And then we were off.
My hands tightened around his middle, holding on for dear life as my heart sped up. Funny enough, the longer he drove, the calmer I felt. By the time we reached my small apartment building, my face hurt from smiling.
“You did great.” He grinned, and I carefully got off. A moment later, he did, too. Without a second thought, he stepped closer and worked the helmet off me. I shook my hair that had now fallen out in waves.
“That was… really fun!”
“First time?” he asked. I started to shake my head before thinking better of it.
“No.” I laughed. “But it was the first time I enjoyed it,” I admitted. The smile that had been dying on his face stilled, but it was his eyes that made my mouth go dry.
There was something working behind his green orbs. Something heady and dark. Intriguing. The smile on my own face slowly started to fade as heat washed through me. I loved the way he looked at me. Like he wanted to eat me whole and take his time savoring me all night long all at the same time. Griffin’s hand on my hip tightened, and I swayed closer. Goose bumps flared to life on my bare arms.
“Would you like to come in?” I offered, my tone soft and slightly breathless as I stared up at his green eyes. I didn’t miss the way his Adam’s apple bobbed heavily. Almost painfully.
“I should head home.”
“Home?” I repeated. That wasn’t what I’d expected. He’d been so different all day. Had I misread the situation? “Whatabout dinner?” I asked. I had no idea what came over me. I wasn’t the kind of person to beg anyone into doing anything, yet I couldn’t get myself to shut the hell up. “I could make something or order—“ His hand rose between us, then his finger rested on my lips.
“I go inside, we both know what’s going to happen, spitfire.”
“Marty,” I muttered against the pad of his pointer finger. “You make it sound like a bad thing,” I whispered, and because I was me and couldn’t help myself, I licked his finger. “Fuck,” he groaned as his gaze darkened, but he didn’t step back or tell me to stop. My lips parted, and I pulled him into my mouth, rolling my tongue around his thick, calloused finger before sucking on it just a little.
“Spitfire.” His growled warning made my eyes roll. I opened my mouth without looking away from his eyes and let him slip out.
“Fine. Party pooper.” I shrugged, acting like I didn’t care. Like my stupid heart suddenly didn’t feel bruised alongside with my ego. “If you have to go, you have to go,” I rasped.
“Baby, it’s not like that.”
“But it is. You had your fun time with me. Charmed me after putting your foot in your mouth, and now you’re playing games. And honestly, to be clear, I’m not into the whole cat/mouse thing. Or into catch and release, or whatever the hell you think you’re doing. Today was a good day. You’re a good guy who said something stupid and totally made up for it.”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, baby girl.” His face was unreadable, but it was his eyes that gave him away. “It’s just that I don’t want?—“
“Trust me, Griffin, you have no effect on my panties. I was inviting you to get a bite to eat. That was it.” It was a bold-faced lie, but who cared? It wasn’t like Griffin was going to call me out on my bratty mouth.
I started to march off with no intent of looking back. My building wasn’t like the others in Vegas. This was an old part of town, and my complex was a bunch of small, one-story duplexes. They were old and probably needed to be renovated, but the property manager showed pride in his place. The landscape was minimum but neatly kept, and for the most part, the neighbors were quiet. I was at my door, about to open it, when a pair of hands clamped onto my arms.
“What the?—“
“Shh.” The deep soothing tone of Griffin’s voice calmed me down immediately. My traitorous body melted into his. “First off all, I wasn’t playing games, little girl. Daddy doesn’t do that.”
Holy. Crap. Did he just call himself what I thought he did? Or was my sex-deprived body making him out to be even better than I could have possibly expected?
My knees almost buckled at what he’d just called not just me but himself.Daddy.I’d always loved dirty talk, but the whole daddy/little girl thing was something I’d yet to explore outside the occasional smutty book or porn I streamed when I had the time for some self-care.
“Second off?” I asked, finding my voice and the courage to turn around to stare up into his eyes. Wow, he was big. Tall and muscular. He should have felt intimidating to someone my height and build, especially after that shit at work, but it was the opposite. I felt safe. Protected. Cherished and seen.My blood sugar has to be low or something,I thought to myself.
“Second off,”—his hand moved to rest against the wall right next to my front door, caging me in. His body bent close enough that his nose was a breath away from mine—“we both know that if daddy slipped his hand down your sexy-as-fuck jeans, he’d find his little princess all nice and sticky for him. Wouldn’t I?” The deep guttural tone of his voice made goose bumps flare to life on my arms, and my head spun with all sorts of filthy imagesof the two of us tangled up in one another. Or, shit, just the thought of those thick, long fingers deep inside of me had my toes curling inside of my sneakers.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I huffed, even though every inch of me felt off kilter. I turned, and to my surprise, he let me. I opened the door and stepped inside only to look at him standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face as if he liked me being a brat. And damn it, I liked that, too. I shut the door and waited.
For what, I wasn’t sure.
Everything inside of me yelled at me to open and run back out there, talk him into coming inside to check for himself just how wet I was for Daddy. Daddy. Fuck. I swallowed, wiping at the sweat forming at the back of my neck. My open hand touched the cool wood of the door, and my eyes shut.
I had a feeling he’d held back for a reason.
Griffin might look like a bad boy with all those sinewy muscles and tattoos covering his sexy arms, but I had a feeling underneath it all, he was a good man.
