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He caught her wrist. “You didn’t hurt me.” The intensity of his gaze held her captive. “It’s been a long time since…anyone touched me like that.”
His hand was a heated cuff against her skin. One that was impossible to resist.
She was powerless to move, captured by the potent closeness of him. “You must have women falling over you all the time.”
His gaze was liquid. “No.”
Her knees were threatening to quit at any moment. “I find that hard to believe.” She glanced down to where his waist narrowed to powerful hips and the mouth-watering precision of his Adonis V.
“No one I wanted.” He skated two fingers under her chin, his rough callouses setting off tiny fireworks throughout her body.
Jo swallowed with difficulty, her mouth dry. Griff’s towel spectacularly failed to disguise the imposing bulge between his legs.
Doubt evaporated. Griff wanted her.
She hadn’t known just how much she needed him until this moment, but right now, she did. Even before she’d lost Luke, there had only been her work, but the last few days, spending time with Griff, had only highlighted the lonely path she’d chosen to live her life.
He brushed the pad of his thumb across the corner of her mouth, sensitizing the skin. “So damn soft.” His voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper.
Jo wanted him. She deserved more, wanted more. She was so tired of fighting, scrapping for everything in her life.
Her hand found the knot at the top of her towel and loosened it. The fabric fell to the floor with a soft rustle. Despite the hammer of her heart, she hadn’t been so sure of anything for such a long time. After all the doubts, fear, and accusations surrounding Luke’s death and her job loss, she was certain of this one thing. She wanted Griff with an intensity she’d never experienced—and needed him to know.
Luke’s death had imprinted on her just how brief life could be, how abruptly it could end. She was done with wasting time for fear of making mistakes. If Griff didn’t want her, she would accept it, but first she had to show him just how much he meant to her.
Griff withdrew his touch from her face. His hands flexed into fists at his side. “You need to rest.”
It was all she could do to remember to breathe. Air was the only element stopping her from combusting right now. “Griff. No…I need you.”
“Jo…” His chest rose and fell, conflict riding him hard. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, she was sure of it, but he was still holding back.
Protecting her.
What had she done to deserve such care? She blinked against her stinging eyes, and grasping his hand, uncurled his locked fingers, placing his palm flat across her heart.
His fingers grazed her skin, a feather-light tremor belying his restraint.
Jo inhaled sharply at the contact, desire coursing molten through her veins.
“Fuck.” He blew out a breath, his gaze flicking from her breast to her eyes. “This thing between us. High-risk scenarios breed adrenaline. Distort things. It’s easy to become confused.”
“Too much adrenaline?” Her reply came out heated, unable to mask the hurt. “Is that what you think this is?”
The line of his jaw tightened. “I’m trying to be rational. Do what’s best for you.”
Jo shook her head. She pressed his hand more firmly over her runaway heart. “Tell me you don’t feel the same. Tell me and we’ll let this go.” Her voice dropped. “It will be like it never happened.”
The gray of his eyes became turbulent, the battle between desire and duty waging visibly within him. “It’s all I can think about.”
There it was.
Jo stroked the line of his roughened jaw. Right now, she wanted to help him forget, to ease the pain she read in his eyes. “Me too.” His stubble was a delicious scratch against her skin, triggering a shiver through her.
“I’m done thinking, Griff.” Her words hung in the air between them. There was no turning back now.
He was unlike any man she’d ever met, and she wanted all of him. Life had taught her brutally there were no sureties—they might only have this time, and if that was the case, she wouldn’t dare risk wasting it.
His forehead bumped hers, then tilted, his mouth grazing the top of her ear, the skin just under her earlobe, down her neck till his lips found the delicate skin across the top of her clavicle.
