“You don’t get to hide anymore, Griff. We’re in a new world now. I have a feeling secrets can get us in a world of hurt. I’ve laid myself open for you. You’re going to do the same for me.”
She slipped her arms around his neck, and brought his head down. Their lips met, not sweetly or politely, but with heady passion. They would burn up the night, and she knew it in her bones. If only he’d let her inside.
He easily worked open each button on her long-sleeved flannel top. Accidentally or on purpose his skin brushed hers and sent sweet need dancing in sparks across her skin. He kept his gaze pinned to her, and she closed her eyes as much to absorb sensations as to avoid his intense eyes. His fingers trailed over her collarbone, and she shivered once more from the delicious anticipation. He leaned forward and kissed her neck, each lingering contact of his lips a hot brand. As his arms came around her, she clasped his hard shoulders and hung on. His touch lingered everywhere, torturing her body in ways she’d never experienced before this moment. His big palms swept over her ass, cupping and stroking, pulling her into his erection. He pushed the pajama top off her shoulders.
Pleased that he was that turned on, she complied and didn’t touch him again. With a low moan he clasped her butt in both hands and squeezed. He lowered his head until he found her right breast. His tongue flicked over the nipple. A soft, surprised gasp left her throat. When he suckled, drawing her nipple into his mouth, she lifted her thigh over his and rubbed. With one kiss and another, he fed her desire until she couldn’t think of anything other than this moment, his body, joining their flesh. He eased his fingers between her legs, and she widened her stance to give him access. With one light touch, he found her moist flesh. She gasped in delight as he traced her outer lips. Tingling, she waited for what he might do next. His tongue worked her nipple as he slipped one finger straight between her soaked folds and deep inside. He moaned against her nipple, stroking sensitive flesh with the lash of his tongue. He moved his finger, teasing her until the desire heating within her felt as if it might explode. She moved, unable to keep still as he worked her like a finely tuned instrument. Her clit was so sensitive, and she needed him to touch it, to bring her to a screaming orgasm.
“Griff, please,” she said again.
“What do you need?” His question was hoarse.
“Just do it now. Take me.”
Griff’s breathing was harsh in his chest and throat and restraint trembling on the edge.
“Please,” she said again, not caring if she begged.
He drew her down on the bed, and then he was on top of her.
He inserted one hard thigh between her legs, and she arched against it. With slow movements he rocked, his thigh pressing against her core.
“You’re teasing me,” she said with a gasp.
“Yes, I am. Not for long.”
He shifted his hips between her thighs, and hot, thick male flesh parted her folds. She gasped as he eased inside. She held her breath at the exquisite sensation. Whimpering in delight, she closed her eyes and savoured the feeling.
“Cassie.” His voice rumbled low in his throat. “God, you feel good.”
He took her slowly, each stroke caressing sensitive areas inside her until she thought she’d lose her mind. One tantalizing stroke and another brought her arousal higher. Before he’d stroked a half dozen times, her desire coiled and snapped. With a startled gasp and moan of ecstasy, her body trembled around his cock in orgasm.
“Oh, God,” His voice was rough with desire.
She loved the sound of him out of control. Taking matters in hand, she lifted her hips, grinding against him. She drew him down for a kiss. She writhed in his hold, and he lost it. With a growl he drew back and slammed forward. He pumped, hips gyrating. Griff’s thrusts brought her higher, and she bucked in his hold. So wet and aroused from his lovemaking, she took him easily as he moved within her powerfully. Her body refused to remain still as pleasure enveloped her. As his thrusts pounded deep, she allowed everything within her to break free. Climax coiled and exploded in her loins and her body clenched him deep inside. She moaned low, her whimper filled with stunned pleasure. He pressed tight, holding still as she came apart around him. Breathing hard, he waited until she eased, her climax drifting away. Her fingers dug into his butt, and with a low groan he loved her again, building one thrust into another until his own groans of excitement renewed her own. Then, with one last plunge, he shivered and shook in her arms. As he relaxed, he rolled to the side and drew her close.
Blackout: Chapter Twelve
Friday
Someone touched Griff’s chest, and he jerked awake and grabbed for the hand.
“Ow!” a female voice, a little scared and surprised, yelled in his ear.
“Shit.” He hissed the word and sat up. He reached for the flashlight and switched it on. He didn’t have a clue what time it was, but light barely filtered through the curtains. Probably early morning.
Cassie moved back from him, holding her right wrist. Her pretty breasts, full and round, made him catch his breath and his cock went solid even as worry hit him.
He cupped her face with one hand. “God, I’m sorry.” He circled her wrist with a gentle palm. “I hurt you.”
She let him hold her. “I know you didn’t mean to.”
“No. A little too much time in the desert on high alert. Makes me jumpy.”
Compassion filled her eyes. “Do you have PTSD?”
He winced at the idea. “Hell no.” He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. He caressed her wrist as tender need touched him. “Maybe a little. Loud noises bother me sometimes. The odd dream here and there. That’s all. I’m a damn sight better than most. I’m amazed I’m in one piece.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I was at a FOB.”
“A what?”
“A forward operating base.” He didn’t want to talk about this now, yet he knew if he blew her off and made light of it she’d dig it out of him. And what if it was time to talk about it?
“A forward operating base is usually in the thick of things. In the shit storm. Or the possibility of one.”
“Uh-huh.” Her direct syllables didn’t put down what he did or trivialize it. But uh-huh took it all in. She understood and he could see that in her eyes. But he wasn’t at a FOB, thank God.
“Sometimes when the shit hits the fan, we forget what to be grateful for,” he said. “There’s always something to be grateful for. No matter what happens to us in the days and months ahead, don’t forget that.”
Her expression altered into fear as she remembered their true situation. At least he imagined that’s what caused tears to flood her eyes, and that tenderness he didn’t want to feel rose once more.
“When I was sitting in my hotel room that night after the tsunami I wasn’t as grateful I should have been,” she said. “I was terrified. I hadn’t stopped being terrified from the moment the wave came. In the days before I left Thailand, I made the motions of being calm and plunged into helping because I wanted to and it also distracted me from the immediate fear. If I was calming someone else, I was less fearful. And I spent a lot of time being angry.”
“About what?”
“Anything. Everything. When I saw dead children. My mind went places I didn’t want it to go. But just like the solar storm, there wasn’t anything I control but myself. So the more fearful I got and the more angry I got, the less emotional I must have looked on the outside. I’d be damned if anyone was going to see me out of control.”
“Of course. It was a defense from the horror around you. A will to survive.”
Though tears filled her eyes, she fought them back and took a deep breath. He liked her strength and wanted more for her. He’d do whatever that took to accomplish. Maybe his priorities had changed.
He kissed his way from her wrist to her inner elbow. Soft, warm skin drew him closer until she lay under him. He pushed the sheet away, and that’s when she rolled him over onto his back
and straddled his hips. He drew her into a kiss as desire road him hard. She took hesitation from him as she lifted high and sank down on his cock.
She leaned over him, her breasts pressed to his chest. “You feel so amazing naked inside me.”
Her sheath contracted around him, and she gasped. Maybe the idea turned her on, and the way her wet, tight body encased him in silky heat almost made him explode right that moment.
Unable to resist, he lifted his hips and thrust. Her lips parted, her breathing coming faster. Oh, yeah. She’d liked that.
She closed her eyes and lifted off him one slow inch at a time. Each excruciatingly slow movement threatened to make him explode. He gritted his teeth. He moved his hips in a slow, grinding motion, taking her with gentle thrust after deep thrust. He wanted to go fast, to ignore everything but the animal side which asked for quick release. He wouldn’t leave her behind, and modulated his movements. He watched her closely—the way she gasped and groaned. Her chest heaved with each breath, little moans escaping as she climbed higher. Her excitement fueled his, and he pumped harder. As her arousal increased, he kept steady, determined she’d have satisfaction. Suddenly she shivered and stilled, her head thrown back as a small shriek left her. A flush ran over her chest and up her throat. Muscles in her core clenched and released him with rhythmic pulsations. He couldn’t take it—the soft, wet grip around him blew his mind.
He left go, spurting hard and heavy as he released a hard growl. When she relaxed upon him and buried her face in his shoulder, he held her close. Whether he liked it or not, she’d branded herself upon him and there was no way he could remove her scent or touch.
* * *
Griff ate his breakfast, sitting in the restaurant with a granola bar and some sausage they’d cooked with a charcoal grill at the back of the hotel. He’d hoped the smell of charcoal wouldn’t bring the nuts out of the woodwork.
Across the table from him, Cassie sat silent and contemplative. She stared out one of the numerous windows, and the perfect silence was only broken by the clank and ting of their utensils. Her silence disturbed him when it shouldn’t have. Emotion seemed to slam him with deeper intensity since he’d met her. Hell, since he’d had sex with her. He’d never expected that. Sex for him before had never been indiscriminate and he never had one night stands. Yet she’d done something to him he couldn’t define. All the care he felt for those who needed protecting amplified in her presence. The thought of anyone threatening her again made everything male, primitive and violent within him threatened to uncoil. He shivered and yet he didn’t think it was the pervasive cold. No, it was thinking too much about that moment when he thought one of those men would hurt her. Perhaps take her away from him. Whether he liked it or not, he felt a connection with her he hadn’t experienced with any other woman. As a result, he gave a damn what that tiny frown on her face meant.
“You okay?” he asked her.
She pushed aside her plate. “I’m wonderful now. I was starving.”
“Good sex will do that to you.” He said it with a straight face.
She laughed, the worry on her face replaced with genuine humor. “Well, if good sex causes an appetite like that, I’d better stop having sex with you. I’ll gain a lot of weight.”
Her statement felt heavy. Laden with layers women put into conversations. Damn. That meant he could be in trouble if he breathed the wrong way or looked at her a certain way. He wondered if she wanted distance between them. Perhaps he should find that appealing. It would mean she couldn’t become clingy when the time came for them to part.
Give me a break, dickhead. She’s not the clinging type. A small idea tickled at his consciousness, and he didn’t like it. What if he was the one being clingy? After all, he knew he couldn’t leave her anytime soon. She didn’t have the skills to protect herself against gun-toting, thick-necked asswagons like the Nazi group. Everything else she could handle, especially if he taught her all he knew about survival.
She took a slow sip of water. “What about you? Are you all right?”
“I’m good.”
“So what’s our plan for today? What else do we have to do?”
“Nothing. Damn, for a girl, you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.” He smiled and kept the tease in his voice.
She snorted. “When I was a little kid I loved to make structures with mud. My parents thought I might be an architect in the making. So much for girls not wanting to get dirty.”
She kept him smiling, and he felt the result of that smile in the pit of his stomach. She’d tied her long, thick hair into a ponytail once more, and it enhanced her sculpted cheekbones, the slight shape of her eyes that suggested the exotic.
“What is it?” she asked.
Fuck. She was too perceptive. He swallowed hard and bit the bullet. “I was wondering if you have Native American in your ancestry.”
This time her smile was full and warm. “Arapahoe. My great grandmother on my father’s side. My mother doesn’t appear the least Native American, but I do.” She sniffed and tapped the side of her water glass with her fork. “That jerk said Kovac sounded foreign. I’m probably more freakin’ American than he ever thought of being.”
“Makes me wonder what we don’t know about…” He lowered his voice as he glanced around. “What we don’t know about Penny. She said she went to high school with her, but there’s something else there I can’t put my finger on.”
“You think she’s hiding a secret from us?”
He scratched his head. “I feel like she’s not everything she’s portraying herself to be.”
She lifted one dark eyebrow. “Are you suspicious of a lot of people?”
“Cynical. Afraid I grew up in a family that—” He cut himself off. Damn. He needed to shut up.
She tilted her head to the side. “A family that what?”
He closed his eyes and tried to banish memories. “Was highly dysfunctional.”
“Is that why your sister got pregnant at such a young age?”
“Diane’s life was hosed up by our family situation. She believed a lot of things my father told her about herself. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He got to her when she was young. Berating her, calling her names. As a little kid, she believed it.”
“Your mother couldn’t stop him?”
“No. My mother is a whole different story. It would take a week to explain her.”
Her mouth popped open, and that frown was back between her eyebrows. “What did he say to your sister?”
Griff hesitated. “It doesn’t matter. He was a jerk. He…” God, his throat went tight. He almost strangled on the memory of what his father had done. Guilt twisted inside him, as it always did when he thought of Diane. “Dad is in a penitentiary.”
He waited for her reaction. It wasn’t what he thought it would be.
She reached across the table and touched his hand, fingers curling around his in a comforting gesture. Her eyes held warmth and concern. “I’m so sorry. What an awful situation. That had to damage your sister and your mother. And you.”
Her compassion and sympathy shook him, and made him feel things he’d rather not. He accepted her gentleness and let it slide into his heart where it started a warm, delicious appreciation. “It’s the past, and it needs to stay there. I don’t spent time whining about it.”
“Of course not. You can’t let it dictate anything for you now. You’ve done well for yourself. Sounds like your sister has, too.”
Little did she know their lives had changed in a hundred ways. “Our childhoods made us stronger. We’ve had to bounce back, to work harder and longer than the average person to get by.”
Was that admiration he saw in her eyes? He liked it way too much.
“Well, as far as Penny goes, I’ve noticed she’s started to hang on to you since this EMP event.”
An inkling came to him. “And you don’t like that?”
She pursed her lips a little, then smiled. “Well, I think maybe she is comp
eting with me.” Her face reddened. “I mean, that she thinks she needs to take you away from me. A jealousy thing.”
He drew in a deep breath, not one hundred percent sure how to respond to that idea. “Not any chance of that. I’m not interested in her. Sure, we’re all freaked out and maybe she wants my help. That’s okay. But if she thinks she and I are going to hook up, that isn’t going to happen.”
“I’m sorry you had a bad family life,” she said. “It does make things harder to work out. It’s too easy to give up. To pretend circumstances can’t be changed. You’ve proved that’s not true. Where’s your mother now?”
A rock sat in his chest at the thought of his mother. Could he answer this? Did he want to?
Before he could answer, Penny walked in from the kitchen with a serious expression. He was pretty sure she couldn’t have heard their conversation.
Penny’s smile lacked warmth. The old saying about a smile not reaching the eyes worked in her case. “I found an old radio in the attic of this place. Don’t know why I didn’t think to look there before. You said an old radio might work if it wasn’t plugged in during the EMP?”
“Sure.” Griff stood up. “Show me. I just wish someone around here had a crank radio.
Cassie also stood and rubbed her eyes. “I’m going outside to get some fresh air. I’ll see you in a little bit.”
She left them, and Penny eyeballed him with interest. His skin crawled. Maybe what Cassie had said about Penny was true. Maybe the woman did have designs on his body. Too bad. His cock belonged to Cassie for the near future.
“Let’s see that radio,” Griff said.
Griff went upstairs with Penny following. He hoped this radio proved useful for when the electricity returned. When the electricity would return he didn’t know, but it probably would take a week or more. When they’d learned that hope was on the horizon, when the entire grid hadn’t been fried, he’d also felt another sharp and penetrating emotion. Being with Cassie seemed even more important now. Yes, they’d come through the worst part of the adventure, but he knew there would be more bumps along the way before they could call the all clear.
Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers Page 133
