Page 182 of Deadfall

“Maybe.” His lip twitched. “Maybe not.”

He took another step, and I involuntarily took one back.

“Maybe I like it when you stare.”

“I’m not staring,” I scoffed.

“You’re absolutely staring, baby girl,” Seven chuckled.

Griffin came closer. “I like it even more when you blush.”

My back slammed into the dresser, and a flash of victory crossed Griffin’s face. He planted his hands on either side of the top of the dresser. I should have felt trapped, but no part of me wanted to be anywhere else. I noticed somewhere along the way, he’d dropped the shirt altogether.

“I don’t blush,” I said, my voice far more breathless than I needed it to be.

“It’s actually adorable,” Seven chimed in.

Griffin’s stare drew me in and his presence was all encompassing. He’d moved even closer, but still not an inch of him touched me. It was only his stare that held me captive.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I whispered.

“Like what?”

“Like that,” I said lamely because I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe it. His laugh was a rumble that I felt in the pit of my stomach, and lower still.

“Why?”

“It makes it hard to breathe.”

And then he smiled—

Oh boy—I sagged against the dresser, thankful there was something to hold me up in the face of whatever the fuck that was, because it was brilliant. I thought his smirk was deadly, but I hadn’t seen a full smile until that moment and holy fucking hell—it was devastating. He leaned even closer, a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“That’s where the river meets the sea, baby,” he said. “I always told you it was inevitable.”

“But, what if I drown?” I asked, half-teasing, half-worried he truly would steal my breath away.

He was so close there was nothing more than inches of space between where I ended and he began.

A glint of amusement appeared. “Don’t make me make a mouth-to-mouth joke. That’s Seven’s department.”

“Well, looks like he’s slacking,” I said with a small smile.

“There’s no way I’m ruining this with a joke,” Seven scoffed.

Even he sounded a little breathless, but I couldn’t tear my attention from Griffin. I watched his eyes drop to my lips and spark into green fire. I suddenly didn’t care about rivers, or oceans, or drowning.

“Emersyn,” Griffin said.

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

His words landed somewhere between my ribs, and my heart forgot how to function. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing if I drowned in him—maybe I should stop fighting it. Or maybe, like he said, it was inevitable to begin with. Despite his words, he waited.

Our eyes locked, and I let the fire in his ignite the storm in mine.

“Okay,” I said.