Awakening: The Deception Trilogy, Book 2

by Fallon Hart

  I’d sat quietly through their discussions, feeling cold and remote.

  My aloof attitude seemed to irritate Griffin (bonus points) and confuse Amelia. I didn’t mean to distress my friend but until I could get through these first rocky weeks with Griff, I wasn’t someone anyone would want to be around. I explained to Amelia in a text the next day and she said she understood.

  So my friend was giving me space.

  As a consequence I was lonely as hell all over again.

  The Monday we got back I’d bumped into Bryce at the spa. It felt nice to talk to someone who wanted to spend time with me and didn’t know anything about what was going on between me and my husband. My loneliness got the better of me and I found myself lingering. In fact Bryce and I hung out for hours, talking, and word had gotten back to Griff. As I was getting into bed that night I received a text message from my husband.

  Not with one of my members.

  It took everything within me not to march down the hall to his bedroom and throw my cell at his head. I wasn’t coming on to Bryce! We shared similar interests and I liked him. Was he the man that was going to help me get over Griffin? No. I expected that I would need to meet a man with whom I shared a similar heady attraction for it to be powerful enough to remove Griff from the hot blood in my veins.

  Suffice it to say I did not respond to Griff’s text message.

  A knock at the sitting room door brought my head around. Xavier walked in with a brown package. “A parcel for you, Mrs. Mandeville.”

  I still could not get used to being called Mrs. Mandeville. My smile was a little wan as I took the package from Xavier. When he left I tore the perforation on the cardboard and a book slid out.

  Love in the Time of Cholera to be exact. I didn’t know how Griff would feel about me adding to the club’s library. The book certainly wasn’t a favorite of mine but it was Bryce’s favorite and Griff was supposed to be all about catering to its members. Excited to see what Bryce’s reaction would be I went downstairs with the book in hand.

  Since returning from Martha’s Vineyard I’d called around many of the libraries in the Greater Boston area but there were no job openings. I was very close to giving in and asking Amelia if she knew anyone who could pull some strings for me. The thought made me pause. Was I already getting too used to life as a Mandeville?

  Hmm.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  The doors to the club opened thirty minutes before my descent downstairs so there were already a few members milling around. For the most part curiosity around me hadn’t waned. If anything, now that I was officially Griff’s wife, I felt interested stares follow me as I moved through the club. I wondered if I was a bit of mystery since I was rarely seen with Griff? Months ago he’d promised me he’d show me the hazard room when it was buzzing with members and activity, but he’d never fulfilled that promise.

  I nodded hello to an older couple who were enjoying tea in the foyer with their newspapers and made my way into the library. There were only two people there. An older woman perusing the shelves and a man sitting in an armchair reading.

  The man was Bryce.

  I shook my head, smiling in affection. He still wasn’t mastering the art of networking quite yet. I walked over to him and his gaze wandered up my legs before flying upward to my face. He gave me a wide, welcoming smile. “Hey, you.”

  “I come bearing a gift.” I whipped the book out from behind my back and handed it to him. “The librarian in me needed to follow through.”

  Bryce’s eyes lit up. “You got me a copy?”

  Grinning, I slid into the armchair next to his and watched as the older woman nodded hello to us as she left with a book in her arms. “To be honest, I’m surprised you don’t have a copy.”

  “I do. A very dog-eared worn copy that used to belong to my father.” He shrugged. “I was just looking for something to read in here last week, that’s all.”

  “Oh well then,” I reached for the book, “I’ll just send this back.”

  He grinned at my teasing and held the book out of reach. “No way. It’s comforting to know it’ll be here when I visit the club. I get the impression it’s not a title Mandeville would normally have in his library.”

  I shrugged. “Well I’m his wife now and a librarian to boot so he should have expected I’d meddle in here.”

  “But you don’t like the book either.”

  “A good librarian caters to her patrons needs and not her own.”

  Bryce chuckled. “Very well said.”

  He studied me a long moment until I squirmed in my chair. “What?”

  “I’m sure you’ve noticed your husband and I aren’t exactly the same kind of men. I wasn’t sure I liked him. However, I see him in a different light now, knowing he married a woman like you.”

  I frowned. “How so?”

  “Well I’ve met some of the women he’s dated and he had a type. Smart, funny librarian wasn’t it.”

  “What was?” I hated how curious I was.

  “Vapid. If they were intelligent they obviously thought Mandeville didn’t want to know about it. They were mostly social climbers. I don’t know if he’s ever dated a society brat. Most of those women, however you feel about them, aren’t afraid of showing their intelligence so I doubt it since Mandeville seemed to choose women that, I guess now in retrospect, he could easily discard.”

  That sounded like Griff. Except, of course, Kiersten, the society ‘brat’ he had indeed dated. “That’s a little harsh. Women are more than what they seem. Plus, a lot of those women were beautiful.” I’d Googled them. Including Kiersten Van De Beer, a stunning blonde who shared more than a passing resemblance to the model Rosie Huntington.

  “Sure, they were gorgeous. But they weren’t exciting.” He reached over and gently tapped the side of my temple as he stared unsettlingly deep into my eyes. “It’s what’s up here that makes a woman exciting.”

  His fingers trailed down my cheekbone and I snapped back in my seat away from his touch.

  “It’s bad form, Bryce,” Griff’s voice suddenly filled the room, and my head jerked toward him as he sauntered casually into the library, “To flirt with another man’s wife. Crass even considering she’s a newlywed.”

  Bryce colored as he shot to his feet. “Griff. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  Griff’s eyes narrowed dangerously and I got slowly to my feet, sensing the anger pulsating from him. “Only my friends call me Griff. You may call me Mandeville.”

  Oh hell. He was in ice-cold lord of the manor mode. “Griff—” he cut me off with a mere look.

  I bit my lip.

  “Bryce, leave me alone with my wife. Rutherford was looking for you earlier. He’s in the drawing room with his son.”

  To Griff’s obvious increasing displeasure Bryce looked at me instead, silently asking me, it seemed, if I was okay to be left alone with my husband.

  To be honest I was pretty annoyed. Whatever was going on with me and Griff, I knew he’d never hurt me and Bryce’s silent insinuation that I needed to be protected from him irritated me.

  As did him suddenly flirting with me.

  Was it impossible for a man to believe a woman just wanted to be friends?

  I scowled at him for putting me in this predicament. I’d liked hanging out with him and now he’d made that difficult. “You should leave.”

  His brows pinched together but he nodded. “Thanks for the book. It was sweet.”

  I almost winced under Griff’s accusing stare.

  When I gave no response Bryce finally marched out of the room. Instead of turning on me like I’d expected, Griff strode toward the door. I thought he was leaving after all, but then he slammed it shut. And turned the lock.

  Oh crap.

  Trying to muster some self-righteous indignation at his deliberate attempt to intimidate me I huffed, “Are you spying on me?”

  “No.” He slowly spun around and glared at me. “Pete told me yo
u were in here with Bryce. Again.”

  Suspicion niggled at me. “Let me guess… he told you I was at the spa with Bryce too?”

  Griff paused a second.

  I let out a growl of annoyance. “Did it ever occur to you that your factotum is a troublemaker?”

  Suddenly he stalked across the room toward me. I stumbled backward until he trapped me against the wall. He placed his hands on the wall at either side of my head, caging me in. “There wouldn’t be any trouble to make if you’d stop flirting with fucking Bryce McKellan.”

  “I’m not flirting with him,” I seethed. And not just because I was mad at him for being overbearing and at Pete for being a sneaky bastard, but at myself. Because my skin was hot, my heart was racing, and I throbbed between my legs, aching for his touch.

  He guffawed. “I’ve found you with him three times in the last week and I walk in now to see him coming onto you.”

  “That’s the first time he’s blatantly flirted with me like that,” I snapped, pushing at his chest. “Back off.”

  Instead Griff pressed into me until I had no choice but to drop my hands. He crushed me against the wall, his chest against my breasts, and I gasped at the feel of his erection digging into my stomach. His warm breath whispered against my ear as he murmured, “Was he the chosen one, Scarlett? The one to fuck you until I’m erased?”

  I flushed with want, his words causing that magic tingle of excitement between my legs. “What do you care?” I asked a little breathlessly.

  “That’s the problem,” he murmured, lifting his head to look into my eyes. “Because the idea of another man shoving his cock inside you makes me want to hit something.”

  My sex clenched at his confession and I felt a rush of wet. “There is a solution to that.”

  “Hmm.” He clenched his jaw as he rubbed himself against me. He squeezed his eyes closed and I wondered what he was doing. I realized quickly he was trying to pull himself together when he shuddered and pushed away from me.

  Disappointment flooded me. “You’re a vagina tease, Griff.”

  His eyes flew open in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”

  His question was so uppity it made me smile through my pain. “I said you’re a vagina tease.”

  Griff’s gaze dropped to between my legs and a flush appeared high on his cheeks. “Are you saying you’re already wet?”

  Him just asking me that made me even more so. “Yes.” I pushed away from the wall and strode by him. “But not to worry. Bryce just made it clear he’s happy to take care of the problem.” I regretted the words as soon as I said them but I wouldn’t let him see that.

  A growl sounded from behind me, animalistic and shocking. Quite abruptly, I found myself being hauled around and none-too-gently slammed against his body. Before I could think Griff crushed my lips beneath his. It was a messy, wet, sexual kiss but I was his partner in need as I clung to his shoulders and took the punishing kiss.

  Griff let me up for air, his expression fierce. “Don’t ever use another man against me again.”

  “You bring out the worst in me,” I argued.

  In answer he gripped the fabric of my skirt and yanked it up. His other hand pushed between my thighs and his fingers roughly slipped beneath my underwear. He grunted in surprise, his nostrils flaring, as his fingers slid through the wet and were sucked into my tight channel. He stumbled against me and I gasped as pleasure cascaded down my spine as he began to fuck me with his fingers. “I also bring out the best.”

  My nails dug into his shoulders as I undulated against his touch. “Griff,” I moaned.

  “Fuck,” he panted against my mouth, “I forgot how tight your cunt is. How wet.” He leaned his forehead against mine and quickened the push and pull of his fingers inside of me. “Sweetest fucking pussy.”

  “Griff!”

  “Louder,” he demanded. “If he’s out there I want him to hear you.”

  I cried out as pleasure exploded in my lower belly, tingling down my legs. My inner muscles rippled around his fingers, wet soaking his hand as I came.

  “You want that?” Griff asked, his voice thick with need. “You like the idea of him overhearing us?”

  I shook my head, dazed my abrupt climax. “I like that you want him to hear us. That you want him to know it’s you giving me pleasure.”

  Something about that severed whatever was left of Griff’s control. I found myself sprawled on the floor of the library. My skirt was shoved up and my panties were whipped off. He pulled my shirt out of the waist of my skirt and pushed the fabric up around my neck. Then he yanked down my bra, freeing my breasts.

  I lay beneath him, clothes askew, and frantic with need as Griff unzipped his pants and pushed them down his hips, freeing his raging erection. He fumbled with a condom that he pulled out of his wallet, and eyed me hungrily as he rolled it up his fat, throbbing cock. I forgot how thick he was.

  “I need to see your tits.” He yanked the bra so hard it snapped and gave way. Licking his lower lip as he locked eyes with me Griff pushed inside. He pulled my thigh up around his hip and plunged.

  I cried out at the thick, burning invasion. I was still swollen from coming and his cock was too big, too overwhelming. “Griff.”

  His gaze burned. “Do you know how amazing you feel?” He groaned as he began to move.

  The burn started to abate.

  “Griff,” I moaned.

  And that was all it took. “I want to see those tits bounce.” He grabbed my other leg, took the backs of my thighs in hand and lifted my ass off the ground. Braced on his knees, he began to pound into me, the angle allowing his cock to hit this place inside of me that took me to the fricking moon.

  I forgot where I was as he grunted and huffed and watched my breasts jiggle with every hard thrust into me. I was vaguely aware of being pushed along the carpet with every one of his powerful drives. It burned my back. But I couldn’t care less. All I cared about was the fierceness of his possession, the excitement of being roughly fucked by a man who didn’t easily lose control, and the building exquisite tension inside my body every time his cock retreated out of my tight sex and then pushed back in against some kind of magic orgasm button.

  It was my g-spot.

  He was hitting my g-spot.

  “Tell me only I make you feel like this,” he demanded, his grip on my thighs almost painful. “Tell me it’s my cock you need.”

  “It’s yours,” I gasped, breathless.

  “Say it.”

  “Only your cock, Griff. Only you. I’m close!” I cried. “Don’t stop!”

  “When you masturbate,” he grunted, groaning loudly as he started to reach toward his own climax, “tell me it’s me you’re thinking about. Fuck, fuck… fuck, Scarlett.”

  “It’s you. Doing this to me. Always this… ah… ah…AH AH… GRIFF!” I screamed his name the tension inside hit breaking point, erupting in wave after wave of wet heat. My eyes rolled back in my head as my lower body was overtaken by a powerful climax.

  “Uh, fuck!” Griff stiffened between my legs as my inner muscles rippled in hard tugs around his cock. His cock swelled, creating a moment of impossible tightness inside me, and then I felt it pulse. He fell over me, his forehead between my breasts, his hips jerking and shuddering involuntarily as his cum filled the condom.

  Our heavy breathing echoed around the room and a languid, tingling satisfaction moved through my limbs.

  Oh God, I needed that. I bit my lip to stifle my delirious giggle.

  Then I felt Griff’s head move. He kissed the inner curve of my breast, his stubble scratching deliciously against my skin. Apparently the sweet kiss wasn’t enough because suddenly he wrapped his mouth around my turgid nipple.

  Overly sensitive, the feeling answered between my legs and he grunted as I squeezed around his semi-hard cock. I shifted my hips, not really surprised that I needed him again. Griff lifted his head and looked into my eyes. Watching me he undulated against me.

  “Griff.”
I reached for him, sliding my hand around his neck.

  “You want more?” he asked, his lids low over his sensual gaze.

  “Yes.”

  Suddenly he grimaced.

  “What?”

  “Three days since the wedding,” he said. “My willpower lasted three days.”

  I smiled, smug. “So it did.”

  Amusement flirted with his lips. “You seem very pleased with yourself.”

  “I just came extremely hard.”

  Griff laughed. “Not as hard as me. But you were louder.”

  I stiffened as I quickly remembered where we were. “Oh my God.” To my annoyance my husband seemed to find this hilarious. “It’s not funny. There are people out in the foyer.”

  He looked toward the door, satisfaction gleaming in his dark eyes. “I’m hoping McKellan is one of them.”

  I tightened my hold on his neck, forcing his gaze back to mine. “I never wanted him. I never flirted with him.”

  He considered this. “Were you serious? About finding another man?”

  “I don’t play games,” I answered. “I wasn’t lying. I really thought it might help.”

  “Help erase me,” he muttered angrily.

  “I didn’t mean that to sound so harsh.”

  Griff didn’t answer at first. Instead he gently slid out of me. He removed the condom and tied it off. Then he stood up to fix his trousers and I moved to right myself. “Stop,” he said.

  I paused, flushing as he perused me. “Griff.”

  “You look thoroughly fucked.” He threw the condom in the trashcan by the fireplace. At my raised eyebrows he promised, “I’ll have the maids empty it right away.”

  I blushed and moved to get up.

  “Stop.”

  “Griff,” I huffed.

  He came over me, staring down at me with hot eyes as he tucked his semi-hard cock back into his suit pants and slowly zipped himself up. He slid the heel of his palm over his straining dick.