He straightened, then slowly crossed the room until he stood directly in front of her. “Oh, I have ideas. None of them involve Cassie, though.”
Tessa tried to ignore the shiver of excitement that crept over her...tried and failed. She didn’t want to find him appealing, didn’t want to spend any more time with him than necessary. She didn’t trust him. He oozed charm, and in her experience, that led to lying and deceit.
Backing up, hoping to make an escape, she reached blindly for the handle on the door. But as she retreated, Grant stepped forward. His fresh-from-the-shower aroma enveloped her, and his damp hair, hanging in a tousled mess over his forehead, practically begged for her to run her fingers through it.
“You could’ve apologized when you saw me tomorrow,” he murmured as he came within an inch of her face. “Why did you need to stop by now?”
Because she was a glutton for punishment. There was no other excuse.
“I wanted to clear the air before I saw you again. I didn’t want anything to be uncomfortable.”
One hand came up to rest on the door beside her head as a grin spread across his tanned, stubbled face. “I prefer to clear the air, too.”
In one swift motion, his head dipped down to hers and his free hand came up to cup the side of her face. Tessa’s back was firmly against the door, and she had nowhere to go...not that she wanted to go anywhere, because Grant’s mouth was so gentle, so amazingly perfect. Instead of pushing him away, she kept her arms at her sides and tried to remain in control of her emotions. But she did open her lips at his invitation, She was human and couldn’t resist temptation, after all.
Slowly, his tongue danced with hers and chills spread from her head to her toes in a flash. Before she could get too wrapped up in the moment, Grant stepped back. Tessa lifted her eyelids, meeting his dark gaze.
“Since we don’t want things to be uncomfortable,” he told her, his hand still framing her face, “you should know I plan on doing that again.”
Tessa couldn’t speak, could barely think. How in the world did she end up with zero control here? She’d just wanted to apologize, and instead she’d gotten the most tender, yet toe-curling kiss of her life, and an amazing view of Grant’s bare chest.
“What about—”
“The clause?” he asked, intercepting her thoughts. “Seeing as how you’re attracted, too, I don’t see why we can’t pursue more. Behind closed doors, of course. No one would have to know, Tessa.”
“I’m not interested,” she told him, lying through her still tingling lips. “Save your attraction for another woman.”
Grant dropped his hand. “Then it’s my turn to apologize. I assumed by the way you look at me, the way your pulse beats at the base of your neck, the way you catch your breath when I touch you, that you were interested in me, too. And the way you participated in that kiss... But apparently, I was mistaken.”
He leaned right next to her ear, so close his lips brushed against her lobe when he whispered, “Or you’re lying.”
Tessa tugged on the door and moved out of his grasp. “Good night, Grant.”
Like the coward she was, she ran away. Nobody made her feel more out of control, more internally restless than this infuriating man.
Surely that didn’t mean...
Tessa sighed as she climbed into her Jeep. She had a sinking feeling that Grant Carter was the man her mother had told her about. The man who would come along and make her question how she’d gotten along without him in her life.
The one man she’d been saving herself for.
Tessa slid out of her worn boots and set them beside the back door. Then she hung her heavy cardigan on the peg and moved through her kitchen toward her bedroom. Spring had arrived early, but the nights were still pretty cool, and she wanted to relax in a nice hot bath after her late-night ride. She was a creature of habit, and her raspberry-scented bubble baths were a nightly ritual and the only way she allowed herself to be pampered.
As usual, she hadn’t been able to fall asleep. But this time, instead of having horses and racing on her mind, her thoughts had been full of a certain Hollywood producer who had kissed her so gently, yet so thoroughly, she couldn’t even remember what kissing another man was like. Not that she’d kissed a slew in her life, but enough to know that Grant Carter knew how to please a woman.
And that was the main thought that had kept her awake. If he could cause so much happiness within her body with just a kiss—and a tender one at that—then what would the man do when he decided to really take charge and not hold back?
Her antique clock in the living room chimed twelve times. Midnight. The same time every night she found herself getting back home from her ride on Oliver. He always stuck his head out of the stall when she returned to the stable late at night. It was almost as if he knew her schedule, knew she’d be back for one last ride to wind down her evening.
Tessa padded into her bedroom, undressing as she went, so when she made it to the hamper she dumped in all her clothes. When she entered her bathroom, she paused.
Grant Carter was consuming way too much of her time, both in person and in her mind. She plucked the short cotton robe from the back of the bathroom door and went to the old desk in the corner of her bedroom to boot up her laptop.
For a man she’d met just two weeks ago, a man who’d kissed her like no one ever had, she really should learn more about him.
Of course, the internet gave only basics, but that was certainly more information than she had right now. He had a whole file on her life, her sister’s and her father’s. Grant and his crew knew way more about her childhood and the entire backstory of the Barringtons, so Tessa felt it only fair she level the playing field.
Clicking on a link, she quickly learned that Grant was a twin, but there was no other mention of this sibling.
She glanced at his birth date. A Christmas baby. Tessa’s eyes widened as she stared at the screen, inching closer because there was no way she was seeing that number correctly.
He was ten years older than her? As if her virginity, his obvious experience, her country life and his city life weren’t enough major blockers between them, he was ten freakin’ years older.
With a groan Tessa moved to her bed with the laptop and sagged back against her plush pillows. Grant was out of her league. She could tell by the way he’d kissed her, by how he flirted and his laid-back mannerisms, that he was more experienced with life than she was. But ten years was a hell of a lot of time.
She ventured into the area of pictures. Image after image she clicked through showed a smiling, sometimes heavy-lidded Grant, and in most of the pictures he wasn’t alone. Beautiful women were his accessory of choice, apparently. Surprise, surprise.
So, what? Was his kissing her just passing time while he was here? Did he choose a woman on each set to keep him company? No, he had that clause that prohibited that. But she had a feeling Grant Carter was a rule breaker when it came to getting what he wanted.
Hollywood was a far cry from Dawkins, Virginia, and the fast-paced city life was something she just couldn’t—and didn’t want to—grasp.
Another man, another city charmer with smooth words, flooded her mind. But he’d had hidden agendas: marrying her for her family name.
The hurt of betrayal still cut deep. Hindsight helped, because she could admit that she’d never loved him...at least not the way she thought she’d love the man she would marry.
Tessa’s eyes slid back to the screen, where Grant’s