Grace Under Pressure

Chapter Seven

I found myself suddenly feeling very frazzled as I stood awkwardly at the foot of Perry's bed while he quietly shut and locked the bedroom door. I almost jumped out of my skin when Perry came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Relax, babe," he chuckled huskily, laying a kiss on the side of my neck and giving my waist a gentle squeeze. "Remember what I said, no penis, just sleeping."

I laughed but I could feel the tell-tale heat in my cheeks informing me that I was blushing. "Must you be so crude?"

Perry stepped away from me but into my line of sight. "I prefer to think of it as being straightforward," he replied as he divested himself of his shirt.

Bloody. Hell. I knew from the way he filled out his clothes that he was fit but I hadn't expected him to be so... lickable was the inappropriate word that came to mind.

Perry caught me ogling him and pulled me back into his arms with a smirk on his face. "Like what you see, Grace?"

Okay, seriously, why does the way he says my name give me gooseflesh? It was my bleeding name for crying out loud. I had heard it said a million times in my life by a multitude of different people. It's not like Perry was doing something that was unprecedented by saying it. "Very much," I found myself responding to his question even though I'm pretty sure my brain had requested my mouth not to.

Perry brought his hands up to gently grasp my hips. He let his thumbs travel underneath my shirt to stroke the sensitive bare skin of my lower back. "I like what I see too." He bent down and softly kissed my lips. When he pulled away, there was a soft, affectionate look on his face. "And whenever you decide you're ready, I know I'll more than like what I see then."

"You know you scare the hell out of my right?" Apparently, my mouth no longer trusted my brain's opinion and was saying whatever the hell it pleased.

"I know, baby." He pulled me closer and kissed my forehead. "Eventually you'll see that there's nothing to be scared of. I'm patient. I can wait as long as you need."

Okay, that last part made me laugh which lightened up the mood in the room considerably. "Perry, you are the least patient man that I have ever met in my life. The lab techs at the hospital are all terrified of you."

"Alright, fine," he gave a playful, exaggerated sigh. "When it comes to you and my kids, I'm patient. The rest of the world should still be very, very afraid."

"Now that, I believe." Shockingly, I actually did. I had trusted Perry since day one at work. He had never steered me wrong. Now I found that that trust had extended to our personal relationship as well. It was both frightening and thrilling at the same time.

"Good," he commented and gave me one last kiss before he again pulled away from me. "There's an extra toothbrush in the drawer next to the sink in the bathroom." He walked to his dresser and pulled out a clean white t-shirt and tossed it to me. "You can sleep in that."

"No thanks, love." I tossed it back to him before nicking the one he had just taken off from the end of the bed. "I want the one that smells like you." I pulled my t-shirt over my head and tossed it to the floor before shimming out of my jeans. For a brief moment, I stood in front of him in nothing but my black cotton bra and panties before I pulled his t-shirt over my head. Perry was a large bloke so his shirt almost came down to my knees.

Perry's eyes popped and his mouth dropped open for a quick second before he composed himself. He clapped his hands together before pointing a finger at me. "Okay, Gracie-Face, when you do things like that you make it very hard, pun totally intended, for me to keep my no penis promise."

Point. Me.