She nodded.
“I mean it,” he said, and pointed at her. “One more tear, and it’s over.”
She flashed a fast smile, the tears instantly gone. “’Kay.”
Suspecting he’d been had, Grif crouched low and looked her in the eyes. “If you tell anyone I did this, I’ll . . .” He broke off, unable to figure out a threat suitable for a three-year-old that wouldn’t scare the shit out of her or scar her psychologically for life.
“Brooklyn? Where are you?” A pretty brunette stepped outside the townhouse next door. “Sweetie, it’s Sunday. Kate’s at the diner with her family for breakfast— Oh.” Catching sight of Grif, she stopped short. Her gaze drank in the sight of him, making him realize he stood there in only his tux pants, which he’d thankfully buttoned.
“Hi,” the brunette said awkwardly.
”Hey,” he said, doing his best to look like he wasn’t some sort of perv.
Little Brooklyn took her book and ran home.
Grif’s gaze went to where Kate’s car should have been parked. Empty.
Yep, apparently, she’d ditched him for breakfast with her family. A longer note would have been nice. Like, thank you very much for all the orgasms, Grif . . .
Except she’d say his whole name, Griffin, in that soft voice, and he’d want to give her more . . .
In his experience, women loved to leave long notes. Unless they were upset. He added up the clues and came to the logical conclusion.
She was indeed upset.
He scanned the street out of habit, and zeroed in on the Lexus down the street. That asshole Anders. Stepping off the porch, he strode to the car, rapping once on the window, hard.
Trevan slid the window down two inches and gave him a wary look.
“Why are you still out here?” Grif asked him
“I just came outside.”
Grif felt the hood. Indeed, it was cold. Before he could say anything, Dustin ran up to the car, out of breath. “Jeez, dad, why do you always park so far down? It’s a long walk.”
“It’s exercise,” Anders said. “You should have run it as a warm-up for practice instead of being lazy.”
Dustin rolled his eyes as he got into the car. With a chirp of the tires, they were off. Grif stood there with his hands on his hips, staring after them, spoiling for a fight. He didn’t like the feeling much.
Go home, he told himself. Forget it. Forget her. She wanted you; she begged for you; she promised it was just for the night. Everything is okay.
But it didn’t feel okay.
* * *
Kate had to stop for gas and at the store for a birthday card, and then on impulse she ran into the florist to grab her dad flowers. She was quite certain no one had ever given him flowers before, and she wanted to make him happy.
He was getting his life back together, and she was proud of him. Today was about him and making sure he saw that he had a lot to live for.
She stepped into the diner and eyed her group in the back. Ryan, Ashley, and a black-masked Tommy. Kate waved and headed over to them. “Where’s Dad?”
“Restroom,” Ryan said as Kate scooted into the round booth and was immediately bombarded by Ashley. “Where were you?” she hissed over Tommy’s head. “I had to get the child dressed.”
“I’m not a child,” Tommy said. “I’m Batman.”
“Sorry I’m late,” Kate said, and hugged him. “I stopped to get Dad something.” She looked at her brother. “Batman again? Did we wash that shirt?”
Tommy looked down at his shirt and did a palm’s up. He didn’t care one way or the other.
Ryan was giving her a long, steady look. “Sleep well?”
She felt her cheeks bloom. “Yes,” she said, and her left eye twitched because there’d been very little sleeping involved in the night’s activities.
Ryan stared at her some more. He knew her left eye twitched whenever she lied. “You?” she inquired politely, keeping her eyes wide open so there could be no more twitching.
He smirked.
He’d gotten his bridesmaid, then.
Ashley’s gaze was still narrowed in on Kate. “Why is your mascara smudged?”
Kate swiped under her eyes. “Uh . . .”
Ashley leaned in and sniffed at her. “And what’s that scent?”
Kate nudged her away and turned from Ryan’s knowing gaze. “I didn’t have time to take a shower, okay?”
“You smell like a guy,” Ashley said. “A really great-smelling guy.” Her sister sniffed at her again. “Man, that’s good—” She broke off and got an aghast look on her face, eyes wide, mouth open. “Ohmigod!”
“What?”
“No shower,” Ashley said slowly. “Flushed face. Smudged mascara. Smelling like a guy—”
“Shh!”
“You got laid!” Ashley whispered. “Ohemgee, you really did!”
“Did what?” their dad asked as he came to the table.
Kate jumped up and hugged him. “Happy birthday, Dad.”
He looked touched at the flowers. “What are we talking about?”
She began to sweat. “Nothing.”
“Slut,” Ashley whispered in her ear.
Tommy popped up between them. “What’s a slut?”
Ryan choked on his coffee.
Ashley looked quite pleased with herself.
Their dad looked alarmed. “Er, what?”
Kate inhaled a deep breath for calm. “Nothing,” she said, and gave Ashley a say-it-again-and-die look” before rumpling Tommy’s hair. “How about eggs?”
“Yes, and bacon,” Tommy said, suitably distracted. “A mountain of bacon.”
“Sounds good.” Kate waved desperately for their server just as the door to the café opened. Kate’s heart stopped, just completely stopped as Griffin Reid walked in.
Unlike her, he’d taken the time to shower. And he’d gone home, too, because rather than his tux he was wearing a pair of perfectly battered Levi’s and a white button-down. He looked good enough to bring a hot flash. She slid down in her seat a little, waving her menu in front of her face to try to cool herself down. Don’t look. If you don’t look at him, you’re invisible . . .
Her dad smiled and waved him over.
Crap. “Dad—”
Too late. Griffin was moving toward her in that easy, long-limbed stride, his eyes pinning her in place.
Feeling like a bug on a slide, she froze in her seat.
Ryan snickered like he was twelve.
“Ohmigod,” Ashley whispered. “It was him! You slept with him!”
“Shh!”
Tommy’s brow furrowed. “Is someone going to tell me what slut means?”
“You can look it up when you’re thirty-five,” Kate said, “or when I’m dead. Whichever comes last—” She broke off because Griffin was right there, at the table, those slate eyes on hers, stoic, solemn. Serious. “Griffin,” she said, as if just seeing him. “What are you doing here?”
“Maybe the man came to eat,” her dad said, scooting over. “Join us, Griffin. The more the merrier.”
Griffin eyed the flowers. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“You aren’t,” her dad said. “I’d rather we not celebrate, but Kate insists.”
“You’re turning fifty-five, Dad,” Kate said. “We’re celebrating.”
“And also your one-year sobriety,” Ashley said.
The table went silent except for Tommy slurping his water.
“It’s a big deal,” Kate said softly to her dad. “It’s good to celebrate, all of it.”
Her dad nodded. “Sit,” he said to Griffin. “You look hungry.”
Griffin’s gaze slid to Kate, and she felt her face heat again. He’d been plenty hungry last night. They both had. She looked into his eyes and rea
lized that he wasn’t completely stoic. There was something in his expression. He looked like a storm blowing in and about as cheerful as an open grave, but there was something else as well.
He was deferring to her.
She was quite certain he didn’t defer to anyone easily, but he was letting her make this call.
“Kate,” Tommy said, pointing to her throat. “Your skin is bouncing.”
Kate put a hand to her throat. “It’s not bouncing. It’s my pulse.”
“Why is it doing that?”
“A woman’s heart beats faster than a man’s,” she said. “That’s all.”
Ryan snorted.
Ashley rolled her eyes.
Griffin’s gaze remained on hers, giving nothing away.
And her dad divided a long, careful look between them. “Okay,” he said. “What am I missing?”
“Well,” Ashley said. “Kate’s given up on the whole online dating thing and has moved on to real, live dating.”
“Yes,” her dad said. “I know that. She’s dating Ryan.” He looked at Ryan. “Right?”
Ryan looked at Kate. Fix this.
Kate resisted thunking her head to the table. “Dad, not now.”
Ashley began to whisper. “S . . . L . . .”
Kate picked up her knife, and Ashley fell silent.
Not Tommy. Tommy smiled. “It’s S-L-U-T,” he told Ashley proudly. “Slut.”
Kate did thunk her head to the table then.
“You staying?” Ryan asked Griffin.
Kate looked up to see him hesitate—also unlike him. Then he shocked the hell out of her by sliding into the booth.
Their thighs brushed, his hard and powerful, and flashes of last night flickered in her brain. Griffin in her bed, his hands gripping hers above her head, him buried deep inside her, thrusting even deeper, his eyes dark and intense, his voice a husky promise that had driven her wild.
He’d made good on every single hot promise, which begged the question. They’d given each other everything that needed to be given, so why was he here?
Fifteen
Griffin didn’t do regrets as a whole, but he was beginning to regret the shit out of his impulse to stop at the diner.
He’d spent a lot of years out in the middle of nowhere with his only family being his fellow soldiers. Their lives depended on getting along, so for the most part that’s exactly what they did.
Before that, there’d been his actual family. For much of his teen years his mom and dad had been separated, his mom in New York and his father here in Idaho. There’d been no real sense of a family unit other than his relationship with Holly. There’d never been this sort of family-by-committee feel that the Evanses had.
It was more than slightly terrifying.
Kate was looking at him, her eyes a little glossy as if she was lost in thought. And given the way her pulse was fluttering and the way she licked her lips when he met her gaze, he had a feeling he knew what she was thinking about.
Last night.
She jumped when Ashley snapped her fingers in her face. “Jeez,” the teenager said. “Where the heck were you? Disneyland?”
Ryan snorted into his water.
Tommy looked confused.
Griffin met Kate’s gaze. He’d wanted to see her again, and here she was, and he still wasn’t satisfied. Not by a long shot. And why hadn’t she answered her dad about Ryan? Was there still something there? His gut tightened at the thought. Not wanting to examine that too closely, he picked up a menu.
Tommy grinned. “Yay, you’re staying!” he said, straightening his Batman mask. “You can be Robin. Robin’s very important. Have you eaten here before? Cuz all the stuff is named after people in town.” The kid leaned over Grif’s shoulder and pointed. “There’s the Tommy Ice Cream Sundae, see? It’s for me cuz that’s what I like the best here. And there’s the Eddie, which is a scrambled egg dish made for my dad. I don’t know why he’s scrambled, but it’s really good.”
Grif nodded, waiting until everyone seemed busy talking to turn to Kate. Keeping his voice low, trying to be discreet, he said, “We need to talk.”
Of course at that very moment, the chatter lulled and all interest turned their way.
“What do you got to talk about?” Tommy asked.
Luckily, the waitress came by right then. Shelly had gone to school with Grif, and she smiled at him. “Hey, hon. Nice to see you. You all ready?”
“One of everything,” Tommy yelled with enthusiasm, getting up on his knees in the chair to do it.
Kate corrected his order. “Make that eggs and toast.”
“And bacon!” Tommy added.
“And bacon,” Kate said.
Shelly looked at Ashley next. The teen tossed her menu down with dramatic flair and sighed. “A grapefruit, I guess.”
Again Kate corrected the order. “More,” she told Ashley.
“I’m on a diet.”
“Another time.” Kate looked at Shelly. “Give her the same as Tommy, with a bowl of fruit.”
Ashley grumbled a little bit but looked secretly pleased, not letting out a single argument. No one seemed to argue with Kate’s authority, Grif noticed, and she definitely had authority here. She ran her world with a sweet warmth that no one questioned.
The only time he’d seen her out of her element had been with him.
Food for thought.
So was the way Ryan was alternately eyeballing Grif and trying to give Kate some sort of secret message that Grif couldn’t quite read. Giving up, he lifted his menu and perused it. Then, making sure his face was covered from everyone else, he turned his head to Kate.
She ignored him.
Shelly was at Kate. “The usual?”
“Uh . . .” Kate glanced at the menu.
Griffin leaned in and pointed to something called the Ryan Omelet. The description said: “Laid-back but interesting, layered, and special, this omelet is guaranteed to make you feel good.”
Griffin tapped it. “Maybe the Ryan?” he said meaningfully. “Is that what you’re having?”
She looked at him in disbelief. “No. I’m not having the Ryan.” Then she also leaned in, as if looking at his menu and hissed in his ear, “And if you’ll remember, I had the Griffin just last night, so really I shouldn’t be hungry for a damn long time!” She pulled back and looked at Shelly. “I’ll take the Dell’s Mountain Special.”
Shelly smiled. “Three eggs, three sausages, three bacon strips, three pancakes, toast, and hash browns. Anything else?”
“Maybe the kitchen sink?” Ryan asked beneath his breath, then jumped as if maybe he’d been kicked under the table.
“Yes,” Kate said, and pushed back her chair. “All that and the kitchen sink, too. Excuse me, I need a minute.” And she headed to the bathroom.
“She likes to give herself time-outs,” Tommy said into the awkward silence. “Says it keeps her outta jail.”
“She should be more worried about the loony bin,” Ryan muttered.
Ashley laughed and fist bumped Ryan.
“How about you, handsome?” Shelly asked Grif.
“Just a coffee, thanks,” he said, and rose.
He needed a time-out, too.
He waited in the hallway between the two restrooms and across from the kitchen entrance.
“What are you doing?” Kate asked when she came out.
“I told you, we need to talk.”
She stared at him as if he were crazy. “Why?”
“Why?” He stared back, a little stymied at this. Wasn’t it obvious?
Kate sighed. “Tell me this. Would you want to talk with any other woman you’d gone home with last night?”
This made him blink, and she laughed with little mirth in the sound. “Go home, Griffin.”
“I did
n’t go home with you last night to sleep with you,” he said. “I drove you home to make sure you got there safely.” And shit, that didn’t come out right. He shoved his fingers through his hair. “Things got out of hand.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “In the best possible way.”
“Then why did you sneak out of your own bed this morning like you were taking the walk of shame?”
She stared at him and then laughed again, this time for real. She laughed so hard she had to bend over and put her hands on her knees. Twice she started to straighten up but ended up laughing some more.
“Look,” he said, starting to get pissed off. “I was worried that you were upset or something. You’d left your own place and vanished.”
She made an obvious effort to get herself under control while he waited with hands on hips. “I’m trying to apologize here,” he said, thoroughly irritated.
That got her. She did straighten then, her smile gone. “Don’t you dare apologize for the best sex of my life.”
He opened his mouth, but she pointed at him. “I mean it,” she said.
“Best of your life?” he repeated, losing a good portion of his mad because damn. Hard to be mad after that compliment.
“Yes,” she said. “The best of my life.” Her mouth twitched. “I’m actually thinking of having it carved on my tombstone.”
He rubbed his jaw and eyeballed her. “So while I was stressing over possibly having shocked you into next week, you’re . . . okay?”
“So okay.” At that, she patted his chest in a dismissive gesture. “And thank you.” She started to walk away, but he caught her.
“Wait.” He was having a hard time wrapping his mind around this. “So you’re just going to sleep with me and be done with it?”
Now it was her turn to blink in surprise. “Uh . . . yes?”
Huh. This had always been his MO, so why this bothered him, he had no clue. None. Zero. Zip . . .
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing at all.” Christ, he was such a liar. A totally fucked-up, turned-upside-down, confused-as-hell liar. Letting go of her, he turned to leave, thinking he was the biggest idiot on earth, wasting all morning worrying. Kate might be sweet and warm and unassuming, but she was sure as hell no pushover. In fact, she’d just completely schooled him.
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