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You’re going to bark at me? I’ll bite you back.
“Once is an accident. Twice is a mistake.”
“I miss getting a good spanking. Vaughn handles me with kiddie gloves now that I’m pregnant. It sucks. I just want him to slap my ass and call me a whore.”
My eyes shoot to the front porch, through the big windows that overlook it. Billie is still talking at Griffin. But Griffin is looking at me.
“So, dogs don’t really feel sorry for themselves. Not how we do. They just make the best of their situation and carry on. Luckily, they rebound pretty quickly after losing a hind leg.”
Wildflower. She doesn’t want to be tamed, and I shouldn’t want to try this badly. I should steer her in the opposite direction and send her running.
She shrugs as if it’s normal. “Yep. She also told me I need to get there because I’m the only doctor she trusts with her vagina.” I snort, shaking my head. “You chicks are fuckin’ weird.” “Oh, absolutely.” She nods, not offended at all. “So, you’ve got the lesson?” “Yeah, yeah.” I wave her off. “Go deal with her… whatever. You know. Just go.” “Vagina.” Mira laughs as she rolls up the window. “The word you’re looking for is vagina.”
“Don’t you ever apologize for going after what you want. Don’t you ever let anyone stand in your way. If they do, they don’t love you the way you deserve. And me? I love you. Apply. You have to try.”
“Hands off if you plan on keeping them.” Griffin’s voice rumbles from behind me.
“Here.” He can barely hold my gaze. Probably because I terrified him with my meltdown. I take the rope, confusion etched on my features. “Why?” “Because he’s yours now.” “What?” Disbelief paints my tone as my head swivels between the broody horse and the broody man who just handed him to me. “You bought me a horse?” “He’s sorta broken.” He bought me a horse.
I don’t know what to say to his comment, so all I say as I stroke my new horse’s nose is, “That’s okay. So am I.”
“Nadia.” I angle a disapproving glare her way. “Oof.” She flops back in her seat with a noisy sigh. “Tough crowd.” My cheek pinches with a lopsided smile. And then I blurt out something I should not. “It’s because your name starts with an n. Just makes scolding you that much easier.” I laugh it off, until she turns to me and says smoothly, “I think you just like saying my name.” I swallow because I am so fucked where Nadia Dalca is concerned. Yes, Wildflower. I like saying your name.
When the back light of the log home flicks on, I drop my forehead against my horse’s with a small smile. “Uh oh. I think I’m about to get spanked by grumpy Griffin.”
“You are. You’re a surly prick, but I can tell you’re listening to me. Most people don’t. Everyone is so involved with their own lives. They listen, but don’t absorb what I’m saying. But you don’t just listen, you hear me.”
I freeze. Because from where I’m standing, I have an uninterrupted view of the couch. The one in the open living space that Griffin is sitting on. The one he’s sitting on with his pants pulled down. The one he’s sitting on while he fists his bare cock.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you just want me to force you into position.”
“Yup. Yes. I can lock up in . . .” I trail off and check my watch. “Five minutes.” Griffin showing up here is throwing me off. I’m fumbling around. Like he can see what I’ve been thinking about when I use my showerhead in ways it’s not really intended. Don’t even try to tell me a woman didn’t design a removable showerhead.
“Call me Griffy again, and I’ll spank you like the little brat that you are.”
This is what I wanted Nadia to see. That two people can be happy together. Gentle together. There can be trust and love, and she isn’t too broken to have this.
“We’re just friends. I’ve been giving Nadia riding lessons.” My dad can barely hold back his guffaw as he says, “Is that what kids these days are calling it?”
I tossed the word friend in everywhere I could, as well as emphasizing our age difference a few times. It didn’t stop my dad from whispering in my ear when he gave me a parting hug. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” Fuckin’ dick. So, I poked him in the stomach. “Getting soft, old man.” Then my mom went from whispering something in Nadia’s ear to piping up and saying, “Hardly.”
“Call my dad and me Mr. Sinclaire within a few minutes of each other again and—” “And what, Griffin? You gonna spank me for that, too?” Her top teeth press down into her pillowy bottom lip. “Or are you going to kiss me again and then tell me I’m a mistake?”
He lifts a mug of something to his lips, and I can hardly look away from the way his throat bobs when he swallows. The way his eyes narrow at me from over the rim. The way his lips wrap around the edge. Never wanted to be a piece of pottery before right now.
“You are fucking delicious. So responsive for me.” His fingers curl into a fist in my hair and he pulls, forcing my head back further, and opening my chest up to him like a platter to feast on.
“You know what I deserve?” His irises dance across my face. “Someone who needs me badly enough to take me without apology. A man who knows what he wants. A man who wants me.” He nods, pulse jumping in his neck. “And do you know what you deserve?” “What?” “A woman who feels like a goddess when you leave a mark like this on her. A woman who doesn’t want a goddamn thing from you other than to be worshipped any time, any place.” The intense way he’s staring at me almost makes me squirm. “You deserve a woman who drives you crazy every damn day, and nothing less.”
“Okay. Where do you want me?” On your fucking knees.
In exchange, I’ve lost my ability to talk. Wranglers. Sweat-slicked abs. Leather gloves. And that glorious, bearded face. Everything about Griffin oozes sex appeal.
“Age is just a number, little Dalca. And the only number that counts is eight.” She points over to where Griffin stands, panting and glowing under the scorching sun. “Because that’s how many abs I can count on him.”
Five in a row, with ease. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the forest this quiet. Nadia doesn’t meet any of our eyes, she just drops her chin and slips the safety back into place. Based on the way all the color has drained from her brother’s face and the look of heartbreak on Mira’s, there’s a story here. One that hasn’t been told until just now.
I, Griffin Sinclaire, a man’s man and former football God, have a fluffy white dog as a pet. It’s hilarious, but I don’t care. I fucking love this dog.
“I like all your words, Griffin. It’s what you don’t say that kills me.”
“We all do the best we can with what we’ve got. Trauma is a tricky bitch,”
“Living with shame is different from living with trauma. You? You come back stronger every time.” I glance up at him shyly, and he gently brushes my hair back, tucking it behind my ear. “Like a wildflower.”
I want him to take me and unmake me, fucking ruin me. If I’m as strong as he thinks, I’ll bounce back.
So, I keep going. Willing him to lose his precious control. Willing him to charge in here and use me the way I know he wants to. The way I want him to. I hear his signature rumble, and I sigh. My eyes fluttering shut when I hear him growl, “Fuck it.”
“I thought you looked like you needed to be handled by a real man. By me.” I nip at her ear, loving the feel of her fingers tangling in my hair, like she wants to keep me close. “I thought you looked like you were supposed to be mine.”
“It’s okay, Wildflower. You don’t have to say anything. You keep your cards as close as you want.” I kiss her neck slowly, holding back the urge to bite her again and leave my marks all over her bewitching skin. “Your poker face is pretty good. But I know what we both felt that night. And I think I’m about done pretending we didn’t. You can show me your hand when you’re ready.”
“We’re playing the game where I fuck your tight little cunt like I’ve dreamt about since the first time I laid eyes on you. We’re not making love. I’m not being gentle. We’re fucking. And you’re going to take it like the good girl you are.”
“I could be wetter.” Brat. I run my tongue over my teeth, lower my head, and then spit on her already slick pussy.
When I said I could be wetter, I lied. I lied so goddamn hard. And then he spat on me, which just drove me crazy. Who knew I’d be so into that?
“You can take it.” He swipes it across me again, and I tremble with anticipation. “You can. And you will.”
I want him to bite me, use me, manhandle me. That’s fucking. This . . . this is not. “Quiet, Wildflower.”
“Stop looking at me like that,” she snaps as a few loose tendrils of golden hair blow across her full lips. A gentleman would do as she just asked, but I’ve never professed to be any such thing. So, I keep staring. I’m not sure I could pull my eyes away from her even if I tried. “Like what?”
“Like you want to eat me for breakfast.” I chuckle. I can’t help myself. The girl is direct, and I love that about her. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Her brow goes low, all scrunched up like I’ve offended her. “I’ve already eaten breakfast.”
“But I’m ready for dessert when you are, Wildflower.”
“You hungry?” I ask, wiping my brow with my forearm and trying to ignore the way a pink blush is crawling up over her cheeks, or the way she shifts her hip and looks away quickly like she doesn’t want to even recognize the dual meaning of what I’ve just asked her.
“It’s just so beautiful out here.” She sighs as her eyes flit across the field. “We overuse that word, you know. Beautiful. Beauty. Full. I think lots of things are appealing or pleasing to the eye. But this spot is truly beautiful. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it. It’s just so untamed or something. Utterly peaceful. I can’t get enough. I don’t even want to leave.”
And I feel behind somehow. I see all these people my age knowing what they want out of life, and they go to school, and they do it and they get the job, and their life just carries on. And then there’s me, just sort of swimming in circles.”
“Who told you the only thing you have to offer is what’s between your legs?” My shitty dad and every shitty guy I’ve met since. He rakes his fingers through his hair in agitation. “I could honestly tear apart every man who has ever made you doubt your value.”
“Fucking look at me when I tell you this, Nadia.” I blink rapidly but hold his wild gaze. “I don’t give a flying fuck who you’ve been with. You could have ridden every dick in the entire city of Vancouver, and I’d still want you. I’m happy to wait for you. Do you know why?” “No,” I grit out. I genuinely cannot fathom why he wouldn’t care about that. A feral smile touches his lips as he glares down at me. “Because my dick is the last one you’re ever going to ride.”
