I let myself melt into him, to try and soak up some of Griffin’s strength. “Why does he hate me so much?”

“I wish I had the answer to that one. But some people just have ugly souls. I don’t know if it’s the life they’ve lived that rots their core, or if they were simply born that way.”

I burrowed deeper into Griffin’s hold. I knew he’d experienced more than his fair share of people with rotten cores. People who wanted to use him and betray him in the worst possible ways. Yet somehow, he’d managed to keep his good soul. He hadn’t let the hurt that others had inflicted on him turn his core rotten.

I traced a finger over his heart as if the action would somehow allow me to soak up some of that goodness. I wanted to drown in the light that filled him. I tipped my face up to meet his gaze. “Make me forget.” His brows drew together, puzzled. My hand slid up his chest to cup his jaw, and I brushed my lips against his. “Make me feel. Only the good.” He studied my face as if he were trying to decide if this was a smart move. “Please.” I wasn’t above begging.

His hands skimmed down my body, sliding under the hem of my sundress. The glide of his palms against my skin created some sort of foreign energy that hummed around us. Something that would only ever belong to Griffin and me. I never wanted to lose it. It was safety and comfort, passion and want, hunger and complete satiation, all at the same time.

Griffin’s fingers danced over my lace-covered core. I sucked in a sharp breath as he stroked me through my panties. I forced my eyes to stay open, to stay locked with Griffin’s. I didn’t want to miss a second of how his blue eyes seemed to change color in the late-morning light. How with each pass of his fingers, his gaze seemed to darken.

My breaths started to come quicker, my heart hammering against its cage as if it wanted to take flight, to get to the man who owned it entirely. “Please.”

“What do you need?” Griffin asked, seeming in no hurry. As if he could simply stay like this all day.

“I need you.”

His eyes flared, and his hand went to the side of his belt. To the multi-tool he always kept there. “Stay still.”

I froze as he flicked open the knife and slipped it under my sundress. One flick of his wrist, and then another, and my lace panties were falling free. I gaped up at him. “That was a really nice pair of underwear.”