Page 48 of Griffin Undone
“What—”
A growl rent the air, shutting my mouth abruptly. Amber light shot across the room like fire.
Okay, he wanted me to shut up. Got it.
Only the harsh panting of my breath broke the silence. I squeezed my own eyes shut, fighting my body, fighting to still the sound, but my heart pounded too fast to stop my breathing. Now that I was coming fully awake, I could feel the menace vibrating in the air between us, and I wasn’t certain if what I felt was fear or something else, something even more primal. Even the flutter of my eyelids threatened to spark whatever bomb was waiting to go off, but much as I wanted to block it out, I had to know, had to see the threat coming.
My eyes opened to pure black. Darkness. Then the blink of golden light. I startled, a small squeak escaping despite my locked lips.“Arik…”
The amber glow winked out. White specks dotted the black field of my vision as my oxygen-deprived brain strained to function, to detect the slightest movement. My ears struggled to pick up the least little sound—the rustle of clothing, the faintest breath, the scuff of a foot against concrete.
Nothing.
Had he left? Cautious, so very, very cautious, I eased my body to a sitting position. Arik had been in the chair right beside the bed; how could he have—
A heavy weight plowed into me from out of nowhere. “Shit—”
Sharp teeth nipped my earlobe, a reminder to be quiet.
“Arik, what’s going on?”My voice shook even in my head.“Talk to me, please.”This wasn’t the guy that had coaxed me into eating fruit. This wasn’t even the tough trainer. This was something I hadn’t encountered before, and though I wasn’t afraid of him physically hurting me, I was definitely afraid.
Almost as if that last thought had reached him, the solid-steel muscles pressing down hard on mine relaxed the tiniest bit. Arik’s tongue stroked my lobe again, licked a hot strip of pleasure along the outer edge of my ear. Another low warning entered my mind.“Shhh, Kitty Kat…”
Long minutes passed, and gradually, as if the quiet seeped into his bones, the feeling of danger diminished and Arik’s hard body eased to my side, still melded against mine. I opened my mouth to speak.
Arik shook his head as if it was a shaggy mane.“It’s all right. I’m… My griffin is…close.”A sound I could only describe as a growly purr rumbled from his chest.“He…wewon’t hurt you. Just…let me lie here.”
Yeah, not such a good idea. I was weak when it came to him, to his body, susceptible to his proximity in a way I’d never been with anyone else, maybe because there’d never been anyone else. Letting him stay in the bed caused other, much more intimate activities to blossom in my imagination—and wasn’t that a disaster waiting to happen.
The problem was, I didn’t know how to avoid that disaster, or if I even wanted to.
“Your griffin, huh?”
“Yes.”
Wiggling down into the covers to make myself more comfortable, I jerked to a stop when I realized the hard ridge rubbing against my hip wasn’t a shin or forearm.
Think of something else. Think of something else. Think of something—
“Can I see it?”
His…erection—I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at the virgin way I fumbled around the word—jerked against my hip, almost as if I’d asked to seethat. But I hadn’t; I’d asked…Crap.“Your animal,” I added hastily, aloud. Too loud. I cleared a suddenly clogged throat, then, “Can I see your animal, Arik?” I whispered this time, soft as a breath.
“There are a lot of things I’d like to show you,” he said with a low, sexy chuckle that vibrated through my body. “You sure that’s the option you want to pick?”
A needy whimper tangled in my throat. “Y-yes.”
Arik seemed to consider that, those glowing eyes blinking with mesmerizing regularity. They shone bright enough that I could see the sneaky grin curving his mouth when he said, “For a kiss.”
Here? In a bed? Hell no!That was asking for trouble with a capital T; I knew it, and he damn well knew it too.
Sneaky was right.
I stared into his eyes a moment longer. If it was the only way to get him out of the bed? He’d warned me we would eventually have sex, but he wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want, right?
Right.
And who says you don’t want it?
