Written in Ink (Montgomery Ink #4)(33)

He shook his head. “Don’t be. I’d rather remember than forget her. She deserved more than that.” He gripped Autumn’s wrist with his uninjured hand. “I didn’t mention her to tell you she was the one for me and that I haven’t been with another since because that would be a lie. It’s been over a decade. She may have shaped who I was, but she hasn’t shaped who I am now. I honestly don’t know why I thought of her then, except we were talking about lost happy endings. She was a lost happy ending, but hopefully, she won’t be my only chance at that happily ever after.”

Autumn cupped his face and studied him. He let out a breath, wanting more of her gentle hold. Here he was, talking about Lauren when all he wanted was Autumn. He should have felt ashamed, dirty, but he didn’t. He knew Lauren would have wanted him to move on. And he had in a sense. Only he didn’t know what he was doing now—in life or with his words. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe that’s why he kept thinking of a girl long since gone. Because he’d thought he’d known who he was back then. Perhaps now it was time for him to figure out he was again.

Who he was with Autumn.

He slid his hand up her hip over her dress and let it settle there. “I want to kiss you again, Autumn. Are you going to be okay with that?”

She nodded. “I think I’m okay for more. It’s beyond stupid. I need to help you with work…and I won’t be here for long, Griffin.” She stared at him intensely. “I never stay anywhere for too long.”

His hand tightened on her hip and he forced himself to relax it. “I wish you’d tell me why. I wish you’d tell me the secrets in your eyes.”

She shut them, her jaw tightening. “I can’t.”

“Then can you give me what you have to give? Give me what you need? Because I’ll take that, Autumn. I want you, you know that. I’ve wanted you from the start, and I’ll do my best not to hurt you, not to let what happens from here on out interfere with what needs to happen with other things in our lives. But you need to tell me you’re okay with that. You need to tell me you want me too, and that you know that once you walk away for good, that you won’t hate me for it.”

She opened her eyes and lowered her head. “I can’t hate you for what is out of your control. I can’t hate you for running, because, in the end, it will be me that goes.”

He didn’t know why that hurt, but he pushed it aside like he had all the other times words had hurt. Words were far more powerful than most believed. That’s why he wrote them. He’d be with Autumn in this time, in this place. And when it ended, he’d store the memories where he stored those that were just for him, not for his books, not for his worlds. If only she’d tell him why she ran, why she kept her secrets. But she wasn’t in a place to tell him, and for now, that would have to do. He didn’t know what would happen after, what would happen once she opened her eyes fully and saw him for what he was, what he had to give, but he’d take everything he could.

“No more talking,” Griffin whispered. “Not tonight.”

She shook her head. “No strings, Griffin. This isn’t about what you lost, what you think I’m hiding. This is just us.”

“That I can do, Autumn. Now lean down a bit. I want to taste your lips.”

With that, she did as he asked and leaned forward, pressing her lips to his. He groaned at the contact, the hand on her hip tightening once more. She opened for him, sliding her tongue along his. He pulled her closer so she pressed her legs to the chair and his thighs encased her. His hand slid around her hip to her ass, squeezing and molding.

He pulled away from her touch, taking a deep breath. “Sorry I’m one-handed, Fall,” he said on a laugh.

She kissed the side of his mouth, his jaw, then behind his ear. He let out a strangled moan as her hand slid down his chest and she gripped him through his jeans.

“I have two hands, Griffin. More than enough, I hope. And I bet you can use that one hand and that sexy mouth of yours to make me come more than once tonight. What do you say?” She bit her lip then leaned forward again to bite his.

His hips rocked up into her hand, even as his own hand played with her thong through the skirt of her dress.

“I say f*ck yeah. I love your mouth, Fall. Love the way it looks when you bite into it, love the way it feels along mine. I love the way it looks when you say those f*cking dirty things. I’m especially going to love it when it’s wrapped around my cock.”

She licked his lips and pulled back. He loosened his hold on her to allow her to straighten. “What about your lips on my cunt? Are you going to help me with that?”

He took his good hand and rubbed it along his jean-clad cock. “I think I can do that. Since I’m one-handed, why don’t you strip for me? Slowly.”

She cupped her breasts and tilted her head. “I think I can do that,” she said, repeating his words. “Are you going to watch?”

He met her gaze. “For however long you let me, Autumn. For however long you let me.”





Chapter Ten


Autumn slowly pulled up her dress, exposing her panties and bra-covered breasts. She did it slowly, achingly slow, so she could watch the way Griffin’s gaze traveled from her stomach, up to her breasts, down again a bit lower, then back to her eyes. From the quick intake of breath, she knew Griffin watched her, wanting, needing. She’d never felt so powerful, so sexual.