“Last night,” he growled. “When you demonstrated your acrobatic skills by climbing down the side of your uncle’s house.”
I wondered how a person would know if she had a cracked rib.
“Can you blame me for leaving the room?” I asked, still struggling to catch my breath. “After the things your brother had to say—”
“My brother is an idiot.”
“I am hardly in a mood to argue with you there,” I agreed pleasantly, finally convinced that my bones were intact. Now if only something could be done about the fire he started within me.
As I spoke, the door opened and Robert stepped in.
“Ah, Cassandra, my dear,” he greeted me, then saw Griffin. “St. John, just the man I want to see.”
Robert looked at me and winked.
I think it was the wink that did it; I suspect the familiarity pushed Griffin over the edge. He grabbed Robert by the shoulder and pushed him, with a good deal more force than was necessary, up against the wall. Leaning close, he growled, “I mean to have this out with you Hunter!”
Robert smiled at him, an act of bravery that I gave him much credit for, as an enraged Griffin was a terrifying sight to behold. “There’s nothing to settle. You only heard part of a conversation the other night. The part you missed would have interested you more than what you heard.” He looked thoughtfully at me, and added, “I’ll let Cassandra tell it, she’s much better than I am at this sort of thing.”
Griffin
released his stranglehold on Robert and watched him leave, then wheeled around to me and asked quietly, “What did I miss?”
I took a moment to lock the door against any further intruders.
“Quite a bit,” I answered. “Why wouldn’t you let me tell you what happened?”
“Because it was obvious what happened. I heard you express your affection for Hunter.”
“You heard me telling Robert I loved him.”
Griffin
stood still, his eyes alight, watching me intently.
“What you didn’t hear, and what you were too pigheaded to let me explain, was the continuation of that statement which ended
like a brother
.”
“You love him like a brother?” His voice was flat and emotionless.
“Yes. As I believe I have had cause to mention, next to Emma he is my oldest friend, and I love him dearly.
As I would a brother.
”
“You have no other feelings for him?”
“On the contrary, I have quite a few, and I want to talk to you about them sometime, for they concern…well, they concern you, but right now I have other things on my mind.”
“Such as?” Griffin relaxed as he took a step forward.
“I want to know why you followed after me last night.”
“Why did you run from me?”
I raised my hand and ticked off each item. “The man I love ignores me, I am assaulted verbally by a peer of the realm, and am embarrassed before my entire family. Yes, I believe that accounts for the major items.”
He looked intently into my eyes and said in a strangled voice, “The man you love?”
“Yes,” I said, looking at him with wonder that he still did not understand, and reached up to touch the colorful tissue around his eye. “What happened when you met Percy in the park?”
“Nothing important. What about the man you love?”
“Hmmm.” I chewed my lower lip in thought. “Percy must not have been hurt very seriously if he could take himself off while we were distracted. I assume they were the same men that attacked you in your house?”
“I think so,” he grunted, then gave me a little shake. “You were saying something about the man you love?”
“Why would they want to attack—”
My words were cut off with a roar. “Cassandra!”
“What?”
His words came out slowly as if spoken with great control. “Who is the man you love?”
“You.” I poked him in the ribs so he would get the point.
He peered into my eyes suspiciously.
“Do you honestly think I give you the job of lover if I didn’t have strong feelings for you?”
He had the grace to look abashed. “You never mentioned that. All you said is that you were looking for a lover. And, I believe, a cigarette.”
“Yes, well, I’ve given up on the latter, and as for the former…the position has been filled very nicely.” I slid my arms around his neck, threading my fingers through the cool silk of his curls, tugging on them gently until his mouth was against mine. “And what about you, my gallant savior? Do you make a habit of dallying with women for whom you feel nothing but a mild interest, or are those feelings you mentioned the other day something I would appreciate?”
His lips did all the answering, but it was not with words.
“I locked the door,” I breathed into his mouth.
His eyes were hot with sudden passion. “I am tiring of quick trysts, Cassandra. I want more. I want much more.”
“As do I, but for the moment…”
We had our clothes removed in record time.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked Griffin as he pulled me over him. He was sitting in the middle of the couch, his arousal looking particularly large as I peered down onto it. “Are you supposed to be that imposing?”
“I am the same as I have always been, sweetheart. Now if you would just…oh, Lord…not…not…narrrng!”
I wrapped my hand around the long, hard length of him, amazed when he twitched, delighted with his gasps as I slid my fingers along the underside.
“Fascinating,” I said, continuing my exploration. His head lolled back as I used both hands, adjusting my movements until I had him groaning almost non-stop. “This really is fascinating. I had no idea about all of this. Are you particularly sensitive here?”
He shot up off the couch, prying my hands off his nether bits. “Yes, yes, I am, and if you want me to see this through to the logical conclusion, you’ll stop touching me there.”
“Oh.” We both looked down at the part I had been touching. It twitched. “What if I touch you here?”
His eyes crossed.
“This
has
been an informative afternoon. Now, if I do this, what exactly do you feel—Griffin!” He pulled me over him again, my legs splayed along his thighs, his arousal nudging my intimate self, which, true to form, was tingling madly. I looked him in the eye. “You expect me to impale myself on you?”
“Yes. Yes, I do. Right now. This instant. Earlier, if possible.”
I squirmed around on the very tip of him. “I’m not sure about this Griffin. This seems rather an uncomfortaaaaaaaaaaah!”
He gripped my hips and plunged upward into me, taking my scream of pleasure into his mouth. “Ah, sweetheart, if you knew what you did to me.”
“Well, I know what you’re doing to me,” I answered as he showed me the rhythm that pleased us both. On top as I was I discovered I could control the depth and speed of my impalement, and quickly found that if I tightened all my muscles as I sank slowly down upon him, it made him buck and groan in the most satisfying manner.
“Cassan—oh, Lord, woman, don’t stop. Move like that again.”
I swirled my hips, enjoying my power, enjoying the fact that I had him babbling with mindless pleasure. Men were such simple creatures under all the sophisticated trappings, I thought to myself as I both tightened and swirled, which had the most amazing effect on Griffin. His hair stood on end and his eyes blazed.
“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? You’re trying to make me lose my mind with sheer, unadulterated ecstasy, aren’t you? I know you are, I can see it in your face. Admit it!”
I smiled, rather smugly, I’m afraid, and tightened, twirled, and sucked his tongue into my mouth. “You were babbling just a moment ago, my love. I believe that settles the question of superiority of the sexes.”
I paid for my smugness.
“I accept your challenge,” he said just before he flipped me over so my back was to the couch while he covered me. My legs wrapped around him as he kissed my breasts, laving them, suckling and nipping and scraping his teeth gently along my nipples until I thought they were going to catch fire. “Now we will see who babbles. Now we will see which of us has more control.”
I stroked my hands down his back, scraping a gentle line down his spine with my nails before letting my fingers fondle his so very delectable derriere. “If you…oh, Griffin!…if you think…just a little to the right, love…if you think you are going to make me babble…you…you…merciful heaven, Griffin, don’t stop!”
“Never,” he swore into my neck, his mouth hot on the tender flesh beneath my ear. His hands curved under to hold onto my behind, and if I wasn’t enjoying myself so much, I might have been worried by the glint in his eye, but as it was, I didn’t have any wits left with which to worry. He plunged, I thrust, we kissed and sucked and nibbled, our fingers lighting fires that burned bright as our bodies moved together in a dance of such sweet joy, tears streaking my cheeks when I sobbed his name into his shoulder, his voice echoing mine as he poured his life into me.
“I believe I would call that a draw,” I said lazily some long minutes later as I gently kissed his neck. “However, in the interests of a rational, scientific examination of the subject of which of the sexes is superior, it behooves us to continue this particular activity until we are satisfied with the results.”
Above me, Griffin’s chest heaved into mine as he panted out his answer. “It will probably kill me, but I agree.”
“I can’t think of a better way to die. Griffin?” He lifted his head just enough to look into my eyes. I kissed his nose. “What are we going to do about this?”
“About what?” He nuzzled my neck.
“This.” I freed an arm and waved it around the room. “You and me. Everything.”
“Oh, that.” He nibbled on my earlobe as I traced the long sweep of his damp back down to the wonderful contours of his behind. So firm, and yet so very soft. I let my fingers linger there.
“Really, Griffin, we can’t go on doing this.”
“Why not?” This was whispered into my hair as his lips caressed my forehead.
I tilted my head back and trailed kisses underneath his jaw. “What if we are out somewhere in public? With other people?”
“I don’t see a problem.”
Someone knocked at the door.
Griffin
looked at me. I looked at him. “Caught!” I said in whispered exaggeration.
He pressed a gentle, gentle kiss to my lips, and disengaged himself from me. “With our trousers down.”
“One moment,” I called over his shoulder to the door as we scrambled back into our clothing.
“I do have a solution to the problem. Do you see my collar?”
“It’s under my boot. Would your solution involve a house where no one is likely to interrupt us?”
“In a manner of speaking. It would involve your consenting to marry me.”
“Forgive me,” I said as I buttoned up my skirt. “I am a little lightheaded from our activities, especially that last bit. Lack of oxygen, no doubt. Did you say marry? You and me?”
“That’s the idea. Here, I believe this is yours.”
I took the undergarment offered. “But I don’t wish to marry!”