Undeniable (A Country Roads Novel) (15 page)

The man might have skimped on kitchen utensils, but he’d splurged on his bed. It was way more comfortable than hers, some sort of foam material that molded to her body. And the pillows were heaven. But the best part of the whole bed was the man pressed up against her. He had one arm draped over her hip, his hand palming her thigh. A thigh that was now bare.

Damn, she’d missed the part where he’d taken off her shorts, too.

Every time he exhaled, his breath washed over her bare shoulder. He hadn’t taken off her tank top, or her bra. And the under wire was the annoying poke that was digging into her ribs.

The bra in question was strapless and normally it was comfortable enough, but not after sixteen hours. She needed to get it off, like now. The problem was, Jax was wrapped around her and she just couldn’t bend that way.

She shifted forward a little bit, and bent her arm awkwardly to try to unhook the back. She fumbled with it for a minute before she gave up.

On to plan B.

She grabbed the side of her bra and slowly started to spin it.

“What are you doing?”

Dear God, that man’s gravely, half-asleep voice was not to be messed with.

“My bra is digging into my skin. I was trying to take it off and not wake you up in the process.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?” he asked as he moved his hand from her hip and slipped it under her shirt. “I’d be more than happy to help with such endeavors.”

His hard body shifted down hers as he worked her tank top up and over her head. He kissed her shoulder while his fingers traced up her spine. He kept moving down until his mouth was in line with the back of her bra. He used his teeth to hold the material in place while he slowly unhooked the clasps with his fingers. When her bra was undone, he moved his hand to the front of her chest to pull it free. His fingers glided over her breasts and she couldn’t help it when she arched into him. He groaned deep in his throat as his mouth moved from the center of her back.

“Where was it digging into you,” he asked as he planted kisses across her skin.

“Up and to the right.”

“Here?” he asked before he opened his mouth on the side of her breast.

“Yes,” she moaned as he flicked his tongue across her skin.

“I think it might have dug into your skin here, too,” he said as his mouth started moving under her breasts.

A second later, Grace found herself on her back, Jax between her thighs.

“So just for future reference,” he said as he soothed her skin with his tongue. “I’m allowed to take your bra off when you pass out drunk on my couch?”

“I wasn’t drunk,” she said as her hands found their way into his hair.

“Well, you were most definitely asleep, which was highly disappointing because I was so looking forward to make-up sex. We really do need to celebrate surviving our first fight.”

“Our first fight?” she asked, tugging on his hair so that he would have to look up at her.

“Our first fight as a couple,” he amended as his mouth moved across the space to her other breast.

“I was going to say, that was probably our four hundred and fifty ninth fight.”

“Hmm,” he hummed into her chest as his hands found their way to her hips and he started to pull down her panties. “Probably,” he agreed, sitting up on his knees.

“And Jax, you have permission to take my bra off whenever you want,” she said as he pulled her legs together and skimmed her red lace panties the rest of the way down her legs.

“Really? Whenever I want?” he asked as he came back down between her thighs again.

“Well, I mean not in public. Or around people.”

“I knew it was too good to be true. You put all of these stipulations on it,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s a shame.”

“No,” Grace said as she reached around and palmed his butt. “What’s a shame is that you still have these on. Do you normally sleep in clothes?” she asked as she started to pull his boxer briefs down.

“No.” He shifted to the side so that he could kick the boxers down his legs. “I normally sleep naked.”

“You? Sleep naked?” Grace asked, trying to sound shocked as he resettled in between her thighs. “Who would have thought reserved Deputy Anderson would sleep in the buff? What were you trying to do? Shield me from your scandalous ways?”

“No.” He smiled down at her. “You see I’ve had this problem the last few days of being constantly turned on. It’s what happens when you have the best sex of your life. So you can imagine my predicament when said woman, who has provided said sex, is passed out in my bed and I can’t do anything to take care of the constant need I have for her. I had to provide myself with some sort of barrier, or I’d lose my damn mind.”

“Best sex of your life, huh?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Absolutely. Also, I thought I was going to short-circuit when I pulled your shorts off to find red lace whatever those were.”

“Boy shorts?”

“Yes, boy shorts. I’m a
huge
fan of those,” he said, kissing her neck.

“I think I have an idea of just how
huge
a fan you are,” she said, bumping her hips up. “And for your sanity’s sake, maybe you should stop talking and take care of this need of yours.”

His grin widened as his mouth descended on hers, and he proceeded to take care of said need with gusto.

O
n Saturday morning Jax met up with all the guys at his house that was under construction. Tripp, Preston, and Baxter joined Brendan, Shep, Bennett, and Jax for a day of hard labor. The goal for the day was going to be finishing up the walls. The plan for the following week was working on the bathrooms. He’d ordered the tile and fixtures months ago, and it was scheduled for delivery on Thursday.

When he pulled up in front of the house, Tripp, Shep, and Brendan were already there. Jax got out and grabbed the bag of goodies Grace had baked the night before and made his way over to the guys, who were all nursing cups of coffee.

“Breakfast,” Jax said, holding up the bag.

“You stop by the café this morning?” Brendan asked as he helped himself to a cranberry-orange scone.

“No, Grace made them last night.”

“How does it feel to eat like a King?” Brendan asked.

“Probably not as good as it feels to be sleeping with one.” Shep smirked.

“Hey, that’s my sister,” Brendan said. “I might’ve accepted the fact that she’s with Jax, but I have absolutely no desire to hear about it. I’ve already seen it, and my eyes still haven’t recovered.”

“Oh, give me a break. You caught Grace and me in her apartment. Behind closed doors,” Jax said.

“And you can’t really talk,” Shep said. “Remember that time Jax caught Paige dry-humping you in your truck?”

“Vividly.” Brendan grinned.

“Wow, I’ve missed so much,” Tripp said with raised eyebrows.

“It’s a harrowing life we live here in Mirabelle,” Shep said. “Glad you’ve joined us though,” he said, clapping Tripp on the back before he grabbed the bag of scones and helped himself to two.

When the rest of the guys showed up, they all got to work. As the hours passed, Jax was amazed, and incredibly grateful, at the amount of work they were getting done. He’d been a little concerned about finishing everything that he needed to before the delivery, but not anymore at the rate they were going.

Just after one, Grace’s Bug came rumbling up the packed dirt driveway. Jax had asked her to bring them lunch, and since she had this thing about feeding him, she’d jumped at the chance. Plus she said she wanted to see the work that he’d done on the house. She hadn’t seen it since they’d gutted it out. Yeah, they’d made more than a couple of changes since then.

“Hey,” he said, abandoning Tripp and Baxter at the saw and walking up to her.

“You got a whole crew here today,” she said, putting her hands on his hips and stretching up to kiss him.

“Yeah, we’re getting a lot done. Want to see it before we eat?”

“Yes, please,” she said eagerly.

“Well, then come on.” He held his hand out for hers. She grabbed it and they twined their fingers together as they walked up the driveway.

The house was on ten-foot pylons, so there was a wooden staircase that led up to the porch, which wrapped around the right side of the house and to the back. One of the first things Jax replaced had been the rotting steps and porch.

“This looks good and safe,” Grace said as they made their way up to the house.

“What? You don’t have that overwhelming feeling that you’re going to fall to your death anymore?”

“Nope. What color are you going to paint the house?” she asked as they walked through the open front door.

“I haven’t decided yet. I was actually going to ask for your help on that. Well, help on all of the paint actually.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyebrows stretching up to her hairline.

“Don’t look so shocked. I’d like a second opinion, and I value yours more than anybody else’s.”

“Yeah?” She beamed.

“Yeah,” he said, leading her down the hallway.

The kitchen was directly to the left where the hallway ended. At the moment it was just an empty space with pipes sticking out of the walls where the sink and dishwasher were going to go. It opened up to the living room at the back of the house. Two bay windows framed the French glass doors that opened to the back deck. Whiskey River was a good fifty yards away, and the land that led up to it was scattered with mossy oak trees.

Their shoes shuffled across the dusty unfinished floor as they walked across the room.

“Wow,” Grace said as she looked out the windows. “The view is amazing.”

“I thought I heard your voice,” Brendan said, coming out of the master bedroom that was to the right of the living room. It too was on the back of the house, so it had the same incredible view.

“I brought lunch,” she said as Brendan went over to the toolbox and grabbed some more nails.

“Awesome,” Bennett said, coming out of the room, too. “I’m starving.”

“Help yourselves. It’s all in the front seat of my car.”

“We will. We’re just going to finish up this room really quick. We only have a couple more panels to put up,” Bennett said, grabbing a sweating bottle of water off the ground and downing half of it.

Jax continued his tour, showing Grace the two spare bedrooms and bathroom that made up the left side of the house. Shep and Preston were in one of the bedrooms, the nail gun firing as they put up a piece of the wall.

“Hey.” Preston said when he saw her.

“Getting a good look at your man’s new place?” Shep asked.

“Yeah, it’s really coming along. What are you going to work on next?” she asked, looking at Jax.

“The bathrooms.”

“Do they work at all?”

“No,” Jax said, shaking his head.

“What do you do when you have to go to the bathroom? You guys don’t hold it all day.”

“Guys don’t have the same plumbing issues as you do.” Preston grinned.

“What, you guys just pick a spot and whip it out to pee?” Grace asked, wrinkling her nose.

“I really don’t understand why this shocks and disgusts you. You grew up with us, Gracie, not a lot has changed,” Shep said.

“I never saw you guys peeing in the bushes.”

“Really?” Shep asked, surprised. “’Cause we did it all the time.”

“Well, you must have waited until I wasn’t around. Ugh, you boys are so gross.” She shuddered.

“Come on,” Preston said, putting down the nail gun. “Let’s go eat. We can scratch our chests and belch while we do it.”

“You’re annoying.” Grace rolled her eyes.

“But that’s not a man trait,” Shep said. “That’s just Preston.”

“Really?” Preston asked as they left the room. “I’m the annoying one?”

Jax picked back up on his tour, showing Grace where the dining room and den were going, and then he pulled her into the master bedroom. It had a walk-in closet, and when the bathroom was finished it would have a stand-up shower and a Jacuzzi tub.

“Jax, it all looks amazing,” she said, beaming at him. “You’ve done a lot with this place.”

“Yeah?” he said, feeling more than a little bit proud.

“Yeah,” she said, stepping into him.

“I’m all hot and sweaty.”

“I don’t care,” she said, and pushed her body against his as she stretched up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Besides I’m used to you being hot and sweaty, otherwise the sex would be very boring.”

As her mouth closed in on his there was a loud thump from the closet, and a second later a very agitated Brendan emerged. “Bennett and I are still in here. How hard is it to check a room?”

Grace bit her lip, most likely holding back a laugh.

“Oh, geez. I’m never going to get used to this,” Brendan said as he stormed out of the room.

“Sorry ’bout that.” Bennett smiled over at them as he followed Brendan out.

Grace laughed and turned back to Jax. “Now, where were we?”

“Right about here,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her.

Her hands started to roam all over his chest and he couldn’t stop himself from groaning into her mouth.

“Do you enjoy torturing me?” he asked.

“You’re really sexy when you’re hot and sweaty. You think we could go have a quickie in the closet?” she said, motioning her head in the direction of the closet that Brendan and Bennett had been working on.

“As much fun as that would be, if Brendan happened upon us he’d really lose his mind. And there are too many other men wandering around. I don’t really want any of them to see you naked.”

“You wouldn’t have to worry about Preston.”

“I’m beginning to think I wouldn’t have to worry about Baxter, either.”

“So you picked up on that?” Grace asked.

“Yeah. Preston had mentioned something to me that night I talked to him at the bar, the night your car wouldn’t start.”

“Awe,” she said, getting a dreamy look in her eyes. “That was a good night.”

“It sure was. But he said that he’d had a date. And I’ve seen him and Baxter out a couple of times.”

“You think the other guys know?”

“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “We haven’t talked about it.”

“You think they’d care?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip.

“Not even a little,” Jax said, reaching up and pulling her lip out of her teeth with his thumb. “I’ve worked with Baxter for years. He’s a really great guy, and though my feelings toward Preston have only recently changed—”

“Recently because you found out that he has no desire of getting into my pants,” Grace clarified.

“Yes.” Jax nodded. “But he was a good guy before that. I just have this jealous streak when it comes to you.”

“No kidding?” Grace asked with mock exaggeration. “Well, if I’m not going to get sex in the closet, I’m going to have to ask for a couple more kisses before we go down and eat.”

“I think I can handle that,” he said, bringing his mouth back to hers.

When they emerged a couple of minutes later, all the guys were crowded around the back of Jax’s truck. They were chowing down on sandwiches and potato chips, laughing loudly about something.

“I know I said it before, but you guys have done an amazing job with this place.”

“She’s right.” Preston nodded. “I saw this place when it got condemned. It was trashed; it’s going to be incredible when it’s finished.”

“It’s mostly been Jax and Bennett,” Brendan said, popping a chip in his mouth.

“With the planning, yeah,” Jax said. “The labor has been a significant portion of you and Shep, too.”

“When do you think it will be finished?” Grace asked.

“I’d say June, July at the latest,” Bennett told her.

“Here’s hoping,” Jax said, taking a step back toward the cooler. “I’m going to get a drink. What do you want, baby?” he asked as he turned around.

All of a sudden everyone went silent. Jax halted and turned back. Brendan, Shep, and Preston were staring at him open-mouthed, Bennett looked just slightly surprised with his eyebrows raised, and Baxter and Tripp had grins on their mouths.

“What?” Jax asked.

“Really? You just called Grace
baby
and you need to ask us
what
?” Shep asked.

“She’s my girlfriend.”

“Yes, Jax, but the reason we’re confused is because it’s a term of endearment,” Brendan said. “From
you
.”

“Grace, I don’t know what you’ve done to that man over there,” Shep said pointing to Jax. “But keep it up.”

“Oh, I plan on it,” Grace said, giving Jax a look that left him in no doubts as to what exactly she wanted to keep up.

Sunday was the first day that Jax and Grace had off together, and he was going to spend every single minute with her. He woke up with her sprawled across his chest. The ends of her hair tickled his jaw as he looked down at her. Her face was turned up to him, her cupid’s bow mouth slightly opened. A piece of her hair fluttered in front of her mouth as she breathed steadily.

He watched her sleep and marveled at how beautiful she was. How had he gone this long before making her his?

He’d made love to her twice the night before, but it did nothing to lessen his need for her. If anything the need was just intensifying.

He reached up and pushed the strand of hair away from her mouth. The light touch made her burrow farther into him. Her leg rode up between his, the bottom of her foot running up his calf, her knee rubbing up against the inside of his leg.

Yeah, he was going to wake her up in
five...

Four…

Three…

“Morning,” she said, running her hand across his chest as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled up at him sleepily.

Thank God.

He rolled her beneath him and she inhaled sharply as his mouth latched on to one of her nipples.

“What is it with my breasts that fascinates you so much?” she asked as she made room for him between her thighs.

“You just answered your own question,” he said, looking up at her. “One, they’re breasts. Two, and more importantly, they’re
your
breasts.”

“Yes, but mine are so small and insignificant.”

“Nothing about you is insignificant. You’re beautiful.”

“Right.” She rolled her eyes.

“Is that sarcasm I detect?”

“Um, yes.”

Jax moved before she even had a chance to react. He had her hands pinnedabove her head, and his legs, were now on the outside of hers, locking her legs down. She gasped, startled, and her eyes opened wide as he looked down at her.

“So here’s the thing,” he said, adjusting his hands so only one held hers down. “You, Grace King, are beautiful. From here,” he said, reaching up and tracing her hairline, “to the tips of your toes, and everything in between. Now your breasts are in the between. So they are therefore part of the beautiful.” He ran his fingers across one of her nipples and she took another unsteady breath. Her legs squirmed between his, aligning things
perfectly.
“Are you trying to torture me?” he asked, resting his forehead against hers.

“You’re the one making me do it,” she said, moving her hips some more as he continued to touch her breasts.

“Then let’s see you really move,” he whispered in her ear before he moved his hand to her side and started tickling her.

“Oh, my God, Jax, nooooooo,” she cried out, laughing.

She was helpless beneath him, her hands and arms still pinned down but her body writhing against his.

“I give up. You win. You win,” she panted.