by Fallon Hart
It didn’t matter if I had no right to feel betrayed.
I did.
The image of him kissing her flashed over my eyes again and a burn scored across my chest. Tears welled in my eyes and I cursed, bending over my sink, trying to catch my breath.
“Melanie!”
I tensed at the approaching sound of footsteps on marble and then the dull thud of them on my bedroom carpet.
“Melanie!”
My bathroom door handle rattled and I froze.
“Fuck, Melanie, let me in so I can explain,” Griff practically growled.
I hated him.
“There’s really nothing left to explain,” I bit out, brushing the stupid tears away. He wasn’t worth my tears! “It was pretty self-explanatory.”
“What you think was happening wasn’t happening. Fucking open the door.”
“Screw you!”
“Open the door. Now.”
Ignoring the warning in his voice, I leaned back against the sink and drawled casually, “If you’re not committed to the contract then I think I should be allowed some leeway, too. A woman has needs you know.”
There was silence.
And then his seething reply, “You dare, Melanie, and I’ll fucking kill whoever you let touch you. Now. Open. The. Fucking. Door.”
“There’s no need for that language.”
“She kissed me. I wasn’t expecting it.”
Renewed tears welled in my eyes and I had to swallow the burn of them in my throat. “You were certainly participating.”
More silence.
Then, “I was caught off guard and yes I let her kiss me.”
I glared at the door.
Bastard.
BASTARD!
“But I wouldn’t have gone further. The only reason I let her catch me off guard,” he bit out angrily, “Is because I’m being driven slowly mad by the worst case of blue balls I’ve ever had in my life!”
Ugh, I despised him!
“Then go fuck her then.”
“I don’t want her!” he roared, and a large thud banged against the door like he’d hit it. “Now open the door, Melanie!”
“Not until you calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm dow—” his words cut off and I braced, feeling extremely nervous about the silence. “You better stand back.”
THUD!
I let out a little squeak as the door rattled on its hinges.
“What are you doing?”
THUD!
THUD, crack, crack, THUD, crack—
“Griffin!”
And suddenly the door flew open, flying back against the wall with such force it almost came back at Griff as he strode in. He pushed it away from him and then stopped to stare at me like a baleful, panting bull.
Anger, need, lust, passion all blazed from his dark eyes, none of it hidden, all of it thrilling and terrifying at once.
My legs suddenly felt like jelly but I refused to be intimidated. I strode toward him on shaking legs and then past him, throwing over my shoulder, “Was that necessary?”
But I’d barely made it into the bedroom when I felt his grip on my arm and then suddenly I was pinned against the wall, his long, hard body pressing me there. I let out a cry of protest as he grabbed my wrists and pinned them at either side of my head.
To my utter confusion, my belly flipped so low and deep, I felt a rush of wet arousal slicken my sex. My breasts seemed to swell against his hard chest as he glared down into my upturned face.
I felt his hard cock against my stomach.
“Get off me,” the words came out hoarse and not forceful enough.
His hands squeezed my wrists. “That’s not what you want.”
“You don’t know what I want,” I hissed, pressing up against his hold but he was so much stronger than me. I tried to lift my knee so I could get him where it hurt, but my stupid pencil skirt and his long goddamn legs restrained me. “Get off!” I yelled in his face.
“Tell me you don’t want me,” he demanded.
I couldn’t. “Get off me.”
Instead he dipped his head to kiss me and I banged mine off the wall trying to escape him. “Try it and I’ll bite you.”
His eyes flared and he reached for my lips.
I bit out at him like an angry dog.
Griff’s hold tightened, his arousal pressing harder against me.
He tried again.
I bit out at him again.
As we glared at one another, however, my anger started to meld with my arousal and hot blood flushed impatiently through me until my mind was hazy with it. Until all I almost wanted to weep with frustration.
Weeks of wanting him.
Weeks.
Just take him, a voice whispered in my head. Just take him and be done with it.
I lunged against his hold but not to bite him. To crush my mouth against his.
Griff groaned, the sound rumbling pleasantly down my throat, and the kiss went wild. It was wet and voracious and almost brutal in its intensity as he took over the kiss and flooded me with his hunger.
My body swelled into his in response, dizzied by the notion that he wanted me as much as I wanted him—with a need that was out of control.
His hands released my wrists and he pulled back from the kiss, panting against my lips, as he gripped my skirt. Looking into my eyes, he roughly pushed the fabric up my thighs until it was bunched at my waist.
“I’m going to fuck you,” his breath came out in harsh, warm puffs against my lips as if he was struggling to catch it. “If you don’t want me to, tell me to stop.”
I should tell him to stop.
I knew I should.
But I was shaking so hard with need I knew I didn’t have the willpower to stop this.
Instead, free of the skirt’s tight fabric around my thighs, I widened my stance in invitation.
Relief and anticipation flared in Griff’s eyes. And then he was pushing my panties down. They tangled around my shoes and I kicked them away.
His fingers sought my sex and he grunted, deep and male, as they slipped over my clit. He dropped his forehead against mine and I felt him tremble. “You’re soaked. So fucking wet,” he kissed me, desperate. “I can’t wait. I can’t take this slow.”
“Then don’t.”
The words were barely out of my mouth before he was unzipping his trousers. He pushed them down, freeing his raging hard on, and then he gripped my left thigh in his hand. Cool air tingled between my legs for a brief second and then holding my inner thigh to his hip, he braced his other hand on the wall at my head and I felt his cock nudge me a second before he thrust into me.
As wet as I was, it had still been a very long time for me, and a pleasure burn of shock rioted through me. My cry filled the room as my head flew back against the wall. Fingers biting into Griff’s biceps, I gasped at the overwhelming, hard fullness of him throbbing inside of me.
Realizing he was holding still, I lowered my gaze from the ceiling to meet his.
His jaw was taut and there were a million questions in his eyes I was too far gone to wonder at. “Don’t stop,” I begged.
His fingers bit into my thigh as he pulled slightly out and then drove back into me. “Christ, you’re so tight, so fucking tight, ” he panted before kissing me roughly.
At first he glided in and out of me with barely controlled carefulness.
It wasn’t enough and I became someone else in that moment. A being of lust and addiction. “Fuck me, Griff,” I whispered against his mouth. “Please, just fuck me. I need you.”
What little control he’d had snapped instantly.
Each thrust came harder and deeper and faster, until I was clinging to him with desperation. Every time he pulled back a tingle of increasing sensation teased at the coiling tension inside me, and every drive of his cock was like a cinch on that coil, tightening, tightening…
“Oh God,” I undulated against his thrusts, my fingernails curled into his suit jacket as ou
r eyes locked.
“Come,” he grunted out.
I nodded, feeling the heat of my approaching climax flush up my body.
And just like that it exploded through me in a shattering of unfuckingbelievable pleasure. “Griff!” I screamed as my inner muscles clamped around his pounding cock. They rippled around his cock with such force his eyes widened.
His deep cry of release rung out around us as his hips shuddered and jerked against me, his cock throbbing and pulsing inside me as I felt the wet hot rush of his climax. Griff’s head dropped to my shoulder as he struggled to catch his breath. His cologne now mingled with the smell of sex and body heat.
The air almost steamed around us we were both so hot and damp with sweat.
Finally our breathing slowed and evened out and I shivered as reality set in.
The last few minutes played back in my mind.
Who had I just become? I didn’t recognize myself.
Biting at him like a feral animal.
Allowing lust to cloud my mind.
Sensing the change in my body, Griff lifted his head at the same time he lowered my leg and eased out of me. The mess he’d made between my thighs was a sharp, panic-stricken reminder of how out of control we’d been.
We hadn’t used protection.
My God, this man would make a fool out of me yet.
It was somewhat reassuring to see that Griff seemed as shell-shocked by what had just happened as I was.
“Are you alright?” he asked. His tone wasn’t tender but it was gentle. As if he was afraid he’d hurt me.
And although he’d hurt me emotionally he hadn’t physically.
It was quick. It was dirty.
And yet it was by far the best sex I’d ever had in my life.
However, it also frightened me how much I could lose control, lose myself, in my desire for him. It was unsettling to say the least.
“I’m fine.” I lowered my gaze, shoving the fabric of my pencil skirt down as Griff zipped his trousers back up.
“We didn’t use…” he bit off a curse as he staggered back, running a hand through his hair. “I’m clean. Are you?”
The question made me blush. “Of course.”
“I assume you’re on the pill and that we don’t need to worry about unwanted pregnancy?”
No, I wasn’t on the pill. I pushed away from the wall, heading toward the bathroom so he couldn’t see my face. I’d need to go to the pharmacy to get the morning-after pill.
“Melanie…”
I stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and glanced over my shoulder at him. “It wasn’t my place to berate you for kissing that woman.”
Griff’s eyes flashed dangerously and he let out of a huff of displeasure.
Unsure what that meant, I waited.
Finally he settled a glower firmly on me. “You reacted how any fiancé would which is all that matters, I suppose.”
Of course. The ruse.
“Why were you there?”
Remembering Pete Svenson, I sighed, “Svenson came to my room and entered without permission. He said he wanted to know why I was so special to you and that he didn’t like that I was distracting you. I asked him to leave repeatedly and he told me I wasn’t queen just yet. Thankfully, Xavier, appeared and Svenson left.”
Griff’s expression darkened at the news.
“You can ask Xavier to corroborate. I know Svenson is your factotum but I’m not comfortable living here while I know he has a keycard to the penthouse.”
He cut me a look of fury and I didn’t know if it was directed at me or Svenson. “I’ll deal with Pete, confiscate his card, and I’ll update the keycards just in case.”
“Thank you.”
“It won’t happen again, Melanie.”
Tension stretched taut and thick between us before he turned on his heel and strode out of my suite.
I didn’t dare to call after him, to ask if he meant Pete’s intrusion wouldn’t happen again… or the explosive sex?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Exhausted I’d dragged myself out of bed the next day and I grabbed a cab that took me to a Planned Parenthood near Allston. They gave me the morning-after pill and I’d taken another cab back to the club. I’d half expected questions from Griff that day about my whereabouts but I didn’t see him at all.
Upon asking Xavier I was told my fake fiancé was out on business for the day.
I put off Hayley’s second email about the Globe, and I stewed in my suite.
When no word came from Griff the next day, I agreed to join Hayley at a couple of bridal stores and finally declined the Boston Globe article. If it pissed Griff off I didn’t care.
The whole time I was distracted.
I kept replaying the sex over and over in my head.
Not only reliving it because it was spectacular but trying to figure out why he brought out this side of me I didn’t even know existed.
There was a part of me that suspected Griffin Mandeville had the ability to lower all my inhibitions and if he asked it of me I might be inclined to do it. Whatever it may be.
Surprising since I could be stubborn and combative toward him out of bed.
When day three stretched on with him avoiding me, hurt feelings I’d attempted to keep buried, sprung to the surface. And indignation.
Was he avoiding me because he regretted sleeping with a woman he thought was an escort?
Or was he really just worried about upsetting our business agreement?
If only he’d talk to me.
Reassure me.
Instead he treated me like a leper and not for the first time.
Moreover, his staff were growing curious, concerned and suspicion.
We were not acting like a newly engaged couple. Even Hayley had shown concern for me at my dress fitting because I was completely unable to hide my sadness.
The club only added to my melancholy so I decided to spend what was a beautiful summer’s day at the public garden and ignore my problems with Griff. We were supposed to be eloping to Martha’s Vineyard in a week but I was leaving everything up to him now.
My job was just to be there and show up.
Wearing a light summer dress and my espadrilles, I stepped out of the elevator and was strolling across the foyer toward the entrance when Wells called my name. I turned and saw him rushing out of the back staircase entrance and realized he’d used it because I was in the elevator.
“Miss Jennings, I just missed you upstairs. Mr. Mandeville is looking for you. He’s waiting for you in his office in his private apartments.”
Oh so now he wanted to see me.
Ignoring the thump of my heart and the butterflies he always elicited in my belly, I said thank you to Wells and headed back up the elevator. My pulse raced faster and faster as I strode toward his office in the penthouse.
It felt like forever since we’d seen each other and yet I could still remember vividly what it felt like to have him thrusting inside of me.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, I hesitated a second before knocking on his door.
What if he was reconsidering our agreement after all? What if he no longer wanted to marry me and was releasing me from the obligation?
The thought should have thrilled me.
It didn’t.
I raised my hand to knock on the door and saw it tremble. Frustrated by my emotions I clenched it into a tight fist and knocked.
“Come in.”
My skin flushed at the sound of his voice, making me feel even more ridiculous. Huffing under my breath I pushed open the door and walked in.
Griff was leaning against his desk, his ankles crossed and his hands braced on the edge. He wore an unreadable expression.
My heart skipped a beat as my eyes automatically zoomed in on that brooding mouth of his. I thought I detected a slight knowing curl to the corners of that mouth but when I looked into his eyes there was no sign of smug amusement.
“You rang?”
He ignored my sarcasm. “We have some things to discuss.”
I tensed. “Maybe you should be more specific.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked, the first sign of emotion. “Fine.” He turned slightly and picked up a file from his desk. Pushing up off the desk he crossed the room, obliterating the distance between us and obliterating any calm in my heart rate. I looked up into his beautiful eyes and that’s when I saw the anger.
The betrayal.
What…
He flipped open the folder and I flicked a glance at it and then him.
And then did a double take.
Inside the folder was a photo of me. Me, me. To be specific my staff I.D. photograph from my job at the public library here in South Boston.
That was because it was a print out from the old staff portfolio on our website.
I think I stopped breathing.
Reluctantly I dragged my gaze to Griff’s face.
He sneered, “Let’s start with who you really are… Scarlett.”
To be continued…
AWAKENING
THE DECEPTION TRILOGY, BOOK 2
First comes marriage, then comes desire...
The truth is out and now Griffin knows about my deception. Convincing him to continue our arrangement to keep my sister safe was relatively easy. Convincing him to put his faith in me again was near impossible. Griffin's not a man who trusts easily and my betrayal cut him deeper than he wants to admit.
I never intended to develop feelings for this man - this sexy, complicated, intriguing man. Feelings that are a betrayal to the man I lost long ago. And with Griffin taking wounded, caustic verbal swipes at me every chance he gets, those feelings feel like a betrayal of my self-worth. Just when I've decided I'll find another way to save Mel - that I can't live with a man who won't forgive me - everything I thought was truth turns into bitter lies.
Now everything is different but still the same. Griffin may have forgiven me but I've never felt more alone. Free to be who I really am with my new husband, it isn't long before the undeniable attraction between us sparks to life again. Suddenly I'm falling into a world of passion that has awoken me in ways I never imagined. I drown out my loneliness in his arms and as I finally discover who Griffin really is, we grow closer than I ever thought possible.