I shrieked, starting so hard I jumped and tossed the silk camisole in the air. It landed on my head, blinding me, but I didn’t need my eyes to know who’d walked into the closet.
Griffen. Well, I’d wanted to show him the camisole. Though not while I was screaming like a dork. With a nervous laugh, I untangled the straps from my hair and twisted the fabric in my hands.
Griffen strode forward and tugged the camisole free. Threading his fingers through the straps, he held it up against me, his eyes heating as they took me in. “Did you buy this in Atlanta?”
I nodded.
“Did you buy it for me?”
I shook my head.
“No?” His eyes scanned me, taking in the way the silk draped over the curve of my breasts, the thick cream lace at the hem stopping just above where my hipbones were hidden under my jeans.
Finding my courage, I said, “I bought it for me to wear for you.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
Another shake of my head. “I bought it because I liked it. I liked the way I thought I would feel wearing it. And I thought you would agree.”
I don’t know where I got the courage to say that. It was the truth, but with Griffen so close, holding that pink silk against me, my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest—I was half-terrified.
Half-terrified and breathless with anticipation. I knew what that look in his eyes meant. Or I thought I did.
Griffen leaned in and my heart skipped a beat. “Try it on.”
I swallowed hard past the knot in my throat. Try it on? Like, for him? Of course, for him, you idiot. That’s why you bought it, isn’t it?
Obviously. But I’d been feeling a lot more brave with Alice and Lily, Griffen nowhere in sight. Now we were alone and Griffen wanted me to—
“Okay,” I squeaked out. “But you have to—” I made a shooing motion with my hands.
Try the lingerie on for Griffen? That I could do. I hoped.
Do it with him watching? No flipping way.
With a quirk of his lips, Griffen handed me the pink silk camisole. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be waiting.”
He disappeared through the door of the closet. I attempted not to have a heart attack. Then I decided not to think about it at all. I stripped off my jeans and sweater, then my underwear and bra, wondering if I should find perfume, or take a shower, or—I didn’t know. I’d never done this before.
I settled for going to the bathroom, washing my hands and splashing some cold water on my face. I could do this. Millions of women did this every day.
This was Griffen. Everything would be okay.
This was Griffen, so everything would be better than okay.
Just put it on and he’ll do the rest. One thing at a time. Just put it on.
I did, my rear end feeling very exposed and cold, considering there was no fabric covering it, just a narrow silk string giving me a wedgie. I stared at the closed door of the closet. I could not walk out there like this. I should. It should be no big deal, but it was.
My chest tight, fingertips tingling until I thought I really was going to have a heart attack, I snatched the midnight-blue robe from its hanger and pulled it on, my knuckles white from my tight grip on the silk.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I opened the closet door and walked through to the bedroom. Griffen’s mouth spread into a smile. He shook his head in amusement and crossed the room to me, blocking my view of my big brass bed. Good. Every time I looked at the bed, I got a flutter in my chest.
“I thought you were going to model the pink thing for me.” He pressed a fingertip into the hollow at the base of my throat and slid it down, down, down until he parted the lapels of the rope and traced the inner curve of my breast.
My breath caught in my throat. I forced out the words, “It’s under here. I just couldn’t walk around mostly naked.”
Griffen’s eyes flared on the word naked. “That’s okay. I always loved unwrapping my presents slowly.”
Closing his fingers over mine, he massaged my tight hand, gently easing the tension out of my fingers, loosening my grip on the robe.
With a deep sigh, I dropped my arm. Griffen hooked his thumb in the silk collar and nudged it back, baring my shoulder, then my upper arm, until the silk slid free and exposed most of the left side of my body.
He didn’t say anything. He just looked at me, taking in the way the pink silk clung to my breast, the length of my leg, naked all the way to my hipbone. Moving into me, his hand skimmed my waist and my hip, curving around to squeeze my ass.