Twice Tempted (9 page)
Authors: Elizabeth Kelly
“Stop moving.” He growled into her ear.
She ignored him and stomped on the top of
one boot-clad foot with her bare heel.
He barely felt it but she winced with
pain. “Goddammit!” She shouted.
“I said stop!” He growled again and
squeezed her slender body with his powerful arms.
“I can’t breathe.” She wheezed.
“Stop moving and I’ll loosen my grip.” He
promised.
She tensed and then relaxed against him.
He cautiously loosened his arms around her but kept his hands wrapped tightly
around her wrists.
She took a few deep breaths and then
twisted her head to glare up at him. “What do you want? If you’re breaking in
to steal money, you’re out of luck. I don’t have any.”
“I’m not – “
“And if it’s something else you want,” she
swallowed hard and tensed against him, “I’ll kill you before I let you touch
me.”
“I’m not a thief and trust me – you’re not
my type.” He said dryly. She relaxed slightly, her breathing harsh and loud
in the silence.
“I want you to tell me what you’re doing
here.” He demanded. “Who are you and why are you living in my home?”
“Your home?” She sputtered. She craned
her neck to stare up at him again. “This is my home and you’re breaking in to
it. I swear to God, the minute I get free I’m going to kick your ass and then
have you arrested for breaking and entering.”
He stared down at her, amused despite
himself. The girl was barely over five feet and so slender that if she weighed
over 100 pounds he would have been shocked. The fact that she had even tried
to take him on and was now threatening him was more than amusing. The corners
of his lips turned up and she scowled at him.
“I’m tougher than I look you asshole.” She
hissed. She began to struggle again and he immediately tightened his arms
around her once more.
“Let go of me!” She wheezed angrily. He
shook his head, staring down into her upturned face, watching as her eyes
darkened with anger and something else.
She really wasn’t his type, he thought
hazily. He preferred his woman tall with dark hair and dark eyes and plenty of
curves. Soft, round bottoms and large firm breasts that filled and overflowed
in his hands. That’s what he was attracted to and always had been.
The woman in his arms was small and blonde
and although the towel was still wrapped around her, it had loosened enough for
him to see the slight swell of her small breasts. She was a B cup if she was
lucky. She had obviously just come from the shower and her shoulder-length
blonde hair was damp and incredibly curly. She smelled like some type of
exotic fruit and her skin was so pale it was nearly translucent. Despite her
threats, her tiny body was obviously no match for his large one. Still, he
admired her fierceness and determination and he gave her a thin smile.
“Stop struggling and I’ll let you go.”
Snorting like an angry horse, she glared at
him once more before relaxing.
“Tell me your name and why you’re in my
grandmother’s home.”
She stiffened against him and squinted up
at him. “Oh my God – you’re Grayson.”
He blinked at her in surprise. “How do you
know my name?”
When she didn’t answer he released her,
turning her swiftly and holding her wrists in one large hand. He slipped his
hand under the mass of curls at the nape of her neck, cupped the back of it and
squeezed it roughly. “Where’s GG? Have you hurt her?”
She winced as his hand tightened painfully
around her wrists. “No I haven’t hurt GG!”
She glared at him. “I rent this place from
her.”
“Where is my grandmother?” He demanded again.
Despite his worry for his grandmother, he couldn’t help but notice how full her
lips were and how soft the skin on the back of her neck felt under his hand.
He wondered briefly if the rest of her skin was as soft and he looked down at
her slender body. He paused at the hem of her towel and then stared at her
pale legs.
She immediately squeezed her thighs
together and glowered at him. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” He muttered. “I
told you – you’re not my type.”
She pulled at his hand that still held her
wrists captive. “Let go of me.”
“Tell me where GG is first.”
“She’s at dinner with Alex.” She said.
“She always has dinner with Alex on Saturday nights. She should be home any
time now.”
He continued to hold her captive for a
moment, his head cocked to the side as he stared at her. She looked familiar
to him and he tried to place where he knew her from. As he stared at the mass
of curly blonde hair, a faint memory started to surface in his brain. Before
it could fully form she was pulling irritably against his hand again.
“Let me go you big lug.”
He grinned a little and released her. She
stepped away from him, rubbing her wrists before readjusting her towel.
“What’s your name?”
“Sydney. I’ve rented this place from GG
for the last 10 months.” She said shortly.
“I’m sorry. She never told me she had
rented the place out. I thought you were a – “
The rough sound of an engine interrupted
him and she nodded towards the door. “That will be GG.”
He nodded but continued to stare at her.
She sighed. “Do you mind? I need to get ready for work. I’m going to be late
thanks to you.”
“Right, sorry.” He left the room.
* * *
“You’re late girl.” Belinda grinned at
her.
“I know, I know. My car was acting up
again.” Sydney hurried into the staff room and quickly opened her locker. She
hung her jacket and purse on the hook and yanked her apron from the top shelf.
She tied it around her waist and turned to Belinda.
“How do I look?”
Belinda, her dark hair sleek and shining
and her make-up impeccable as usual, looked her up and down. “Not bad. Just a
few minor adjustments needed.”
She reached out and tugged the waistband of
Sydney’s skirt up, folding the waistband under until her formerly knee length
skirt fell to the middle of her thighs. She undid the top two buttons of
Sydney’s shirt and stared critically at her small breasts.
“You bought the push-up bra.” She grinned
delightedly.
“Yeah, I did.” Sydney replied. It was a
purchase she could barely afford and she’d had to give up two meals to buy it
but if Belinda was right, it would eventually pay for itself.
“It looks great!” Belinda reached out and,
ignoring Sydney’s gasp of shock, grabbed her small breasts. “They look much
bigger and perkier.”
“Belinda, knock it off!” Sydney laughed
and shoved Belinda’s hands away.
“Trust me honey. The more skin you show,
the more you flirt, the more money you make. Especially later in the night
when the beer’s been flowing for a while.”
“Just one more touch.” Belinda said. She
reached into her locker and pulled out a small tube of lip gloss. “Hold
still.” She smoothed the gloss on to Sydney’s lips.
Sydney looked in the small magnetic mirror
on the inside of Belinda’s locker door.
“Belinda!” She protested. “It’s much too
red.”
Belinda rolled her eyes. “No it isn’t
Sydney. Trust me honey, your mouth is your best looking feature – you need to
play it up.”
She slammed her locker door shut and took
Sydney’s hand. “C’mon, we’d better get out to the bar and start serving drinks
before Wayne fires us both.”
* * *
“You look great GG.” Grayson took a gulp
of iced tea as his grandmother warmed up some soup on the stove for him.
“Thanks honey. You’re very tanned. Did
you have fun travelling?” His grandmother continued to stir the pot of soup,
stopping to taste it quickly before frowning and adding a bit more spice to it.
He shrugged. “It was a good experience.
I’m glad to be home though. I’ve missed you.”
GG smiled at him. “Why, I’ve missed you
too Grayson.”
She ladled some soup into a bowl and set it
down in front of him. “I’m sorry it’s just reheated soup. When you called
last week, you didn’t mention you’d be home today. If I had known I would have
cooked something special.”
“Soup is fine. I’ve missed your soup.”
Grayson smiled at her as she sat down heavily in the chair beside him.
“How have things been going at the farm?”
“Oh fine, fine.” She picked at the worn
wood of the table. “Derek has been a great help around this place. And I
rented out the guest house to a young woman named Sydney. She’s a little slip
of a thing but she’s been real good to me and she’s been helping me with stuff
around the house.”
She pointed to the warm yellow walls of the
kitchen. “She repainted the kitchen, my bedroom, your bedroom, and both
bathrooms this past summer in exchange for a month of free rent.”
Grayson glanced at the walls before tipping
his bowl up and drinking the rest of his soup. His grandmother gave him a
stern glance and he grinned at her. “Sorry GG. I lost some of my manners
while I was travelling.”
He stood and spooned more soup into his
bowl before sitting back down at the kitchen table. “I met Sydney earlier. I
didn’t realize you had rented out the guest house – I thought it might have
been you in there.”
He hesitated. “How did you meet Sydney?”
“Barbara Stanwick - you remember Barb from
church I imagine - introduced me to her. Sydney works two days a week at her
bookstore, and Barb knew I was thinking of renting out the guesthouse. Sydney
couldn’t afford the rent at her place and was looking for something a bit
cheaper. Barb introduced us, we got along like a house on fire, and Sydney’s
been renting the place ever since.”
Grayson reached out and took his
grandmother’s hand. “GG, why are you renting out the guesthouse? Has
something happened while I was gone? You shouldn’t need the money.”
GG shook her head. “No sweet boy, nothing
happened. It’s just – sometimes a person gets lonely. It was nice to have
another person living out here with me.”
Grayson winced a little. He had worried
about his grandmother being lonely, had even discussed it with her when he was
thinking of leaving for the year, but she had assured him she would be fine.
“I’m sorry GG.” He looked down at his bowl
of soup, feeling shame burning in his belly. “I shouldn’t have left you.”
She shook her head immediately. “Hush
child. You had to leave and both of us knew it. You’d spent 26 years in this
town – it was time you got out and saw the world.”
She hesitated and then took his hand firmly
in hers. “Frankly, I’m surprised you even came back.”
He squeezed her hand. “I would never leave
you like that GG.”
She stared at him, her brow furrowed.
“Grayson Stephen O’Reilly – tell me you did not come back here solely because
you were worried about me.”
He shook his head immediately. “No GG. I
missed you and was worried about you but it wasn’t just that. I missed the
farm, the town, hell I even missed Dawson’s.”
He stared earnestly at her. He wasn’t
saying that just to make her feel better. After 27 years of living in the same
town, he had thought he couldn’t get away from it fast enough. A year of
traveling the world had shown him that despite the bad memories of his bastard
of a father – the town, and the farm he had lived his entire life in - was the
place he was meant to be.
GG smiled at him. “There’s no place like
home.”
* * * *
“The Necessary Engagement”, the newest novel by Elizabeth
Kelly, will be available in November of 2013. Follow her on Twitter or
Facebook for updates and release date information.
If you would like more information about Elizabeth Kelly,
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