Chapter 21 #2
Rolling it down my length, I catch her propping up on her elbows to watch as if this is the entertainment when we both know damn well this is only a preview of what’s to come. She says, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. You think that wasn’t also for me?” I nod my head down, showing her the evidence. “Move up.”
She scoots higher on the bed until her head is on the pillow. The shyness I witnessed earlier has vanished under the satisfaction of release. What a stunning sight to see.
I climb over her, using my knee to spread her legs wider for me.
Settling in, I push my dick to where my tongue had the pleasure of being.
With my eyes locked on hers, I lower myself to kiss her purely because I want to, then dip to kiss each of her breasts and swirl my tongue around her nipples.
Her arms come around my shoulders just as I gently bite, sending her body to jolt like a strike of lightning ripped through her. “Oh God, yes, Griffin.”
My name rolling off her tongue has me thrusting inside her. She’s said it before, but hearing it when we’re so connected is like a hit to my heart, reviving it to life again. I drop my head to the bed beside hers, the feeling of her overwhelming my senses. I’ve wanted this for so, so long.
Her warmth wraps around me, the heat extending through my bloodstream.
I’m realizing now that I don’t have the control I thought I did.
Not with her. She’s the one in charge. I pull out slowly, lifting to hover over her.
Planting my weight on my forearms, I lock my gaze on hers and push back in.
The parting of her lips, the lust of greens in her eyes, and the rock of her hips against mine, meeting thrust for thrust with as much passion as I have uncoils my desire.
Hold it the fuck together, Greene.
I find a rhythm that matches hers, one that’s slower, a pace allowing me to savor instead of devour. Instead of fucking, we make love. Love. Is that the name of this feeling overcoming me?
When her body quickens the tight hold around my erection, she whispers, “Harder, babe. Faster, please.”
I oblige for her, but I sure as hell benefit, feeling my release work through me.
And when she falls apart, declaring my name as if I’m a hero, I fall with her.
The darkness hits, but I push until I see the lights, the fireworks, and feel our tremors mingling until my breath breaks in my throat, and heaven takes over.
And when breathing returns, each one becoming easier again, I drop down on top of her to recover.
She may have brought my heart to life, but it’s not mine to own.
Not anymore. It’s all hers, and I give it willingly for her to hold on to.
My heart beats even and when I take a longer breath and relax again, she whispers, “Our small town isn’t ready for this scandal. ”
I smile before I even open my eyes. Looking beneath me, I catch her smile, and ask, “What scandal is that?”
“I’m sleeping with the enemy.”
“Nah. You’re only sleeping with a Greene.”
“Same thing around these parts.” She laughs, pressing her hands against my chest. “I can’t hang on much longer.”
I roll to her side with a stupid grin on my face. “We can’t have that.” I turn to look at her. “Now that we’re back together, I don’t think I’m going to let you go.”
She rolls to her side, rubbing the tips of her fingers over the scruff of my jaw. “That sure sounds a lot like you’re planning to stay a while.”
“I didn’t have a reason before.”
“And now you do?”
Leaning forward, I kiss her, then lick my lips just to taste her again when I lie back down. “You’re giving me one.”
Her smile falters for the briefest of seconds before she retrieves it to put back on her face. “I hope so. You’ve broken the dam wide open. Now that I’ve been with the great Twenty-two, I’m going to need a lot more of that action.”
“You know how to make a guy feel good, Ms. Dover.”
Rolling back again, she raises her hands. “Only telling the truth.” She turns to get out of bed but stops and looks back. “Will you stay the night?”
“What about your son?”
“You can leave early before he wakes up.”
I sit up and lean toward her. Kissing her shoulder blade, I reply, “How can I refuse an offer like that?”
She smiles as if there’s a silent understanding.
There is. I like that everything doesn’t have to be said.
Maybe it’s being older and supposedly wiser, but I want to believe we don’t have to complicate the feelings growing between us.
Cricket goes to the bathroom, and when she returns, I take my time cleaning up and taking care of business before coming back to bed.
When I lie down, I open my arm for her to snuggle in. She does, resting her head on my shoulder. “Six thirty. Jacob gets up at seven.” Placing a kiss as if it’s a promise she’s making me, she rests back down and closes her eyes.
I lie awake long enough to hear her breathing even out and feel her heart steady in her chest. Her soft sleeping sounds bring a comfort I didn’t expect. My eyelids close, and sleep takes hold of me.
It’s the gasp of death that startles me into sitting straight up. “What is it?”
“It’s eight!” she shouts, catching herself by ducking as if that will lessen the sound of her voice carrying. She pushes against my arm like she can actually move me. “Get up. Get up. Get up.”
Shit. I’m barely awake, much less functioning, but I drop my feet to the floor and stand with a fast rub of my eyes. “Okay. I’m up.” Looking around for my stuff, I find a piece here and a boot there.
Snapping her fingers doesn’t help, but neither does the high-alert mode she’s shifted into. She opens a drawer and grabs a long T-shirt that hits her mid-thigh. Recognizing the design, I say, “I was at that rodeo.”
“That’s great, but you need to hustle out of here. Go through the window.”
“The window?” Last night is still hazy from sleep deprivation. “What story are we on?”
“The first.”
Thank God.
A lady’s voice and then her son’s sneaks under the opening to the door, causing both of us to freeze where we are. As soon as it goes quiet again, she moves closer to me. “Oh my God, Griffin.” Panic strikes her pretty features, making them sharper. She points at the window again. “You have to go.”
“I don’t even have my pants on.”
“You need to go right now,” she demands just above a whisper. “My son could walk in at any moment.”
Pulling on my boxer briefs, I say, “Lock the door.” It was locked last night, so I’m not seeing the issue. That is until I look over to see the lock unlatched. “Shit.”
“Shh. Keep your voice down. Please.” Her hands are in front of me like she’s afraid to touch any part of my body but wants to. “I’m so sorry to end it like this.” She paces away from me with the back of her hand to her forehead. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that.” I give her a little smirk when she stops to look at me again.
It’s not the first time I’ve jumped out a window, but it’s a first to hide from a kid instead of a gun-toting father.
Tucking my socks into my boots, I grab the boots and jeans and move closer to the window.
She props it open and pushes out the screen.
I’m about to slip on my shirt when her hands press to my back. “Go. Go. Go,” she insists, practically shoving me out the window.
“Okay. Okay. Slow your horses. I’m going.”
I’m about to climb out when she adds, “I had a good time.”
I chuckle with one leg out the window. What a time to be alive, but I’m happy to take the ego boost. I turn back, and say, “Give me a kiss for the road.”
She does without hesitation, then bats me playfully away with a gorgeous and devious smirk of her own sitting proudly on her face. “You’re the worst.”
Waggling my eyebrows, I laugh. “And the best you’ll ever have, babe.”
“I’ll give you that.” She laughs but then quietens with a glance at the door. When she turns back, she whispers, “Now get out of here, cowboy. I’ll talk to you later.”
I climb out the window, landing on soft grass that can’t be native to this part of Texas.
Only rich people could afford this luxury in the hot hill country.
It’s nice to land my feet on, though. When I turn around to duck and dash to the front of the house where I left my truck parked last night, a little boy—shirtless, jeans with a buckle too heavy for his waistband, boots on, and riding a hobby horse—rounds the corner.
His horse comes to a halt a few feet ahead.
Blue eyes shine from the short distance as he stares in my direction.
But it’s the familiar hat that’s too big for him sitting on his head, and a gasp behind me that pulls my attention back to the window.
Leaning out through the opening with her knuckles whitening as she grips the frame, Cricket says, “I can explain.”
The kid doesn’t react to her, so I turn back to find him still staring at me. What the fuck do I do? “So I hear you like baseball?”
“Oh Jesus,” Cricket sighs behind me.