Griff smiled and leaned forward. “Anything the lady wants,” he breathed.
Chapter Thirteen
Griff tried to wait patiently in the ready room for Dana. It didn’t work, and he got up to pace, then sat back down. She was supposed to get off her Friday-evening training flight shortly. Where had the weeks gone? Already, Dana was in her ninth week, and doing exceptionally well. Sitting at one of the report tables, Griff tapped his fingers out of boredom. Time with Dana since that exquisite evening on the beach had become severely limited. He’d promised not to interfere with her schooling to the point of her risking her grades dropping because they were spending too much free time together. No, Dana’s drive to graduate and get her wings was too important to her—and him.
The room was empty and quiet. Glancing at his watch, Griff chafed and began to pace again. Would Dana go along with his plans? The tenth week was coming up, a cutoff point in the course. By this time, the students who were going to make it had done so. The rest had been weeded out and reassigned to other Navy career slots and stations. He stared at the door he knew Dana would come through, his thoughts lingering sweetly upon her.
Since their heated kisses on the beach, Dana had surrendered the rest of her wariness of him. With a sigh, Griff was glad he’d been able to control his own needs for her sake. Gaining Dana’s trust was everything to him. His commitment to her was for the long haul. They had the time.
Or did they? Griff scowled, not wanting to look at that question too closely. Dana had another seven weeks at Whiting before she graduated. Depending on her grades, which were academically brilliant, she would be assigned by Captain Ramsey. Probably to turboprop aircraft or jets. And, Griff was sure, to another naval air station—anywhere in the world. He was stuck at Whiting for another two years.
Dammit, he loved her! There, he’d admitted it to himself. Getting up, Griff paced the huge room, hands behind his back. He’d fallen in love with Dana at the airport. Only he hadn’t realized it at the time. That partly explained why he had overreacted to her presence initially; unconsciously, he’d been fighting his powerful attraction to her.
Every moment he spent with Dana was precious. Over the past month, their intimacy had grown. Griff had never felt this close to another woman. There was such intensity between them. Was this real love? A quiet joy flooded him every time he thought of Dana, heard her voice or was with her. When she smiled, Griff’s heart blossomed with such spiraling happiness that he stood in awe of his own feelings toward her. Yes, every day was a gift to them—and they both knew it. That was what made their burgeoning relationship so special and rare.
Dana’s laughter preceded her entrance into the ready room. Griff turned, expectant. Her instructor, Lieutenant Jay Gardiner, followed her into the building. Dana’s smile deepened when she saw Griff.
“Hi,” she greeted. Griff was in a pair of dark blue slacks and a light blue short-sleeved shirt.
Griff smiled at her. “You look happy,” he noted, giving a nod to Jay, who sat down at a report table. Dana sat opposite her instructor.
“I am. Mr. Gardiner just awarded me a 2.3 for this flight.”
“Well deserved,” Jay told Griff. “This will only take a few minutes, and then she’s done for the night.”
“Take your time.” Griff sat down at the other end of the room. He hadn’t tried to keep his interest in Dana a big secret, but discretion was warranted. Fraternization between student and instructor was frowned upon, but not illegal. He knew Jay, who was happily married, suspected something was going on, but he’d kept any questions he had about it to himself. Once, Dana stole a look in Griff’s direction. Her azure eyes shone with such happiness that it stole the breath from Griff.
Signing off on the board, Dana rose and thanked Gardiner. The instructor smiled, waved goodbye to Griff and left. She picked up her helmet bag and logbook, and walked across the room to where he sat.
“This is highly unusual behavior on your part,” Dana teased. She made sure no one could see them before leaning over and giving him a quick kiss on the mouth. The surprise in his eyes made her laugh as she straightened.
“I know this is erratic behavior for me,” Dana said, “but you looked so good sitting there, I just had to kiss you.”
Griff grinned. “I like your spontaneity.”
Dana stood, wanting so badly to step into the circle of his arms but knowing she couldn’t under the circumstances. She read the smoldering intent in Griff’s gray eyes and felt her body coming to life beneath his smoky look. “It’s your fault. You bring it out in me,” she accused, smiling.
“I’m glad you’re in a spontaneous mood tonight, Miss Coulter.” Griff stood and walked with her toward the exit. “How’d you like to grab enough clothes for the weekend and go deep-sea fishing off the coast with me?”
Stunned, Dana halted. Griff had stopped and placed his hands on his hips in a typical jet-jock pose. He looked impossibly handsome, a devilish glimmer in his eyes. “The whole weekend?”
“Yes, we’ll be alone. I have a friend who has a fishing boat. It’s got bunks and a galley.” His heart beat harder. Would Dana say no? He saw her hesitate. “I don’t know about you, but I need a break from this place. I thought you might like one, too.” That was the truth. He hoped Dana wasn’t thinking he’d planned the trip as a way of getting her to go to bed with him.
An entire weekend alone with Griff…. The thought was provocative, enticing. Where would it lead? Over the past month, how many times had she wanted to make love with Griff? Would it be the same as it had been with Lombard? Fear placed a wedge between Dana’s need to share herself with Griff, and her past experience. “Griff…I don’t know….”
Lowering his voice, Griff stepped over and barely grazed her cheek with his thumb. “Look, just because we’re together on the same boat doesn’t mean I expect anything from you, Dana. I’m not Lombard taking you home for a weekend and then trapping you in a room. Okay?” He held her luminous azure eyes, seeing desire in their depths, but also seeing the fear. Right now he wanted to strangle Lombard. The bastard had really hurt Dana with his selfishness. It did Griff no good to insist he wasn’t like Lombard, he had to continue to prove it—one slow, patient step at a time.
Dana hung her head. “Thanks for understanding, Griff. It’s not you…”
“I know.” He leaned over, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Want to come with me?”
Dana’s mouth curved into a slight smile. “I’d love to.”
Back at the apartment, Dana packed a small suitcase. Maggie wandered in a bit later and leaned against the doorjamb.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” Dana turned and smiled. Maggie looked as tired as Dana felt.
“Going someplace?”
Heat crept into Dana’s face. “Yes.”
“With Griff?” Maggie pushed away the doorframe and walked into the bedroom.
“Yes.”
Maggie smiled, throwing her arm around Dana. “You’re blushing. Why? It’s not a sin to take some time off with someone you like.”
“You’re right.” Dana went back to packing. Maggie sat down next to the luggage, and Dana told her everything.
“Do you feel like Griff’s setting this up, the way Lombard set you up?” Maggie asked, stretching out on the bed.
Zipping her suitcase shut, Dana shook her head. “No… But I’m not sure what will happen.”
“Welcome to the real world. Weird, funny, stupid and crazy things happen when you get a man and woman who like each other together.”
With a laugh, Dana sat down and shook her head. “Good old pragmatic Maggie comes through again with one of her parables of wisdom.”
“Experience speaking,” Maggie reminded her archly, grinning. “Not a whole lot of it, but enough to be able to sit here and tell you to relax and have fun. Don’t try to read anything into it, Dana. Frankly, I wish I had a guy like him, right now. I think he’s trying to give you a break from this crazed training. Take i
t and run!”
Silence settled around them. Dana stared down at her clasped hands. Finally Dana whispered, “I guess I’m more frightened of my feelings toward Griff, than I am of him or this weekend alone on the boat. It’s me I don’t trust.”
Maggie reached over, placing her hand on Dana’s shoulder. “Take it one hour at a time, Dana. Don’t expect anything of yourself. Just let things flow naturally between you. It’s time you two tried being alone. Griff’s serious about you, and vice versa. Just enjoy him without reading anything into it. Okay?”
Standing, Dana picked up her suitcase. “Thanks, Maggie. You’re always the wise Celt.”
Maggie grinned broadly and picked up strands of her red hair. “Druidic heritage, my dear. We Celtic women have the Sight. I’m right: You’ll have a wonderful time.”
Leaving the apartment, Dana thought how much she wanted Maggie to be right. Sometimes Maggie had a phenomenal intuitive ability that bordered on being psychic. Her heart moved gently and centered on Griff. Within an hour they would be on the boat, heading out to a small cay in the gulf. Excitement mixed with dread washed over Dana. Was she ready for this step?
When Griff shrugged out of his dark blue polo shirt and revealed his powerful chest, Dana’s mouth went dry. They had just anchored the huge fishing boat—which looked more like a racing craft—on the leeward side of a small cay off Santa Rosa Island. Clad only in his tan shorts, Griff was the consummate male animal in Dana’s eyes. She was amazed at his total lack of concern over his near nakedness. His natural acceptance of his body gave her the courage to shed her jeans and blouse.
Griff gave her an appreciative look. Dana wore a two-piece rose-colored bathing suit that lovingly outlined the firm contours of her body. “Want to swim before we settle in for the night?”
The cay, little more than an oval of coral-and-white sand the size of a parking lot, beckoned to Dana. “Sounds wonderful!”
The evening was drawing to a close, the horizon a flaming apricot color, while the sky above darkened. Griff placed the aluminum ladder over the side. “I’ll join you.”
“And then we’ll eat?”
He grinned. “Yeah. I’ll make noise in the galley tonight and see what I can scare up for dinner.”
With a laugh, Dana moved down the ladder and into the warm, inviting water. “Maybe we ought to look for fish, huh? As I recall, you said your cooking ability was limited.”
Griff joined her in the gulf, noticing how the water lapped at her skin. He wanted to skim his fingers across her sculptured collarbones. He capped his torrid thoughts. “I exaggerated my cooking inabilities,” he informed her, starting to swim lazily toward the cay. “I can make more than beans and wieners.”
Joining him, Dana grinned. “Exaggerated how much?”
“I cook a pretty mean T-bone steak.”
Dana closed her eyes, rolled onto her back and began a freestyle stroke. “Mmm, that sounds better than beans and wieners.”
On the cay, Dana walked around discovering and picking up small seashells that had washed up on the sand. Griff found a few more and gave them to her. They stopped, looking west toward the sunset. The cay was bathed in dying orange light. She leaned against Griff, feeling his arms go around her.
“You’re happy,” he whispered, leaning down and kissing the tip of her nose, tasting the brine on it.
“Very.” Dana slipped her arms around his waist, closed her eyes and allowed him to take her full weight. She was aware of the coiled tension in his body. “This all seems like a dream to me.”
“What does?” Griff kissed her slowly on the nape of her neck, then created a languid pattern around her earlobe.
“Mmm…”
Griff felt her press shyly against him and he found her parted lips. Her mouth blossomed with warm welcome beneath his. Heat, like a tidal wave, consumed him. The shells dropped one by one to the sand at Dana’s feet as her arms slowly came up and around his shoulders. The eagerness of her mouth against his burned away at his control. Easing from her lips, Griff held her entranced azure gaze.
“Keep that up,” he warned huskily, “and we’ll have dessert before our meal, sweetheart.”
Awed by what they shared, Dana thought a moment before Griff’s meaning finally registered on her dazed senses. He wasn’t made of stone. No, not by far. She was aware of his strength, his need of her. It wasn’t fair to. Griff for her to do what she wanted and not expect him to respond. Easing away from him, Dana whispered, “You’re right.” Crouching down, she picked up the shells she had dropped, embarrassed.
Griff joined her and captured one of her hands. He looked into her eyes. “What we have is good,” he told her in a low voice. “It’s just that you’re such a hot, fiery lady that sometimes, I want to take you with me and love the hell out of you. Making love isn’t wrong. It can be the most right thing in the world between two people.” His fingers tightened around her hand. “I know you’re afraid, and I know why. If only… if only I could convince you it doesn’t have to be one-sided or painful, Dana. But you can’t know that, and it’s a bridge we’re going to have to cross—together, someday.” Griff managed a crooked grin. “You’re worth waiting for, sweetheart, and I don’t ever want you to stop kissing me or touching me when it feels right to you. I like it, too.”
Touched by his deep, vibrating words, Dana hung her head. “You’re being more honest than I am,” she whispered. Sitting down on the sand, Dana was glad Griff joined her. His arms came around her, and she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. “You don’t know how many times I’ve dreamed of you… us, together. But every time that happens, I see Lombard and everything shatters. I wake up feeling so rotten, Griff,” she said, lifting her chin and meeting his hooded gaze. “You’ve done nothing but make me happy and teach me that things between a man and a woman can be wonderful.”
He caressed her sun-warmed arm. The dusk light touched Dana lovingly, accenting her delicate features. “With time, you’ll lose that fear, Dana. Someday, your need to love me will outweigh the fear you’re carrying.”
She caressed Griff’s rock-solid jaw and saw his eyes darken. “Will I know when?”
Catching her hand and pressing a kiss to it, Griff rasped, “You will. And when it happens, sweetheart, it’s going to be the most beautiful thing that’s ever happened to you or me.”
Part of her cried out to love Griff now. The tenderness burning in his eyes made her want him in ways Dana had never known possible. The smile on his mouth deepened.
“Come on, let’s watch this sunset together, and then we’ll swim back to the boat and I’ll fix us dinner.”
***
The galley was small; almost what Dana would call “intimate.” Griff worked at her side, their hips brushing from time to time. Tension was high, and Dana’s hands shook as she prepared the salad to go with the steaks now being fried in the skillet on the stove. A huge part of her wanted to dispense with the sham of being hungry, or even preparing a meal. What she wanted—needed—was Griff.
On deck, they sat across from each other, eating their meal, as the darkness fell around them. The gentle rock of the boat took the edge off Dana’s taut nerves. Her body wanted another kind of sustenance. The fear in her wary mind was gradually being eroded by her heart, which trusted Griff. Dana picked at her steak, barely touching it. Instead, she forced herself to eat the salad.
Griff didn’t miss anything. He finished his meal and put his plate aside. The only light came from the cabin entrance that led back down to the galley. Toying with the idea of discussing Dana’s nervousness, he decided not to. They’d already discussed it on the island. Frustrated, because it hadn’t been his intention to make her uneasy, he didn’t know what to do.
“I’m going to take my mattress and pillow and sleep up here on deck,” he told her casually, rising. Picking up his plate and glass, he looked over to gauge Dana’s reaction. She looked confused, not relieved. “I’ll do the dishes and you can dry,”
he added.
Dana sat there, digesting his statement. She didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. Such a huge part of her wanted Griff on so many other levels. Yes, it was physical, but the real hunger in her was one she couldn’t define. Maggie had, at one time, confided to her that love, real love, according to her mother, was a spiritual need between two people. It transcended physical attraction, and was far more profound. Touching her heart, Dana frowned. Was that what she was feeling—this restlessness to absorb Griff into her body and soul? For the thousandth time, Dana was sorry she had no experience with which to examine her feelings.
With a sigh, she got up and went back down into the galley with Griff to finish the dishes.
***
Dana tossed restlessly in her bed at the bow of the boat, Griff’s low, almost tortured words ringing through her head and heart. The door was shut, and the cabin was stuffy. Her watch read fifteen minutes after midnight. Dressed in a long white T-shirt that brushed her thighs, Dana struggled as the sheet became entangled between her legs. With a frustrated sound, she rose and quietly opened the door. Moonlight cascaded down the hatch and spilled like silvery liquid into the passageway between the bunks on either side of the boat. Her entire body screamed for Griff’s touch, to have his lips upon hers. It was no longer impossible to ignore, and Dana felt driven beyond her fearful mind. Only her heart’s crying need throbbed palpably through her. Every nerve felt stretched and taut. Automatically, she moved forward, each step bringing her closer to where Griff lay sleeping.
Gripping the teakwood rail, she slowly ascended the stairs. At the top, the fresh, salty air welcomed her. Her gaze went immediately to Griff, who lay on the oversize mattress. Moonlight pooled across his shadowy form, outlining his powerful, muscular body. Only a bit of the white sheet lay across his hips. Otherwise he was naked. Her mouth dry, her heart pounding in her throat, Dana slowly walked toward him. When she stopped beside him and lifted her eyes, she saw that he was already awake. In the darkness, his gray eyes were hooded, but filled with smoldering promise. Her throat constricted as she stood awkwardly before him.
No Quarter Given (SSE 667) Page 21
