Reid straightened. “Check, please.”
I’m an awesome date.
Twenty-Four
“You didn’t have to walk me home,” I said, casting a sidelong look at Reid as he trudged along the sidewalk with me.
“You’re a woman and you’re vulnerable,” Reid said. “You shouldn’t walk home alone after dark. It’s not safe.”
The short trek had been tense. My stomach wouldn’t stop growling – we never did order – and I was anxious to raid the refrigerator when I got home. The one good thing about living with a baker is that there’s always something to munch on.
“It was three blocks,” I pointed out.
“You’re still vulnerable.”
“I’m fine.”
“Why are you being so difficult?” Reid asked.
“I’m not difficult,” I said. “I’m honest.”
“You’re difficult.”
“I’m awesome.”
“You’re deranged.”
“I’m still awesome.”
“I don’t understand eighty percent of what comes out of your mouth,” Reid said.
“And yet you still stalked me.” I stepped onto the sidewalk leading to the front door of my townhouse.
“I didn’t stalk you.”
“Don’t be … obnoxious,” I said. “We both know you stalked me.”
“I did not stalk you!”
Griffin stepped out of the shadows, his keys in his hand. He’d obviously just arrived from the adjacent parking lot. “Is someone stalking someone?”
I was relieved to see him. “You remember Morgan Reid, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he’s stalking me,” I said.
“I am not stalking her,” Reid protested. “I showed up to ask her out on a date. I had flowers, for crying out loud.”
“From the grocery store.”
“They were still flowers,” Reid said. “You agreed to go out on a date with me.”
Griffin’s face was grim. “You went on a date with him?”
“I went to dinner with him,” I said. “We walked three blocks, we engaged in inane chatter, and then he ran like a little girl. We didn’t even order, and I’m starving.”
“I see,” Griffin said.
“She says she has a boyfriend, but I don’t believe her,” Reid said. “She also told me she was married to her brother. She keeps flirting with me.”
“You need to look up the word ‘flirting’ in a dictionary,” I said. “That doesn’t change the fact that you stalked me.”
“I’m a handsome guy,” Reid said. “I don’t need to stalk anyone. You’re just a … slut.”
Griffin growled.
“She is,” Reid continued. “She wants me. She just won’t admit it.”
“If Jerry hadn’t used all of my pepper spray, I’d totally spray the crap out of you right now,” I said. “You’re a freak.”
“You’re a freak,” Reid countered.
“You’re both freaks,” Griffin said. He studied us for a moment. “Mr. Reid, I can assure you that Aisling has a boyfriend.”
“Oh, really, how is that? Last time I checked, she was dating her own brother. That’s illegal. You know that, right?”
“I know that because I’m her boyfriend,” Griffin said, tapping his chest. “I’m her boyfriend.”
“Well, then you need to tell her that dating other men isn’t allowed,” Reid said. “She clearly doesn’t understand basic rules. She told me you were her boyfriend the same day she said her brother was.”
I stomped my foot. “I still told you I was dating someone.”
“And then you went out to dinner with me,” Reid countered.
“Because you wouldn’t leave.”
Griffin stepped between us, his hands raised. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “Mr. Reid, I don’t believe your services are required any longer. Aisling is in a relationship, and I don’t like to share my toys.”
“You should tell her that,” Reid grumbled.
“You can go now,” Griffin said, gritting his teeth.
Reid’s glance bounced between us a moment, and then he stalked away without a parting shot. Once he was gone, Griffin fixed me with a look. He didn’t speak immediately, and after a full minute, I was starting to feel uncomfortable.
“What?”
“You went on a date with another guy,” Griffin said, clearly trying to control his temper.
“It wasn’t a date,” I argued. “He took me by surprise. I was perfectly happy to curl up on the couch with my big bag of chocolate and wait for you.”
“You really do have PMS, don’t you? I thought Jerry was … being Jerry … but he was right, wasn’t he?”
I shrugged. “So?”
“It’s just weird,” Griffin said.
“Technically, I won’t have PMS until tomorrow,” I clarified. “I was just getting prepared.”
Griffin furrowed his brow. “How did he find you?”
“He claims I told him my name,” I said. “I didn’t.”
“So, you agreed to go out on a date with him?”
“I agreed to walk down to the National Coney Island with him,” I corrected. “I never got anything to eat. I’m starving, by the way.”
His sigh was dramatic, and his face showed he was conflicted, but when Griffin finally focused on me, it was hurt I saw reflected back from the depths of his eyes. “We’re together, right?”
I faltered. “I … yes.”
“Last time I checked, people in a relationship don’t date other people,” Griffin said.
“It wasn’t really a date.” This was somehow snowballing, and I needed to stop it. “I was just trying to get information.”
“You’re not an investigator,” Griffin said.
“But … .”
He held up his hand. “I need to be able to trust you.”
My lower lip started quivering. Hormones bite. “Don’t you?”
“I did until I found you coming back from a date with another man,” Griffin replied. “I thought … I thought we were together.”
I ran my hands through my hair, confused. “Okay, I don’t want to start a big fight here, but we’ve never really defined our relationship. That doesn’t mean I was going to touch him or let him touch me.”
Griffin cleared his throat as he scanned the night sky. “That’s a fair point,” he said after a moment. “Let’s define our relationship.”
This was new … and scary. “Okay.”
“When I look at you, I see my girlfriend,” he said. “What do you see when you look at me?”
Fear was the most obvious answer. “I don’t know,” I said. “I … we haven’t had as much time together as I would like. We had a week together – and it was the best week of my life – and then you left.”
Griffin nodded, waiting.
“I know you have a job to do,” I continued. “I still felt like an afterthought.” Now was the time to tell the truth.
“I guess that’s fair,” Griffin said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I didn’t expect to be called away on an assignment. I think you need to know that. I usually have some lead-up when that happens.”
“I’m not blaming you,” I said, my voice low.
“I don’t expect to be called away on a lot of undercover assignments,” he said. “They do happen, though. I don’t volunteer for them, and I don’t plan on volunteering for them. If they happen, though, I need to know you can handle that.”
It was a pointed statement. “I didn’t complain about you being gone.”
“No, you just freaked out when you saw me in a restaurant the day I got back,” he reminded me.
“I saw a woman touching you in a restaurant,” I corrected. “I didn’t even know you had family in the area. Why would I think she was your sister? You never talk about your family.”
Griffin ran his hand through his hair. “Not all families are like yours.”
“I
… .”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now,” Griffin said, firm.
I nodded.
“That doesn’t mean I won’t talk about it eventually,” Griffin said. “I just … not now.”
“Okay.”
“I want to talk about tonight,” he said. “I don’t want you to go on dates with other guys.”
“Because I’m your girlfriend?”
Griffin smirked. “Yes.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’m assuming that means you won’t be sleeping with women for information while you’re undercover, right?”
Griffin snorted. “It’s not like the movies, baby.” He held out his hand. “I don’t want to sleep with anyone else and I don’t want to date anyone else.”
I took his hand tentatively. “I don’t either.”
“Good,” Griffin said. “Now we need to talk about your sense of self-preservation.”
I shifted. “What?”
“We know Reid is a criminal,” Griffin said. “We know he has dangerous associates and that he’s marked for murder. Knowing all of that, why would you go to dinner with him?”
“I wanted to see if he would let anything slip,” I admitted.
“Did he?”
“No,” I said. “His whole goal was to knock me off my game.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“So, how did things end?” Griffin was working hard to appear calm.
“I told him I was licensed to carry a concealed weapon and then he yelled for the check before we’d even ordered,” I said.
Griffin smiled. “You do have a way about you.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” I said after a moment. “I … I just had to make a quick decision. He took me by surprise.”
“Yeah, we have to figure out how he knew who you were,” Griffin said, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. “I just … we’re clear here, right?”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m your girlfriend.”
“And I’m your boyfriend,” Griffin said. “It’s okay to call me that. I know you’ve been … conflicted. It’s okay, though. I’m not going anywhere, Aisling. You don’t have to be afraid all of the time.”
His words were warm when they washed over me. “What if Aidan doesn’t let up?”
Griffin sighed. “Aidan is having issues,” he said. “I’m not sure what they are, but he’ll let us know when he wants to remedy them. His issues are not my issues.”
“What are your issues?”
“I don’t want my girlfriend dating other men,” he said. “I want you all to myself.”
I snickered. “You know I have PMS, right?”
“Jerry told me.”
“Jerry told everyone.”
“He’s my walking mood calendar,” Griffin said. “I think he’ll probably come in handy in that department.”
“He’s a handy guy.”
“He’s your … best friend,” Griffin said, smiling. “He has a certain charm that just can’t be denied.”
“He always did.”
“I like Jerry,” Griffin said. “The shark thing was weird, and yet I get it. You guys managed to make my sister feel safe when she should have been having nightmares. I appreciate that.”
We hadn’t talked about Maya’s new reality yet. “Are you angry about all of that?”
“Am I angry that you risked yourself to save my sister? Is that what you’re asking?”
I shrugged.
“Aisling, I don’t want you to ever put yourself in danger,” he said. “The thing is, I’m a cop. I’m in danger whether I like it or not. You don’t complain about it, your meltdown at the restaurant notwithstanding.
“I don’t feel I can complain about your job,” he continued. “That would make me a hypocrite, and I try really hard not to be a hypocrite. I don’t always succeed, but I try. I know that you put yourself in danger to keep Maya safe. I want to be angry, but she’s my sister. I know you didn’t have a lot of options, and you did an outstanding job.”
“I always do an outstanding job.”
Griffin drew me to him, wrapping his arms around my waist as he rested his forehead against mine. “I need you to keep safe,” he said. “I’d be … sad … without you.”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I know that. I’m not angry.”
“Even though I had dinner with the dirty money launderer?”
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that,” Griffin teased. “I’m going to make you give me a massage and then do something dirty.”
I smirked.
“You have PMS, though, right? How long do I have?”
“Four days.”
“I guess I’d better make them count.” He pressed a sweet kiss to my lips and then pushed me toward the door of the townhouse. “Start moving. You’re going to have a busy four days.”
Somehow, that didn’t sound too bad.
Twenty-Five
“Get up.”
“Go back to sleep.”
I poked Griffin’s bare chest. “Get up. I’m hungry.”
“Go back to sleep. We were up half the night.” Griffin’s eyes remained shut. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
“That’s because you insisted on the world’s longest massage,” I said. “I did all the work, and I’m starving.”
“Shh. If you close your eyes, you’ll naturally fall back to sleep.”
I was quiet for a moment. “It’s not working.”
“You’re not trying hard enough.”
I rolled on top of him, resting my weight on his chest so he had no choice but to open his eyes. His hair was tousled from heavy sleep and his smile was lazy as he finally focused on me.
“I’m really hungry.”
He reached over and pressed my head down to his chest. “Go back to sleep. Jerry will feed you in an hour.”
“But … .”
Griffin growled as he grabbed me around the waist and flipped me over, pinning me beneath him playfully. “Were you always this much of a pain in the ass?”
“I am sunshine and light,” I argued. “You should bow down and worship me every day because I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Griffin grinned. “You’re in a good mood this morning.”
“I’m in a good mood every morning,” I countered.
“You realize I’ve met you before, right?”
“Are you insinuating I’m not fun to be around in the morning?”
“I’m flat out saying you’re usually a morose pouter in the morning,” Griffin replied. “You’re smiling this morning.”
“That’s because I’m … happy.”
Griffin gave me a kiss. “You’d be happier if you slept another hour.”
“Feed me now!”
“And we’re back to being a pain in the ass,” Griffin said. “How about we work up more of an appetite first?”
“What did you have in mind?”
I wasn’t the only one starting the morning with a smile today.
A VERY enthusiastic and energetic hour later, we emerged from my bedroom. Jerry and Aidan were already up, and Jerry was banging around the kitchen when we walked into the room.
“Hello, naughty ones,” Jerry said, not bothering to turn from the stove. “Are you hungry this morning?”
“Aisling is,” Griffin said, settling at the table and grabbing the front section of the newspaper so he had a reason to ignore Aidan. “I just want coffee.”
“I’m making homemade cinnamon rolls,” Jerry teased.
“Oh, yum,” I said, rolling up on the balls of my feet so I could kiss Jerry’s cheek. “Did you put nuts on them?”
“I know you love nuts,” Jerry teased, flicking my nose. “They just went into the oven. It will be a few minutes. Here’s some coffee.”
“Thanks.” I took the two mugs and moved to the table, slipping one in front of Griffin before grabbing part of the newspaper. “Is there anything good
in there?”
“Rape. Murder. Corruption.”
“I’m confused. Do you think that’s good or are you just commenting on the state of the world today?”
Griffin smirked. “My world is fine today,” he said.
“Oh, you two are just so cute,” Jerry cooed.
Aidan muttered something under his breath I couldn’t quite make out. “What’s your problem now?”
“I didn’t say anything,” Aidan said.
“No, you purposely mumbled because you’re obviously feeling the need for negative attention this morning,” I shot back.
“I think you’re hearing things.”
“I think you’re being a butthead.”
“I think you’re being a PMS monster.”
“Okay,” Griffin said, shaking the newspaper. “You all talk far too much about … that.”
“It’s a natural part of life for women,” Jerry chided. “You should get used to it. Aisling is a bear when the monster possesses her.”
Griffin slid a look in my direction. “The monster?”
“You’ve seen The Exorcist, right?” Jerry asked.
Griffin chuckled, but his eyes reflected doubt.
“Don’t worry, she’s vacillates wildly between monster and baby,” Jerry said. “We just lock her in her bedroom.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Griffin said. “I’m sure I can handle her.”
“I’m sure I can handle her,” Aidan mimicked.
Griffin cocked his head to the side. “Do you have something you want to say to me?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Jerry said. “We talked about this,” he warned Aidan. “You said you were going to try to be nicer to him.”
“I did try,” Aidan said. “I failed. Failure is a part of life.”
“Oh, just stop it,” I snapped. “I can’t take much more of your crap.”
“My crap? My crap?”
“Do you see anyone else here being a big baby?”
“I am not being a baby!” Aidan pounded the table to prove his point. “I’m the one getting the shaft here.”
Jerry opened his mouth and I knew he was about to say something filthy. “Don’t!” Jerry frowned, but he pressed his lips together. “How are you getting the shaft?”
Grim Offerings (Aisling Grimlock Book 2) Page 18