“She wouldn’t do any better with a tennis ball. I’ve tried sticks, chew toys, tennis balls. She has no interest in playing fetch. It’s almost as if she’s too smart to do that kind of repetitive game.”
“Then maybe she’d like to run with me.” Griffin took off the jacket Lily had loaned him and handed it to her.
“Let’s see what happens if I invite her for a run. Daisy, would you like to jog around the park with me?”
Daisy gave a short bark.
“I feel as if I’m in the middle of Lassie Come Home,” Griffin muttered. “Okay, come on, Daisy! Let’s run!” He took off and Daisy bounded beside him, mouth open, tongue flapping.
Lily had never seen her dog so happy. If a running partner was what Daisy needed, then Lily would have to become that running partner no matter how much she loathed the activity. On the positive side, she’d have to go shopping for running gear. Any activity that required shopping wasn’t all bad.
Meanwhile, Daisy and Griffin looked like a clip from a dog food commercial. The security lights surrounding the dog park illuminated their joyful romp around the perimeter. Griffin zigzagged as he ran, challenging Daisy to figure out which way he’d go next. At one point he spun in a circle and charged back the other way. Daisy turned like a professional sheepdog and was instantly back at Griffin’s side.
His laughter carried across the distance between them, and Lily was reminded how much she loved his laugh. It was the first thing that had drawn her to him. She’d heard that laugh in the din of the Bubbling Cauldron and wanted to know the man it belonged to.
When she’d spotted Griffin, she’d been struck by how well he matched his laugh. She would have pictured a man like him—solid of build, the kind of cropped hair favored by athletes and a good-humored twinkle in his hazel eyes. That good humor had gone missing when Griffin had encountered Brad, though.
She had to assume the elixir had made him uncharacteristically territorial. As she thought back over the meeting, she decided Griffin had opened the hostilities by being less than gracious during the introduction. Brad had escalated the unacknowledged battle, and then both of them had completely lost their charm.
Griffin’s charm was back in spades at the moment as he cavorted with Daisy. Lily wished she could have a video of this. Maybe if things worked out between them, she could bring a camera to the park some Saturday morning and get footage of Griffin playing with Daisy. They did seem to get along exceptionally well.
Well, duh, they should. Griffin was currently operating under a spell that included a massive dose of Daisy’s essence. No wonder he felt such a kinship with the dog, and she with him. Maybe once the spell wore off, they wouldn’t delight in each other so much. That was a depressing thought.
Griffin spread his arms and started zooming around like a stunt plane, complete with sound effects. Daisy loved it. When Griffin crouched down as if going into a dive, Daisy gathered herself and leaped over him. He tried it again, and she repeated the trick.
“Did you see that?” Griffin called out to Lily.
“I did!”
“This dog could be in a show!” Griffin made a large half circle using both arms, and sure enough Daisy leaped neatly through it. Griffin let out a whoop and dropped to his knees to ruffle her fur and scratch behind her ears.
Lily snorted softly to herself. All she had to do was learn to jump through hoops like Daisy, and Griffin would be enthralled. Just like a man.
Griffin and Daisy trotted up, both of them panting.
“How about that?” Griffin beamed at her. “Did you know she could do those tricks?”
“Can’t say that I did.”
He stroked the dog’s head. “Makes me wonder what else she knows.”
You would be amazed. But Lily thought it was a little early in the relationship to reveal her witch status and what she’d learned of Daisy’s magical tendencies. Lily had a theory about the leaping tricks. Daisy was bored with the usual doggie games like fetch, but once a human started playing with her, she became inspired to show off.
Not being the athletic type, Lily hadn’t brought out that side of Daisy. “Thanks for giving her such a great workout.”
“It was fun.” Griffin continued to fondle Daisy’s ears, but his caress slowed the longer he gazed at Lily. “I thought maybe if I wore myself out I wouldn’t want you so desperately.”
She didn’t have to ask how that was working out. His hazel eyes had once again begun to glow with lust. And his obvious emotional heat stirred an answering response in her. She swallowed. “We should walk to the corner and hail you a cab.”
“Please don’t.” He moved toward her. “At least not until I’ve kissed you. We can’t end this night without at least one kiss.”
“I think kissing would be a really bad idea.” Even so, she stood right there and let him pull her into his arms.
“I think it would be a really good idea.” His head lowered.
Behind him, Daisy whined.
“Daisy thinks so, too,” he said.
No doubt Daisy did think so. Lily wondered if by using Daisy’s essence for the spell, she’d unwittingly made Daisy a coconspirator in this match-up.
Then Griffin’s mouth touched hers, and every coherent thought melted. All her concerns, all her reservations, were swept away in a river of sensation. Needs that she’d been desperately trying to control flooded through her at an alarming rate.
She’d been kissed before, kissed a lot, in fact. Nothing had prepared her for Griffin’s all-out assault. From the moment his lips touched hers, she had no doubt of his ultimate objective. The urgency of the kiss delivered by any other man would have turned her off.
But Griffin knew what he was about. The skill with which he kissed her telegraphed the skill he would exhibit in the bedroom. What a dizzying prospect. She would be able to abandon herself to the experience because she had found a man who knew what he was doing.
Was it the spell that allowed him to know exactly how she needed to be kissed? Would it also guide him as to exactly how she needed to be loved?
As pleasure swirled through her, as she fought to keep her sanity, one question kept bubbling to the surface of her fevered brain. If she denied him on this fateful night, if she sent him away and allowed the spell to wear off, they might both miss the best sex of their lives.
Surely, given that circumstance, she would be forgiven for surrendering. Every woman, and especially every magical woman, deserved one perfect night.
Griffin lifted his mouth a fraction away from hers. His breath was warm and scented with chocolate-flavored coffee. “We need to go home.”
In some ways it was an odd thing to say. It was her home, not his, and certainly not theirs. But at the moment home meant being alone with him in a place where they could explore, taste, enjoy. She couldn’t refuse him.
“Yes, it’s time. Let’s go.”
Chapter 6
This time Griffin barely noticed the climb to the third floor. He was running on pure adrenaline and in sight of his goal. Once they were inside Lily’s apartment, he made sure the door was locked while she dragged Daisy’s bed out into the living room.
“Stay,” she said to the dog.
Then she caught Griffin’s hand, pulled him into her bedroom, and shut the door.
He took a quick inventory of his surroundings, noting the black enameled headboard and dresser, mood lighting that cast a fiery glow, red linens and a purple blanket. If Lily made love the way she decorated, he was in for one hell of a ride.
She might very well be that dramatic. He’d ditched the jacket in the living room, and she was already sliding her soft hands under his T-shirt. That gentle caress had incredible consequences. His cock instantly jerked to rigid, quivering attention.
It demanded to be served, but before his control disappeared entirely, he had to take care of business. Cupping her face in both hands, he leaned down to nibble her lower lip. “Condoms,” he murmured.
She tickl
ed her fingers through his chest hair and brushed them over his nipples. “Left-hand bedside table drawer.”
He groaned at the sensation of her hands on him. “That’s all I needed to know.” From that point on he was a man on a mission. His single-mindedness soon had her stretched on the red coverlet, wearing nothing but the silver hoops in her earlobes.
He’d kept her far too busy to undress him, so he nudged off his shoes, pulled off his T-shirt, and climbed into bed with her. The rest of his clothes would disappear in due time, but for now, he wanted to feast on the banquet that was Lily.
She was a study in contrasts—alabaster skin tinged with the rosy glow of arousal, accented by the midnight-black triangle concealing his ultimate destination.
His hungry gaze swept over her, lingering on the tempting pout of her nipples and the sweet indentation of her navel. His gaze dropped lower to a flash of dew-dropped pink amid the black curls. His pulse rate sky-rocketed. Yes, there.
Her voice was low and sultry. “Let me see you, Griffin.”
“I’m not nearly as exciting to look at as you are.”
She smiled. “That depends on your perspective. Take it off, Griffin. Take it all off.”
He did, and was gratified by the blatant eagerness in her expression.
“Now let me touch,” she said.
As if he would object. Stretching out on the bed next to her, his cock pointing at the ceiling, he invited her to explore. He’d never been with a woman who enjoyed the process this much. By the time she’d stroked, nibbled and licked her way over his hot skin, he was ready to explode.
At the very moment he decided to make her stop so he could salvage some staying power, she seemed to sense that he’d reached the end of his sexual rope. That kind of awareness in a woman was hard to find. He knew. He’d looked.
She slid up next to him, her body like velvet, her warmth issuing a siren’s call. “If I thought you could take it, I’d suck on your dick.”
He rolled to face her. “If I thought I could take it, I’d let you. But I have a better idea.”
“Ideas are good.”
“This one’s outstanding.” Easing her to her back, he began kissing his way down the length of her body.
Her breathing quickened the closer he drew to her flash point. “I think I know where this is going,” she said.
“Or coming.” He reached the object of his quest, a spot fragrant with pheromones. Gently he probed with his tongue, and she arched upward with a sharp gasp. This wouldn’t take very long.
He wanted—needed—to give her an orgasm before he lost himself completely in her heat. Once that happened, he couldn’t guarantee what he’d do. Knowing the urges driving him to bury his cock in her, he could become completely oblivious to her pleasure. He hoped not and that wasn’t like him, but with this woman, this level of lust, he couldn’t be sure.
And so he opened his mouth over her moist sweetness and used his tongue to send her into a frenzy. He loved the way she moaned, deep in her throat, as if his caress touched off a primitive reaction she couldn’t control. He didn’t want her to control it.
From the first moment he’d glimpsed her in the bar, he’d sensed something wild in her. That very wildness had made him back off and decide she wasn’t the one for him. Apparently he wasn’t that strong, because tonight he’d been blindsided by the compulsion to have her.
If this was to be his only night with Lily, he was going for broke. He was determined to arouse her wild side and discover what sort of woman she would become when the veneer of civilization had slipped away.
Making her climax was no challenge. But he wanted more than a mere orgasm. He wanted to turn her inside out and shatter her world, because he sensed that she was about to shatter his.
The ache in his loins was more powerful than anything he’d ever experienced. In order for her to be ready for that kind of intensity, in order for her to accept the vigor of his first thrust, she had to be wide open, her womb already pulsing in welcome.
And she would be. He felt the surge of orgasmic power building within her. She began to pant and utter breathless, pleading cries, as if she couldn’t get there fast enough. Sliding both hands under her hips, he lifted her up, which gave him even better access.
Her fingers dug into his scalp as she urged him on. He gloried in the force of her wanting as he plundered her riches, sucking her in, stroking her relentlessly with the flat of his tongue. She trembled, drew in a sharp breath, quivered again. He pressed down hard with his tongue and she came noisily, in a juicy, wonderful rush that filled him with even greater lust.
Another time he would kiss and lick and soothe her trembling vagina, but not now. Now marked that moment of desperation when he would die if he didn’t plunge into her. Leaving her moaning and undulating in the aftershock of her orgasm, he located the condoms in record time and put one on faster than he ever had in his life.
Quickly he moved between her quivering thighs, found that hot, wet center that he’d so recently abandoned and drove home. He barely recognized the bellow of triumph coming from him. The next few minutes were a blur of sensation as he began to thrust with increasing speed.
He was vaguely aware that she was tightening around him with every stroke, but he’d lost the ability to gauge whether she was ready to come or not. He no longer cared. His world centered on the pistonlike motion that carried him closer and closer to his personal nirvana.
Almost there. He pumped faster, breathing hard. Now. Yes. Now! He hurled himself into her, his body racked with tremors that left him gasping for air.
She cried out and lifted her hips. The constrictions of her climax stimulated his cock even more, increasing the pleasure until it bordered on pain. He groaned and sought to push even deeper into her rippling chamber. He couldn’t get enough of her. He’d never be able to get enough. Never.
Lily drifted in and out of sleep, but something wasn’t right. A heavy weight pressed her down and breathing normally was a struggle. Not only that, a warm breeze was coming from somewhere and it tickled her ear.
Eventually she roused herself enough to realize the weight was Griffin and he was out like a light. His head lay tucked against her shoulder, and that’s why a breeze tickled her ear.
She wasn’t surprised that he was asleep. That had been some session, and if he weren’t sprawled on top of her like a stone, she’d be asleep, too. Great sex could have that kind of effect on a person.
But this had been more than great sex. This had been life-altering sex, and it was all her fault. She waited for guilt to extinguish her post-great-sex glow, but for some reason, that didn’t happen.
Maybe she hadn’t done something so terrible, after all. She and Griffin liked the same coffee drink. They liked the same kind of dog. Sexually they were a terrific match. Relationships had been built on less than that.
Then again, she might not be thinking straight because she couldn’t get enough oxygen to her brain. Somehow she had to move Griffin before he crushed her. She’d like to move him without waking him, though.
All her rationalizations aside, she was slightly nervous about what life would be like for each of them now. With Griffin still asleep, she could paint a rosy picture of two compatible people enjoying each other’s company. She could forget about Anica’s dire warnings.
But she also had to breathe. She began by giving his shoulder a nudge. It was like trying to move a statue in Grant Park.
She might have to wake him up a little bit, just enough to get him to shift over on his own. If she shook him . . . She tried her best to accomplish a decent shake, but nothing happened. He wasn’t moving. She’d always liked the fact that he looked so solid, but now that he was both solid and unconscious, she faced a problem.
Wiggling out from under him didn’t work, either. She was pinned to the bed and her chest hurt. She called his name, but he didn’t respond. She called louder. Still no movement from Griffin.
If the sleep clinic at the Universit
y of Chicago needed a poster boy, Griffin would be their guy. She’d known good sleepers in her life but he was a world champion. Of course, this particular deep sleep might have more than a little magic going for it. After all, he’d just had the most significant sexual experience of his life. That sort of thing probably induced all sorts of heavy-duty sleep needs.
Unfortunately, she’d have to wake him up. Somehow. Reaching up, she took hold of his ear. “Griffin, wake up.” She pinched his ear gently.
He moaned softly but didn’t move even a centimeter.
“Griffin, sweetie, you have to move.” She threw the sweetie in there because she was about to inflict more pain. She pinched his ear really hard.
“Ow!” Scrambling up, he stared down at her in shock, his hazel eyes filled with accusation. “You pinched my ear!”
“Only because I couldn’t get you to move any other way. I’m sorry. I was suffocating with you lying on top of me.”
As he gazed down at her, all the irritation faded from his expression. “You’re so beautiful.”
She smiled. “Maybe sometimes, but not at the moment. At the moment I’m sure my makeup’s smeared and my hair’s a wreck. That’s nice of you to say, though.”
“I’m not saying it to be nice. You’re gorgeous. I could eat you up. But I need to grab a shower. Then I’ll follow up on that thought.”
Before she could open her mouth, he’d left the bed and disappeared into her bathroom. She turned her head and checked the bedside clock. Two fifteen in the morning, and Griffin sounded as if he was ready to go another round. Whew. Well, she could probably manage that, especially if she showered herself.
While she could sleep in, however, she’d be surprised if he could. She wasn’t a lawyer, but she’d watched TV shows about lawyers, and the job seemed to include a lot more pressure than her bartending duties. She didn’t think Griffin could afford to show up exhausted.
If the spell had worked, and by his reaction she had a feeling it had, then they’d have many more nights like this. They didn’t have to experience everything immediately, and they’d both probably enjoy themselves more if they got some rest.
Chick with a Charm Page 6