Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1
This moment had been a long time coming. Since fourth grade, if Grace was being truthful. That was how long she’d been madly, passionately, insanely in lust—at the very least—with Trey Parsons. Of course, she couldn’t have chosen to give her heart to a mere mortal. No, she’d set her sights on a god among men, a four-sport athlete she’d adored from afar all through middle and high school. While he’d been the star of field and court, she’d been known as “The Whale,” and not because of her swimming skills.
Now, ten years and a hundred and thirty pounds later, she was getting busy with her own personal god—that was if she didn’t wet the bed first. Her bladder was going to explode any second now, which, from what she’d heard about “the act,” was not the part of her that was supposed to explode.
They were in the V-berth of his father’s fancy boat, tied up at McCarthy’s Gansett Island Marina for the night—the night shewouldpart with her virginity if it was the last thing she ever did. And while she wished she could focus on the divine feeling of his lips and tongue on her nipple, a more pressing need had her full attention.
She pushed on his shoulder. “Trey.”
He raised his head. “What?”
“I need to get up.”
Taking her hand, he flashed a sexy grin and tried to press her palm against his pulsating erection. “I’m already up, babe.”
Grace pulled her hand back. “Not you.Me. I have to pee.”
Frustrated, he flopped on the bed. “Hurry up already.”
She reached for his discarded T-shirt and started to put it on.
“What’re you getting dressed for? Just go.” He took the shirt from her. “You don’t need this.”
The Grace Ryan who’d never been naked in front of another living soul clung to the shirt. But the Grace who was more than ready for a whole new life let him take it from her.
He caressed her face. “Go on. It’s okay.”
The tender—and unexpected—gesture gave her the courage she needed to slide off the bunk and duck into the tiny head without obsessing too much about what her backside might look like to him. Wondering if he’d hear her peeing through the wall almost made it impossible for her to go.
Oh, I’m so not cut out for this, Old Grace thought.Yes, you are, New Grace insisted.You have as much right to a hot night with a hot guy as any other girl.You’ve certainly earned it.
That much was true. With her arms crossed over her abundant breasts—the one part of her that hadn’t benefitted from the weight loss—she took care of business and stood just as the phone Trey had left on the counter chimed with a text message.
Honestly, she didn’t intend to look at it, but he was Trey Parsons after all, the stud king of Mystic, Connecticut, and she didn’t trust him as far as she could spit him. So she looked.
From “Quigs,” also known as Tom Quigley, Trey’s best friend since grade school:
Did u nail the whale yet? Remember $500 in it for ya if u bring back proof of the cherry bomb.
Grace was frozen with shock and horror. It had all been a big joke! Weeks of dates and flowers and “romance” had all been a big,fatjoke! And to think she’d almost given him her virginity so he could use it like a trophy to impress his asshole friends! Red-hot rage the likes of which she’d never before experienced surged through her.
