“Grant,” she said with a definite warning in her voice.

Well, I’ll just have to f**king show her then.

I dropped to my knees in front of her and saw her eyes widen as her grip tightened on the bedspread. Good.

My hands pressed gently against her knees, spreading her legs farther apart. She squirmed uncomfortably, but I just ignored her. She’d be squirming for other reasons in a minute. I ran my fingertips ever so lightly from her knee to the sensitive skin hidden beneath her dress. She gasped at my touch. That did the trick. My lips followed. Each inch that I kissed brought a new wave of trembles from her body. The anticipation of what I was going to do was getting her riled up, and f**k was it turning me on, too.

When I reached her dress, I glanced up to get an okay to continue, but her eyes were firmly closed. The look on her face was doing anything but discouraging me. I flipped up her dress and kissed my way down the soft lace of her pale blue underwear. She quivered beneath my touch, and it took considerable effort to slow my racing heart and focus on the matter at hand.

I eased her back on the bed, so she was lying flat. Her eyes flew open, and she stared at me with a mix of desire and terror.

“Trust me,” I told her.

She swallowed and nodded.

I pulled her underwear slowly down her legs. All I wanted to do was rip them off of her as fast as I could and bury my dick inside her, but I went slow. I wanted her to be comfortable.

Who the f**k knows if she is going to let me be this close to her again after tonight? She might come to her senses and realize that I was no prince in disguise; I was just a frog waiting for a kiss from a princess.

With the barrier between us removed, I started at her knee and worked my way back up. She was practically panting by the time my mouth found her lips for the first time. I ran my tongue down the length of her and then swirled experimentally around her clit, savoring every sound of pleasure escaping her. And I wasn’t going to stop there. My tongue flicked against her until she could barely keep her hips still. I worked her into a total frenzy before finally inserting one finger into her and then another. Her body spasmed around my fingers as I worked them in and out of her.

Oh f**k. Her body was so responsive to my touch. I just wanted to feel everything that was going through her. I wanted to sink my dick into her wet pu**y and ride out that wave with her, but I’d let her have hers. My own breathing was turning ragged as I brought her closer and closer to the brink.

I felt her body seize all at once around my fingers. She stiffened slightly. Her hands dug into the bedspread. When her orgasm faded out, she relaxed. No big fanfare. Typical Aribel.

“Why…why did you stop?” she asked breathily after a moment.

“Because I wanted to watch you come.”

She blushed. “Um…I didn’t.”

I leveled her with a you’re-kidding-me kind of look. “Um…yes, you did.”

“I think I’d know.”

“I’d think so, too. Want me to show you again? Because that was a f**king hot sight if I’ve ever seen one.”

What the hell is she talking about? My dick was throbbing so hard in my pants from her orgasm, and she hadn’t even known that she had one. Am I missing something?

She sat up and self-consciously covered herself. “Um…no.”

“Hey,” I said, taking her face in my hands, “it’s a compliment. I’d do it all over again to watch you one more time.”

She furiously blushed again. I took her hand in mine and placed it on the front of my pants. She jerked back really quick, but I grabbed it and laid it on my dick again.

“See what you do to me.”

“Grant,” she said softly, removing her hand again, “I don’t…I’ve never felt like this. I’m not this…”

She splayed her hands out before her, but I wasn’t sure what she’d meant. All I heard was that she’d never felt like this. About a guy? The orgasm?

I decided to push my luck. Pretty standard for me. I started climbing on top of the bed, and she scrambled backward. My hands latched on to her waist, and I laid her out flat beneath me.

“You know,” I said into her ear, “I’ve never felt like this either.”

I started grinding my hips against her, and she whimpered. Her hands gripped my forearms, neither pushing me away nor pulling me closer. I wanted nothing more than to loose my dick from my pants, slide it against the wetness I’d created between her legs, and ride her as hard as she’d let me. My body was literally aching to be inside her. I was sure she could feel my need as it put pressure between her thighs.

Aribel groaned and pulled me down until my lips met hers. I indulged her as I slid my hand down her bare thigh. I reached underneath her to grab her ass, and she jumped slightly. My c**k twitched as she thrust upward against me.

“Please,” I groaned. “Please, Ari.”

She shook her head, but her eyes were filled with the same desire consuming my body. I wanted so desperately to ignore her. I wanted to take what was lying beneath me, take what was mine.

Aribel Graham is mine.

Chapter 18: Aribel

Ever since Grant had left my apartment without a word three days ago, I’d been sleeping like shit. I knew that I shouldn’t agonize over what had possibly gone wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what had happened. The only thing that stuck out was the fact that I hadn’t slept with him. That must be it. He must have thought that after just one date, I’d give it up, and when I hadn’t, he’d moved on. I couldn’t think of another explanation.

And I was amazed, quite shocked actually, that I was physically and emotionally beating myself up about it. For a minute, I’d wanted to rush over to his house and offer myself. The logical side of my brain told me that wouldn’t keep him around any more than me denying him had, but it was difficult to keep myself in check.

Deep down I’d known it was happening. When I had agreed to go on a date with Grant—maybe even before then when I had called him to help with my car—I’d known that I was falling for him. But I’d thought that one date would prove that he was everything I’d thought he was—an arrogant, conceited, manipulative, ass**le, playboy rocker who cared for nothing but which bed he was landing in. While that image hadn’t wavered because he was absolutely every one of those things, I’d managed to find that there was more to Grant McDermott…and that had been my downfall.