Just For A Moment by Kate Carley

Chapter 23

Grace hadn’t heardfrom Madalyn since the phone call several nights ago. They’d argued—their first argument in years—but those truths spewed in anger had spun Grace’s world around, leaving her with an entirely different perspective.

“Hi, Madalyn,” Grace had said when she picked up the phone Tuesday night.

“I know you’re not going to like what I have to say.”

Grace laughed. “That’s a weird way to start a phone call. What happened to ‘hi?’”

“I had lunch with Beck today.”

Grace’s heart skipped a beat. The thought of a now single Madalyn with Aaron stung a little more than she cared to admit. “Why wouldn’t I like that?”

“Because he wanted to talk about why you left.”

“I told him why—”

“No, you didn’t. You gave him some dumb answer about Oak Bend not working for you. You didn’t tell him the truth. That Karen Jansson shrieked at you for causing the deaths of her twins. She caused a scene. She should’ve been embarrassed by her outburst. She should’ve been the one to leave town.”

“Maddie Jane, I don’t want to cause her undue pain. I don’t want my presence in town to bring her sadness.”

“I get that, Gracie Jane, but she also needs to own her emotions. And it’s about time she gets some help managing her grief.”

Grace let out a slow sigh, trying to digest what her friend was saying. “Yeah. Maybe.

“Just like your folks, Karen and her husband divorced. That accident shattered more lives than anyone would’ve guessed at the time.”

“Yes, it did.”

“So, stop letting it,” Madalyn pleaded. “You walked away from a wonderful man—a man who loves you—because some woman yelled at you for something that wasn’t your fault. Why? Why are you letting that accident ruin your life, too? And Aaron’s life? And Piper’s life? When will it stop, Grace?”

“It’s too late.”

“No, it’s not. Enough is enough. Haven’t enough lives been damaged? Isn’t it time to mend lives?”

Grace blinked at the emotions that wanted to leak from her eyes. She missed Aaron and Piper and Madalyn. She missed her new home and the life she’d been building in Oak Bend. “Maybe you’re right.”

After that phone call, Grace had taken her friend’s words to heart, and she’d wanted to let Madalyn know what her plans were. Grace was prepared to let Aaron know, too. But oddly, neither one of them had picked up the phone when she’d called, and neither had answered her persistent texts over the past couple days.

That was okay. She would surprise them both very soon.

She felt that grin form across her lips again. Lighthearted. Making that decision had turned her emotions around. Moving back to Oak Bend—packing up her things and cutting ties with her life in the city—felt altogether right.

Grace set her phone down on the kitchen table and wandered back to the project she’d been working on, sorting through the closet that took up an entire wall in her bedroom. She didn’t have a huge apartment, but something about packing it up was overwhelming. How had she ever shoved this much stuff inside here? Half of the clothes were things she rarely, if ever, wore—old, faded, not the right fit, out of style, not her style. A giant donation pile overflowed off of her bed and onto the floor.

After going through so many of her granddad’s belongings, she’d decided that she was only moving her most loved possessions. Everything else was going to the local thrift store.

Just as she reached for another hanger—one with a faded old University of Michigan hoodie that had seen better days—there was a knock at the door.

A neighbor? She wasn’t friendly with any of her neighbors, so anyone knocking without forewarning was odd. She paused at the door and focused through the peephole.

The flutter in her stomach felt like butterflies, and yet, her heart thundered like horses’ hooves inside her chest. With shaking hands, she struggled to free the chain lock, and then she tugged open the door.

“Aaron! You’re here!” He pushed his way in and shoved the door closed behind him. “I just tried calling—”

Without so much as a hello, he reached for her, tugging her against his firm body, and the hard length of him jabbed against her stomach. His hand captured the back of her neck, tilting her head upward to look at him.

Grace’s lips parted to drag in a quick breath as penetrating green eyes met hers. Even without words, she could see the hurt in his eyes. The longing. The questions she’d be expected to answer.

Gruffly, he whispered, “I missed you.”

Then, his hungry mouth sealed over hers. His tongue stabbed at her lips, demanding she open to him, and she did. Bruising, angry kisses devoured her, taking everything she had. Desire and lust swept her away at his urging while his hands roamed to her ass, yanking her sweatpants and panties down past her hips. Both pieces of clothing fell to her feet. His fingers skated under her T-shirt, and he palmed her bra-covered breast only to wrench the bra cup aside. Then, he pinched and plucked at her aroused nipple, toying with the delicate flesh. A small whimper escaped around a sigh. She’d dreamed of him ravaging her body again like this.

Grace reached for the waistband of his jeans, opening them and wrapping her fingers around his heavy erection. With an angry grunt, Aaron dislodged her grip on him and rolled on a condom faster than she thought possible. Then, both hands landed on her bare bottom again with a loud crack, lifting her easily. Before she could wrap her legs at his waist, he shifted them, pressing her back against the door and using the counterpressure to hold her.

The tip of his sheathed cock was poised at her center, and she held her breath with the knowledge that he would take her in one swift thrust. Without another moment to consider their joining, he buried himself inside of her. Grace moaned into his mouth, his tongue and his cock both plunging into her.

His kisses subsided, but his erection pumped savagely as he moved, grinding his hips and offering the perfect pressure required on her clit. Higher and higher, edgy arousal warped into a sensual haze. All she had to do was relax into the blissful sensation.

“Oh, Aaron!” Her words poured from her lips as her climax pulsed around his still hard dick. Moments later, he followed her.

They stood, clinging together, pressed against the door of her apartment. “I love you, Grace,” he whispered the words into her hair.

“I love you, too, Aaron.”

“I missed you. I don’t want to live without you, Grace.” He helped her disengage, making sure she was steady on her feet. “Why did you leave me?”

“Madalyn told me you guys talked,” Grace said, leading him further into her apartment to the sofa in the living room. “So, you know, it’s always going to be a thing in Oak Bend.”

“But we could’ve talked it through.”

“I was really upset, and I wasn’t thinking straight. I shouldn’t have left like that. But the idea that my presence in town was in some manner hurting others made me feel sick. I didn’t want to cause Karen undue pain.”

“But you didn’t do anything. The accident wasn’t your fault. Karen needs to talk to someone about her feelings. Your leaving doesn’t help her deal with them.”

“I know.”

Aaron glanced around the room, seeming to study the stacks of boxes against the far wall. “I put out some feelers last week, and a buddy down near Detroit can hook me up with a job. You, me, Piper… We could move there together.”

“No. I—”

“No? Don’t you get it? I love you, Grace Holland. I’d move across the world to be with you.”

“No.” She pressed a fingertip against his lips. “I made a huge mistake leaving. I’m sorry I put you through that. And no, you shouldn’t think about moving and uprooting Piper. She’s close to her grandparents. That’s important. I made a mistake.”

“What are you saying?”

“I can’t allow someone else’s feelings dictate my future—our future. I’m moving back to Oak Bend permanently.” Grace gestured around the apartment and all the stacks of boxes. “It’s a process.”

“Well, I’ll help you throw it all into the back end of my truck and haul you back to where you belong.”

* * *

Hours later,after filling countless bags with the mountainous piles of clothing set to be donated, Aaron sprawled on his back in Grace’s bed with her warm body curled around him.

“About the Tigercat. I need you to be honest with me, Aaron. No matter what. Okay?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Seriously, I just didn’t want to ruin your memory of your granddad.”

“I appreciate that, but I need the truth. Especially about the planes.”

Aaron rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow. He’d been dying to share the news he had. “I found a guy who finished a Tigercat about a decade ago. I called him to pick his brain and see what his thoughts were about yours.”

“Really? Tell me. How’d he do it? What did he suggest?” Grace’s rapid-fire questions made him laugh.

“He lives out in California, and he bought his plane from the government back in the early eighties and flew it from Quantico to the suburbs of Los Angeles.”

“It was flyable?”

“Yes, but not in good condition at all. The communication system was fried, so he used a handheld radio. For him, his restoration involved a breakdown and detailed cleaning of each piece and then reassembling, so most of the original parts were intact.”

“Did he get it to fly again?”

“Yeah. Including his, there are eight flight-worthy Tigercats in the world today.”

“That’s pretty cool. Did he have any suggestions for us?”

“Yeah. To use any parts that work. Even if that means going to the local hardware store and picking up nuts and bolts. To not be a purist.”

“Think we can do it that way?” Unconsciously, Grace traced her fingertip along his bicep while her big brown eyes begged him an answer. In that moment, he wanted to give her the moon and the stars. And a plane that would fly.

“That’s your call, Grace. I know you wanted to stay true to your granddad’s dream, restoring it with original parts.”

“True, but his dream was also to get it up in the air. And from what I’ve learned, we can’t have it both ways.”

“Then I believe we have a plan.”

Aaron dipped his head and kissed her. Long and slow and sweet. A kiss filled with a promise. That was what he wanted the simple kiss to convey—that he would love her and do his best to make her dreams come true.