Found by You (13 page)

Closing my eyes, I spread my legs. He stretched me so wide, filled me deeply and slowly. He moved his hips, but he didn’t go fast. He eased his movement against me, unhurried just like when he entered.

I shuddered, turning my cheek against the pillow. Griffin took advantage, tasting my neck, and he only thrust his hips when I lifted mine. He responded to me, giving only what he felt I could handle until I prompted him for me. He never took what he wanted. Never forced himself on me. I knew if I asked him to stop right now, he would. He was looking out for me; conscious of me like he always had been.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him and appreciating him. We’d told each other so much tonight, put so much faith in each other. But what happened in this room was just us. I could only hope we were ready for the rest of the world.

Chapter Fourteen

Griffin

I ran my hand up and down Roxie’s arm with my eyes closed. I did this whenever I came out of sleep throughout the time we rested. From the night and into the morning, I rubbed her arm to keep her warm. I told her I wouldn’t let her get cold. She was snuggled up on me, her face nestled against my chest. Her warmth kept me warm as well.

She breathed in deeply and my eyes flickered open. Once adjusted to the room’s morning light, I smiled watching her. She gave this cute little yawn, stretching out like a kitten underneath me. I let her go so she could, and I was graced with a view of her naked body. I had my hands on those curves last night and I couldn’t get enough. I enjoyed her fit to me. How our bodies complemented each other. Being the size I was, I pretty much dwarfed most girls I was with. But Roxie… she felt so good underneath me. Her body was ample, and I was embarrassed I couldn’t stop looking at her last night. Touching her. I acted like I’d never had my hands on a woman before, but damn if I hadn’t before her.

She rolled back on the pillow next to mine. I moved an arm over her waist and those unique eyes I missed flashed open. Seeing me, her mouth turned up in the corner.

I lifted my fingers, mouthing, “Hi.”

Her smile widened, and she opened her own mouth. “Hey.”

I didn’t realize how much I loved this grade school game we played. Brushing my hand across her stomach, I continued it by saying a silent, “How are you?”

She made a silent giggle. She moved her hand up and down my bicep, and I swear to God she sent a shudder in me. “Fine,” she said, soundlessly.

I no longer wanted her to be soundless. I pounced on her, and she let out a squeal that I loved way better than the silence.

I covered her with my body, kissing her deep into the pillowcase. She pushed her arms around me and dug her nails deep into my back.

Groaning heavily, I nibbled her full lips. God, she had me hard already. I’d been in and out of sleep for the last hour or so, so I’d lost my morning wood long ago. Well, it was definitely back in a fury. I wanted her again. Right now. But then suddenly her kisses went light, sweet. This calmed me down, and I found myself gently bracing her hip, doing the same with her cheek. Her sweet kisses became enough, and suddenly, I didn’t want them to end. This was so strange to me. Normally, I’d fuck a girl without question if we were both feeling it. But just holding Roxie, kissing her and making it last, took priority over lust. She made me comfortable; she made me actually
want
to make it last.

Leaning off her, I brought her with me. Simply kissing her.

She sighed, parting her lips to let me in, and I definitely didn’t shy away from the invitation. We tangled tongues hotly, dueling and searching. I was blessed with her taste and that scent of hers that captured me before I even knew her. Sugary sweet and incredibly warm.

When we finally came up for breath, I hovered my lips over her mouth, moving my fingers over the light coat of sweat that gathered on her lower back.

“Mornin,’” I said, remembering I never greeted her.

She smiled with that beautifully bruised mouth I just plumped. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

This girl couldn’t imagine how well with her wrapped around me. I brought my other arm around her to get her closer. “Like a baby. Nice and toasty with you.”

Dipping her head, she went all shy. “You did your job too well. You actually made me hot.”

Her lips snapped shut at what she said, and I chuckled. “It’s okay. I knew what you meant. You made me hot, too, but I liked it.”

I smoothed my hand up and down her thigh. Not sexually. Just to keep her warm.

She wrapped her arms around my neck. “Where are you from?”

I had to laugh at what she asked. My speech must have slipped somewhere. “Texas. You can tell?”

Nodding, she ran her fingers at the nape of my neck. “Your accent’s faint, but I can hear it sometimes.”

“We moved around a lot,” I told her. “My family wasn’t anywhere long enough for one to stick. We ended up in Texas in the long run. My accent comes out more when I’m back there.”

I thought to say the word “home” at first instead of “there”, but calling a trailer park home felt weird to me even though I was long over being embarrassed about how I grew up. My dad chased work and those places saved us money. That was my reality. I fully intended on getting him and my brothers out of there when I could. I was, unfortunately, still bounded by limited scholarships until I got drafted. I was able to send them some of the perks I got from being here. My dad’s expensive-ass four by four looked funny as hell where he lived. My Escalade came with a pick-up sister truck.

“You’ve got one too, you know,” I said, running a finger up her waist. “An accent that is.”

She blinked and her dark eyebrows lifted. “Really?”

I laughed, finding it funny everyone I talked to around here didn’t believe they had accents. Well, they certainly did to me and I picked up on a few things. “Really. Wait a sec. Let me think up an example.” She waited while I did and one came to me in seconds. “Say ‘Washington,’” I prompted.

She eyed me like I’d lost my damn mind, but the minute the word ‘WAR-shington’ left her lips, she popped her hand over her mouth.

I chuckled. “Sounds a bit different, huh?”

She grinned. “I guess so. I’m from Wisconsin by the way. A fairly large city but still surrounded by cornfields like here.”

“Is that where your family is?”

I found myself really wanting to know. I wanted to know everything about her. No matter how small.

The air suddenly took her attention as she gazed away from my eyes, and when she shook her head, she still didn’t look at me.

“No, they’re here actually. We’re local now,” she said, flatly, dryly.

Her family lived here, yet she didn’t live with them? I would have to cut costs. But then again, maybe I wouldn’t. I liked my independence. And if she lived in the conditions I did growing up, I supposed I’d be relieved to get away, too. I wondered what her reasons were for being on her own.

My phone buzzed from the floor, and I let out an
argh!
at the sound. This made Roxie laugh. I enjoyed that sound. After I retrieved my phone from my cast-off jeans, Roxie lay on my chest, resting on the tops of her hands. It was an awesome sight.

Hey, dude,
D’s text said.
The team is eating breakfast downstairs with our dates. Be there.

I rolled my eyes. The fun never ended.

“Apparently everyone is meeting downstairs for breakfast,” I said, laying my phone on the bed.

“Oh.” Roxie’s face fell, and I knew exactly why. I didn’t want to unwrap myself from her either. In fact…

I grabbed her, pulling her underneath me. I had to say she didn’t put up much of a fight.

“How about we stay here?” I kissed her lips before going for her neck next.

My phone buzzed again before she could respond, and I groaned this time. The buzzing didn’t stop, and when I finally answered it, I had about five messages of the same thing. They varied from “Get your ass down here. We’re waiting for you,” to “Captain can’t even come down to break bread with his team. Bogus.”

That last one made me snort, and I finally decided to give in. Roxie rose with me, and after I answered the last message that I’d be there, I looked up at her and instantly frowned. She had herself covered with the blanket I tossed last night.

“I unfortunately have to go. They’re all expecting me down there,” I said this though I already knew she had a feeling I was going.

She pushed her hair behind her ear. The dark strands moved over the mocha skin of her shoulder, and I never wanted to grab a girl more.

“Yeah. We probably both should go down. I don’t want to leave Ryan hanging. Then you got Tanya.”

I didn’t like the way her voice changed when she said my ex’s name. She also covered herself up more, and I knew Tanya being around didn’t sit well with her. I’d really have to be delicate with Roxie. I wasn’t used to girls being bothered by others in my life. The girls I usually surrounded myself with were vain as shit. Cocky and not intimidated in the slightest by other women. Roxie wasn’t that way, and I’d have to be conscious of that.

“You know she’s going around telling everyone that she’s your girlfriend, right?”

My brows could have shot to the ceiling. “No, she isn’t.”

It wasn’t like I didn’t believe her. My statement was more in the sense that Tanya had the audacity to tell people that.

Roxie nodded, spinning a strand of hair between her fingers.

I touched her hand and she dropped her hair. “Well, you know the truth. I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Her lip went into her mouth, and she chewed on it a moment before she lifted her head, making eye contact.

“You don’t?” she asked.

Looking at her, I shook my head. What did I have to say to this girl to let her know I was only with her? “Not unless you know something I don’t know.”

Her eyes veered away from mine. She let out a long breath, then slowly she nodded in understanding.

I kissed her once before I left to prove my point. Roxie was going to be a tough one, but my dad always told me it was those that were all worth it in the end; that they were the ones that meant the most. And my dad, as blue collar as he was, wasn’t a stupid man.

Roxie

As silly as it may have been, I dragged my feet to breakfast. How ridiculous had it been that I asked Griffin about his girlfriend status? Even more so that I expected a certain answer out of him. I was acting like a high schooler, hoping the guy I had feelings for would make an open declaration about how he felt in return by making me his girlfriend. We only slept together.
Once
at that. How could I expect him to put that word of commitment out there? Cement what we had? I knew it wasn’t fair to get my hopes up, but however illogical it was, I had. I wanted him to say we were together and let others know by the title. I felt a fool for being so expectant, and I could only hope he didn’t put two and two together and realize what I was getting at upstairs. Griffin was so nice. I knew he wouldn’t give me a hard time about it, but still.

I shook my head as I continued my walk to the country club’s restaurant, the embarrassment of the situation looming. Griffin hadn’t gotten there yet when I got inside, and I let out a breath of relief. He said he was heading to his room to shower real quick, so he must not have been finished yet. I probably should sit with my date anyway and him with his own…

Sighing, I gazed around the room of tall players and their pretty dates. I didn’t see Ryan during my first rotation, nor did I see Clare or Destiny. I decided to take an empty table, hoping people I knew would fill it. After placing my purse to the floor, I picked up my menu to look over the specials.

“Hello.”

The voice was followed by the last person I thought I’d see choosing to sit next to me.

Tanya wore a short white dress and matching heels. The whole outfit made her look kind of angelic, but the way she was looking at me made me tense and apprehensive. I could almost say she was sneering.

She crossed her long legs and tilted her head at me. She stared, not saying a word, like she expected something out of me, and I blinked, forgetting myself and my manners.

“Hi,” I said, turning back to my menu. I didn’t look at her and hoped my greeting was enough to make me lose her attention, but it wasn’t. I could feel the heat of her stare.

“You know, until a week ago I never saw you around, but now,” she paused, picking up her own menu under porcelain-like fingers, “all it seems like I’m doing is seeing you.”

I fought my eyebrows from twitching up at her words, engrossing myself in the menu I couldn’t seem to read now under her shadow. And that was just what she casted off. A weird shadow. I calmly cleared my throat. “Well, we do share a friend circle I guess.”

I dared to look her way. Thank God she was actually reading her menu. I went back to mine.

“Right,” she said. “Your, um, friend seems to have taken a liking to Destiny.”

I didn’t like how she downplayed their relationship like that; like Clare was into Destiny and not so much vice versa. It was probably rude, but I felt the need to correct her. I turned to her, seeing she was still reading her menu. “I’m pretty sure they’re dating, and I’m quite certain it’s not just casually. Destiny is—”

“Clearly experimenting.” She laughed, her long blonde ponytail tilting back when she did. “I did my freshman year. I just hope she lets your friend go before she does any permanent damage.”

My brows shot up. What she said couldn’t have been true. I’d seen Destiny with Clare. She looked just as much on cloud nine as Clare did when they were together. I watched Tanya. She said what she had so casually and obviously didn’t care about being rude by gossiping to someone she clearly didn’t know. I had a feeling she was bullshitting, trying to get a reaction out of me. I cursed myself that I let her get to me.

“I wasn’t talking about her when I meant how much I’ve been seeing you, though,” she said. A waitress came by and Tanya handed the woman her menu. “OJ please. I’ll also take two egg whites and a slice of rye toast.”