"What about what you need? That doesn't exactly support this baby steps program you've set up for yourself."
"That doesn't matter right now. I just don't want to open Carol up to that when you're leaving so soon...it's better just not to upset her."
"But people will know we're hanging out. I don't plan on just being a back door man...unless you're into that kind of thing," he said with a wink.
She rolled her eyes. "Can you be serious for even a second?"
"Hmm, let me try." He schooled his face into a stern mask, holding it for two seconds, then grinning at her. "How was that?"
Althea couldn't hold in her laugh.
"Not bad. But you need to do more reps. Improve your stamina."
"You'll find I have great stamina and there are some things I'm incredibly serious about. Giving you pleasure and happiness over these two weeks is definitely one of them. In fact, I hope to make you a little less serious by the time I leave."
"That's a lofty goal."
"And in the interest of seriousness, I'm not sure how we can keep ourselves secret."
"We won't need to hide from each other or anything. Yes, people will know I'm spending time with you, but you were Jack's friend, that's expected." Griffen cringed at the mention of Jack. "They just won't know that we're spending time together."
"Is that what the kids are calling it these days? 'Time’? "
"Honestly," she said, "I have no idea what they call it. Not sure what they ever really called it. I'm not exactly...experienced." He raised an eyebrow and she looked away with an embarrassed wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. "So now let's, uh, get to business."
"Are you sure about this? You seem kind of...nervous."
"What? Nervous? No." Griffen raised an eyebrow at her and examined the way she shifted her weight back from one foot to the other and looked everywhere in the suite but at him.
"Really?"
"Okay, yes, I'm a little nervous. But I do want to do this, I just have no idea how to start this."
"Just enjoy it. Let me make you feel good."
"I appreciate your confidence, but..."
"Just leave everything to me tonight. How about that? I would love nothing more than to help you get started, gorgeous." She let out a delicious squeak as Griffen placed a hand at the small of her back and pulled her quickly to him.
"You do know we've done this before, right?" Griffen continued.
"Yeah, I was there, thanks," she laughed.
"Good, I would hate to be totally forgettable." He stroked her cheek with his hand and kissed her slowly. "You were pretty bold last night."
"That's when I thought I'd never see you again. When I could pretend to be someone else. Now? It's just me."
"I think you're pretending if you act like you aren't a beautiful, confident, sexy woman. You're pretending if you act like you have no desires." Griffen backed away and fiddled with his laptop until the soft tones of David Gray started to fill the room. "Come on, room service won't be here for a while. Let's dance," he said, pulling her softly against him.
"Um, I'm pretty klutzy, I hope you aren't terribly attached to your toes."
"I'm tough. Besides, we can go old school." He placed her hands around his neck and hugged his arms around her waist, swaying them gently back and forth.
"So when you said old school, you meant middle school," she said with a laugh.
"Yep. You know how to sway, right?" he asked, dipping his head into the crook of her neck, reveling in how fresh and warm she smelled. It was something like jasmine and cherries, but very clean and all Althea. "We can pretend like I have a crush on you and finally got the nerve to ask you to dance."
"Oh boy, the jock asks the nerd to dance. That really was my eighth grade fantasy."
"I don't like you fantasizing about other jocks."
"Oh, don't worry, I was dreaming of you the whole time. Even though I hadn't met you, you were a glimmer in my eye. Is that better?"
"Much better," he smiled. "Now, if we want to be authentic to me in eighth grade, I would be trying to do this." Griffen gently crept his hands up, curling them under the swells of her beautiful breasts.
She playfully squirmed and nudged his hands down. "Do you want to get me put in detention?"
"I can punish you if that's what you're into, but I was more hoping to get to feel these a bit more," he answered, lifting his hands again, this time caressing her breasts.
"Well, if we were really true to my eighth grade experience — or most of high school for that matter — you'd still be searching for something to cop a feel of."
"Hmm?" he said leaning forward and pulling the V-neck of her jersey dress down until it revealed her breasts encased in a lacy pink bra. He licked her nipple through it and she gasped. "Were you a late bloomer, gorgeous?"
"The latest."
"Well, good things come to those who wait. You're amazing," he murmured as he licked over to her other breast, yanking down her bra and using the straps to hold her arms in place. He pulled her dress further down, kissing and licking her stomach. She expelled a frustrated moan, "Gri-iffen?"
"Need something, gorgeous?"
"More," was all he heard her squeeze out.
"Patience, baby. You ran out on me this morning, then I had to watch your cute ass scurrying away from me for hours. Made me wait all day to taste, tease and touch you. To make your body mine again. So, I want to take my time."
"Please!"
"We've already moved well into high school, gorgeous. Are you trying to graduate already?" His strong hands were kneading the cheeks of her ass while his lips kept moving further down her stomach.
"Yes. Please. More."
"My three favorite words." Griffen yanked down her dress the rest of the way, grabbing her panties with it. It may have ripped, but he didn't care. She was still detained by her bra, standing naked but for her heels and he reveled to see her embarrassment almost completely gone.
Griffen stared at her for a minute.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
He swallowed. "Everything's wonderful. I just like looking at you like this. So pretty." With one movement he picked her up and laid her on the nearby bed. Griffen kissed her slowly, stroking down her neck to her perfect breasts. "I was thinking about your body all day. I woke up and you were gone. I was going to find you and bring you back here."
"I would have liked that," she sighed.
Her words surprised him. Griffen looked up from the valley between her breasts and kissed down her stomach. "Were you thinking about me today, gorgeous? What we did together. What you want me to do to you?"
"Ye-es."
"What were you imagining I would do to you?" He licked down past her belly button and she moaned as he edged closer to her sex. She arched her back, pushing into him.
"I wanted you to kiss me," she panted, starting to writhe unabashedly against him.
"I am kissing you, gorgeous," he said as he deliberately diverted his mouth away from her center, moving down to her thighs and then laying sweet kisses on her knees. He kissed his way back up to the three birds tattooed on her hip. "Must say, this tattoo surprised me last night."
"Jenna, Aubrey and I got them Jenna's senior year before she graduated and left us," she gasped out.
"It's sexy as hell. Now, where was I? Oh yes, I was kissing you," he whispered as he gently kissed across her hipbone and nibbled the sensitive flesh.
"No, I want you to kiss me...somewhere else."
"Don't be shy, tell me," he wanted to hear her say it, needed to hear that sweet mouth turn dirty for him. He kissed up even closer to her mound now, licking her inner thighs and blowing against them until she shuddered.
Althea groaned in apparent frustration, grabbing him by the hair and thrusting his head up to look in her eyes. "I want you to put your tongue inside me, Griffen. Now!"
"I thought you'd never ask, gorgeous," he smiled, descend
ing upon her glistening pussy and thrusting his tongue deep and hard in her from the beginning, rubbing her clit in tight circles with two fingers.
"Oh, Griffen, yes!"
He hummed against her, loved that she was losing some of her carefully maintained control for him, only him. She clutched his hair tightly and he pulled his hand out from under her ass, thrusting two fingers in her, swiping long licks up her sex and pressing into the soft special place inside her until she screamed.
"I want you inside me Griffen, please!"
Griffen grabbed the condom he'd left on the bed in hopes of this moment and suited up so he could thrust in her before her orgasm subsided. She kissed his mouth hard, moaning into him. He was thrilled to feel her wrap her legs around him and roll them both over so she was on top.
"Getting bold again, gorgeous," he whispered, looking in her eyes. "I like that."
She sat astride him, her breasts thrusting into his hands as she slid up and down his length. Griffen shifted the angle so she would moan even louder. He could feel her clenching around him again.
"Now gorgeous, come with me, now." He reached down and touched her clit setting her off like a rocket again. He thrust deeply up into her one more time as they flew into space together.
Althea and Griffen were resting lightly after coming down from their orgasms when a polite knock came across the suite door.
"That would be room service." Griffen slipped out of bed and pulled on a fluffy robe, handing one to Althea as well, with a soft kiss on the forehead. "You better cover up, no need to give the waiter too much of a thrill." He opened the door and wheeled in the tray.
"Griffen, look at all these yummy sweets! Chocolate meringue pie, strawberries, fresh whipped cream, hot chocolate. Wow, I love all these things! And champagne, too? This is too much."
Griffen felt warm and happy to see her relaxed and sexy from their lovemaking, clearly delighted at such a small gesture of thoughtfulness. He felt his heart tighten at the realization that it had probably been years since she'd let someone do something just for her pleasure. After handing her a glass of champagne, he took a fork and cut through the pie to fix her a perfect bite.
"Here, try it," he said slipping the bite between her white teeth and groaning a little as her little pink tongue licked her lips and she moaned softly. She had just drained him dry but his cock acted as if it hadn't had attention for months. This woman would be the most delicious death of him, but what a way to go.
She gradually opened her eyes. "Griffen, that is a total mouth-gasm. I didn't even know you could get good chocolate meringue pie north of the Mason Dixon line."
"I had the hotel's pastry chef make it especially for you. I owe him a box of autographed Cade Jackson books."
"For real? You must've been pretty confident I'd accept your offer."
"Hopeful is a better word."
"What if I refused? Never showed up?"
"I guess I would've drowned my disappointment in this pie." He looked down at the pie and made a face until Althea laughed out loud.
She smacked his chest and he grunted and laughed at her childish glee. "How'd you know? I mean these are all my favorite sweets. And I really like sweets."
Griffen felt a little guilty taking all the credit and said, "Full disclosure? Jenna and Aubrey may have given me a crash course on all things Althea."
"When they gave you a ride here after the party?"
"Uh, yeah, and I would say the emphasis was on the crash part of the course," he grimaced.
She rolled her eyes. "Aubrey's driving can be a little terrifying."
"Definitely. But it was really helpful information, though it does sound like you have a sweet tooth, half the tips were sugar and chocolate related," he smiled, moving the pie to the bedside table so he could pull her against his body. "Amongst other things," he said as he smirked and then kissed her deeply. "Yup, definitely sweet."
"Oh brother," she rolled her eyes. "I don't want to know what else they told you. Oh God," her eyes widened, "nothing sexual I hope!"
"A gentleman never tells."
"Ugh, they did say sex stuff, didn't they? They can't seem to keep their noses out of things, can they?"
"Definitely not, but I'm grateful for the help. You know, beyond Aubrey's driving those two can be kind of scary. You better put a good word in for me with them or I expect to find a horse head in my bed," he said with a smile.
"Oh, I know. Trust me. They're intense, but they mean well."
"They do. They love you. You're lucky to have friends like that." His throat caught unexpectedly. He hasn't had any true friends since Jack.
"Seriously, you didn't need to do all this. I'm not really used to it."
"All the more reason that I have to do it." He kissed her slowly, gently. "You're taking a chance on me, let me spoil you, please."
"All right, let me think about it...okay!" she said with a laugh.
"Good." He kissed her again. "Hmm, so sweet. I need to try some of this chocolate for myself," he whispered, reaching over and scooping up chocolate from the pie then rubbing it in circles over her taut nipples. He licked gently and sucked harder. "Mmm, you're right, this is delicious." He scooped up some meringue and dotted a trail of it down her flat stomach and sucked and nibbled at her soft flesh all the way down to her pussy.
"Griffen, what are you doing?" she panted. "Is this that stamina you were bragging about?"
He chuckled against her inner thighs as he started to lose himself in her scent again.
"Apparently so. I don't think I can ever stop with you, Althea."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Griffen looked down at the lockbox he'd dug out from underneath his mom's old deck. His classes didn't start until the next day and Althea had to go to work, such that he was left with no more excuses.
Griffen knew he couldn't keep hiding from his childhood home and the torturous memories that permeated each square inch of it. He had to come to this spot, the place where he and Jack had spent so much of their time together growing up.
His mother still lived in the same 1920s era row house he'd grown up in. He'd tried to persuade her to let him buy her a beautiful mansion in Sewickley Heights out of town but she wouldn't hear of it. He'd even tried to persuade her to move to one of the homes on the other side of Mt. Washington where Jack's mom and Althea lived. She could drink a glass of wine and look out over world famous views of the city, without having to step on floorboards that had once supported his father's angry steps. No longer clean a kitchen where she'd gotten icepacks for another black eye received at the hands of the cruelest, most bitter person they'd ever known.
But she wouldn't hear of it. This was her parents' home and the place where she'd raised Griffen. He could never persuade her to leave.
She'd finally caved on letting him pay to have it updated and remodeled, with top of the line security installed. Even though she let him get their old deck refurbished, it still looked the same as when he and Jack would sit underneath it for hours on end, hiding from his father, laughing, talking about girls.
How many times had they pulled away the lattice until they could squeeze through so they could play here after school? They'd both grown up on Mt. Washington, except Jack had been on the good side, not the poor side where Griffen lived. Jack looked out at a city with everything to offer, while Griffen and his mother simply saw patchy pieces of brown grass and his father's empty beer cans. Life for them had been bleak and poor.
So much had changed, so much had been lost.
Jack was gone.
Griffen's bastard of a father was gone.
But this box and all it represented of his friendship with Jack still remained.
Griffen reached into his pocket and pulled out his keychain. It was still on there, the tiny padlock key. He and Jack had both had one. His hand was shaking and his eyes were blurry with tears as he pushed it into the lock, praying it would still work, yet praying t
hat maybe it wouldn't. Before he could second-guess his courage, he heard a soft click and the lock popped. He removed it and flipped open the lid.
Through tears, he felt a smile form at the contents. When they were little, he and Jack would hide candy here, baseball cards, little pieces of buried treasure they would find when they played pirates. As they got older, they would hide beer and other contraband in this locked steel chest. In it he found Playboys, pictures of the two of them together, some of the old candy and baseball cards they'd been too sentimental to remove.
Griffen's breath caught when he came upon his own handwritten scrawl in several spiral bound notebooks. These were the stories they wrote together for over 10 years. Griffen flipped through the notebooks. They were exciting stories, developing in sophistication as each scribbled year on the top right corners reflected how they were getting older. The stories were exciting, but they were also thoughtful and emotional, so different from what he'd made his millions writing.
They'd had to hide them, knowing Griffen's dad would make sure to beat the shit out of him whenever he found out he was wasting his time writing when he should be practicing football.
Dear ole Dad had been a star in high school. A quarterback phenom, but everything stopped short for him his senior year when he knocked up Griffen's mom and blew out his knee. He'd lost his chance at a football scholarship, settling instead for whatever factory jobs still remained after the steel industry had already deserted Pittsburgh.
Maybe he'd been something once, maybe he'd been charming, but all Griffen knew was an angry, frustrated monster.
The smell of the wood, the dirt, the way the sun shone against the house all took Griffen back to a place he hated. He twisted a notebook in his hands, the memories beating him like so many punches and belt whippings from his dad. The pain still felt real, so fresh. All he had to do was look at the dip of the backyard into the hill and he felt his father's hot drunk breath against his hair.
Three Rivers (A Gateway to Love Novel) Page 12