Page 75 of Rival Hearts

His long fingers in my hair were magical. There was something about the soothing rhythm of someone else’s hands working through the tangles, massaging my scalp, that sent tingles shooting down each of my limbs. If this were the only foreplay he ever did, I’d consider it a win, but he was surprisingly kind and considerate in and out of bed.

When he turned me to rinse my hair, he kissed me to distraction as he worked the shampoo out with his gentle fingers. Then he kissed down my body until his mouth was on my inner thighs, seeking entrance, asking for permission. I widened my stance, my hands digging into his hair as his tongue found my sensitive core.

Each lick and circle with the flat of his tongue made me long for more. The hot water beat on my back, a pleasant massage before cascading down my body.

“I love how you taste,” he said, and then he slid two fingers inside me, pumping in time with the movement of his tongue, and I clung onto him, barely able to keep standing.

“Tell me when you’re close, Maggie May,” he said, sucking on my clit. “I want to be inside you when you come.”

Between the swirling and sucking and his fingers pumping, I could barely think straight. “Please,” I said. It was all I could manage.

In one swift movement, he lifted me up and pressed me against the wall of the shower. My ankles locked around him as he slid into me, his mouth on mine, his thumb finishing what his tongue started.

“Oh God,” I said, my hands digging into the nape of his neck.

“Yes,” he said, thrusting deeper and harder. “Yes.”

And then I was tumbling over the edge again, crying out from the intensity of my second release. Keeping me tight against the wall, he followed right behind me.

“Drink?” Grady asked when I came out of the bathroom. “I gotta let the dogs out, but I can get you something when I’m downstairs.”

“Sure, thanks,” I said, drying my hair a little more with my towel before sliding back under the covers.

Once he disappeared out the bedroom door, I checked my phone and thought about ordering in some lunch. I worked such long hours I didn’t have a lot of fresh food in the house. He’d been lucky to find any breakfast ingredients.

Something in the bed vibrated. I threw back the covers, searching for Grady’s phone. At the bottom of the bed, I found it, and without meaning to, I read the sender. It was a message from Agent Jack.

The name made me laugh. Grady sounded like he was involved in the FBI or CIA giving Jack that contact name. As I went to set the phone on the bedside table, the wordsjoband LA jumped out from the text preview.

A twinge of guilt stabbed my heart when I read as much of the message as I could see. His phone was password protected or else I might have tried to read the whole thing. A producing job in LA? That was a promotion, wasn’t it? A better job, more opportunities.

Why hadn’t he said something?

A cold sweat broke out under my armpits and across my palms. He hadn’t told me, which felt very deliberate. It wasn’t like there hadn’t been time for him to say something. The text suggested that this offer wasn’t new.

His footsteps coming down the hall startled me, and I almost dropped his phone trying to get it on the nightstand before he got back.

Entering the room, he gave me a half smile before passing me a glass of water. “You okay?”

My insides were a jumbled mass of confusion. What had I just read? Jumping all over him was a bad idea. Maybe he’d tell me.

Even if he ended up leaving, it’d be okay. I’d be okay.

My stomach dipped. After the morning we’d had, the text felt disorienting, like maybe I’d imagined how close Grady and I were getting, how much he wanted to be here.

I didn’t want him to leave. Asking him to stay would be selfish. Trent warned me that he’d never stay, and it looked like that prophecy was coming true. Grady had never been meant for Little Falls.

What about the mayoral race? What if he won? Would he stay or leave no matter what?

My mind spun with questions I didn’t want to ask. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure I could handle the answers to those questions.

“Yeah.” I focused on the ice in the glass. “Everything is fine.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Maggie

We were going through the last spreadsheet at the kitchen table in Lila’s house when Lila flipped the laptop screen shut, turned and stared at me.

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