Chapter Eighteen
***Autumn***
Thedrivetothe aquarium was just short enough that the girls’ excited squealing didn’t give me a headache. We all clamored out of the car, and I took a second to adjust my sundress before looking up and seeing a small horde of people waiting for us. I stopped short and looked up at Griffin.
“What’s this?”
He ignored me and walked forward to shake hands with a man in a suit. How Griffin had found someone more overdressed than he was, I didn’t know. “Mr. Gregory. Good to see you again.”
“Good to be able to see you again, Mr. Phoenix.” He looked down at the kids while still clasping Griffin’s hand in his. “Your father saved my life. You should be very proud of him.”
I watched Jones stand up a little taller while Caroline and Grace looked up at Griffin with a question in their eyes. I stayed where I was, watching the interaction with a lump in my throat that had no business being there. Griffin looked embarrassed by the praise, and there was something so humanizing about his reaction. He didn’t seem like the rich asshole anymore. He was a normal guy for a moment, unable to take praise.
“Anyway. We’ve got the whole place ready for you today. You’re going to get to see and experience everything. If you’re brave and kind, you’ll even get to swim with the sharks.”
Jones came alive. “Swim with sharks?”
A pretty blonde woman stepped forward and nodded to Jones. “Yeah. We have several sharks inside. Want to see?”
“Yeah!”
Another woman moved over to Caroline and Grace. “And if you don’t want to swim with the sharks, we have other exciting things. Have you ever held a starfish before?”
Grace shook her head while Caroline nodded. “Once. There was one on the beach.”
“Well, I have a bunch inside. Just for you to see and touch. There’s no one else here today, so you have my entire attention.”
Mr. Gregory smiled at me and then looked back at Griffin. “We’ll take good care of them while you look around at your leisure.”
When the kids moved forward with the staff, I went to go with them, but Griffin caught my arm and held me at his side. Looking over at him, I frowned. “Kind of hard to be a nanny when I can’t get to the kids, Griffin.”
“Call me Griff. And you’re off-duty today.” He brushed a strand of hair out of my face and smiled. “Which means you’re with me.”
I frowned hard, untrusting of his smile. “No, I’m the nanny, Griffin. I’m not being paid to hang out with you.”
He shrugged and pulled me along with him. “Fine. I won’t pay you for today.”
Inside the cool air of the aquarium, my sundress felt too small. I shivered but stayed focused on arguing with Griffin. I didn’t understand what he was doing. “You can’t just force me to hang out with you. What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that hanging out with me won’t be such a hardship.” He growled down at me while rubbing my arms, clearly noticing I’d gotten cold. “The kids are in good hands. You’re in good hands.”
My eyebrows raised. “I’m in good hands?”
“Do you ever just stop arguing?”
“Do you ever just stop making plans for other people?”
“No.”
I slapped his chest. “Well, me either.”
He yanked me flush into his chest, trapping my arms between us. “You’re infuriating. No matter how hard I try to be nice to you, you’re always the same amount of judgmental and skeptical.”
I resisted the urge to bite his chin, but barely. “This is you being nice?”
He lowered his voice to a gravel-filled whisper. “About as nice as I get, Autumn.”
A shiver worked its way through my body that had nothing to do with the chill in the air. I didn’t know what else to say. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth again, I was going to say something inappropriate. Like maybe telling him how good it felt when he manhandled me and got all angry. What was wrong with me?
“We’ve got two options, sweetheart.” He licked his lips and ran his hand over my back, growling when he didn’t feel a bra strap. “One. You and I walk through this aquarium, acting like there isn’t this energy snapping between us. Or, my personal preference, two. You let me take you into any private space I can find so we can get this out of our systems.”
My mouth snapped open and I gaped at him. “You’ve got some nerve.”
“So, you’re leaning towards the first option?” He lowered his mouth to my ear and growled. “Come on, then. Let’s go look at some fish.”
I was left reeling as he pulled away from me and started walking ahead. My heart was in my throat and all my blood was rushing to my core. That was the only way I could explain the way I chased after him. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him to a stop and stretched to be taller so I could chastise him properly. “You are far too bossy. You just say and do whatever you want. Do you ever think about repercussions?”
“What repercussions, Autumn?”
“Like what if you do fuck the nanny and then the nanny gets obsessed with you and stops doing her job to focus on more sex with you and then your kids grow up to be bad seeds because they missed the chance at a loving nanny that one summer.”
He threw his head back and laughed, the sound filling the aquarium and drawing the eyes of the staff who weren’t with the kids. It was a full, husky sound that warmed me all over and sent a blush blossoming all over my body.
I took his hand and dragged him into a corner so we wouldn’t be such a spectacle. “What is so funny?”
“I’m pretty sure you don’t even like me, Autumn. I don’t think I need to worry about you becoming obsessed with me.”
I scoffed. “I like you enough.”
“You like me?”
“Well.” I stopped and pursed my lips. I wasn’t sure how to answer him. “Sure. I guess.”
He grinned down at me and shook his head. “I think if either of us got obsessed with the other, it wouldn’t be you obsessing, Autumn. Even if you guess you might like me a little bit.”
I scoffed as he started to walk away. Catching his arm and tugging him back around to face me, I grabbed his shirt with my other hand without even realizing it. “You’re not going to obsess over me. I’m your nanny. I’m literally no one.”
His eyes went to that dark forest shade of green that I hadn’t been able to unsee since the day he’d kissed me, and he glanced around for a beat before pushing me into the bathroom next to us. Slamming the door closed and locking it, he looked back at me with fire in his eyes. Catching me and pinning me against the wall, his breathing was ragged as he looked down at me and braced his fists on either side of my head against the wall.
“You are someone. And you’re already under my skin. No one talks to me the way you do. It’s infuriating, but it also makes me want to bend you over and fuck you until we both lose our minds. Stop fighting with me right now if you don’t want this. Get out of here and go catch up with the kids and be the nanny. If that’s what you want, I won’t stop you.”
I was panting, too. Why was I panting? I just needed to scoot around him and leave the bathroom. There was nothing else to do. I couldn’t sleep with him. I’d slept with both of his brothers. Yet, I physically couldn’t make myself move.
“You need someone to argue with you when you’re being an asshole. Everyone just lets you get away with it. They’re scared of you. I’m not.” Why was I pushing him? Why was I still speaking?
“You’re not scared of me?”
I lifted my chin and shook my head. “No.”
He pressed his hips into me, and I felt an iron rod press into my stomach. He growled when my eyes widened. “Not scared, at all?”
I scowled, still pushing him. “Not at all.”
“Would it scare you to know that the things I want to do to you would break your sexy little body? I want to fuck you in ways that would leave you marked, Autumn.” His glare was full of dark promises. “I don’t just fuck. I claim.”
My core fluttered, and I tried to tell myself to leave it be. He was too much man for me, clearly. Even as I tried to control my mouth and stop pushing him to snap, my body arched off the wall to rub against him. “Big talk for a man who still hasn’t touched me.”
Apparently, that was as far as Griffin was willing to be pushed. His control snapped, and I gasped as he yanked me into his arms and kissed me hard. The room shifted around me as he lifted me up and carried me to the sink. My thighs wrapped around his hips, he held my hair in his fist as he kissed me so thoroughly that I lost track of where I was. He only pulled back when we were both gasping for air, and just to pull my head to the side so he could run his mouth down my throat.
I was desperate, scratching at his clothes to get them off. I busted buttons off of his shirt, but I didn’t care. I just wanted him in me. When I got his bare chest exposed, I raked my nails down it and bit my lip hard as he growled out my name.
I heard my dress rip as Griffin yanked the arms down my shoulders, exposing my bare breasts. He cupped them in his hands and squeezed, pinching my nipples as he did. I threw my head back and moaned his name, so far gone that I wasn’t even thinking about anyone hearing us. Jerking my arms free of my dress, I grabbed his pants and yanked his belt off. Throwing it across the room, I jerked at his buttons to free his cock for me.
Griffin reached under my dress and ripped my panties free in one hard tug, flashing me a feral grin as he slid the lace shreds into his pocket. He shoved his pants down and gripped his big cock in his hand, stroking it as he looked at me, spread out in front of him.
Still desperate to break his control, I braced my foot on the sink next to me and spread my thighs so he could see all of me. Slipping my hand between my legs, I watched him watch as I circled my clit and then slid my finger into myself. “Griff…”
He grabbed my hand and threw my arm over his shoulder as he pulled me forward on the sink and lined his cock up with my dripping core. Then, without any preamble, he held my gaze as he slammed into me. With a vicious sound, he gripped my hips and started fucking me hard and fast, almost punishing me for teasing him.
I held on with my arm crooked around his neck and my other hand on the mirror behind me. I locked my legs around him until he grabbed them and held my knees open, leaving me open and vulnerable as he hammered into me.
“Look at me.” Griffin barked. “Look at me, Autumn.”
I jerked my eyes up to his and felt my entire being shift for him as I met his heat-filled gaze. He shifted and gripped the back of my neck, holding me tightly, like he was afraid I’d get away, like he didn’t realize I was his.
My body pulsed around him, pleasure rocketing higher and higher as he ravaged my body. I was panting, moaning, and gasping with every thrust. He filled me and then pulled out all the way, just to slam home again. It was rough and wild, as uncontrolled as he was controlled in his normal life.
Pulling out of me suddenly, Griffin pulled me down and then spun me around so I was over the sink. He thrust back into me from behind, filling me even fuller in the new angle. My hands pressed into the mirror, my gaze found his through it. I was dripping for him.
Raking his teeth over my neck, he pressed his lips against my ear. “Your pussy was made for me, sweet Autumn.”
I moaned louder and then broke apart in a scream of pleasure when he reached down and pinched my clit. His other hand came up to my mouth, and he pushed two of his fingers inside. I sucked them without a second thought, a testament to how far gone I was for him.
Then, while holding my gaze in the mirror, he pumped into me harder and faster as he played my clit expertly. In seconds, I was coming hard, screaming around his fingers and bucking against him like a wild woman. Griffin clamped his hand over my mouth and buried his face in my neck as he slammed into me once more and froze with his cock buried in me as he shot what felt like buckets of his seed into me.
I moaned and shook as my orgasm cascaded over me like warm water, leaving me a limp mess of a woman, only standing because of Griffin. My hands slid down the mirror and I slipped forward, nearly banging my head on it, but Griffin was there, catching me and easing me back into his chest.
He did something then that I’d never experienced and that made me want to cry, it was so oddly sweet. He pressed his lips to the side of my head and gently spoke to me as I came down. None of it was clear or sensical from what I could tell, but the deep growl of his voice rattled through him and into my chest, comforting me after such a big experience.
I wasn’t sure how long I listened to him, how long he held me and comforted me, but by the time I was able to stand on my own, I felt centered and happy. There was no after-sex panic, no rush to get away from him. I felt close to him and just calm. My body ached from his rough treatment, but it was a sweet sting that kept me feeling close to him even as we cleaned up and got ourselves presentable enough to go back out into the aquarium.
I felt at peace as Griffin went to find a shirt that wasn’t ripped and I trailed along, looking at the different animals until he caught up. Then, he gently led me around with a hand on my back. When he caught my eye, I blushed, but it was sweet. I didn’t know how I could feel bashful after what we’d done, but I did.
I kept that level of calm and peace with me all the way until I crawled into bed that night, after I took off my slightly damaged dress, and after I’d folded it and tucked it into my suitcase for safe keeping. I wasn’t obsessed, but I was in awe of the connection I’d had with Griffin. I was in awe of having felt it with all three brothers.
I fell asleep and rode that relaxed wave all the way into the next day.