27. Tish

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tish

I felt hot all over and my pulse raced a little faster as I waited for Griffin to answer.

"I didn't tell her anything had happened, but I admitted I totally had a thing for you. Because I do."

The heat banked in his gaze lit sparks inside of me. Mingled within the desire that rose like a storm inside of me whenever I was near Griffin was a subtle anxiety. Back before I knew I was pregnant, I'd wanted to keep the boundaries clear. With Griffin's oldest brother my boss, all of my worries and anxieties had felt justified.

Rhys was still my boss, but more at a distance. Griffin was too tempting now for my anxiety to override my desire. I was still busy trying to tell myself it was mostly desire. My heart knew better and whispered as much in the back of my thoughts.

"Are we keeping this secret?" Griffin asked. His eyes held mine and my belly flipped while my heart kicked along unsteadily.

"I suppose I should ask what this is?" he added.

I needed oxygen so I could think and sucked in a breath as I set my fork down. "I don't know," I finally answered. "My life is kind of complicated. I have a baby and—" I paused, shaking my head sharply. "I didn't expect you, Griffin."

"I didn't expect you either, Tish. That first time I met you, even though I asked for your number, I figured I'd probably never see you again. What were the odds?" he mused.

I let out a soft laugh. "Probably not great." For the first time in a long time, I let my heart do the talking. "I don't usually do casual relationships. And –"

Griffin reached over, catching my hand, where I was nervously tracing along the side of the table between us. "I don't know what this is, or what we're meant to be, but you're not just casual for me. I'd like a chance to see where this might go."

My heart didn't even know what to do with those words, much less the intent look in his eyes. All I could do was whisper, "Okay. I'd like that chance too."

He squeezed my hand before lifting it and turning it over to drop a kiss in the center of my palm. If I hadn't been seated, I would've melted to the floor. He released my hand and the moment passed. We started to eat again, but I was still spinning inside.

While I was trying to get my body to cool down, Griffin pushed his empty bowl away and took a swallow of water, tracing his finger in a circle around the base of his glass after he set it down. "So, we didn't clarify one thing."

I finished my last bite. "What's that?"

"Are we keeping this secret?"

My mind wanted to say we should, but my heart didn't want that. And for once, my heart won. I shook my head.

Griffin's smile was slow and sent heat spiraling through me. Restless and a little anxious, I stood to put the dishes in the dishwasher. Griffin quietly helped me clean up. I finished drying my hands on the dish towel and turned to face him.

"Thank you."

He closed the dishwasher. "For what?"

"Making dinner again." I twisted the towel in my hands and rested my hips against the counter. "And, uh, having an actual conversation about us."

I wasn't devastated or brokenhearted by Paul disappearing from my life. We'd been at the beginning of a relationship. And yet, what he did created fractures in trust for me.

Griffin was quiet before he nodded. "You can thank Holly for that."

"Holly?" I snorted.

He shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "She made me realize this town is small enough that we should probably have that conversation."

He stepped closer, reaching for the towel in my hands and setting it on the counter before caging me between his arms. He leveled his gaze with mine as he leaned forward. His scent curled around me, a little crisp and woodsy. I didn't think I'd ever noticed how a man smelled before. Griffin was intoxicating, injecting a burst of oxygen into the fire already burning inside of me.

"You look beautiful today," he murmured as he dipped his head and grazed his teeth along the side of my neck.

"I'm just wearing my work clothes…" I gasped when he nipped at my earlobe and trailed his thumb over my collarbone. Every touch felt like licks of fire on my skin.

"I love your work clothes," he murmured. "I'd like to get you out of them as fast as I can though."

I could barely breathe and gasped something unintelligible just before he claimed my mouth in another hot kiss. By the time he lifted his head, I was practically on fire and had unzipped his jeans with my hand molded over his thick length.

"I need —" I began just as Teddy's cry came through the baby monitor.

I groaned. "Hold that thought. I'll be right back."

I ran down the hallway, sprinting through my bedroom into Teddy's nursery. He looked up at me, blinking his sleepy eyes. "Hey there," I whispered. I smoothed my hand over his hair.

He bounced his heels. I lifted him up to press a kiss on his temple. I loved the way he felt when he was tired, so soft and warm. He molded himself to me and maybe a minute passed before he was sound asleep again.

I held my breath when I eased him back into the crib, relieved when he stayed asleep. When I turned around to walk out, Griffin was standing in the doorway. He didn't say a word, he simply smiled and stepped back.

It felt like changing lanes in my body. As soon as the door was almost closed behind me, Griffin caught one of my hands and reeled me close, smoothly sliding his other arm around my waist and over the curve of my bottom. When I felt the swell of his cock against my belly, my sex clenched.

"Sorry about the interruption," I said breathlessly.

"Sweetness," he murmured along the side of my neck as he teased me with lazy kisses that sent shivers all up and down my body. "You don't need to apologize." He lifted his head, his gaze serious. "Although if you're not in the mood…"

I grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him down. "Don't make me wait."

I felt his chuckle against my skin. We yanked at each other's clothes, leaving them in a messy trail behind us as we stumbled to my bed.

Griffin set the baby monitor on the nightstand after I checked to make sure the door into Teddy's room was closed. I stopped at the foot of the bed, suddenly uncertain. I still felt almost out of place with my body. Having a baby had changed me so much. I had more jiggle than I'd ever had, and I was self-conscious about my stretch marks.

When Griffin sat down on the bed and turned me to face him, lightly cupping a breast and teasing his thumb over my achy nipple, I forgot my self-consciousness.

"You are so sexy to me, Tish," he murmured just before he sucked a nipple into his mouth.

I cried out sharply, my fingers spearing into his hair. For a split second, I thought I might orgasm right there. I felt so needy, so on edge. I gasped again when he teased my other nipple. He leaned back, bringing his fingers between my thighs and sliding them through the slick wetness there.

"Oh, sweetness. I've been wanting you since last night."

He sank a finger inside of me and my pussy clenched around it. "You have?" I gasped on the heels of a broken breath.

Another finger joined the first as he stretched me a little. "I sure have." I was trembling and panting, pleasure sizzling in sharp streaks like little jolts of lightning radiating through me.

"Griffin…"

"Tell me what you want."

"I need to come…" I gasped.

He kept his fingers inside of me as he leaned forward and brought his mouth to my sex. With this man fucking me with his fingers and teasing my swollen clit with his tongue, I stood before him desperate and nearly about to collapse. The pleasure was a storm whipping through me. I cried out when he pumped his fingers deeply, distantly hearing myself beg, "Griffin, please!"

With a subtle suction, pleasure broke in the eye of a storm. I barely remembered him drawing away, shimmying back as he brought me over him on the bed. I was kneeling astride him, staring at him as my climax still reverberated inside me. His cock was nestled in my folds. He rocked up, creating friction over my clit, giving me a little aftershock of pleasure.

"Give me a sec, I need to put this on," he said.

I couldn't even fathom that Griffin had the presence of mind to have a condom nearby. "Where did that come from?" I managed.

"My pocket."

I slid back, just enough for him to roll the condom on.

"I want you to come once more." He positioned his cock at my entrance, and I sank down over him, letting out a whimper at the indescribable pleasure of him filling me.

"Look at me, sweetness," he said.

I stared at him through heavy-lidded eyes.

"Just one more," he whispered before catching my lips in a kiss.

I could taste the subtle tang of my own essence on his tongue as he kissed me. He began to rock into me. My next orgasm built slowly, the echoes of it reverberating to my bones.

"Now," he ordered.