Heart of the Hunter (79 page)

I looked up into his beautiful, big, bright eyes as his cock poured all over my chest and breasts. It was so hot I wanted to suck him again. I’d already had so many orgasms, I’d been so overpowered by his body, but the more he did to me, the more aroused I became.

I put my arms around him and pulled him down onto me, so that his chest was pressed against mine, glued by his own semen. He held me so tightly that I felt I’d never feel alone again.

“Never let me go,” I said.

“I never will, Lacey.”

Then he got up and put his head between my legs.

“Not again,” I said, but he just shook his head.

“This isn’t over until I say it’s over.”

“Oh, no,” I gasped, as I threw my head back and sank into the hay.

His tongue worked miracles on my clit, carefully covering every fold of skin with his saliva. I’d had so many orgasms, but as he continued to run his tongue over me, I felt another one begin to surge up inside me. I couldn’t believe it.

Did Grant know I was no longer engaged to Rob? He couldn’t possibly, but I knew he didn’t think I’d do this if I was still in a relationship with someone else.

My mind went blank and I could no longer think about it. Grant’s tongue was inside my vagina again, even though he’d just orgasmed inside me. Wasn’t he afraid of tasting himself? I felt self-conscious about it for a second, before deciding that it was actually incredibly hot that he was willing to risk that, just to give me one more orgasm.

As his tongue wandered down, beneath my vagina, I braced myself for what I knew was coming. His tongue just touched my asshole at first, then returned to my pussy. But before long, he had me tilted back with his arms so that he could run his tongue all over my asshole.

“Grant,” I gasped, “what are you doing?”

But instead of answering, he just pushed his thumb gently into my wet pussy as his tongue continued to run in circles all over my asshole.

I was embarrassed, no mortified, but that wasn’t going to save me. I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but it felt so good. I squirmed as his finger made a beckoning motion in my pussy, and his tongue licked my asshole.

Before I knew it, I was orgasming again. It was too much. The pleasure built up like a flood behind a dam, and then suddenly burst, pouring through every nerve in my body.

“Grant,” I cried, and he planted his mouth over my clit and sucked it hard.

I almost passed out from pleasure.

Afterwards, he lay with me in the hay. I was wrapped in his strong arms again. He was my home, and I never wanted to be away from him for as long as I lived.

He put his hand on my tummy and I knew I had to tell him about the baby. It was crazy. We were actually having a baby together. But what if he didn’t want a baby? What would I do if he said he didn’t want it? I’d die.

Then I thought about those letters I’d found. I looked up at the beam above us. They said that Grant loved me. He wanted everything with me, a family, a marriage, the whole deal. I sighed.

“You all right?” he asked.

I muzzled my face against his neck. It felt so good.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” I said.

“What is it?”

“It’s something very important.”

“Very important?”

“Yes.”

He kissed me on the forehead and it was so tender, so affectionate, it almost made me cry.

“Well, what is it?”

I was about to tell him. I was about to say it, when something stopped me. I thought back to all the things I’d heard Grant say about marriage and commitment. It wasn’t for him. He’d never let himself get tied down. The words were right there on the tip of my tongue, just waiting to be spoken, but I chickened out.

“Remember you told me that you masturbated to my photos, when we were younger?”

“Of course,” he said.

“Well, I have a confession of my own to make.”

“What is it?”

“The first time I ever brought myself to orgasm, I was watching you from my bedroom window.”

“What?”

“Yes, sir. You were right outside this barn, hosing yourself down after a hot, sweaty day on the vineyard.”

“And you watched me?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You naughty little girl.”

I laughed.

“I ought to punish you for that.”

“No, please don’t. I don’t think I could take it.”

“Oh, you can’t tell me a thing like that and then expect to get away with it.”

“No, Grant, please.”

But it was too late. He was back on top of me, and judging from his rigid shaft, he was ready to give me another seeing to.

Chapter 41

Lacey

W
HEN I WOKE THE NEXT MORNING,
I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Grant had left early to see to some business. He said it was related to the job he’d done the night before. I made him let me change the bandage on his shoulder before he left.

After he was gone, I made some coffee, and then wondered if I was still allowed to drink coffee now that I was pregnant. I hadn’t read that chapter of my book for expectant mothers yet, but I knew they were always getting stricter with what was deemed good for the baby. I decided to just drink some hot water instead, until I had time to ask Faith about it. She’d know the answer.

I put my hand on my tummy and thought of Grant. What had we done? What had he meant when he said I was his girl now? Did it mean we were a couple? I never could tell with Grant. He seemed pretty clear about what he said and did in his life, but when it came to me, everything always got confused.

I had to find out what was going on. I had to get some clarity from Grant. I picked up my phone and dialed his number.

“Hi, Grant,” I said, shyly.

“Hi, Lacey.”

“Are you busy?”

“I’m spending some money.”

“So, there really is something important I have to tell you,” I said, nervously.

“Is it what you were going to tell me last night, before you told me that you used to spy on me while you masturbated?”

“Oh, well, yes.”

“Don’t worry, I already know it.”

“You know it?”

“Sure I do.”

“What do you know, Grant?”

“I’d never have seduced you like I did last night if I’d thought you were still engaged to be married.”

“What?” I asked.

“I know you and Rob are finished.”

“How do you know that, Grant?”

“I took care of it.”

“You did
what
?” I gasped, suddenly feeling my emotions rise to the surface.

“I took care of everything.”

I suddenly felt a quiver come into my voice. I was upset, and it hit me completely by surprise. I was so in love with Grant, but all of a sudden I felt like crying.

“You took care of everything?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to upset you, Lacey.”

“I’m not upset.”

“I can hear it in your voice.”

“Well, I’m just surprised, Grant. What do you mean, you took care of everything.”

“You’re finished with Rob, right?”

“Yes, but how do you know that?”

“I guessed.”

“You didn’t guess.”

“I felt it. I know you wouldn’t sleep with me unless you were finished.”

“Bullshit, Grant.”

“It’s not bullshit, Lacey.”

“Just tell me the truth. I’ve been lied to enough times in my life. You said you took care of it. What did you do?”

“Lacey, don’t be like that.”

“Like what?”

“I didn’t mean to do anything to upset you.”

“Just tell me how you knew that Rob and I were finished.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then Grant sighed. Finally, he spoke. “I had a talk with him.”

“You what?”

“I had a talk with him.”

“When?”

“Last night.”

“Last night?”

“Yes.”

“What did you talk about?”

“Lacey.”

“Just tell me, Grant.”

“We talked about you, Lacey.”

“What did you say?”

“I asked him to reconsider whether or not he really was the right man for you.”

“You asked him to step aside so that you could take me?”

“Lacey, it wasn’t like that.”

“But that was basically the point of the discussion?”

Grant sighed again. “Fine, if you want to look at it that way.”

“You interfered with my life?”

“With
our
life.”

“With
my
life, Grant.”

He took a moment to answer. “Yes,” he said at last. “I interfered with your life.”

“What makes you think you have the right to do that, Grant? Do you think you know better than me what I should be doing with my life? What made you so sure I wasn’t in love with Rob? What gave you the right to interfere like that?”

“Lacey, I wasn’t trying to interfere.”

“Then what would you call it?”

“Lacey, please don’t do this.”

“Was it Rob who shot you last night?”

There was resignation in his voice when he answered. “Yes.”

I hung up the phone. I didn’t know why, but my emotions were at boiling point. Maybe it was the hormones from being pregnant, but I just couldn’t stand the thought of Grant interfering in my relationship with Rob. I mean, I didn’t even disagree with him. He’d told Rob not to marry me, and the truth was, I should have been thanking him for doing so. I knew that was the right decision. I didn’t want to be with Rob, and Rob didn’t want to be with me. But I wanted to think that I’d reached that outcome on my own, because I was in control of my own life. I didn’t want to feel like everything was being orchestrated by Grant, just because he knew better. I was tired of being the failure when it came to relationships. I wanted to be with Grant, but I wanted to get there on my own terms, as his equal.

It was as if I’d thought I’d achieved something on my own, and then found out that he’d actually been behind the scenes, pulling all the strings on my behalf. It was infuriating. I was still one hundred percent in love with Grant, but I hated being treated like a child. I wanted to believe I was capable of making my own decisions, and I wanted to know that Grant believed that too.

I took a deep breath. As I thought about it, a part of me also felt stupid for being so mad. I was so conflicted. I was mad at Grant for interfering, but I was just as mad at myself for being mad. And I was embarrassed that I’d shown Grant just how mad I was. And most of all, I was distraught that I’d just been the cause of our first fight.

I was so mad at my phone for letting me make that call. There should be a time limit built into phones for how soon after making love you could call a guy. Especially when you were simultaneously in the process of breaking up with your fiancé, and pregnant too.

Chapter 42

Grant

O
H MAN, I’D REALLY PUT
my foot in it. What had I been thinking? I hadn’t been thinking, that was my problem. Why did I tell Lacey I knew it was over between her and Rob? Of course she’d be upset with me for stepping into her life like that. I hadn’t meant to. I’d gone to Rob’s apartment to teach him a lesson, but not because he was Lacey’s fiancé. It was because he was using her to try and get himself out of debt. He was trying to steal from her. What kind of a guy would I be if I didn’t step in to protect her from that? He wasn’t really her fiancé. He was a con artist. If it hadn’t been for those circumstances, I wouldn’t have sabotaged any relationship of hers, no matter how strongly I felt about it.

I’d royally screwed up. She thought I’d pushed Rob out of the picture so that I could move in. Of course she was mad. She had every right to be. I should have gone straight to her with the information about Rob. The truth was, I
had
treated her like a child. But I’d done so out of love. I’d wanted to protect her. I didn’t want her to know that she’d chosen another cheating, lying son of a bitch. I wanted her to know that she was better than that, that she deserved more.

Why were women so complicated? Why was life so complicated?

But there was nothing I could do about all that right now. I had work to do. A lot of work.

First, I went to my bank and deposited the money I’d stolen the night before into a numbered account. Then I went back to the neighborhood Lacey and I had driven through on our way to the flower market. I’d found out the address of the house where we’d stopped to talk to those boys and I headed straight for it. When I got there, I even saw the boys, sitting outside the house on the front porch. They waved to me.

“Shouldn’t you boys be in school?” I said.

“Who’s going to make us go? You?”

I shook my head. “You’ll see,” I said to them, and drove off.

The realtor was located just a few blocks away, in a small office in a strip mall. A bell clinked over my head as I entered. I was upset about the call from Lacey but I couldn’t focus on that for now. I had important things to take care of.

“Can I help you, sir?” a realtor in a short skirt with blonde hair said to me.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I want to buy a house for my new wife. It’s a surprise.”

“How nice. And do you have a particular house in mind?”

I told her the address of the house that was currently occupied by the teenage boys.

“That house is available at a good price, but I must warn you, sir, it’s currently occupied by some local youths. It might be a bit of a hassle getting rid of them.”

“I don’t want to get rid of them,” I said.

“What do you mean, sir?”

“I mean, they’re welcome to stay. I’m not kicking them out.”

“Well, that’s weird.”

“I’m a weird guy,” I said with a grin.

“It’s actually pretty kind of you.”

“My wife’s the one who’s kind,” I said. “This is all for her.”

“Do you have any idea how much you’d like to offer.”

“What are they asking?”

“It’s on the market for five hundred, but I’m sure we could bargain them down.”

“No, five hundred is fine. Just get all the paperwork drawn up for me. I want this to go through as soon as possible.”

“And will you be financing the transaction with a loan?”

“Cash.”

I signed some documents, left a ten thousand dollar deposit, and went back to the house. The boys were still all there, sitting on the porch as if they didn’t have a care in the world. They looked like they were having fun, but I could tell from the looks on their faces that there was some tension and worry under the surface. They were concerned about their futures, and why wouldn’t they be? They had as much right as anyone to look forward to their future lives.