“OK.” Dallas leaned back, took a deep breath. “Tell me. Tell me everything.”
So Griff did. He told Dallas about Claire’s sheltered upbringing, about Wilbur’s dominant claiming of a naive young woman, about her faith and hope in a marriage that was no more than a business arrangement for her husband at the time. About her slow, painful realization that she was – to all intents and purposes – a prop in Wilbur’s grand performance, a pawn in a game where she hadn’t even seen a copy of the rules.
He told Dallas about how she’d seen her chance to escape and she’d taken it, and how she’d rejected numerous offers to take a payout in exchange for providing ‘testimony’ that would help her ex. Finally, he told Dallas how hard Claire had worked to start again, on her terms for the first time in her life, and just how successful she was in this new life. The woman was astonishing, and she was smart, and she was a survivor.
And that was the woman that Griff had made love to the night before. That kick-ass angel, the one who had walked away from the easy option, the one who had found her pride and dignity, and who wasn’t interested in giving those things away to anyone, not for any price. The one who had fought for what she had now, and even though it wasn’t much – not by society’s standards, and certainly not when compared to her life before – it was hers.
Griff finished talking, and Dallas stayed silent, just turning it all over in his head. Finally, he spoke.
“OK, man.” Dallas sighed. “OK. I believe you.”
“Yeah?” Griff said, almost afraid to believe it. “Really?”
“Really. I mean, I’ll have to do some independent checking this morning, of course, but I’m prepared to admit that we’ve had the woman wrong from the word go. I’m open to that.”
“The op?”
“If I find what you claim that I will, then it’s over,” Dallas said. “We’ll leave Claire in peace, to get on with her life.”
“You’ll tell Leeza?”
“Of course.” Dallas dreaded that conversation, but he knew that if Claire hadn’t done anything wrong, then she didn’t deserve to have anyone sneaking around her life. She had the right to privacy and happiness. To a new start. Hell, isn’t that what everyone deserved? “I’ll tell her myself. Today.”
“Thank you, Dallas.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“You’re unemployed, man.” He took in Griff’s baggy jeans and lose navy blue t-shirt. “And you’re already dressing like it. Hell, I had no idea you even owned a pair of jeans.”
“Yeah, well.” Griff shrugged. “The thing is that ever since I got stabbed in that parking lot, I’ve been seriously thinking about getting out of the bodyguard game. I’ve always wanted to have my own business, though, so maybe I’ll take a page from Claire’s book and just start again.”
“Yeah?” Dallas was amazed at how little the man seemed to be feeling the massive, shocking changes breaking over his life. “What kind of business?”
“I was thinking about security consulting for businesses. Internal systems, doors and windows, maybe some bodyguard services for the staff when they travel.” Griff grinned. “Maybe I can throw some work your way? If you want to ever talk to me again after today, of course.”
“Jesus,” Dallas growled. “Of course I do. Like I said, I ain’t firing you because I want to.”
“You did say that.”
“And I meant it.” Dallas ran his hand through his hair. “God… why couldn’t you have talked to me first and had us suspend the op, then jumped into bed with her? You could have had it all, man. The girl and the job.”
“No.” Griff shook his head. “No. I couldn’t wait… it was right between us last night. It was one of those moments that you don’t let pass you by, because if you do, you’ll live to regret it.”
Dallas nodded. He’d had a few of those moments with Olivia, and he knew that if he’d failed to take them, then things would be different between the two of them now. That thought was almost painful to Dallas, and he understood Griff’s decision to live in that moment, to just grab it with both hands and hold on tight, and to hell with the consequences.
Some moments were worth the consequences. Some moments were worth losing everything.
Some moments were everything.
“It’s time for me to go, and that’s the truth, Dallas.” Griff spoke quietly. “It’s OK. I swear.”
“Speaking of the truth…” Dallas said, his voice trailing off.
“Yeah.” A shadow crossed Griff’s face. “Yeah, I know. I have to tell her.”
“And? How do you think she’s going to react?”
“I don’t know.”
“You think she’ll be able to forgive you?”
“Honestly?” Griff said. “Yes. Yes, I think she will, because she’ll understand that sometimes we need to lie to protect ourselves… but even through a lie, we can show the truth about who we are. It won’t happen for a while, though, since she’ll be too angry to see me at first. But I ain’t going anywhere, man. I’ll give her space and time, but I’m staying right here, and I’m going to kill myself to make sure she knows much I want to see her. The real her, you know?”
“I know,” Dallas said softly, wishing Griff nothing but luck with what was surely going to be one long, dark, heartbreaking time in his life as he waited to see if Claire came back to him. “I get you.”
“So.” Griff got to his feet now, and Dallas followed. “I’ll clean out my desk, and I’ll be gone in ten minutes.”
“Shit, man,” Dallas said, suddenly really understanding that this was it. Griff was gone. “Good luck, and I mean with everything. Don’t be a stranger now, you hear?”
“Never.”
The men shook hands, then Dallas watched Griff turned and walked out the conference room door. Headed off to whatever was coming next.
**
Griff pulled up to Claire’s trailer, killed the engine. He knew she’d be home working, and all he wanted was to get inside and hold her close. He’d hold her, and he’d tell her the whole damn truth. Then he’d brace himself for whatever she said or did, and then he’d go, if that’s what she wanted.
But he’d be back. He’d be back over and over until she saw him.
Until she forgave him.
His heart pounding in his chest, he walked over to the trailer, and before he was able to open it, Claire had opened it, and flung herself at him.
Griff caught her mid-air, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him like he’d never been kissed in the whole of his life. God, the woman kissed like she lived: honest and hard and open. Not holding a single damn thing back, and not hiding how she felt or what she wanted.
When Claire kissed him, Griff knew her.
She pulled back now, a wicked glint in those blue eyes. “Hi.”
“Hey, kitten.” He started to walk towards the trailer. “How are you today?”
“Awesome.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep.” She rubbed herself against him now, and Griff groaned as his cock hardened. “I have a surprise for you, actually.”
“Do you now?” he asked as he entered the trailer, shut the door with his elbow but didn’t lock it. “What would that be?”
“I’m not going to tell you. I’m going to show you.”
“Ah.” He sat down on the sofa, Claire still all wrapped around him. “Alright. Show me.”
“Ohhhh-kay.”
Her hands went to the top button of the loose denim shirt that she was wearing, and Griff watched intently as she undid it, slowly. Then the next one. Then the next. By the time she’d moved to the fourth one, he could see a glimpse of something black and lacy and his heart stopped.
She saw the look on his face, and she grinned, carried on undoing buttons. Then she peeled the shirt off and tossed it on the floor, watched as he took in the gorgeous bra.
“Kitten,” he said, his voice husky. “Did you go shopping th
is morning?”
She giggled. “Uh-huh.”
“Did you buy anything else?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You gonna show me?”
Claire nodded, then moved her hands to her curvy hips. Rapt, Griff watched as she slid her black leggings down a bit, and when he saw the suspender straps, he thought he might have a heart attack.
“Baby,” he said. “Just what were you up to while I was gone?”
“Oh.” She pulled the leggings down farther so Griff could see the sheer black stockings. “I got some really good news this morning, so I decided to blow the food budget for the week. Next week too, I think.”
“If you’re gonna starve, you might as well look hot while you do it,” Griff commented. “And dear sweet Lord above, do you look hot.”
She tilted her head at him. “Hot enough to take me back to bed?”
“Nuh-uh.” Griff yanked her leggings off all the way and kicked them across the floor. “Far too hot for that… I’m just gonna have to take you right here.”
“Oooh,” she managed, before his mouth was on her breasts, teasing her nipples in turn through the lace, his large hands on her back and pressing her tighter to his lips and tongue. Claire gasped and arched, gripping his hair in trembling fingers. “I guess that’ll be OK.”
“You guess?” he rasped. “You ain’t sure?”
“Uh,” she said as his hands slid down her back and cupped her ass. “I’m becoming more sure.”
“Let me see if I can help you with that, baby.”
He moved his hands around her body, slipped them down the front of her lace and silk panties. When his fingers made contact with her smooth pussy, he jolted in shock. She smiled down at him, all hot, teasing female.
“Kitten?”
“Yes, sexy?”
“Your panties are crotchless. Also? You’ve shaved.”
“You don’t say?” She gave him a wide-eyed, innocent blue stare. “How’d that happen?”
“Oh, I have a pretty good idea.”
“Wanna share?”
“No.” Griff stroked between her lower lips with a thick finger, loving how wet she was already. “I wanna do something else. And I wanna do it while you’re wearing these hot-as-fuck black stockings and suspenders.”
Claire moaned as he touched her most secret, softest place. He was so delicate, so careful, and his caress made her think – for some insane reason – of butterfly wings. His fingers moved lightly, gently, and she threw her head back and just luxuriated in the sensation of being touched.
Griff smiled as he watched her start to lose control already. Watching her face, he slid one finger inside her honeyed channel, then a second one. Her head fell forward again and her eyes opened wide with heated need, and Griff wrapped his free hand around the back of her neck and tugged her sweet mouth down to his. He kissed her, hard, then slipped his tongue between her lips. He thrust it in and out, slowly, and thrust his finger in the same rhythm. Slow, steady, strong. And Claire began to lose her goddamn mind.
“Oh, God,” she whispered as he reached deeper inside her straining body, kissed her deeper. “Oh, God… please…”
“Hmmmm,” he hummed. “Please what, baby?”
“Please… more.”
“More of this?” He teased her lips with his tongue, stroking and tasting her sweetness. “Or more of this?” He brought his fingers to his mouth, licked her nectar from them before kissing her again.
“Ah,” she gasped as she tasted herself on his tongue. “More of both.”
“Greedy girl.”
He took pity on her now, and he moved his hand back to her pussy, circling her clit this time. Claire’s hands wandered to his broad shoulders, her nails digging into them hard enough to cut him through the t-shirt. But Griff didn’t give a good goddamn: he had a beautiful woman gyrating on his lap, riding his fingers, her breasts being offered up like delicious fruit… what the hell did he care about a few gauges?
Urgently, he pulled her back down to meet his kisses. Her hips moved faster as he started to plunge inside her once more, pressing down on her hot little button at the same time. Claire shut her eyes as her climax started to approach, but he growled in protest, tightened his grip on the back of neck.
“Open,” he said, his voice rough and deep. “Open your eyes right the fuck now.”
Startled at his vehemence, she did, and that was when she found herself lost in his hard green gaze. God, his eyes were so dark right now… so stormy and dangerous. She decided that this was how she liked them best: she loved the way that they zeroed in on her face, the way that they saw nothing but her slowly-building pleasure, the way that they burned right on into her soul. She had nowhere to run from them, no place to hide from their intensity.
And she didn’t even want to run or hide.
She wanted him to see her. To really see her, here in this moment of her total vulnerability and honesty and desire.
She couldn’t give him the whole truth right this second… but she could give him this truth.
So she did.
She held his gaze even as the pleasure built, crested, broke. Cry after cry fell from her lips, and her whole body shook and contorted in his embrace, and she rode his fingers as if her life depended on it – but she never took her eyes from his. And when she’d finished, when her orgasm had stolen her breath and left her shuddering and sobbing, she still held his stare. She still gave him herself in all of her need, and he saw it.
“Beautiful, baby,” he growled. “So beautiful. You just don’t know.”
That was when she finally shut her eyes, overwhelmed and near tears for some reason. He sensed it, though, and right away, he turned gentle. He shifted her on his lap, pulled her legs to one side so she was curled up in a ball. He held her, rocking her back and forth, his lips in her dark hair.
“OK?” he rasped. “Tell me.”
She nodded, still shaking with small aftershocks.
“Nuh-uh,” he said. “A nod ain’t gonna do it. Use your words, kitten.”
“I’m OK.”
He lifted her chin, kissed her tears. “So what are these?”
“I – I don’t know.”
“I hurt you? Even a little bit?”
“No,” she assured him. “Not even a tiny little bit.”
“Alright. I’ll trust you.”
She shut her eyes again at the ’t’ word, the one thing that she hadn’t earned and didn’t yet deserve. But soon… very soon.
Griff held Claire as close as possible, ran his hands up and down her stockinged legs. “These? Are hot.”
She smiled up at him now, and he knew that she was OK again. “I thought you might like ‘em.”
“You were right.” He traced the curve of her inner thigh, and she arched. Just a bit. But enough for him to know that she was heating up again. Getting ready to take him. “I love black stockings.”
She raised a teasing eyebrow. “I can loan them to you, if you want. I bet they’d look great on you.”
Without a word, without even a sound, he flipped her over on to her stomach on the sofa. Claire gasped, the wind knocked out of her for a second, and she lowered her forehead to the cushions. By the time she’d raised her head, he had his jeans and boxers off and had freed his cock.
She looked over her shoulder, turned a bit to face him, and he shook his head at her as he rolled on a condom.
“You stay where I put you,” he grated out as he knelt on one knee behind her, his other foot planted firmly on the floor. “Don’t you move even one inch.”
Roughly, he hauled her lower body up, tilted her hips up higher. She leaned forward, her weight on her elbows, and held her breath in anticipation of that first thrust. And when it came – oh, dear God, when it came – she was thrown forward by its sweet force.
Griff held her hips tightly as he moved inside Claire’s lovely, curvy body. He plunged deeper with every plunge, moved deeper into her snug, soaked warmth with every push. He w
anted to last, he wanted to have it go on forever, but it wasn’t going to happen. Not with the way that she was moaning and pushing back against him, impaling herself on his cock; not with the way that her hot little pussy tugged and pulled on him, her internal muscles tightening and releasing on him.
He lowered himself over her back, his hands clenched into fists on either side of her and digging into the sofa cushions. She whimpered as this new position rubbed his length against her little bud with every slide in and glide out.
“Kitten,” he muttered into her ear, his movements turning almost savage in their intensity. “You need to come again, and you need to do it now. ‘Cause I’m so fucking close, but I ain’t going without you.”
“Oh,” she gasped, struggling to brace herself up on her hands. “I don’t know – I can’t –”
“You can,” he rasped. “You sure as hell can… and you will.”
He slid one hand around her body, back between her legs. He rolled her clit between his fingers, and when she cried out and bucked against him in wild abandon, he pinched that tender pearl. Just a bit; just enough. And Claire’s whole body dissolved in the molten lava of her release.
“Fuck, yes,” Griff growled, and let himself finally take his own pleasure. He pushed deep – as deep as he could go – and then held himself there. His large body strained, tensed… and he rode the undulating, pulsing waves, just let them wash over him, crash over him, over and over, before slowly relaxing.
Claire’s strength failed her now, and she fell forward onto her elbows. Right away, Griff curled himself around her shaking body, just clasped her to his heaving chest. He kissed her shoulders and the back of her neck; he murmured soothing words in her ear as she slowly recovered. And when she took a deep breath and turned to look into his eyes, his heart burst wide open at the dazed sweetness he saw in her own.
Solid Gold (Unseen Enemy Book 8) Page 15
