Page 67 of Tangled Kisses
I snag the beer Jimmy left on the bar and step into Griffin’s side, pressing it into his hand before resting my head against his arm. “Here’s your beer, baby.” I fix the woman with a bold stare. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
But his client has no use for me. She huffs out a breath, her cheeks reddening beneath her makeup. “Are you lying to me now? You just told me you retired.”
“That’s right.” Griffin slips his arm around my shoulders and skims his fingers up the side of my neck, just under my hairline, sending a skittering of tingles through my body.
“That tickles,” I murmur.
“I know.” He presses a kiss to my hair, but his hand doesn’t move.
Seems he’s playing along. Good. Time to take it up a notch.
I return my attention to the woman, who’s practically apoplectic at this point. “Is there something we can help you with, because I’d really like to spend some time alone with my boyfriend.”
“Your… boyfriend.”
“Yes. My boyfriend.”
The woman huffs out a breath and taps her foot against the floor. “We need to discuss this situation, Griffin. Privately.”
“No, you don’t. He told you he’s retired. That’s because of me. See, we’re planning on having oodles of sex, a big fancy weddingand four kids, at least. He’s going to be far too busy to entertain you.”
Griffin snorts out a laugh, his grip tightening on me.
Am I laying it on thick? Damn straight, but it’s way too much fun to watch the woman’s blood pressure rise with every word. And okay, maybe part of me wonders if Griffin is going to murder me later for tanking his client roster, but right now? Worth it.
“So, are we done here? I think we are.” I tip my chin toward Griffin. “Ready, handsome?”
His eyes spark, the corners of his mouth twitching as he fights back a smile. “So ready.”
“Good.”
I rise on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek.
Just to seal the deal.
An innocent gesture to send an obvious message this bitch can’t miss. He’s not some object to possess, and he’s sure as hell not yours.
When I start to pull back, Griffin doesn’t move. His gaze catches mine, and something shifts—the spark of amusement I expected is gone, replaced by something hotter. Something primitive. For a beat, it feels like he’s seeing straight through the act and into the part I didn’t mean to give away. The part that wants him far too much.
“You have no idea what you just started,” he murmurs, his voice husky with emotion.
He yanks me flush against him, one arm clamped around my waist, the other fisted in my hair. His mouth crashes down on mine—not sweet, not careful, but hard and claiming, the heat of him soaking through every layer between us.
My hands slide up his chest, but he’s not giving me an inch of space.
Not happening.
His fingers close around my wrists, pinning them between us as his lips drag against mine. “Don’t you dare move one inch from me,” he growls against my mouth.
Then he takes the kiss deeper, harder, like he’s going to devour me whole. With every demanding stroke of his tongue, every scrape of his teeth, the ache between my legs sharpens, hot and insistent. My body trembles, my thighs pressing together in a desperate attempt to ease the throb he’s stoking.
His grip shifts, sliding from my wrists to my hips, fingers biting into me like he’s memorizing the shape of my body through the thin fabric. The move is slow and deliberate, a drag of possession before he pulls me tight against him. There’s no mistaking his hard length pressing against me. Heat slams through me, brutal and consuming, and for one dizzying second I swear I could come just from this—from his mouth owning mine, from the raw possession in every kiss, like the whole damn bar has vanished and I’m the only thing he sees.
His voice is a low, dangerous rumble between kisses. “If you even think about pulling that gorgeous mouth away, I’ll strip you bare right here and make you scream my name until everyone in this place knows who you belong to.”
The words shred the last of my restraint. I melt into him, opening for him completely, letting him take whatever he wants—because right now, I’m his, and we both know it.
I don’t know if it’s an act. I don’t know if it’s just a role he’s playing to get this woman away from him. And if it is? God help me, because I’m here for it.
