HOURS LATER, AFTER she’d attended several press events, met the much nicer Clarice and underwent a necessary but mortifying “fitting” for the bra, during which Griff naturally had to stand guard, Jess was mentally and physically exhausted. It wasn’t that she minded him seeing her breasts—she rather liked the way he looked at them, actually, the way that hot hungry stare made her feel—but having him watch as Clarice and a seamstress literally adjusted her nipples for her and tsked over the removal of the push-up padding was more than a little awkward.
“I’m thrilled that you’re doing this,” the seamstress, Marjory, had told her. “It’s a giant step forward if you ask me, having a normal-size model on the cover of the magazine. You’ll be an inspiration to women everywhere.”
Jess had merely smiled. She didn’t know about that, but she appreciated the sentiment all the same. It had certainly beaten the hell out of Ms. Blaylock’s opinion, that was for damn sure.
She mentally gave the hateful woman a single-finger salute, and happily took another bite of her cheeseburger. Griff sat next to her on the small sofa, his gaze roaming over more intel Ranger Security had provided. The soft glow of the fire cast a halo of coppery light around his head, illuminating his curls. He’d stripped off his shirt and pants, revealing gleaming skin over mouthwatering muscle, and lounged comfortably in his boxers, his long masculine feet kicked out in front of him. Aside from when they’d dozed this afternoon, it was the most relaxed she’d seen him. She loved the sleek turn of his bare shoulder, the exact spot where it met his neck. It made her hot. Hell, who was she kidding?
He made her hot.
He sent her a slant-eyed look, humor lighting his gaze. “You’re staring.”
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug and dragged a fry through a puddle of ketchup. “What do you expect? You’re practically naked.”
“You could be, too, if you wanted. You’d get no objection from me.”
She’d just bet she wouldn’t. She’d never felt more beautiful than she had this afternoon, when he’d been hovering above her, his big powerful body thrusting into hers while he raked her bare skin with his blistering gaze. Her lady bits quivered, remembering, and a hot rush of sensation tingled in her sex.
It had been unbelievably exquisite, the exact moment when he’d pushed inside her. She’d been breathless, shattered, rebuilt and reborn all in an instant. It was as though every minute leading up to that one had been for nothing—utterly pointless—and every moment going forward would be forever tied to it, as well.
It had been a significant turning point, she thought, but whether that would be for better or for worse remained to be seen. Though she’d love to explore this...thing between them—to see if the fiery connection could burn indefinitely or if, like a dying star, it would simply blaze magnificently for a little while and then fade away into insignificance—she wasn’t sure it was such a good idea.
Aside from the fact that she didn’t know whether Griff would even want to continue their—relationship? acquaintance? affair? whatever the appropriate label—beyond this weekend, the logistics alone would be a nightmare. Granted, other couples managed to make long-distance relationships work, but she imagined that there was an endgame plan, one that ultimately resulted in one or the other party relocating.
Unfortunately, that was out of the question for both of them.
Griff’s job and family were in Atlanta. Her job and father were in Shadow’s Gap. Neither scenario was likely to change, and it was a long damn way from Georgia to West Virginia.
Even if they wanted to try to make it work—and admittedly she was just smitten enough to be so inclined—chances were they’d only be setting themselves up for heartache later. Or, at the very least, she would. Though she hadn’t known Griff long enough to really know him—his likes and dislikes, foibles and fetishes—she still knew enough about him to recognize the key elements of his character, the kind of man he was, the kind of man he strived to be...and, frighteningly, that was enough for her to be half in love with him already.
Point of fact, she’d never been in love before and, while most of her friends were married and had children, Jess had never felt as though her life was lacking or unfulfilled because she didn’t. She was happy with the status quo. Though she’d dated enough men who’d passed muster—who weren’t intimidated by her hobbies or independence—she’d nevertheless never met one who made her want to don a veil and give up birth control. Were a husband and family of her own anywhere in her future? She didn’t know. She supposed it could happen. But if it didn’t, she’d never doubted that that would be all right, as well. She cast a covert glance at the man next to her.
But if there was ever a guy who could make her second-guess herself, then it was Griffin Wicklow.
She was playing with fire, Jess thought, dancing too damn close to the flames.
His cell vibrated on the coffee table, drawing her attention and, though she didn’t intentionally read the display, she noticed it, anyway. Justin again. He seemed to text a lot, which described nearly every teenager in the modern world, she knew, but she couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it for Griff’s little brother. Her antennae had been twitching where the boy was concerned.
Griff casually leaned forward, picked up his phone and read the text. To the untrained eye, one might have thought his expression didn’t change, but Jess perceived the slightest tightening around his mouth.
“What’s wrong?”
Seemingly startled, his gaze swung to hers. “Nothing,” he said. “It’s just a text from Justin. He wants me to call him again.”
“Oh, okay.” She leaned forward, preparing to stand. “I’ll give you some privacy then.”
He grabbed her arm, tugged her back onto the couch. “I don’t need any privacy,” he told her. “I’m not going to call him back right now.”
Something about the “right now” sounded off, as if he’d tacked the words onto the end of the sentence for her benefit. “Why not?” Jess asked. “We’re finished for the evening. There are no more press events or fittings.”
“You should have gone to dinner with Mr. Pershing and Mr. Nolan,” he said, evidently trying to change the subject. He had diversion tactics down to an art form. “You didn’t have to refuse on my account.”
“I didn’t,” she lied. There was no way in hell she would have left him alone to guard the bra. Not that he wasn’t fully capable of taking care of himself or that she expected to be a whole lot of help if they were attacked, but the idea of being away from him to deal with it on his own had been out of the question.
She strongly suspected he’d been left too much to deal with on his own.
He grinned at her, lifted a disbelieving brow. “You’re telling me you’d rather have a room-service cheeseburger than a gourmet meal at one of the finest restaurants New York has to offer?”
“Truthfully, no,” she admitted with a regretful shrug. “But the company is much better here.”
His smile widened, evidence that he’d liked her response.
“You never answered my question,” she reminded him.
His grin momentarily froze. “What question?”
Jess rolled her eyes. “Really? We’re going to play this game again?” She heaved a disappointed sigh. “It would be so much more efficient if you’d just tell me what I want to know.”
“Efficient?” he repeated, nearly gaping at her. “That’s the word you’ve decided best communicates your nosiness?”
“Of course not,” she said. “It’s the one I thought would most appeal to you.”
Impossibly, he looked even more shocked. He shook his head. “You’re shameless, you know that?”
She nodded once. “I am. Now, what’s the problem with calling your brother?” Family was family. She didn’t buy into this “half” business. “Is he irritating? Annoying? Do you not like him? What?”
Griff sighed, looked away and passed a hand over his face. She could tell he was debating the merit of telling her to mind her own damn business versus confiding in her. She desperately hoped that he chose the latter.
He released another breath, then shot her a dark but resigned look. “No, he’s not irritating or annoying,” he said, much to her triumphant relief. “And yes, as it happens, I do like him.” He looked away, staring at the fire. “He’s a good kid.”
Jess felt her brow furrow with confusion. “Then I don’t understand. What’s the problem?”
He dropped heavily back against the couch. “The problem is that he wants a relationship with me, and it’s going to cause pain to other members of my family.”
Ah. She inclined her head. “Your mom and sister would object?” While she wasn’t in possession of all the facts and history, that seemed a little harsh. It wasn’t Justin’s fault that his father was an ass any more than it was anyone else’s.
He shook his head. “No, they wouldn’t—that would be petty,” he added, then hesitated. “But my mother never got over my father and, while Glory never really knew him, I know that his absence hurt her. Justin is the kid my father raised, and his mother is the one my father didn’t leave.” He lifted a shoulder, his gaze haunted with helplessness. “Whether it’s fair or not, Justin’s a reminder of all that. I can’t just ignore it because we share DNA.”
Jess winced, offered a sympathetic smile. “A sticky wicket then?”
He nodded. “Very much so.”
“And I take it Justin wants to be a part of your family? At least get to know you and your sister better?”
“He does.”
“Well, you can hardly fault his good taste, can you?” she teased. “I mean, who wouldn’t want you for a big brother? Come on. Former ranger, security expert, man with the plan,” she said. “And I don’t know your sister, but it sounds to me like you helped raise her. If that’s the case, then she’s got to be pretty remarkable, as well.”
“She is,” he said, his gaze twinkling with admiration.
Jess hesitated. “Can I make a suggestion?”
He lifted a sardonic brow. “Would it matter if I said no?”
“Ordinarily, no,” she admitted because it was the truth. “But in this case, yes, it would.” She grinned and leaned forward, as though sharing a little secret. “I’ll admit that I’ve pressed you for answers, but we both know that if you really didn’t want me to have them, then I wouldn’t.” She snorted indelicately and rolled her eyes. “You don’t just play your cards close to your vest, you hide them beneath the table, and I am more than a little confident that even a firing squad at the ready couldn’t make you give up your hand unless you chose to do so.”
A bark of uncomfortable laughter erupted from his throat. “You think so, do you?”
“I don’t think,” she corrected. “I know.” And he hated it, Jess thought, but she decided against pointing that out, as well. She liked unnerving him, but scaring the hell out of him was another matter altogether.
“You were going to make a suggestion?” he prompted, clearly uncomfortable with the direction their conversation had taken.
“Yes, I was,” she said. “I understand your position and the fact that you don’t want to needlessly hurt your mother or sister, but...they’re adults, Griff, and Justin isn’t.” She bit her lip and softened her gaze. “He’s a kid who’s been through hell and you’re his hero. And I just want to point out one more thing and then I swear, I’ll shut up about it, but ask yourself this. If your father has been such a wonderful dad to him—when historically he’s proven that he’s not—then why is Justin trying so desperately to have a relationship with you? Is it because you gave him a kidney? Or could it be something else?”
He stilled, his gaze turning inward, then he looked at her and shook his head. “I...I don’t know,” he said. “Those are very good questions.”
“I don’t think that you have to make a choice between Justin and your mother and sister,” she continued. “I think you should ask yourself if you want a relationship with your brother. And if that answer is yes, then let the chips fall where they may. Your family loves you. I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t want you to be happy.”
She imagined it had been so long since he’d considered his own happiness, that putting others first had simply become second nature, that he no longer even considered his own wants and needs. Which was honorable, she’d admit, but hardly fair.
He glanced over at her, a wan smile on his distractingly sexy lips. “I’m sure you’re right. Thanks,” he added, almost as an afterthought, as though he wasn’t accustomed to sharing his gratitude.
Jess grinned at him, then stood and straddled him, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her forehead against his. “Anytime,” she said, meaning it. She’d gladly be his confidante, particularly when she grimly suspected that he didn’t have one.
She brushed her lips over his, reveling in the feel of his hands as they settled on her hips, and felt him instantly harden beneath her. Need coiled through her belly, making her breath stutter out of her lungs. She’d showered earlier and hadn’t bothered to dress for bed, but had simply donned the hotel robe.
Best Decision Ever, she decided as his warm palms slid over her bare rump. Oh, how she loved his hands. They were large and long fingered, the backs of his knuckles sprinkled with fine auburn hair. Her feminine muscles tightened, slickening her folds, and she deepened the kiss, sucking his tongue into her mouth, deliberately mimicking a more intimate act. He groaned against her tongue, pushed his hands farther beneath her robe and then slid his fingers around until his thumbs brushed the undersides of her breasts. Gooseflesh skittered across her rapidly heating skin, pebbling her nipples. She dragged her lips from his, strung kisses along his jaw, the arch of his cheek, then nipped at his earlobe. He pushed up against her in response, the thin fabric of his boxers the only barrier between them.
And all of a sudden it was too much. Too damn much. She didn’t want anything between them. Nothing separating them. She wanted to feel the full, hot, long length of him deep inside her, every ridge and vein, every gloriously proportioned inch.
She pushed her robe aside, baring herself to him, and it drooped around her shoulders, the sash gaping at the waist. His hot gaze feasted on her heavy breasts, then he cupped one and bent his beautiful head and sucked deeply, working his tongue against the sensitive point of her nipple.
Jess gasped, her lids fluttering shut from the pleasure, then she rocked her hips against him, riding the hard ridge of his arousal. It bumped against her sweet spot, sending another insistent wave of longing through her. “I’ve got a clean bill of health and I’ve got birth control covered,” she said, her voice low and foggy. “You?”
“I’m clean,” he said.
Oh, thank God, Jess thought, feeling as if she were about to fly into a million pieces. Her skin was too tight for her body, her clit throbbed with every frantic beat of her heart and need hammered through her, raw and desperate.
He reached between them, nudged the boxers down, freeing himself. The first touch of the thick crown of his penis against her weeping folds pulled the breath from her lungs and she didn’t get it back until she’d lifted her hips and then impaled herself on him. Their gazes held and locked and for one limitless second the world receded, fell away, leaving only the two of them and this moment—this exquisite joining—and nothing else mattered.
Shaken to her core, Jess ignored the sudden strains of the wedding march as it cued up in her head and bent forward, finding his lips once more.
His kiss was different, still desperate, yes, but there was another quality there as well, one that made her eyes moisten with emotion and her heart sing.
Reverence.
He felt it, too, Jess thought, tightening around him, lifting her hips, then lowering again, the age-old rhythm taking hold as she frantically undulated her hips. Longing tangled through her, pooled and pounded against her womb, and every lurch of him deep inside her, every magnificent thrust of his hips pushed her closer and closer to the edge.
She could feel the tension mounting within him, felt it crackle around her like static, lifting the hairs off her arms, the back of her neck. His clever mouth worshipped her breasts, suckling, licking, laving, and his hands curled around her bottom, urging her on.
“Jesus, Jess— Please— I can’t— I’m not going to— Come for me, baby,” he begged her. “Let it go.”
She whimpered. She was close, so close. Still... “You first.”
“Jess,” he said warningly. “Please. I’m dying. You’re killing me.”
She rode him harder, tightened around him, then reached around and slid a finger over the tight sack of his balls. “You first.”
His eyes widened. He sucked in a harsh breath, then he bucked violently beneath her. She felt him spasm inside her, a thick hot rush, bathing the back of her womb, and she came hard.
The orgasm took her unaware, ripping through her so viciously that her vision blackened around the edges, her heart skipped a few beats and every muscle in her body convulsed so thoroughly she developed cramps in her little toes. A low keening cry issued from her throat and she clung to him, held tightly, afraid that she might fly away or fall apart if she didn’t.
Breathing raggedly, her belly still quaking, Jess finally drew back to look at him. His expression was a mix of awe and wonder, latent desire and satisfaction, and something else, something she struggled to define. But if she had to label it...happy was as good a word as any.