His arms were around her then, lifting her off her toes and planting a possessive kiss on her mouth before resting his forehead on hers. “I sort of want to brawl with this Greg character. Does that answer your question?”
Grace’s arms wound around his neck. “I’m a modern women. Violence doesn’t do it for me.”
“Okay, how about this? Hearing that Greg proposed is one of the worst moments of my life in recent history.”
There was that damn stomach flip again. She put her hand to his jaw. “Why?”
He turned his face slightly, planting a kiss on her palm. “Because I want you to be a one-guy kind of woman. And I want to try to be that man.”
There was something about the way he ended that sentence. There was the briefest hesitation, as though there was an unspoken for now tacked on at the end.
Take what he’s offering, Grace 2.0 whispered. It’s a big step for a guy like him.
Was it enough?
True, 1.0 was waving warning flares in Grace’s face, but 1.0 naively believed in happily-ever-after.
Grace, however, would take the good-enough with Jake over the failed fairy tale with Greg any day.
“So about last night’s threat?”
He paused in the process of nuzzling her neck. “Huh?”
“You said if I was late, you were going to mention my, um, noises on the website. I haven’t looked yet, but …”
He avoided eye contact. “Well …”
“Oh God, tell me you didn’t.” A horrified laugh bubbled out of her. “I’m pretty sure you just let everyone know this little game of ours got bumped up to the next level.”
“The naked level?”
“That’s the one. I swear to God, Jake, I will kill you. My parents read that.”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“Trust me, there’s not enough chocolate in the world.”
He began moving toward the bedroom. “I was thinking more quid pro quo.”
“Speaking a dead language isn’t going to get you laid. Also, I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
Jake dumped her unceremoniously in the bed. “Then allow me to be more plain. You get to write about my noises. Fair enough?”
She sat up, already scooting toward the end of the bed. “Where’s your laptop? I already know exactly what—”
He grabbed her ankle. “Hold up there, Lois Lane. You’ll need to do your research.”
She shot him a withering look over her shoulder. “I’ve already done my research on that.”
With a pounce he was on top of her, rolling her onto her back as his hands made quick work of the too-loose pajama pants.
“There can never be too much research, Brighton. Not when it comes to naked time. Now, in order to get my noise just right, you’re going to have to really thrill me—”
Grace mentally thanked Riley for the constant arsenal of sex tricks in every Stiletto article, because she had Jake on his back in seconds, grinning victoriously as she straddled him, fingers already on the drawstring of his pants, sliding them down.
He grabbed her hand as she was about to reach for him. “Still think I’m overcompensating for something when I order pepperoni on my pizza?”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? That again?”
He continued to stare up at her, waiting expectantly.
“Fine,” she relented, easing her hand out of his grasp and sliding her fingers around the long hard length of him. “Nobody has cause to be disappointed by this, no matter what type of pizza you order.”
Her hand moved over him, slower this time, and his eyes closed.
Grace smiled in victory. “Now what were you saying, Mr. Malone? Something about wanting me to thrill you?”
Her hand dipped lower as she flicked kisses over his chest.
Jake’s fingers found her hair as he groaned. “Never mind. You’ve got this.”
Grace smiled. Yes, she certainly did.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“You’re sure about this?” Jake asked, staring skeptically down at the card the Oxford receptionist held out to him.
Melissa Sorenson gave him one of those oh please looks that women must have developed in the womb along with their ovaries.
“Trust me. Everyone knows that Grace likes chocolate. You’ll be a god.”
“Yeah, but a chocolate fountain? And what do you mean, everyone knows that Grace likes chocolate?”
“You mentioned it on the site several weeks ago. On your third or fourth date at Starbucks when she ordered a mocha and you offended her by saying white chocolate and chocolate were the same thing.”
He stared at her in horror. “Good Lord, how do you remember that?”
Melissa scowled at him. “You don’t? These are crucial details, Jake. I know I work for Oxford and everything, but ultimately I’m a female first, and your forgetfulness is soooo going on the blog.”