Building Our Love (Griffin Brothers #2)
Page 22
I can’t wait for it to someday be me and Ryan up in front of our friends getting married. I know he’ll ask me one day. He told me he has the ring, but nothing’s been mentioned about it again. If I’m being honest with myself, I’m a little sad that he hasn’t asked me yet. Both of our birthdays as well as Christmas and Valentine’s Day, have passed already. I just have to keep having faith in him and in us. It’ll happen when he’s ready. I know it.
Instead of going back down the aisle, Scott and Yasmin stay at the front, hugging and kissing all of us. The photographer takes some pics, and then Scott sweeps Yasmin off her feet and carries her down the aisle and across to the reception tent.
We’ve eaten a great meal, danced, and had cake. The bouquet gets tossed and somehow I catch it. Ryan catches the garter, which looks like it was thrown directly to him. I blush as Owen and Luke start telling Ryan that he better put “a ring on it.” I punch them both because I don’t need any more pressure on him, as it seems like he’s not ready for that next step yet. After our obligatory dance, Ryan leans in and asks me to meet him in the treehouse in five minutes. Just like he did on my 14th birthday.
My legs are shaking as I climb up a few minutes later. I poke my head inside and am glad that there’s an actual staircase up. If I was on a ladder, I probably would’ve fallen. Besides the twinkling lights that I was kind of expecting, there are at least 100 slips of paper hanging from the roof. Ryan is kneeling in the middle of a heart made out of white rose petals. I climb all the way in and walk towards him, seeing the writing on a few of the papers as I go. They are all love notes telling me reasons that I am awesome and he loves me.
I stop in front of him, trying to keep my legs from shaking.
“Ry?”
“Hi, sweetheart. I told you that I would make us a good memory in here. This is where our relationship began over eight years ago. We’ve had some rough times, and I thought that we should start over again here.”
He pulls a velvet jewelry box from his pocket. When he flicks it open, I see a beautiful round diamond surrounded by butterflies in different gemstones. It’s the most beautiful ring that I’ve ever seen, and it’s also so me. Ryan takes my hand.
“Chloe Jamison, I have loved you for so long that I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. I promise to love and cherish you forever. Will you please marry me?”
“Yes, Ryan Griffin, I will marry you. I promise to love and cherish you forever, too.”
He slides the ring onto my finger, and then I fall to my knees in front of him. I reach out and cup his face with my hands as I kiss him. We spend the night in the treehouse where all of my dreams have come true. Again.
Special Dedication Note
I dedicated this book to my dad, because he was always my biggest supporter. He didn’t get married until he was 55 so he was 56 when I was born, but you would have never known how old he was by looking at him.Through his life, he was always a walker and I remember us walking all over our side of town in Milwaukee when I was little. He ate garlic before it was popular, kept himself active and was very healthy.
He and my mom were the primary childcare for my older daughter, Dominique. He taught her to count as they walked up and down his apartment steps and he also sang her silly songs and snuck her out of the house to go to Wal-Mart for a pretzel with cheese in the snack bar while my mom was alseep. He was starting to get forgetful when Gabi was born, so we used daycare more for her, but he was still a big part of her life.
When Alzheimer’s overtook him, we chose to keep him at home with us because he was scared to go to a nursing home. His doctor said that having him around my daughters kept his mind active and he never once forgot who either of them were, even on his worst days.
He passed away on the 4th of July, which was my parents’ wedding anniversary. The girls always tell me that he wouldn’t want me to be sad every year, so I decided to release this book around that time to do something happy in his honor. In Gaming For Love, when they eat Erin’s favorite foods on her birthday, that’s something I took from my life—we do that for his birthday every year, too.
Acknowledgements
As always, thanks to Dominique and Gabi for putting up with me and supporting me. I love you both more than anything. Even when you’re rolling your eyes at your mom for writing romance books. It’s my job to embarrass you, so deal with it!
To Tera Lynn Childs, my very own Fairy Godmother of writing. You always encourage me and the notes you had for me on this book were invaluable. I’m so lucky to call you my friend!
To Erika Babbitt for being my one of my best friends, my biggest cheerleader and for loving Ryan!
HUGE thanks to Helen Williams for my covers! I get so many compliments on them and you always instinctively know what will work for me. They are beautiful and so are you!
To Jesse Gordon for doing a great job with my formatting and for always offering help and answers when I’m not sure about something. You make it really easy for me!
To Aliza Risby for fixing my commas, grammar and all that stuff. Thankfully, you had more commas than grammar to fix, so I’m not doing too bad! I’ll try to place my commas in better places next book!
To my beta readers (and friends). Thanks for loving the Griffins. LauraAnn Deketelaere-you were the first reader of this book. It made me so happy when you said you read it straight through. Love book talking with you and geeking out over our favorite authors! Cel Legaspi Mesina-you always said Ryan was your favorite and I’m glad you liked his book! Samantha Boydman-I know I took you out of you comfort zone, but thanks for reading! Road trips to author events wouldn’t be the same without you! Lisa Dess-thanks for telling everyone you met at RT to buy my first book and making me do Hurricane Shooters on release day! You rock and we had some fun times in New Orleans and I’m sorry I was a little tipsy and accidentally told you to read Owen’s book first! Mollie Hunt-sorry for scandalizing you and changing things after you read this for me! But, Scott’s your favorite anyway! Velvet Wehrman-you were Scott’s first reader and I’m glad you enjoyed Ryan’s book as well! Jenn Valencia-thanks for all your support and for loving the Griffin boys! Cyndi Porter-you’re a great friend and I love working with you. Thanks for telling me often that I’m your favorite romance author! Mallory Daybell-my Borders partner in crime and fellower lover of NA. Thanks for being awesome!
To all my co-workers and friends who’ve been encouraging and supportive, I love you all! I wouldn’t be on this journey without you!
A special thanks to the readers who loved (or even just liked) Gaming For Love, especially those of you who reached out to me, telling me how much you loved the book and leaving me reviews that made me want to cry from happiness! I hope you enjoyed this book, too!
About the Author
Crystal Perkins has always been a big reader, but she never thought that she would write her own book, until she did. She lives in Las Vegas, where you can find her running author events and selling books at conventions when she isn’t reading, buying too many Sherlock t-shirts online or finding a place to put all of her Pop! figurines. A mac and cheese connoisseur, she travels the country looking for the perfect version, while attending book conventions and signings as a cover for her research. Her first book, Gaming For Love, was an international bestseller.
You can find her at www.crystalperkinsauthor.com
Or on Facebook:
facebook.com/CrystalPerkinsAuthor
And Twitter: @wondermomlv
Turn the pager for a Sneak Peek of
Owen and Candi’s story,
Creating A Love
Coming September 2014!
The last book in the Griffin Brothers
series will be released in October
and then there will be two novellas:
Learning to Love: Luke & Olivia’s story
Designing the Love: Zane & Quinn’s novella
Alex’s novella
Owen
“Oh God, Owen. Yes, just like tha
t.” Candi is digging her nails into my shoulders as I pound into her. The back wall of my parents’ guest house has to be scraping her back through her thin yellow dress, but she doesn’t seem to care.
“You gonna come hard for me, babe?”
“I’m not your babe! I’m not your any—Oh! Oh! Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Her back arches as she comes as hard as I had hoped she would. I follow right after her.
“Shit, Cand, that was so damn good.”
“Yes, it was. Now get out of me so we can go back to the party and pretend this never happened.”
“What if I don’t want that anymore?” I know it’s risky, but I had to say it.
“What do you want, Owe?”
“You. I want you. And I want everyone to know it.”
“Are-are you sure?”
She looks so vulnerable right now. This woman who the world sees as flippant and hard. This beautiful goddess, who captured my attention the moment I saw her, is scared.
Candi’s around 5’6” with light mocha skin. Her long legs are slim but muscular. They lead to a perfect ass and hips that are just the right size for holding on to. In the middle of that is the sweetest pussy that I’ve ever tasted. No lie. Her stomach is flat and her breasts are the things of wet dreams. Full and lush with dark brown nipples that have brought me to my knees on more than one occasion. The curve of her shoulder, leading up to her graceful neck gets plenty of my attention, too. Her face is almost royal looking with high cheekbones and startlingly intense blue eyes. Her hair is a mass of spiral curls in several shades of brown. She is nothing short of perfect.
“Yes. There’s nothing that I’m more sure of than the fact that I want us to be more. More than just each other’s plus one at events or secret fucks against walls when no one’s around. I want to hold your hand and kiss you in front of my family. I want other men to know that you’re mine. I want us, Candi.”
She pauses for a few long seconds before smiling. “I want us, too, Owen.”
“So, Candi Marcus, you’ll be my girlfriend?”
She laughs hard and my chest feels too tight in a good way. “Yes, Owen Griffin, I will be your girlfriend.”
“Thank God. Now bring your mouth back over here so I can kiss my hot girlfriend again.”
We are leaning towards each other when we are interrupted. “I hate to break up this love fest, but we’re needed on the stage Owen.”
“Mara? How are you?” She’d been a good friend when I was younger, but I hadn’t seen her in a few years.
“I’ve been better, but we can get to that later. How about you introduce me to this hot woman in front of me for now.”
“She’s my hot woman, so don’t even think about it. Candi, this is my old friend, Mara. Mara, this is my girlfriend, Candi.”
“Thanks for the compliment, Mara. At one time, I would have acted on it, but once you find a guy with a magnificent cock, there’s no going back. At least not in this case.”
“Magnificent, huh? I knew there was a reason I liked you.” I’m smirking hard. But what guy wouldn’t after that?
“Umm, yeah, okay. Anyway, we really do need to get out there Owe. We can all talk after.”
“After? And why do we need to talk?” I’m more than a little confused.
“Because you still owe me for saving you from the cops when we were seventeen and you painted that building. We both know that it would’ve been your final strike. It’s time for me to collect and while I feel guilty at the moment, I need the favor.”
“What is it that you need?”
“You’ll find out soon.” Mara looks at Candi. “I really am sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing to me?”
“Because the favor I’m calling in will affect you, too. Let’s go, Owen. Duty calls.”
I follow her back out to the party after giving Candi a quick kiss. We get to the stage where my family and Mara’s parents are waiting for us. Her parents have always been ultra conservative and I’m pretty sure that she hasn’t come out to them yet. My family’s company is doing a building for them so we threw this party to get the word out.
My brother, Ryan, and his fiancé Chloe, will be doing most of the work. I’ll be handling the artwork and sculptures. They will unfortunately be boring and not the fun, edgy stuff that Chloe has been encouraging me to do for the other buildings that we have worked together on. But, Mara’s family is prestigious so this building will be a good thing for our company. We don’t need money, but my dad and Ryan like to keep us visible and show how great our company is.
“Mara! Why are you late? Stop trying to embarrass us for once!” Mrs. Evans is a royal bitch. I squeeze Mara’s hand to let her know I’m here for her. A moment later, I get the surprise of my life.
“Owen was proposing to me,” Mara states loud enough for her voice to be picked up by the microphone. She lifts her left hand and flashes a giant diamond.
The crowd starts applauding as my family looks at me in shock. Frankly, I’m pretty damn shocked, too. Mara pulls me into a hug. “I’m sorry, Owen. I’ll explain this all when we’re alone. I need you to go along with this.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I whisper back. “I just asked Candi to officially be with me and now you want me to pretend to be engaged to you?”
“Yes. You owe me and you can wait a couple of months to be with her in the open.”
“I’ve already waited over a year to have this with her. But, you’re right. I do owe you. I need to find her, though and explain.”
I hope to God that she’ll believe me, and understand that I didn’t know this was going to happen. At least she knows that Mara is gay, so that she doesn’t think I would be in a real relationship with her. Even if she wasn’t gay, there’s only one woman who owns my heart. Yeah, I said it. It’s the truth. I love Candi. I’d planned to wait to tell her, but I’ve felt it for a while now. I just need to figure out what’s going on with Mara and claim the woman that I want and not the one who needs some random favor from me.
Table of Contents
About Building Our Love
Other books by Crystal Perkins
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Special Dedication Note
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Sneak Peek of Creating A Love