Somethin' Dirty: Country Fever, Book 4 (14 page)

Nola’s belly moved with her quiet laugh. She ran her hands over his nape and shoulders. “You don’t need to worry about that yet.”

His lips glided over her throat, inflaming her instantly. Her fingers twitched in his hair. “Everyone says it’ll go fast. What about bike wrecks and broken bones? What about puberty? I don’t know anything about periods and bras.”

Nola’s smile stretched. The worries sounded odd coming from the big strong cowboy. She started to say, “I’ll tell her about periods and bras.” But clamped her lips shut.

Then she considered reassuring him that Lyric’s grandmother would tell her. But Alice might not be around for it.

“It’s going to be okay,” she said instead.

He suddenly grasped her and tilted her into the mattress, outside of the pillows that surrounded Lyric. Griffin held Nola like a drowning man. Her heart panged.

“I’m so damn sorry for yesterday, baby doll. I’m no good alone. I’m no good at long nights.”

“Is that why you brought Lyric in?”

“Sort of. She’s all I really have when it comes down to it. Ma’s so sick. The doctors don’t know if they can get her to a good place for the surgery. Then we still have a long road of more chemo ahead. And you’re off to Nashville.”

Her eyes burned, but she fought the stinging drops there. “Griffin…” she stroked his rough jaw, “…what happened to Lyric’s mother?”

He released her and rolled away as if he couldn’t think about someone else and hold her. Tension flowed through Nola’s veins.

Griffin slung an arm over his eyes and released a short sigh. “She’s out of the picture.”

“Meaning…?”

“I thought she and I had a good thing. But then she got pregnant. I asked her to marry me.”

Nola’s heart constricted. “Then what happened?”

“She said no and scheduled an abortion.”

Her eyes flared open. “What?” She shot a look at the sleeping baby, imagining a world without a girl named Lyric. She shook her head in shock.

Griffin removed his arm and looked at Nola. “It’s true.”

“What did you do?”

A muscle in the corner of his jaw jumped. “I stormed into the abortion clinic and did the only thing I knew to do.”

Her mind raced over the vision of him stomping past nurses and intimidating doctors. “How did you stop her, Griffin?”

He heaved another sigh. “I blackmailed her. Promised to pay her way through college if she had the baby. She signed off Lyric and I took over from the day she could leave the hospital.”

Nola stared at him in awe. He had major guts to take on the responsibility of being a single dad. Sleepless nights, bouts of colic, making bottles and cleaning diaper blow-outs. He was just…wow.

“So you’re paying for Lyric’s mom’s schooling.”

“Yes. And housing. It’s worth it but—” He scrubbed a rough hand over his face. “It’s draining my checkbook.”

“And now your calves are sick.”

“Dying. All gone. I have those two cows about to calve soon but they’ll probably die too. I usually keep a few to add to the herd and sell the rest.”

She folded her lips together. The fact she was draining him financially too wasn’t lost on her. Her expression must have broadcasted this because he rolled toward her and gathered her in his arms.

“Don’t think it for a moment. The money I pay you for taking care of my daughter is well-spent. Besides, I can’t wear a front-pack baby carrier while shoveling manure. I need you here, baby doll.” His gaze bore into hers. “You do a great job with her, even if I was an ass yesterday about it. She loves you.”

They both looked at the baby. She’d kicked free of the light blanket and her pink toes peeked out. Something in Nola’s heart shuddered—she longed to stroke those soft toes.

Griffin needed her. With no caretaker, he’d be in a heap of trouble. Nola would still go to Nashville. Just not yet.

But she had to distance herself a bit from the family. She was steadily falling into their clutches. She’d also been neglecting her music. Her guitar hadn’t been strummed for days, and lately the only time she’d loosed her voice was to sing to Lyric.

Secretly she knew Griffin could hear her over the baby monitor. Deep down she wanted to show off, but she restrained herself. It wasn’t a radio broadcast. But she missed singing to an audience.

The following night was karaoke at The Hellion, and she’d be there. Maybe she’d stop at home and grab her guitar so she could keep it here, play while Lyric was asleep. At least she wouldn’t get rusty.

“Don’t leave, Nola.” Griffin’s voice was gritty. His soft, dark eyes seduced more than the man’s full lips and scent.

“I’ll stay and help out,” she said.
For now
reverberated between them, unsaid.

He leaned in and gently brushed his lips over hers, slowly burning her deliciously with his beard. When he pressed his tongue into her mouth, she gasped and opened to him fully.

He slanted his mouth over hers, drinking deeply but infusing her with more emotion than she’d ever felt. It scared the fuck out of her, but she couldn’t fight it. Not right now, when he’d just opened up to her. That glimpse into his brain only endeared him more to her.

As he pulled away and tucked her tight against his muscled form, she grew weighted with fatigue. In a few hours Lyric would be up and raring to go. And if Nola was going to keep her eyelids open long enough to belt out a song or two to the rowdy crowd at The Hellion, she’d better get some rest.

Griffin’s warm breath washed over her temple, lulling her. Being with him was like sliding into a heated bath after a long, hard day.

Chapter Nine

Griffin’s morning glory throbbed against Nola’s rounded backside. Her hair fell forwarded, affording him access to the tasty side of her throat. He stared at the spot he loved to lick for a long minute, deciding whether it was a good idea to wake her.

Dawn was already lightening the sky. Before long Lyric would be up, and the cows would need tending. He had a small window of time to take what he wanted.

And he wanted her, goddammit.

He opened his mouth over her golden throat, probing the soft depression behind her ear with his tongue.

She squirmed against him and sighed. He continued his ministrations, grasping her hip lightly to pull her ass into his erection. When she awakened he felt each inch of skin come alive. She rocked against his cock, and he bit off a growl.

Behind them, Lyric slept away in the center of his bed. Sleeping better there than she ever did in her crib. But he wasn’t about to start bad habits. He wanted Nola in his bed more.

He captured Nola’s earlobe in his teeth and wiggled it back and forth. Her breathing hitched. “Let’s roll onto the floor,” he whispered.

She gave a nod, her soft hair tickling his nose. Then together they eased themselves to the thick carpet. She tried to twist into his arms, but he held her back to his front, unwilling to give up her ass just yet.

In the back of his head, a craving had begun the other day when she’d let him finger her there. He wanted to know every inch of her body, to taste it, and that including licking a spot she might not agree to.

He cupped her ass cheek and squeezed. She stifled a groan. He swirled the letter N over her skin, caressing her ass lower and lower until he breached the crease between thigh and pussy.

She stopped breathing. He ran a finger along the seam of her pussy, annoyed by the amount of clothes between them. He wore only boxers but she had slept in a nightshirt and jeans.

Griffin reached around her front and tugged up her shirt. She moved where she needed him, giving access to her button and zipper. He bared her lower belly to his palm and sucked on her throat.

She bore his mark from the evening in the barn. Seeing that small red spot on her tender flesh spurred a primal need for more. Hell, he wanted to nip, bite and rub his jaw all over her until no one would look at her and not know she belonged to him.

He wiggled her jeans down her hips, dragging her panties with them. She kicked her feet free with a whisper of fabric. As he eased her nightshirt up and over her bare ass, she sucked in a harsh breath.

His cock stretched another fraction to an impossible length. He could smell her arousal—that dark, musk of feminine need. His mouth watered for her.

Slipping his fingers over her ass to her secret heat between her thighs, he drowned in images of doing this every day for the rest of his life. Of having her every possible way, bending her to his desires and teaching her how much she needed it too.

She cooed when he found her soaking center. He probed her entrance with one finger. He circled it then ran the tip right up to her straining button. He tapped it, and she bucked.

“Don’t make a sound,” he breathed against her ear. Then before she could understand his plan, he slid down her body until her ass was right against his face. He kissed the golden cheek. God, she smelled like vanilla body wash. Felt incredible.

And he was going to damn well taste her. Now.

With his finger still on her throbbing clit, he used his other hand to part her ass cheeks. She didn’t protest. The little puckered nether hole beckoned to him. He didn’t hesitate—just snaked out his tongue and licked it.

She thrashed, trying to turn, to make him stop, but he held her fast by pressing the hood over her clit back and finding her needy center.

She fell still, and he took immediate advantage by plunging his tongue into her ass. Her personal flavors coated his tongue, and he rumbled his joy. He stretched her with his tongue, pressing deeper and deeper while fingering her pussy. After a few minutes she started to move against him, rising and falling under his tongue.

He sent a finger into her tight pussy and kept his middle finger on her button.

“Griffin,” she panted.

He reluctantly lifted his head. “Don’t fight me. I’m going to do this again and again, but next time we’ll be outside. I swear I won’t stop until the people in Cheyenne know my name.” Then he dove back in.

She tipped forward and pushed slightly onto her knees. He ran his tongue over each ridge of her rosette until her legs quivered and juices dripped over his hand. He lapped at her another ball-clenching second before inserting one of his fingers into her hot body.

The first pulsations around his hands crazed him with lust. Her pussy walls gripped him, and her ass hugged him perfectly. He pumped his fingers deep, deeper. Then he curled his finger in her pussy and replaced his finger in her ass with his tongue.

She burst with a muffled cry. Her body jerked and the contractions spread through the places they were connected.

His cock oozed pre-come, and his balls were as hard as stones. If he didn’t get inside her soon he’d blow, and he wanted to be inside her when that happened.

As he brought her down slowly from her high, he worked out how to cross the room to his nightstand for a condom without waking Lyric.

Nola lay still, her breath calming.

He planted a soft kiss to the curve of her ass, and she twitched. He grinned against her skin. “Think you can crawl into the bathroom?”

“Yes,” she said unsteadily.

He pinched her bottom and she bit off a squeal. “Get goin’.”

On her hands and knees she started for the bathroom, giving him an amazing glimpse of the ass he’d just tongued for the first time.

But not the last.

He followed her and closed the bathroom door most of the way, leaving only a crack in case Lyric woke up. Then he gained his feet and pulled Nola to hers too.

Her face was pink as he met her gaze. “You…”

“Were fucking fabulous? Thanks, so were you.” He ran his tongue over his lips, and she flushed deeper.

He reached the top shelf and snagged a condom. With quick movements he opened it and rolled it on. “Bend over the sink, baby doll. I want you to watch yourself in the mirror when I make you come.”

A shiver rolled through her. Her hair waved over her breasts, and he stripped off her nightshirt before spinning her to face the mirror. Again her ass was poised right at his cock, and damn, he wanted to take it. He nudged her back entrance with his cock. “Will you let me?”

In the mirror, her eyes were wide, the traces of sleep gone. “I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”

He circled his hips, wanting to screw his shaft right into her. Claim her in a place no one ever had. “Okay, not today. When you’re ready.”

She met his gaze in the mirror and held it as he guided his erection right between the swollen walls of her pussy. She sank her teeth into her lower lip and bucked. He grabbed her hips and drew her onto tiptoe, angling deeper into her center.

His need rocketed. Her tits bounced under his assault, and he cupped them. He spread his fingers around her hard buds and pinched between his knuckles. Pleasure hooded her eyes.

“Don’t close your eyes to me, baby doll. I want you to see who’s fucking you.” He bent his knees a little and sank a millimeter deeper.

She held his gaze in the mirror, her mouth opened on a silent gasp. Ecstasy ripped through him, starting at the base of his spine and spreading upward like wildfire in a woodland. He squeezed her nipples harder.