Chapter 24
TIANA
Oh God.
I don’t know how we got here—or maybe I do. Maybe I’ve known since the second Griffin opened that damn door that first day. But his mouth is on mine and he tastes like champagne and everything I swore I didn’t want yet can’t seem to resist.
He drags me closer by the back of my neck, kissing me like he can’t breathe without it.
My brain short-circuits, but amid the fog, my hands find his shirt and fist into it, leading him toward the bed. I don’t even think. I just act, pushing him until the mattress hits the back of his legs.
He falls back on it with a low grunt, bouncing once. His hair is mussed, his eyes dark and wild, locked on me as if I’m something he’s been starving for.
Holy. Hell.
Before I can chicken out, I climb onto him, straddling his hips. My palms lay flat against his chest, feeling the rough rise and fall of each breath he drags in.
Griffin’s large, calloused hands slide up my naked thighs, slow and reverent, and I swear my vision blurs.
“Still a bad idea,” I breathe, leaning in until my lips graze his.
“The worst,” he agrees hoarsely, dragging his hands higher, gripping my hips like he’s losing the battle with himself.
I grind down without meaning to, and the sound that rips out of him sends heat flooding through every inch of me. The friction on my clit through my pajama shorts sends a spark of pleasure down my spine.
I want more.
No, I need more.
I rotate my hips again, feeling Griffin harden even more beneath me, and the pressure on my center drives me insane.
He breaks the kiss with a ragged inhale. “Tiana… Fuck.”
God, the way he says my name. Like it’s prayer and profanity at the same time.
“We should stop,” I whisper, even as I move again and let out a small mewl.
“Don’t,” he fires back.
His hands slide up my waist, thumb brushing the underside of my breast, and I swear my heart stops.
“This is dangerous.”
“I know.” His hands tighten and he pulls my face back to him, kissing me like he intends to memorize the shape of my mouth. I melt, thoughts disintegrating into nothing.
My lips trail along his jaw, down his throat, tasting the sounds he lets slip.
His voice rumbles against me. “You drive me insane.”
“Right back at you,” I manage, breath catching as I keep rolling my hips over his thick, rigid bulge.
We’re both fully clothed, grinding like two desperate teenagers, and yet it’s the most erotic thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.
“Fuck, Jones. I’m about to unload in my fucking pants.”
I kiss him again, harder this time, nipping at his bottom lip until he groans. “I know, Grumps. Me too.”
His fingers press into my skin through the thin fabric of my shirt. I rock down again and his head falls back.
“You’re going to kill me,” he rasps.
“Not trying to. But you make it very easy.”
Griffin laughs and drags me closer by the small of my back, his hips lifting to meet mine. The friction is delicious, electric, and I whimper into his mouth before I can stop myself.
His grip tightens instantly.
“Do that again,” he growls, fingers sliding up my spine in a way that makes my whole body shiver.
I suck in a shaky breath, nails curling into his shoulders as I move against him again. The sound he makes—something between a groan and a curse—shoots straight through me.
“This is insane,” I pant. “We’re insane.”
“Yeah,” he whispers, rocking up to meet me. “But you feel too good to stop.”
My heart stutters, heat spiraling low in my belly.
“Griffin,” I whimper. “I’m close.”
I slide my hands up his shoulders and into his hair, tugging just enough to pull another low sound from deep in his throat.
“Come for me, Hayes,” I murmur.
His whole body jerks beneath me. “Jesus Christ,” he breathes, mouth finding the soft place beneath my ear, and I shudder, fingers clutching at him like I’m drowning.
The friction builds intoxicatingly slowly. I can’t take it anymore. I need to come now. So I move faster, harder, and his grip on me falters for a split second before he crushes me to him, burying his face in my neck.
“Fuck, yes. I’m right there,” I moan.
A few more circles of my hips push me right over the edge.
Overwhelming pleasure sweeps through me, the noise swallowed against his shoulder as Griffin holds me through it.
He follows right after, rasping my name, his whole body going rigid beneath me.
We collapse together, breathing hard, tangled in each other, still fully clothed, wrecked, and very much aware we just crossed a line we can’t uncross. I hold Griffin’s gaze for a few moments before he looks away and I immediately see his armor snapping back into place. The shift is instant.
“This shouldn’t have happened,” he says, voice flat.
He might as well have thrown me off him.
“Yeah, you’re right. It was a lapse in judgment.”
Griffin’s hands slide away from my waist. His eyes guard themselves so quickly it’s as if someone flipped a switch.
The man who pulled me against him like he couldn’t breathe without me is gone, replaced by the grumpy, unreachable, infuriating brick wall I know far too well.
I swallow hard, forcing my face into something neutral. “Maybe it’s good we did it once,” I say, the words clumsy on my tongue. “Maybe it’ll snap whatever tension was between us.”
Griffin just nods.
My hands tremble as I push off his chest and climb off his lap. My legs feel unsteady, the room suddenly colder now that his body isn’t against mine.
“I, uh… I should go,” I murmur, hating how small my voice sounds.
He says nothing.
I walk to the door, trying not to show how much he’s rattled me, how much that sudden distance feels like a slap.
My hand closes around the doorknob, but before I open it, I risk one last look at Griffin.
He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, head bowed.
I slip out, one hand pressed to the door so it doesn’t click too loudly behind me, wrapping my arms around myself.
Which is ridiculous. I am a grown woman.
In the hallway, I catch sight of myself in a mirror.
A grown woman with tousled hair, swollen lips, a racing heart, and absolutely no business sneaking through a hallway after whatever just happened in Griffin’s room.
God.
Today was already strange enough.
My sister got married to Worth Miller in an arrangement. But watching her stand beside him still did something weird to my chest.
Their relationship isn’t some perfect love story. But everything blurred together until I couldn’t tell which parts were real and which parts weren’t.
And then Griffin had to call my name while he was clearly getting off, look at me like that, and kiss me as if I were his saving grace.
I’m still trying to get my face under control when I turn and nearly walk straight into Mya.
I freeze the moment I see her.
“Uh…” Mya blinks, stopping mid-step. “Hello?”
My soul leaves my body.
Shit.
I awkwardly laugh. “I was just… uh… checking to see if Sylas was okay; I overheard Griffin talking to him on the phone.”
My tone is too chipper even to my own ears, and judging by the way Mya’s eyebrows lift, I look way too guilty.
She narrows her eyes. “How did you even know he was on the phone?”
I hesitate, eyes darting to anywhere but her face.
“You would’ve had to be standing at his door to hear that,” she adds. And then it clicks. “Were you eavesdropping?”
I exhale. “Fine, you got me.”
Mya crosses her arms, fighting a grin.
“I went to get some water and heard a noise coming from his room, so I may or may not have put my ear to the door.”
Not entirely false…
A laugh bubbles up from her before she can stop it. “You may or may not have?”
I glare. “Don’t start. My phone slipped out of my hand, and he heard it and opened the door so...”
So I ended up in his room.
Mya tries to stifle her laugh but it comes out anyway.
Heat crawls up my neck, and I swear she clocks every inch of it. Of course she does. My sister has always been able to read me like an open book.
“Whatever you say, TJ,” she says, brushing past me toward Griffin’s door. “Go pack. We’re leaving in less than an hour.”
My embarrassment slips, replaced by confusion. “What? Why?”
“Worth’s ex showed up at his house. Brianna’s fine, but we’re heading back home now.”
The words snap me back into the real world.
Whatever weird, breathless thing is still happening inside me because of Griffin takes a back seat the second I hear the slight tension in Mya’s voice.
This isn’t just drama. This is her new life barging in before the night is even over, reminding all of us that her arrangement with Worth isn’t some clean, simple thing.
She knocks on Griffin’s door. “Rise and shine, Mr. Hayes. Family emergency. Pack your things.”
@tianawithlove
you’ve been quiet lately.
@built2last
Have I?
@tianawithlove
don’t do that.
@built2last
Do what?
@tianawithlove
answer a question with another question.
@built2last
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
@tianawithlove
you’re annoying.
@built2last
You knew that already.
@tianawithlove
you haven’t criticized my life choices or pointed out structural flaws in my room in a while… it’s suspicious.
@built2last
I’ve been busy.
@tianawithlove
liar. you viewed all seven of my stories yesterday within three minutes of them being posted.
@built2last
That feels invasive somehow.
@tianawithlove
says the stranger watching my every move.
@built2last
Fair.
@tianawithlove
did I say or do something wrong?
@built2last
No, Trouble.
@tianawithlove
then why does it feel like you're avoiding me?
@built2last
It’s not you.
@tianawithlove
don’t you dare finish that sentence.