Raising his head, he intended to stop only long enough to straighten their awkward position.
“Griff.” Her throaty voice startled him.
“Give us one more night,” he said. “We’ll talk in the morning, I promise. Whatever it is can wait.”
Uncertainty flickered in the depths of her dark eyes. He brushed a kiss over each lid, wanting her to feel gentle persuasion, not pressure. “One more night”
“We never spoke about the last night,” she murmured on a soft sigh. Her body turned to liquid beneath his. Victory, which had been so uncertain minutes before, was now within his grasp.
“You talk too much, counselor,” he said with a groan. But he recognized the irony in her statement. After their last encounter, he had wanted to talk about why she had fled. At this moment, any discussion on his end would be nothing more than an incoherent jumble. Despite the unsettled state of their relationship, he wanted her again, and he had to trust that she wouldn’t run.
“Tomorrow, we’ll leave Alix with Mrs. Baxter and you can talk as much as you want.” He nibbled on her earlobe. “If you still have the energy.”
She tipped her head backwards, baring her slender neck to his hungry gaze. “And I take it you intend to see that I don’t?”
“Let’s just say I won’t be sorry if that’s the end result.” With the tip of his tongue, he traced a long line from the base of her neck to the sensitive spot behind her ear. She trembled beneath him. He shifted positions until his erection pressed into the juncture of her thighs.
She sucked in a deep breath. “Okay.” Her capitulation came out sounding more like a husky groan. “But no matter what, we will talk tomorrow. I’ll find the energy.”
He laughed aloud. “We’ll see about that.”
Chelsie knew that she would make sure they spoke no matter what. Tomorrow. For tonight she wanted Griff, wanted this last time to call theirs. The whole day had been perfect. If she could look back on these last twenty-four hours as the time she’d had a family, she might survive what was to come. When he discovered the sordid details of her life, it would change the way he looked at her forever. Besides, he deserved decent memories, too. She wanted him to know she cared, even if she couldn’t express her love in words.
She gazed into his dark eyes. “I won’t run this time,” she promised.
Gratitude for her honesty flickered across his face. Chelsie couldn’t offer him much, but he deserved more than she’d given so far. She couldn’t expect Griff to understand something she’d kept so carefully hidden from him. But tomorrow, he’d know everything.
“Thank you.”
“I shouldn’t have left last time.”
“Tomorrow,” he reminded her. “We’ll deal with it tomorrow.” Without awaiting a response, he laced his fingers through her hair, cradling her head in his hands and capturing her mouth in a kiss that robbed her of the ability to think, yet heightened her capacity to feel.
The last time had been a slow learning process for them both. This time, their movements were rushed and frantic. The last time had been marked by intimate preliminaries. This time, by unspoken mutual consent, they shed their clothing, desiring nothing more than to be joined as one.
Griff thrust into her, burying himself as deep as her body would allow. Yet despite the physical need that drove them, Chelsie felt an intense rush of sensation flood her heart and her mind. Almost, she thought, as if the most intimate part of her body had a direct channel to her heart. And Griff had penetrated both.
* * *
Griff awoke with a start. Chelsie slept curled beside him, her head on his chest. With every breath he took, he inhaled the sweet scent of her shampoo. In sleep, she looked more trusting. Yet he felt a barrier had tumbled in the last few hours. In a very real sense, she had given herself to him, heart and soul. The question was, what did he intend to do with the gift?
The day he had won the custody hearing, the path of his life had been bleak but certain. His future held nothing except the promise of raising Alix. He had planned to focus on that one ray of sunshine and block out the need for anything more. So what had changed?
Not his past. His brother was gone, taken by an unfair twist of fate. Jared would never willingly have left his only child. Not so for Griff’s mother. She, too, was long gone. As Ryan had discovered on Jared’s request, she had died an unhappy and lonely woman. Ultimately, she had given up her family in search of an elusive dream that had never materialized. His father had passed away a few years back.
Instead of learning from the past, Griff had merely repeated it. Like his mother, his ex-fiancée was a woman short on feelings for anything except cold hard cash. Why had he ever thought Deidre would be different? He hadn’t, he realized with a sudden flash of insight Griff had chosen her because she exhibited the same traits as his mother. Because when she left him, too, he could say he’d expected it all along.
Chelsie stirred and he pulled the blanket up around her shoulders. Her naked body snuggled closer into his embrace. Being right offered little comfort in the middle of the night. But for now, with Chelsie beside him, Griff was no longer alone—physically or emotionally.
No woman had ever made him face his past, had ever reached inside him. Chelsie touched the man who wanted love but feared being abandoned. He understood that now. Was he ready to put aside his preconceived notions and past hurts and try again?
Damned if he knew. The living-room clock chimed five. At that moment, the only thing he felt sure of was that he didn’t want Mrs. Baxter to arrive and find them naked in the den.
He untangled himself from her body and stood. When he lifted her into his arms, her eyelids fluttered open. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered, walking towards his bedroom.
She mumbled something unintelligible, then twined her arms around his neck and buried her head on his shoulder. Trust wasn’t something she gave easily, either. For the moment, however, she did seem to trust him.
Would her faith last into the waking hours of the morning? He had no answers. When they had their talk, he hoped they’d each do their best not to undermine the progress they’d made—and not to hurt each other in the process.
TEN
Griff placed a hand on the sheets, only to discover they felt cool to his touch. He didn’t panic. Chelsie had promised him she wouldn’t run and he believed her.
He started down the long hallway. When he’d bought the house, he’d tried to imbue the place with warmth and felt he had succeeded everywhere except for the kitchen. Even with Alix’s high chair and bibs strewn about, the room still felt cold. With a table large enough to seat eight and no feminine knickknacks lying about, the place looked as welcoming as his old bachelor-style apartment.