GRIND: A Stepbrother Romance Page 36

  I didn't want to move. We fit together so perfectly that my silly, honeyed thoughts dreamed up a fun scenario where we both fell asleep in his bed like this, still connected in the best kind of way,

  Chapter 8

  ALY

  * * *

  At some point after, I had started dozing just enough to notice only too late when the bed shifted under me. I sleepily opened my eyes, first seeing the beautiful knotted pine that made up the ceiling beams overhead, then seeing the tops of posters dotted here and there along one of the walls in Liam's room.

  I slowly sat up, closing my eyes at the pounding pressure behind them. Glancing around the room, I saw a slant of golden light along the floor coming from underneath a door. Liam must have been in the bathroom.

  Feeling a little on the nosy side, I inspected the contents lying on Liam's bedside table, smiling at a picture of him as a young teenager, his arm wrapped around a woman I could only assume to be his mother, grinning at the camera. It was sweet, and sitting next to it were a couple of remotes and an old bottle of water. For the most part, Liam's room was incredibly clean, but then again, when was the last time he had even been here?

  I pulled the warm blanket around my upper half and pushed my hair out of my face, my eyes scanning around the room some more. In the dim glow of the lamp I could make out several framed photos and even a few posters tacked here and there, mainly of Liam himself adorned with a tennis racket and a fierce stare. I lifted a brow.

  My jaw dropped as I realized what exactly I was seeing. These weren’t just any photos of Liam playing tennis, no, these were professionally shot. When I looked over the other side of the room, I saw it—a professionally done poster of Liam in action, his hair swept back from his face and sweaty as he was obviously mid-swing, with the words ‘DAVIS CUP’ printed across the bottom.

  Liam was a professional tennis player. A real, bona fide professional athlete. Looking at him, it was easy to assume he'd be good at sports, especially with his thick arms and broad shoulders, but to see actual evidence of it… I was in absolute awe.

  The door to the bathroom opened, startling me, and I bit my lip as Liam walked through, mussing his hair as he yawned.

  "Fancy meeting you here," he said, teasing me as he slid back into bed next to me. I felt silly at just how fast my heart began to race from Liam’s close proximity.

  "So, I don't suppose you could explain to me why I didn't know you were a professional tennis player…" I said, letting my voice trail off.

  Liam sat back against the headboard, his face unreadable. "It's just not something I like bringing up."

  Uh oh. That didn't sound good. Despite wanting to give him his privacy, I couldn't help but implore him to explain. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize. Did something… happen?"

  He didn't look very happy to explain, but shrugged and nodded at the same time. "I ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in my left knee."

  I didn't exactly know what any of that meant, but it sounded incredibly painful, and my hand squeezed my own knee self-consciously. "I'm so sorry, Liam. That had to be devastating."

  "It was, believe me. It was already a hard year for me… But I never thought I'd have to say goodbye to my tennis career. I've been playing since I was a little kid."

  Already a hard year for him? I wanted to press on, but I felt like if I did I might upset him, so I sat back, studying the profile of his face. It was still hard to believe I was sitting in the same bed, naked, with this sex god.

  "My mother died eight months before that happened… That was four years ago. It was really rough on all of us. And when I couldn't concentrate, well, I stepped too hard in the wrong direction and there you go." He continued on, looking straight ahead. "I… don't know why I just said all of that."

  A pang shot through my chest when he mentioned his mother dying. How uncanny it was for us to have both gone through something so tragic… With the passing of my dad when I was a young teenager, it felt like the more I got to know Liam, the more we had in common. It touched me that Liam was opening up, even if reluctantly. "It's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. So you went from tennis rock star to a massage therapist… That's somewhat of a jump, right?"

  He chuckled as he stretched his arms over his head. "A bit. After all that happened, I just needed a break, you know? I needed to get out of that shaky headspace I was in, so I decided to go in another direction. I hated being stuck in the house all the time when I was in rehabilitation for my knee. I'm not one to sit still for very long, if you haven't already noticed… So I decided to focus my energy elsewhere. When my dad mentioned opening up the spa, I was all in, wanting to help out however I could. I even went to massage therapy school to get licensed."

  The kind of determination it must've taken to push through all of those things and keep focused… Liam was a much better man than I had originally given him credit for. Part of me felt guilty for just assuming he was some rich boy with loaded pockets. "Wow, I had no idea."

  He played it off like it was no big thing, patting the space on the bed beside him for me to come sit. "It's nice being able to help others out in my own way. I was always told that I had a gift of touch, so to speak. I figured what else could I do with that?" I knew exactly what he could do with that… My cheeks flushed at the thought. The corner of Liam's gorgeous smile quirked up and his hands slid along my thigh. "I can already see the dirty thoughts in your head. Your skin is a pretty shade of pink when you blush."

  As Liam's hand dipped down in the space between my thighs, my breath hitched in my throat and I gnawed on my lip. He didn't even have to move an inch; his fingers found my heat and parting my folds as he coated them in my slickness. All it took was the smallest touch from Liam and every muscle in my body seized up. I tried to watch his face as he slowly pumped his fingers in and out of me, but my eyes fluttered shut and I moaned uncontrollably. "Mmm!"

  My back arched as I came hard and quickly, like a shot going through the room, wave after wave of pleasure overtaking me until I collapsed onto the bed, shaking. With Liam's fingers still deep inside of me, I rolled my hips against his hand, my eyes wide open now, shocked at how the orgasms just kept coming. Finally, my pussy clenched tight one last time, and I slowly released the breath I was holding.

  "Oh my God."

  Chapter 9

  LIAM

  * * *

  Carefully slipping out of bed several hours after fucking the beautiful and quite flexible Aly Waterhouse, I peeked around the corner of my room and saw that her younger sister, Sage, was still snoring heavily in the room across from us. Selfishly pleased, I grinned to myself, and looking back one last time at Aly's peacefully sleeping form, closed the door behind me.

  I was like a man possessed, throwing together any pathetic excuse I could find for breakfast food, trying to mix it up as quickly and as soundlessly as possible, and failing pretty miserably. I don't know what got into me, wanting to make breakfast for Aly, to see her face light up at my little surprise for her, so instead of reading too much into things, I just went with it.

  "Fuck, am I supposed to use milk or water for these pancakes?" I wondered aloud, trying to think what my brother would do. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Jackson's irritating voice chuckled at my current situation, whispering something about milk making food fluffy, so I measured it out and poured some into the bowl of pancake mix. Professional chef, I was not, but at least I could say I tried.

  After the bacon, the pancakes, and a strange, misshapen fried egg were finished up, I quickly spread some butter on the toast and grabbed a bottle of water before tiptoeing back up the steps to my bedroom. It only just occurred to me that maybe Aly would think this was all very weird of me, but I pushed that thought aside and hoped for the best.

  When I pushed the door to my room open, Aly was already sitting up, blinking blearily from the sunlight coming through the curtains. "Good morning," she said groggily.

  She was beautiful sitting
there in the sea of blankets, her soft skin and messy hair making me want to throw the fruit down and fuck her silly all over again. God, what in the hell was going on inside my head?

  Aly eyed the tray in my hand, a sweet smile spreading across her face. "Is that for me?"

  "Uh, yes. If you're hungry, that is." I strolled over to her and placed the tray in her lap, gesturing to the food. "It's not Jackson's continental breakfast or anything, but I think it's at least edible."

  Aly giggled. "I think I'll be the judge of that."

  I sat down next to her and took the offering of bacon she handed to me, satisfied that it wasn't too crunchy or too chewy. "Not bad," I said, my mouth full.

  Aly poured the little bottle of maple syrup over her pancakes and dug in, groaning with each bite. "Oh my God, this is perfect. So, so good," she mumbled as she reached for her napkin to cover her mouth. "Thank you so much, Liam. This was very sweet."

  As she brought another bite of pancake to her mouth, maple syrup dribbled down her chin until a small drop fell right in between her tits. My eyes followed the lonely drop as it went further down. Unable to help myself, I lifted my finger and wiped the drop off slowly, bringing it to my mouth as I smiled at Aly's shy look. "Very sweet," I agreed.

  Aly's breath hitched in her chest, and her sweet, luscious tits heaved under the tiny bit of blanket covering them. It was like electricity had shocked both of us at the same time, building between us. I could almost imagine the warmth flooding her pussy right now. It probably was having the same effect as my dick getting hard in an instant. I didn't dare look down—I knew what was going on below.

  It was amazing just how quickly Aly could get me to abandon all of my other thoughts and only want to take her right here right now. She was a gorgeous beauty who just happened to land quite literally in my lap at the right moment. I couldn't believe my luck, with the way I'd heard she’d broken things off with her ex-fiancée recently… It was crazy to think that if she hadn't, I wouldn’t be sitting here with her gorgeous naked body in front of me, mine for the taking.

  Which reminded me… I was going to have to ask Aly later on what exactly had happened between her and her ex… But for now there were more pressing matters.

  Aly had only managed to finish eating half her pancakes and a slice of bacon, and only a few sips of water, before I carefully took the tray away from her and tackled her on the bed again…

  Only a couple of hours later, my father and Kay returned, looking fine despite the previous night's weather conditions. "Ah, it was like our own adventure!” my dad lamented, smiling over at Kay, who just returned his grin. It was kind of weird to think about my dad getting busy with anyone in some kind of romantic hideaway set up, but whatever made him happy, I guess.

  It wasn't long before all four of us wanted to hit the slopes again, Sage mumbling a pitiful request for more medicine and for us to have fun. I did still feel bad about having to leave her behind, but the more one on one time I got with Aly, the better.

  Today wasn't going to be about me taking it easy, today was about fun with her. Even over the birds crowing loudly over our heads as we slid to a stop at the bottom of our first slope, Aly's laugh soothed me.

  "You are impossible!" she said, trying hard to keep a straight face. "I didn't realize we were racing."

  I shrugged, loving the way Aly just couldn't resist smiling at my antics. "What can I say? I'm a competitive kind of guy."

  Throwing her hip out to the side, she tilted her head just so, and even though she was wearing oversized ski goggles, I could already see the face she was making. "Is that so? Well guess what, Mr. Competitive Guy? You've just met your match. First one down the next trail wins."

  She was already off, skiing back over to the left before I could ask her just what the prize was. I watched the snow fly behind her and stood back, chuckling. If I had my way about it, there'd be enough winning going on for the both of us…

  Aly

  I don't know how I ended up standing outside some abandoned supply shack on the Satterwhite property, but with Liam's hands firmly grasping my hips as he placed kisses all down my neck, I didn't exactly mind either.

  He pulled back to look down at me, his face softening. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?"

  Why was he so good at making my heart melt? "Not lately."

  His hand skirted up my side, his fingertips sliding up my arm until he cupped my chin in his hand. "Well, that's a shame if you ask me."

  Even through the shade from the thick trees, Liam's blue eyes shone in an honest, brutally handsome way. Words tripped out of my mouth before I could take them back. "I don't know how you do this but… you make me feel different. You remind me of the ocean for some reason."

  "Some might say it's my eyes," he teased me.

  But I shook my head. "No, I mean you calm my spirit. You calm me."

  "Then why don't you ride this ocean tide tonight again?" He winked as he trailed his thumb along my lip and dipped his head down, his mouth brushing against mine.

  Snow crunched underfoot nearby, and I pulled quickly away from him, my mouth instantly regretting the move. "What if our parents see?"

  He gave me a placating look, brushing some of the snow off of his pants. "Hon’, everyone's wearing the same outfits around here. They won't even know it's us. There are so many people out on the slopes today, they're probably not even paying attention."

  I let myself sink back into the kiss and Liam's hand went further and further down my backside, squeezing my ass firmly. I pulled away again.

  Taking the conversation in a completely different direction, Liam tilted his head to the side. "Tell me, Aly, why do you want to be a lawyer, exactly?"

  Taken aback, I struggled to find the right words. I had my own reasons, none of which I was prepared to go over right at the moment.

  "When you were on my table," he continued, pulling his hat off, "your shoulders were seriously out of line and you had so many knots. I swear I could've gone looking for gold under all those pebbles of tension."

  It was the first time he had talked about the massage, and embarrassed at my shortcomings, I turned away. "I guess… I just felt like it was what I was supposed to do, you know?"

  He turned me back to face him. "Why's that?"

  I couldn't exactly bring myself to look him face-to-face, so I looked down as his skis. "You don't want to hear about this deep, sappy stuff." Even though part of me desperately hoped that it was exactly what he wanted to hear. That he would even care enough to ask me in the first place… That meant something to me.

  "Yeah, I do."

  When I finally did look up and meet Liam's intense gaze, I couldn't help but spill. "It's just… When my dad passed away when I was younger, it was hard on my mom. Financially speaking. I guess I just promised myself I'd never let that happen to me. That I would always be able to take care of myself no matter what happened."

  "So you decided that being a lawyer would save you from that?" Liam asked, trying to follow along.

  "That, and well, my dad was a lawyer, too. So it just made sense." At least that was always what I’d told myself, anyway.

  Another couple walked past us, giving us a quick wave as they carried their skis. Liam turned back to me. "Yes, but do you enjoy it?"

  Stumped, I couldn't really figure out how to respond. The truth was I never really enjoyed debating people as much as many of my other colleagues had, going through law school. They always seems much more intent on proving that they were right, when I was always up for seeing both sides of the story. Apparently that wasn't exactly the kind of lawyer law firms really sought out. "I honestly don't know, to tell you the truth. I will say that it's stressful as hell, that's for sure."

  "You know, more lawyers break into the wine industry than any other industry," Liam said, solemn-faced.

  I pursed my lips together, not buying it. "You're just making that up."

  He lifted one shoulder and the ghost of a smile crossed
his face. "Am not… Okay, so maybe sort of. But it's worth thinking about, I'm just saying." He took another step toward me, not caring that people kept crossing our path. "Aly, what would you do if you could? Any one thing you've always wanted to do, if you could do it, what would it be?"

  It sounded like one of those questions that you read on some Internet quiz or something, but I took my time to actually think about it. "Travel, maybe? I've been itching to just travel and maybe write a little. I didn't know how that would be possible without a really good job, I guess. Law school came with a pretty hefty price tag. So, why are you massage therapist now, mister? Let's get to the nitty gritty hard questions. Why not still play tennis? I understand you were injured, but you seem to get around pretty fine now."

  That seemed to throw Liam for a loop. "Okay… Tough questions. If I answer, then you have to answer my tough questions, too."

  I snorted. "Like they haven't been tough already? Okay, deal."

  Giving me a curt nod, Liam leaned against a nearby tree. "The truth is I don't like too much idle time on my hands. Like I said, I like to keep going. And I sort of hate being by myself, as pathetic as that sounds. Since I've always been good with my hands and massage seemed to work out, it was the perfect therapy for me in my down time. Tennis is all about control and being aware of your abilities, tuning yourself to the smallest change. Being quick to meet the need of the ball and all that. I needed a break. Now my brother, on the other hand, he's totally into the family business. He's one of the top chefs in the country. I guess I'm a bit afraid of trying again, maybe. I mean, I'm not a pussy or anything, I just sort of lost my drive when my mom died and after that damn injury." He took a deep breath, looking off into the distance again. "She came to every match, you know. I don't think I could play again knowing how empty the audience would be without her. What it would be like to have the absence of her beauty there."