by Nana Malone
Jaggar dragged in a shuddering breath as her nipples ached. Oh God. What the hell was wrong with her? The low base beat of the music thrummed through her, making her pulse with need. On stage, the women in masks executed brilliant turns and gyrations as they danced together. Across from her, the guy nuzzled his woman’s cleavage but kept his gaze on Jaggar. The flash of teeth as he nipped his companion's skin made something inside Jaggar bloom with heat.
"Someone see something she likes?" Griffin's voice was low, seductive. Against her ass, his cock begged for freedom.
"I, uh, I just—"
His smile was soft. "It's just that you’re turned on?"
She nodded even as heat bloomed on her skin.
"You’re supposed to be." He nipped at her neck before laving the tiny hurt with his tongue. "Everything about this room is supposed to make you want to get some. The owners have done their jobs."
"Griffin, your hand..." her voice trailed even as his fingers delved under her dress."
"Hmmm?"
She swallowed hard. "Aren’t we supposed to be working?"
He nodded and kissed the top of her cleavage. "Yeah, working..."
She didn't mean to, but her body was moving of it's own volition. She wanted him to touch her. Even though they were in public. Even though she felt exposed, she didn't think she'd be able to focus and talk to Elsa if he didn't.
"Griffin," she whispered.
His hips jerked. "Jaggar—"
She gasped when his fingers found her soft wet center. She'd forgone underwear because of panty lines in the dress. And also because she’d anticipated after the club they'd go home and she'd need his hands on her.
As Griffin sought entrance, the guy across the way watched her with a hooded gaze. He licked his lips as he rubbed the crotch of the girl he was with. Suddenly Jaggar felt like she had two sets of hands on her. Two sets of mouths kissing her. Griffin and the stranger.
Griffin's hips gently ground against her ass while he played with her hair and kissed her throat. His fingers, knowing just where to stroke her. Just how to bring her to the edge and away.
Across the way, the blond guy's fingers latched into his partner's panties, he looked away from Jaggar to pin his gaze on his partner, then tugged forcefully, ripping away the lace into his hands.
The woman arched even as she spread her legs wide. The guy wasted no time. With her legs spayed, he pressed circles over her clit, occasionally stopping to slide, one, then two, then three fingers into his partner.
Look away, Jaggar, look away. But with Griffin driving her mad, she couldn't. She needed to watch this total stranger fuck this woman. In her ear, Griffin whispered, "You see how he's touching her, you see how she's writhing in his arms, she likes it rougher than you do."
All she could do was breathe his name.
"You, beautiful, like me to talk dirty. But you like it when I take my time, tease you. I’m gentle with you. I know what you like, you prefer the tease...except..." His voice trailed and she whimpered.
"Except what? Griffin." She was caught between what was happening in front of her, the guy had taken his fingers away from the woman’s slit and licked them before offering this fingers to his partner. Her tongue peaked out, making them wet again, then he went right back to stroking her.
"I was going to say," he nipped her lobe. "That is until you’re ready to come. Then, you like more pressure. Then you like me drilling into you. You like me making you come, hard. You don’t want gentle then, do you, Jaggar? Then you want rough.”
She shook her head. "No. I want—."
"Yeah, Jaggar? What do you want?"
"You, I want you."
He chuckled low. "I know. Keep watching, sweetheart."
The guy had changed the angle of his hand so that he rubbed the woman’s clit with his thumb, inserted two fingers in her pussy, and his pinky, slid easily into her ass. Oh wow.
Before Jaggar knew what was happening, she was clutching hard onto Griffin as an orgasm slammed into her at the same time, the woman in front of her cried out. The blond guy watched Jaggar with a burning gaze. While his woman moaned and melted against him, he removed his fingers, then pressed two to her ass, inserting slowly but insistently, and the woman was bowing her back again. She didn't seem to care about her exposure, about who was watching, while she was bared.
Griffin, in contrast, stroked Jaggar under the cover of her dress. With the low table as a shield. Yes, anyone looking would be able to tell what he was doing, but no one could see her. He'd given her something new without exposing her. He’d given her a gentle take over. That though alone made her shiver again.
"Do you like what he's doing to her? Do you like ass play?" The question was rough and she knew how turned on he was. His cock pushed insistently against her ass. She could feel every pulse and movement.
"I don't—I don’t know. Do, do you like it?"
He nuzzled her again. "I can take or leave it. Doesn’t matter as long as I get to touch you." His fingers slid over her wetness again and she shuddered. "Any day I get to touch you in any way is a good day."
That did it, she lost all interest in the couple across from them and her attention was singularly focused on Griffin. "I wish we were alone."
"Say the word and we leave right now."
Her lips twitched. "What happened to working?"
He blinked as if confused a second, then nodded. "Yeah, working. But right after, I'm telling you right now, we might not make it home to yours and certainly not all the way out to mine in Chevy Chase. I'm going to need to be inside you."
She nodded. "I'm totally down with that."
He continued to keep her on the edge of coming again, until the show on the main stage was over. When he pulled his fingers away, she whimpered.
"Sorry baby, but remember, work?"
Right. Work.
Sure, enough, just like he'd said, Elsa came to their table first. Though, she was less than pleased when she saw Jaggar. "Shit, you don’t quit do you?"
Jaggar leaned forward. "Nope. You were a no show yesterday."
Elsa's gaze darted around. "I was followed."
Griffin was all business now, adjusting Jaggar so she wasn't sitting directly on his dick. "By who? We can protect you if you—"
"You don’t understand," she interrupted. "I signed confidentiality documents. They knew you talked to me the other night. Since then I’ve had men tailing me." She looked around. "If you're not here for a dance, then, I need to move on."
Jaggar held up a hand. "We want a dance. Put it on his tab. You dance and we talk."
Elsa pursed her lips but nodded. "Fine, but the rule is you touch her, not me." Griffin nodded.
Jaggar wasted no time as Elsa leaned close to Griffin. "Did Randall senior pay you to stay away from Milton?"
Elsa swayed in front of them and nodded. "I didn't know when I met him that he was my ... It never occurred to me that he was Randall's son. I'd come to the country to dance and to find my father."
Griffin smoothed his hands over Jaggar’s hair, looking every bit the besotted lover out for a night of pleasure. He knew how to play the game well. All the while Elsa seemingly danced for the two of them. "What did Randall senior find out?"
She licked her lips. Anyone watching would have thought she was putting on a private show and that Griffin and Jaggar were so turned on by the show they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
"He'd started following his son when Milton said he had a girl he'd met and was in love. The whole thing unraveled then." Elsa leaned back against Griffin. "There was a horrible meeting with the reveal."
"Shit, that's crazy," Jaggar mumbled.
"Yeah, I was there. Obviously we couldn’t continue seeing each other. My father paid me a million dollars to stay away and never come back."
Griffin kissed Jaggar’s jaw, then dragged his attention back to Elsa. "But we know there was another payment to you. What was that for?"
Her brow furro
wed as she twisted around. "It turned out that Milton can’t have children. Given his political aspirations, our father decided he should have children. He decided I would make a good breeding substitute. Not to mention, he wanted the children to carry Randall blood."
Jaggar gasped. "But that's horrible."
"You think I don't know that?" Elsa's voice was tight. "When I refused, he threatened to have me deported. With my mother gone, I had nothing to go back to in the Ukraine. I wanted to stay. I couldn’t be with Milton anymore, but it didn’t mean I didn’t miss him. I didn't have much choice."
"The old man forced you to have children and give them away?" Griffin's voice had gone cold.
Elsa visibly fought to control her emotions. "Yes. Occasionally I catch glimpses of them on TV or for events." She smiled tremulously. "But, they don’t know me."
"And you want them to," Jaggar muttered.
"They aren’t my children. I was a well paid surrogate, but I'm still their mother in my heart."
"And Randall senior prevented you from ever seeing them? What about Milton?"
"He doesn’t know I'm their mother. There was a confidential surrogacy arrangement made."
Jaggar stared at Griffin. Holy hell. Ryan thought by telling her to focus on the family angle he'd given her a shit part of the story. But they'd just blown the story right open.
Jaggar knew she wasn’t supposed to touch the dancer, but she couldn’t help it. "We’re going to tell this story. With your help, he can’t force you to bear children, then keep you from your children."
Elsa shook her head. "I don’t want trouble and I don’t want to be sent back."
Griffin shook his head. "We wont let that happen."
Jaggar snuck a look at the determined set of his chin. They were both on the same page, for once completely united.
16
“Don't fuck this up.”
Jaggar froze when she heard Ryan behind her. Breathe, breathe. Show no fear. This was her big day. She wasn’t letting him screw this up for her.
She turned slowly to face him. “I’m a professional. I know how to do my job.”
“By fucking your way to the top.”
She forced a cool smile. “I know you wish that were true. How are your balls anyway? Still attached? I know I must have done some serious damage to you that night.”
He leaned closer and she could smell the sweat on him. The scent had her fighting back bile. “You’re a bitch.”
She forced herself to hold perfectly still and not back away. She wasn’t going to show him any fear. “I’ve heard that before.”
He continued to sneer but backed away. Jaggar didn’t allow her body to relax until he was around the corner. Hell. Sooner or later she’d need a more permanent solution for dealing with him. But right now she had a show to do. She forced a smile as she went out on stage and took her spot next to Griffin.
"You ready to do this?" Griffin’s voice was low and velvety. His words whispered over her skin like a caress. He spoke just low enough that only Jaggar would hear him.
Her response was a soft whisper. "I think so. You?"
His grin was a quick flash. "Always."
Of course he was always ready. He was news royalty. Griffin Styles. Son of the Great Griffin Styles, Sr.. He was born to do this. She, however, was an impostor. Yes, she might have been Bianca Collins’ daughter, but her own mother told her how she was never meant to be a star. Never meant to capture hearts. There was a hint of truth to that, wasn’t there? She felt like she'd stumbled into this job and no one had realized yet that she was faking it.
Griffin glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching them before taking her hand and squeezing it. "Relax, we'll be great. We've got a solid story. We've already filmed everything. The only live part of today is our intro, our segue and our outro."
"I know. You're right. Still doesn’t help with the nerves though."
Just like that, his gaze turned molten and his voice dropped even lower. "I have something that might help with that."
Jaggar laughed even as she flushed. "Griffin," she whispered. "Be serious."
"I am being serious. I haven’t touched you in three days. I'm pretty sure my cock is about to go on strike if you don’t start touching him soon. He's tired of me."
He had a point. But they were under a microscope. "Just how often are you touching him?"
"Every sixth or seventh time I think about you, which is about at least once every few minutes. So ... often."
She giggled. He was kidding, but still. For the last two weeks they'd been focused on the show and only had time for stolen moments and quick rounds on the floor in their office. Once at her place, once in his car.
Fine, sneaking around was hot. Okay, so scorching was more accurate, but she wondered about the longevity. Was this something real? He made it sound like it was but then they hadn't had any time alone together in a long time.
Like Andrea said, she probably worried too much. She should just relax. Enjoy him. Enjoy this.
Oh, how about maybe you focus on the job you have to do too.
Yeah, they were about to go on live television in thirty minutes. Daydreaming about getting some time alone with him and worrying about the state of their relationship was not where her focus should be. She needed to be focused. This was her chance to prove to the world that she could do this. That she could be in the spotlight.
You don’t have what it takes kid. Your manager told me herself. You’re good on camera, but you don’t have the it factor.
She shook her head to dislodge her mother's words. She had made it this far by being hard working and kicking ass. She didn't need the it factor. She glanced at herself again and lamented the makeup job. The artist was skillful all right. She made her look just like her mother. But there was no helping that.
It was now or never. "Let's kick ass, Griffin."
For all her concern and worry about being in the spotlight, the moment she sat next to Griffin at their enormous oak table, him in his tailored suit with a tie just the right shade to bring out his piercing green eyes, and her in peach with soft pink lipstick to bring out the highlights in her hair, she felt at home, comfortable.
They were miked and he grinned at her. "Looks like we're ready to go."
She was nervous, but it was a good nervous. She always loved the anticipation. She loved the knowledge that she could do this. She could tell a story. "Looks that way. A far cry from where we were a month ago."
Their mics weren’t on yet, but she was still careful about what she said. If Ryan found out about them, that they were ... what? That they were screwing like high school kids who'd just discovered their body parts? He'd high five Griffin then fire her for potentially distracting his star. "We couldn’t stand each other."
His lips tipped into a wry smile. "I liked you just fine."
"Sure you did," she laughed.
"Well, I didn't know then that we'd make such a great team."
And they were a team. The two of them against the world. And together, they were a killer combination. The Randall story had real teeth, and thanks to Griffin, she was doing more than fluff.
The techs waved them down and they each tested the mics they had pinned to them. Okay, it was now or never.
The camera light switched on and the theme music to their intro faded out.
Griffin looked at camera one. "Good evening everyone, I'm Griffin Styles."
She gave him a broad smile. "And I’m Jaggar Jakes, and tonight we’ll sit down with one of the most beloved families in American politics. Milton Randall and his wife sit down with us and their children and talk about whether or not he'll run for Congress."
Griffin nodded as if she'd said the most interesting thing in the world before adding a bit about their segue piece. And back and forth they continued like that until their first commercial break.
Under the table, Griffin squeezed her hand before standing to stretch. Now they had to just film their i
ntro into the story and they'd pretty much be done until the end of the show. Ryan and Barbara approached with words of encouragement for the two of them. Okay, so Ryan wasn't speaking to her at all, but that was fine, she didn’t need to be friends with him. He just needed to respect her. Good luck with that.
Barbara complemented the both of them. "You guys, it's going great so far. Your chemistry works on screen. And Jaggar. Wow. In that make up you look like a young Bianca Collins."
That was the last comparison she wanted right now. "Thank you. We better get back to it." There was no way she was talking about her mother right now; they still had a show to finish. Production let them know it was places to mark and Ryan and her boss backed off.
"You ready, Griffin?"
He studied her closely. "You okay"
"Sure am." She didn't mind the shadow of her mother. Especially not at a time like now. She could worry about her later. #
Griffin waited for Jaggar outside the studio. Much of the crew used the area to smoke, so he went mostly unnoticed. The show had gone off well. Better than it would have if Jaggar had listened to Ryan. She’d pushed to be her own agent and she'd made it one hell of a scoop.
No other outlet had that kind of insight into Randall and his family. And she'd been the one to get that scoop. He was proud and in awe and mostly he just wanted to spend some solid time with her. They'd been sneaking around and slipping in the time when they could, but he wanted to stop that. He wanted to be in the open, hold her hand.
He was going soft. But he didn’t like the feeling of sneaking around. It went against his core person. Everything was out in the open with him for the most part ... except this.
The door opened and he looked up with an expectant grin. But instead of Jaggar, it was Ryan. "Oh hey, man."
His boss laughed. "Why is it you don’t look that happy to see me?"
"I'm happy. It's just been a long day. A lot of adrenaline and stuff."
Ryan nodded. "Okay. Look, that story was incredible. Word from upstairs is they are really excited about it and they want to talk to you about some other opportunities too."
