The bathroom filled with steam that curled my hair and made the air turn syrup-thick.We both stepped into the shower, the fall of water gentle between us from a large shower head.I stood under the water, letting it wash the grime and blood and sweat off my skin, and it felt fucking holy.Griffin braced his arms on either side of me, backing me against the wall and caging me in.The water streamed over his face and chest and made every part of him gleam.I wasn’t sure I’d ever needed anything as bad as I needed that right then.And we’d just had sex.
He reached for the soap.“Gimme your hands.”I did, and he lathered them up, rubbing the soap between my fingers, over the healing cut and bruised knuckles.His ministrations felt almost ritualistic.Like something warriors did for each other after battle.He finished with my hands, then worked his way slowly up my arms, shoulders, neck.He took his time with my body, like he wanted to memorize every part of me.He even soaped behind my ears, then ran his hands through my hair and massaged my scalp, every touch deliberate.I melted with each pass.
“You’re so fuckin’ beautiful, Veda.”
Griffin urged me to turn, so I leaned back against him before closing my eyes.Griffin soaped my chest, my breasts, and the slope of my ribs where old bruises patchworked my skin.His hands were big and rough, but he handled me like I might break any second.The contrast made me ache with both need and affection.I arched up into his hands, letting myself want what I wanted, and the growl he gave made me flush even hotter.
He held me like that, my back against his chest, his cock stiffening again and pressing against the small of my back as his hands roamed my body, each movement slow, almost reverent.As if the rough, animal need we’d crashed through moments earlier had only been the first act.This was the second, and he intended to have it burn twice as hot.
He pressed a kiss to the curve of my shoulder, then another up the side of my neck, trailing steam-soaked heat across my skin.I let my head loll forward, trusting him to hold my weight as I sagged.For a second, I thought he might just keep washing me, content to let his hands tell me the things words would ruin.Then his hand dipped low, sliding across my belly and lower, fingers finding my clit and rolling it, gentle at first, then firmer, until I relaxed into his hold and whimpered with need.
“God, don’t stop.”I didn’t even care I begged him.
“I won’t,” he promised, nipping at my ear.
I turned in his arms, reaching between us to find his cock, and stroked it, twisting my wrist in a way that had him biting back a curse.I guided him between my legs without letting go of his cock.
He let me take over.My back pressed to the slick tile, one hand locked around his cock, the other curled behind his neck.I hooked one leg around his waist, opening myself up to him.
Griffin entered me slowly, like he had all the time in the world… Then slammed into me so hard my teeth clicked.I gasped, the sound echoing off the shower tile.The water made everything slick and hotter, drowning out every sense but touch.My world shrank to the burn between my thighs and the slow grind of his hips and the way his tongue never left mine.
He braced me with his hands gripping my ass and my back sliding up the tile with every movement.I held his gaze, refusing to look anywhere else, like if I let my eyes slip shut I’d lose my only anchor.He liked that.Griffin liked me looking at him, and I realized he needed it almost as much as I did.
He fucked me with a slow, relentless rhythm, grinding his cock deep and hard, and every time he thrust deep I felt another small shockwave ripple out through my whole body.I didn’t want it slow, but I couldn’t even form the words to tell him.
When I started to clench around him, he quickened his pace, slamming into me hard, fucking me relentlessly.I clawed at his back, leaving welts on his skin, and he smiled like a wolf when he felt the pain.
He crowded in close, pressing his forehead to mine as the whole world narrowed to the sound of water pounding the tile and the click of my teeth as he fucked me upright against the wall.I screamed, the sound bouncing off the shower walls.
He didn’t stop.He kept fucking me, burying his face in my neck before growling as he bit down on my shoulder, coming with a violent shudder that jerked his whole body.He bent forward, still grinding himself inside me, his breath scorching hot in my ear as he whispered, “I need you so fuckin’ bad, Veda.I don’t want to let go.”
I held onto him as hard as I could.For a few seconds, all I heard was the thump of my heart and the endless rush of water over our skin.He finally eased out of me, lowering me back to the shower floor, and I clung to his chest to keep from falling.
We scrubbed each other down in silence after that.I leaned into his touch as he soaped and rinsed me, then ran the same bar of soap up his own arms and over his chest.I wanted to tattoo the memory of his body into my brain, every scar and every edge, because some part of me still couldn’t believe this was really mine.At least for now.
When he turned off the water we both toweled off.Griffin wrapped me in a second towel and threw me over his shoulder like a sack.I yelped but didn’t struggle.He just carried me into the bedroom, dropped me gently on the bed, and lay down next to me, both of us still damp with heat radiating between us.I couldn’t help but smile.
“You sure you’re all right?”he asked as he settled me against his chest.
“Yeah.Been worse.”
He grunted.“Not the point.If you need --”
I cut him off.“Don’t make this weird, Griffin.I just need you to not disappear on me.”
He stared at me, eyes sharp and green and slightly incredulous, then shook his head and snorted.“Wasn’t planning on it.”He wrapped his arms around me tighter.“Lie still.Rest.”
I did, because at this point I was too tired to argue.Besides, it felt good to be in his arms like this.
The room was quiet except for us.Outside, the faint noise from the docks was a distant thrum, softened by distance and the thick night.The fridge kicked on in the kitchen, then off.Somewhere farther away, a motorcycle gunned to life, the rumble fading as the rider took off.
Griffin stroked the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair until I almost drifted off to sleep.I hadn’t realized how tired I was until I finally let go.I pressed my cheek to his chest, let my eyelids go heavy, and for a few minutes, the world didn’t need anything from me just yet.Even if it did, I was too exhausted and battered to care about any of it except my sister.
I’d stay here for now.With Griffin.I’d figure out how to leave him later.
The stillness didn’t last.It never did.The phone on Griffin’s nightstand lit up with a cold, blue glow and started to vibrate.He grumbled but didn’t move, just cracked one eye to see the caller.I saw the name from my side of the bed.
Knight.
