly of his family. Just a bunch of stuck-up, womanizing bastards.
“You said to be honest,” she added when she heard his stunned reaction.
“I know, and thank you. To extend the same courtesy to you, yes, I was a little thrown off by your quick departure. But at the same time, I was intrigued. You were like Cinderella, running from the ball at midnight, and I was the determined prince tracking you down. Although, unlike Cinderella, you didn’t want to be tracked. But I liked that, too.”
Pepper’s brow shot up curiously. “You liked that I rejected you?”
“More that I liked the challenge. I don’t have to tell you that I usually get my way. For years, you’ve been the exception, and I knew you were unlike all the other women in town. And from the day you crept out of my bed to the day you pepper sprayed me, you’ve been on my mind. You didn’t seem to want me, at least not publicly. As twisted as it may sound, it made me want you desperately. Having you in my bed didn’t change that the way I expected it to. It just made me want you more, but you were gone. I could still taste you on my tongue. I could hear your passionate cries in my silent, still bedroom.”
Grant spoke the words lowly so no one nearby could hear them but her. Even then, anyone nearby could guess what he was saying by the red flush of her cheeks and the twinkle of desire in her eyes.
“Really?” she asked, near breathless.
“Really. You’re an unforgettable woman, Pepper. If I were to just use you and cast you aside, I’d be a damn fool.”
They opted to get their dessert—a slab of Death by Chocolate cake for two—to go, to eat back at her house. Once the bill was paid and the last of the wine consumed, they scooped up the to-go box and rushed home.
“It’s amazing how different your place looks,” Grant said when they stepped inside.
It was true. Once the back bedrooms were painted and the furniture could be moved in, things really started falling into place. She’d spent half of today putting things away in closets and hanging pictures, and the other half trying to decide what she was going to wear tonight. Judging by Grant’s appreciative gaze as it roamed over her body, and over the house, he approved of all her handiwork.
“It certainly seems bigger when I’m not living in the livbedoset.”
“The what?”
Pepper smiled. “That’s what I called the living room, because it was combined with my bedroom and closet. Now that it’s back to being just a living room, I should stop calling it that.” The bedroom furniture and all her clothes were in one bedroom. The boxes and items she had stored in the dining room were in the extra bedroom for now. She wasn’t sure what she would do with the other space, but she had time to figure it out now that she had an actual dining room and living room to sit in and think.
Pepper set her purse down on the coffee table and slipped out of her jacket. “Dinner was great, Grant. Thank you for taking me.”
Grant approached her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I assure you the pleasure was all mine. I think we both deserved a night like tonight after all our hard work.”
She ran her hands over the soft fabric of his suit coat and pushed it over his shoulders. It slipped down to his hands and he laid it gently across the arm of the couch. “You’ve done so much for me this week, Grant. I’ve been racking my brain all day trying to figure out how to make it up to you.”
Grant’s blue eyes focused on hers. He swallowed hard, the muscles of his throat working up and down. “You paid a lot of money for my company.”
Pepper reached for his tie and loosened it, tugging it off. Her fingers moved nimbly down the front of his shirt, undoing each button until she reached his belt. “I didn’t pay you. I paid the Tornado Fund. You didn’t see a penny of it.”
“It was for a good cause,” he said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as her fingers unfastened his belt.
“It was,” Pepper agreed. “And you’re a good man for volunteering. I think you deserve a reward for that, don’t you?” Pepper slipped her hand into his pants and stroked the bulge straining against his briefs.
Grant didn’t agree or disagree, he just groaned. With her other hand, she unzipped the fly of his pants to give herself better access. His suit pants slipped down his thighs, revealing the black briefs he had on underneath.
Kicking out of her heels, she slipped to the floo
r in front of him. She tugged down his underwear, exposing the hard length of Grant’s desire. Her fingers immediately closed around him, sending a shudder through Grant’s whole body.
“So I thought and thought about what you might like,” she said, slowly stroking him as she spoke. “Finally, I came up with an idea I think you’ll appreciate.”
“I’m sure I will,” Grant managed between tightly gritted teeth.
Pepper didn’t respond. Instead, she flicked her tongue over the tip of him. Grant hissed, encouraging her to do it again. She moved to the base, running her tongue along the underside before slipping him into her mouth.
“Pepper,” he groaned.