Take a Chance on Me: Camp Firefly Falls Book 12 Read online

  He looked up at her, his eyes glittering, and bared his teeth as he tugged.

  Yes. With a gasp, she threw her head back and pressed her hips down, seeking his erection.

  She let herself ride him until she was sticky and aching for more contact, but she’d been on a mission.

  Her mouth, his body.

  His mouth had distracted her, and he wasn’t complaining, but she had a plan.

  Operation Blow Job on a Mountaintop.

  Bit of a mouthful, she thought to herself as she pushed herself down his body. Then she giggled. It would be soon.

  “What’s so funny?” He asked as she pushed his t-shirt up.

  “Never you mind.” She kissed the ridges of his abs, then lower, tracing his treasure trail to the waistband of his cargo shorts.

  She remembered how good it had felt earlier when he unzipped her, and she did the same, taking her time with the button, then the fly, letting her fingers accidentally-on-purpose brush against the erection that tented those boxer briefs she’d seen him pull on just before lunch.

  Sitting back on her heels between his spread legs, she admired the cotton bulge that protruded up from the open vee of his fly, his shorts slack around his hips.

  He was her prisoner, her big, handsome and very willing captive.

  His eyelids hooded his gaze as he looked down his body at her. Or maybe he wasn’t any kind of prisoner.

  He’d taken control last year. And on the phone. Always dominant, always in change.

  He licked his lips. “Come on, Priya.” His mouth curved into a filthy, playful smile. “Your turn. Put your mouth on me.”

  Heat slammed through her as she scrambled for his waistband. Yes, she wanted that. Him in her mouth, his bossy words in her ears as she gave him pleasure.

  She’d had him in her hand last year. They’d fumbled together at first, hands inside clothes, and then he’d wrapped his big plaid shirt around her and promised she could pretend it was a dress if they needed to disentangle in a hurry.

  She’d never stripped out of shorts so fast in her entire life.

  Today would probably match that record when it got to be her turn.

  But first…she lowered her head, breathing in her first scent of his unique, masculine aroma. Warm skin, faint soap, and as she licked his crown, a burst of musk on her tongue that she would swear she could smell as well—and she loved it.

  Grady.

  At his urging, she took more of him into her mouth, stroking her hand up and down his length in time with the bobs of her head. His entire body surged each time she swallowed around him. Pre-come and saliva slicked her fist, letting her fingers glide faster and faster over his erection.

  Big, heavy, hard. Each thrust of his hips reminded her of how good it had felt to have him press into her, to take up that space in her body.

  She’d set some stupid parameters that night. Just once, get it out of their system.

  Now she was on her knees for him, gobbling up his cock because she hadn’t had this before, and she wanted it.

  Not just once. She wanted him, so much it scared her.

  How could two people click nearly perfectly in such a brief period of time?

  That wasn’t how things were supposed to go.

  “God, Priya, your mouth…yes…”

  She licked her way around the wide, flared crown, then bobbed her head again. Faster. Harder sucks. She wanted to make him come. Faster, faster, harder. “Come on,” she gasped as she jerked him against her lips. “Come in my mouth, Grady.”

  He groaned deep in his chest, a wounded howl, and bucked his hips through her hand.

  “Your mouth…” he whispered. “On me.”

  She opened wide as the first shot fired across her tongue, then took him deep to swallow the rest. Thick and intensely male. She pressed her forehead against his hard, flexing belly as she suckled him until he slipped out of her mouth.

  He was breathing hard, and so was she.

  Blow jobs were not supposed to make you think about dangerous romantic dreams.

  And yet she stayed there, kneeling over his body, head pressed against his abdomen, because she couldn’t lift up and look at him.

  She could not let him see her face right now. He’d already shown her that he saw way too much.

  Grady being insightful was not something she’d have ever guessed. Funny, yes. Hot, undoubtedly. All-seeing? Not a chance.

  His hand landed gently on the back of her head, then he stroked her hair softly. “Hey,” he murmured. “Come here.”

  She smiled against her will and took a deep breath. She gave his taut lower belly a final, gentle kiss.

  Chapter 8

  Grady didn’t miss that Priya wasn’t looking him in the eye. He wasn’t going to ask her about that. If she wanted him to dig into her feelings, she’d show them more. Instead, he pulled her up his body and took her mouth with his.

  She tasted like his come, and it gave him a filthy jolt deep inside.

  “My turn,” he said after giving her enough of a kiss to show her how much he appreciated that.

  Overhead, fat, lazy clouds drifted in big clumps, making the afternoon sun diffuse and warm instead of harsh.

  He put Priya on her back again and her eyelids drifted shut as she pushed her face up to the sky.

  It took his breath away, how beautiful she was. Every inch of her was delicate in bone structure and lush in sweet, soft flesh. He kissed her collarbone, then her breasts again, and lower, until he reached her shorts. “Can I take these off?” he asked, his voice husky.

  She nodded wordlessly, her eyes still shut.

  He exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as he unbuttoned and unzipped. She lifted her hips and he tugged the shorts down her legs, baring her curves and the soft cotton panties he’d gotten his hand inside earlier.

  This time, he wasn’t in the same rush to get her off. He just wanted to get her…up. Floaty.

  He traced his fingers along the edges of her underwear, making her squirm as he enjoyed the flex of muscle on top of her legs, the softness of her inner thighs, and the warmth emanating from the center of her body. He cupped her cotton-covered pussy with his hand as he kissed the swell of her lower belly, his lips brushing against the faint wisps of dark hair trailing from below her belly button to the scooped elastic at the top of her panties.

  They’d both waited a year for this. That knowledge pulsed inside him. He kissed the top of her mound, then lower, breathing in the earthy, gorgeous scent of her arousal.

  And when she curled up, lifting her hips in an eager plea for more, he tugged the cotton down her thighs, too, and pressed her legs wide.

  “You’re so beautiful, Priya,” he said, his voice cracking as he kissed just above her clit. Then he slid his hands under her bottom, cupping her cheeks in his hands as he lifted her hips.

  She might not remove her belly hair, but she waxed here. Her lips were soft and bare against his tongue. He tasted every inch, exactly as he promised, only delving deeper when she let her knees drift wider still.

  He’d take everything she had to offer, and nothing more. He couldn’t push her, and he didn’t want to. He wanted this. A soft blooming, a gentle permission. Lick me, kiss me, make me cry your name. Ah, hell, that was him being selfish again, wasn’t it?

  His name on her lips was enough to make him hard all over again.

  This hadn’t been his plan.

  He was starting to realize he wasn’t in control of any plan. He was—they both were—driven by chemistry and fantasy and enough history to make everything complicated.

  And hot. Their history definitely made this hotter.

  He’d tasted her off his fingers last time.

  Now he had her on his tongue, his face, and he couldn’t get enough. She was slick and sweet, tangy and addictive. He licked all the way up her cleft, big wide tastes that ended with a curl of his tongue around her clit. He tightened up and thrust into her, growling as the taste of
her changed, too. Softer and silkier as she swelled for him, her body priming for intercourse he wasn’t equipped to deliver.

  He’d brought brownies, not condoms.

  That would have to wait, much to his cock’s disappointment. He wouldn’t make this mistake again. Clearly he had no willpower when it came to romancing Priya.

  He thought of how she’d writhed under his touch earlier. He could give her that. Shifting onto one arm, he sucked on her clit, fluttering his tongue against the bottom of it as he circled his fingertips through her wetness.

  “Yes, Grady, yes… Fingers, please.”

  He grinned and thrust into her. She was hot and tight as he pushed inside, and got tighter still as he pulled on her clit with his mouth.

  Her fingers brushed over his hair and he bobbed his head. She got the hint and grabbed onto him, showing him exactly where she wanted his mouth.

  When she came, it was a long, clutching orgasm that squeezed his fingers and flooded his hand. He rocked her through it, then gently licked her clean.

  This time when he settled next to her, she didn’t hide her face from him. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  He kissed her. “My pleasure.”

  And if it helped her de-stress, all the better.

  He wanted to ask her if it had, but it was only Sunday. They had all week together. They’d get there.

  “Ready for the next brownie?”

  She laughed. “I think we’ve earned it.”

  He grabbed the bag while she wiggled back into her shorts, then he sat with his legs spread wide and she cuddled up in front of him. They looked out over the valley and she asked him about camping there as a kid.

  “How did you find out that Camp Firefly Falls had re-opened?” she asked as she twisted to give him a mini-bite of brownie.

  “Mmm. So good.” He swallowed. “Heather posted about it on Facebook. She started a group. And someone tagged me. I knew I’d want to come if I could get the time off, and then Wyatt and Danny had the same leave, so I talked them into coming with.”

  “And how’s Danny?” Priya had gotten on better with their friend than she had him, and last summer, that had made him secretly jealous.

  Now, with Priya in his arms and her taste still on his lips, he couldn’t care about that. “He’s good. Posted to Washington right now, actually, but he’ll be back out west in the fall. Just in time to avoid winter, which he’ll be happy about.”

  “Like a diplomatic thing?”

  “Yeah. Wyatt did it last year. I’ll probably be up next year. It’s a standard rotation if you’re looking at going career.”

  “If?”

  He shrugged. “Not everyone in the teams wants to do this forever. It’s hard on family. Wives, kids. That’s all easier if you get out.”

  “Is that…something you want?” She asked it carefully, and he didn’t know how to read that.

  Honesty. He’d told her that was what he was trying here, and he’d stick to that. “Eventually, yeah. I’m not eager to get out, though.”

  “You’re still young.”

  He didn’t feel it most days. “How about you?”

  She chuckled and leaned her head back against his chest. “I always feel like I’m impossibly immature and unprepared for anything permanent, and also dangerously close to being too old and having missed some window of opportunity. That’s probably my mother’s voice in the back of my head.”

  “Do you get a lot of pressure from family?”

  “Pressure? No. Unwanted but gentle opinions? Yes. Especially now. My parents are both hard workers, but their jobs are secure. And they don’t understand the cutthroat nature of media. So they think I should just get another job, like that’s so easy. And there are things I love about my job, and those things they don’t value as much as I do. But I know their concern comes from a place of love, and their guidance has always meant a lot to me. We’re close. So it’s tricky. And then add their weird urges for grandchildren to the mix, and…” She laughed. “Yeah. Tricky. How about you?”

  He’d walked right into that one. “Yeah. Uh… No. My mother doesn’t pressure me for kids. She’s fully embraced my career, which I’m grateful for. My uh…” He swallowed hard. “My father died when I was a teenager. He was a stockbroker. We lived in New York City, and he worked at the World Trade Center.”

  She twisted around again, her eyes full of raw concern. “Oh, Grady.”

  He grimaced, his eyes rough in a familiar way. It never got easier to say. “That’s why I’m a Navy SEAL instead of an investment banker, probably.”

  She took his hand and brought his fingers to her lips, kissing them gently before she slid her arms around his neck. He breathed in the scent of her. Warm, alive, perfect.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Three words he’d heard before many times, but from her, they were a new balm. And she followed that sweet sincerity with an unexpected question that made him smile. “Do you like to talk about him?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Tell me about him.”

  So he told her about his dad’s suit collection, his funny socks, the weekend hobby farm he’d bought for them to summer at after Camp Firefly Falls closed down. “He always said he couldn’t wait to retire there. He never got the chance. And I think about that all the time, you know? That we can’t put off for tomorrow what we want today. He wouldn’t have made any money as a hobby farmer, but if they’d sold their brownstone in Manhattan, they’d have been set for life in Connecticut. He could have grown heirloom carrots or whatever he wanted.”

  “Do you still have the farm?”

  He shook his head. “When I joined the navy, my mother sold it. And the place in the city, too. She moved to Phoenix for a few years until she knew where I’d be posted, and then she followed me to San Diego. She lives in La Jolla, so not too close for comfort.”

  “Are you an only child?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Me too.”

  He kissed her temple. “Something in common.”

  “Along with our love of brownies and oral sex. This has been quite the afternoon of revelations,” she said lightly. A little push against the seriousness, and he didn’t mind that. He was used to people making a big, emotional deal out of both his career and his personal connection to 9/11. He appreciated the kind thoughts, but overwhelming big reactions didn’t foster healthy personal connections.

  He didn’t want a chick to hook up with him because she felt sorry for him, either.

  He wanted Priya’s honest empathy. Her arms around his neck as she asked about his father would forever set the bar a little higher.

  After slowly making their way back to camp, they went to afternoon yoga, which was lovely. When it was over, Priya lay on her mat with her eyes closed. She needed to find a new yoga teacher in the city. Every time she came back to this practice she had grown up with at home, she was instantly grounded.

  It helped when the instructor was a true yoga enthusiast, like the Camp Firefly Falls instructors were. Essa, the instructor working this week, had even travelled to India, a definite point in her favor.

  Beside her, Grady’s breathing changed from the steady calm of lying down to a quicker inhale. He was going to get up now. She wasn’t ready to, though. She wanted to stay in this moment for ages.

  Don’t worry about him, she told herself. She took another deep inhale, three slow beats, then let it out for an even longer count. Five that time. She’d try six on the next exhale. Slow, steady…

  She listened again for Grady, and he wasn’t there. He hadn’t said anything, though. Hadn’t interrupted her. She smiled as she inhaled again. And out, six, five, four, three, two, one…

  She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she slowly came up to center. When she opened her eyes, she was alone in the room, except for the instructor, who was sitting quietly against the far wall.

  “Feel better?” she asked.

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “Your
boyfriend is just outside,” Essa said with a smile.

  He’s not my boyfriend, Priya wanted to say. “Thanks,” is what actually came out of her mouth, and she blushed.

  “See you tomorrow?”

  “Definitely.”

  When she pushed through the door, she saw Grady right away. He was leaning against a tree, watching for her, and the second she stepped outside, he straightened up and waved.

  Her heart leapt. Ah, crap. She really wanted Grady to be her boyfriend. This was high school level of adoration.

  Well he does have a talented tongue and an adorable dedication to making you happy. Right now, this week.

  They should really talk about the radio silence. But she didn’t want to bring it up when they’d just had an awesome afternoon, either.

  Maybe after dinner.

  “That was great,” she said as she stopped beside him. “And now I’m famished again.”

  “Good thing it’s dinner time, then.” He offered her his hand. “I won’t order anything with garlic or onions tonight.”

  She laughed. “You could, you know. That was a funny move last night, but neither of those things offend me. Kind of staples of my everyday diet.”

  “Excellent. Because those mushrooms were killer.”

  She shook her head and leaned into his side as he grinned down at her.

  Maybe later in the week. She’d had super clear boundaries last year, and it hadn’t helped at all. Why shouldn’t she enjoy this time with Grady without bringing a lot of drama to the table?

  Tegan and Wyatt both joined them for dinner, adding a second little table to their spot to make room for four places.

  “Are you guys coming to the bonfire?” Tegan asked as their dessert plates were being cleared.

  Before Priya could answer, another camper came over and interrupted, asking Tegan a question about the Nature Olympics planned for mid-week.

  Grady leaned over and brushed his lips against Priya’s ear. “You have an early bedtime tonight,” he murmured. “Doctor’s orders.”

  “My doctor didn’t—” She stopped herself when she caught the filthy glint in his eyes. “Oh. Okay.”