He looks down at my crouched form. “You’re dressed.” His brows furrow. Before I can come up with a response, he snakes his arms out, snatches me up, and flips me over his body, then curls over me.
I yelp and the new ring flies from my hand, hitting the wall with a clink in the process. I’m flat on my back with Griffin leaning over me, and my heart is beating fast. “You weren’t thinking of leaving, were you?” His voice is dark, almost menacing as he stares down at me.
I shake my head, since my tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth. The uptake in my pulse and breathing might seem like I’m frightened, but I’m not. The only time Griffin ever scares me is when I realize how much I’m relying on him not to hurt me, even though I know he’s fully capable of it with just words alone.
Griffin slowly lowers his body until our chests are touching. “Now tell me, sweets, what you were really doing on the floor.” His tone is softer, more seductive, demonstrating he must have believed me when I said I wasn’t trying to leave.
I lick my lips, distracted by his proximity. “I’m telling the truth. I dropped something.”
Griffin lowers his head, brushing his cheek along mine until his lips are near my ear. “Then why does your pulse flutter like a scared little rabbit’s when you say it?”
I swallow. He’s reminding me he would know if I ever tried to lie to him. I’m not even really lying, and he knows it. “I was trying to give you a surprise,” I admit.
“Any good surprise would involve you naked in my bed.” His lips caress my ear, and I close my eyes.
“Now we’ll never know if you would have liked this surprise because you ruined it,” I tease, but I keep my voice low in an effort not to wake Evan.
Griffin pushes his knee between my legs. “Is that so?” I nod, wishing I didn’t have these clothes on. “I don’t think that’s very fair. All I did was wake up.”
“You hurled me across the bed,” I point out.
“Again, not my fault. I was just trying to make sure you were comfortable.”
I click my tongue, then reach up and run my fingers through his dark hair. A teasing Griffin has the ability to make me happy, just like a grumpy Griffin can tick me off.
He trails his nose along the side of my neck, and I turn to give him better access. “If you think I’m letting you out of this room without you giving it to me, you’re wrong.” His tongue leaves a wet trail on my skin as he licks a line up my throat, and I shiver in response.
“It?” I’m proud I can even think, let alone speak.
“Yes, it.” He nips me with his teeth behind his lips, so it’s just a light pinch. It might have been in punishment, but I’m not complaining. I realize then that Griffin would have seen Evan’s ring and figured out where I was yesterday, and even suspected I got one for him too.
“You’re so confident you know what it is?”
“Don’t make me cut my best friend’s finger off, Quinn.” He says it so plainly, so simply, that I believe he may just do it. “I might actually feel bad about that if I have to follow through.”
“I’d love to see you try,” Evan growls, then he rolls over and starts snoring seconds later. I stifle a giggle.
“Let me up and I’ll get it,” I concede.
“I don’t know, I quite like our position.” Griffin rocks his hips and proves his point.
I glance over at the clock. “We only have time for one thing—this or finding the ring.”
Griffin jerks his head back so he can look down at me. “Find it?”
“Yeah, when you tossed me onto the bed, I dropped it.” I make a face that sayssee what happens when you mess around?
“I thought the ring that hit the wall was the one you took off,” Griffin mumbles, disgruntled.
“You were awake?” I accuse. “Besides, that thing weighs a ton, it would have dented the wall, not just made a little ting.”
“What if I find it fast?” he offers, ignoring my comment about how heavy the ring is. I don’t respond because I don’t really know how to. “Challenge accepted.” Griffin moves with vampiric speed and hops off the bed. I lean up on my elbows in time to see him searching the floor near the bathroom wall. His shorts don’t do much to hide his erection, so I end up distracted, ogling that while he prowls along the wall.
Eventually I get up and start searching with him. I end up spotting it fairly quickly. I think the fact that it’s black made it harder for him to locate. I don’t think he was expecting that. I pick it up and fold my fingers over it before giving him a similar speech to the one I gave Evan.
“I didn’t know your size, and you don’t have to wear it…” Thebut I want you tois implied.
“Did you have it the whole time?” Griffin asks, not understanding how I could have found it before him.
