Read Online GRIT: A Spartan Riders Novel by J.C. Valentine - Free Book Online Page A

smoke and wood chips. Beneath his hands were curves that went on for days, making his dick punch against his zipper, a persistent ache in his balls that only grew worse when she pressed even closer.
    Feeling the rigid length of him against her belly, she gasped into his mouth, and then her hips swiveled, rubbing against him in a way that made his eyes cross behind his closed lids.
    Made him want to take her to his bed and strip her bare so he could see those hips move beneath him in the moonlight.
    He’d never had a woman like her—so soft, prim, and proper. Responsible. And she liked Ash. Was willing to shield him from conflict. He never thought that’d be a qualification he’d have to look for in a woman, but he certainly liked it in her.
    But he wasn’t looking for a woman, and even if he was, she wasn’t it. They might have been attracted to each other physically, but they certainly didn’t like each other personally.
    Which, if she wasn’t Ash’s teacher, would make her perfect.
    With a touch of regret, he tore his mouth free from hers and set her back from him with firm hands. Eyes heavy-lidded and filled with passion, Gabby stared up at him. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
    Instantly, Blake knew he’d regret what came next.
    “Blake?”
    “Time to go, teach.” Clasping her arm, he ignored her faint protests and hauled her ass back through the house, out the kitchen door, and towed her along toward the driveway where her car sat parked beside his bike.
    It looked fucking perfect there. His ride and hers, side by side. As if that’s the way it was always meant to be.
    Blake shook his head clear.
    He’d had too much to drink. It was clouding his head. Skewing his judgment.
    Giving her a little shove forward, he wished her a good night and was already turned to leave before her soft, siren voice called him to a stop.
    “So that’s it? You’re just going to leave as if nothing happened. As if we didn’t just share an amazing kiss?”
    Turning around, Blake fixed her with a hard look. The kind he used with his brothers. The kind he used in negotiations. The kind that said he wasn’t to be questioned. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”
    Surprise and hurt rippled across her face, pinching her lips and giving Blake’s stomach the sensation of falling.
    With narrowed eyes she said, “I guess I deserved that.”
    “Come again?”
    Looking off toward the house, it took her a moment to come back to him. “I read more into it than I should have. I thought you…that maybe you liked me…or whatever. I’m sorry I kissed you. It was inappropriate.” She grimaced, staring down at her hands where her fingers twisted around one another in a nervous dance.
    Well shit. Ash was right after all. Who would have thought that the uptight teacher who enjoyed busting his balls would actually be interested in him beyond a quick fuck? Trudging back to her, Blake curled a finger beneath her pointed chin and lifted her face to his. His chest tightened at the vision of her downturned lips and dejection reflecting in her eyes.
    “I didn’t stop because I don’t want you. I stopped because, you and me, we’re never gonna happen. It just isn’t in the cards, teach.”
    “Because of Ash?”
    “He’s a part of it. But more, I don’t know that I ever want another woman in my bed more than a night, and something tells me you’re the type of woman that sticks.”
    “You don’t know what kind of woman I am.”
    “I know you like rules, structure. A woman like that, she likes a man who sticks.”
    “And you don’t stick?”
    He stopped talking because, up until a few months ago, he was a man that stuck. He didn’t want to be that man anymore. He couldn’t afford to be that man anymore. Not with a kid to worry about. Not with Cruiz and his boys encroaching on his territory.
    “You’re reaching for something you know nothin’ about. Go home, teach. Sleep on it. Guarantee you’ll