Page 44 of Saving Grace

Today is the most alive I’ve felt in a long time, and the best fun I have had in years. I release the button on my waistband and tug my pants down. Wet jeans. They don’t budge. Shit. Managing to get them over my panties, I lean on the vanity counter and struggle. Both hands tighten to white knuckles as I try to pry one leg of denim away from my skin. I may as well be Velcroed into the jeans.

“Dammit.”

I try again, arms tense, palms cramping from using the cold muscles. “For the love of—” I fall against the vanity with a thud.

“You okay in there, Grace?”

Crap. I hop on one foot and suck in a breath. “Yup!”

My foot slips, and I slam into the open door. It bangs into the wall.

Heavens above.

Footsteps close in on the wooden floor of my room. Before I have a chance to close the door or grab a towel, Mack fills the doorway. My hands tighten on the opening of my jeans. “They’re stuck.”

It’s then I remember I’m shirtless, a black lace bra the only thing covering my now hard nipples. I’m not a hundred percent sure if my body is reacting to the cold or his gaze. He steps back, dragging his gaze up to my face. “Sorry, I?—”

Fuck it.

Leaving any inhibitions on the floor, I close the space between us and wrap my hands over his jawline. I pull his mouth down to mine. He stiffens in my hold, and I realize I’ve made a mistake.

I pull back so fast, he teeters forward.

“I really shouldn’t have don?—”

Mack’s stunned face turns desperate in a heartbeat, his eyes searching, brows down, lips parted. Before the next beat, his hands are in my hair, his mouth over mine. Pressing his body against me, he claims my mouth. He’s hungry but gentle. I palm his wet shirt, and he wants in with his tongue.

I open.

He grabs me under the butt and his arms flex as my feet lift from the floor. His strength gives out, and I’m dropped awkwardly to the floor. He breaks the kiss, having to steady himself on the doorjamb. Devastation has now replaced hunger.

“What is it?” I say on ragged breath.

“I can’t.” He hobbles a tight turn and pads for the door. Fingers gripping his wrist, I stop him mid-step.

“You will, okay?”

He turns back, and the heartbreak is eating him alive. The part that makes him feel less than. So I offer, “Help a girl out of her jeans?”

He hangs his head for a moment, and I am sure he’s about to deny me the help. But he closes in and tugs them down as he kneels. I wriggle my hips, and under his strong grip, they fall to my feet. I can’t help myself when my hands sink into his hair.

He looks up, those dark blue eyes searching my face.

“You’ll be okay, Mack. You’ll get everything you lost back. I’m not leaving until you do.”

The brief interlude of softness hardens as he pushes to his feet. Before I can inhale enough air viable for life, he’s out the door.

His slams a few seconds later.

Chapter Twelve

MACK

Of all the consequences of being injured, not being able to hold Grace hurts the most.

Mack – 0

Explosion – 1

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