His eyes shifted down to his hands. He went rigid, his chest tight because he’d stopped breathing. Heartbeats passed, and he didn’t move. Then he brought his hands together at his lips and closed his eyes. “Fuck.” He rose to his feet and paced around the room, his hands on his hips. “Fuck.” He stopped on the other side of the room and faced the wall, his back rising and falling quickly. “You told her?”
“I thought she knew…”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing. She cried.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, releasing another deep sigh.
“She didn’t want you to know she knew. She knows it would hurt her mother. But she wishes she could be there for her…talk to her about it. She doesn’t think less of her…she’s just heartbroken over it. She told me she hated me even though I wasn’t guilty of the crime. That was another hurdle for us, but she overcame it. I don’t want you to think Vanessa fell in love with me immediately. It took a long time, and even when she did, she did her best to fight it. She always told me she would never love someone who would hurt her family. She didn’t want this to happen. Neither did I.”
Crow didn’t turn around, his breathing still uneven. “Leave.” His tone held finality, the closure to the conversation.
I grabbed my glass and finished the rest of it, not wanting it to go to waste. I walked to the door without saying another word, knowing Crow hardly respected me as a human being. Once I opened the door, the sound of the music from the club surged in.
“Griffin.”
I turned back around, noting the way he chose to address me.
“Don’t tell her you told me. We’ll talk to her about it…when the time is right.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “Of course.”
Two
Vanessa
I had fifteen paintings in my collection.
I should take them to the winery to be displayed, but asking my parents for help didn’t seem appropriate right now.
There was this distance between us, as if an ocean separated us rather than a few hundred miles. I hated the way it felt, to be closed off from the people I was closest to. I suspected they hadn’t told Conway or anyone else yet. Otherwise, Conway and Sapphire would be calling me right now.
Inspiration didn’t come to me that afternoon, so I didn’t work in the art room.
I moped around the house all day while Bones worked in his office.
I hated being patient. I hated waiting to know the outcome of this nightmare. It didn’t seem like it could ever work, but then again, I hadn’t believed my parents could be so understanding of it this far.
So maybe anything was possible.
I went back into our bedroom and opened my drawers. Inside were different lingerie options, some I’d already worn and others I hadn’t touched. I picked a purple one and put it on before I walked to his office.
When I was most upset, I turned to Bones for reassurance. When he was buried between my legs with his lips pressed against my ear, I wasn’t afraid of anything. All I thought about was him, the way he told me he loved me when he made love to me. That was what I wanted now, a distraction, so I wouldn’t think about the pain in my life.
I stepped in the entryway and looked at him sitting behind his desk, his broad shoulders powerful. Ink ran all over his chest and shoulders, highlighting the impressive muscles underneath the skin. His deadliness was beautiful; his eyes drops of beauty in a sea of terror.
He slowly looked at me from top to bottom as he sat behind his desk, studying the purple push-up bra and matching thong. I was barefoot because he liked me that way. The color went well with my skin tone, and he’d always been attracted to the dark color of my skin.
His eyes slowly made their way back up to mine, his face hard with devastating masculine features. His hard jaw was a stark line in comparison to his neck and shoulders. His jaw was cleanly shaven from his shower that morning, revealing the fair skin I liked to kiss.
He rose from his chair and walked toward me, his sweatpants low on his hips and his chest bare. He pressed me against the frame of the doorway and angled his neck down to kiss me. His hands immediately went to my tits, and he squeezed them, his large palms aggressive.
I breathed into his mouth, feeling the bumps form on my skin at his touch. The second we were connected, I forgot about the turmoil in our lives. I only thought about the man I loved, the mountain that protected me from the wind and the rain.
He lifted me into the air with a single arm and pulled me to his chest as he carried me to the bedroom. His mouth was still on mine, never breaking our kiss as he moved me into the other room.