Her lips part just a little. “That—makes sense.”
Does it? Because the way my brain’s spinning right now, I may be speaking gibberish. “How about you?”
She licks her lips. “You mean the rest of my five items, or whether I’d pick passion or practical?”
“Yes.”
Mari smiles. “Same as you. Assuming we’ve met the basics of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—”
“Maslow?”
“It’s a five-tier model of human needs. Things like food, water, and safety are at the bottom—the main priorities.” Her throat moves as she swallows. “But assuming those are covered, I’d go to the top of the pyramid. Self-actualization, maybe creative pursuits.”
“So…crochet hooks.” I don’t mention the condoms, but I’m sure she thinks of it.
I can tell by the color in her cheeks, the way the edges of her mouth tug up again. “Something like that.”
My palms are sweaty as my gaze drops to her mouth again. I’m aching to kiss her. From the way her lips just parted, she wants that, too.
“Mari.” I lift a hand slowly, gauging her response. If she steps back, I’ll have my answer.
She doesn’t move. She’s breathing fast, and I don’t let my gaze fall to her breasts. Her cheek is soft under my palm, and she doesn’t pull away.
“Goddammit.” She breathes the word like a prayer as her eyelids flutter shut.
I’m not sure how to take that. I’m still touching her, so I brush a curl from her face. She leans into my palm like she’s hungry for my touch. Like she craves me the way I crave her.
“Griffin.” Her voice sounds strained, and when she opens her eyes, the heat takes my breath away. “Just this once.”
I’m not sure what she means, since we’ve already kissed. But it feels different to me, too. Maybe because there’s no threat of Soph walking in or the brewery blowing up. It’s the two of us ten feet underground with dim light and smells of damp earth lending a primal note to what’s buzzing between us. It doesn’t feel real. Maybe that’s it.
I tug the pencil from her hair and thread my fingers through the silk strands. Slowly, I brush her lips with mine. She tastes like muffins and citrus and something unmistakably Mari.
With a soft moan, she kisses me back. “God.” Drawing her hands to my chest, she clutches my shirt and looks deep into my eyes. “Don’t stop.”
It’s like gasoline on a fire, and I pull her to me so fiercely she stumbles. I catch her easily, slipping an arm around her waist as she crashes against my chest.
Then we’re kissing—frantically, like our lives depend on it.
Her fingers grip the cotton of my T-shirt as her tongue grazes mine. My hand drops to her ass, which is a bold move. But she presses against me, going up on tiptoe so we’re aligned at the center. She grinds against me, and I give a groan of my own as I back her toward the wall and kiss my way into the hollow of her throat.
She’s got her hands on my back as her pulse beats wildly against my lips. Arching her back, she grinds against the hard-on I’ve spent the last few minutes hiding. Since when did a kiss do this to me?
But this isn’t just a kiss. It’s hot and hungry and fueled by something I don’t understand. I couldn’t stop if I wanted to, and I’m sure she feels the same.
She makes a sound that’s half sigh, half groan. “Why?” she breathes as she arches into me.
I kiss the space behind her ear. “Why what?”
“Why are you so good at this?”
I don’t have an answer. Something’s happening, and it’s not about skill. It’s not that either of us is an epic kisser. It’s that we’re magic together. Something about her sparks a heat in me I’ve never felt before.
The silky fabric of her top slips just a little, and I seize the chance to claim more skin. To kiss every faint freckle from the hollow of her throat to the roundness of her shoulder. I want to taste every inch of her, to know what she sounds like as she breaks apart beneath my tongue.
There’s a gentle squeeze around my cock and I glance down to see she’s stroking me through my jeans. Her fingers claim me, rough and ready, and I wonder if she knows she’s even touching me. That’s how far gone we are. We’re desperate and dangerous and I swear to God I could come just like this.
“Mari.” Emboldened by her stroking, I slip a hand up to cup her breast through her thin top. “You feel so good.”
“God, Griffin.” Her eyes pinch closed, like she’s pretending we’re someplace else. Somewhere with a bed, maybe.
Her grip tightens around my cock, and I’m having trouble breathing. “Do you want to—”
“We should—”
We both speak at once as her eyes flutter open. Hers widen just a little. “What?”
I swallow hard, dropping my gaze to her hand at my fly. “If you keep that up, I won’t last long.” Embarrassing to admit, but it’s been a while. “If there’s a bed in this place—”
“God.” She jumps like I’ve stung her, dragging a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“For what?”
“I shouldn’t—we shouldn’t—” She shakes her head and takes a step away. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“We weren’t thinking,” I point out, aching to reach for her again. To ride this wave of feeling past any ripple of doubt. “That’s kind of the point.”
Her gaze drops to the bulge in my jeans and color rushes her cheeks. “I shouldn’t be doing this.” She licks her lips and meets my eyes again. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me.”
I shake my head to clear it, not sure where we got off track. “There’s no need to apologize. And there’s no rule against us enjoying each other’s company, is there?”
As far as I know, Fresh Start at Juniper Ridge has no regulations about behind-the-scenes staff hooking up with community members. Not that I read the manual that closely, but I would have remembered. “Mari?”
She’s blinking fast now, trying to draw herself from some sort of trance. “I—need to go. This venue, it’s great. Dark and mysterious and weirdly romantic.” She edges sideways, still struggling to put distance between us. “That’s all this was, right?”
“Are you really asking me? Because I’ll tell you right now, this wasn’t just some weird cave fetish. Not for me, it wasn’t.”
“I don’t know what this was.” She shakes her head again. “But it shouldn’t happen.”
“Mari—”
“So, um, I can leave you here to look around. I need to get back for an appointment. You can find your way out?”
She’s got a hand on the ladder while I’m still trying to figure out what the hell just happened. “Sure, yeah. Don’t worry about it.”
“Great!” She flashes a smile that’s forced. Her eyes flash as she touches a fingertip to her lip. “I’ll see you around then.”
She turns and scrambles up the ladder, the heels of her shoes tapping faster than the slamming of my heart.