“Smart choice. May I carry that for you?”
Pepper considered his offer for a moment before dumping the large paper sack into his arms. “Yep, thanks.”
“Do you need help putting those blinds up? I could come over and do it for you.”
Pepper had no idea how hard it would be to hang mini-blinds, but she was certain she would figure it out without his assistance. “I would say that was sweet of you to offer, but I know better, so no thanks. Even if hanging them up was akin to building a nuclear warhead, I still wouldn’t call you for help.”
Grant shifted the bag into his left arm and placed a hand dramatically over his chest. “You wound me, Pepper, you really do. I’m only trying to be nice. Just because there’s a chance we might get naked when we’re finished hanging the blinds doesn’t mean it isn’t an altruistic offer.”
“Yes, I’m sure you and Mother Teresa are besties.”
“We text all the time,” Grant said with a wide smile.
Pepper looked at him with a blank expression on her face. “She’s dead, Grant.”
“I know that. It was a joke. Come on, you know I’ll get in your house eventually, Pepper.” He stopped on the sidewalk to consider his words, and then held up his hand. “Okay, that sounded creepy. I meant that one day, you’ll invite me over.”
“Not unless my house is on fire.” It would take a hell of a lot of work before anyone was setting foot in her house, much less a Chamberlain.
“I can wait for a formal invitation that doesn’t require your house burning down.” He smiled, not letting her awkward rebuff get him down. “So, did you hear Ivy’s coming into town tomorrow?”
“Yes.” Pepper pulled out her car keys and unlocked the hatch of her lit
tle red SUV. She waited while Grant loaded her things into the back and slammed it closed. When she turned, Grant was far closer than he needed to be. “Take a step back, Grant.”
He did as she asked, albeit reluctantly. “What’s the matter, Pep? Afraid that if you get too close to me, you might fall prey to my charms again?”
“You hush about that,” she warned with a manicured finger jabbing him in the hard wall of his chest. “You haven’t told anyone, have you?”
His full lips twisted into an amused smile. “Not a soul. That experience was far too sweet to share. I want you all to myself.”
“You’re not going to get me all to yourself. You’ve got to stop pursuing me like this, Grant. People are going to talk.” He crossed his forearms over his chest, the hard muscles dancing beneath his tanned skin. “People already know I’ve been chasing after you for years.”
“Like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner,” Pepper snapped.
“Yeah,” he leaned in to whisper the last part in her ear. “But what they don’t know is that the coyote caught that roadrunner once. And it was good enough for him to want to keep chasing her.”
His hoarse whisper and warm breath on her neck sent a shiver down her spine. She drew in a nervous breath that was heavy with his cologne and felt her body slowly betraying her.
There were many reasons why she would never return to Grant’s bed, and this was one of them. She couldn’t control herself around him. When his hands were on her body, she turned into a wanton woman. She wouldn’t, couldn’t allow that to happen again.
If her mother taught her nothing else growing up, it was that the Chamberlain men were not to be trusted. Every single one of them—from Norman Chamberlain in his fifties to Simon, who was just recently old enough to drink—was just out to use her for sex. And when they were done with her, she’d be tossed aside.
That was the thought that stuck with her from her teen years on. When Grant first asked her out in high school, she’d immediately shut that down. Fast-forward ten years and she wasn’t quite as resistant. Her mother would never know that she did give in, just once. And when she did, she made sure it was on her own terms. They went to his place and she was out the door before dawn, making sure that Grant was the one who woke up feeling used for once.
She’d used up every last drop of him. If that was the only taste of him she’d ever get, she had to make it last. Unfortunately, it couldn’t fade into a sweet memory because Grant kept pursuing her.
“Just because you chase me, doesn’t mean you’re going to get me. Ever again. Seriously, Grant. Go chase after another one of your disposable girlfriends and leave me alone.”
Grant planted one hand on the back window of her car and leaned in to her again. He captured a lock of her bright red hair and ran it between his thumb and forefinger to the tips, letting it fall back against her collarbone. “If I believed a word you said,” Grant said, pinning her in place with the intensity of his gaze, “I’d walk away and never bother you again. But your body gives you away, Pepper. That night we spent together was no joke. You can act like it was nothing, but you and I both know the truth.”
Pepper took a ragged breath and stumbled to the side to get out of his gravitational pull. She hated that Grant had the ability to see so much. Her protests were more hollow than she’d like. It had been amazing sex. Earth-shattering, mind-blowing sex. Every night when she lay alone in her bed, she thought about that night. But she wasn’t going to let him know that. He could suspect all he wanted, but she wasn’t about to confirm it. His head was already too big to fit through some smaller doors.
And besides that, when she diminished the intensity of their encounter, he got agitated. She had to take her kicks where she could get them. “It was just sex, Grant. Decent sex, but just sex. You’ve conquered Mount Pepper. Congratulations. Now it’s time to move on to the next challenge. Maybe some young, stupid girl will bid on you at the bachelor auction.”
Grant feigned a hurt expression. “You mean you’re not going to bid on me? I’m disappointed.”
“Grant, I wouldn’t bid on you if I was a millionaire in desperate need of a tax deduction.”