Gushing water.
Grant had pushed everything too far this week—his frustration with his parents, his desire for Faith, and the limits of his own body. And he was paying for all of them.
He let the hot water pulse from the new showerhead over his right shoulder, glad he’d gone for the more expensive model and all the massage features. After this, he’d stretch, then pack it with ice. Add a little ibuprofen and a good night’s sleep, and he’d be fine tomorrow.
But sleep wouldn’t come easily. All he had to do was remember the feel of Faith’s warm mouth under his. The gentle way she’d stroked his tongue when she’d found the nerve. The way she felt against him. And, God, the sounds she made when he kissed her…
All his blood flowed south again. His groin tightened. His cock hardened.
“Fuck.” Grant opened his eyes to his hard-on and sighed. It was going to be another long night.
He hit the controls, pulled the towel from the shower door, and pressed it against his face. His brothers would be here tomorrow. Initially, that would buffer him from his parents. But Grant suspected that Patrick and Shawn would become as big a source of stress and frustration as his parents were. And even after all these years, that really disappointed him.
As he dried off, he thought of Faith and her relationship with her father and Caleb, a boy she wasn’t even related to by blood. They were loving, nurturing, and kind. Because Faith was loving, nurturing, and kind. And it made Grant wonder if it was time to add that kind of happiness and warmth into his own life.
But that was extremely hard to do in his line of work with a grueling game and practice schedule that included travel, charity and team events. When he was surrounded by women who were more interested in what kind of fame or finances he brought to the table instead of what kind of man he was.
“And you’re a good man, Grant Saber.”
Faith’s words made him smile. He didn’t feel like he deserved them, but he wanted to deserve them. Now he wished he had more time to earn them with her.
His phone chimed with a call. Grant closed his eyes, sighed, and picked up the phone. He didn’t recognize the number, just that it was local, and hoped Bobby Lowry was calling to get together. It would be good to see him and it might help keep Grant’s mind off Faith.
“Hello,” he answered, scrubbing his hair with the towel.
“Hey, Grant?”
He recognized Faith’s voice immediately, which threw him completely off axis. “Faith?”
She huffed a tired laugh. “Who were you expecting? How many women do you have calling you at this hour?” He grinned at her quick sarcasm, but she didn’t sound quite right. “Hold on. Never mind. Don’t answer that.”
“Are you out of breath? Or just tipsy?” Lowering his voice, he teased, “Did you get into the Jangle Punch again?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” There was definitely something off in her voice. “If you get here soon, I might still have some to share with you.”
He didn’t get a chance to ask if she was serious, because the line went dead. Grant pulled his phone from his ear and stared at it. Then shrugged. Jangle Punch or no Jangle Punch, there was nowhere he’d rather be than with Faith. Annoyed or not.
He reached for the bathroom door.
A knock came from the entry to the guesthouse, followed by, “Grant?”
He cringed at the sound of his mother’s voice and leaned on the door handle. “Yeah, Mom. Taking a shower.”
“Sorry, honey. I wanted to tell you that Patrick came in early. And Shawn’s going to be delayed. Do you think you could come up to the house for a drink before you turn in? Patrick’s interested in the landscaping barrier you put in the planting beds out front. Says he’d like to use it at his house and had some questions.”
“Shit,” he whispered, then said, “Actually, I promised Dwayne I’d meet him to talk about some team strategy tonight. Can you tell Patrick I’ll catch him tomorrow?”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed, and Grant braced for her incensed anger. “All right.”
When she didn’t say more, Grant said, “Thanks.”
“Sure.” Pause. “Honey, I just wanted to tell you that your dad and I really appreciate all you’ve done around the house this past week, and despite our rough start, it’s been so nice having you home.”
He rubbed his face, so not in the mood to deal with this. Nor did he know what to say. Based on years of experience, he wasn’t ready to jump into expectations. “Thanks, Mom. I’m glad.”
“Tomorrow maybe we can sit down with your schedule and see when we can all make it to one of your games.”
He dropped his hand, lifted his head, and stared at the door. “Really?”
Okay, that wasn’t what he’d meant to say out loud, but…really?
“Yes, really. You know, your dad’s been under a lot of stress at work. Normally he’s not so…angry.” She paused. “Well, say hello to Dwayne for us. We’ll talk to you in the morning.”
When the door closed, Grant shook his head and muttered, “Who was that, and what did she do with my mother?”
But he wondered only for a second, because he had someone very special waiting for him.
Grant splashed on a little cologne and dressed in jeans and a tee, and was out the door in two minutes flat. He shrugged into his parka on the jog to his SUV sitting in the drive and headed toward town.
With edgy alternative rock shaking the car and his mind spiraling through what-ifs over Faith’s phone call—specifically, what if she’d called to tell him she wanted him and just couldn’t find the words?—Grant was primed and pumped when he took the steps to the store two at a time and found the front door open. He stepped into the darkened store to the familiar tinkle of a bell and the rasp of his own quick breath.
He was just about to call for her when Faith’s voice floated up from the basement. “I’m down here.”
Grant frowned. “And…what are you doing down there?”
At the bottom of the stairs, he found three feet of water covering the concrete floor and Faith dressed in the same clothes she’d been wearing at the rink—only now she was soaking wet.
She reached high to add a box to the top of a shelving unit and glanced over her shoulder. “Well, hello, Mr. Saber.”
All his excitement evaporated, and his shoulders sank. He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his jeans and tilted his head. A pipe had obviously broken, and it hadn’t happened in the last fifteen minutes.
“I’m guessing this means there’s no Jangle Punch awaiting me,” he said.
“And I’m guessing that’s not all you thought would be awaiting you.” She gave him a smile and a shrug. “But you might still get Jangle Punch out of this if you play your cards right. Yuletide is just a block away. Unfortunately, I have to get this worked out before I can go anywhere.” She gave him an overly sweet smile and a dramatic bat of her lashes. “If you’d like to help, it might go faster.”
Grant heaved a sigh and rubbed his eyes.
“Don’t act all put out,” she said, amused by his disappointment. “You live three minutes away, and I have other people I can call to help. The door is right behind you.”
“So…I was your first call?”
She crossed her arms. “You were.”
That mollified him. Grant shrugged out of his parka. “Why’d the pipe break?”
“I don’t know. Everything’s insulated. Might have just suffered one expansion too many. I got the water turned off pretty fast, and I have everything I need to replace the pipe, but there’s one fitting that’s on so tight, I can’t loosen it. I’ve called three plumbers, none of whom are available for a minimum of three days—so much for emergency plumbers, right?”
He grinned at her. “You said I was your first call.”
She leveled a heavy-lidded look on him. “The pipe blew right at an elbow, and to fix it, I’ve got to get the elbow off. But it’s crimped down so tight, I can’t move it. If you can just loosen the fitting for me, I can do the rest myself.”
Of course she could. “You can do just about everything yourself, can’t you?”
“As a matter of fact,” she said, her smile way too sweet, her expression way too innocent. “But hey, if you want to fix my pipes while you’re here, Mr. Fix-it, I’m not going to stop you.”
“As a matter of fact,” he echoed her, “I would, but this wasn’t what I had in mind.” Her face pinked up, her gaze lowered, and she pushed her hands into her back pockets. The move made Grant focus on her chest. Made him realize her T-shirt was white. White and wet. And the curves it clung to made everything inside Grant ache.
“I figured.” Faith sloshed through the water to the bottom of the stairs, rummaged in a toolbox there, and pulled out a flashlight and a pair of pliers. She handed them to Grant. “Let’s talk about that when you’re done.”
Hope bloomed through him. He grinned and took the tools. “That’s way better than Jangle punch.”
He waded into the water in search of the damaged pipe, forcing his mind to getting this pipe fixed. He clamped the end of the small flashlight between his teeth, then gripped the fitting with the pliers and twisted—a movement his shoulder didn’t like much. The metal spun a little but didn’t loosen.
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend back in DC?” Her question came out of nowhere and raised warning flags in Grant’s head. Faith was girlfriend material; it only made sense that she’d ask. It also only seemed fair that he was honest with her, even if it meant killing any chance he had of sleeping with her.
He pulled the flashlight from his mouth. “Because my life makes anything more difficult.” He glanced at her and she met his gaze, open and nonjudgmental. “And because that’s how I like it.”
When she gave a nod, he went back to work on the fitting—unsuccessfully.
He paused again. “I need another pair of pliers.”
Metal clanged against metal as she searched for more tools. Grant couldn’t keep himself from admiring the way her jeans pulled taut over her ass. “Why don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“Because I was taking care of my dad and running the store. I haven’t had time for anything else.” She offered him another pair of pliers. “Here.”
He took them, humbled again. She had to be one of the most unselfish people he’d ever met. And she really didn’t have anyone to fall back on.
“What?”
Her question made him realize he was still staring at her. Grant shook his head and turned back to the pipe. “I was just thinking what a stupid prick Dillon was to let you go. Definitely his loss.”
She remained quiet a minute, and Grant rolled the pain from his shoulder.
“Well,” she finally said, her voice softer, “when you’re in the spotlight like he was, with everyone telling you how fantastic you are all the time, I guess your feet start to lift off the ground. And when you feel a little higher and mightier than others, I guess your needs somehow seem a lot more important.”
Those words hit their mark, and Grant’s stomach dropped. He paused and glanced at her over his shoulder. “You’re right,” he said, adequately humbled. “That does happen. It’s good to be reminded we’re mortal every once in a while.”
He replaced the light between his teeth, positioned the pliers, and used all his strength to twist. Three tries later, the fitting loosened and the elbow separated from the vertical pipe.
Pain burned through Grant’s shoulder joint, and he swore and rolled out the sting.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m just sore. Between the fixes at the house and practices, I’ve used it a little too much this week.”
After loosening the attached piece, he sloshed toward her with the bad length of copper.
Faith’s body loosened in relief, and she smiled. “Oh, thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” He set all the tools and the pipe on shelves nearby. “Are you sure you can get the rest, or do you want me to help while I’m here?”
“No, no. I can get it.”
He gave her a nod and sloshed toward the stairs. “Well, it’s late. I should let you—”
Something tugged on his shirt. When he turned to see what he’d snagged it on, Grant found Faith’s arm extended, reaching for a fistful of his tee.
“Thank you.” She released his shirt and stepped back. “I really appreciate you coming over. This…freaked me out a little. I haven’t had anything big go wrong since my dad died.”
His heart twisted. “I can’t imagine how hard it must be to handle all this on your own.”
“Most days…” She shrugged. “I manage. But while you’re here…” She looked frazzled and vulnerable and so fucking beautiful with her bright eyes and flushed cheeks. “I was going to ask you tomorrow when you came by, but you’re here now, so…” She took a breath. “Do you want to go to dinner maybe? Or something? On a night when, you know, you don’t have practice?”
A zing of excitement coursed along his nerves, but he tamped it down. Grant planted his hands on his hips and lifted his brows. “Did you just ask me out?”
She dragged her lower lip between her teeth, fidgeted with the hem of her tee, and smiled a little. “Um, yeah.”
He grinned. “Have you ever done that before?”
She laughed. “No. Pretty obvious, huh?”
Grant pressed one hand to the cement wall and exhaled. “Is that what you really want, Faith? Dinner at a restaurant?”
She worked her lower lip some more. Then shook her head.
“What do you really want?”
She held his gaze but didn’t answer for a long time. And Grant didn’t pressure her, because he could see her working it out in her head. And because he knew this was a big step for her.
“You.” The word came out as a half whisper. She cleared her throat and said, “You. I want you. I want…” She exhaled heavily and shook her head. “I want to know what it’s like to be with you. With a man like you. Part of me wants just an hour. Part of me wants all night. I’m willing to take whatever works for you. I don’t…expect…anything more. I know you’re only going to be here a short time, and…”
She let her eyes close and all the air leak from her lungs as if the words exhausted her and she couldn’t bring herself to say more.
Grant was strung tight. Walking in, he’d known what he’d wanted—to corrupt a sweet country girl into a hot fling. Now…he still wanted that. But he wanted something else too. He just wasn’t sure what.
She was four feet away, and he needed her closer. Much closer. “Come here.”
She lifted her gaze to his, her eyes clear but confused. And she looked so fucking innocent right now Grant couldn’t believe how badly he wanted her. Couldn’t believe how hot she made him, looking like a drowned mouse. Or how those big blue eyes cut into him.
When she didn’t move he said, “Come. Here.”
She waded through the water and stopped six inches away.
He lifted his hand, stroked her cheek, and cupped her jaw, with a murmured “You are so fucking beautiful.”
Her lashes fluttered and closed. She leaned her head into his hand. And fire consumed Grant’s body. He’d always thought he preferred spunky, take-charge women. Women he didn’t have to work to get or work to please. But he couldn’t remember ever being this charged by a woman either.
“Tell me what you want, Faith.”
She opened her eyes, took the last step to close the distance between them, and reached out, taking handfuls of his tee into her fingers to twist. “I want you to take charge.”
His mind flashed back to their moment in the back room, and heat flooded his groin. His heart picked up speed.
“And I want you to do it your way,” she said, dropping his shirt and sliding her hands underneath, across his skin. Her cold fingers made him flinch but still created a sizzle in his body. One that cut straight to his cock. She curved her arms around his waist, pressed that awesome little body against his, and looked up at him with those big, trusting eyes. “I want you to talk as dirty as you fight, and I want you to fuck me as hard as you play.”
Another jolt of lust slammed through his body and hardened his cock. But he narrowed his eyes and brought his hand under her jaw to grip her face hard enough to make her draw a breath. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“I want to know.” Fire burned in her eyes, and her fingers dug into his back. “I want you to show me.”
God, he wanted to show her. Wanted to show her every carnal detail involved in fucking. But… “Baby, I’m pretty sure my definition of fucking and yours are on alternate planes of reality.”
Her eyes darkened, and her jaw tightened. One of her hands came around and pushed between them to work open the button on his jeans, then slide the zipper, all while she never took her gaze off his. “Then bring me over to the dark side. Or is your schedule too booked up to give a girl a few fucking lessons?”
He released her jaw and pressed his fingers to her lips. “Stop saying that. It’s… God, it makes me insane.”
Her small hand slipped into his jeans and beneath his boxers, then closed around his cock. The combination of cold and pressure shocked a jerk through his whole body, and he swore. Then she opened her lips and took his fingers into her warm mouth.
All the sensations overloaded his circuits.
He pulled his hand from her mouth, wrapped it around the back of her neck, and dragged her mouth to his. With the other arm at her waist, he drew her against him, tasted her deeply, and groaned with all the frustration and need that had built up over the last week. She kissed him back far more openly, more hungrily than she had the first time, and the feel of her wanting him so passionately blew a fuse.
Grant lifted her off her feet. The move dragged her hand from his jeans, and she broke the kiss on a gasp.
“Grant, your shoulder. Put me down.”
A sweet pang tugged inside him. No one but Dwayne had asked about his shoulder, not even his parents. He found her neck with his lips as he climbed the stairs and dragged her up his body until she wrapped her legs around his hips. “My shoulder can handle you.”
She was cold and wet and sent shivers over his entire body.
“You’re cold,” he muttered against her skin.
“Only on the outside.”
When he reached the top of the stairs, Grant stepped over his jacket and paused to drag at her tee, pulling it off over her head. He dropped it in a soggy clump on the floor. She wore a white bra with lace edges. Her breasts were round and plump, and he trailed his fingers over the curve of one, loving the way her puckered nipples stood out against the silk.
“Oh, man, I was so wrong.” He slid his fingers up her chest, her neck, and around to her nape again before meeting her eyes. “Fast isn’t going to work with you. I’m definitely going to have to take my time.”
