Read Online Playing with Fire by Desiree Holt - Free Book Online Page B

speak. She couldn’t do this, couldn’t let him touch her. Part of the reason for her return to Stoneham was to get him out of her system once and for all. She wanted to make him pay for the hell he’d put her through. If she let him touch her now, she’d be his again.
    She willed herself to jerk away, to get up, but her muscles wouldn’t obey her command. Then his mouth was on hers, parting her lips, probing gently with his tongue.
    The kiss started out easy, tentative, but then Griff’s hand tangled through her hair, pulling her head to him, holding her in place. The kiss deepened, and she couldn’t fight it. without even thinking she reached her arms around him , holding him to her. The kiss went on and on, his tongue making an erotic sweep through her mouth, teasing and tasting everywhere it touched. She didn’t have the strength to break the contact.
    When Griffin lifted his lips, he looked at her, hard. “It’s still there, isn’t it, Cassie? This thing between us. You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me.”
    “Griff, I—”
    Then he was kissing her again, feeding from her mouth, ravaging it with his tongue. He held her to him so tight she almost couldn’t breathe.
    “This won’t go away, you know. I still love you.” His words were thick with emotion. “God, how I love you. And admit it or not, you feel the same way.” He sat back, releasing her, and brushed one cheek with his fingertips in a single gentle stroke. “You haven’t married, have you? Or found anyone to get serious with? I thought not.”
    “I had my reasons,” she whispered.
    “You don’t have to tell me what they are. The kiss says it all. You gave me a precious gift, Cassie. I didn’t take it lightly, whatever you think. I didn’t have a real choice in what happened before. I won’t let you run away from me this time. You can take that to the bank.” He touched the locket around her neck. “What’s in there, Dewdrop? A picture of me?”
    She shook her head. “No, it’s not.”
    “You still own my heart, Dewdrop. Nothing ever changed.”
    And just like that, like fingers brushing away a magic curtain, six years disappeared as if they’d happened yesterday. The memory of his sleek, muscled body, the golden curls on his chest, the feel of his fingers on her, in her, was like a drug in her system.
    He stood up, towering over her.
    “This yard hasn’t been touched in forever. I think your mother just kind of gave up on everything. I don’t have anything scheduled for tomorrow. I’ll be back in the morning and get to work on it.”
    She couldn’t believe the switch in conversation. Had she just imagined him saying those three words that were turning her upside down? Her body ached for his hands, his tongue, his hardened erection, and he was talking about landscaping?
    “I don’t think—”
    “That’s right. Don’t think. Just let this take us wherever it goes.” He bent and brushed his lips over hers. “Good night, Dewdrop. See you tomorrow.”
    Then he was gone.
    Cassie sat on the patio for a long time, playing with the locket and where his lips had made contact with hers. She called herself all kinds of a fool, knowing she stared danger in the face. She had to find a way to protect herself from this fire threatening to consume her again. Once burned was more than enough for her.
    Griffin Hunter could whisper all the sweet words in her ear he wanted. She knew the truth. In the vernacular, he wanted to fuck her, and just like before, he’d do whatever it took to accomplish it. She just wished she didn’t feel this awful, aching need.
     

Chapter Ten
     
    Sleep eluded Cassie. She tossed, restless, dozing off and on to be awakened by the memory of Griff’s mouth on hers, his maleness so close to her. Images of the past kept floating in her head. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t chase them away.
    When the numbers on her watch read at six o’clock and the sun was already trying to slip in