“In bed,” Nicole said and handed over a bottle of wine and two glasses that he hadn’t even noticed she was carrying.
Watch your step, Griffin,
he warned himself.
That warning went right out the window as he watched her mount the steps and slide slowly into the tub. She settled on the bench seat right beside him and Griffin would have sworn that the water temperature went up another hundred degrees.
“Oh, that feels good.” Her voice was a purr of pleasure that sent jagged bolts of need shooting through his body.
Danger.
“What’re you doing?” Hell, she’d been alternately snarling at him and ignoring him for days. All of a sudden she showed up, barely dressed, carrying wine? Something was definitely up—besides
him.
Griffin shifted uncomfortably and inched a bit farther away from the temptation right beside him.
He wasn’t an idiot. If she was here, she had something more than relaxing in the hot tub in mind. And damned if he was going to let his hormones take control until he knew exactly what was running through her brain.
She turned her head and smiled at him. Something in his chest caught and held in response.
“Thought I’d see for myself just why you spend so much time in this hot tub.” One of the jets bubbled and frothed at her back and she sighed again. “I think I get it.”
As she arched into the jet, her breasts rose above the surface of the water and he stifled a groan. “Great. Happy to help. Now…”
“I brought wine,” she said, and nodded toward the open bottle he held.
“Yeah, I see that, but—”
“I’ve got the baby monitor out here, too. Sitting on the table by the back door. If Connor needs me, I’ll hear him.” She shrugged and took the acrylic wineglasses from him, holding both out for him to fill. “So, how about you pour the wine and we’ll just sit and enjoy for a while?”
He could use a drink. On the other hand, he thought, drinking wine with a beautiful woman while in a hot tub was only going to lead in one direction.
He smiled to himself.
Damn, even when he knew better, he couldn’t resist the lure she was holding out in front of him.
“So?” Nicole waved both empty glasses. “Are you going to pour, or would you rather I leave?”
There was his out. He should grab it with both hands. Instead, he poured the wine. He wasn’t letting her go anywhere until he knew what she was up to. This whole setup—alone in the darkness, wine, hot tub—was an ambush, and a damned good one. If he slipped out of her clutches now, without knowing what was going on, she’d just trip him up somewhere else along the line. Better to be prepared.
Reaching over the edge of the tub, he set the bottle down on the top step, then settled back, took a long drink of the wine and speared her gaze with his. “So, you want to tell me what’s going on, Nicole?”
“Not sure what you mean,” she said, a small smile curving her mouth as she sipped at her wine.
Women. He was pretty sure they were born knowing just how to twist a man into knots. And not to knock his own gender, but Griffin was willing to admit, at least silently, that it wasn’t difficult for them at all. Show a man a beautiful woman and he was already on a slippery slope. Give him one of those sexy half smiles and his fall started picking up speed.
“You know just what I mean.” Her smile deepened, and she slid a glance at him from the corners of her eyes. She was definitely up to something. And in Griffin’s experience, when a woman had a plan, every man in the vicinity should be on guard. “You’ve never joined me out here before. Why now? Why the wine?”
“Look,” she said simply, “it’s a nice night. I’ve had a long day, and the hot tub sounded like a great idea.” Shrugging, she pointed out, “You must like it. You’re in it every day.”
Lately to avoid being with her, Griffin thought, though now he could see the flaw in that strategy. At least if they were in the living room watching TV she’d be
dressed.
The image of her in that bikini flashed across his already fevered brain. Then his gaze dropped to the surface of the churning water that bubbled and frothed at the tops of her breasts. Oh, man.
“Something wrong?”
“Nope. Nothing.” He shifted on the bench seat and ordered his body to throttle back. Unfortunately, that particular portion of him had its own ideas. And they had nothing to do with cooling off.
Didn’t matter. He was still in control.
“Good,” Nicole said, then paused for another long sip of wine. When she’d swallowed, she turned her head to look at him. “Because there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
And here it comes. Finally
. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“I want to have a night with you.”
The long drink of wine he’d taken logjammed in the middle of his throat and Griffin choked in response. Whatever he’d been expecting, it hadn’t been
this.
Nicole Baxter propositioning
him?
What kind of crazy-ass world had he been dropped into?
When he could breathe again, he stared at her. “Are you serious?”
She scooted closer. “Absolutely.”
Griffin held his ground. Even though he knew he should back away while he still could, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.
“I know you’re interested,” Nicole was saying and he silently warned himself to listen up. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Griffin.”
He cleared his throat. So much for his poker face. “No offense, but that just means I’m alive and breathing, Nicole.”
She smiled again, as if she knew that was a weak argument.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” she said.
Damn straight he had, not that he was going to admit it.
“Giving you space,” he argued.
“Hiding,” she countered.
Okay, that wasn’t acceptable. “I don’t hide.”
“Then why do you look nervous?”
Griffin laughed shortly. “Babe, I haven’t been nervous around a woman since I was fifteen.”
“Until now,” she said, taking another sip of wine.
Griffin gritted his teeth. He wasn’t nervous. He was…
cautious.
There was a difference. Any man would be cautious walking through a minefield.
“What’re you getting at here, Nicole?”
“I already told you,” she said with another shrug that briefly lifted the tops of her breasts. “I think we should have a fling.”
His mouth went dry. He hadn’t seen this coming at all. Which explained, he told himself, why he couldn’t seem to string a coherent sentence together. Finally he managed one word.
“Because?”
“Because you want me. I want you. There’s no reason
not
to.”
He really was in the twilight zone, because he was pretty sure he’d used that same argument with other women at other times. Odd having his own words thrown back at him.
But as tempted as he was, by her presence, her idea, there was one thing he couldn’t forget. “You have a son.”
“Connor’s not a part of this.”
He nodded toward the baby monitor. “Yeah. He is. And I have rules about that.”
“
Rules?
What kind of rules?”
“The kind that means I don’t get involved with women who have kids.” Memories rose up, but Griffin ruthlessly shut them down. This wasn’t about his past. This was about now.
“We wouldn’t be involved,” she corrected. “We’d be having sex.”
Griffin laughed shortly again. “That’s involved. Trust me.”
“Doesn’t have to be.” Nicole scooted even closer and now her thigh brushed against his, stirring into roaring life the deeply stifled hunger he’d been dealing with.
“I’m not looking for a relationship, Griffin,” she told him sharply, “so don’t make this so complicated. I just want a damn orgasm or two.”
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” he said, muffling a laugh.
“Why shouldn’t we talk about this?” she argued. “Have you never had a woman come on to you before?”
“Of course I have, but this is dif—”
“How is it different?” Her blue eyes glinted with more than passion now. There was anger there as well, and damned if that didn’t intrigue him, too.
She started talking again before he could say a word.
“I’ve been divorced three years. You know how long it’s been since I had sex?”
He stared into her flashing eyes and didn’t think he could have looked away if someone had a gun to his head. Those soft eyes of hers were burning with a fire he understood. And shared.
“How long?”
“Three years,” she said shortly. She took a deep breath. “When my husband first left me, I was too hurt and furious to even so much as
think
about sex. The second year, I was just too busy—what with work and Connor and… Anyway, now it’s been three years and I’m
ready.
Boy, am I ready.”
He was getting more ready by the second, so he could agree. “Yeah, I get that.”
“Good.” She nodded, took a breath and blew it out again. “Look, Griffin, I know your reputation.”
“Is that right?”
“I’m not an idiot, you know. I see your picture in magazines and newspapers, and I do live right next door to Katie. She keeps me up-to-date on what the Kings are up to. So,” she continued, “I know you’re a player—different-woman-every-night kind of guy—”
“Hey—” Griffin started to argue, but what the hell could he say? He
was
that guy. At least, he
had
been until he’d made the decision to grow the hell up. For all the good that was doing him.
“No offense,” she said quickly. “In this case, your inability to commit is a plus.”
“My—”
“Seriously, you’re not interested in forever and trust me when I say I’m not, either, Griffin. I just want one good night. A damn fling. And you are
so
flingable.”
He snorted.
“As long as you’re healthy—” She stopped. “You
are
healthy, right?”
“Of course I am.”
She blew out a breath. “Okay, good. Great, in fact.”
Griffin could only stare at her. This was the weirdest situation he’d ever been in. He’d never had a woman come to him with an offer like this one. He’d always been the pursuer, not the pursued, and frankly, he was a hell of a lot more comfortable when he was calling the shots.
Still, he thought resignedly, there was something to be said for variety, right?
Five
“Y
ou’re crazy, you know that, right?”
“What’s your point?” she asked, one corner of her mouth curving.
Griffin smiled and reached for her. “Guess I don’t have one.”
This will be good, he told himself as he plucked her wineglass from her hand and set both glasses on the step. Get her into bed and get over it. Once he’d had her, Nicole would be like every other woman he’d ever met. She’d stop taunting his every damn thought and he’d be able to sleep in peace again. Then they could both move on.
Hell, this was brilliant.
He should have come up with this idea himself, and if she hadn’t been making him so nuts lately, he might have. But, he told himself, he wouldn’t have made a move on her anyway. Not with the single-mother thing. Not to mention the fact that his cousin’s wife would
kill
Griffin if he hurt Nicole.
Well, hell, what was a little threat of death when compared to a completely alluring woman in a tiny bikini?
“No strings,” she whispered.
“No promises,” he agreed.
“Just a fling.”
“Absolutely.”
“I brought condoms.” She pulled a few foil packets from where she’d stashed them beneath the ties at the side of her bikini.
“Good thinking,” Griffin murmured just before he took her mouth in a kiss he’d been thinking about for days.
The first touch of her lips was electric. The sensation sizzled through him like a live wire dropped onto wet pavement. He was on fire. Every cell in his body shouted hallelujah.
He parted her lips with his tongue and she opened for him willingly, eagerly. Her tongue tangled with his, shooting fresh need through his system. He dragged her closer, pulling her onto his lap, bending her back over his arm, his mouth locked to hers. Her arms came up around his neck, her hands sliding over his warm, wet skin.
The glide of her fingers against his back was frantic, as if she couldn’t touch him enough, and Griffin felt the same. He held her tighter, closer, and still he wanted more of her. Her body was slender yet curvy in all the right places and he wanted to explore them all.
He slid one hand to cup her right breast and she arched into him. His thumb brushed across her hardened nipple and she shuddered.
“Griffin!”
“Oh, yeah,” he whispered, drawing back to look down at her. Her eyes were glazed, her mouth parted on a sigh of pleasure as his fingers continued to tug and toy with her nipples, one after the other.
She wiggled on his lap and he hissed in reaction. He was as hard as stone and so tight he felt as if he might explode with one wrong move.
So he was going to make all of the right ones.
He took hold of her waist, drew her up and set her across him, straddling his lap. Damn near killed him, but he maintained. Her knees on the bench seat, she leaned in toward him and smiled as her breasts brushed across his chest. “This is great. Really.”
“It’s about to get better,” he promised in a hushed tone barely audible over the roar of the jets.
“Show me.”
“Just about to,” he said and kissed her again. God, the taste of her, he thought, losing himself in the sensations pouring through him. The feel of her in his arms. Her legs pressed to his. Her breath sifting into his mouth. Griffin was nearly blind with lust. He’d never wanted any other woman so much. Never had been so dazzled by the taste of any woman that he was like a man dying for more.
And though a warning chime went off somewhere in the back of his mind, Griffin ignored it. Whatever was going on between them was a worry for some other time. All he wanted,
needed
now was to be inside her. To claim her body as thoroughly as he’d dreamed of doing.
He slid his hands to the sides of her bikini bottoms and tugged. Following his lead, she went up on her knees and slithered out of the fabric as he drew it down her legs. By the time she was free of them, she was nearly breathless. So was Griffin.
“Touch me.”
“Plan to,” he assured her and cupped the core of her.
She groaned, a deep, throaty sound that seemed to reach for the center of his chest and squeeze. Hunger radiated through him, and yet there was more than his own need gnawing at him. There was the need to watch her orgasm. To feel release ripple through her body. To see the flash of satisfaction gleam in her eyes.
He slid one finger inside her and smiled when she gasped again.
“That feels so good…”
“Gonna be better,” he said and dipped two fingers into her heat, pushing them high, stroking, caressing the depths of her body until she was trembling and swaying on her knees. He wrapped one arm around her back to hold her still and used his fingers to drive her wild. His touch claimed her in swift, sure strokes as his thumb caressed that one sensitive nub of flesh at her center until she clutched at his shoulders for balance. She threw her head back and her blond hair swung in a wide arc behind her as she gave herself up entirely to the feelings he was causing.
His gaze locked on her, his own body clamored for release, but he was caught up in what she was feeling. His heartbeat thundered, his mouth went dry and as he gently pushed her over the edge, he held her safely in his arms.
*
Nicole could hardly breathe and wasn’t sure if she cared or not. All she could think of was the dazzling pleasure she’d just found. It had been so long since a man had touched her, and even then, she was forced to admit, it had been nothing like
this.
She looked into Griffin’s summer-blue eyes and read the passion she’d longed for. That she’d come to him to find. She still couldn’t believe she’d had the guts to lay out this proposition to him, but she was so glad she had. The fire, the heat she saw in his eyes was something she wanted now more than ever.
Her hands slid across his shoulders, slick with water, and she felt the taut muscles beneath his skin. His hair was as black as midnight and the light in his eyes shone just for her. For this one moment, anyway, Nicole was the only woman in Griffin King’s life, and that thought spiraled through her mind and body like a straight shot of warm tequila.
The hot water lapped at her body as he lowered her to his lap. She felt the hard length of him pressed against her still-quivering core and the fire inside her jumped into life again. This was the
best
night ever.
“That was so good,” she said, leaning forward to plant a quick kiss on his mouth. He caught her there and deepened the kiss, dragging it out until her head swam and her blood boiled. The sweep of his tongue against hers, the feel of his breath sliding into her lungs, the touch of his hands at her back, it was all sensation overload.
She was melting against him, folding into that broad, sculpted chest she’d been sneaking peeks of for so long. When he finally released her, he slid his hands to the front clasp of her bikini top. “Only the beginning,” he said.
“I am so glad to hear that,” Nicole whispered and shrugged out of her top. He tossed it over the edge of the tub and she instantly felt more…wicked. Naked in a hot tub with Griffin King. The kind of thing dreams were made of, she thought absently as his hands moved to cup her breasts.
Then every thought in her head cut off completely. How could she think when Griffin was touching her? She sighed and didn’t bother trying to hide her reaction. “You have magic hands.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“I’ll bet you have,” she said. And if a warning bell sounded in her mind, she ignored it. She had known going in that he was a player. That a lot of women had been where she was now. Oh, all right, not in this particular hot tub, but with
him.
Feeling what he was doing to her.
But tonight, she didn’t care about how many women he’d been with. The point was, he was with her
now.
That was all that mattered. One night. One week. She didn’t care how long it lasted. This was
her
fling and she was going to enjoy every minute of it.
“This was the best idea I’ve ever had,” Nicole said softly, and meant it. No matter what happened after tonight, she wouldn’t regret anything.
“Have to agree,” Griffin told her.
Warm water bubbled and frothed around them. The jets pulsed like a quickening heartbeat in the darkness. Nicole savored the feel of the water caressing her skin even as Griffin’s hands moved up and down her back. He leaned in and kissed the line of her throat and she tipped her head to one side, allowing him more room. His hands fell to her waist and with one smooth move, he lifted her off him.
“Hey—”
“One second—” In what seemed like less than that, he’d stripped off his board shorts, stood up to sheath himself in one of the condoms she’d provided and reached for her again. He positioned her exactly the way she had been and this time when Nicole lowered herself onto his lap, there was no swimsuit between them. All she felt was
him.
She sucked in a gulp of air and met his gaze squarely.
“Gotta have you,” Griffin said, holding her hips in a firm grip.
“Oh, me, too.” Nicole raised up and then, still keeping her eyes on his, lowered herself again, this time taking him inside her. Inch by glorious inch, he filled her, and Nicole’s body stretched to accommodate him. It had been so long since she’d been with anyone, it was as if it was the first time.
Only better.
“Oh, yeah,” he whispered and pushed himself even deeper inside.
Nicole gasped and wriggled her hips, creating a delicious friction that only made the ache she was feeling sweeter, more desperate.
“You’re gonna kill me if you keep that up,” he warned.
“You want me to stop it then,” she asked, tossing her hair back from her face.
“God, no,” he countered quickly. “Never stop. I’ll risk death. It’d be worth it.”
“Just what I was thinking,” she admitted and began to move on him.
His hands at her hips guided her and still she couldn’t move fast enough. She needed…needed…
“That’s it,” Griffin muttered and shifted. Keeping their bodies locked together, he twisted around until Nicole was reclined on the narrow bench seat and he was looming over her.
“I need you bad,” he confessed and Nicole read the truth in his eyes. He was as inflamed as she. As lost to the amazing sensations. Need was alive and tearing at them both. Hunger roared around them and they answered.
She slapped one hand onto the lip of the hot tub and held tight as Griffin moved on her. He withdrew and then plunged even deeper than before and she groaned even as her hips lifted to meet his. Again and again, he pistoned against her, his hands firmly gripping her thighs, holding her in place while his body claimed hers.
The orgasm he’d given her earlier was nothing compared to what was coming. She felt tension clawing at her. Felt her release hovering just out of reach. She worked for it. Sliding her free hand over his chest and around to his broad, slick back. The feel of him under her hands was nearly as sexy as the feel of his body sliding deep.
Her breath shortened, her heartbeat thundered and the friction within sizzled.
“Griffin!”
“Go,” he urged, his voice a rasp of urgency. “Let go, Nicole.”
“With you,” she said, just as desperately, feeling her climax begin to crash down on her. “Both of us.”
He laughed harshly. “Stubborn woman.”
“Oh, yeah,” she agreed, then clutched his behind and pulled him tightly to her just as they exploded together and rode that flash of heat as it consumed them.
*
A few minutes later, they were sprawled in the hot tub, grinning at each other, and Griffin realized he’d never enjoyed himself with a woman as much as he just had. Fling or not, there was more of a connection with Nicole than he’d ever had before, too.
They’d been friends first, he thought and maybe that was the difference. The question was, now that they’d had each other, would they still be friends?
“That was…” Nicole said, floating lazily in the water.
“Yeah, it really was,” Griffin told her, reaching out to stroke one hand along the length of her body.
She shivered. And turned her head to look at him. “Oh, now you’re just teasing me.”
“Just keeping you in the mood.”
“No worries there,” she said on a sigh, “the way I feel right now…”
“Now who’s teasing?” he asked and grabbed her ankle to pull her closer.
She wrapped one arm around his neck and slid her free hand down across his chest. “I can see why you like this hot tub so much. It’s great,” she said.
“It is
now,
” he told her and caught her hand in his. Her fingers were long, slender. Her eyes were swimming with the glaze of spent passion and banked fires.
He could hardly believe what had just happened. He’d known Nicole for more than a year, and yet now, it was all different. Of course…
He chuckled. “Y’know, if Katie ever hears about this, she’ll kill me.”
“Oh,” Nicole said lightly, “Katie won’t find out from me. I don’t want
anyone
to know.”
He just looked at her. Griffin didn’t know if he was excited by a secret affair or insulted that she was so determined to keep him hidden.
“I mean, really,” Nicole continued, leaning into him, “I’m in no hurry to tell people that I blackmailed a man into a night of sex, which I completely did—because you
so
owed me for the kitchen.”
That was something, he supposed. Not that she was trying to hide him so much as she was trying to avoid mention of blackmail. Then he asked, “So have I paid my debt?”
“It’s a good down payment,” she told him with a smile.
“Yeah?” He grinned at her. “Well, it
was
a hell of a fire.”
“Exactly. Might take a little while to settle up.”
“I’m a man who pays my debts,” he told her.
“Glad to hear it.”
He sensed that she was ready for more, and God knew he was. He couldn’t remember any other time when he’d been this hungry for a woman. When just the brush of her hand against his skin was damn near molten.
No, there’d never been another like Nicole. And when he was capable of rational thought again, he’d have to spend some time considering what that might mean. But for now…