Returning Home: A Second Chance Homecoming (Return To Me Book 4)

by Parks, AL

  His eyes went dark and flat. “Yeah, Griff. Not quite as sophisticated as Clarissa, but we can’t all be as high and mighty as you.”

  “Were you born with that chip on your shoulder, or is it something you’ve cultivated over time?”

  “Just calling it like I see it, sweetheart.” He walked past her and out the door.

  “Maybe you should look into getting some glasses, then,” she murmured, following him down the hallway and into the office. He pointed to an empty chair as he made his way behind the desk and sat down.

  “Let’s just get this over with so you can be on your way back to merry ol’ England.”

  “That sounds lovely, Robert.”

  “Griff.”

  “Whatever.”

  ***

  Damn this woman!

  How was she able to get under his skin so easily? One minute she was nice - sweet, even - and the next she was a total bitch. Griff just needed to get through the next couple of hours without starting a war. The last thing he needed was to piss off Clarissa to the point she decided to hand over her side of the business to Brandi. Griff shuddered at the thought. That would be all sorts of fucked-up bad news.

  “So, I’m not sure exactly where you want to start, or what you are interested in seeing,” he said, turning towards her and doing his best to be polite and smile.

  She chuckled. “To tell you the truth, I have no idea, either. I’m sorry, Griff, but I have no experience with this type of business. I am my own LLC, for photography, but I’m at a loss when it comes to the custom bike industry.” She took a sip of her coffee, raising her eyes to him before lowering the cup. “I can tell you that Mr. Donaldson said that he went over the financials - for the estate - and you look to be doing very well. He didn’t see anything that raised a red flag with him, so that would really negate me needing to go through financials statements that have little meaning to me. It seems like it would be more of a waste of your time, and mine, to expend energy doing that.”

  Well, that was some good news. Griff felt his heart rate slow a bit, and even relaxed back into his chair. “Okay, well, why don’t I just go over the items your dad and I were working on before his…accident?” He hated talking about death, and if it had been anyone else, he may not have brought up the delicate subject so soon after the funeral for fear she would launch into grief-stricken sobs. But he had seen Clarissa’s indifference to her father’s death. There was little chance of that happening.

  “That sounds like a good place to start.” She leaned and stood. “Mind if I grab another cup of coffee first?”

  “No, not at all.” She turned and walked out of the office, Griff’s gaze glued to the sway of her hips and the perfection of her ass. The girl was all sorts of hot. For a brief second, Griff actually wondered what it would be like to trail his hand over her curves before fisting his fingers through her hair, tipping her head back, and kissing her like he was sure she needed to be kissed. Long and hard.

  He took in a deep breath, scrubbing the scruff along his jaw. Damn, he had to stop thinking about her that way. There was no way Miss Uptight and Rich was going to let a guy like him ever get that close to tasting her sweet lips, or any other part of her, for that matter. Fuck! Now he had a vision of his head between her thighs, making her cry out his name.

  He shifted in his seat, readjusting his groin that was pressing uncomfortably against his zipper.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, and stopped abruptly at the door. Damn, had he been that obvious? Was his hard-on that noticeable from across the room?

  “Uh, for what?”

  “I should’ve asked if you wanted anymore coffee. Sorry, I’m so used to just doing for myself that I forget how to act when other people are around.” She took a step into the office.

  “Oh, uh, that’s fine. I’m good. I’ll get some in a bit.” He grabbed the file on his desk, and opened it. Pulling out some mock-ups of photos Brad had sent over to him before his death, he handed them to Clarissa. “Your dad and I were going over a new ad campaign. Brochures, flyers, other stuff that I have never even heard of but that he insisted we needed to implement.”

  Clarissa came around the desk and took the papers from his hands. She was only a few inches from him, and the scent of her hit him like a freight train. It was floral, yet spicy. Sweet, yet edgy. Yeah, that was Clarissa to a T - nice one minute, hardass the next. But, damn, if didn’t feel as if he could linger there in her scent all day long - and night, if she would’ve let him.

  “What the hell is this crap?” Her disgusted tone yanked him back to reality so fast he wondered if he might have sustained whiplash in the event. She shook a mock-up that depicted a nearly naked woman with some seriously huge DD’s lazed across a bike. Griff snickered. He had the same reaction when Brad had shown him the photos. Of course, he hadn’t come right out and asked the question.

  “Your father said ‘sexy sells - especially to the men I associate with who have money to burn on a custom bike.’”

  She looked at him, and damn if he wasn’t instantly gripped by those amazing dark green eyes.

  “Yes, sex sells, but you don’t need sexy women to sell these bikes. We end up selling something we can’t deliver.” She shifted and sat on the corner of the desk facing him. A low rumble moved through his nether regions and he suppressed the moan that was building in his chest when she crossed her arms under her breasts pushing them up to delectable heights.

  “Follow me on this thought. Guy sees hot bike with the sexy woman on it. He wants that. He will pay obscene amounts of money for it despite not having a clue of how to ride the damn thing. Am I right?” Clarissa’s eyes slid over to his.

  Griff quirked an eyebrow at her.

  “I’ve been around my fair share of these assholes throughout my life,” she said. “And, unfortunately, I know the mindset.” She pulled herself further back onto the desk, and lowered her arms, placing her hands along the edge. “Anyway, if we sell that type of illusion and deliver the bike of their dreams minus the hot, scantily-clad chick, it quickly dissolves into a delusion. We haven’t delivered what they thought they were purchasing. See what I’m saying?”

  “Okay, I get that. So, if sex sells, but we can’t use hot women, where does that leave us in terms of an ad campaign?”

  “We don’t need hot biker babes to sell these bikes. They’re hot enough on their own - we make the bikes the object of desire. Then it becomes the sex they are seeking.”

  “And we do that by…?” Griff leaned forward a bit. Somehow, she had reeled him in, and he was hanging on every word coming out of her mouth. Of course, part of it was the way the word sex rolled off her tongue. The larger part intrigued him on a whole other level. She spoke with passion about something she had no passion for a half an hour earlier. That was sexy as hell.

  “You just need a talented photographer that knows what they’re doing. Luckily, we have one of those, and I have it on good authority that she will work for cheap.” Smiling, she pointed at herself and mouthed “me.” She was so damn adorable, it was nearly his undoing.

  “How cheap?” He sat back in his chair, needing some distance between them in order to get his adolescent raging hormones under control.

  “A pot of coffee or two, maybe lunch, depending on how long it takes to get the lighting right.” A lop-sided smile slid across her face.

  “Bargain - and deal. What do you need from me?” He reached for his mug and drained the remaining coffee. It was cold, which was actually welcome with the intense heat between.

  “A room that is sterile, and by that I mean void of anything on the walls or floors. Preferably monochromatic, otherwise I will need to put up tarps, which will cost you another pot of coffee, and maybe pizza and beer.”

  “The room we use for unveilings is a light gray - walls and floor. Come on, I’ll show you.” He led her out of the office and through a door across the hall. The room had floor-to-ceiling windows along one exterior wall. The remainder of the r
oom was washed in light, industrial gray. A special coating was applied to the floor, which also had a shine to it.

  “Perfect. Can you set up a finished bike for me in here? It needs to be polished everywhere. Even the tires, the undercarriage - everything.”

  “Yep, I know the drill. We do a full clean and polish before a reveal.”

  They stood for a minute in silence. Clarissa glanced around the room. Griff watched as her eyes danced. It was the most alive he had seen them since they had met. She was excited, and for some reason, it thrilled Griff that he had provided that happiness in the midst of sadness. He thrust his hands in the front pocket of his jeans. He knew Clarissa didn’t grieve for her father in the normal, socially acceptable way. But there was something there. Some hurt that dwelled in her. Whether it was from Brad’s death or something in their past, Griff didn’t know. But he knew pain when he saw it. And Clarissa was swimming in it.

  She turned to him with a smile on her face that felt like the sun had invaded the room. “So, I’ll come by tomorrow and get some shots, if that’s okay. Then you can see what I’m talking about.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said, pulling the door open and ushering her out into the warehouse. They spent a few minutes going over the two bikes he had that were finished, and deciding on one for the photo shoot. Then he walked her out to her car in the parking lot, and held his hand out to her over the top of the car door. “Well, partner, looks like working with you won’t be the seventh level of hell I had thought it was going to be.” He smiled at her and was relieved when she slid her hand into his, and laughed.

  “So, where did I end up? I’m really hoping I made it back up to at least the second or third.”

  “I’d say third is a good bet. Second may be pushing things just a little bit for a first meeting.”

  She sat behind the wheel, turned the key in the ignition, and unrolled the window as Griff closed the door. “I’ll have to see if I can get there after our next meeting.”

  “It’s always good to have goals.”

  She replied by putting the car in reverse and calling out that she would see him in the morning. He watched her pull out onto the street and disappear behind the warehouses that surrounded him.

  So, Clarissa Beckett had a fun, smartass side to her that she kept well hidden. Finally, something Griff could like about the girl besides her outrageously hot body, and long legs built for wrapping around him during sex. Shit, her fun side was almost sexier than her body.

  Well, almost. Griff snickered, turned, and went back inside to get busy on the full day he still had ahead of him. No doubt thoughts of Clarissa would be distracting him until he saw her again in the morning.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Clarissa sat on the veranda trying to get some work done. She couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything. Her mind kept returning to the morning she had spent at the bike shop. It was just supposed to be a meet-and-get-a-feel-for-the-business type deal. She had been curious why her father would want to invest in a custom bike business with a young guy. Even more curious as to why Griff would want her father as an investor and business partner.

  In the back of her mind, she had decided that Ol’ Dad and Griff must have had the same life philosophy. Bed anything with breasts that would spread her legs. It hadn’t surprised her in the least that her father had suggested nearly naked women laying across bikes as the best campaign ad strategy for the business. Her father couldn’t really advertise his own business that way, so it was a sure bet that he was going to live vicariously through Griff’s business.

  Griff’s reaction to the proposed ad campaign had surprised her. The stereotypical biker that wanted a loose woman in leather that barely covered their essentials was firmly rooted in her mind. Griff, however, had put a serious dent in that theory. He hadn’t supported Brad’s marketing plan, and was not impressed with the mock-ups he had been given. He seemed very interested in Clarissa’s vision for an ad campaign. He listened to her, didn’t tell her she had no business experience, or marketing experience, and didn’t disregard her suggestions. In fact, he was on board with seeing what she could come up with.

  But what shocked her the most, was the rush she got talking about the project. She was actually excited to be taking pictures of the bike, getting up close with the angles, potentially discovering beauty she had never really considered before in a hunk of polished steel. She had wanted to suggest getting some shots of Griff on the bike. Maybe tap into a whole new market - women and bikes. After all, he was sexy as hell, and she was sure he looked even more dangerously delectable sitting on a custom bike. Truthfully, she just wanted those shots of him for herself. A souvenir to take back to England with her. Something that would remind her of why she should stay committed to the bike business.

  She could admit to herself that she was wrong about her first impressions of Griff. They shared the same sarcastic sense of humor. He was tough, serious about his business, and seemed to want to succeed. Not necessarily for great wealth, power or prestige like her father - and all the other men she had grown up around. Griff seemed like the type that wanted to show the world that he had made something from nothing, worked hard for it. She could appreciate that desire.

  She had never wanted to be the daughter of Brad Beckett, living off her parents’ millions with no purpose other than attending parties and spending money. Photography was her love, and she transformed it into a career. Something she had done all on her own.

  Closing up the laptop, she stood and stretched. She needed to get out of this room. Her thoughts were constantly drifting back to Griff and starting to take a different path. Mental visions of her hands grabbing his firm ass while he kissed her really hard were becoming more difficult to banish. She needed a distraction.

  She grabbed her jacket, keys and wallet and headed out the door. The little dive bar on the corner might offer a diversion. At the very least, she could get some long-necked clams and a beer. Anything to get her mind off her new business partner and the dirty things her mind was trying to convince her body to go after.

  ***

  Griff rolled to a stop in the parking lot beside the bar and killed the engine. It was a little busier than he had expected for an early weekday night, but not so busy he wouldn’t at least grab a beer before heading home. He had worked his ass off after Clarissa left the shop that morning. She had been everywhere, in every thought he had, in everything he touched. The thought of touching her had nearly driven him insane, so he buried himself in paperwork the latter part of the afternoon. Finally, he closed up shop and headed to his favorite local dive bar. A place the rich and snobby never came into, even on accident.

  He slumped onto a stool at the bar and checked to see which of his buddies was working. Sam Hall wandered over to where Griff sat and slid a mug of dark amber across to him. It was nice being a regular. No need to ask for a beer, it just magically showed up exactly when needed.

  “What’s up, man? Haven’t seen you around for a while?” Sam asked, wiping down the bar with a rag. Griff downed half the beer before he set the mug down.

  “Just busy. Trying to keep things moving forward.” Griff grabbed a handful of mini-pretzels from the bowl in front of him and tossed a few in his mouth.

  “Yeah, I hear that.” Sam nodded. “It’s been slow for the past week or two. Finally showing some signs of life tonight,” he said, pointing to a group of six-or-seven twenty-something’s playing pool at the back of the room. A waitress called to Sam from the other end of the bar. “Duty calls,” he murmured to Griff. “Let me know when you need another.”

  “Yep,” Griff responded. He put his head down and watched the condensation slowly drip down the sides of the glass and pool onto the bar. Moving forward. That thought actually seemed possible after his meeting with Clarissa today. At least, business-wise, which, at this point, was all he was really interested in. Yeah, Clarissa was sexy as hell, and she was even more intriguing than he had first given her credit for, bu
t she was in a completely different realm of reality than him. A realm that included money, prestige, and a level of arrogance and entitlement Griff couldn’t even comprehend. It was a place he never wanted to be, either.