Neanderthal by Avery Flynn

Chapter Thirty-Six

Kinsey

If Meemaw had known that Kinsey had used the family cornbread recipe for sin, her grandma would have gone for her flyswatter.

Sure, maybe—just maybe—she could have convinced the woman who raised her that it was a mercy not to make Griff eat the boxed corn bread that he’d been planning to cook in a sheet pan, but it wasn’t likely. Meemaw knew what was what, which meant it was a damn good thing it was just Kinsey and Griff out on his balcony big enough that the studio apartment she’d looked at could fit on it, pretending to look for the Big Dipper when there was no way with all of Harbor City’s lights that they would have spotted a meteor on its way down to earth.

“I think that’s it,” he said, stepping behind her and coming up close while pointing at absolutely nothing in the sky.

It wasn’t an accident that the move put them exactly in the same position they’d been in on that elevator. Sure, she’d expected Griff to catch on to her game within five minutes of her sashaying through his front door—and he had, she was convinced of it—but he hadn’t even sorta acknowledged it until now. She’d thought he’d been lucky not to play into her hand. However, feeling the press of him against her back, the almost casual touch of his fingers resting ever-so-frustratingly lightly against her hips, and the tease of his hot breath against her ear made her realize it had actually been her who’d rubbed the leprechaun’s gold.

“And that has to be Venus,” he said.

That whisper-soft touch of his sent a shiver down her spine, and her eyes fluttered closed. “That’s Jupiter.”

The big, sexy jerk face chuckled against her sensitive skin. She didn’t have to guess why. At this time of year, they’d only be able to spot Venus in the morning if they were upstate, where a person could spot the stars because light pollution was minimal. Of course he’d know that. Jupiter at night. Venus in the morning, second only to the moon in brightness.

“Checking to see if I’m listening?” she asked, giving herself another few seconds to relax against him before she had to open her eyes and face reality.

He slid his hand, fingers spread wide, across her belly, holding her firmly against him. “Just wondering how far you were taking this looking-up-at-the-stars-neither-of-us-can-see thing.”

Letting out a soft exhale, she forced her eyes open and took in what seemed like the whole of Harbor City spread out before them like a toy model decorated with a million fairy lights. From up here, it was easy to pretend that they were the only ones in Harbor City, that there weren’t horrible bosses with huge egos looking to throw someone under the bus or tiny apartments with toilets in the kitchen or a million reasons why she shouldn’t be feeling exactly the way she was right now—like all of this was more than just a fling, that Griff had meant what he’d said the other night and had never even hinted at again. Hope for something she hadn’t planned for and wasn’t looking for bubbled inside her, drugging her with ideas and dreams she should ignore but couldn’t.

“For someone who usually only grunts,” she said, putting her hand over the one of his splayed across her belly and twining her fingers with his, “you’re awful chatty tonight.”

“You make me want to do things with my mouth,” he said in that growly tone of his.

Her biscuits were officially buttered because her thighs had never in her life been clenched together so tight—it was either that or spin around and climb Griff like an oak tree.

She should move away, give herself some space, stick to the plan of teasing him as much as he’d teased her in that elevator. On all three counts, she failed. He smelled good. He felt good. He was fake spotting constellations as an excuse to stand close to her. Who said no to all that? Not Kinsey Anne Dalton.

“Are you gonna tease again or follow through?” she asked as she lifted herself onto her toes and stretched, a move that dragged her ass up his cock.

“That depends.” He pulled her tight against him, leaving absolutely no question about how much he wanted her right now. “Are you going to sneak out when I’m in the shower?”

An embarrassed flush burned her cheeks. “I didn’t sneak.”

If she had been wearing panties under her dress, they would have gone up in flames at that whopper.

Still holding her against him, he toyed with the strap of her sundress before pulling it down and dropping a kiss on the top of her shoulder. The thin strap of her dress was halfway down her arm, and the only thing keeping her dress up on that side was the hard tip of her nipple. Desire whipped through her, touching every nerve before it curled tight in her belly. Griff let out a harsh hiss of breath and slipped the other strap off while he moved their hands down her front until they were cupping her hot core together.

Sweet tea and moon pies, this man was gonna melt her like butter left out in the summer sun before she was even naked. Okay. Fine. She was only wearing the white dress anyway, but she was one tug of gravity from being completely exposed. She added that to the list of things she should stop but wasn’t gonna do a damn thing to hinder. It was just too damn hot.

“You’re a horrible liar.” Griff kissed her right behind the ear. “You did sneak out.” He stroked her clit through the thin material of her dress. “Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.” Not as long as he kept touching her like that. She’d agree to call Coke “pop,” to put sugar in her grits, to wear white after Labor Day, as long as he kept touching her.

“Good.” He increased the pressure of his fingers. “I like to hear that—almost as much as I like hearing you come.” He moved her against him so his hard cock nestled against the cleft of her ass. The move was all it took to send her dress sliding down off her breasts. “You make the best sounds when you’re squeezing my dick or my fingers or coming all over my mouth.” He nipped the spot where her shoulder and her neck met, then kissed it better. “Fuck. Are you gonna make that sound again? Are you gonna let me hear it?”

“Griff.” It was all she could say; everything else was gone from her mind except for him.

“I want to hear it.” Harder, faster he rubbed their hands over her dress-covered folds, so slick with her own desire that it was like not having anything between them. “I want the world to know that I gave you that much pleasure. I want everyone to know you’re mine.”

She collapsed against him, so close to the edge, she couldn’t balance on her own legs anymore and the only thing holding her up was his arm around her waist, keeping her upright and flush against him.

“That’s right,” he said, tormenting her with pleasure. “Here you are, legs spread with your dress around your waist, your tits bare, your nipples puckered, and your head thrown back.” The words came out rough and hard and demanding. “Look at you. So wound up because you need this. So slick you’re soaking through your dress. So damn close to coming all over our fingers.”

God help her, she was. She wasn’t in control anymore; she could only go with all of this because at the moment she needed to let go, to forcefully grab what she wanted, to send a giant middle finger to everyone who took one look at her and thought they knew who she was more than anything else. Griff knew that. He understood it. He saw that. He saw her.

“Give it to me, Kinsey,” he said, speeding up their fingers, demanding everything with his touch. “Let me have that moan.”

Fuck.

She couldn’t hold back. She barely recognized the desperate moan as coming from her own mouth as her orgasm hit. All she could do was ride it, let the pleasure rush through her body until she was limp and her breath was coming in hard pants.

Griff shoved her dress down over her hips and left it on the stone floor of the balcony when he scooped her up and carried her to the large double chaise longue. He sat her down but didn’t join her. Instead, she lay back and watched as he reached behind his head and pulled off his T-shirt in one fluid motion.

Sweet baby Jesus, the man’s torso was a sight to behold. Nearly every inch of his muscular chest was covered in ink. Her body, still riding the high of her orgasm, wasn’t done yet, not with the view she had. His jeans hug low on his hips, and when he flicked open the top button, she couldn’t help but drop her hand between her legs again.

“Fuck yes,” Griff ground out from between clenched teeth.

She spread her legs, letting him get a good look as she rounded her clit in slow, lazy circles. He rewarded her by taking off the rest of his clothes in record time and standing there, hand wrapped around his cock, stroking it as he watched. The intensity of his gaze, the way his pupils dilated with lust as he zeroed in on her fingers, God, it was enough to make her come again right then.

“One of these days,” he said, starting toward her, “I’m just gonna watch you get yourself off over and over again until I can’t take it and I come all over your belly.”

Her core tightened at the idea, and her nipples hardened until they ached. “Not tonight?”

He shook his head. “I need inside you. Now.”

Heaven help her, she’d never wanted anything more.