10. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Griffin
I think I slept for a total of about three hours on and off. Kaitlyn finally fell asleep after the first draft of our contract was outlined on hotel stationary. She wanted to have as many details as we could come up with before her legal brain would turn off and allow her to sleep. Somewhere near four, I was able to fold the duvet over her while I retrieved the extra blanket and slept on the sofa near the fire.
Several thoughts kept swirling around in my head. Would we be able to pull this off? Will I be able to keep her safe from the ugly side of my life? Would this be enough to back my father into a corner? All of these things are massive unknowns. I don’t do well with them.
Just after I punch my pillow and pull the blanket over my head to keep out the impending sun, a soft groggy voice waves over me from across the room. “Good morning.”
I pull the blanket down and see my sleep-deprived savior clinging to the robe still wrapped around her. “Good morning. I’m sorry if my fist fight with my pillow woke you.”
“It didn’t. I woke up and didn’t know where I was at first.” She smiles. “May I join you next to the fire?”
“Of course.” I sit up and open my blanket for her to climb into. She carefully curls up in the blanket next to me. Her fingers play with the edges of it as if it’s a nervous habit.
“Sooooo…I’m more of a slow to wake up kind of person. I need like two cups of coffee to be a normal human who won’t rip your soul out at first glance. I sleep on the right side of the bed or starfish in the center, depending on my mood. I have cold feet and I like to snuggle.”
“Wow.” I laugh. “That’s a lot of information.”
“We need to know these things. I feel like there needs to be quizzes.”
“Quizzes, you say? I was very good at those in school.”
She looks over at me and smiles. “Me too. I was the student who studied until my eyes crossed so I could keep my grades up. Not because my father demanded it or anything, but because I held myself to a high standard.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“To say the least.”
We sit here for a few more minutes in silence before the click of a keycard sounds from the hotel room door and soon, light from the hallway fills the front room of the suite.
“I think they are asleep,” I hear Tobias whisper.
I shake my head and gently sit up, taking Kaitlyn with me. “No,” I call out. “Not asleep.”
Kaitlyn is on her feet and the robe she’d been using as a blanket is tossed onto the cushions next to me. She is running her hands through her hair and straightening her clothes. Even though we didn’t do anything sexual in the least, she does appear rather… ruffled. I’m not blind enough to be immune to how attractive it is on her.
Katarina holds out her hand as Tobias pulls twenty American out of his pocket and slides it into her palm. “What is that all about?” I ask.
“We had a bet whether or not we’d find you…well, in certain circumstances if we barged in. Let’s just say your friend here had to pay up big time.” Katarina smiles before she’s wrapped up in my friend’s arms, as they have no shame about snogging right in front of us.
“Hello? Can you save the show for the privacy of your own room?” I ask.
Kaitlyn gives me a little slug against the stomach. She leans up and whispers in my ear. “A little hypocritical, don’t you think?”
I sneak in a little wink before I continue, “Would you like us to drive you home or at least hire a driver at the concierge?”
“A driver would be nice,” Kat muses.
“Consider it done.” I waltz over and pick up the small desk phone and ask for a driver to meet our guests down in the lobby in five minutes. “Would you like us to walk you down?”
“Nope,” Katarina says, popping her “p” like bubble gum. “I have a lot to talk about with my dear friend here, and we need to start the moment we walk out the door, right, Kait?” She slips her arm through Kaitlyn’s.
“She’s right. I have to have my ears ready to hear all about Tobias and his escapades. Sorry.” She shrugs. “There are no secrets between girlfriends.”
“I figured as much,” Tobias says as he gives Katarina another kiss on the lips. “That’s why I gave my best work.”
I don’t think I could hide my eye roll, even if I tried. Kaitlyn wraps her hand around my forearm as she balances back into those lovely heels of hers. Leaning into her ear, I whisper, “Will you be warm enough?”
She turns back with a smile. “I should be.”
“Katarina. It was a pleasure. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to know you better the night before instead of the morning after.”
She laughs. “We shall see. However, I make no promises. Thank you for an amazing night and for lending me your mate.”
“Well, you did lend me yours, so I should be thanking you.” I turn my attention back to Kaitlyn. “I’ll ring you this evening?”
“I’ll be home.”
In what feels to be a perfect conclusion to this chapter, I place a soft kiss on her temple. “Maybe I’ll stop over instead.”
I linger back in the middle of the room as Tobias escorts them to the door. A feeling of unexpected listlessness lingers around me now that she’s leaving. The minute the door latches with the girls on the other side, Tobias whirls around with a look of shock mixed with confusion on his face. “What the fuck was that, mate?”
“I could ask you the same question, but first…” I brush past him and into the small kitchenette area of the suite and add water to an electric tea kettle before turning it on.
“Thank fuck this place has a kettle and doesn’t expect us to use the microwave like the Americans,” Tobias says, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. “And don’t think I’m giving up just because you’re wooing me with fresh tea.”
“I know you, remember? You never give up or shut up. I know what I’m up against. I just need this first because this is going to be a very long conversation.”
“I am a gentleman, but you’ll need a splash of something stronger and a cigar if I gave you every detail.”
“Remember the shut up part? Fuck sake. My only hope is you’re both on the same page and it won’t affect Kaitlyn.”
“Well. Well. Well. It seems you’ve taken a real interest in something that doesn’t involve money or the making of it. Maybe you should be the one to kiss and tell.”
“We did not kiss so there’s nothing to tell. Good God…we sound like a bunch of hens.”
“Wait. So you’re telling me you didn’t have sex, you didn’t even kiss, and you were alone with that blond beauty all night?! Are you feeling well, Griff, because that is the least like you thing I’ve seen in years.”
“The truth is much more salacious than a romp in the sheets.”
“Now, this I have to hear.”
When the kettle sounds, I pour two very large mugs full and add the tea bags. Within a few silent minutes, we’re seated across from one another at the very desk where Kaitlyn and I hammered out some of the details of this very bizarre and unconventional arrangement. I’ve felt like my friend’s eyes have been boring holes in me the entire time since the girls left. Will he exhale or is this opening Pandora’s box?
“Before I say anything else, it should go without saying this conversation stays in this room. No one else knows. In fact, if you weren’t my best friend, I’d be pulling out an NDA.”
“Calm down, Jesus. I’ve kept your secrets…each and every one. I don’t think I’d be selling you out to the rags. Get on with it.”
I laugh. “Someone’s beat you to the punch. Pictures of our evening out have already made it back across the ocean, in record time, I might add. Within an hour of you retreating to your chamber with Katarina, I was fielding a phone call from my father referring to Kaitlyn basically as my prostitute du jour.”
“What? Your father is a class A fucker, but even that is a new low. What did you say to him?”
“That’s where it becomes a little complicated.” I grip the back of my neck and sigh. “I told him he better watch how he speaks of her, because she’s my girlfriend.”
I watch as fifteen different emotions make themselves known on my best friend’s face before he finally settles on confusion. “What in the hell would possess you to do that?”
“It just came out of my mouth before I could stop it. I’m sick of listening to him constantly berating me, so I did what I had to in order to stop it.”
“I’m assuming Kaitlyn heard you? What was her reaction?”
“My back was to her when my foot swiftly hit my mouth. I didn’t see her face, but when I turned around, well, let’s suffice it to say, I don’t want to play poker with that woman. I fear I'll fall for her bluff every time.”
I pull my mug into my hands as I slowly begin pacing in front of the windows overlooking the city. “Kaitlyn is extraordinary. She refused to accept any apology I offered her for my bringing her into the lion’s den. She held my defense of her above the lie I told.”
“So what now? How are you going to tell Papa Shaw the truth?”
“I’m not. We’re not.”
“I don’t follow…”
“Kaitlyn and I have come to a mutually beneficial understanding and compromise. She has agreed to pose as my girlfriend for all intents and purposes, temporarily, until I’m able to square away my father and all of his baggage. Once the paperwork is signed and the company is securely under my control, we’ll ‘break it off.’” I sign air quotes with my words.
“Mate, I fear, for the first time in my entire life, you’ve rendered me speechless. This is… certifiable.”
“I thought you said you were speechless.”
He’s right, though. This is certifiably insane. On what planet is this a good idea?
“I am speechless. I speak fluent bullshit, innuendo, and generally enjoy taking the piss out of you. All I’m left with is a mind full of questions I don’t know if you’ll answer.”
“You might as well try me. I’m out on this branch. Go ahead and break it.”
“All right. Pose as your girlfriend, you say. What does that mean exactly? I can think of several scenarios and the woman I met wouldn’t just…”
Tobias waives his hands in front of him, wanting me to lead where I know he wants to go. “There are several intimate details to be worked out, but I refuse to have her on those terms. I wouldn’t want her on those terms. She’s too…pure for that.”
“And this was her idea? She does seem the type that wants to fix things, being a lawyer and all.”
“Almost entirely. She listened to my side of things, twisted her hair up into this adorably sexy thing with a pen, and got to work. She read over my contract with my father, marked all over it, and this scenario was what came of it. Am I aware that this could be messy? Absolutely, and that’s what gives me pause. On the other hand, am I willing to enjoy having her on my arm and by my side for all the world to see? Yes, that’s true too.”
“Then what’s the problem?” he asks.
“Like I just said, this could be messy, and part of me is concerned with the fact she may feel like an escort,” I admit.
“Are you paying her for sex?”
“Never. I don’t pay for sex, and I’d never assume or pressure her into that.”
“Then I don’t see an issue here. You met a woman, told her your situation, she came up with a solution she is willing to contribute to, and she’s comfortable with it. The biggest concern of mine would be your old man finding out.”
I wave him off. “That won’t happen, but if it does, it’ll be too late. I’ll have controlling stake in Orion, and there won’t be anything he can do about it.”
I just hope it’s as easy as I am making it sound.