Chase Me

by Farrah Rochon

  “Maybe I should have brushed up on my swimming skills,” Griffin muttered.

  “Let’s hope none of this is necessary. I just got my hair done. I don’t plan on swimming at all this weekend.”

  “Seriously?” Griffin asked. He looked at her soft, shoulder-length hair. It was at least four different shades, mostly deep brown with streaks of warm honey and light blonde. It looked glorious against her beautiful light brown skin.

  “You can’t come on a cruise and not go swimming at least once,” Griffin said.

  “After spending nearly two hours getting this flat-ironed, I bet I can. One drop of water and my hair will curl up into the tiniest ’fro you’ve ever seen.”

  “I like it when you wear it that way.”

  She looked back at him, one brow arching.

  “What? You think I don’t pay attention to stuff like that?” He leaned forward and placed his lips against the shell of her ear. “I notice a lot more about you than you think.”

  He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he felt a faint tremble against him.

  Just then, the crewmember with the bullhorn announced that the required muster was complete, and that all luggage should be waiting in their cabins. People swarmed the elevator bank. Griffin and Indina decided to take the stairs up to the seventh deck instead of waiting for an available car.

  “Any idea where the rest of your family is staying?” Griffin asked as they walked down the narrow corridor toward their cabin.

  “Harrison said they’re all here in the aft section, but on the fifth floor. Because our cabin was booked at the last minute, we had to take what they had left.” She tapped her keycard to the electronic pad and opened the door to their cabin. “Thankfully, all they had left was this junior suite.”

  The nautically decorated cabin was small by normal hotel room standards, but larger than Griffin had anticipated for a cruise ship. In addition to a queen bed, there was a separate seating area with a sofa, a small table and two chairs, and what he supposed was considered a wet bar. There was also an entertainment center, though the equipment looked a bit dated.

  “We have a veranda,” he said, bypassing their bags as he walked over to the sliding doors and opened them. Warm air instantly flooded the room.

  “Oh, this is nice,” Indina said as she joined him on the small balcony. “I can totally see myself out here enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning while doing a little dolphin watching.”

  “It would be cool as hell if we saw dolphins.”

  “I know, right? I’m starting to warm up to this cruise idea.”

  “Seeing as we have three days on this boat, I should hope so.” Griffin laughed. He folded his arms over the balcony’s thick railing and looked out at the New Orleans skyline. “This is a helluva view.”

  “I’ll be happy when the view is of a nice beach and clear blue water.” She fanned herself. “I sure hope there’s a breeze once the ship actually starts moving.”

  “Yeah, it’s hot as hell out here,” Griffin said, pushing back from the balcony railing and gesturing for Indina to lead the way back into the cabin. Once inside, he perched himself on the table and crossed his feet at the ankles. Folding his arms over his chest, Griffin asked, “So what exactly does one do on a cruise, besides consume more shrimp than any single person should eat in one sitting?”

  “Those shrimps were pretty damn good.” Indina laughed.

  “I’m hoping they’ll have more tomorrow,” he said. “But other than eating, what is there to do? I’ve never been on a cruise before, so I have no idea.”

  “Neither have I,” Indina said. “I know we have dinner every night at seven fifteen, and that we have a family excursion to see some Mayan ruins once we get to the Yucatan. But other than that…” She shrugged.

  A thick silence filled the room, sucking the air out of it. Several uneasy moments ticked by as they both stood there in the awkward stillness.

  Indina gestured to the bed. “We could always have sex.”

  He nodded. “Works for me.”

  Griffin pushed away from the table, grabbing his shirt by the collar and pulling it over his head as he made his way to the bed. He toed his shoes off and did away with his socks before unsnapping his jeans and pushing them, along with his boxers, down his hips. He helped Indina with her pants, tugging them off her legs and tossing them on the sofa. Griffin grabbed a condom from his wallet before chucking that aside as well.

  He stood at the edge of the bed while Indina unhooked her bra and gently folded it.

  “Is there a reason you’re treating that bra as if it’s breakable?”

  “It was expensive. I don’t want the cups to collapse,” she said, placing the bra on the tiny bedside shelf. Then she sat on the edge of the bed, spread her thighs on either side of his legs and drew him toward her. “Now give me this,” she said. Wrapping her palm around the base of his semi-hard cock, she pumped her hand up and down his length several times before drawing it into her mouth with one long, slow suck.

  Griffin’s head fell back with his groan. Nothing in this world gave him more pleasure than being surrounded by Indina’s warm mouth. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensation of her tongue gliding along the underside of his dick. There was nothing better than this. Nothing.

  He shoved his hand in her hair, gripping the back of her head as she swallowed him whole. Her gorgeous lips slid up and down his length, not stopping until he was hard as a brick. She released him with a loud pop, then tore opened the condom packet and rolled the latex over his erection.

  “That’s better,” she said as she pushed back onto the bed and spread her legs wide for him.

  Griffin didn’t know if he wanted to start with his mouth or his cock, but Indina made the decision for him. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down on top of her. He wedged himself between her thighs, hooked his arm under her knee and placed her right leg over his shoulder. He’d learned from much experience that it was her favorite position.

  Gripping his erection in his hand, he guided it inside her moist heat.

  Their matching moans of pleasure bounced off the cabin’s thin walls. It didn’t matter how many times they did this, he would never get over the initial sensation of her snug body surrounding his hardness. It obliterated every other thought in his head. Once he connected with Indina in this most intimate way, it was all he could think about.

  Griffin eased nearly all the way out before driving his hips forward. He braced his hands on either side of her and dipped his head, wrapping his lips around her rigid nipple and sucking gently. He knew the suction drove her wild, and right now driving her wild was at the very top of his agenda. She held his head to her breast and dug her heel into his back, her pelvis lifting to meet his thrusts.

  “My God, Griffin,” she shouted.

  He lifted his head and grinned. “It’s a good thing your family is on a different floor. I’m sure the entire deck just heard you.”

  She burst out laughing, but it turned into another moan as he once again buried himself deep inside her wet heat. He rolled his hips, his knees digging into the hard, unfamiliar mattress.

  He peered down at Indina and nearly lost his mind at the look of sheer bliss on her face.

  God, he wanted to kiss her. He ached to dip his head and snag her plump bottom lip between his teeth. He wanted to thrust his tongue inside her mouth to the same rhythm he was thrusting his cock inside her body.

  But that just wasn’t how they operated. She’d willingly shared her body with him, but her kiss? He had yet to fully taste it.

  Griffin blocked those thoughts out of his mind and focused on what he was feeling. That’s what mattered right now. The feeling of Indina tight and wet around him. Feeling her walls caress him as he slid deep. He pumped his hips and clasped his lips over her protruding nipple again, swirling his tongue around the tight bud before nipping at it with his teeth.

  Indina’s breathy mewls of pleasure drizzled down his spine, fuel
ing the pleasure that coursed along his skin.

  He was close. So damn close. Too damn close.

  He wanted to make this last longer. Make her come over and over again. But that wasn’t going to happen this time.

  Despite his best effort to stave off his impending orgasm, Griffin knew he was only moments from losing it. He snuck a hand between them and zeroed in on her clit, rubbing his fingers over the slippery bundle of nerves until he felt Indina’s inner walls constricting around his cock. The pressure building at the base of his spine exploded and his entire body quaked with the ferocity of the orgasm that rushed through him.

  Indina’s back bowed off the bed as she came with him, her limbs trembling, her head rolling back as she screamed at the ceiling.

  Griffin rolled off her and collapsed onto his back, his heart pounding in time with the thumping music coming from several decks above them. Even louder were his and Indina’s heavy pants echoing off the cabin walls.

  “How can you be so damn good at that?” Indina said between breaths.

  “I used to sneak peeks at my mom’s old paperback romance novels,” he answered. “Best manual a teenage boy could ask for.”

  Indina looked over at him and burst out laughing, then she looked back up at the ceiling and released a satisfied sigh.

  After a couple of quiet minutes passed, Griffin asked, “Now what do we do?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “This is usually when I get dressed and go home.”

  Neither of them spoke as that hard truth settled in. Unless they were at work or having sex, there wasn’t much else they did together.

  “This is going to be awkward, isn’t it?” Indina asked.

  “Probably.” Definitely.

  She looked over at him. “When I invited you along, I didn’t really think about all the time we’d have to spend together not doing what we normally do when we’re together.”

  Griffin levered himself up on his elbow. “I’m okay spending all our time having sex if you’re up for it.”

  She laughed again, then stopped. She sat up. “Is the boat moving?”

  Griffin paused. “I think so.”

  They both rose from the bed. Indina grabbed one of the robes hanging in the cabin’s closet, and went out onto the veranda.

  “I’ll be out there in a minute,” Griffin said.

  He went into the bathroom to get rid of the condom and clean himself off, and nearly had a panic attack at how tiny the space was. Shit. His claustrophobic side would have a helluva time getting used to this. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and T-shirt before joining Indina on the veranda.

  The boat had indeed started a slow journey down the Mississippi, the buildings of downtown New Orleans already behind them.

  “How cool is this,” Indina said. She’d settled on one of the deck chairs. “I’ve never seen the city from this vantage point before. It really is a gorgeous town, isn’t it?”

  “One of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen,” Griffin said in agreement. He pointed to the eight-story building just beyond the levee in the city’s Bywater neighborhood. “That was the first building I worked on after moving to New Orleans,” he said. “I thought about buying one of the condos, but I’m happy I passed. I rather like my house.”

  “I love your house,” Indina said.

  Griffin’s brows rose. “I’m surprised you’ve noticed it. You’re never there long enough to really take it all in.”

  She stared at him. “I know,” she said softly.

  “Yeah, I know too,” he said.

  The awkwardness took center stage once again. They’d never established an official set of rules when it came to this coworkers with benefits relationship, but there were unwritten ones that had developed over the past eight months. Like no kissing. And no acknowledgment of anything other than a working relationship once they were beyond the walls of his bedroom.

  That’s why it had shocked the hell out of Griffin when she’d asked him to join her on this cruise. It had given him a small shred of hope that he could maybe convince her to move beyond their weekly hookups and try to start up something more serious.

  “So, what else should we do?” Indina asked. “We’ve already agreed that we can’t have sex the entire weekend.”

  “Did we come to an agreement on that?”

  “Yes.” Her throaty laugh pulled at his groin. “My body needs recovery time.” She stretched her legs out in front of her. “The only other thing we do together is work, and we are not doing that while we’re on this ship.” Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t bring your laptop, did you?”

  Griffin shook his head. “It’s been about three years since I had a bona fide vacation. I want to enjoy myself this weekend.”

  “Good. We deserve it after all the work we put into that last project.”

  Indina stood and stretched her arms over her head, then she folded them on the veranda’s railing and stared out at the levee.

  “I probably should have Googled ‘What to do on a cruise’ before I agreed to take one,” she said.

  “The only thing I know about cruises is what I’ve seen on the occasional episode of The Love Boat on Nick at Nite.”

  She looked back over her shoulder. “You watch Nickelodeon?”

  “Sometimes,” he admitted with a grin.

  She turned, resting her elbows on the railing. Her robe gaped just a little, revealing the shadow between her thighs. Suddenly, the thought of going for another round in bed was the only thing he could think about. The appendage between his legs was more than ready for it.

  “What did they do on The Love Boat? Other than love stuff?” Indina asked.

  “Shuffleboard.”

  That smile broke out across her face again. “Okay, then. I say we go play ourselves some shuffleboard.”

  Indina slumped against the cue stick as she waited for Griffin to take his turn. Thankfully she still had cell service because she’d had to search the Web for the rules of shuffleboard when they arrived on the fourth deck and discovered that neither of them knew how to play. She was still confused as to exactly how—or more accurately why—someone would want to play this game, but she’d dragged Griffin out here so she felt obligated to play. If he wanted to live out his Love Boat dreams then she would continue with this stupid game.

  Griffin shoved the disk into the number eight triangle. “Your turn,” he said.

  Indina stifled her sigh behind a tight smile and returned to the base of the shuffleboard court. She sent the cue stick forward, but stopped moments before hitting the disk. She looked over at Griffin and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t take much more of this. It’s boring as hell.”

  He dropped his head back and let out an exasperated breath. “Thank God you finally said something. I was just thinking that I’d rather throw myself overboard than spend another five minutes doing this.”

  Indina burst out laughing. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I thought you wanted to play.” Taking the cue stick from her hand, he set them both back into the racks hanging on the wall.

  “What do you say we both make sure the other actually wants to do something before making assumptions?” Indina asked. “We’re only on this ship for three days. That’s a half hour of our time we will never get back.”

  “Agreed,” Griffin said with a nod. “What about a tour of the ship? Does the thought of that make you want to bang your head against the wall?”

  She tilted her head to the side. “I’d like that. As big as this ship is, there has to be something more entertaining than shuffleboard to keep us occupied.”

  Griffin leaned forward and whispered into her ear in a silky, seductive voice. “When it comes to keeping occupied, I prefer my original suggestion.”

  Desire flooded Indina’s bloodstream. She was starting to rethink his suggestion, as well. Would it really be a bad thing to spend the next three days naked in bed with this man? If it weren’t for the fact that her entire nosy ass famil
y was on this ship, Indina would consider doing exactly that.

  “I promise we’ll have plenty of time to make good on your suggestion,” she said.

  She was struck by the intensity in his gaze as he dipped his head and looked her directly in the eyes. “I’m holding you to that,” Griffin said.

  The sliding door nearest to them opened and her cousins, Elijah and Tobias, along with their wives, Monica and Sienna, walked out. Indina had already figured she would run into a Holmes or two around every corner this weekend. The ship was massive, but so was the Holmes clan.

  “Well, hello there,” Monica said, her eyes crinkling at the corners. The emergency room doctor had won over their entire family when she moved to New Orleans and turned Indina’s freewheeling bachelor cousin into the quintessential family man. Monica had also turned into a bit of a matchmaker. Last year she’d tried to set Indina up with two doctors and a hospital administrator. All three dates were disastrous.

  “I’m Monica.” She stuck her hand out to Griffin. “A Holmes by marriage, as is my sister-in-law, Sienna. This is Eli and Toby.”

  “My cousins,” Indina interjected. “What are you guys up to?”

  “We’re going on a behind-the-scenes tour of the galley,” Sienna said. She looked radiant, despite her seven months pregnant belly. Or maybe it was because of it. “There’s a promise of dessert samples.”

  “You can eat after that huge buffet we just had?” Indina asked.

  “You think I can’t?” Sienna said, rubbing her plump belly.

  “Believe me, she can,” Toby said, earning an elbow to the gut from his wife.

  “I’d invite you both to join us, but you had to book the tour in advance,” Monica said. “Sorry.”