“The boyfriend who stole from you . . . did you love him?” Grady growled, his face a mask of ambivalence, but his eyes were saying something completely different.
“We were only dating for a few weeks. And no, I didn’t love him. Obviously he was only after money. He wasn’t interested in me.” It hurt, but Emily knew it was true. She had been a pawn in Paul’s game, a nonperson who was disposable.
“Did you fuck him?” Grady asked bluntly.
“No. Of course not. I barely knew him,” Emily replied, offended.
“Good.” A satisfied look replaced his severe expression. “He was an asshole.”
Grady had moved so close that she could feel his warm breath on her cheek, his close proximity making her quiver with need.
“Please,” she whispered, although she didn’t have a clue what she really wanted. All she knew was that she was caught up in some crazy compulsion that she couldn’t seem to break away from. She wrapped her arms around his neck, still held in thrall by the scent of him, the feel of his muscular body pressed against hers.
Without another word, Grady lowered his head and took her mouth with his, and she suddenly knew exactly what she had wanted. Emily surrendered to him with a wanton moan, losing herself completely to the beast.
CHAPTER 2
Grady had known he wanted the woman in his arms from the moment he’d seen her sitting on her ass on his doorstep, looking up at him with those innocent blue eyes through crooked glasses, and an embarrassed expression. Emily Ashworth had looked like an angel that had crash-landed on his porch, and he’d been disappointed when he remembered that Jared had threatened to send him another hookup. That had been the last thing he’d wanted . . . until he saw Emily. His cock had jumped to attention almost immediately, and all he’d wanted to do was seize the woman, throw her over his shoulder, and make her his as quickly as humanly possible.
Mine.
Spearing his hands through her hair, he groaned into her mouth as the tie holding her hair back gave way, spilling the silky strands over his fingers, caressing his hands like a lover. He felt greedy and desperate, his mouth tasting, his tongue trying to claim her. She tasted like ambrosia, and he couldn’t get enough. All he wanted to do was devour her whole, but she’d already said no, which made him even more frenzied. There was something about this woman that was seeping into his skin as he held her, melting the ice around his heart, and starting to relieve the restlessness and loneliness that were his constant companions. It was as exhilarating as it was frightening.
I’m happy being alone. I do what I want, when I want. I like it that way.
Grady was lying to himself, and he knew it. Panicked, he lifted his mouth from hers, an effort that was nearly superhuman.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Separating himself from her that abruptly had been painful.
Glancing down at her just-been-thoroughly-ravaged look, Grady fought not to swoop down on her again and lose himself in her heat all over again.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Give me a week, and I’ll give you a million dollars.” The impulsive comment sprang from his mouth without him thinking about it. “No sex, but I want you to stay here at the house. Just show me Christmas.” He was no longer interested in a quick screw for money. Not from her, not from Emily. But he was desperate to get her close to him and keep her there.
Grady’s heart was thundering, and his breath was coming heavy in and out of his lungs.
Say yes!
He watched as her brows crinkled in a thoughtful expression. “How?” she whispered in a low, fuck-me voice that nearly made him come undone.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t really ever celebrated Christmas. Not the way normal people do, anyway. Make me see it the way you do. Do whatever you usually do here with me.”
Oh, hell yeah. He wanted this woman near him, for as long as he could keep her here. His enormous house felt different with her here. He felt different.
“You’ll really donate money to the Center if I spend a week with you?” she asked, as though she were confused by the whole idea.
“You’re not involved with someone else, right?” The question came out casually, but Grady’s heart clenched at the thought. Granted, the guy she was dating had just hauled ass with all her money, but there could be someone else.
“No. There was just the thief, and even he didn’t really want me,” she replied sadly, her eyes breaking contact with his to land in the center of his chest.
Grady wanted to break every bone in the asshole’s body. His arms came up to stroke her back and he pulled her against him as though he could protect her from the world. How any man could push this woman away was beyond him. “Was he caught?”
“No,” she replied despairingly.
“Give me his information. I’ll find him.”
“The police can’t track him. They’re sure it was a false identity.”
“I will,” Grady vowed confidently. He had so many connections that there was nobody he couldn’t track down. “In the meantime, I’ll give you the money and you give me your word that you’ll spend Christmas with me. What about your family?”
“Only child, a late-in-life surprise for my parents,” she replied in a muffled voice against his chest. “Mom and Dad are snowbirds now. They spend the winter in Florida. I couldn’t go this year.”
The sorrow in her voice made Grady determined to make this the best Christmas season she’d ever had. So what if he personally hated the holidays? Emily obviously didn’t, and she was alone this year, just like him. “Then spend it here with me.”
She pulled her head back and looked at him with an earnest expression as she asked, “Why me? Why this?”
“Because it’s what I want,” he answered, knowing it was the truth. “And you said you’d give me what I wanted.”
“You promise no sex?” she asked hesitantly.
“Only if you beg,” he answered arrogantly, although he was starting to wonder if he might end up being the one pleading. Her sweetness tempted him, and he was going to have a very hard time trying not to devour her.
Pulling away from him, he saw her roll her eyes at his bravado, and it brought an involuntary smile to his lips.
“You have a deal. But I’m bringing a tree and all of my Christmas decorations here,” she told him in a threatening voice as he followed her toward the door. “And the Center has a big Christmas party that I’ll need and want to attend. You can come with me if you like. If you’re donating, it will mean a lot. We can save the annual party. It’s important, especially for the kids.”