Sands woke up the next morning, Grace in his arms. Well, this is a first. He nuzzled into her hair for a moment before stopping himself. Whoa, easy, buddy. He kissed her cheek, the whispered, "Gracie? Ready to get up?"
Her voice was groggy. "Mm…my alarm hasn't even gone off yet."
Sands smiled. "No alarms here, Gracie." He kissed her shoulder. "I bet I could really wake you up though…"
Grace remembered what had happened and her eyes jolted open. She turned to face him, seeing his features clearly in the morning light. His eyes were closed, the yellows and purples looking so much more intense than in the dim light of the night before. She let her hand caress his face, and it was only then that he realized his glasses were still off.
"Shit…" He tried to pull away, but she wouldn't let him.
"Please, don't," she whispered.
His head was turned. "Gracie…" She'll scream and she'll leave…then what?
"Jeffrey," her voice was soothing, "it doesn't matter. Believe me, it doesn't. I mean, it matters, but it's not going to change…"
"Fine." He turned his face back in her direction. If she goes, she goes. Fuck, why can't that be O.K. with me?
"Open them. Please."
"So you can run away and let me bang into every wall here?"
Not sure I ever want to leave this bed. Grace smiled. "You would never run into the walls, Jeffrey. And…" She pulled him closer. "…after last night, I'm certainly not running."
Sands let himself smile. "Want a repeat performance?"
"Mm…several, actually. Maybe once with a trapeze."
A growl came from deep in Sands' throat. How the hell did she end up here with me? "Gonna let me experience the kinky side of you?"
"You can experience whatever you want," she purred. Ever thought of settling down with someone? Whoa, stop that, Grace! You absolutely cannot take any of this seriously.
She's the most incredible… "Huh…not sure I want to know that I don't have to fight for it."
Grace laughed. "Oh, I didn't say anything about not fighting for it." She continued to caress his face. "You don't need to hide from me. Whether I ever see you again after this week's over or not…you don…" Almost slipped up there, stupid.
Very slowly, Sands let his lids open. "Meet the freak with no eyes." Grace's mouth hung open slightly. Whoever did this left nothing behind. She was sure that she should have been disgusted, or if she saw him on the street, terrified. She wasn't. She looked into the empty caverns before her and felt tears running from her own eyes. Not knowing what to say, she put her hands on the back of his neck and kissed him. He kissed her back, immensely relieved. Why does it matter so damn much? He could feel the moisture on her cheeks. Is she…?
"Jeffrey?" Grace said, pulling away from him.
"Yeah?" You're crying. Why?
Grace wanted to ask what last night had meant to him, if anything. She wanted to ask if they'd made love, or if it was only sex. At the last minute, she decided that she didn't want to know the answer, so she changed her question. "Are we going to…I mean, do you want to…about those repeat performances?"
"Still want them?" he smiled. If you say no, I just might…
"You?"
"Hell, yes."
"I'll need to go and buy, um…you know."
"Oh…Christ, I didn't even think about that."
"I imagine working for who you do you have good medical and know if you…have anything…" Grace felt terribly uncomfortable only now realizing the plethora of consequences she could be facing.
"I'm clean, Gracie. I wasn't stupid with the bar wenches." Grace laughed at his word choice. "As for the whole, um…you thing…"
"The pill," she confessed. "But if we do, you know, I'd feel better if…"
"Gracie, it can't feel any better than it did that way."
"There's the pig that I'm oddly attracted to."
"I told you I'd be back in the morning, sugarbutt." His lips found her neck. "Mm, salty."
"Wanna take a shower?"
"Not quite ready to leave the naked woman."
"Who said you had to?"
Sands kissed Grace much harder than he had before. "Getting riled up so early, Gracie?"
Grace felt his growing arousal on her leg. "Makes two of us." She began to paw at him, thoughts of what did and didn't matter leaving her mind. "Come on." She helped him out of bed and into the bathroom. A few minutes later, both of them were under the water, their bodies sliding together as they kissed. Sands kept his eyes closed to keep the water out, but in the back of his mind, he was still astonished that Grace hadn't "freaked out" over what he'd shown her.
He felt Grace working a lather onto his skin and he moaned. "Gracie…I'm almost eternally horny by nature…"
"I'm very aware of this," she interrupted, her hand sliding along his arousal.
"…but you make me crazy."
"Is that a bad thing?" she asked innocently.
"Only if you want to be able to walk out of his hotel in five days."
She kissed him, now desperate with need. "Let them wheel me out of here."
Sands laughed. "I think someone's secretly a nympho."
"Guess it's not a secret to you then, hm?" She gasped as Sands pressed her back to the wall of the shower.
"I want you," he growled. I'm back…
Jeffrey, you can't be good for me… She forced the thought away. "So take me."
"You didn't make it out yet to pick up…"
"After…at the moment, I don't care."
Sands let his body begin to take over; he knew full well that both of them wanted a rougher pace than the previous night. "You might want a safety word right now, Gracie."
She laughed, then began to nip at his ear. "Banana."