Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30
CAN’T HELP IT WHEN YOU’RE AROUND.
Griffin
Dinner goes by in a blur.
Of course, my parents found the opportunity to bring up small-town politics. Blair even seemed annoyed by the entire conversation, making me fascinated by her. Showing me she can’t stand the life she used to live, the same way I can’t stand the politics surrounding my family.
My mom starts serving dessert. Even if it’s just my sisters and me here, she always makes a show of things by going over the top and making sure we leave here extra full.
“So, Blair,” my dad starts again. “What got you into politics?”
She scoffs. “I was never into politics.”
I narrow my eyes at my father, and he notices, but refuses to back down.
“Well, a big-time mayor like that in San Francisco should have a wife who’s into that sort of thing.”
“Eugene. That’s enough,” I snap.
He extends his hand out in Blair’s direction, but stares at me. “Son, I’m just trying to get to know her.”
“You’re not,” I say, my tone growing more frustrated. “You’re finding an opening to continue a discussion about politics by insinuating Blair is a part of it. She’s not like that. She got out of that life for a reason, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bring it up at the table.”
My dad pauses, staring at me before taking a bite of his pie.
“With all due respect,” Blair cuts in. “Just because I was married to him doesn’t mean I was happy. I left for a reason. I cut my parents off for a reason. Both because of politics and a life I no longer wanted to be associated with. I mean…” She pauses, twirling her fork in her hand. “Leaving my husband was a mix of that and his appreciation for his secretary.” She laughs lightly. “But it all boiled down to living a life I wasn’t happy with. I don’t say this to disrespect you in your home. I say this because it’s not who I am.”
I stare at her in shock and admiration.
No one ever stands up to my father like that.
“I know things are different here,” she continues. “I’d love to know more about this town, this family, and what you do for work…but my past is my past for a reason.”
My past is my past for a reason.
One short sentence causes my past to flash before my eyes.
What’s my reason?
Is Blair my reason? Did I have to go through devastating heartbreak because life knew something better would come my way? Maybe Sierra leaving was a way to protect me from getting any deeper with her and being hurt worse.
“Do you plan to go back?” my mom asks.
I hold my breath because this is what I’ve been wanting to ask her.
I almost asked her when I picked her up tonight, and she brought up the whole new town comment.
Blair turns her head to face me, a soft smile stretched across her lips.
“I still have a lot to see and learn here,” she says before turning to face my parents again.
It’s not a yes, but it’s not a no .
The same question I keep asking myself comes back up. Can I make her stay? Because, fuck, I want her to.
“I know I’m biased,” my dad starts. “But…even though this is a small town there is certainly a lot to see. The reason I love this town as much as I do is because no matter where you are, there’s always a view somewhere. Three hundred and sixty degrees of scenic beauty. I’ll never get used to a single square inch of this place.”
“I’m starting to understand that myself,” Blair says.
I remain silent for the rest of their conversation. My dad fills her in on the plans he has for the town. Even though she seems like she couldn’t care less, she entertains the conversation, keeping a smile on her face and nodding in approval for all his crazy ideas.
Once we’re finished, I help my mom bring the dishes into the kitchen while my dad has her ear.
Placing the dishes in the sink, I feel my mom’s eyes on me. Turning to face her, I give her a look silently pleading not to say anything more.
But she doesn’t pick up on it.
“She’s lovely, Griffin.”
I nod, because she is. She’s a lot of things, but lovely wouldn’t be my first word choice.
She’s breathtaking.
She’s funny.
She’s… perfect.
“I think she’s going to stick around,” she continues.
“You think?”
“Just from my short encounter with her, I can tell this town is everything she didn’t know she needed.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat and focus on cleaning the dishes in front of me.
Blair has been everything I didn’t know I needed.
The short drive home is quiet. It feels as if both of us have so much to say, but neither of us wants to be the one to say it. I almost have to crack a window in the truck because the tension floating around us was almost too much to bear.
“I’m going to drop the truck off at my place and I’ll walk you back,” I say, breaking the silence before pulling into my gravel driveway.
“Okay.” One word is all she says as she fiddles with her hands in the passenger seat.
Is she nervous?
Throwing the truck in park, I round the car and catch the door at the same time she opens it. I watch as the smile on her face brightens with one small gesture. Little does she know, I’m at her mercy and would do anything she asks me to do at this point.
Taking a few steps into the open grass, she tips her face toward the sky. Her shoulders rise and fall with each deep breath she takes of the evening mountain air.
“It’s so beautiful out,” she says.
I say nothing back. I don’t know what to say back truthfully.
Can I make her stay ?
Not just tonight, but for good?
“Do you want to sit on your porch for a little bit?” she asks, turning to face me.
I almost stumble back from where I stand, because every time I come face to face with her, a new wave of adrenaline flows through me. Emotions hit me in the face like I’ve been punched repeatedly.
Yep, I’m 100 percent at her mercy.
Extending my hand to my side, signaling ladies first, I follow her up my porch steps. She takes the same seat she did when she came over for dinner, crossing one leg over the other and her gaze locked on the stars in the sky.
She’s not wrong.
It’s fucking beautiful out tonight.
It might even be the clearest night we’ve had in a while.
The only thing blocking my view is the tension that has followed us from the car to the porch. It’s thick and almost suffocating.
Her phone chimes three times consecutively in her small handbag on the table and she reaches for and takes a moment to read the texts before putting it back without replying.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
She nods. “Lily is texting me to remind me that tomorrow is the day I have to be at the bakery super early for work. Founder’s Day?” She looks at me from her chair.
“Biggest day of the year in Bluestone Lakes.”
She lightly chuckles, looking back out to the sky.
“Did you want me to take you home now to get some sleep?”
A selfish part of me hopes the answer is no. I don’t want this time with her to end.
Shaking her head, she keeps her stare out beyond the porch.
“I’m sorry about my parents and how much political talk they brought to the table tonight,” I say, trying to ease whatever is floating around us.
The moonlight causes a glow to her features as she turns to face me and the urge to get up and kiss her is stronger than it’s been all night.
“Don’t be sorry for them, Griffin. I’m used to that kind of talk. It’s all I knew growing up and the past however many years I was married to that life.”
I swallow, and it burns. A painful reminder of her past.
“Was married,” I repeat her words.
Confirmation I’ve already received, but needing again.
She stares at me for one…two…three heartbeats before she stands from her chair and moves to stand directly in front of me. I ad just myself in my chair, extending my legs and tilting my head to meet her stare.
She leans down, one hand on the side of my neck and the other resting on my thigh. The contact forces my eyes closed and I suck in a deep breath, inhaling the smell of honeysuckle radiating off her. Her hands on me successfully put me at ease while burning me right to my core.
“Griffin,” she whispers.
Opening my eyes, I burn all over as her whiskey eyes bore into mine. Even in the moonlight, they fucking burn with desire.
“Was married,” she repeats with confirmation, her hand that was on my neck coming up to the side of my cheek. “I was divorced long before I moved out of the city. That was my past. It’s staying there and I have no plans on ever bringing it into my future.”
My head leans into her touch before turning to face her hand and kissing the inside of her palm. A silent answer from me that I understand.
I do.
She moves to sit on my one thigh, and I keep my eyes locked on hers the same way she does mine as she removes my baseball cap and rakes her hand through my hair.
“I’ve always wondered what you have under this hat of yours,” she says with a light laugh.
“Have you?”
She nods. “I mean…the cowboy hat is hot. And the way you wear this thing backward is definitely hotter. Mostly when you do that move where you flip the visor to the back. Mm-hmm,” she practically moans, bringing both hands up and running them through my hair.
“Blair,” I warn, shifting in my seat because her words are stirring even more inside of me.
“Yes?” she asks in a challenging tone.
I take my hand off the armrest of the chair and place it on her knee where the hem of her skirt sits. “You’re sitting on my lap.” I slowly move my palm under her skirt and up her leg, giving it a squeeze when I reach mid-thigh. “You’re on my porch.” My hand travels farther. “Telling me things I’ve wanted to hear from your lips for a while now.”
“You’ve been wanting to hear that I’ve thought about what’s under your hats?” she jokes.
“Your past,” I say, leaning close enough to her lips that if she moved an inch, they would touch. “And the fact that it’s staying there.”
Her breath catches in her throat.
“It is,” she whispers against my lips, repositioning herself on my lap and forcing my fingertips to graze her wet panties. “And, in case you needed to hear it one more time… It’s staying there and I have no plans on ever bringing it into my future.”
I exhale whatever I was holding it and let my head fall to her chest. Her arms wrap around my neck as if she’s holding me up when I’m the one sitting under her. I feel her head move before I feel her breath on the shell of my ear.
“Are you going to touch me or not, Angry Cowboy?”
I groan into her, using one hand to tug the neckline of her light sweater down to expose her collarbone to me before pressing my lips to the sensitive spot. She practically moans, and I take it as an invitation to hook a finger into the side of her panties, and I can already feel my cock hardening with the one small move.
Blair is soaked.
I lift my head to meet her stare. She brings her bottom lip between her teeth and I don’t stop watching her as I swipe one digit through her slick pussy lips before landing on her bundle of nerves. Her back arches while her head falls back, and I take the opportunity to bring my mouth to the pounding pulse in her neck, forcing a moan out of her.
“This what you wanted, sweetheart?” I say against her skin, putting pressure on her clit with languid circles. “My hands inside this dripping tight cunt and claiming you out here on this porch?”
“Jesus,” she breathes out, her hand moving to rest on my shoulder as if she needs to find her balance.
I work my finger quicker against her clit, putting more pressure on it because there’s nothing I want more at this moment than seeing her fall apart for me on my lap. Her hips buck against my hand as if she’s chasing her pleasure. My cock throbs in my jeans, begging for a release as it’s been far too long since a woman has had this effect on me.
“Answer the question,” I practically growl out.
“Yes,” she pants. “Yes. This is what I want. My god, this feels so good.”
I move my hand quickly and shove two fingers deep inside of her. Her hand on my shoulder claws at my skin as she fists my shirt. She repositions herself, allowing me full access to fuck her with my fingers while I sit up taller for a better angle.
“Just me and you here, sweetheart. When you tell me this feels so good, you better be screaming my name and only my name. Understood?”
She nods in agreement, bringing her bottom lip between her teeth again as if she’s fighting the pleasure. I take it as a sign to move faster. My palm is dripping with her arousal as I work my fingers in and out in rapid succession. As soon as I slow down, hooking them inside of her, she loses it.
“Griffin. Fuck,” she cries out. “I think I might come. I’ve never come this fast, so I don’t know for sure, but fuuuck .” She draws out the last word.
Her admission does something to me I can’t even explain.
It makes me borderline feral.
“I recall you coming quick for me at the bar,” I say, working my fingers inside of her, letting my thumb make contact with her clit, hoping it’s enough to send her over the edge.
I need to see her.
I need to feel her .
I need every fucking thing she’s willing to give me.
“Oh my god,” she moans louder. “That’s it. Don’t stop.”
“Didn’t plan on it,” I rasp.
I move faster, harder. Fucking her with my hand and pressing my thumb against her clit, moving in circles. I hook my finger again and that does it. I feel her pussy contract around me. At the same time, I feel like I’m about to come in my pants. I fight the urge so I don’t embarrass myself, but Blair is so hot with the moans coming out of her mouth and the way her body responds to me.
“Fuck,” she screams. The sound echoing in the distance.
I don’t let up as she rides out her orgasm on me. Her breathing is fast and erratic as she wiggles her hips on my lap, lost in her pleasure. I don’t stop staring because I want to memorize every single thing about this moment.
Watching Blair come for me is my new favorite thing.
She’s my new favorite thing.
And just like that, I absolutely come in my pants.
“What the hell was that?” she asks, coming down from her high.
“That was a real man making you come with just two fingers in record time.”
Her eyes widen, and I know my words hit her.
Because it’s the truth.
A real man wouldn’t need anyone other than her.
She repositions herself on my lap, wrapping both arms around my neck as I wrap mine around her waist. My eyes fall closed. I can’t help but realize what I’m holding in my arms.
“Griffin?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“Can you kiss me again?”
I don’t waste a second before my lips are on hers. She doesn’t need to ask me twice for something like that. If I had it my way, my lips would never leave hers.
She melts into me as my hand moves up her back and around the nape of her neck, holding her in place and ensuring she doesn’t pull away too soon. Even though she wanted this, I wanted this more.
Reluctantly, she pulls away.
She looks down at me with lust-filled eyes, and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face.
“You’re going to force me to have to come up with a new nickname for you if you keep smiling like that,” she says with a giggle before pressing her lips to mine again for a quick kiss before she stands from my lap. I have to adjust myself in my jeans before standing with her.
“Can’t help it when you’re around,” I admit.
“And if you keep talking like that, you’re going to make me fall for you.”
I shrug, because little does she know I’ve already fallen for her. She broke down my walls even before all of this happened on the porch. Before I even touched her intimately.
“Would that be a bad thing?” I ask, my voice laced with hesitation.
She smiles up at me, pressing to her toes and kissing me one more time before turning to walk down the steps of my porch to head home.
She doesn’t need to answer.
Because that kiss was confirmation enough that it wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen.
“Good night, Griffin,” she says over her shoulder.
“Night, Blair.”
And I stand there on my porch and watch every single step she takes across the grass to her place.
Wishing like hell she wasn’t walking away from me right now.
Can I make her stay ?