“I think I might be a sex addict, Gracie.”
Grace choked on her sip of coffee before wiping her mouth with her napkin. “Honey, you’re not.”
“I might be,” Kira said.
“You had sex for the first time on Friday. It’s now Monday. You’re not a sex addict,” Grace said.
Kira glanced around the crowded coffee shop and lowered her voice. “Connor and I did nothing all weekend but have sex. My thighs hurt so much I could barely walk this morning. At work today, Rose asked me why I was limping, and I didn’t know what to tell her. I just went bright red, mumbled something about a yoga accident and ran away. Well… limped away.”
Gracie grinned at her. “How’s your hoo-hah?”
“A little tender,” Kira admitted. “But not enough to make me stop. Connor said we should take a break last night but the minute we got into bed… we were all over each other.”
“That’s normal,” Grace said. “You’re not a sex addict.”
“Are you sure?”
Grace nodded. “I’m really happy for you, honey.”
“Thanks,” Kira said. “Sex with Connor is amazing.”
“How’s his knee holding up?” Grace asked.
“It’s actually getting better every day. We’re careful not to reinjure it. We’ve only had sex with me on top.” Kira sipped at her coffee. “I like being on top and Connor likes it too, but I also can’t wait to try different positions.”
“Variety is the spice of life,” Grace said with a laugh. “Although, I talked to Connor this morning at work and he was in a damn good mood. I see he ditched the crutches for a cane.”
“Yes. He only did a half day, but I called him at lunch, and he said it went well. He can put weight on his leg using the cane and Grant apparently ordered this special kind of stool for him that raises high enough for him to sit while he’s looking at patient’s teeth.”
“Yeah, he was using it on the cavity filling this morning,” Grace said. “It’s good that he could come back to work so soon.”
“It really is,” Kira replied. “I know Connor was worried about letting Grant down, but he’s been very understanding.”
“So, now that you’re dating for real, are you more nervous or less nervous about attending his cousin’s wedding with him?” Grace asked.
“More, I think,” Kira said. “I want to make a good impression on his parents, you know?”
“What about his ex?” Grace said.
“I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’m not worried that Connor is still in love with her or anything, but I don’t know why they broke up.”
“Connor didn’t tell you?” Grace said.
“No. I asked when we were first fake dating and he made it clear he wouldn’t talk about it with me.”
“But you’re actually dating now. Shouldn’t that be something he shares?”
“Is it any of my business though? They’re over and I’m assuming it was messy and painful which is why Connor won’t talk about it. I won’t push him about it.”
“Well,” Grace took another sip of coffee, “you’re a better girlfriend than me. I’d be dying to know the details. Hell, I am dying to know and he’s not even my boyfriend.”
“I think in a few more months, he’ll tell me. Connor takes a while to open up and I want to respect that. Not everyone can be an over sharer like me,” Kira said with a small smile.
She glanced at her phone. “Half an hour until my showing. Can you believe I’m showing a house tonight? Two weeks ago, I couldn’t find a client if my life depended on it. This morning, I had three different people call and ask me to show them some houses.”
“That’s awesome, Kira.”
“Thanks. Can you keep hanging out with me or do you want to go home to bed?” she asked.
“It’s only six,” Grace said.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look exhausted,” Kira said. “Are you not sleeping again?”
Grace stared at her coffee cup. “My old friend insomnia might be knocking at the door.”
“Oh, honey.” Kira reached out and squeezed her hand. “Did you take your medication for it?”
“You know I hate taking it. It makes me sluggish and slow and it doesn’t feel like real sleep anyway.”
“When was the last time you got a good night’s sleep?”
“I don’t remember,” Grace admitted. “I slept a couple hours last night at least.”
“Well, you should go home and have a hot bath and do your relaxation techniques,” Kira said. “You don’t need to stay here with me.”
“I want to be here,” Grace said. “Besides, none of that has been working, so what’s the point? I might as well do something productive like sit in the coffee shop and discuss my best friend’s sex life.”
Kira laughed and pulled her phone out of her purse when it rang. “Hey, Gideon. What’s up?”
She listened for a few minutes and then said, “I’m sorry, I can’t. I have a showing in like half an hour. Yeah, another one. Thanks, I’m really excited too. But I feel bad for poor Tank.”
She glanced at Grace. “Grace is here with me, I bet she’d be happy to stop at your place and feed Tank. What? No, she heard me… just wait a minute.”
She smiled at her best friend. “Gideon is working late. Would you mind stopping at his place and letting Tank out and feeding him? Maybe hang out with him for an hour or so?”
Grace crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t have a key to his place.”
“I’ll give you mine,” Kira said. “Please, Gracie? Poor Tank has been in the house all day. He’s hungry and he’s gotta pee.”
“Yeah, fine, okay. I’ll go,” Grace said.
“Great!” Kira smiled happily at her before saying into the phone, “Gideon? Grace is gonna check on Tank. I’ll give her my key to your place, okay? What? No, don’t be silly. She doesn’t mind. Why would she mind? Listen, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
She ended the call and dug her keys out of her purse, taking off one of them and handing it to Grace. “This is Gideon’s house key. Tank’s food is in the pantry, lower shelf. He gets five cups of dry food. Just let him out into the backyard to pee, you don’t have to take him for a walk or anything. Okay?”
“Okay,” Grace said. She rubbed delicately at her temples and Kira gave her a guilty look.
“I’m sorry, are you sure you don’t mind doing this? I know you’re really tired.”
“No, it’s fine. Tank needs to be let out and it’s not like I’m going to sleep anyway, right?” Grace took the key from her. “Good luck at your showing, text me and let me know how it goes.”
* * *
She was in Gideon’s house. No big deal. She’d been in his house before. Sure, it was always with Kira, but so what? Gideon knew she was here. It wasn’t like she was sneaking in or spying on him or something.
She opened the back door and looked for Tank. She rubbed her thigh where the flesh still stung. The minute she’d stepped into Gideon’s house, Tank had come flying toward her. She’d gotten him to sit before he could knock her over, but as she was leading him to the back door, his madly-wagging tail had whacked her a few times on the thigh. She’d be lucky if she didn’t have a bruise tomorrow.
Tank was sniffing the fence line along the back of the yard and she called his name. He snapped his head up, his big goofy grin making her smile as his wagging tail thudded out a booming rhythm against the fence.
“C’mon, big guy,” she said. “Time to eat.”
The big dog bounded across the yard and straight into the house, knocking her against the wall as he rushed past her. She followed him to the kitchen where he was already sitting next to his dog dish by the pantry door, his tongue lolling from his mouth.
She measured out the five cups of dog food, it filled the bowl to the brim, and set it in front of him. He stared at her, his tail thumping against the floor and she made a go on motion. “Eat, Tank.”
He chuffed happily and stuck his face in his food dish. She left the kitchen and walked past the living room and down the narrow hallway to the first door on the right. It was Gideon’s office and she studied his pin-neat desk, the books arranged by size and colour in his bookshelf, and the certificates that lined the wall behind his desk.
She liked her place tidy, but Gideon was a total neat-freak. How he kept his place so clean with a giant, slobbery, hairy dog, she’d never know.
The door on the left was a half-bath. She used it and washed her hands before hesitating at the bottom of the stairs. She could hear Tank still crunching away and she climbed the stairs, walking past the guest room that was actually a home gym, and the guest bathroom before stopping at the end of the hallway.
Gideon’s bedroom door was closed, and she cast a guilty look behind her before opening the door and stepping inside. Her gaze was immediately glued to the king size bed centered between the two windows on the far wall. Although his bedroom was as neat and tidy as the rest of his house, he, weirdly, hadn’t made his bed.
She stared for a long time at his unmade bed before walking slowly toward it. She sat down on the side of the bed, staring at the door to the master bathroom before kicking off her shoes and lying in his bed.
Gracie! What are you doing?
She turned her head and buried her face into his pillow, inhaling deeply. It smelled like him and her pussy immediately went wet. She clamped her legs together, resisting the urge to shove her hand down her pants, and inhaled again.
She turned on her side and reached down to grab the covers, pulling them up to her shoulders and burying her face in his pillow again.
Oh my god, Grace. Get out of his bed. Right now. Have you lost your damn mind?
She yawned and closed her eyes. It was so nice to be in his bed. It was stupidly comfortable, and Gideon’s scent was oddly relaxing. She yawned again, tucking her hand under his pillow and wiggling into a more comfortable position.
For the first time in days, she felt sleepy. Hell, she was more than just sleepy. Her eyelids felt like they had bricks weighing them down and every muscle in her body felt as rubbery as a noodle.
She would just have a short nap. Gideon wouldn’t be home for a few hours. She’d nap for an hour or so and then go home. He’d never know she was a weirdo freak who slept in his bed.
* * *
“Wake up, Grace.”
Her eyelids fluttered open and she stared blearily at Gideon. He was lying on his side in the bed next to her and a soft smile crossed her face. “Hi, Gideon.”
“Hello, Princess.”
Her insides quivered as liquid heat gathered at her core. When she and Kira were seventeen, they’d had a brief obsession with Alfred Hitchcock movies. Gideon had been home from New Cassel, visiting his parents for the week and he’d sat with Kira and Grace the night they watched Rear Window. The film starred Grace Kelly, an actress who would later become princess of Monaco, and although Grace looked nothing like the actress, Gideon had immediately given her the nickname Princess.
A couple of months before that, the nickname would have annoyed her. She was the exact opposite of princess-like, and it was obviously just another way Gideon acted like an irritating big brother. But that was before she’d begun noticing how good his ass looked in jeans, or the way his body had filled out now that he was a police officer.
She was having decidedly un-sister-like thoughts about Gideon and they’d both excited and confused her. Hearing him call her Princess in that deep voice of his, had only heightened her newly discovered urges for him.
Of course, he hadn’t called her Princess in years. Not since before his parents died.
“What are you doing in my bed?” She resisted the urge to reach out and touch him, afraid he would leave if she did.
“You’re in my bed,” he said.
“I am?”
He nodded and she smiled sleepily at him. “Oh, right. Your bed. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.” She couldn’t resist her need to touch any longer and slid her arm around him, resting her hand on his broad back. “I like sleeping in your bed.”
“I like finding you in my bed.” He smiled at her and she licked her lips before studying his mouth.
“I want you so much, Gideon.”
“I know, Princess.”
“Do you want me?” She searched his dark brown eyes, looking for any hint that he still wanted her.
Brown eyes? Gracie… Gideon’s eyes aren’t brown. Wake up.
She ignored her inner voice, wiggling closer to Gideon and rubbing his back. “Kiss me, Gideon.”
“I shouldn’t,” he said.
She rubbed his back again, using the tips of her fingers to smooth down the wiry hair that covered it. “You should.”
Wiry hair? Wake up, Grace!
“Please, Gideon. Just one kiss?” she pleaded. “Just one and then I’ll wake up.”
He made a low chuffing sound and she squeezed him a little tighter before tilting her face toward his. “Gideon, please.”
“Whatever you want, Princess,” he whispered.
His mouth opened and her eyes widened when his tongue, long and wide and definitely not human, licked her from her chin to the top of her forehead.
Gracie, wake up!
Her eyelids flew open and she stared at Tank. The dog was stretched out beside her on the bed, her arm was around him with her hand resting on his back, and his head was lying next to hers on the pillow. He chuffed a second time before his tongue slurped across her face again.
“Tank, gross!” She jerked her head back and wiped the dog spit from her face. “Bad boy. Bad boy.”
She turned onto her back, staring up at the ceiling and using one hand to block him from licking her face again.
“I’ve been kissed by a dog,” she croaked out. “Boil some water, rip up some sheets.”
She rubbed a hand across her face. Shit, what time was it? The room was dark, and she fumbled for her phone in her pocket. How long had she slept? She had to get out of here before Gideon showed up and found her in his bed. She’d die of shame if –
Beside her, Tank made a low growl that turned into a whine of happiness, the bedroom light flicked on, and her stomach dropped.
She sat up, staring wide-eyed at Gideon who was standing in the doorway. For almost a minute, neither of them said anything. The only sound in the room was the thumping of Tank’s tail against the bed.
“What are you doing in my bed?” Gideon finally said.
“I, um, I… fell asleep,” Grace said. As Tank jumped off the bed and walked toward Gideon, she yanked the covers down and stumbled out of the bed. She shoved her feet into her shoes, her face a flaming tomato. “I’m so sorry. I was – I mean, I haven’t been sleeping well, and I was tired and…”
She shut her mouth with a snap, whatever she said would just make her look like a complete idiot, and she hurried for the door. Before she could slip past him and out into the hallway, his big palm slapped against the doorframe and stopped her escape.
She backed up against the wall, staring wide-eyed at him as he placed both hands next to her head, his thick arms penning her in.
Trapped.
She was Goldilocks and he was the bear who’d come home to find her in his bed.
She’d been a very bad girl and he was going to punish her until she was begging him for mercy, begging him to stop, begging him to make her come.
He stared down at her, his big body a hairsbreadth away but not touching her.
Never touching her.
“Do you know what I’ll do to you if I find you uninvited in my bed again, Princess?” His voice was a low rasp that sent shivers down her spine.
Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, her heart was knocking against her ribs, and her lungs no longer worked properly.
She shook her head, her gaze never leaving those odd-coloured eyes. She could see her reflection in the pale blue of his right eye, the green of his left had darkened to jade.
“I’ll put you on your knees, handcuff you to the headboard, pull your panties to your thighs, and,” he paused, his gaze dropping to her mouth, “spank you.”
Red hot desire exploded in her belly. Her pussy clenched uselessly around nothing, her nipples strained against her bra, and a noise that sounded embarrassingly like a whine slipped out of her mouth.
He dropped his arms and stepped back, one big hand resting on top of Tank’s head. “Go home, Grace.”
Legs trembling madly, she staggered out of his room.
* * *
Kira stripped off her clothes and slipped into the bed beside Connor. It was only seven-thirty, but he must have been tired from his first day back at work. His eyelids flickered up and he smiled at her. “Hey.”
“Hi. Is your knee okay?”
“Yeah. I had a headache and decided to lie down for a bit. How did the showing go?”
“Good,” she said. “They didn’t like this house, but I showed them a couple others online and they want to look at them tomorrow.”
“That’s great.” He slid a little closer, running his hand over her naked hip before cupping her ass. “God, I love your ass.”
She giggled and kissed his chest. “Are you hungry?”
“Not for food.” He bent his head and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and returned his kiss, gasping into his mouth when he cupped her breast.
“We probably shouldn’t do this,” he said against her mouth. “I know you’re sore.”
“Not sore, more… tender,” she said.
“We definitely shouldn’t do this then,” he said, but his hand was sliding between her thighs and gliding across her wet pussy. “Fuck, you’re so wet already.”
“I was thinking about you on the way home.” She arched into his hand, moaning when he rubbed her clit. “I can’t stop thinking about you. You’ve turned me into a sex addict.”
His low laugh washed over her. “I think it’s the opposite.”
“Hey, I was sweet and innocent until I met you,” she said.
He turned over and snagged a condom from the nightstand, ripping it open and rolling it on before facing her again. “I have enjoyed corrupting you.”
“I’ve enjoyed it too.” She traced her fingers along his inner thigh as she kissed his chest. “Lie on your back.”
“Let’s try something different tonight,” he said.
He pulled her closer until her breasts brushed against his chest. He tugged on her leg until she draped it over his hip. He slid down a little and she moaned when his cock brushed against her clit.
“Tilt your hips toward me, honey.”
She tilted her hips, watching with breathless anticipation as he guided his cock into her wet pussy. He pushed and retreated, watching her face as he slowly filled her up until their bodies were pressed tight against each other.
She squeezed him with her leg, rubbing her foot against his ass as she smiled at him. “This feels good.”
“Really good,” he groaned.
He kissed her again, their tongues tasting and teasing as he fucked her with slow strokes.
“Knee okay?” she panted.
“Yeah, it’s fine, honey.” He cupped her ass, holding her tight as he thrust in and out. She ground her pussy against him, her hands digging into his back as he kissed her throat and upper chest. Her nipples brushed against him with every thrust and she reached down and rubbed at her clit.
“Good,” he breathed. “Touch your clit and show me how pretty you look when you come.”
She moaned his name, her fingers rubbing at her swollen pink nub as he worked his cock in and out of her in a steady rhythm. He moved harder and faster, rocking their bodies together as he watched her caress and rub her clit.
Her soft cries grew steadily louder, drowning out his low groans of need, and she cried his name when she came, wetness flooding over her fingers. He gripped her ass harder, his cock impossibly thick and hard inside of her. She cupped his face, kissing him on the mouth and swallowing his own cry of pleasure when he climaxed. They continued to rock against one another as they came down from their high. Connor peppered kisses across her face and she smiled and stroked his back with long and lazy swipes of her palm.
He nuzzled her neck affectionately and she tangled her fingers in his short hair. Her stomach growled and Connor lifted his head. “Was that your stomach?”
She nodded and he kissed her collarbone. “Come on, let’s make something to eat.”
“I’ve got some popcorn in the cupboard,” she said.
He laughed and gave her butt a light slap. “Tempting, but if you’re going to ride me again tonight, you’ll need something a little more substantial.”
She grinned at him. “In that case, get your butt to the kitchen and make me a sandwich.”