Three Rivers (A Gateway to Love Novel)

by Barlow, Chloe T.

  It thrilled her to think that for just one night she could be someone else — not a boring mom or a lonely widow, but a glamorous, desirable woman who could hold her own with a delectable man such as Griffen. The thought that she could turn him inside out, make him want her, was more intoxicating than the strong cocktail in her hand.

  "So, what do you do?" she squeaked loudly, suddenly overcome by how quickly everything was getting away from her and by the pleasantly warm and thrilling sensation running through her from his touch.

  If the rest of him tastes as good as that thumb I need to stop being an idiot and make at least something happen tonight. She grabbed her manhattan from the bar and took a big gulp of it. Let's do this girl, she cheered to herself.

  Griffen laughed at how the woman in front of him so quickly switched from Jessica Rabbit to Jessica Fletcher, as he quickly gestured for the bartender to come over.

  "Another round, man? It's last call."

  Griffen nodded and watched his new best friend rush away to make their drinks, as his mind went back to how charming and unpretentious Althea was.

  She smiled at him with that sexy half smile of hers and his heart clenched again as she asked, "You know, what do you do — what is your day job? Since I can only assume you spend your nights interrogating other helpless women like myself." She gave Griffen a little raised eyebrow and a smirk and it hit him straight in his crotch. She was starting to open up and he could tell this was just going to get more fun.

  "I'm shocked, just shocked that you think so poorly of me. You're the only woman I'm interested in interrogating right now, nighttime or not, but as for how I spend my time when I'm not trying to monopolize yours...I'm in town for a couple weeks as a visiting professor at Pitt. Journalism and nonfiction writing."

  Okay, it's true for now, he thought to himself.

  He didn't want to give her any indication that he was rolling in it. It was refreshing to be around a woman that didn't know who he was or what he had, and he wanted to keep it that way.

  "Pitt, really? What a coincidence."

  "Christ you aren't a Pitt student are you? Because picking up a Pitt student would not be the way to start off on the right foot," he laughed. "Even if it is just a short visit."

  "Oh no!" she laughed. "Pitt Law School. Class of '08."

  "So, this one's pretty obvious then, but I'll ask anyway. What do you do?"

  "I'm a lawyer," she grinned.

  "You don't say," he said sarcastically. "All right, now, what kind of lawyer are you?"

  "I do complex commercial litigation."

  "Big firm, little firm?"

  "Big global monster firm."

  "Exciting?"

  "Not really." He quirked an eyebrow at her.

  "Everyone pictures Boston Legal," she looked at his slightly confused face and added, "or whatever show about lawyers people are watching these days...but it's really one big company fighting another big company. I get into court and I find it interesting, so it works for me."

  When the fresh cocktails arrived they held them up to each other. "What should we drink to?" Griffen asked.

  "Baby steps," she said back to him.

  "Not sure what that means, but works for me. To baby steps and a beautiful woman in a helluva dress." She wore a cherry red dress that was low-cut and gathered provocatively around her breasts. It hugged all her curves in a way that made his hands itch to do the same. The straps were thick and soft and sat just right on her enticing shoulders. He wanted to bite those shoulders — and soon.

  "Oh, um, thanks," she said blushing.

  Christ, that blush is beautiful, he thought. He couldn't think of the last time he'd even seen a woman blush.

  "Well, it is some dress and you look great in it," he said, slowly perusing her red clad frame.

  She rolled her eyes. "I would've preferred jeans and a brow-beater but the girls hijacked my clothes too."

  "Brow-beater?"

  "Calling a ribbed tank top a 'wife beater' is misogynistic — so I say 'brow beater.'"

  He laughed. "I never thought of it that way, you're full of surprises."

  She winced, "Oh God."

  "What?"

  "I just realized how bad I am at this. I mean here is this great looking guy talking to me and I can't stop blathering on about stupid stuff like tank tops."

  He leaned forward and whispered, "I think you're doing great, gorgeous."

  "Yeah, swimmingly," she muttered sarcastically.

  "Let me guess. You're not used to this?"

  "Is it that obvious?"

  "A little. But it's sweet. Adorable."

  "Yup. Every girl's dream. Meet a handsome stranger and he thinks she acts like a newborn deer wobbling all over the place."

  "I didn't know newborn deer were sexy as hell. Because trust me, Althea, you are."

  "Oh. Thanks," she managed to breathe out.

  Griffen laughed despite himself and his seemingly never-ending supply of lustful thoughts. The sound was almost foreign to his own ears. He hadn't had much reason to laugh for a long time.

  "And trust me, you couldn't do anything to make me not want to rip your clothes off."

  "What?" she shrieked.

  "Don't get me wrong, you're funny, brilliant and completely charming. Add on that you're beautiful and sexy as hell and I'm pretty much at your mercy right now," he smirked. "I'm wondering if I should be worried about the power you have over me."

  "Really? Ah, no, I'm a sweetheart."

  "I'll hold you to that, Althea. In fact," he said, placing a hand at her lower back until she gasped, "I would like to hold you to a lot of things."

  "Ooh, that's a good line."

  "A line?" he asked, his hand leaving her back to rest on his chest, his brow furrowing in a perfect image of false hurt. "You wound me, gorgeous."

  "I'm sure your ego will recover."

  "I'm not sure, I may need a bit of special attention, just to be sure." She rolled her eyes at him again and he simply smirked right back at her.

  "All right, another question. Favorite movie?" he asked.

  "Chinatown."

  "Come on, actual favorite movie, not what you tell people to sound deep."

  She giggled. "Legally Blonde."

  "And the truth shall set her free," he teased. "Favorite song?"

  "In Your Eyes, but only in Say Anything." He raised an eyebrow and she whispered, "I've always had an unhealthy crush on John Cusack."

  "Hmm, now where am I going to find an enormous boom box in this century? Will it get you to come back to my hotel with me if I hold my iPhone over my head and play that song?" He started fiddling theatrically with the music controls on his iPhone.

  She choked on her manhattan and almost spilled it down her front. "Go back with you?"

  "Ooh, and I thought I slipped that in sneakily enough."

  "I thought slipping it in was why you were trying to get me to go back with you," she blurted without thinking. "Oh my God, I just said that out loud. Can we go back to talking about tank tops please?"

  "We can, but don't you think this is more interesting? I want you to leave with me tonight, Althea." He wasn't touching her but his nearness was driving her crazy. His lips were right next to her ear when he whispered, "Do you want to leave with me?"

  "Oh. Well, um." She knew her eyes belied her growing terror and nervousness.

  "Althea, I could give you a bunch of bogus reasons. Offer to show you the great view. To make you a signature cocktail or some other bullshit. But the truth is this bar is closing and I don't want to go to another one. I want to be alone with you. I'm just not ready to let you go. So will you come with me?"

  He was leaning close to her ear, his breath spreading across her cheek and the warm air sent a rush of heat through her that had her body flushing and her heart racing. She wasn't ready to let him go, either.

  The idea of being with him tonight suddenly seemed
more than tempting — it was necessary.

  No one had ever had this effect on her other than Jack. She knew she may never feel this way about someone again.

  Can't I just let myself have this? Just one night with no strings. Let myself pretend to be someone else. Someone bold? Someone free?

  Can I have just one night without fear and guilt, without crushing loneliness?

  Before she knew what she was doing, Althea turned her head slightly so their cheeks touched, sending another rush of electricity straight to her core. The wait seemed to go on for an eternity but her mouth finally said, ever so softly, "Okay."

  Griffen lowered his head next to her neck and breathed in deeply. "Thank you. So are you ready to go?"

  She raised her head so she could look into his crystal blue eyes, so full of desire and said with more courage than she felt, "Yes. I just need to tell my friends." She looked around and met their gaze. She jerked her head to beckon them to her until their eyes widened and they ran over.

  "So, I don't need a ride home," she whispered to them.

  "Oh, gotcha," Aubrey smirked at her, then quickly turning toward Griffen with narrowed eyes she asked, "Is our girl safe with you? You aren't a serial killer, are you? Don't lie to me, I can sniff out a liar."

  "No. She's completely safe with me."

  "Hmm, that is what a serial killer would say, but you seem honest. Here, let me take your picture. If anything happens to her — you're toast," Aubrey snapped a shot, looked at it and said, "hmm, can't see your butt in this one. I'm gonna need you to stand up and turn around."

  "Aubrey!" Althea interrupted. "I think that picture is more than enough. Behave."

  "All right, you know how to reach us," Jenna added. They kissed her cheeks and Jenna whispered in her ear so only she could hear, "You got this girl. We're proud of you and we're just a call away if you change your mind."

  After they walked away, Althea turned and stared at Griffen, making no move toward her purse. He leaned closer to her and whispered, "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, I'm really ready now." Althea looked at his out-stretched hand and slid her long fingers across his palm and resting her hand in his. She licked her dry lips and looked up at him, thrusting up her chin in a dramatic show of confidence she only half felt. "Let's go."

  As they walked out of the bar into the warm night air, Griffen placed a light hand to the small of her back and it awakened a world of nerve endings in her that had for too long been forgotten.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Griffen closed the door behind them and Althea gasped at his suite's panoramic view of the city. She walked slowly toward the back expanse of windows and looked out over its breathtaking view of the city and all three rivers.

  Dumbstruck by his palatial accommodations, she turned to him with a smirk on her face, "Some digs, stud. Professors must be doing better for themselves than back when I was in school."

  He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Uh, yeah. You've got to treat yourself once in a while, right?"

  "This is quite a treat. Don't worry, I won't ask. I figure you robbed a bank or something so I probably don't want to know," she said with a wink. If she was going to indulge herself and pretend to be someone else for the night, she couldn't worry herself with interrogating him. She looked back out the window, marveling at the spectacular view of the city and the calming rivers from his suite.

  "This is one helluva view." She turned and smiled at him shyly and she could see him swallow in response.

  Damn, even his Adam's apple is sexy.

  He stalked toward her, his blue eyes trained on her hazel ones, and she actually shivered. He just stood there in front of her and she could barely breathe. Underneath all his playfulness there was the hint of someone intense and only barely contained, and the combination was driving her deliciously crazy.

  Finally, he placed his hands on her shoulders and she released a little gasp. He gently slid them down the bare skin of her arms and she leaned her head back revealing her neck more fully to him as her hair fell away from her. Griffen nuzzled his face in her neck so that his masculine scent surrounded her, while his strong, warm hands rubbed purposely up and down her arms causing her insides to ignite like a wildfire. He gently kissed her neck, then teasingly bit her shoulder, and it was as though an electric shock shot straight to her core and she could feel herself becoming wet already.

  "Althea, you're incredible, you know that?" he asked as he moved his hands to her waist and pushed more fully against her, until his legs were snugly between her thighs and the cheeks of her ass were pressed against the cold glass. It was a stark contrast to the heat of his body and the intense warmth and wetness in her center. She imagined that if she pulled away there would be a steamy imprint of her back and ass against the glass and it made her feel beyond sexy.

  They were already breathing heavily when he whispered, "Looking at you against this glass, the city behind you — now that is one helluva view," he groaned against her ear, licking and nibbling her earlobe until she had to lean her dizzy head back against the cool glass for some relief.

  "Griffen...Oh! That feels so good," Althea whispered hoarsely, her voice slurring a little — whether it was from the drinks she'd had or arousal — she wasn't sure.

  "How drunk are you Althea?" he asked, leaning back, and his surprise growth of a conscience jarred her.

  "Excuse me? Don't you want me?" She suddenly felt shy and embarrassed, like her pretense was ripped away and she was just her same old stable self — no Althea, she was boring old "Sweet Tea" again.

  "Dammit, Althea. I want you like crazy, but I want to know you really want this, too."

  "I know what I'm doing, Griffen. I know what I want to do."

  "And what's that?"

  "You."

  Whoa. What brazen hussy said that? she asked herself as his answering groan made the muscles in her stomach squeeze tight.

  "Shit. You're so sexy Althea. But you're a good girl. I don't have a lot of experience with good girls. I'm not quite sure what to do here."

  Althea smirked at him, grabbing his butt and pulling him tightly against her center. "Something tells me you've done this before."

  Griffen laughed, "Yes, that's true. And I definitely have lots of ideas of what I'd like to do to you...with you. I meant I just want you to be sure."

  It was bizarre to Althea that this man, whom she'd followed to his hotel room after only just meeting him, could tell so easily that she was a good girl. Because he was right — she was one, always had been.

  "Yes, Griffen. I guess I've done my best to be a good girl my whole life. I also try to be a damn great woman. But tonight. Now. Here," she purred, enunciating each word with the scratching of her nails up and down his smooth cotton shirt, brushing his nipples until he groaned. "I just want to be...with you. What do you say?"

  "Yeah, gorgeous," he said, lightly brushing the fingertips of one hand down her face. Running them across her lips and resting them there. "We can definitely do that."

  Althea poked out her tongue and ran it across Griffen's fingertips. On a growl, he grabbed her ass in his free hand — squeezing hard — then releasing it to slide his hand at a painfully slow pace up to her waist. He clenched her to him for a moment and pushed her up against the window with the force of his body.

  She slowly looked up into his eyes and for a moment they were simply entranced with each other. He slid his fingers from her face to her neck and rested his hand there.

  Energy was humming between them, as if their blood and souls were reaching across the tiny pieces of air between them, electrifying it with desire, want, and anticipation of what was yet to come.

  "Are you just going to stare at me all night, stud?" Althea teased.

  "I was thinking about it," Griffen whispered huskily, looking in her eyes as he squeezed her ass again and pulled her up so her warm center rubbed against his erection. Her body hummed all over at the pleasure of
the tight pressure, fascinated by how hard he felt against her.

  "I can't say I would particularly mind, but first, I need another taste, and I want more than just your fingertips this time." Althea dug her soft fingers into his wavy, dark hair and pulled his mouth to hers.

  Their lips met and Althea felt like she was in the eye of a hurricane that had sucked her whole world into its vortex. So many years of denied passion and desperate loneliness spun around her in a frenzy, driving her insane. When suddenly, the sensual storm slowed — narrowing and concentrating itself inside of her, and in the exhilarating moment — to a world that was only the two of them together.

  Althea's ears were almost ringing, the intensity wrapping around her as she finally let go and simply descended into the sensations, into him.

  Althea was so desperate to expand this new and incredible awareness of his body that she ran her tongue over his teeth, and then dove into his mouth, deeper. Griffen growled again, pulling her hair until she looked at him again.

  "Wow," she panted.

  Griffen smirked and lightly grasped her jaw in his right hand, pulling her lips closer to his again so that his breath was tickling across her sensitized lips.

  "Well put," he whispered. Griffen used his hold on her hair to take over the kiss, running his tongue over her full lips. "Christ, woman, you even taste like cherries, how is that possible?" He kissed her again, then pulled back to say, "Perfect," against her lips, as they caught their breath again. "Everything about you is so fucking perfect."

  She moaned at his words and the pressure he was exerting against her feverish skin. He tilted her head to the side and attacked her mouth with a ferocity that had her feeling like she might burst from the sensation of electricity coursing through her fingertips, down to her toes, up to her core. His tongue passed over hers and explored her mouth in a way that made her feel she could barely move from the pleasure.

  The few brain cells functioning at the moment sent a lazy message to Althea that she should consider being embarrassed because she was probably going to climax right here, on his black slacks, before they even got to the good stuff. Though it was hard to imagine it getting much better than this.