Truly Madly Deeply Boxed Set (12 page)

Not yet.
Griff edged closer, but to his chagrin, Chelsie lay on top of the covers, while he lay beneath. “Get up.”

“And they say women are fickle,” she muttered. She swung her legs off the bed and stood.

His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, enabling him to take in her slender form beneath his large white T-shirt. The material draped her breasts, the hem reached mid thigh, and her long legs were bare. His gut clenched with desire, yet right now, all he really wanted was companionship during another long, dark night.

Her move toward the door grounded his stray thoughts. “Where are you going?”

She raised and dropped her arms with a loud sigh. “Stay, Chelsie. Get up, Chelsie. What’s next? Heel?”

He burst out laughing. He loved her sense of humor, even when she turned it on him.

Grasping the edge of the comforter, he turned it back, baring the empty side of the bed. “Surely you weren’t warm enough on top of the blanket, and I couldn’t get comfortable either.”

“Oh.” She eyed the space next to him.

“You can get back in now.” He patted the sheet and grinned.

Hesitantly, she complied and settled in beside him. He glanced at the miles of linen separating them. “No one could accuse you of hogging the bed.” She’d lain down, taking up only one quarter of the king-sized mattress. “I won’t bite. I won’t even try anything,” he promised. “I just want to talk.”

She maneuvered until she lay next to him. Her delicious scent might make that promise damned difficult, but he knew he would keep it. “Why was your marriage short?” he asked.

“I don’t suppose I could change the subject?”

“Sure you could. But I’d just change it back.”

She propped one arm beneath her head. “Okay. He wasn’t the man I thought I’d married. He changed.”

“And that hurt you.”

She exhaled a harsh laugh. “In more ways than one.”

“
He
hurt you?”

Her startled gasp revealed his guess had been correct. The anger fueled by that knowledge stunned him, as did the proprietary way he pulled her into his arms.

She tensed. With her back to him, he curled himself around her. When he did little more than smooth her hair and rest his chin in the crook of her neck, her muscles seemed to relax.

“What happened, Chelsie?” This time, he tensed, sure that as much as he’d wanted to hear the details of her past, he wouldn’t like what he learned.

“I’d volunteered at a women’s shelter in college and had seen too many women abused who then went back for more.” She drew a deep breath, causing her body to quiver. “I never thought it would happen to me. For all my parents’ faults—and they have many—they never raised a hand to each other or to us kids. I never thought I’d
allow
it to happen to me.”

“You don’t always know someone, even when you think you do.” Thanks to his mother and ex-fiancée, Griff had discovered that himself, though not to the extreme Chelsie had.

“Shannon and Jared were lucky, don’t you think?” Chelsie whispered the words.

He nodded in answer. Despite his poor track record with women, Griff envied his brother’s ability to create a happy home with the woman he loved. For the first time in his life, he wondered if he was capable of the same, if a woman existed who would break down his notions and barriers and love just him.

He glanced down at Chelsie. Comfortable silence drifted around them. “What happened?” he prompted.

“We graduated from the same law school. He went to work for a large firm, I worked for the D.A. He wanted money and power, I wanted to help others. Maybe that should have told me something.”

“Come on. Lots of people have conflicting ideals and still make a marriage work. I’d hardly call that missing a sign of something serious.”

“Maybe. Anyway, we were married for less than a year. With the hours first-year associates work, I rarely saw him. The few times he displayed his temper, I fell right into the trap. I accepted his apologies and believed he wouldn’t do it again.”

He sensed her anger at herself and at her ex.

“Obviously the marriage never got off to a strong start,” she said. “One night, we went to a cocktail party at his law firm. One of the associates recognized me from my work at the local women’s shelter. He’d been drinking and caused quite a scene. Blamed me for talking his wife into leaving him.”

“Sounds like the guy was a real winner.”

“Yes, well, when the shouting started, the senior partners weren’t too pleased. Seems they were courting major clients at the time.”

In what had to be an unconscious move, she curled into him. He wrapped his arms around her in a protective gesture, knowing as he held her that he never wanted to let go. Holding her tight, he mentally prepared himself for the untold part of the story. “And then?”

“My husband dragged me out of there. I thought he’d be disgusted with his associate and frustrated with the way the evening had turned out. Maybe he’d rant and rave a little, but a while had passed since he’d raised his hand, let alone his voice, so I figured that would be the end of it.”

“I take it he said plenty?” And lashed out even more, Griff thought with dread.

“The elevator in our building had broken and I followed him up the stairs with him yelling the entire way—about how I caused that scene, how I should keep my nose out of other people’s personal lives, how I should get myself a real job and start earning some money to help support us. You get the picture.”

What Griff pictured was a spineless man too cowardly to stand up for his wife and too selfish to care. “And?” he asked softly.

“And he turned toward me to finish his tirade.” Her voice quivered and her skin, which had been so soft against his, suddenly felt damp. At that moment, Griff knew he didn’t want to hear any more. But Chelsie seemed lost in the past, as she had been so many times before. He shut his eyes to the darkness surrounding him, but he couldn’t block out the truth.

“He grabbed my shoulders and shoved me against the railing. He wanted my promise that I’d quit, that I’d stop volunteering, that I’d do something with my life that he could be proud of instead of having to hide his head every time someone asked what kind of law his wife practiced.”

Griff held her close, soothing her with gentle kisses against her neck, but she continued her story as if unaware of his touch. She began to tremble in his arms.

“My back was pressed against the metal railing and each time he shook me, my head hit the concrete wall. The first time, I was so stunned, I thought it was an accident. But he just shook me harder.

Each time, my head hit that damned wall. He had a firm grip on my arms and I couldn’t move. By the time he stopped, I was dizzy. I couldn’t catch my balance. I think he knew that, but he released me anyway.” She sucked in a breath of air, as if needing the fortification to continue.

Griff decided to spare her. “And you fell down the stairs,” he finished for her.

“When I came to, the paramedics were there. They said, and this is a quote, ‘Consider yourself lucky you have a husband who cares’.”

They lay in silence. Soon, her trembling subsided and she slept in his arms. He had more questions, but none that mattered in the least. What she revealed had been bad enough. The details of what happened after were unimportant. But the sudden need to protect her signaled a serious problem.

He was beginning to care. Too much.

Chelsie awoke with a start. For a long while, she lay in Griff’s arms, savoring the feel of his body close to hers. Last night’s revelations came swarming back. She’d only told that story once before, to the police. At the time, she’d been so alone. In the aftermath of what she’d come to think of as the main incident, she’d never repeated the tale. Not to her parents, who would hate the scandal should the episode be revealed, and certainly not to her happily married sister. She couldn’t face Shannon with the shame of what she’d allowed to happen, and later of what she’d done.

The result had been a withdrawal of the only emotional support Chelsie had ever known. Once Shannon had gotten pregnant, the closeness they’d shared as siblings disintegrated even more.

To have Griff’s unconditional support now meant a great deal. But then, Chelsie had omitted select details and he hadn’t thought to ask. Her inability to have children and the way in which she’d dealt with her ex-husband would change his perception of her forever. Though she wouldn’t have lied had he questioned her, she was grateful she had been spared the humiliation of admitting the truth.

Silence still reigned in the house. Maybe she could sneak out to the couch and avoid the agony of a pseudo-morning after.

She squirmed towards the edge of the bed. Griff locked one solid leg around hers, halting her effort

“I won’t pass judgment, you know,” he said, obviously referring to her admission last night.

Chelsie closed her eyes. She’d been so close. “I never thought you would.”

“Then why sneak out on me? It’s not like we did anything and can’t face each other in the morning. At least, not yet.”

She rolled to face him and placed a hand on his forehead. “No fever.”

“Yet.” He smiled, a sexy grin she found impossible to resist. “Care to rectify things?” he asked.

Would she ever. Good thing reality prevented her from acting on her baser instincts. “Alix will be up soon.”

“Have you looked at a clock?”

She shook her head.

“It’s five in the morning. That means three things. One, Alix finally slept through the night. Two, with any luck, she’ll continue her pattern of sleeping until six-thirty or so. Three, we have to celebrate number one.” He raised himself up on one elbow and looked down at her. “Unless you have other plans, in which case you’re free to leave.”

His dark eyes simmered with a combination of amusement and banked desire.

Free to leave? Her heart already belonged to him and wouldn’t allow her to walk away. She’d held her own feelings for this man in check for so long, she now wondered if he’d done the same.

She glanced over. “You’re so kind, Griff. Always giving me a choice.” She sighed. “Let’s see. Should I stay or should I go?”

He chuckled. “What can I say? I’m a firm believer in free will.” Clasping her hand in his, he brought it to rest against his cheek. “I care about you,” he said in a more serious voice.

“More than you want to?”

“More than I should.”

“So join the club.” She laughed ruefully, understanding the full import of his words for them both. “How’d you get this?” She traced the corner of his eye with a fingertip.

He drew a deep breath, but remained still. “I jumped off a fire escape when I was twelve.”

“Girl watching?” she asked with a grin.

He shook his head. “No, Jared watching. The kids at school heard about how our mother took off with a boyfriend. Jared would get into fights and the bigger kids would wait on the corner to finish the job.”

“Protective older brother,” she murmured, brushing his hair off his forehead.

“At least I had backup.”

“Ryan?”

“Who else?” He stilled her hand midair, his fingers locking with hers. “It’s not working.”

“What isn’t?”

“Distracting me. Changing the subject. But the choice is still yours.”

He had to be joking. They’d already spent the night in his bed, awakened tangled together and half-dressed, and she’d bared her soul to the man she loved. Her choice? Not likely. The decision had been taken out of her hands long ago.

She recalled her philosophy and decided to grasp what life—or in this case—Griff offered. When she looked back on this time, at least she’d have a beautiful memory.

She gazed up at him, fearful all she felt would show in her face. But she wanted to be with him. At this moment, she couldn’t recall a time when she hadn’t. He’d pervaded every aspect of her life, including work, which had formerly been her escape. In so doing, he’d become an important part of her. Too important. But she couldn’t worry about that now.

A passion simmered between them and now, no longer buried beneath the surface, it threatened to bubble over. And that was good, she thought, glancing into his desire-filled eyes. More than good.

“Okay, counselor,” she murmured. “I choose you.”

“Be sure.” Griff could handle her changing her mind before they made love, but not tearful regrets and recriminations afterwards.

“I am.”

He had to accept her word. Looking down at her tousled hair and barely parted lips, he could do nothing else. With one hand, he raised the hem of the shirt she’d borrowed and trailed his fingers along her abdomen. The silky texture of her skin jarred the rest of his body into a complete state of arousal.

She lay still, allowing his hand the freedom to wander at will. With his fingertips, he traced a line from mid-thigh along her narrow waist and over the curve of her breast. Pausing long enough to brush one hardened nipple with his thumb, he learned the feel of her skin. He inched his fingers downward.

She drew a shaky breath as her gaze fastened on his face. The trust he saw reflected in her brown eyes humbled him, especially after what he’d learned of her past. He wasn’t sure he was worthy of that kind of faith. Though he’d do his best not to hurt her, he couldn’t offer more than this.

Too much of himself had been torn apart, and the little that remained belonged to his niece. He could give Chelsie now. Perhaps that would be enough for her. He ignored the voice that asked if it would be enough for him.

“Griff?”

Looking at her curious expression, he realized that although his thoughts had rampaged out of control, his hand had stilled. “Sorry,” he murmured and refocused his attention on what was important.

On Chelsie.

As he lowered his lips to meet hers, all hesitancy fled. Heat spread through him like a sudden burst of wind. The initial sensation stunned him, wreaking havoc with his body and soul.

Dipping his head, he caught her lips with his, coaxing her with his mouth, his tongue... and a piece of his heart.

His hand, which had come to rest on her stomach, inched upward again. He tried to start slowly, to savor the feel of her beneath his touch, but she writhed beneath him, urging him to move higher and stroke faster.