by Fallon Hart
“So I heard things are going well between you and Griff,” she said.
Frowning, I wondered how the hell she knew that. “Pardon?”
Amelia tittered. “Gossip travels fast around the club, Scarlett. Quentin’s a member, remember. One of his associates was at the club last night and he passed along to Quentin that everybody could hear you and Griffin having sex in the club library.”
Oh God.
I felt my skin flush hot. I’d hoped that those who had heard would be discreet. “Shit.”
My friend laughed. “Is Griff pissed?”
“Why would he be pissed?”
“That you made him lose control in front of his members. He doesn’t like his private business being passed around as gossip.”
Pissed wasn’t the impression I’d gotten from him. “No. If anything he looked pretty pleased with himself walking out of there.” I told her what had incited his loss of control—Bryce—and how he’d wanted Bryce to hear us.
This delighted Amelia. “Ooh he’s going all territorial on you. That’s a good sign.”
“It is?”
“Of course. I have never known him to be jealous. So… are you together-together now?”
“Amelia, you know it’s not that simple. We’ve decided to give in to our attraction but Griff has made it clear it’s just physical.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
I hadn’t ever had a girlfriend to talk to about these things but I sensed I could share with Amelia. “The sex is… phenomenal. Mind blowing. That alone could tempt a woman.”
“I sense a ‘but’?”
“I’m not going to push him. I’m not going to tell myself that sex will lead to love. But we certainly won’t get anywhere at all if we keep our distance. I feel something powerful for him. I’m not sure what it is yet but I want to explore it… even if it means risking my heart.”
“There have been women in Griff’s past who have had their heart broken by him because they had no idea they were taking a risk with him. They thought they’d be the one to make him fall. But it’s pretty brave of you walking into this knowing there is a huge chance you’ll get your heart broken.”
“My heart has already been broken so many times, I know I’m strong enough to withstand one more break.”
She sighed. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Yeah. Me neither.” Thinking about last night and Griff’s jealousy reminded me of something else. “Amelia, what do you know of Pete Svenson?”
“Griff’s factotum?”
“The very one.”
“Not a lot. I know Quentin doesn’t seem to like him very much.”
“Hmm.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“It’s just that he’s been inappropriate with me in the past. He and Griff had words about it but he made it clear to me that he didn’t want me to marry Griff and that he doesn’t want me around. He doesn’t know about our arrangement but I think he’s guessed something isn’t quite right. Maybe I’m being paranoid but I think he’s keeping an eye on me. Every time I had a chat with Bryce this week, suddenly Griff was there. That’s why he got angry in the library—he thought I was deliberately seeking out Bryce and flirting with him. When I asked how he knew where I was he said Pete told him. And not just that time. Does that sound like a coincidence to you?”
“No, that sounds like someone trying to cause trouble between you and Griff. Hmm.” She was silent a moment and then she muttered, “Why wouldn’t he want you around?”
“I don’t know. I thought maybe you might know something about him that could shed some light.”
“I don’t. But I’ll ask Quentin.”
“Oh no, don’t. I don’t want Griff to think I’m investigating his employee. Things are good between us right now.”
“I’ll be discreet with Quentin, I promise.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Which is why I’ll make sure I don’t make it a big deal when I talk to Quentin. Now have you seen the photo of you and Griff on Elite’s website? You look like a Hollywood couple. You both are annoyingly gorgeous.”
I laughed. I let her distract me with society gossip, talking to me about people I didn’t know and was soon to meet.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The passion Griff and I shared was all too soon forced to a stop a week later with the arrival of my period. I didn’t know who was more disappointed: him or me.
Other than that there was no slowing our appetite for each other so I’d visited Griff’s doctor who prescribed me the contraceptive pill. To my surprise Griff was neither uncomfortable nor embarrassed by the mention of my period. I’d gotten out of bed to use the bathroom after another thorough round of sex in my bedroom when it arrived. I’d left the bathroom to put on panties and a nightgown when I drew to a halt at the sight of Griff looking at my side of the bed. I could see a small stain of red that made my cheeks burn.
He looked up at me and said, “Well at least we know you’re not pregnant.”
I’d grimaced and hurried into the bathroom to change. When I came out I gestured for him to get out of bed. “I should change the sheets.” Usually I wasn’t ever caught unawares with my period. I was pretty regular so I knew when it was coming but Griff had me so distracted I’d forgotten I was due.
“It’s hardly anything. Throw a towel over it and come back to bed. You can change the sheets in the morning.” And then he’d promptly gone back to sleep before I could say anything.
So I got back in bed.
The next morning, I was awoken by him trailing kisses across my shoulder while he caressed my lower belly like he was desperate to move south. He groaned and pressed his forehead to my shoulder. “How long does your period usually last?”
At first I was surprised by how open he was. Eric didn’t talk about my period, would never talk about my period, and liked to pretend such a thing did not exist. My dad had been the same and—considering I was out with him the day I first got my period and he’d been so flustered and abrupt with me—I’d consequently grown up a little embarrassed by the whole thing.
“Four days.”
“Four days might as well be four weeks.” He raised his head, curiosity in his eyes, as he took the strap of my nighty and pulled it down to reveal my breasts. “I thought they looked fuller.”
“I should have known.” I squirmed as he brushed his thumb over my nipple. “My breasts are really sensitive.”
Griff took that as an invitation to experiment, sucking and laving and squeezing my breasts until I was a squirming, flushed heap of want. To come I needed his hand between my legs in conjunction with his mouth wrapped around my nipple but that was out. I playfully pushed his head away and pouted. “All you’re doing is torturing me.”
“Good.” He grabbed my hand and wrapped it around his erection. “Now you know how I’ll feel for four days.”
I rolled my eyes as I pushed him onto his back. “You’re acting like it’s the end of the world. At least I can still go down on you.”
Griff smiled, smug, as he caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “True.”
“Do you want my mouth on you or what, smug boy?”
He grinned at my teasing and laid back, his arms tucked behind his head. “Have at it.”
“Please?”
“No need to beg, love, I already said yes.”
I swatted at him as he laughed. “I’m not putting my mouth anywhere near you until you ask nicely.”
His laughter died as heat crept into his dark eyes. “Please, my luscious wife, will you wrap that hot little mouth of yours around my very hard cock.”
Grinning, I moved down his body. “Since you asked so nicely…”
I’d gotten him off while I’d unfortunately had to suffer through sexual frustration. And was still doing so. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if it was sexual frustration or worry.
Having spent the day with Amelia at an afternoon tea with some
of her friends, I was at once weary and restless. The women had exhausted me with their questions about my marriage to Griff. Seriously, it was like an interrogation. They just couldn’t seem to believe he had settled down into marriage and not only wanted to know all about him but all about me and what it was about me that intrigued him so much. I avoided questions where I could and Amelia helped me navigate through some of the social land mines the women laid for me. Part of me was annoyed Amelia insisted I attend the tea but deep down I knew she was right to try to get all of it over with so I could eventually relax at the upcoming events Griff planned to escort me to.
Instead of wanting to curl up in my room with a cup of tea and a good book I wanted to find Griff. We hadn’t had breakfast together that morning and I was worried that if we weren’t having sex, he wouldn’t want to spend time with me. However, I knew I couldn’t force anything with Griff so instead I forced myself to stay put. To not go to him.
If he wanted me he knew where to find me.
Yet dinner came and went and I ate alone.
Worry gnawed at my gut and suddenly all those nights of passion between us started to make me feel dirty. Was I really just convenient sex after all?
It was around ten o’ clock that evening, I was sitting in the drawing room with a book I couldn’t get into, when I heard the bing of the elevator doors. Hearing footsteps come toward the room, I turned to look at the doorway. My stupid heart leapt when Griff appeared.
He pulled at his tie at the same time he scrubbed a hand over his face. “Sorry I missed dinner. It’s been a long day.”
“That’s alright.” I closed my book, feeling like I was in the presence of a skittish animal and if I stayed perfectly still he might come closer.
He did. He leaned over the couch and took the book out of my hand. “The Nightingale. Any good?”
I shrugged. “It’s supposed to be. I haven’t been able to concentrate long enough to tell.”
He gave it back to me, studying my face. “How did the luncheon with Amelia go?”
“Fine.” I made a face. “Those women are fascinated by you.”
“Probably because I’m not fascinated by them.”
“Griff,” I huffed at his arrogance.
But he just shrugged. “It’s true. It’s only human nature to be curious about someone who makes you feel invisible.”
“Why do you deliberately try to make them feel invisible?”
“Because they’re like your sister. They only want one thing.”
I frowned. “I don’t think that’s true. You underestimate yourself if you think that’s true.”
He smirked and leaned over to brush his lips over mine. “And you forget most women aren’t like you.”
A pang echoed through my chest at the compliment and I smiled. “They are. You’ve just never been forced to spend time with one before.”
He laughed at that and straightened to his full height. “Is that what I am? Forced to spend time with you?”
I shrugged, enjoying flirting with him. Always. “I’m not saying you don’t enjoy the enforcement.”
His gaze smoldered. “Oh I definitely enjoy it. Every fucking inch of me enjoys it.”
I squirmed, feeling his words between my legs. “Don’t. Not when we can’t do anything about it.”
Griff chuckled. “I barely said anything.”
“It’s not what you say. It’s how you say it.”
He looked far too pleased about that. Rounding the couch, he held out a hand. “Well in the interest of saving you from combusting with sexual frustration, I suggest a distraction.”
I took his hand and let him pull me up off the couch. “What kind of distraction?”
“I promised you I’d take you into the hazard room, didn’t I?”
The thrill of knowing he’d found me to spend time with me outside of the bedroom scored through me, as did the thought of seeing the hazard room in full swing. “Let me change first.”
“Come as you are.” He pulled on my hand and began leading me out of the room.
“I’m in yoga pants and a sweater,” I complained. “Let me put on a dress.”
“You’d look beautiful in a goddamn garbage bag.” He threw me an annoyed look over his shoulder. “And I don’t need my patrons fantasizing about you more than they already are.”
I sighed as we got in the elevator. “I know you may find this hard to believe but not everyone wants to have sex with me.”
“No but most of them do and the rest are idiots.”
I pressed my lips together to stop myself laughing. He sounded so put out. I think I was getting under his skin. Yay me!
Griff did not once let go of my hand as he led me into the hazard room and introduced me around. I gazed in wonder at how the beautiful room could be transformed with the energy of people. Wait staff wandered through the throngs of members with trays of canapés and champagne in their hands. The noise, chatter and music was like something out of a Vegas casino with the exception of the ringing of slot machines.
Croupiers called out things I didn’t understand as we moved from table to table. Griff tried to explain everything to me but I could only take in so much.
“No wonder the rest of the club is so quiet in the evening,” I said to him, grasping his arm with my other hand as we moved to the black jack table. “They’re all in here.”
He smiled down at me. “It is a gambling club, Scarlett.”
I tried not to be dazzled by his smile. It wasn’t easy. “I know that. I’m just… only fully realizing it.”
“Finally allowing your wife to mingle with us commoners, eh, Mandeville?” an older gentleman teased from across the black jack table. There were some snickers from the other members.
Griff just shrugged. “Well, I know you have a reputation for stealing married women, Franklin.”
Franklin seemed extremely flattered by this. “I’d never steal yours, Mandeville.”
“Yes, he doesn’t have a death wish,” another man said.
“Mrs. Mandeville should be more worried about women trying to steal her husband.” A glamorous woman who looked to be in her early forties eyed me over the top of her champagne flute. “Your husband is quite the catch around these parts.” There was something antagonistic about her tone I didn’t like and I felt Griffin tense beside me.
Oh no. Had he slept with this woman?
“Was a catch,” I replied.
She narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me.”
“I said he was a catch. I’ve caught him. Thus since he can no longer be caught he’s no longer a catch.”
The men grinned at each other and I felt Griff’s gaze. I didn’t turn to him. I was too busy watching the woman skewer me with her eyes. “How sweetly naïve to assume that a wedding ring permanently ensnares a man.”
“A wedding ring, no. Interesting conversation and phenomenal sex, yes.”
The men guffawed around us while the woman glared before she slunk away from the table. I dared a look at Griff who appeared caught between annoyed and amused. I sighed. “It needed to be said.”
“It certainly did. Good for you,” a feminine voice sounded from my right. I glanced over to see an older woman smiling at me in interest. She had a cultured English accent like Griff’s. “Victoria has been trying to sleep with your husband since the club opened, isn’t that right, Mandeville?”
I practically felt the breath of his sigh on the back of my head.
The woman continued, “If you hadn’t fought back she would have tried to skin you alive outside of the walls of this club where her claws might actually have had an effect.” She held out a wrinkled hand. Her wedding rings were set with the most ostentatious diamonds. “Araminda Windemere.”
“Lady Araminda Windemere,” Griff corrected.
Good grief. Aristocracy! And yes, I knew Griff was technically an aristocrat but he had rescinded his title. I tentatively took the woman’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
�
��You too. Especially witnessing how fun you can be. Though, Mrs. Mandeville, I do suggest you wear something other than yoga pants. Dreadful invention.”
I frowned up at Griff. “I told you.”
My husband pressed his lips together to contain his laughter.
“I said I wanted to change into a dress before we came down here,” I explained to Lady Windemere.
“Oh my dear, you can wear whatever the hell you like. I just hate yoga pants.” She nodded toward the table. “Do you have a penchant for black jack?”
“Honestly, I’ve never played.”
“Excellent, I shall be your guide into the world of black jack then. Mandeville, run along and grab your wife a champagne and something to eat, won’t you.”
This time it was me trying not to laugh. I’d never seen anyone, man or woman, so easily dismiss and handle my husband. Funny thing was that he didn’t even seem to mind.
An hour later Lady Windemere left the club for the night a couple hundred dollars richer than she’d left.
“You like her,” I said to Griff as he led me out of the hazard room to the elevator at the back of the second floor.
He stepped into me, forcing me back against the doors. “What makes you think that?”
I laid my hands on his chest, smoothing his lapels. “She orders you about and you don’t seem to mind.”
He was silent a second and then he said, “I suppose she reminds me of my grandmother.”
My breath caught at this personal information, given without coercion. “Maternal or paternal?”
“Paternal.” Griff’s gaze turned introspective. “She was very no nonsense, like Lady Windemere. Not easily shocked and very outspoken. She was feared and respected. She also greatly disliked her own son. An opinion we shared.”
For not the first time I wondered about Griff’s father. I wanted to know about the man who would try to force his son into marriage. “You and she were close,” I guessed.
He nodded and then cleared his throat. I saw the guard slam back down on his expression and disappointment flooded me. “Anyway, I better get back. I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.”