“Griffin, you looked way too stressed for a team that hasn’t started playoffs yet,” I remark. “And that look on your face is more than work. It’s personal. I can tell.”
He reaches for his seat belt and as he clicks it, he leans closer and kisses my cheek. The feel of his stubble against my throat as he pulls away makes me tingle. When his eyes meet mine, they hold a raw desperation I fully understand even without the reasoning behind it. “It’s not that I’m keeping secrets. It’s just that I need tonight to be about something else. Something new. I just want to forget everything for a little while.”
With everything I’ve been through in the last few years with my family and my dad, I get it. This—us—we’re something that doesn’t get touched by the pain, the mess of our everyday lives.
I put my hand on his thigh and give it a squeeze. “Let’s go back to your place and continue this debate about whether I get to put my mouth on your cock again.”
He huffs out a surprised laugh. “This is exactly the only kind of conversation I want to have tonight.”
He pulls away from the curb, officially leaving our worries on the sidewalk beside the valet.
19
Griffin
From the second I’m inside her, I am teetering on the brink of orgasm. It’s more than just how wet she is or how tight she feels. It’s the way she tore off my clothing and her own. It’s the way she rolled the condom onto me, crawled onto my bed and onto my cock, no timidness, but with confidence and eagerness. And then she drops herself down on me with an arched back, tits on display, hands in her golden hair, moaning in pure abandon. Sadie Braddock is my sexual soul mate.
And shit, that mouth of hers…she says everything I’m thinking. Every hot, dirty thought. “My pussy is so wet,” she pants. “I swear you’ve had me on the verge of coming since I met you.”
I reach up and palm those perfect bouncing breasts. “Then let’s make you come, love. As many times as you want.”
“Oh, God, fuck.” She’s bouncing on me at a frantic pace, her hips rolling and her pussy tightening with every thrust I give her. Usually I chase orgasm, but with her, I don’t want to give in too soon. The tingle in my balls, the pull of her pussy, the sounds she makes…I want it all to last forever.
She grabs my wrist and moves my left hand off her breasts, trailing it down her abdomen. I let her place it over her clit. “Tell me what you want,” I command as I lift my hips and slam into her so hard her knees lift off the bed for a second.
She looks down at me, a curtain of golden hair around her flushed face. Her blue eyes are as dark as the ocean at night and just as glassy. “Rub my clit, Griffin. Make me come. Hard.”
I move my thumb over her clit. She lets out a gasp that is equal parts relief and anticipation, and it pushes me to the edge of my own release. I can’t…I won’t go without her. Ladies first. Always. Especially this lady.
“Right there. Harder. Faster. So close,” she whispers. I follow her orders and feel my own grip slipping.
She drops forward suddenly, her lips crashing down on mine and there, in the middle of the kiss, I feel her come. She trembles around my dick and whimpers against my mouth. I wrap my arms tightly around her back, pushing her down harder on my dick, and I let my own sweet release take over.
I swear I almost lose consciousness.
She’s collapsed on top of me, her head curled into the crook of my neck. I loosen my grip on her but can’t bring myself to let go. Seconds turn into minutes, and I know I have to move her, get up, take care of the condom, but right now, with her falling asleep on top of me, flesh to flesh, heartbeat to heartbeat, I am feeling more relaxed and at peace than I have in years. That’s not even an exaggeration. She must feel the same, because I realize, after twenty minutes, she’s sound asleep.
She doesn’t even wake when I gently turn us around to lie on her side on the bed. I roll off the bed and head to the bathroom to clean up. I grab my phone off the nightstand before crawling back into bed and check my messages. Hunter has sent me the court date—two weeks from now. My stomach drops. He keeps reassuring me everything will work out, Charlie isn’t gong anywhere, but I can’t get rid of the cold knot of fear that forms in my belly when I think about facing the judge. I know I’ve done nothing wrong. I know I’m a great dad, and I know Charlie is perfectly happy with the current situation. I also know Lauren always gets what she wants. It’s been like that since the day I met her. Even the fact that we’re here in San Francisco now was her choice. She wanted to settle here after the divorce because her parents live nearby and it was a strong market for freelance graphic designers, which is what she does. I lucked into the perfect job, but the fact is, I would have worked at In-N-Out Burger if it was the only job I could find in the city where my daughter lived.
I text Hunter back and lie back down next to Sadie. She snuggles into me, her head on my bicep and her leg curled over mine, and I instantly start to relax. I run a hand over her long, silky hair, and the lilac scent of her shampoo fills the air. I close my eyes and just enjoy the moment. Nothing else matters right now, but this…the contentment and peace. I close my eyes and, amazingly, I drift off to sleep.
She wakes me up almost six hours later, and I willingly let her win that debate about the blow job. Then I flip her on her back, dip my head between her toned thighs, and return the favor. She falls back asleep, wrapped around me again, but I lie awake and think about how I’m going to tell her about this custody thing. I don’t want to make it her problem, but it’s going to disrupt my life, and since she’s in my life now…I need to tell her.
A few minutes later her phone starts to ring, waking her up. She answers it and doesn’t say much after that, but as soon as she hangs up she looks over at me with regret. “I have to go to the hospital.”
“You got called into work?” I question.
She shakes her head. “If I tell you something, you have to not tell Eli or Jude.”
“Okay.”
“It’s my dad’s doctor. They did some tests, and Dad asked him to give me a preview of the results before my family finds out,” she explains, trying to tame her bed head and tuck her wild hair behind her ears. “He didn’t want to do it over the phone. That’s not a good sign.”
“I’m sorry.” I know it’s lame, but I don’t know what else to say.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be great. I mean, ALS is incurable,” Sadie says quietly. “I’m a nurse. I know how this plays out. I know in excruciating detail, which is why my dad wants me to have the info first. Because everyone else is going to need me to help them come to terms with it.”
I stand up and reach for boxer briefs and tug them on. I watch her as she takes an elastic off her wrist I didn’t even realize was there and artfully twists her hair up. Then she heads to the bathroom. “Okay if I shower?”
