Kinga didn’t bother to deny his words and Griff appreciated her honesty. She lifted her chin to stare at him, raising her arched eyebrows. She was trying so hard not to show any reaction, or her attraction, but Griff had enough experience with women—probably too much—and noticed her flushed skin and the erect nipples pushing against her pajama top. There were more subtle hints, too: her eyes had turned richer and darker, warmer, and she swallowed a few times, as if looking for moisture in her mouth. Her nails also burrowed into the thick material covering her couch and she sucked in a couple of harsh breaths.
But she never, not once, dropped her eyes from his. Stubborn, gorgeous woman.
“Or maybe you just want me close because you’re ridiculously attracted to me,” Griff murmured, his eyes dropping to her sexy, wide mouth.
“Dream on.”
“Shall we put that notion to the test and see who is right?” Griff asked her, lowering his head so that his lips hovered over hers.
“I—”
Griff searched her face to make sure he wasn’t reading her wrong—he never forced himself on anyone, ever—but before he could cover her lips with his, Kinga surprised him by grabbing a handful of his sweater and pulling him down. She arched her back and their mouths connected and...
Boom! Magic happened and his world imploded. All those crazy clichés he usually disdained suddenly made sense.
Yeah, this.
Judging by the way her tongue slid into his mouth, she was very into him. Maybe just as much as he was into her.
Damn, he was about to make this very complicated indeed, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d been dreaming about doing this for what felt like a lifetime. But complicated was for later. Right now he wanted to take however much Kinga was offering.
Placing his knee on the cushion next to hers, Griff gripped the back of her head and tipped her head up to an angle he preferred. His lips danced along hers and he allowed his tongue to trace the seam of her mouth, coaxing her to open up, to let him in. At the same time, Kinga’s hands moved from his clothing to his shoulders, she released a breath and her lips parted beneath his. Testing her response, needing to know if she was on board with where this was going, he pushed his tongue into the tiny gap, waiting for her reaction. Kinga, because she kept surprising him, widened her lips and her tongue tangled with his, as desperate to explore him as he was to discover her.
She was delightful, saucy and spicy, fierce and feisty, and he could kiss her for hours, days. Needing more, Griff hiked up her top, needing to feel her smooth skin under his broad hand. Smooth, soft, fragrant...gorgeous. His fingertips skimmed over her ribs and she released a tiny laugh into his mouth and Griff realized she was ticklish. Keeping his touch firm, he explored her tiny waist, her flat stomach and, leaving her skin, ran his hand down her hip, over her flannel-covered butt.
He fought the urge to pull her top over her head, to taste what he knew would be lovely nipples, to discover the honey between her legs. But, remembering her locks and her sister’s concern, he wouldn’t push. She’d only granted him permission to kiss her; the next move would be all hers.
As if hearing his thoughts, Kinga stiffened and pulled her mouth off his, pushing her hands against his chest to give her some space between them. Too much space...
But because he was a gentleman, even though few people knew it, Griff bounded to his feet and jammed his hands into the back pockets of his pants. He was sporting a massive erection but figured Kinga was an adult and should know that it was a natural outcome of a scorching hot kiss.
And yeah, thanks to his two-year-plus break from sex, he was rock-hard. And desperate to play. But Kinga’s tense face was one big stop sign and he was backing off.
Kinga wrapped her arms around her bent knees and looked up at him with those wide, intense brown eyes. With her just-had-the-hell-kissed-out-of-her lips and flushed cheeks she looked stunning...
Man, he wanted her.
Almost as much as he didn’twantto want her.
Griff rocked on his heels and looked around the room, wanting something to distract him from the gorgeous woman with her witchy eyes, to make him fight the urge to kiss her again.
The heavy silver photo frame facing the wall caught his eye again and he frowned at his surge of curiosity. Why have a photo if you weren’t going to look at it? Who inspired such deep feelings in her that she couldn’t bear to look at their image?
Why was he so fascinated by everything to do with her?
Right, he should go, rightnow. This was getting out of control.
But they hadn’t touched on business yet.
“Would you like to join me for breakfast tomorrow at the hotel?” he asked. “Around eight?”
Griff saw that Kinga was still trying to get her brain into gear. Then the fogginess in her eyes cleared and she shook her head. “You’ll be mobbed and we won’t be able to finish a sentence. No, come to my office. I’ll send you the directions—” she narrowed her eyes at him “—if you promise you’ll read the damn text.”
“I read every text you sent, sweetheart. I just stopped responding when you started repeating yourself.”
“You didn’t respond to any of my most recent ones!”
Griff winced. Hadn’t he? He’d meant to, but he’d had his hands full with a colicky mare, a distracted Sian and a rambunctious Sam. The little spare time he’d had, he’d worked on choosing and testing his set list for the ball.