Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(78)
“I don’t care what you look like.”
All of that beautiful openness was now hidden behind a wall. “I don’t know how you can want me. No woman deserves to look at my ugly mug every morning.”
“I have scars, too.”
He reached out and dragged his thumb down her jawline. “You are amazingly beautiful. Once this is all over, you can go back to modeling. Keep pursuing your dream. Go to fancy parties and find a guy who will look good at your side.”
“Griff, I don’t want a guy who looks good. I want a guy who is good.”
Voices pulled their attention to Addie, Risk, and the other cameraman, along with Griff’s uncle, trudging back along the bank. Addie was saying, “I hope we didn’t hurt the fish. Didn’t it look lethargic when we tossed it back in?”
Risk shook his head, giving her a conciliatory pat on her shoulder. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, my big-hearted little animal hugger.”
“We got a twenty-nine pounder,” his uncle called out. His gaze zeroed in on her and Griff. “What’cha still doing in the water? You wanna catch another one?”
Kristy shook her head vehemently. “One’s plenty, thank you.”
Griff helped her to the shore, his hand tight on hers. But his words hurt more than that catfish ever could, how no woman deserved looking at his face. “What about what you deserve?” she asked quietly.
He gestured to include everything around him. “I have all this. It’s everything I need. It’s where I belong.”
A part of her longed to refute his hollow words. No, Griff. You belong with me.
CHAPTER 5
Kristy tiptoed down the hallway at two in the morning. She couldn’t sleep, and she knew why. Griff. She would tap on his door. If he answered, that meant he was awake, too. Maybe feeling as restless as she did. If he didn’t, either he was asleep or ignoring her.
He answered the door after one tap, standing in dim light wearing only a pair of black jersey pants. His eyes were shadowed, so she couldn’t see whether her presence was welcome, but he stepped back as an invitation to enter.
As soon as the door closed, they came together, bodies and mouths, hands touching and sliding down each other. His fingers seemed to drink her in, slowly moving down her back and up beneath her loose nightshirt. She desperately needed to feel him, all of him, so she pulled it off and let it drop to the wood floor with a soft whoosh.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, taking in her naked body as though she were a goddess. He slid his hands over her shoulders, the scars on her chest, and gently cupped her breasts. She released a long breath and leaned into a touch that filled a hunger she hadn’t even been aware of. She rocked her head back, losing herself in the feel of those big, callused hands caressing her. He circled his thumbs around her nipples, spiraling heat from her stomach all the way down to her apex. God, to feel desire again. To have a man like Griff, so honorable and real, touching her…
“I want you, Griff.” She drew her hands over his shoulders to his neck, kissing the rough skin on his chest. “I don’t care if we’re two out-of-practice fools. I want this with you.”
She heard an answering rumble in his chest, something between a growl and a groan. “I don’t have any condoms. I wasn’t planning…had no intention…”
She reached down to her shirt and pulled the package out of the tiny pocket on the front. “I borrowed one from Trent, just in case. He was happy to contribute to our sin.”
Griff captured her mouth in a soul-searing kiss, his tongue sweeping slowly, sensually, against hers. “See, I knew you were trouble.” She could hear his smile, feel it in the stretch of his mouth.
He scooped her up into his arms and gently set her down on the rumpled sheets. She pulled his pants down his hips and thighs, and he kicked them off before lowering himself over her. He was big, in body and in erection, and she relished the feel of both as he held the bulk of his weight off her.
He kissed and touched her like a man who treasured every inch, and she could see him taking her in with his eyes. In the near dark, they were two perfect people. Right here, right now, nothing else mattered but finding each other. Connecting.
He was tender and passionate at the same time, dragging his hands down her hips as he left a trail of hot kisses across her breasts, then her stomach. He nuzzled between her legs, and his tongue touched her clit with toe-curling flicks and gentle sucking motions. As her fingers drove through his soft hair, he made love to her with his mouth, bringing her to two delicious orgasms.
“Like riding a bike,” she managed when she caught her breath.
“Like we’ve been making love for years,” he said, kissing his way back up to her neck.
Yes, that’s exactly how it felt, she realized, as she curled her hand around the back of his neck. Exciting and new, yet incredibly easy. She pulled him close for a kiss, then pushed him back onto the bed, straddled him, and gave him all the affection he’d lavished on her. She nibbled his smooth skin and brushed her lips softly over the scarred sections. His breath hitched and huffed, his stomach quivered.
“Kristy, I don’t know what you’re doing to me.”
“Well, I’m kissing my way down your stomach, and now I’m wrapping my hand around your shaft and—”