Chapter Sixteen
“Well?” Maelea asked.
As she held her hand out to him, the doubt he’d struggled with before melted away. Ignoring the offering, Gryphon slid his fingers into her luxurious hair instead. Then reveled at the spark of lust that flared in her eyes as he drew her mouth toward his. “I can think of a much better way to seal this deal, sotiria.”
A tiny gasp slipped from her lips when his mouth closed over hers. But it turned to a groan that supercharged his blood as his tongue dipped into her mouth and he kissed her the way he’d wanted to kiss her ever since he’d awoken with the mother of all hard-ons.
Her arms closed around his neck, and she pressed those tantalizing breasts against his bare chest as she kissed him back. Her nipples hardened through the thin cotton dress, and he knew from the sensations rushing through his skin that she couldn’t possibly be wearing a bra. His jeans grew even tighter as he wrapped his arms around her, as he tugged her hips toward his. As the heat of her pelvis seeped into his own.
He changed the angle of the kiss, nipped at her bottom lip. Shivered at the sweet, erotic taste of her on his tongue.
“Gryphon?” she said against his lips.
“Mm, yeah?” He fisted the cotton dress at her lower back, wanted so bad to lift her up on the counter, push inside her body, take her hard and fast. But he wasn’t going to do that. Because this time he needed to make sure she enjoyed the experience. Wanted to remember each and every time she came apart. Which would be way more than once. Guaranteed.
Her hands slid to each side of his face. She kissed him. Eased back and licked her lips as she stared at his mouth. Kissed him again until he thought he’d go mad. Finally stopped long enough to say, “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” But not for food. Just for her.
“Me too. Take me upstairs.”
Relief whipped through him like a tornado.
He lifted her around the waist. Her mouth closed over his and she wrapped her legs around him without his asking, stroked her tongue against his as his hands slid down to cup her ass.
He carried her out of the kitchen toward the stairs. His brain was nothing but mush. He had no idea how this had happened. How she’d gone from hating and fearing him to wanting him with the same desperation he wanted her, but he wasn’t about to question the whys of it all. He only wanted more. More of her sweetness. More of her body. More of this fullness in the center of his chest that felt way too damn good.
He made it halfway up the rickety stairs before his bare feet slipped on the carpet runner. He was still wobbly, not totally healed from whatever had happened to him, but he didn’t want to let go of her. Grunting against her mouth, he turned so he wouldn’t drop her. Her spine hit the wall. She pulled back from his mouth for only a second, then kissed him harder, pushing her sex against his erection and tangling her tongue with his until he saw stars.
He groaned, hitched her over onto his thigh so he could balance her weight, and pulled her dress up the backs of her thighs. The hem was damp from the ocean. She smelled like jasmine and salt. She rocked against him, tore her mouth from his, nipped his ear, then offered her throat. He answered by kissing her jaw, the soft skin behind her ear, drawing her lobe into his mouth and suckling as his hands finally found skin.
“Oh, yes, Gryphon.” She rocked against him again, the heat of her mound so close to his cock, he hurt.
He gripped the backs of her thighs, kneaded the tight muscles, slid his hands higher, and shuddered when he realized she wasn’t wearing panties. “Maelea…”
She found his mouth again, dropped her hand from his shoulder, slid it down his bare chest. Her fingers brushed his lower abs, sending jolts of electricity through his pelvis. Then she pressed her hand right between her legs and gripped his cock through the denim of his jeans.
His legs buckled. He gasped. Tried to push her against the wall so she didn’t go down with him. He hit the stairs on his back. Pain echoed up his spine, but it was fleeting. Because as soon as Maelea’s feet touched the ground, she lowered herself and kissed him again. Hard, hot, needy kisses he felt everywhere. Then her mouth slid to his ear and she straddled him, rubbing her breasts against his chest, her sex against his erection, her hands anywhere she could reach.