Saving Grace (19 page)

"
O
h,
my God, Grace. Shane is completely eye fucking you and I'm creaming in my panties right now. How does that not affect you?"

"Uh...
"
That and licking my lips was really all I could do or say. Seriously. He was that perfect
, and his eyes were
on me
.

"Holy fellatio! You are standing there licking him up with your eyes!
Do you freaking hear the old seventies porn music playing in your head?"

I tore my eyes off Shane and tried to focus them on Lea, "I freaking feel drunk already. Come on, let's go get me some liquid courage to deal
with
him."

"
Yea
h,
well, don't let your thighs rub to close together, because you look like
you're about
to have a walking orgasm."

"If only,"
I laughed as we walked up to the bar next to the guys.

His eyes followed mine as I walked up
next to him
and laid my hands down flat against the cool wood
of the bar
. He stepped up close behind me and leaned his hand out on either side of me. Slowly
,
he moved closer and brought his head down to m
y right ear. The heat of him tingled every inch of skin on my back, and my
bare
legs.
Every inch of my body, my soul, my mind became painfully aware of him. Even though he was an inch away from
me,
he wasn't close enough.
I leaned into the bar for more support
; my knees wobbled
. His hot breath scorched my neck and bristled my hair, "W
ha
t do you want
,
Grace?"

"My breath back," I whispered.

He nuzzled his face in my hair and an insane tingling feeling shot down my spine and back up again.
His raspy chuckle tickled my ear, "
You think you're breathless now? Just wait Grace."

I LITERALLY CAN'T WAIT!
I didn't want to mess up the moment by screeching that at the top of my lungs
so I chose to stay quiet
.
It was difficult.

"So, for now what would you like?"

I lifted my face to his and turned my body to face him. "Sex on the Beach
?
A Screaming Orgasm?
A Slippery Nipple?
A Leg Spreader?
A Bend Over Shirley?"

He laughed and pushed his forehead against mine.
Oh, I absolutely adored when he did that.
"What the hell is a
Bend Over Shirley?"

"Maybe I'll show you later..."

"
You tw
o are making me feel like I need
to wear a condom
over my head
so I can't get pregnant from just listening to the both of you
. Shane, it's
Raspberry vodka, lemon/lime soda, grenadin
e syrup and Maraschino Cherries,"
Lea
explained.

He looked at her curiously, eyebrows together, "Huh?"

"Holy sexual tension! Do you even know that we are here with you? We want Margaritas! Let'
s go Shane
,
snap out of heat
!
Conner, man up
and dance with me
!
"

Conner laughed shaking his head, "Why don't you and Grace start and let us men watch?
I need a few beers after spending the afternoon with your father telling me what I should name our
six children even though I apparently will end up eating them.
"

"Okay, boys. Enjoy the show then," she winked and pulled me right onto the dance floor. The DJ was playing some song I had never heard of, but it was sexy and had a great beat to it. Lea and I danced to the music and Lea, of course
,
made a spectacle of
herself
, putting on a show for the guys just like she said. Thinking,
what the hell
, I danced along with her bumping and grinding. You live once
,
right? Well,
most people do.

When the song was over
,
we ran back to the bar panting for our Margaritas. The guys just stood there frozen
and
staring at us. Lea moved me off to the side and giggled, "Looks like they enjoyed the show, huh?"

I sipped on the straw in my drink and watched Shane watch me.

Someone blocked my view of him and I looked up to see a handsome face, bright brown eyes and a dark goatee smiling down at me. "Wow. You guys looked
hot
dancing out there. Can we buy you two your next drink?"

"Thanks but we are
both here with..." Before Lea could even finish, Shane was in front of me pulling me down to the other end of the bar.

He spun on me and backed me up against the bar, "Finish you
r
drink and dance with me." His eyes were intense and I slurped the Margarita dry and smiled.
Head. Rush
.

"Damn
,
Grace. The wa
y you wrap those beautiful
lips around that straw and look at me with those breathtaking eyes
, it makes it real hard to focus on anything else." He stepped
forward, grabbed me around the waist,
and pulled me to the dance floor real slow, hands grasping at my skin.

He slowly
slid his hands down to mine, grabbing
me by both wrists and slowly placed my hands up over his shoulders and around his neck. He ran his fingertips back down along the bare skin of my arms, circling invisible streaks of heat across my shoulders and continued
down
over my sides. His hands
ra
n across
the
bare skin of my waist and
gently lay themselves on the small of my back, just under the fabric of my shirt. T
he
pressure of his fingertips beca
me
heavier
,
the warmth and
strength of them
seeped deep into my skin making a jolt of electricity seer up my spine
.
The cool tingle spread itself across my back and neck. All thought was lost in my brain.
I just wanted him
.

The songs faded into each other and we danced against each other until Lea pried us apart so I could go to the bathroom with her. A thin layer of sweat covered my body and it hummed like every single one of my pores was alive and breathing.

We pushed through the thick crowds of people and found the bathroom, which had a line that went out the door and down the hallway. We waited on the line all of ten minutes and then busted into the empty men's room and quickly did what we needed to do.

Walking through the crowds
again,
she hung her arm over
my
shoulder and whispered in my ear, "Looks like you and Shane are getting along well."
She laughed and ran.
I tried to give chas
e but a solid wall moved in front of me. I slammed into it and stepped back, completely losing my bearings from the impact. It was a man. A man made
of
,
what felt like,
steel
.
Gabriel
.

Gabriel
looked down at me, eyes blazing
and
face twisted in rage.
"How about a
danc
e,
Grace?"

"
No.
Get out of my way," I snapped.

He lifted his head back and laughed, his massive shoulders shaking. His head snapped back to mine, "Why not just one little dance?
I can't stop thinking of that kiss yesterday.
"

"She said no. Now get the fuck away from her,
" Shane replied
calmly
.

Gabriel looked right into Shane's eyes but spoke to me, "
I will have my turn to dance with you, mark my words," he said.

Shane's hands balled up into fists and his knuckles turned bright white. "Turn and leave now, before you won't be able to leave without a fucking medical examiner to haul your dead ass out."

Gabriel gave him a tight smile, "Big words, pretty boy." Then he stalked off and disappeared into the crowd.

Shane grabbed me by the shoulders and looked across my face like he was searching for something. "Are you okay? Did he touch you?"

I shook my head. "No. Thank you." I didn't want to make a big deal out of
who
Gabriel
was
and I didn't want Shane to get hurt, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the bar. "Come on, let's just get
another drink and forget that p
syc
h
o."

We made our way to the bar where Lea and Conner were sitting. He told Conner to keep an eye on me and went to the bathroom after ordering me
another Margarita.

I sipped my drink and stayed with Lea and Conner, but barely listened to their conversation. They tried to get me involved in the discussion, but I couldn't focus on anything
except
Gabriel's face and how long Shane had been gone.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

Fifteen minutes. Some guy came up to me and started talking about the weather. At least I think that was what he was talking about. He might have mentioned he could cook, but I'm not sure.

Twenty minutes.

Thirty minutes. I jumped off the stool ready to find Gabriel and kick his unholy ass when Shane came up behind me. My new friend who was standing
next to me had the audacity to say to Shane, "Excuse me, but this pretty little lady is taken for the rest of the night."

Shane looked at me baring his teeth. I looked at the strange man next to me
,
baring mine. "What the hell did you just say?" we both asked simultaneously.

The stranger held his chin up to Shane and repeated the offensive remark. I looked at Shane and noticed his hands were
scruffed
up and his knuckles were bleeding. My heart stopped and then pounded painfully fast.

I turned back my attention to the stranger and laughed.

Shane didn't. His eyes pierced into mine and his throat made a sexy growly sound. I am not kidding. It. Was.
SEXY!

The stranger moved closer to me, but I started to walk away. Then he grabbe
d my elbow and spun me around. And I sure as hell spun, but my fists spun with me and I hit him square in the nose with the momentum of my strength and his pull of me. Blood spurted out of his nose, but he made
no
move to cover it up. He looked at me and his eyes, which I hadn't noticed before, went from an ancient blue to a fiery red.
Oh crap
, a
nother one of Gabriel's
fallen angel
s
.

"Touch
me again and the next thing you'll feel is
six feet of dirt over you." I leaned in closer so Shane wouldn't hear my next threat. "And tell your friend Gabriel the same damn thing. My soul is not up for grabs while I'm here."

I turned to look at Shane and that incredibly sexy smile was plastered over his face
.

Crazy fallen angel moved forward again, but Shane just held out his
hand, mushed him in the face,
and shoved him back hard. The guy went flying into a crowd of dancing bodies and got lost in their movements.

Shane grabbed me by the waist and yanked my body closer to his and I fell right into him. "You have some messed up friends around here."

I slanted my face up to look at him, our lips so close. "None of them are fri
ends."

His eyes went to my lips, and I realized that even with all the time we spent together that day, with his hands all over my skin while we danced
, in
all the flirting,
he hadn't kissed me at all. Well, except for the little peck on the lips at the beach.

I felt my body move forward. His eyes looked back into mine. "Grace, you want to do what you're about to do with me with any of those guys?"

Why does he always want to talk,
now? "Ah, that would be a no. And that dumb question you just asked made me not want to do anything I was about to do to you, to you."
Holy crap, am I the dumbest woman on the face of
the earth? This guy is going to seriously figure out I'm falling for him and run in the other direction faster than my panties can hit the floor!