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Griffin didn’t want to turn around. The scenery was just fine the way he was facing. But she had a testy look in her eyes, so he did as she asked. He was instantly glad he’d listened when her teeth scored his back, and her hands reached around his waist to grip his erection. Griffin struggled for a handhold against the wet tile as she stroked him.
“Mmm.” She sighed against his skin.
Her hands didn’t linger there for long, however. She trailed her fingers up along his chest before reaching up to drag them through his wet hair. The next thing he knew, she was massaging shampoo into his scalp. He was amazed at how good it felt.
“Rinse,” she said before sliding past him.
Again, Griffin did as he was told. When he opened his eyes, he glanced down and saw her ravaged knees. Swearing under his breath, he slammed the water off with one hand gently lifting a shivering Marin into his arms. He grabbed a fluffy towel off the rack and draped it around her body. Stepping out of the tub, he sat her down on the counter beside the sink, wrapping the towel more snuggly around her before grabbing one for himself and vigorously drying off.
Marin sat quietly while Griffin cataloged the injuries to her body. He kissed the scraped skin on her palms before crouching down and brushing his lips over her battered kneecaps, all the while cursing the dead Ukrainian.
“Marin.” He rested the side of his head against her thigh. “If I could kill Salenko again I would.”
“Don’t.” She threaded her fingers through his wet hair forcing his eyes to meet her watery ones. “I don’t want to think about him or any other part of it. And I definitely don’t want to talk about it. I just want to be with you. I need to live in this moment, Griffin. Not the past. Can we do that tonight?” she pleaded.
That, he could do. His eyes never leaving hers, Griffin turned his head slightly so that his lips brushed along the tender skin of her inner thigh. Marin shivered beneath his touch. Gripping her ass, he slid her to the edge of the counter. Her lips curved up in a satisfied smile as she wrapped her legs around his neck.
Griffin would have liked to take his time and draw the pleasure out for her, but her body hummed with a sense of urgency. She needed this release to help her relax; to help her escape the ugly memories of the past week. Delving his tongue into her sweetness, her excitement built. Marin came in a rush, her body convulsing wildly against his mouth.
When he got to his feet, she was leaning against the mirror, her eyes closed, a look of bliss fixed on her face. A delicate flush had spread all over her body. Opening her eyes, she reached for him, but he backed away.
“No, we’re going to do this right. In a bed,” he said.
Her body was warm against his skin when he lifted her up to his chest. She draped her arms around his neck, nuzzling his jaw as he carried her over to the canopied bed that had once belonged to Andrew Jackson. Griffin laid her in the center of the mattress while he went to retrieve a condom. There was an effervescent smile on her face when he returned to the bed. It stirred up something inside Griffin so powerful he had to look away.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He crawled onto the bed beside her, resting his hand across her taut midriff. “Save your thanks for later, I’m not done with you yet, wench.” He winked at her, trying to lighten the mood.
Smiling serenely, Marin cupped his jaw with her hand. “And in doing so, you will have rescued me once again.”
Griffin studied her beautiful face, ignoring the niggling feeling shimmying down his spine that, perhaps, Marin was rescuing him from something. Instead, he moved over her, sliding inside her warm, welcoming body. Gently, he brushed his lips against her wounded ones. She responded by squeezing around him. Griffin’s restraint slipped its leash and moments later they were a sweaty, tangled mess of limbs in the heat of passion. Marin arched against him, throwing her head back with a silent scream when she climaxed. Griffin was right behind her, following her into ecstasy with a blinding release that had him gasping out her name like a prayer.
* * *
Marin awoke to the feeling she was being watched. She fluttered her eyelids open and glanced around the bedroom. Griffin sat at the edge of the antique bed, one shoulder propped against the canopy post. He was dressed in the combat gear he’d worn the night before. She glanced over at the clock. It was five in the morning.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” he said softly. “But I have to go downstairs and change to catch my flight. I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.”
Moving was still painful with all her cuts and bruises, but she needed to face him from an upright position. Marin armored herself by pulling the floral sheet tightly around her naked body before she sat up.
“I’m glad you woke me,” she lied. A big part of her—the cowardly part—had hoped he’d be less of a gentleman and slip out into the dawn. Then there was that small part who adored Griffin for who he was.
She glanced around the room, anything to avoid having to meet his perceptive eyes. The tray of food was empty. They’d inhaled the sandwiches and fruit hours ago between bouts of lovemaking. When they weren’t communicating with their bodies, they’d made easy small talk, both of them managing to tiptoe around the elephant in the room—her brash declaration of love.The one he hadn’t reciprocated.
“You understand why I have to go?” Griffin sounded as anxious as she felt.
“Of course, I understand. You need to finish what you started. To wrap up this case. And you have to go get Elena.” She forced her lips into as much of a grin as they could tolerate. “I’m done needing to be constantly rescued. Elena needs you now. Rescuing women in distress is what you do.”
Those ocean eyes of his seemed to bore through her as she rambled on senselessly.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to make it back for the wedding.”
Marin waved him off. “Don’t worry about that.”
His eyes narrowed even more. “I do worry about it because it’s important to you.”
“Really, Griffin, after everything I’ve been through these last few days, I’m confident I can brazen it out and stand up to my cousin. I don’t need a date to her wedding anymore.”
