Which is exactly why, when we get our room keys in the hotel lobby I pay attention towhich room he’s in.I head to my shared room with Mack and drop off my stuff. I wait for Mack to hit the bathroom before I’m slipping out of our room without saying a fucking word.
And then…there I am, standing in the hallway, shoulders tense, palms sweating, just…waiting.
My heartbeat smacks against my ribs and I contemplate changing my mind and just ignoring this entire situation.
But I don’t because that would make me a fucking coward.
I’m just going to apologize.
Just. Apologize.
Because that’s what adults do.
Right?
Right.
Except my hand is hovering over the door refusing to know and my brain is fucking screamingwhat the hell are you doing, Griffin.
Goddamn it.
I knock once in a firm, borderline demandingI’m about to do something monumentally stupidknock. I stand there breathing too fast and when the door swings open…
There he is.
Jacob, shirtless, hair still damp from the shower, water dripping down his chest in these slow little paths you’d swear were deliberately placed for maximum visual torment, and I stare at him like a fucking idiot because of course he looks like what happens when someone tells the universe,build the perfect person but make him unaware of it.
His eyes are wide and the second I see that tiny hitch in his breath I whisper, “Fuck.”
Before my brain can slap a stop sign in front of my mouth, I move.
I shove the door open with my shoulder and crowd into his space, my hand coming up to the back of his neck like it’s muscle memory. My fingers dig into his damp hair at the base of his skull and I haul him toward me without asking.
My mouth crashes into his. This kiss is heat and pressure and there’s absolutely nothing soft or polite about it. Fuck, there’s nothing remotelyfriendlyabout the way I am devouring Jacob.
There’s half a second where my brain actually tries to intervene but my body steamrolls right over it, because his mouth is warm and responsive and my cock is already hard as hell, throbbing in my jeans.
He lets out this sharp little breath against my mouth, and fuck if that doesn’t hit me straight in the gut. His chest stays right there, solid and warm against mine, and when his shoulders tilt into me just a little, when his head angles to meet me instead of avoiding me, it lights something feral in my chest.
That’s when it stops being just impulse and turns into need.
His hands come up, hesitant for maybe half a second before they settle, gripping at my hips, fingers curling into the fabric of my jeans and dragging me closer. The door clicks shut behind us, and suddenly it’s just bodies and breath and heat.
He tastes minty and it’s addictive as hell. I deepen the kiss, push my tongue into his mouth, and when he groans, low and rough, right from his chest, I feel it vibrate straight through me. I swear to fuck I can feel that noise straight through the spot where we’re pressed together, and my hips jerk forward without permission.
Fuck.
He kisses back like he’s been holding himself in check for way too long. His tongue meeting mine with confidence that makes my stomach flip, and I realize he’s not inexperienced or timid.
I break the kiss just long enough to yank my shirt over my head and fling it somewhere behind me, barely registering where it lands, because Jacob’s eyes are on my chest now, dark and hungry, tracking every inch like he’s cataloging it. His hands follow, palms sliding over my skin, thumbs brushing over my ribs, my stomach, my chest, I swear my breath stutters like I’ve taken a punch.
When his thumb drags over my nipple, slow and deliberate, I gasp like a goddamn rookie and crash my mouth back onto his, harder this time.
I walk him backward without even thinking about it until the backs of his knees hit the mattress and he drops onto it with this startled laugh that dies instantly when I climb over him.
I straddle his hips and I can immediately feel the heat of him through his clothes. I can feel how fucking hard he is underneath me and my brain kind of just short circuits. His hands slide up my thighs and grip tight, and when I roll my hips down just enough for him to feel exactly what he’s doing to me, his breath breaks again.
He looks up at me with pupils blown wide, lips swollen and red, and chest rising fast. Fuck, he’s so goddamn beautiful like this.
