Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(79)

“I know what you’re doing to my body.” He groaned as her hand tightened at the base. “It’s the insides that are all confused. I was dead. Hell, I haven’t even given myself a hand job. I had no sex drive, and I didn’t even care. Then you came along and woke me up.”

She kissed the tip of his cock. “Good. I hope you stay awake.” And keep wanting me. To help that endeavor, she took him into her mouth and brought him to the brink of orgasm.

His breath was sawing in and out. “Oh, darlin’, if you keep doing that, we won’t need that condom.”

“Then let’s use it tomorrow morning.” And she sent him over the edge.

? ? ?

Griff thought he was dreaming when he slowly rose to consciousness and felt the warm weight of a woman snuggled up against him. Then it all came back, how Kristy had come to his room just as he’d stood inches from his door wrestling with doing the same to her. How they’d come together so naturally that it made his chest feel like it was filled with helium. And when he remembered that they had the condom, another part of him filled, too.

She opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy smile, which just about undid him. He kissed her, his hand slipping down between her thighs, then to her sweet folds. She was soon wet, but he made sure she was good and ready by bringing her to orgasm. And when she arched into his touch and exhaled loudly, he captured that breath with a kiss.

They weren’t out-of-practice fools. Like earlier, they fell right into a natural rhythm as he eased into her tight canal. God, this woman, what she did to him. He was lost in her, in the feel of her in his arms, in the way thrusting into her felt like home. He knew it was dangerous territory, but he couldn’t manage to care at the moment.

“Griff,” she whispered, then panted as her body tightened. She gripped his shoulders and looked into his eyes as she came, and he’d never seen a more beautiful sight. Except maybe finding her at his door in the first place.

His orgasm shuddered through him a minute later, and he buried his face in the crook of her neck and held on tight. He rode it out, more powerful than the one the night before. She throbbed all around his cock, and damn, it made him feel as though he were going to come again.

As he relaxed around her, he memorized the feel of her. The smell of her. The way her hair caught the light coming in through the window and the silky feel of it across his shoulder.

Sounds drew their attention to the door as a couple of people passed by his room. They didn’t knock, thank God, but it was an indication that the morning was upon them.

He cupped the side of her face. “I wish we could stay here all day.”

She had a worried expression. “I have to go back to Atlanta this morning.”

The prospect made his chest hurt. But he couldn’t keep her here. He and this place would feel like another prison to her. “I remember how excited you were about living out loud. You looked so happy at the thought of it. Pretty soon you’ll be free.”

She placed her hand against his chest. “I wish you could come with me.”

He took her hand and pressed it against his mouth. “The thought of going to a city, walking around in public…” He shook his head. “I can’t.”

She slowly nodded, her mouth stretching into a frown. “I understand. But if you change your mind, I have this little deck off the back of my apartment. It’s a ledge really. I sometimes sit out there at night and listen to the wind chimes. When this is all over, you could come around the back of the building, use the ground floor table behind my neighbors’ apartment and climb up to the ledge by my bedroom window.” She gave him a hopeful smile. “Throw pebbles. Except that might freak me out, so call first. But the point is, no one would see you.”

“Isn’t that a security problem, having a deck by your window?”

“Chase thought so, too. First of all, it’s on the third floor, and you have to be in really good shape to climb up, like you are. Eye isn’t. I could tell that much about him. Chase installed a security system, with the windows wired, and bars as well. If the window opens, the alarm beeps.” She gave him a small smile. “It’d be kind of romantic, like that Melissa Etheridge song, ‘Come to My Window.’”

And pathetic. He planted a kiss on her palm and set her hand down. “Once this bastard is behind bars, you have to get on with your life. You don’t need someone like me keeping you in the dark.”

She placed her hands on his face, leaning close, looking like she was about to implore him. Then she tilted her head. “You don’t think you deserve to be happy, do you? Because you think you let your comrades down?”

The truth of that speared him right in the chest. “I don’t know what I deserve. I’m too messed up to even consider it. And you don’t need to be involved in the mess that’s me.” He gently disengaged, kissing her on the forehead before going into the bathroom.

She was dressed in her long T-shirt when he came out a couple minutes later, brushing her hair with her fingers. He picked up his pants and pulled them on. “I’ll walk you to your room.”

“I got here all right; I can get back on my own.” She paused at the door, her hand on his over the doorknob. “I wouldn’t mind waking up to your ugly mug every morning, by the way. Just sayin’.” She went to her room.

He leaned against the closed door, gripping his temples. Those words tightened and pulled and twisted inside him. The selfish part of him wanted to explore this connection between them. And the amazing physical aspect, too. But it wasn’t fair to her.