CHAPTER TEN
The hope had been that Dinah would give us privacy that evening but considering we were her only guests she found herself idle and Amelia asked her to join us.
It was around ten o’ clock in the evening. We were sitting out on the porch when I yawned and Dinah pounced on it.
“Oh, Griffin, you’ll need to get your beautiful bride to bed before all she wants to do is sleep in it,” she teased.
“Yes, Griffin,” Amelia agreed grinning deviously, “Best take your bride to bed now.”
I could only guess at Griff’s inner monologue of irritation but he stood up and held out a hand to me. “I think they’re probably right. Time for bed… darling.”
Holding back my laughter I took his hand and stood.
“Weren’t you telling me it’s a tradition for you to show the bride and groom to their bedchamber?” Amelia reminded Dinah.
“Oh I almost forgot.” Dinah jumped to her feet with a lot of spryness for a woman her age. “Let me lead the way.” She marched in front of us.
Griff looked back at Quentin. “Control your woman.”
“Don’t be a caveman, Griff,” Amelia huffed. “He can no more control me than you can control Scarlett.”
I tried not to laugh at Amelia, sensing Griff was genuinely irritated. With Dinah so relaxed after dinner I think Griff had hoped she’d forget about the tradition and he could retire to the adjoining room without interacting with me.
Instead we strode into our bridal suite, thick tension between us that reminded me of the night Amelia showed us to our room at her beach house.
Dinah wished us a saucy goodnight. As soon as the door closed behind her, Griff and I stared at one another from across the room. His gaze drifted down my body and back up again.
“You like the dress then?” I asked.
“Who wouldn’t?”
I smiled weakly at that vague answer and turned to take out the earrings Amelia had given me. They had a weight to them and my lobes felt sore. Gently placing them on the dressing table, I massaged my ears, not looking at my new husband.
But I felt him.
At his approach I looked up, heart in my mouth.
He gestured to my neck. “Let me help.”
I turned and attempted to beat back a shiver when his fingers brushed my skin. The necklace he’d unclasped fell away and he stepped aside to place it by the earrings. Fumbling with the clasp on the bracelet I couldn’t look at him.
And then I froze at the feel of his hand on my naked back. I looked into the dressing table mirror and our eyes met. Even I had to admit we made a striking couple.
Griff’s hand coasted down my back until it hit fabric. Shivers cascaded down my spine and my arms broke out into goosebumps.
“You’re very beautiful, Scarlett,” he said, his words quiet and rumbling as we stared at each other in the mirror.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“One day you’ll do this for real with someone who deserves you and he’ll feel like the luckiest man in the world as you walk down that aisle toward him.”
His words killed the hope I’d started to feel and I lowered my gaze as he removed his hand from my back. Turning away I reached down to hold onto the arm of the bedroom chair so I could remove my shoes one at a time. Cool air hit my feet as I walked across the bare floorboards to the bed. Sitting down I threw him an amused smirk to hide my disappointment. “Whereas I bet you felt nothing but panic.”
Griff leaned against the dresser. “Not really. I thought I would. I guess knowing the commitment isn’t real made all the difference.”
“Right.”
He studied me with his lids lowered over his eyes in a smolder I felt between my legs. I wished, that if he wasn’t going to make a move on me, he’d use the door to the adjoining room and leave me alone already. “I’m glad it’s you. I never thought I’d feel anything but satisfaction that my plan was coming together. Yet I do find myself feeling relieved that it was you taking those vows. And admittedly pride that my bride, fake though she may be, is so stunning it was hard to look away.”
My breath caught at his compliment. Emotions, overwhelming emotions, flooded me and I strove to control them. So I teased him, “Well besides my dress meeting your approval… are you saying you might actually trust me?”
“With this, yes.”
I rolled my eyes but I guessed it was better than nothing.
“Well.” He pushed up off the dresser. “I think I can safely sneak into the adjoining room.”
Disappointed and relieved all at the same time, I couldn’t speak.
If he wasn’t going to touch me I needed him to leave so I could breathe properly again.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Griffin.” I stood up and walked over to the dresser because I didn’t want to watch him leave.
The adjoining door opened and closed. I bent forward, my hands pressed to the dresser as I glared at my reflection. What had I expected? That he’d be so overcome with lust and emotion that he’d say ‘fuck it’ and rip my goddamn wedding dress off and ravage me on the bridal bed?
I bit my lip at the imagery.
Yes, that’s what I’d imagined.
Body burning with unfulfilled desire I peeled off the straps of my wedding dress and carefully shimmied out of it. Cool air brushed across my naked breasts, turning my nipples into hard pebbles. As I hung up the dress and rifled through my things for the silk nightgown Amelia had made me buy, my enflamed body only grew hotter as the silk caressed my skin.
I stared in the full-length mirror as I removed the pins from my hair. The nightgown was stunning. Ivory silk cut with lace at the breasts so the dark of my nipples were clearly visible. The neckline plunged. On someone with smaller breasts the v would sit beautifully. On me, the v strained slightly against my breasts so that my inner curves were revealed.
The nightgown was foreplay itself.
And Griff was missing it.
As I readied for bed, fantasies of Griff barging back into the room to fuck me played through my mind. What surprised and unnerved me was that in none of the fantasies had he made gentle love to me. Instead they all involved him fucking me hard while he whispered dirty sweet-nothings in my ears.
Beyond wet, I slid into bed and immediately slipped my fingers beneath my lace panties. As I circled my throbbing clit, I squeezed one of my breasts with my other hand, strumming the taut nipple with my thumb. Eyes slammed shut I fantasized that it was Griffin’s hands on my body. I strained to stay quiet, my breaths low and shallow, but the fantasy aroused me so completely I felt myself losing control. When I climaxed, I stifled my cry of release into my pillow so he wouldn’t hear me.
Then I drifted to sleep wishing I hadn’t let Amelia get my hopes up. That I hadn’t let myself get my hopes up.
I should have known that when Griff was really determined he’d stubbornly stick to his guns.
***
I was awoken by a knock on the adjoining door before it abruptly flew open.
Blinking against the light flooding into the room it took me a minute to realize Griff had barged in. His shirt was wrinkled from having been slept in and he threw his waistcoat and jacket on the chaise at the bottom of the bed.
“What time is it?” I grumbled.
“Five-thirty.” He scrubbed a hand across his hair and slumped into the armchair. “I heard our hostess moving around and thought I better get out of the other room.”
“Oh. Right.” God, I felt like I’d barely slept. “Well I suppose we better get ready for breakfast then.” I threw back the covers and slid out of the bed, hoping my hair didn’t look like a rat’s nest. Just in case, I grabbed up a band I’d left on the bedside table and pulled my hair up into a knot on top of my head. When I turned to Griff I froze at the look on his face.
His expression was angry mixed with a heavy dose of lust as his eyes glued to my chest.
And that’s when I remembered what I was wearing.
My nipples hardened under his dark gaze.
Griff’s nostrils flared at the sight. “What the hell are you wearing?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
I swallowed the sudden thickness in my throat. “Amelia made me buy it.”
“Did she make you wear it?” he bit out angrily.
I flushed with annoyance at his accusatory tone and crossed my arms over my chest which only pushed them up further. Crap! “It’s a pretty nightgown, okay.”
“Pretty?” Griff stood up and I held in a gasp at the sight of his erection straining against his suit pants. “You might as well be topless.”
I didn’t know what to say.
He took a predatory step toward me. “What game are you playing, Scarlett?”
Now I knew what to say. “I’m not playing any games!”
“No?” his face darkened with anger. And possibly frustration. “What about last night?”
“What about last night?” I hadn’t done anything remotely untoward last night!
“How about making me listen while you masturbated?”
I gasped, my cheeks no doubt blooming red to match my hair. “You heard?” Embarrassment practically floored me.
Griff relaxed a little, his expression softening somewhat. “You didn’t know I could hear you?”
Not brazen enough to be able to handle this situation without feeling mortified, I swiftly pulled the complimentary dressing gown out of the wardrobe and pulled it on to cover myself. “I thought I was being quiet.” God, I couldn’t look at him.
“The walls are thin. I heard you come.”
I shivered at the coarse rumble of his voice. “I didn’t mean for you to hear that.”
“Yes, well, unfortunately I couldn’t take care of myself without making a mess of the sheets so I went to sleep with a raging hard-on, now made worse by that fucking get-up you’re wearing.”
I whipped around. “It’s not my fault you’re attracted to me so stop making it out like it is. It’s horrible and it’s what men who don’t understand the word ‘no’ use as an excuse for their behavior.”
Griff flinched at my words and we just stared at each other with baleful expressions. Finally he turned away, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck, you’re right. I hate when you’re right.”
I stifled a smile.
“I know it’s not your fault that I’m attracted to you,” he said as he stared out the window. “And you should be able to wear and act however you like without inciting my erection.”
My lips twitched at his word choice and tone. He sounded like a petulant schoolboy.
“But I would ask,” he looked over at me, “That you try to torment me just a little less.”
Ashamed because that had actually been my intention yesterday morning, I couldn’t meet his eyes. “You know the solution, Griff.”
“No. I… I have to believe that you and I are above our base animal instincts and that we can see this marriage through without complicating it with sex. For now, the solution is a cold shower for me and a change of wardrobe for you. Yes?”
I nodded.
But as he was striding toward the bathroom, a thought that made my stomach turn occurred to me. “Griff.”
He glanced back at me impatiently.
Attempting to remain cool, I said, “You obviously… well…”
“Spit it out, Scarlett.”
“You obviously need sex.” I gestured to his still raging hard-on. “Am I to believe that you’re not going to look elsewhere for that?”
“It’s maybe more of a problem than I first thought.” He was honest. “But if I do look elsewhere for satisfaction, I promise I’ll be extremely discreet.”
Hurt and yes, rage, flooded me at the thought of him having sex with someone else. It made me want to lash out. Coldness crept out of me. “In that case I promise to do the same.”
He gritted his teeth. “You told me you haven’t had sex in years before me. Now you’re telling me you can’t hold out for the length of our arrangement?”
“What can I tell you, Griff?” I managed with a casualness I was proud of. I even managed to contain my blush as I continued, “You broke the seal. It might be hard for me to hold out now. But like you said… I’ll be discreet.”
He’d braced a hand around the doorjamb of the bathroom and his knuckles turned white he clenched it so hard. Even I, who found this man difficult to read on any given day, could tell the thought of me sexing it up with another man made him want to break something.
He was jealous at the thought.
Good.
At least he knew how it felt.
Without another word he moved into the bathroom and slammed the door so hard it actually shook on its hinges.
I tutted, feeling smug. All was fair in love and war, right?