Chapter 38
Griffin
We closed the bakery for the afternoon, and the sheriff has been here for the better part of an hour, talking to Savannah and taking a statement from Melissa while Tommy and I stand guard, ready to intervene at a moment's notice.
I’m trying to keep my anger at bay. Trying to be supportive, helpful.
Letting her lead, telling me what she needs.
But fuck it. While she spoke to the sheriff, Tommy and I went upstairs, and I called my security team again.
The same guys I had standing guard in the hospital.
They’ll be here by morning and will protect her and this bakery so fucking tight, no one will get to her.
“Well, I think that’s all I need. But like I said, if you don’t want to press charges, there’s not a lot I can do.
I’ll make a report to have on file. But there’s nothing stopping them from turning back up tomorrow,” Tony, the local sheriff, says, and I clench my jaw.
I’ll fucking stop them. That’s what will.
“Let me walk you out.” I pass Tommy over to his mom and walk the sheriff out the front of the bakery as Savannah blows out a breath and Melissa potters around. I’m grateful for her. Not sure what would’ve happened had she not been here.
“There’ll be three new people in town by morning,” I tell him. Not asking for permission.
“Private security?” He raises his eyebrow at me but doesn’t seem surprised. I nod.
“Thought as much. Tanner and his friends always take things into their own hands; not sure why I thought this would be any different.” He puts on his hat and walks out the door, clearly trying to manage his town with a group of billionaires who don’t give a fuck about his rules.
I turn and see both the women standing, talking in hushed tones, and Tommy snuggles into Savannah, clearly tired. It’s been a big afternoon.
“Melissa. Would you mind taking Tommy up to the apartment for a while?”
Melissa nods, and Savannah looks at me.
“Why?”
I get it. She’s protective, too. But she needs to breathe. She needs to have a small moment.
“Oh, I can take him for a little while. Give you guys a chance to talk. He’s all fed, so he’ll be happy for a bit.” Melissa smiles, and Savannah mimics her, passing him over and watching her hold her son.
“Just bring him back down as soon as he starts fussing,” Savannah tells her.
“No worries. I’ll be back down if he starts to cry.” She slowly walks up the stairs, and silence falls across the bakery as the small apartment door closes behind her.
“Talk to me.” Moving closer, my hands cup her face, forcing her to look at me. Needing to touch her. Needing her in my arms.
“I feel… hopeless…” She swallows as a small tear trails down. I wipe it away with my thumb, caressing her cheeks.
“Why?” My chest tightens at seeing her so upset.
“Because if Melissa wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have been able to protect him.” Her words are mere whispers as another tear falls. It’s a feeling I know too well. She had a huge scare today. I’m sure her shock and adrenaline are still running through her body.
“I’ve organized some security. Three men will be here tomorrow.”
She shakes her head immediately.
“No. I can’t. It’s a family-friendly bakery.
I can't have suited security standing around here like it’s a nightclub or something.
It would ruin the entire feeling I'm trying hard to evoke.” Still thinking of the business.
Of building something. Trying to prove to everyone around her that she can do it.
Of course she can. She’s amazing. But she needs to know she can rely on me now. That there are people who can help her.
“I’ll place them down the street. Have one sit out the back. One up in the apartment. They can be discreet.”
She swallows, still looking uneasy, and I cup her jaw as she slowly nods in agreement.
“I was so scared they were going to take him, you know?” Her eyes are glassy as she looks up at me pleadingly.
“Yeah, sweetness, I do know.”
Understanding washes across her face. My brother and mother were both taken from me, and I never saw them again. I know firsthand the pain she’s feeling.
“How can they think it’s okay to walk in here and kidnap my baby?” Her brow wrinkles, and I rub her cheek with my thumb again, trying to soothe her.
“I suspect that they’re not really thinking at all.” It’s the truth. No person in their right mind would try anything like that. They are entitled, probably borderline mentally unstable, but I don’t say it.
She takes a deep breath and blows it out, her shoulders relaxing with the movement. I drop my hands, lowering them to her waist. She’s beautiful today, as always.
“Thank you,” she whispers, her arms looping around my neck.
“What for?”
“For being here. For taking such good care of me and of Tommy.”
“Always.” I nod. Certain of it.
“Always?” Her facial features lighten, her frown now almost completely gone.
“Yeah, sweetness. Don’t really know how we came to be. Hell, I think we’re both still trying to work it all out. I certainly never thought I would ever commit to someone. Now here I am, with not only a beautiful woman, but a beautiful baby at home too.”
“You’re a lucky guy…” She’s being sarcastic, but her words are true.
“Never thought I was until I met you.”
“Don’t go getting all soppy on me, Griffin,” she teases, her smile widening, and I love to see it so much, I keep talking.
“You calling love soppy?”
She stills, her mouth opening a little in shock.
“Because that’s what this is, sweetness.”
“You love me?” She says it like it’s the most unbelievable thing. Like no one could possibly love her.
“I do. I’m not worthy of it. Not worthy of you.
It’s foreign to me. I haven’t been close to anyone in a long time.
You know that. But hell, sweetness, I’d scorch the earth and everyone on it for you.
” I try not to get choked up, and I swallow hard.
Fuck, I’m turning into a vulnerable asshole lately.
She looks at me, wide eyes blinking, like she’s digesting everything I said.
“You… love me?” she says again, and if she needs to hear it a hundred times, I will tell her a hundred more.
“Yes, I love you, Savannah. More than I ever thought I could.”
“I love you, too. I love you so much it scares me.”
When those words pass her lips, I nearly crumple at her feet.
I haven’t heard those words in a long time.
Not in the way she’s saying them. Like she knows it right down to her bones.
I pull in a breath, trying to steady myself.
I’m in territory I haven’t even been in before.
There's responsibility now. There’s commitment.
There’s love. And I want it. I want it all with her.
“Scares the hell out of me too, sweetness. And I promise to always look after you and Tommy. I promise to protect you, love you, be there for Tommy when he needs me…”
Her smile widens as my arms close around the small of her back. She leans away just enough to look at me, her fingers brushing the stubble along my jaw like she’s memorizing every detail.
“What are you thinking about?” I ask her.
“I’m just thinking about our journey to get here.” Her soft laugh catches in her throat.
I huff a breath. “Not exactly a straight line.”
“More like a car crash. With detours. And a few explosions.”
I grin, and it feels strange on my face, like my muscles forgot how to do it until she came along. “Still standing, though.”
“Barely,” she teases, but her voice is thick with emotion. “But yeah. Still standing.”
She presses her forehead to my chest, and I rest my chin on her crown.
Her hair smells like sugar and something warm, like home.
We stay like that for a long moment, breathing in sync, hearts slowing.
I could stand like this forever. Have her in my arms. Our baby safe and loved.
I feel a little nervous thinking about it.
About how I can make her mine. About how I can build this little family we have started. How I want her to be my forever.
She exhales, shaky and soft. “I used to think love was something other people got. People who didn’t screw up. People who weren’t… me.”
I pull her tighter against me. “You didn’t screw up. You survived. You fought. You kept going when most people would’ve folded.”
Her eyes glisten, and she tries to blink it away. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
She lifts onto her tiptoes and presses her lips to mine. It’s gentle, reverent, like she’s afraid I’ll vanish if she moves too fast. “I don’t want to lose this,” she whispers.
“You won’t,” I say, too fast, too certain. “I plan to be here with you forever if you’ll have me?”
She is my future. She’s my everything.
She lifts her head back from my chest, eyes on mine.
“I’ll have you today, tomorrow, and forever.”
I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding, then I lean down and kiss her until we’re breathless all over again.
Cementing our words. Sealing our fate.