The sheer look of wonder on her face was something he would never forget.

Her breath caught and her entire body contracted around him.

“God, Grace . . . if you keep doing that I won’t last long.”

Her body did it again. “I can’t help it,” she sighed. Her hips reached for him.

He was going to lose it. He closed his eyes and pushed the desire to release far away where the cold lived and Inuit had sex with their clothes on.

“Please . . .”

C’mon, Dameon, he silently chided himself.

Finding control, he slowly moved, inched deeper, and touched more of her.

Grace pulled his head down to hers and possessed his lips. “Yes,” she whispered, her hips setting the pace. Then, without warning, her sex tightened and her breath caught. His name on her lips as she found release was music to his soul.

He watched her come apart and stopped moving while her body sent pulses through his.

“Damn, Grace.”

Her eyes closed and her breath shuddered. “Your fault,” she said, accusingly with a tiny laugh.

Once she was lax and her eyes opened, he brushed her hair with his fingers.

This was good . . . all of it.

“You look pleased with yourself,” she said.

“Not yet.”

“Oh?”

He pushed into her again. “I want another one from you,” he told her.

She started to laugh, and Dameon started to move.

Grace had fallen asleep.

Her body tucked so close to his, it was as if she were a human blanket. Dameon hadn’t doubted for a second that sex with Grace would be amazing, but he hadn’t expected magical. They fit like pieces of a puzzle, which, as cliché as it sounded in his head, was exactly what it felt like. She matched his energy, his pace, and his appetite.

Dameon lay there stroking her hair as she slept. He knew he was falling. Felt it the moment they properly met. Wasn’t that why he was making a home out of a property he planned on tearing down? To be closer to her. To have an excuse to ask her to come over after work so he could hear about her day, and tell her about his. He liked that part, too.

He’d lived alone since he graduated from college. Never once did he invite a girlfriend to move in with him. He didn’t want the hassle and commitment. But lying next to Grace, and feeling her breath on his chest, he didn’t want her to leave.

Dameon closed his eyes and willed his brain to settle.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Grace hadn’t meant to stay, and certainly didn’t think she’d wake up to the sun peeking in Dameon’s bedroom window.

But that was exactly how she woke up.

Dameon had offered breakfast and a leisurely morning, but that would have to wait for a weekend. She hated to scramble off, but she would have been late to work if she hadn’t rushed out the door.

But not before Dameon kissed her senseless and whispered promising words of what he wanted to do with her the next time they were together.

Morning fog accompanied her on her way home, and the streets were relatively bare with so many people off for the holiday week.

She took stock of how she felt after a night with Dameon.

Blissfully sore in areas of her body that hadn’t moved that way in some time, and emotionally charged. He was a patient and giving lover, and she’d responded in a way she never had before. Most of her lovers needed to spend more than a night to figure out what worked for her.

Not Dameon.

Right before Grace started to walk out her door, she checked the time.

Remembering her meeting with Richard the day before and him denying her overtime, instead of rushing, she drove first to the coffee shop and took her time.

The office bustled with activity when she walked in exactly forty minutes late. She dropped her purse on her desk and went straight to Richard’s office with a revised expense sheet in her hands.

She didn’t knock. Didn’t say hi.

“I’ll be sure and clarify overtime in the future. But the mileage is accurate. If you want someone to audit my time, by all means. I have nothing to hide.” She placed the paper on his desk and turned to leave.

Richard didn’t utter a syllable as she walked away.

It was the closest thing to standing up for herself she’d ever done with her boss, and her adrenaline was pumping when she went back to her office.

She sat motionless and waited for her nerves to calm. When they did, she smiled.

This was who she was. Strong, centered, and in control.

Somehow she’d stopped being that since summer.

She tackled her inbox with purpose. It was time to spread the workload. And by the time they had their early monthly meeting in January, she’d be prepared.

Grace called an emergency girls’ night.

If there was one thing consistent with a new man in your life, it was the need to talk about it with your girlfriends.

Parker brought a cheese plate, Erin brought wine, and Grace pulled out an array of fruit and cold smoked salmon. They met at Grace’s condo since both her brothers were home, and the last thing she wanted to do was clue them in on her love life.

Erin and Parker arrived together.

The minute Grace opened the door, the two other women paused.

Parker spoke first. “Someone is getting laid.”

Grace knew she was blushing. “Is it that obvious?”

Parker squealed and walked through the door. Erin handed her not one but two bottles of wine.

“I knew it!” Erin said. “You sounded way too excited in your message for tonight to be bad news.”

“Oh my God, you guys . . . I can’t tell you how great it was.”

They shuffled around her small kitchen while Grace found a wine opener.

“I thought you were going to wait. At least that’s what you said the last time we talked, which was what, Christmas?” Erin grabbed three glasses out of the cupboard and placed them on the counter.

“I was. We were,” Grace corrected herself. “And then we didn’t.”

Parker made rolling motions with her hands. “Details.”

Grace pulled the cork free and filled their glasses. “I had a shitty day at work. Richard was being his typical asshole self, went a little further than normal, and Dameon invited me over to his place.”

“In LA?”

“No. The house in the canyon.” She sipped her wine. “I get there and he has a fire going and a cute little Christmas tree in the corner. He bought dinner from The Backwoods and was keeping it warm in the oven.”

“Sounds like he’s working it.”

“We talked and laughed. He gave me pointers on how to deal with Richard. We ended up sitting on this god-awful sofa the previous owners left behind. Did I mention the fire?”

Parker was ear-to-ear smiles.

“Next thing I know, we’re making out on the couch like teenagers trying to get to the next base.” She stopped and closed her eyes at the memories. “It was so amazing. Like the best sex I’ve ever had amazing. Do you know what I mean?” Grace opened her eyes to find both women staring at her and nodding.

“I thought I knew what good sex was . . . and then I met Colin and realized I didn’t know jack shit,” Parker said.

Erin shook her head. “I forgot what an orgasm felt like without a battery-operated toy before Matt.”