Falling for Grace (23 page)

The tears that fell down Gracie’s cheeks
were fat and big and the sob that choked from her throat tore at
Carson’s heart. “I would still be scared,” she said, barely louder
than a breath, her gaze clinging to his. “But not as much if I knew
we could be scared together.”

It was as though his heart burst then, with
all the love and tenderness he wanted to show to Gracie pouring
forth. He kissed her, and her lips tasted like a fine wine. Within
seconds, he was drunk with the thought of loving her for the rest
of his life and he kissed her again.

* * * *

Gracie knew nothing else but to finally let
go.

The touch of Carson’s lips to hers allowed
her the surrender for which she’d ached for years. It was like a
huge release, an enormous burden which had been lifted from her
shoulders and out of her mind, melting away with a whoosh as his
hands drew tenderly over her face and his lips softly caressed
hers. He whispered her name, over and over, and Gracie never wanted
him to stop.

She’d denied for so long that she possessed
incredibly deep feelings for Carson. She’d denied that she could be
in love with him. But this moment—this precise moment in time—was
the one she’d remember for her lifetime as the one where she’d
finally let it all go.

All of it. The past. Her ache for a future
with a husband and a child. Her fear of falling in love again. Her
fear of having that love snatched away.

She could finally let it go. She could
finally risk loving again. And she wanted to love Carson.

There was nothing to do but experience the
emotion that washed over the two of them. There was nothing to do
but to feel. No thinking, the thinking had all been done. What
remained for the two of them was to experience each other and to
simply explore their passion and their love.

Carson’s hand slipped underneath Gracie’s
nightshirt and she shivered as his fingers slid up her thigh and
over her hip. Raw tingles of passion snaked through her as those
same fingers gently teased their way up her waist to the tender
area just beneath one breast. He gently cupped her and Gracie
moaned and moved closer into his hand while he caressed and thumbed
her nipple.

His mouth still consumed hers, their tongues
slowly mingling and parrying with each other. Gracie simply let
Carson take the lead, weary of being the strong independent woman
she’d been for the past ten years, just wanting to absorb his
attention and his ministrations, and revel in the passionate flames
he was stoking inside of her.

For the first time in a long time, she just
wanted to feel thoroughly loved.

Her nightshirt was gone within seconds;
Carson slowly slipped it over her head and rolled her onto her
back. He covered her body with his and gazed into her eyes while he
made lazy circles with his fingertips at her temples. Gracie
reached up and touched her tongue to his lips.

Once. Twice. Then again.

The fourth time she teased with him with her
tongue, Carson grasped her face with his hands and held her to him
as he devoured her lips with his mouth, then rained kisses all over
her face.

“
Gracie,” he breathed, “I
want you to be sure. I don’t want to do anything that you’re not
ready to—”

“
Make love to me, Carson,”
she breathed back between his kisses. “I want you to make love to
me.”

He answered her desire with a groan and the
quick removal of his clothing. Gracie knew that there was no
turning back now, that once she’d succumbed to Carson’s passion,
she would have difficulty separating herself emotionally from him
should there ever come a time that she would be forced to do
that.

But she was willing to take the risk.

His warm body felt so wonderful over hers as
he covered her again, one of his legs nudging gently between her
thighs. The next seconds, minutes, hours, it seemed, were simply
filled with sensation and kisses and touches as Carson explored her
body from the tip of her nose to the valley between her breasts and
traveling further to rain kisses on her belly and lower.

He lingered between her thighs, bringing
sweet ecstasy to her there as his lips nibbled and played and his
tongue made love to her. And when Gracie could take no more of his
pleasure, she reached for him, wanting him inside her, urging his
body up and over hers.

He kissed her then with unbridled passion
and within seconds, Gracie felt him nudge her thighs further apart
and slip himself inside her body.

The length of him filled her and Gracie
exhaled deeply at the fulfillment she felt and at the sudden
serenity that overtook her soul. But she didn’t have long to revel
in that completeness for passion overtook both of them in a
frenzied whirl as the night consumed them and surrounded them with
pleasures they’d both long forgotten and possibly had never
experienced before.

Some time later, Gracie lay peacefully
content by Carson’s side, her heart and body and soul full of him,
feeling totally and completely, in love.

And she wasn’t frightened. Not at all.

They slept, and when they woke early the
next morning, they loved each other all over again.

* * * *

The next two days were total, unadulterated
bliss.

Carson and Gracie took turns working and
cleaning up each other’s shops and sleeping in each other’s beds.
They rested often, taking frequent naps throughout the day,
justifying to each other that the after-storm cleanup was zapping a
lot of their energy and that they needed frequent naps to keep up
their strength.

The thing was, their naptimes nearly always
turned into love-making time, with both being left more exhausted
after their naps than before.

But they didn’t care. They were in love. And
everything else paled in comparison.

By Saturday afternoon they were ready to
fetch Izzie from Louisville and Gracie went with Carson to get her.
Izzie didn’t say anything for a long time, but just kept looking
strangely at the two of them while they had dinner in Louisville,
when they stopped for ice cream in the way home, and then later as
they watched a movie in Carson’s apartment.

“
So, are you guys in love
or something?” she finally blurted out, turning to her
father.

Carson was surprised at the child’s
question. He and Gracie had decided that they weren’t going to say
anything to Izzie yet, just sort of let things naturally progress.
They’d avoided too much contact, not holding hands and the like,
thinking that she wouldn’t notice anything.

Obviously, Izzie was more in tune with the
both of them than either expected.

Carson glanced to Gracie, who had blushed at
Izzie’s question.

“
You know Gracie and I are
friends, Izzie.”

The child passed her gaze back and forth
between the two. “Hm.” she said. “Friends.”

She didn’t say anything else the remainder
of the evening until Carson tucked her into bed a couple of hours
later. “You can’t trick me, Dad,” she told her father. “I know
there is something going on with you two.”

Carson just smiled and pinched her cheek and
bid her goodnight without another word. A part of him wanted to
share how he felt about Gracie with his daughter. Another part of
him, the protecting part, wanted to wait. That was the nagging part
that told him to be cautious, to make sure, before involving Izzie
too deeply.

But all in all, life was good, and after
Izzie was fast asleep, he made love to Gracie in her bed before
slipping back into his own in the wee hours.

Then on Sunday morning, he woke to a phone
call that abruptly sent his world into an out-of-control downward
spiral.

Chapter Fifteen

“
Guess who’s
here!”

Izzie raced in the back
door of
Romantically Yours
Sunday afternoon, Bandit nipping at her heels.
Claire, sleeping at Gracie’s feet, barely raised an eyelid at the
pup. Gracie glanced up from her computer where she was attempting
determine the costs of the Oriental rugs and the awning that were
damaged in the storm for the insurance company. She was so used to
Izzie breezing in and out that she barely glanced up as she
searched her inventory list.

“
Who?”

“
My mother!”

“
That’s nice.” Gracie’s
gaze trailed the list. Perhaps it’s in another file, she
thought.

“
And she is so cool! She’s
got long black hair and a small tattoo on her shoulder and she
brought some movie pictures for me to look at and a new baseball
bat—I’m so glad she’s finally realized that I don’t like dolls—and
her lips are really red and her teeth are really white and she is
so beautiful and she’s staying for three whole days, maybe
longer!”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
And she and my dad look
so perfect together.”

At that statement Gracie finally looked up.
A twinge of something she couldn’t readily describe settled deep in
her belly. Something that made her a bit queasy. Something telling
her that things weren’t quite...right.

Who looked perfect together?

She looked Izzie square in the eyes. “Who
did you say is here?”

“
My mother!”

“
Your mother.” The words
barely escaped her lips. Gracie sank back in her chair and stared
at the girl. Marci was here?

“
I bet you’re excited,
huh?” The words fumbled off her tongue. Try as she might, she
couldn’t let Izzie know that she was a teensy bit upset at this
news.

“
She is so beautiful,
Gracie. And I love her so much. I hope she stays longer than three
days.”

Gracie swallowed. “And where...where is she
staying?”

“
With us!” The child
jumped up in excitement. “Well, I just had to tell you the news. I
have to get back to my dad and mom! I’m so excited! We’re a family
again!”

Her dad and mom. Family.

Izzie, as was her style, was gone in a
flash. Gracie sank lower into her chair feeling like a deflated
balloon.

She didn’t know what to do so she did
nothing.

For the remainder of the afternoon, she
stayed in the shop. Later, she holed herself up in her apartment.
This was none of her business; she’d just have to wait for Carson
to make an explanation. For him to tell her that Izzie had blown
things all out of proportion, that she’d misunderstood. That Marci
was just passing through town and would be gone within the hour.
She was sure he would do that, soon.

Any minute, probably.

Thing was, he didn’t.

It was Monday afternoon before she saw him
and that was only briefly as he and Izzie and Marci got into his
ex-wife’s car and drove away. It was late Monday evening when she
finally talked to him, although he only spoke a brief hello as he
ushered his “family” up the back stairs and into his apartment. His
gaze had lingered on her but Gracie had glanced away too quickly to
try and read his eyes. She was so confused, didn’t know what to
think. She longed for an explanation from him, but she obviously
wasn’t going to get one. She couldn’t help, though, but take in the
radiant gleam of happiness on Izzie’s face and the attractiveness
of her mother. Izzie was definitely right when she’d said her
mother was beautiful.

But the thing that bothered her most was the
fact that Marci’s little black rental sedan had sat parked all
Sunday night out back beside Carson’s Corvette. It hadn’t budged
until the entire family took it out Monday afternoon.

And apparently, neither had Marci. Both were
still there late Monday evening.

Gracie thought about the entire situation
for hours that night. By Tuesday morning, she’d made her
decision.

By noon, she’d left Franklinville.

* * * *

Izzie was ecstatic.

Carson was miserable.

And if she’d be honest with herself and
admit it, Carson knew Marci was miserable as well.

As he stared across his living room at
mother and daughter curled up on the couch together watching
television, he couldn’t help but wonder why he’d not seen through
Marci years earlier. Izzie was chattering away, informing her
mother of the antics of her favorite cartoon characters. Marci
listened intently, asking this question and that, laughing and
smiling.

Acting all the while.

Marci was definitely in her element. She’d
been an actress since birth. She was no more comfortable with the
“mom” scenario than he’d be on a stage.

He just hoped sooner or later his daughter
would see though Marci’s performance.

Suddenly, he missed Gracie like crazy. He so
much enjoyed the genuine laughter she and his daughter shared. He
loved the way Gracie ruffled Izzie’a bangs and crouched down to get
on her level when she talked to her. He adored the fact that Gracie
adored his daughter.

He missed her. And it was high time he told
her what was going on. He should have before this.

Rising, he told the pair on the couch that
he needed to go downstairs for a few minutes. Instead, he slipped
out in the hallway and gently rapped on Gracie’s door. After a
while and no answer, he realized it was Tuesday and that she’d be
at the shop.

But the back shop door was locked. The front
door as well. The thing that sent shivers of dread deep into his
gut was the sign on the front door that read, “Closed
Indefinitely.”

It was then he feared he’d screwed up.
Royally.

* * * *

On Thursday morning Carson
walked into
Amie’s Place
loaded for bear. He’d had just about enough of
Amie and Constance and all the others directly avoiding his queries
about where Gracie had gone, and he was out for some
answers.