“Make love to me, Griffin,” she pleaded against his ear.
He pulled back to look into her eyes. His right arm was braced on the cushion beside her head. “Truly?”
“Yes, please,” she whimpered.
Her hands were already busily unbuttoning the fall of his breeches.
“Wait, Meredith, let me make this good for you.”
But she wouldn’t wait. She was frantic. Mindless. This was right. She didn’t want to wait any longer. She wanted him. “Now,” she demanded, still unbuttoning his breeches.
Griffin helped her and soon he was free. Her hand wrapped around his thick, solid length and he groaned.
His hand went down to pull up her skirts, push aside her shift, and find her softness. He played with her folds and let one finger slowly enter her. “You’re ready, Meredith. Are you certain?”
She found his mouth and kissed him hard. “I’ve never been more certain of anything,” she said as she pressed her forehead against his, still clinging to his neck.
Griffin positioned his hips above hers and slowly slid into her.
Meredith gasped. Ooh. This was different. Soverydifferent from?—
But when Griffin began to move, all thoughts scattered from her mind. She wrapped her legs around his hips and kissed him deeply while his hot, hard length drove into her again and again. He moved his hand down to press against her belly, bringing the soft spot inside of her into contact with his length, and when he did, she shattered into a thousand little pieces, repeating his name in a tortured gasp as waves of lust rolled through her entire body.
Griffin pumped into her again, again. “Oh, God. Meredith,” he finally groaned against her mouth, finding his pleasure at last.
In the aftermath,they lay in each other’s arms. Her breathing came in shallow gasps. Meredith shook her head. That had been so unlike anything that had happened in bed with Maxwell. It was as if the two acts were completely unrelated.
She cleared her throat. What should she say to Griffin? How should she act now?
“We can pretend as ifthisnever happened.” She quirked up her mouth in the semblance of a smile. “We’ve had plenty of practice at it.”
“You want to pretend as if this never happened?” His voice was incredulous.
“It was…amazing, but I— Of course you must marry. We don’t have to tell?—”
Griffin covered her mouth with a kiss and then he pressed his forehead to hers again. “Damn it, Meredith. You have one more guess. Take it.You know. You know in your heart who she is? You’ve always known.”
He cradled her jaw and looked adoringly down at her face.
She broke then. She couldn’t pretend any longer. Tears fell from her eyes. Perhaps she didn’twantto know, but he was right. She did know. Shehadalways known. “Me?” she whispered.
He closed his eyes briefly and kissed her again. “Yes, you. It’salwaysbeen you.”
“You…love me?” She could barely breathe. “I’mthe lady you wish to…marry?” It wasn’t as if she hadn’t already guessed, but hearing it out loud, saying it out loud, made it all so…real.
He pushed himself off her, hoisted up his breeches, and fell to one knee beside the sofa. “This is hardly the way I intended to ask, but please, please marry me, Meredith. I love you. And I’ll never take away your freedom.” He squeezed both of her hands.
Meredith’s throat was so tight it ached. This was lovely and romantic and absolutely everything at once, including…panic-inducing. But of course she couldn’t marry Griffin. Even if she wanted to.
The tears would not stop. “I can’t marry you, Griffin. I’m sorry. I can’t.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Thursday Night, The Onyx Club
Meredith had been hiding from Griffin since the night of dinner party. But now that she was at the club, she would have to see him. And it would be easier this way. Behind masks. Still pretending.Ifhe arrived, that is. And if he intended to keep up the ruse.
She’d wrestled with whether to come here tonight. What could she say? What was left to say? If he still pretended to be Mr. Sapphire, she still intended to apologize for what had happened last time. That was really all she knew.
