Chapter 9
nine
GRIFFIN
T he rest of the day crawled as the minutes inched toward closing time.
He heard Julio and Sean wrapping things up and saying their farewells before leaving him alone in the garage bay.
Judging by the sounds of the phones ringing in the office and the soft murmurs he heard, he knew Quynh would eventually come back downstairs to help in the office like she said she would.
He pretended he was too busy to notice when she showed her face downstairs again.
His body was fully aware of her every move despite his attempts to ignore her.
It made little sense to him why he seemed to hang on to her every movement.
He couldn’t deny the relief rolling through him at seeing her come back down, fresh-faced with resolve in her eyes.
Whatever happened in the time she disappeared upstairs, tail tucked between her legs and trying to escape him as if he was the plague, to when she came back downstairs must have revitalized her.
Griffin was never one for many words. He preferred silence over dull conversations, though he wished he possessed at least some skills to lean on in order to extract whatever was bothering her so he could try to fix it.
Apparently, Quynh made him want to be a fixer.
His work, where he literally fixed cars for a living, and his romantic relationships were always separate.
With Quynh, though, he had an irresistible urge to fix whatever was bothering her.
It occupied his thoughts as he finished up the last task for the evening.
He swapped cars to bring Quynh’s into the bay.
Popping the hood, he looked for any visible problems. Not seeing anything obvious, he slid underneath the car and cursed at what he saw.
The splash guard was missing, which left the underbelly of her car completely exposed.
Any number of things could cause a car to stop running, but it would take a lot longer than one hour to figure out what was wrong.
After troubleshooting common issues, he finally figured out the culprit. It was good news on one hand, but likely not the news Quynh was looking for.
Sighing, he started cleaning up. The sun set a couple of hours ago. The office was quiet. He assumed Quynh probably retreated into the apartment once the workday was over .
He shut the garage bay doors and locked the front door.
Running across the street to his house, Griffin started undressing in the doorway.
It was late, and he still needed to cook dinner.
He’d left the chicken to thaw in the sink, and it should be ready by now.
He normally cooked enough leftovers for lunch the next day, but tonight, he decided to share his meal with Quynh.
No doubt she had little else to eat besides the single slice of pizza she ate at lunch.
The apartment was hardly stocked with any fresh food. Only canned goods and some snacks. She could probably make it work if necessary.
He hurriedly prepped the chicken and boiled water. As the stove was warming up, he ran upstairs to change out of his sweaty clothes. He’d shower after dinner.
It didn’t take him long to prepare dinner.
He had a plate wrapped in aluminum foil and was running across the street before he knew it.
Unlocking the front door, the bell above it chimed at his entrance.
He made sure it was locked behind him before making his way to the back.
Climbing the steps two at a time, he stood on the welcome mat, suddenly unsure.
Taking a deep breath, he knocked once. The sound of her shuffling footsteps preceded the door slowly creeping open.
When she realized who was at the door, she opened it wider.
She was dressed in the same damn shirt from the other night, but underneath it, he saw a pair of shorts peeking out.
Thank god. He definitely couldn’t handle the temptation right now.
“Griffin? Is everything okay?”
He held the plate in front of him as a peace offering.
“I made too much dinner.”
“Oh! Thank you. It smells delicious.” She tentatively reached out to grab the dish from him. Their fingertips brushed, and a surge of awareness shot to the base of his spine.
“Would you like to come in?”
He really shouldn’t even entertain the idea. Besides, he still had his own dinner at his house to eat, though the thought of them both eating alone seemed silly now.
“No. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Griffin turned and left before she said another word.
He’d never been a coward before, but retreat was the only thing he could do. He couldn’t very well shove her up against the door and have his way with her.
He was in for another long, sleepless night.