K. Linde - Take Me for Granted

She looked really young. I’d never given a thought to her age until that moment.

“How old are you, Princess?”

“Nineteen,” she said without skipping a beat.

Shit! Really young. I mean, I’d fucked girls her age and younger, but shit! Ari wasn’t just some fuck. She seemed so mature. I definitely would have guessed a solid twenty-one at least. Maybe that was just what I’d been hoping for.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-three.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

“What?”

“You’re my brother’s age. He’d kill me right now if he knew what I was doing.”

“What exactly are you doing? Getting a ride home from a guy who just helped you out of a tough position. Yeah, what an asshole!”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said, trying to backtrack. “He’s just…protective.”

“Doesn’t want his little sister to turn out like the girls he’s fucking?”

“Aaron is not like that!”

I cracked up laughing because there was nothing else to do in the situation. I was certain her brother was exactly like that.

“It’s not funny.”

Aribel smacked me on the arm, but I caught her hand before she could yank it back.

“If you’re going to be such a jerk, I’ll reconsider making you drive across town to take me home.”

I turned onto my street just as she said it. After stopping in front of my house, I unbuckled her seat belt and pulled her across the cab to me. “Ari, at this point, you’d have to walk home. You’re not fucking leaving.”

Her eyes found mine, and I saw the anger leaving her body as she stared at me. She still looked a bit like she wanted to slap me around, but I was good with that as long as I could get her inside.

After a minute, she conceded. “You’re right. I’m not.”

Well, damn. This was going way better than I’d thought it would. She had fought me tooth and nail for every second of her time up until this point. When did we turn a corner?

I kissed her softly on the lips. I didn’t want to get too into it before we went inside, but fuck, when she responded to my touch, I had to fight myself not to lay her out in the cab of my truck.

She pulled back first, and her cheeks heated when I looked down at her.

God, I want to fuck her.

“Let’s go,” I said, nodding toward the house before I actually acted on that.

We jogged through the rain until we were inside. I gestured for her to take the stairs, which she did without a single snide remark.

“I like your house,” she said.

“Thanks.”

My eyes were fixed on her body in the light from my bedroom. She was wet, and her clothes were clinging to her in the most tempting way. All I could think about was what it would feel like to peel them off of her, to get my hands on her soft skin again. I felt my body stiffen at the prospect. “I need a shower…if you’re interested.”

She shook her head. “I’m sure you can have enough fun all on your own.”

“But you’re already wet, babe.” I couldn’t hold back my smirk.

She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. “Is everything sexual with you?”

“Not everything,” I told her. “But you are torturing me with your body right now.”

I watched as she shifted uncomfortably from my compliment. She wouldn’t even meet my eyes. For someone who looked like that, I would have thought that she could take compliments better.

“No, I’m not going to shower with you, but some dry clothes would be appreciated, so I can stop torturing you,” she responded softly.

“Who said I wanted you to stop torturing me?”

She leveled me with an eat-shit-and-die look, and I just laughed.

“All right, all right.”

I found her some clothes before reluctantly retreating to the bathroom. It took a solid ten minutes for the cold to leach out of my skin and another ten until I felt human again. I hated making Aribel wait that long, but I had spent the better part of the last two hours in the rain. I deserved a twenty-minute shower.

Grabbing a white towel off the rack, I wrapped it around my waist and then confidently strode out into my bedroom. This is going to be fun. I was naked from the waist up, and I knew what my body looked like. Even though I wasn’t a gym rat like Vin, I spent time to keep myself in shape. I had defined muscles in my arms and chest, not to mention a six-pack and that V that made sane women crazy.

Aribel’s eyes bulged when she saw me. She hadn’t expected me to walk out like this, and it was clear as her eyes raked my body. They flickered from my abs to the tattoo on my shoulder and stretching across my collarbone. Who would guess Princess Cardigan would be interested in my tattoos? Apparently realizing that she had been gawking, she hastily looked away like she wasn’t supposed to see it.

“Um…sorry,” she whispered.

I wasn’t sorry though. I’d wanted her to see.

All I saw was that she was sitting around in my clothes—my T-shirt and sweats. She looked fucking amazing in them. I liked her wet clothes, but something about seeing her in mine turned me on. I’d never let a girl wear my clothes before.

“I’ll just…yeah,” she said, swiveling in place to completely face away from me.

I dropped my towel to the ground, and I watched her fidget. Yep, completely nude here, honey. Just turn around. But she didn’t. I found a pair of boxers and some basketball shorts, but I didn’t bother with a shirt. She had been interested in my body, and I wasn’t going to give her an out when her eyes had widened like that.

After I changed, I wrapped my arms around her from behind, and she jumped at the unexpected touch. I dropped my lips down onto her neck and tasted her soft skin. She tilted her head slightly, and I took that as an okay to continue. My hands slid up under the T-shirt I’d let her borrow, and I pulled her hips back against mine.

Then, she groaned.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Aribel was here—in my room, in my clothes. Her skin was still wet from the rain, and her body was lush and ripe for the picking.

I thought my brain shut down at this point, and all I could do was feel the woman in my arms. This, right here, was what I’d wanted.

“Ari,” I whispered against her skin.

She moaned an incoherent response.

“Bed.” My voice was strained from holding back.

All I wanted was to fuck her until she couldn’t walk the next morning. She was driving me batshit crazy, and I was starting to believe that she had no fucking clue what she was doing to me.

“Grant, no.”

She tried to pull away from me, but I still had her hips in my hands. I yanked her back against me hard, and she squeaked.

I turned her around to face me and repeated myself, “Bed.”

For a split second, I thought she was going to turn me down. Then, I saw her eyes soften, and she swallowed.

“I, um…” She bit her lip and stared up at me under thick black lashes.

Fuck me.

“Get in my fucking bed, woman.”

“Don’t order me around.”

I smacked her ass with a flat open palm, and she yelped, her eyes widening in surprise.

“What the hell?”

“Get in the bed.”

Just as I reached for her, ready to make her listen, she scrambled under the covers. Perfect. I slid into place next to her, and I could feel her tension from a mile off.

I ran my hand slowly down her side. She tried to remain perfectly still, even as I coaxed shivers out of her. I trailed across her flat stomach to her hip bone, and I adjusted her so that she was on her side, facing me.

“Grant,” she murmured, her eyes wide.

She was fighting with herself, and it looked like I was winning. I tangled our legs together and dropped my mouth onto hers. It was like turning the key in the ignition. Suddenly, I couldn’t get enough of her. I couldn’t stop touching her. I just wanted her. I wanted to feel my dick slide into her. I wanted to see her face when she hit climax.

I started tugging the sweats over her hips, and then I grabbed her ass in my hands. Good God. I was an ass man, and she had a great fucking ass. Yanking her hard against me, I knew she could feel what she was doing to me. I groaned into her mouth as her hands slid across my bare chest. Her touches were featherlight at first, like she was just testing the water. I pressed my body against her, craving her touch.

Her hands were trembling, even as they moved across my abs. I tried to slide the sweats farther down her legs, but she wasn’t having any of it, and I gave up. They were far enough. I could reach everything I wanted. I slipped my hand in between us and then into her underwear. Her body was on fire, and even better, when I slid my finger across her, it came back really fucking wet. My cock twitched just at the thought of plunging into that.

She squirmed against me, but I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to stop or keep going. It seemed like she wanted more to me. I gently swiped at her again, probing, until I heard her faint gasp. Fucking fuck, that’s hot.

“Ari,” I groaned, “you’re so fucking wet for me.”

She ducked her head into my shoulder, seemingly embarrassed, but she didn’t stop me. I rolled her over onto her back and yanked the pants down to her ankles. I needed this. Fuck, I need this.

My hand reached for her underwear, but she put her hand out. “Grant…I can’t. Oh my God, I can’t do this.” She frantically pulled up the sweats I’d lent her.

“Ari…” I begged.

I adjusted my erection right before her eyes, and she tried not to notice.

“I’m not going to have sex with you.”

I wanted to show her exactly how wrong she was about that.

But the pleading look in her eyes, rather than the aloofness she would normally send my way, fucking broke me down. I’d give her whatever she wanted even if she wasn’t giving me everything I wanted.

I sank down onto the bed next to her, and I tried to get my head on straight. She’d turned me down. I wasn’t sure that had ever happened…yet I still wanted her here. I still wanted her in my bed.

“You know what?”

“What?” she breathed.

“I want you, Ari.”

“I gathered that.”

“Yeah, I want to have sex with you. What guy wouldn’t? I mean, I want you here, like this. I want you to stay the night. I want you to just be here…with me.”

She didn’t know how much those words really meant. I’d never fucking wanted that in my entire life.

“Then, I want you to let me take you out to dinner. I’ll pick you up, I’ll take you out, we’ll walk through the park, and I’ll even get you home before midnight, so your coach doesn’t turn into a pumpkin.”

She giggled, actually fucking giggled, and I knew I had her.

“What do you say?”

She licked her lips as if she were considering. “All right, Grant. I’ll go on a date with you.”

We kissed until I thought I might combust from the energy coursing between us. How she held such composure was beyond me, but I wanted to respect her. I did respect her. It was the strangest thing that had ever happened to me.

Soon, Aribel nuzzled her head into my shoulder, her breathing slowed, and then she was fast asleep. I wrapped my other arm around her and held her tight.

I’d never had a girl spend the night just to sleep.

After I’d fallen asleep in Grant’s arms, the rest of the world kept spinning at its normal speed, but my life felt like it was moving in fast forward. I’d been shocked at how far I let things go with him, but it had also seemed so easy to just let it happen. I had thought I was going to give myself up. I had never felt like that before in my life. When I was with Grant, I felt safe and secure. Although not completely comfortable in my skin, I was definitely more so with him than I’d ever felt before. And as much as my defenses were normally up, I could feel him crumbling them with ease.

I was glad that Cheyenne had planned to visit her parents in the city for the weekend, so she wasn’t there to see me getting ready for my date on Friday afternoon. I chose a dark blue dress and paired it with my jean jacket and ballet flats. I’d even curled my hair and let it hang loose past my shoulders.

When Grant knocked on my door, I was surprised to find him out of his normal T-shirt and into a polo and dark-wash jeans. He’d cleaned up, too—freshly shaven, his hair styled, his tattoos hidden. My heart skipped a beat.