Tears pricked her eyes and she gave him a soft smile. “You’re just saying that to get into my pants.”
“I’m in your pants,” he told her. “But I mean what I say. I love you, Maylee Meriweather, and to me, you are the most wondrous creature I have ever seen.”
She gave a small sigh of pleasure at hearing him say that. This was the man she’d fallen for. She was terrified to think about what might happen. What if they were just words? What if a man with an upbringing like Griffin’s didn’t know how to love? She worried it was all another misunderstanding, but kept those thoughts to herself. To distract him from her silence, she removed her bra and panties.
“Utterly beautiful,” Griffin said reverently, stroking his fingers up her tanned arm. “Like my own personal Venus.” Those fingertips moved across her shoulder and collarbone, lightly tracing her skin. “I am the luckiest man alive.”
Her hands fluttered as she put them on his formal coat, her desire making her pulse and ache between her legs. “Are you going to get na**d with me?”
“Eventually,” he said, and his hand trailed between her br**sts. “First, I want to get my fill of looking at you.”
So she stood in front of him, trembling, as he let his fingertips explore over her body. They glided and grazed over her br**sts, circling the tips. They moved down the gentle curve of her belly, traced along the lines of her hipbones. They moved between her legs and lightly grazed over the damp curls of her arousal, and she sucked in a breath, hoping for those fingers to push between her legs and open her for him.
But instead, he knelt before her and tenderly kissed the skin just above her mound. “So beautiful.”
She was practically vibrating with desire. “Griff,” she murmured, voice husky. “If you don’t throw me down on this bed and make love to me, so help me—”
He ignored her and pressed his face inward, lightly nuzzling at the curls of her sex with his mouth, and she felt the tip of his tongue graze her clit.
A high-pitched gasp escaped her throat, and her knees buckled slightly. Only his hands on her h*ps kept her upright. “Oh.”
“Lay down, darling,” he said. “I want to put my mouth on you.”
She did, finding the edge of the bed and sitting on it with trembling legs. Then, as she laid back, she watched as Griffin slowly, methodically undid the buttons on his thick ceremonial coat and then tossed it to the floor, revealing an undershirt tucked into his slacks and those muscular arms. Maylee gave a sigh of pleasure at the sight of that, marveling again at the ugly tattoo on his bicep that seemed so out of character for him.
“My beautiful, darling Maylee,” he murmured, leaning down over her on the bed. He crawled over her, and while she lay flat on the bed under him, he gently kissed her brow, then her cheekbones, and continued on across her face, paying homage to every feature. He nipped at her chin in a way that made her ni**les tighten even more, and she shifted, almost panting with desire. Strange how these sweet, thoughtful kisses were more erotic than anything she’d ever experienced in her life.
He kissed his way across her shoulders and on to her br**sts, gently taking the tip of each one into his mouth and lightly sucking and teasing at the tip until she was biting back her moans of pleasure. Her hands raked through his hair over and over again, and her back raised off the bed each time his mouth clasped over a nipple. It felt so good; she wanted more, and she ached deep inside for him.
Then his mouth lightly traced down her belly, and his tongue dipped into her navel, circling it and giving her hints of what was to come. “Oh, lordamercy,” she breathed.
“Do you know it makes my c**k hard every time I hear you say that?” he murmured, but continued down his path. “I nearly come undone each time. For some reason, that sweet drawl of yours makes me incredibly hard. It’s like I picture your tongue curling over your words, and then I imagine it curling over the head of my cock.”
Oh, God, he was a talker in bed. This was destroying her. Maylee’s hands fisted in the blankets and she panted, silently begging for him to give her more.
“Ah,” he said after a moment, as if he’d discovered something pleasurable, and her breath exploded as her imagination did. “You’re very wet for me, aren’t you, darling?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice, and a small whimper escaped her throat.
His fingers parted her flesh, and she felt his mouth on her folds a moment later, tongue sliding up and down the damp center of her. “You taste as beautiful as you look,” he whispered, and then his mouth went to her clit. His tongue brushed over it, and then he sucked on it, teasing it with his lips.
A tremor wracked through her, growing in intensity. He continued to tongue and suck at her clit, not budging now that he’d found just where she wanted him to be, and the intensity built, exploding behind her eyes. To her stunned surprise, she came in a quick, violent burst, her fingers clawing at his scalp even as her legs spasmed and her heels dug into the bed.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh. Oh, lordamercy. Oh, Griff.”
When he’d wrung the last shudders out of her, he lifted his head, lips gleaming from her wetness, and there was a smug, satisfied look of pleasure on his gorgeous face, as if he were proud that he’d been able to make her come so hard. Breathless, she watched as he climbed back up next to her and lay down on his side, watching her recover.
The man looked incredibly pleased with himself.
“Need a moment, darling?” He reached out and caressed her breast, thumbing her nipple casually. He looked as if he had all the time in the world now that he’d satisfied her, but she felt the press of his c**k against her leg.
All this casual control? It was an act. And her Griffin was far too good at acting controlled.
She wanted to make him wild. So she rolled onto her hands and knees and gave his shoulder a push, indicating he should lie back on the bed.
His hands moved to cup her dangling br**sts, and he made a small sound of pleasure in his throat. “You are incredibly beautiful.”
“You’ve mentioned that once or twice,” Maylee teased, finding her voice again. She tugged at his undershirt and pulled it up, exposing his flat stomach and the muscles there. She contemplated torturing him in the same way he’d tortured her—endless kisses all over his skin—but his c**k was straining his pants, and she knew he was already painfully aroused. He’d expect her to take her time, just like he had.