“He did something wrong when you were kids, and you haven’t forgiven him, kind of romance,” she pressed, and Ilooked between her and Griffin. Well, she was onto something. Griffin’s jaw started to tighten, his cheek muscle pulsing, with this girl called him out in front of everyone. “I read a lot,” she admitted, blushing.
“We’re just friends, nothing else,” Griffin assured the owners and their daughter.
“For now,” she whispered, not intending for anyone to hear her, but I did, and a small, very tiny, almost minuscule part of me wished she was right.
“You are not wearing that,”Griffin gritted out through very clenched teeth.
We were both trying on the matching swimsuits, and the one I had been given was very strappy, leave very little to the imagination kind of piece.
I grimaced at the full-body mirror in the changing area. Thankfully, the owners were in the other room, completely out of earshot, finding our sizes in the other his-and-her sets.
My entire ass was on full display, with just a piece of string between my butt cheeks, and a tiny scrap of material covering my nipples. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for this. Griffin was failing at keeping eye contact as his gaze kept drifting to my ass, but in his defense, I was standing in front of him hogging the mirror.
“Not up to you,” I told him, turning to look at myself at every angle. I needed to work on my back muscles a bit, make them more defined before the official shoot.
“You’re practically naked, Tate.” He grimaced. “Fucking naked.”
I did a 180-degree spin and got up on my tippy toes to whisper into his neck. “Good thing I’m not yours to worry about.” I playfully removed my hand as I pushed off his chest, swatting it as I went to move past him, pleasantly surprised by the light dusting of hair that was now covering his pecs.That was new.
“Tatum, tell them you won’t do it,” he growled, grabbing me and holding me to his chest, dropping his lips to my ear. Chills skated down my spine in the most delicious way.
“Or what?” I taunted.
“I won’t let you do it…I mean, is this really what you want?”
“You can’t stop me.”
“I don’t wantanyoneto see you like this.”
“Like what, Griff?” I whispered, leaning into him.
“Tatum, don’t make me beg. This isn’t you.”
“Oh, but I love it when men beg. It turns me on.”
“Tatum…I…” he groaned, and desire pooled in my stomach at the way my name sounded.
“Griffin.”
“Only your husband should see you like this. This is too much, Grace.”
Silence swept the air as we both stood in a five-second gaze that felt like eternity
“Look…Tate.”
“Are you going to marry me? Because you’ve looked, a lot.”
“You were supposed to be mine,” he whispered, and I pushed him away.What were we doing?
“I don’t belong to you or anyone. You don’t get a say in the piece, so I suggest you get rid of the thing between your legs, and I will pretend like you never said anything.”
“Why are you cold as fucking ice? Can’t you just let me in and stop this? We have a shoot to finish,” he grumbled, shakinghis head and heading back into the changing room just as the owners brought the next pieces.
We tried on the rest of the pieces. There were a few more revealing ones I had to wear, and Griffin grunted, cleared his throat, and did very little to avert his eyes. It seemed like the two sons had the same problem, and Griff did not like that. He glared at them for staring at me, and while it was sweet, it was also very annoying. He wasn’t my damn white knight.
I didn’t need saving.
I had saved myself.
