Page 31 of Holding Out

“You ready to go?”Griff asked.

“Sure,” she said.Something wiggled in the pit of her stomach.Nerves.She hadn’t been nervous up till now, but this was the rubber-meets-road portion of the program.If there was going to be any awkwardness, it was coming soon.

But he rested his hand at the small of her back and guided her out of the restaurant, and she felt herself relax into the sure touch.

Griff’s truck was waiting, and he helped her up again.

She could get used to this treatment, but she wouldn’t let herself.At least she wouldn’t let herself expect it from him.

He drove them toward the waterfront and turned off into the Edgewater Hotel.

“What—”

“I wanted your first time to be someplace nice.”

Oh,God.That made her throat tight.The fancy dinner had been way more than enough.“This place is—it must have cost you a fortune.I can’t let you do that.”

“Look.”He faced her across the center console of the truck.“I don’t have a lot to spend my money on, okay?I get room and board, and Jake pays well, with benefits, and—let me treat you.You asked me to do this, right?This is what you get when you ask Griff Ambrose to take a woman’s V-card.The luxurypackage.”

God help her, he smirked, and she was way beyond God’s help because she felt itallthe way down.She bit back a smile.“If she’s worth doing ...”

“Exactly.That book you were talking about.The one you were reading.Do you think he would have done her just any old where?”

“No way.Furs and firelight and all that.”

He nodded, as if she’d just proved his very important point.

“Can I at least split it with you?”

He shook his head.“No.”

“But—”

“No.”

He turned away, dismissing the topic, threw his door open, and jumped down.He came around, helped her out, got a small bag out of the back of the truck—“supplies,” he said, which made her low belly pull up tight with nerves and excitement—and ushered her into the lobby.

“Oh,” she said.Under a vaulted ceiling, a wall of windows looked right out on the sound.“That’s pretty.”

The floor around the check-in desk was carpeted with plaid, and sculpted metal tree branches protruded from the front desk.In the main seating area, there was a stone fireplace with models of fish mounted over it, and a mammoth chandelier of antlers.If a hunting lodge, a cruise ship, and the Hilton had a love child, this lobby would be it.

“Have a seat.Relax.Wait here.”

She sat in a comfy arm chair, and he set his bag beside her on the floor and went to check them in.

When he came back, he had a room key in his hand.“Key to the castle.”

Various dirty jokes occurred to her, but she pressed her lips together.He took her hand, threading his fingers deliberately through hers and giving her alook.Several thousand volts of chemistry zinged the receptive parts of her.Her nipples tightened and her clit stood at attention and—

Those body parts were not usually nearly so—chatty.

“You ready?”he asked.

He was smirking again.The bastard.He knew.And the worst part was, there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

15

He kissed her in the elevator.Because, elevator.Because she was just so damncute, all big-eyed and awed one minute, then a moment later flushed and flustered, her nipples visible through the lightweight cloth of her dress.Maybe the innocent thing was an act, maybe it wasn’t, but he had to admit that it worked on him, like a ton of bricks.

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