Page 99 of Lessons in Heartbreak

“You in this dress should be fucking illegal, birdy,” I growled, licking along the edge of her ear. “Got me thinking about what’s underneath it.”

Her shaky sigh was noticeable only because of my arm banded around her frame, and from my mouth trailing along her temple, the pulled-back curls tickling my cheek. Ruby turned her head slightly, her hand clutching my arm as she arched her back.

With her big, sweet eyes aimed up at me, the trust I saw there was enough to break my heart. Then she licked her lips, slow and intentional, rolling up on her tiptoes as she turned in my arms. I clutched her backside as she tugged my head down toward her mouth.

“Nothing,” she whispered, her lips brushing the shell of my ear.

The hair on the back of my neck lifted, my skin buzzing with a bright shock of desire, something that spiraled quick and fast. In a slight daze, I pulled back to meet her eyes.

There was a question there. A wicked request that I was helpless to deny.

“You sure, baby?” I asked, my hand curling gently around her throat, using the slightest pressure of my thumb to tilt her chin up. She swallowed, and the flare of heat in her eyes with my hand around her like that almost brought me to my knees from the bone-cracking shot of lust.

Ruby’s tongue darted out and she licked at her bottom lip, then nodded slowly.

I dropped my head down, rolling my forehead against hers. Her hands clutched at my biceps, and I struggled to think clearly. We were in a house full of people, and I couldn’t find it in myself to care. “The party,” I said weakly, one last grasp at sanity. “It’s a full fucking house, Ruby.”

Her hands cradled my jaw, easing me back so that her gaze met mine. “Then you better not scream too loud.”

I exhaled a shocked laugh, and God, my heart felt seven sizes too big in my chest. It almost spilled over into something maudlin and ridiculous, where I just wrapped her in my arms and asked her to let me hold her all night instead. Almost had me asking if sex could wait and I could simply kiss her for hours and hours and hours.

“Please,” she whispered.

My forehead fell against hers again. “Anything,” I told her. With every molecule in my worthless body, I meant it. I’d give her anything I was capable of giving. All she had to do was ask.

Clutching her hand behind my back, I turned and started weaving through the group of people, occasionally smiling and nodding at some of my teammates as we passed. Marcus lifted his hand as he came into view, and as soon as he was within reach, I gripped his shirt and tugged him closer.

“Don’t come looking for us, and if you turn down that music, I’ll break every bone in your body.”

He grinned, giving me a crisp salute. “You got it, birthday boy.”

The very best thing about Steven’s house was that once you passed the main bedroom and his office, then went past the gym, another hallway branched out, leading to the extra bedrooms. I’d chosen the one at the end because it had a large slider overlooking the backyard and I liked the view of the mountains as the sun rose.

The sound from the party faded, and as soon as Ruby cleared the doorway, I slammed it shut, locking it with a decisive click, crowding her against the hard surface as her chest heaved on deep, panting breaths.

Our kiss was brutal, my hands gripping her ass as she tried to fucking climb me where we stood. I boosted her up against the door, my tongue licking into her hot mouth as her legs wound around my waist. My hands worked under her dress, and I groaned into her mouth when I found that she was, in fact, wearing nothing underneath.

“You wicked, wicked girl,” I whispered against her lips, my nose brushing hers as I skimmed my fingers along the bare curve of her ass. She dropped her head against the door, writhing in my arms as I teasedher with soft brushes of my fingertips. “You’ve been thinking about this, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” she moaned, sweet and impatient. “Please, Griffin. Don’t make me wait.”

With one arm banded around her ass, I latched my mouth onto hers and whirled around to deposit her carefully onto the bed. She was light enough that I didn’t need to set her down when I braced my knee on the mattress and lowered my weight over hers.

Ruby’s hands fumbled with the buttons on my shirt, and I paused the kiss to help her. Once half the buttons were undone, I ripped the shirt off and tossed it onto the floor.

Her pupils dilated as she stared at my chest, her fingers dancing over the newly uncovered muscles. “Look at you,” she whispered. “I don’t understand how you’re real.”

I let her look her fill, flexing my arms as I pulled at the buckle on my belt. “You want me to prove it to you?” She chewed briefly on her bottom lip as she nodded, shifting her hips on the bed, which worked the hem of her skirt high enough that my mouth started watering. “Good, because I finally found what I want for my birthday.”

Anchoring my hands easily around her ribs, I pushed her higher onto the bed, then slid my palms down her thighs, letting my fingers curl into the warm flesh there, pressing her legs open with a slight pressure on her knees.

“You tell me if you want to stop, okay?” I said, easing myself down between her legs. I kissed the inside of her thigh, draping one and then the other over my shoulders as she nodded jerkily. “I mean it, Ruby. Any time. At any point. We stop if you don’t want any more.”

She raised her chin. “What if you want to stop?”

My eyes closed briefly, and I let out a low, dangerous chuckle. “Oh, baby, I won’t be stopping us.” I rucked her skirt above her waist, making sure she could see my eyes as I lowered my mouth toward her. “I want this too much.”

If this was my only night to have Ruby Tate in my bed, I was going to tear her world apart with nothing but my tongue and fingers and lips. I was going to rip down any reservations that made her feel less than or not sexy or not good enough.

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