Grind Read online

  “I’m so sorry!” Cara wanted to be apologetic but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing at his expression. “I really am!”

  The shock faded. A crooked smile replaced it. “Think that was funny, do you?”

  “It was a little.” She edged away from him when he shifted closer with mock menace. The last time he’d done that, he’d tickled her until she’d begged for mercy.

  Just as she’d anticipated, Jason dragged her close and went for every ticklish spot he’d found on her over the years. But unlike before, he eased up after a second or two and simply wrapped his arms around her—probably in deference to her illness. Contentment and warmth bubbled pleasantly through her system, although she could barely sit up.

  “I guess we can just hole up in here for the rest of the time.” He squeezed her. “I can think of worse things to do.”

  She could too. “We can’t spend all day in bed.”

  “I might not be able to, but you will until you get better.”

  “I never noticed you had a bossy streak.”

  “Only when I need to be.” He slid the tray of food closer. “Have a little more and then I’ll leave you to sleep for a while.”

  “Jason, I’m not a kid. I have been sick before and can take care of myself.”

  “Well you’ve got me here now, so just let me help, okay?”

  The idea of him helping did have its appeal. “I’m not promising I’ll be the best patient.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Cara pushed him back with some difficulty. “And you should probably stay as far away from me as possible. I don’t want you to get sick too.”

  “Now who’s treating who like a kid? Besides”—he grinned sardonically—“with that sneeze you just hit me with, it kinda makes that argument moot.”

  Heat burned her cheeks at his reminder. “I just don’t want to ruin this weekend any more than I already have.”

  “And I keep telling you not to worry about it. You haven’t ruined anything.” Jason fed her a slice of mango and picked up the tray. “Anything else you need?”

  He looked so cute just standing there. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him to join her. But she had other more pressing matters. “Uh, yeah.” Heat crept into her cheeks.

  Jason’s brows dropped. “What’s wrong? What can I do?”

  “You can help me to the bathroom…”

  “Oh. Right.” He put the tray down and scooped her up in his arms. “Just call when you’re ready to come back. Or do you want me to run a bath for you?”

  A bath sounded heavenly but she could do it on her own. Later. When she could muster the strength. “It’s okay.”

  He dropped her off at the door of her en-suite toilet. “Just holler. I’ll clear up breakfast in the meantime.”

  One more ‘thank you’ from her would just annoy him, so she smiled and shut the door. So much for her sexy weekend.

  By the time she emerged, Jason had cleared what was left of breakfast from the room. Feeling ridiculous and utterly exposed, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. Jason was nowhere in sight so she slowly shuffled back to bed and flopped into it, burying her face in the pillows.

  His deep voice behind her made her sigh. “Didn’t I say to call me?”

  She rolled, lifting half her face off the pillow to mumble, “I think I can walk a few feet.”

  He sighed. “Think you can walk down the hall?”

  Truth was, she didn’t. “Why?”

  He helped her to her feet and hooked an arm around her waist. “I have a surprise for you.”

  Cara could smell it before they got there. He’d drawn her a bath, complete with bubbles. She hugged him. “You’re not really going to help me into the tub, are you? It’s not like I’m incapable of taking care of myself. It’s just a cold.”

  “I’m here in case you need anything.”

  Apparently, she was getting his help whether or not she wanted it.

  It slowly dawned on her that his assistance wasn’t completely altruistic. He brushed his hands over her skin slowly, tortuously across her breasts before he untucked the towel. Jason didn’t let it fall. His nails gently rasped against her skin as he drew it down her body. He made sure that it grazed every bit of flesh possible, rubbing over her nipples and her torso, then her belly and down her legs. Without the barrier of fabric, he skimmed his hands over her as he stood up. Jason held her against him for a second before taking her hand and helping her into the tub.

  Cara could barely breathe. What she wanted to do was drag him into the tub with her but she was curious to see what he had in mind. “Do I know how to plan a romantic weekend or what?”

  “I’ve got you wet and naked. Can’t get more romantic than that.”

  “You need to work on your definition of romance.” Cara could barely see him over the bubbles once she sat in the tub. “Did you use the whole bottle of bubble bath?”

  “And how would I know how much to use? It’s not like I do this on a regular basis.” He laughed and swatted away the bubbles when they threatened to swallow her up. “I overdid it, huh?”

  “Just a little.”

  He scooped up handfuls and dumped them in the sink until she could settle back without the threat of being smothered. “Well, now I know.”

  Once he put his hands on her body again, Cara wouldn’t have cared if he’d dumped five bottles in there and flooded the entire apartment with bubbles.

  Jason quickly shucked his clothing and slipped into the tub behind her. Cara’s mind blanked as his body slid against hers. Luckily her tub was big enough to accommodate them both, a fact they’d discovered not too long after she had moved in. She remembered that night with a smirk.

  The memory was fleeting. Jason didn’t give her much time to dwell before he started moving again. The rough feel of his thighs against hers had all thoughts evaporating except feeling more of him against her. Inside her.

  Jason teasingly stroked her skin, his breath warm against the side of her neck. “Are you remembering the last time we did this?”

  Cara hummed her reply.

  “I think we can do better than a memory.”

  She arched against him when he slid one hand to cup her breast while the other he curled around her hip to delve in between her thighs.

  “Should we see if we can burn off that cold?”

  Before she even had a chance to process his question, he moved his fingers again—delving, stroking, tantalizing—until she bowed and groaned his name, begging for release.

  He made her writhe a moment longer before plunging two fingers into her and coaxed an explosive orgasm out of her.

  When she finally caught her breath and stopped seeing double, Cara twisted to slide up his body to drag his head to hers for a long, dizzying kiss. At least she hoped it was the kiss that made her head spin, because she wasn’t done with him yet.

  He curled his arms around her and held her tightly, a big contented grin on his face. “The water’s cooling. We should get out.”

  Even though she gave him her best pout, he chuckled and levered himself up and took her with him. He wrapped her in towels before doing the same to himself then ushered her to her room.

  He dried them off, surreptitiously watched her while they both dressed then got her to the couch where he had blankets and pillows waiting. “I thought we’d veg out and watch some movies. I’ll order in whatever you want to eat later. Unless”—he offered her a smile that dared her to accept what he offered next—“you want me to cook.”

  Cara dropped into the couch with a smirk on her face. “No, thanks. I doubt my stomach could handle it in my weakened state.”

  Bopping her head gently with a pillow before he fluffed it and shoved it behind her, he laughed. “Hey, be nice. No one’s died from one of my meals yet.”

  “I’d rather not be the first.”

  He sat on the other end of the couch, pouting. “Wow, and here I am being all ni
ce and caring and stuff. You really know how to wound a guy.”

  “Just shut up and help me pick a movie.” Cara tossed him the remote and commented every now and then when a movie that caught her interest came on the screen. By the time they’d settled on one that neither of them objected to too much, her stomach was growling and her head was swimming.

  “I’ve got just the thing to fix that.” He pushed up off the couch and went to the kitchen. She could only assume he was talking about her stomach, because she heard him opening the fridge and putting something in the microwave. He returned a few minutes later with a steaming bowl of soup that smelled like heaven. “Chelsea ran this over last night. Said it would fix you up in no time.” He sat next to her with the tray in his lap and held out the spoon. “So open up.”

  It was Chelsea’s grandmother’s chicken soup—Chelsea’s go-to cure for everything from sniffles to a broken heart. “That was so sweet of her and you too, but I can feed myself.”

  “Come on. This is kind of fun.”

  “You think me being sick and you treating me like a child is ‘kind of fun’?” She glared up at him and tried to get the spoon.

  Jason lifted it deftly out of her reach. When her strength gave out and she had to let her arm fall to her side, he brought the spoon back to her mouth. “No. You letting me take care of you is. It’s not exactly something I get to do very often.”

  True. It was just her nature to take care of everyone else. It wasn’t that he never took care of her, because he did. Just not like this. Jason was thoughtful and generous but he wasn’t the spoon-feeding type.

  It was nice, but Cara liked it the other way around better. “Fine.” She figured he would get tired or bored of it after a few mouthfuls but he fed her steadily until she’d finished the entire bowl.

  “See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” He put the tray aside, got comfortable and pulled her over so that she lay half on him. “Is it okay to start the movie now?”

  “You could have started it whenever. I doubt I’ll make it through the entire thing.” Cara doubted she’d last more than ten minutes. Her eyelids were already getting heavy as she snuggled against him. “If you’re not careful, I could get used to this.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  And that’s what she was afraid of, but Cara didn’t have the strength to argue.

  Chapter Six

  The next day, Cara reached her limit for being coddled. She wasn’t feeling much better but she couldn’t handle being treated as if she was going to shatter at any second. One day was more than enough of that.

  When Jason brought in breakfast, she was ready for him. Making sure her hair was tousled just so and her nightshirt was hitched just a tad too high, she greeted him with a small smile. “Morning.”

  It was hard to stop from smiling more when his step hitched and the tray tipped dangerously. “Uh, hey.”

  His gaze burned a trail down her legs before he cleared his throat and brought his attention back to her face. “Feeling better?”

  The pleading look in his eyes told her that he desperately hoped that she was—and just like she’d hoped.

  Cara shifted so that the shirt rode just a tiny bit higher. “What do you think?”

  He carefully put the tray down and cleared the space between them with two steps. His mouth was on hers, and just a quickly, it was gone again. “You still have a fever.” Groaning, he immediately started covering her up again and took two deliberate steps away from the bed.

  “I’m fine. Don’t you trust me?”

  His gaze held hers. “Not right now, I don’t. What are you up to?”

  “What makes you think I’m up to anything?” Cara stretched her arms upward and from the look on his face, Jason was perilously close to swallowing his tongue.

  “Because you’re trying to kill me and I don’t understand why you’d be so cruel.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and took a couple of deep breaths. “Besides, didn’t you make me promise to stay away so I didn’t get sick too?”

  She smiled as sweetly as she could. “I think that plan went out the window when you got in the bath with me. Besides, I’m all better now.”

  Jason stayed stubbornly on the other side of the room, clenching and unclenching his hands. Then a small smirk crooked the corner of his mouth. It was slight but she caught it.

  He moved to the chair in the corner of the room and sat. “Why don’t you convince me?”

  Cara pouted. “Convince you?”

  “That you’re not sick.” He leaned back and waggled his brows.

  Catching onto the game, she smiled. “And how would I do that?”

  “Close your eyes. Pretend your hand is mine. What do you wish I was doing to you right now?”

  That was easy enough to answer. But Cara knew that he wanted to be teased and she was more than willing to play along.

  Watching him with heavily lidded eyes, she sank back into the mound of pillows. Stretching out, she ran one hand down the side of her neck, skimming the side of her breast to slide teasingly over her stomach. His attention was riveted to every movement of her fingers as she wound patterns over her skin instead of moving lower. Cara dipped the index finger of her other hand into her mouth, sucking on it briefly before trailing it down and around the budded peak of her breast.

  After a harsh breath, Jason’s breathing quickened so she knew she was achieving the desired result. He shifted in his seat and she fought back a smile. Getting uncomfortable, was he? Cara planned to push him to the limits of his self-control.

  With a moan, she caressed her way up to cup her breasts with both hands. Plucking at the peaks, she sighed and let a smile curve her lips as she imagined his hands squeezing and stroking her skin. It was his fingers parting her thighs and delving between. She slipped one finger then another inside her pussy. It didn’t take long before she arched her hips off the bed. As she built toward a shattering orgasm, he pulled her hand away only to replace it with his tongue.

  He hooked his arms around her thighs so she couldn’t wriggle away. Within seconds, she writhed under his mouth, her moans and sighs echoing off the walls. They quickly turned into cries of pleasure when an orgasm slammed into her. But Jason wouldn’t let up, and just as the waves of bliss started to ebb, he brought her back to the brink and took her over again.

  Still coming down from her high, she opened her eyes to catch Jason’s piercing gaze. His legs rasped against hers, his breath hot on her cheek. Cara figured she must have been more out of it than she’d thought to have missed that. She didn’t have much time to muse. He captured her mouth in a biting kiss as he drove into her. She let her eyes drift close as he set a relentless pace until they both lay gasping and shuddering against each other.

  Her breathing still off kilter, she stretched against him. “Now this is more like the weekend I had planned.”

  His husky laugh rumbled through her drawing her gaze to his.

  What she saw there hitched her breath for a split second. The way he looked into her eyes was different. It was subtle, but it was there and it threatened to stop her heart from beating. She could see his love for her there, completely unmasked.

  Jason broke eye contact and rolled onto his back. “That’s one way to work up an appetite.”

  The moment over, Cara sighed and tugged the blanket over them. “Or burn off a fever.”

  Her gave her a withering glance and slid from the bed to retrieve the tray. “Is that what you were trying to do?” When she opened her mouth to answer, he shoved half a blueberry muffin into it.

  Cara bit off a mouthful and chewed. “Actually, I was trying to prove that I don’t need you to coddle me. I’m all better.” Even as she said it, she fought the urge to sneeze.

  “Another day in bed and I’ll believe it.” When she started to argue, he put up a hand. “Can’t you just humor me? One more day won’t hurt you. And it would make me feel a lot better.” He ate the other half of the muffin in two bites and washed it down with
a mouthful of her lukewarm coffee before handing her the rest of the cup for her to finish.

  She swigged the rest and shrugged. “Fine. One more day. But that’s it.” And she definitely wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

  “Unless you relapse or something.”

  “Fine.”

  He picked at the fruit and popped a couple of grapes into her mouth. He took a strawberry for himself and gathered up the tray again. “I’ll put this away and leave you to rest while I get some work done.”

  “Can I at least rest out in the living room so I can watch TV and not die of boredom?” It wasn’t a question. Regardless of his answer, she would have made her way out there and he knew it.

  “Allow me.” He put the tray back down and held out hand.

  As far as getting out of bed went, it wasn’t exactly graceful. Cara caught her foot in the sheets and she tumbled into Jason, knocking him into her dresser. He saved her and the mirror from crashing to the floor. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  He made sure she was steady against the wall as he replaced the mirror. “You want to tell me again that you’re feeling better?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Come on, sniffles. Let’s get you out of here.” He deftly cradled her in his arms.

  “I can walk, you know.”

  “I think we just had definitive proof that you can’t.” He snuggled her closer as he rounded a corner. “Besides, I don’t mind. It’s not like you weigh anything.”

  Cara just enjoyed the ride. He settled her on the couch, but before she could get comfortable, he waved a hand at her. “Hang on.”

  He disappeared down the hall and came back with her comforter and a couple of pillows. Jason cocooned her in the blanket and fluffed the pillows on one end of the couch. “There.”

  “I’m not going back to sleep, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Cara loosened the fabric wound around her so that she could free her arms. “You know what? I’ve never actually seen you do your thing.” She wiggled her fingers at his laptop.

  He chuckled. “You want to watch me work? Just to warn you, it might ruin your non-sleep plans.”