27. Griffin
Chapter 27
Griffin
Like Glue
I straightened away from the railing as she smiled at me.
This place was an obvious moneymaker. There was no doubt she could make something amazing out of this. I just had to figure out how to make myself work in her world.
She ran across the deck and flew at me. I caught her hard against my chest and pressed my nose against her hair. The familiar warm ginger scent of her only made me more resolute to figure this out with her.
“So, this is the one, huh? I can see how amazing it’s going to be?—”
“No. Not for me.” She patted my cheek then turned around and walked back toward Richard Devon.
Confused, I jammed my hands into my pockets and followed her.
“Richard, this place is amazing. I don’t think it’s me amazing, though.”
His brow furrowed and I had to admit mine were the same. What the hell?
“You could put your stamp on this,” Richard began.
She held her hand up, then she lightly touched his arm. “I think I want smaller. More intimate.” She turned toward the water. “This is made for someone who wants the endless party life.” Then she faced Richard again. “It doesn’t fit me anymore.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I think this would be an amazing investment if you found the perfect person.”
“You were that person. I’m not sure I’d trust anyone else with this undertaking.” The disappointment was evident on his face, but he held out a hand to her. “I wish you the best, though. If your heart isn’t in it, then it would never work.”
“I’m sorry, Richard. I think Daphne’s might have become something else in my heart.” She turned to me and held out a hand.
Still confused, I met the distance between us and took her hand.
Richard nodded to me. “Nice to meet you, Mr. St. James.” Then he waved and walked away from us.
I waited for him to leave, then I turned her to me. “Are you sure?”
“I can see the potential in all of this. But as I was walking through, I didn’t feel the spark. The bar was amazing, but the rest of this is just too...” She shrugged. “The only word I have is slick .”
“Well, it does have a bit of Miami Vice set to it.” I winced. “Sorry, forget I said that.”
She laughed. “I know what Miami Vice is.”
“Please don’t say the one with Jamie Foxx.”
“God, no. I mean, he and Colin Farrell are fine as hell, but they’re no Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas.”
“Damn right.” I slung my arm around her shoulders. “Thank God for streaming,” I muttered.
“We can watch it when we go home.”
“Back to the hotel?”
“No.” She pressed a hand to my chest. “Well, we can enjoy the hotel for one more night but then let’s go back to the orchard.”
“Are you sure?” I glanced around at the deck then through the doors to the massive club inside. “You’d kill in this kind of place,” I said, even as my gut said absolutely not .
“I would, but I wouldn’t be happy. This isn’t Daphne’s.”
I had to agree with her. Daphne’s felt more intimate as she said. “We’ll find the one that it should be.”
“I kind of like the sound of that.” She lightly trailed her nails through my beard. I lowered my mouth to hers. “Griffin?”
I paused before kissing her. “Yeah?”
“I’m afraid I’m falling in love with you.”
My chest tightened and I straightened. Relief and hope hit me hard. “I think it’s too late for me.”
She pressed her lips together, her gorgeous dark eyes growing shiny.
I cupped the back of her head. “It’s okay. We’ve got time to figure it out.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
I hauled her in close until I could feel her heartbeat against mine. “Want to get out of here?”
“Definitely.”
“And Lenny?”
She pushed away from me with an eye roll. “Yeah?”
“We need some real food.”
“That, I can handle.” She took my hand, and we zipped out of there and back to the convertible. “This time, I drive.”
“Have at it.” I unlocked the car, and she hurried around to the driver’s side.
“Now I’m going to show you my Miami.” She revved the engine, and we took off, the mood a ton lighter than it had been when we arrived.
And she did—at Mach 2. Lennon on the highway was a little terrifying. I held onto the oh shit handle when she zipped over to the off ramp—without looking—and then we were heading for an underpass that looked sketchy as hell.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Best Mexican in the United States.” She turned down streets that had no names, then aimed down an alleyway that made me fear for the tires on this car.
“Just don’t get us carjacked.”
“Nah. We’ll be fine.” She gave me a wicked grin. “Okay, maybe we’ll take it to go.”
“Good plan.”
It was another hole in the wall, this one, with a neon sign declaring it was Maria’s. She nipped inside before I could attempt to get out.
Less than ten minutes later, she was back out with a white bag and two Fanta sodas. She handed me the bundle, then she got in. “Let’s go eat this on the beach.”
“We’re near the beach?”
“We’re always near the beach.”
And then, we were off. We were closer to the water than I assumed, and she stopped by a line of picnic tables just off the road.
The sun glinted off the water and she was correct—they were damn good tacos. Along with an empanada that made my soul sing.
It was a helluva way to end our day.
I’d started the morning thinking I might be losing her.
It could still happen, but knowing she had feelings for me shored up the worry and allowed me to put it out of my mind.
Instead of denial, I let it steep in hope for once.
And that was better than any other plan I had right now.
When we got back to the hotel, we were too stuffed to care about anything other than a nap on the balcony under one of the umbrellas. Shower sex and then a very creative evening of checking off a few more things from her “list” wrapped our Miami trip with a bow.
I’d found a return flight for the next morning and swapped our tickets.
Since she liked the convertible so much, I tossed her the keys the next morning and only prayed for my life twice before we got to the airport. It was worth it for the smile on her face when she parked.
This time, the airline gods were kind, and we landed in New York before lunch.
By the time I saw my truck, I was so glad I could have kissed it. “Coming home with me?”
“I need to go to my place. Think you can survive a night without me?” She clicked her buckle in place.
“Not sure I can handle it.”
She laughed. “Thanks for coming with me.”
“You’re very welcome.”
It was a quiet ride to her place. I dropped her off, kissed her senseless to make sure she regretted her decision, then I headed back to the orchard.
I used the in-dash to call Kain.
“Yo.”
“You guys' home?”
“The real question should be are we naked?”
“That is the better question, yes.”
“Yes and no. You coming over? I got steaks.”
“That sounds damn good.”
“Okay.” He clicked off.
As usual, Kain wasn’t much for niceties on the phone. I should probably go home, but I wasn’t quite ready to be alone. I didn’t know if talking to my big brother would help matters, but it couldn’t hurt.
Bells might be a good one for advice, as well.
Not that either of them had been good at the whole relationship thing to start, but they were damn solid now.
I rolled up the steep drive to Kain’s place. They were still living in the show house that would become Kain’s headquarters for his east coast branch of is architecture firm while building their new place. The glass palace, a few miles away from the orchard, was damn impressive.
Bells’ tank of a car was parked beside Kain’s motorcycle. His truck was parked off along the side of the house. Once the weather was nice, he preferred to drive his Indian or Harley over a vehicle.
I parked beside the Oldsmobile and hopped out.
A whine from the brush stopped me in my tracks.
Kain opened his door. “Well, get in here.”
“Just a second.” I stepped off the driveway to the edge of his property. Another whine, more pitiful than the first, came from the bushes a few feet down.
“What’s going on?” Bells ducked under Kain’s arm, her bare feet slapping on the slate as she hurried down the walkway to me.
“I’m not sure. Do you hear that?”
We both went quiet and then I frowned. Maybe I was hearing things. Then it came again.
Her eyes widened. “Is that a dog?”
“Guess I’m going to find out.” I sat down and skidded down into the dropoff, since the tangle of brush roots didn’t do much to slow my descent. Kain had practically cut into the side of the hill to build the house.
Thorns cut into my ankles as I slid down a few more feet to an animal half hidden by the brambles that were twisted around a patch of half-dead shrubs.
“Hey, careful.” Kain followed me, anchoring himself on one of the sturdier trees.
“Hell, it is a dog,” I muttered as I got closer. It was a pit bull curled into itself, shivering. It was muddy and had terrified bloodshot toffee-colored eyes. “Hi there. Are you stuck?”
It just whimpered and curled tighter, but didn’t stop staring at me.
I skidded down a few more inches and grabbed onto the base of a bush, but it started to give way under my weight. I had to move fast. “I’m going to get you free, okay, buddy?”
I reached out, finding mud-caked fur. The thorns I’d hit on the way down were wrapped around his leg. I gently pried it free, and the dog started thrashing, which wasn’t helping my hold on the bush that was about a minute away from giving way.
I scooped him up and he—that was obvious now—immediately tried to crawl into my skin.
“I gotcha, buddy.”
He whined and tucked his big head into my neck. We were both covered in mud and some of the brambles, but they were too small to be more than annoying as I slowly crawled up.
Kain held out a hand to me. “Want me to take the dog?”
I tried to pull him free, but he whined and wouldn’t have it. “I think he’s stuck to me at this point.”
“Okay.” Kain looked up the hill. “Get a towel, would you?”
“Got it,” Bells said and disappeared.
I dug my fingers into the earth, but it was just mostly dead leaves and roots. “Okay, buddy, just relax.”
Kain reached for my hand. “I’ll get you up.”
I hauled myself up another inch, stabilizing my situation with a boot into a thick root. “You sure that tree can hold all of us?”
“She’s an old oak. We got this.”
I pushed off the root and grabbed onto Kain’s arm as he caught mine. It was slow work, but he managed to pull me up.
Bells was waiting at the top with a towel for the dog. He wouldn’t leave me, so I just laughed and took the towel. “Guess even a pretty girl isn’t enough to get him unglued from me.”
“Guess not.” Bells used one finger to pet a slice of him that wasn’t smeared with mud.
“Got a tub in that show house of yours?”
Kain grunted. “Yeah. But make sure you clean up.”
I rolled my eyes. My brother was a clean freak. “Can I borrow sweats and a shirt too?”
“First, I offer you steak, and now you want clothes, for fuck’s sake?”
He was all bark, no bite. Ignoring his bitching, I followed him down the hall to the bathroom. He opened the door, then left us to it.
The tub was big enough for both of us, thankfully. I set the dog down inside and quickly stripped down to my boxers. “Okay, okay.” I climbed in and he scrambled to climb my leg.
“Okay, Elmer. Let me get you clean first.”
“Are you decent?” Bells asked from the hallway.
“Depends on your definition.”
“Naked.”
“Not naked,” I called out.
She opened the door and got a look at me, then spun around. “Okay, close to naked.” She walked backwards and set the towels down with clothes on top. “These are old, so don’t worry about them.”
“Good to know. Me and Elmer are just gonna take a bath, aren’t we?”
“Elmer?” She laughed. “You named him already?”
“You know, like glue.”
Her laugh got bawdier. “Oh, that’s adorable. Now you officially have a dog.”
“Hell, no, I don’t. I’ll just get him all fixed up and see if we can find his owners.”
“Sure.” She snickered and left the room. “Good luck, you two.”
“I do not have a dog,” I muttered as I pulled down the handheld showerhead, crouching over him. “We’re just going to be good friends.”
Elmer swiped a huge tongue along my face and rested his block head on my arm, his eyes trusting.
“Hell,” I muttered.
The bath was a battle of wills, but I won.
Kind of.
It took three rinses to find that he was actually a pewter gray color with white patches on his chest and around one eye. He smelled like Bells, which wasn’t a bad thing, and loved getting toweled off.
Not so much on the bath part.
I wrapped him in two of the towels and set him outside the bathtub, took a quick shower, and scrubbed down the shower before I got dressed.
All the while Elmer’s big toffee eyes followed me.
I bundled him up in my arms in the towels then opened the door and found Kain. “Hey.” The dog wiggled in my arms, and I tightened my hold. “Think it still needs a mop.”
Kain grunted. “I’ll handle it.” He gave Elmer’s head a good scratch. “I hear he’s got a name.”
“Elmer.”
He took a second then snorted. “Good one.” He rubbed his thumb between Elmer’s eyes and the dog groaned out his appreciation. “I ran into town and got him some food.”
“Thanks, man.”
Kain grunted. “All good. He’s probably starving. How’s his leg?”
Elmer leaned on my chest and sighed, staring at me like I had all the answers. “Think it’s just scrapes. He’s not bleeding, though, so I think he’ll be all right.”
“So, you got yourself a dog.”
The dog whisperer woofed his approval. I sighed. “Evidently.”
Kain slapped my arm. “Dad.”
“Ugh. Fuck off.”
My brother threw back his head with a deep belly laugh. “C’mon, steaks for all. Elmer can have the bone when we’re done.”
I jostled him into the curve of my arm. “I’m not sure dogs are supposed to do that anymore.”
“Bah. Elmer can handle it.”
Elmer, in fact, could not handle it, and threw up on his rug.
But he did enjoy the bag of bougie food from the local pet store. The conversation took a backseat to the new man in my life. I made a halfhearted check on the local Facebook groups, but no one mentioned a missing pit bull.
“How was your trip?” Bells asked as she cleared the table.
Even though Elmer had just yakked up his toes, he still leaned hard on her leg, staring at the platter that once was full of steak.
“Nice try, my guy. No more table scraps for you.” She gave Kain a pointed stare.
He just shrugged and set his bottle of cider on his belly. “Dogs eat bones in Hawaii.”
Bells gave him a rub. “He probably hasn’t eaten in a while. I can see some of his ribs. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get all the food you can handle, love.”
He wiggled his little stump of a tail, and his big tongue lolled out.
“We went to Miami. I haven’t been down that way in a long time. Freaking humid, but the ocean made up for it.”
“Usually does.” Kain sipped from his bottle. “So, how far gone are you?”
I blew out a breath. “That obvious?”
“Pretty much.”
“Don’t listen to him. You were just as bad, Kain.”
“I was not.” But he smiled behind the bottle, took one long drink then set it down, and got up to help Bells.
I glanced over to find him crowding her at the sink, both of them whispering about something that would probably make my ears red. I couldn’t fault them. I was just as bad as Kain had been with Bells.
And just as fucked up when things had gone sideways. It had been my fault. Lennon wasn’t the kind of woman who could be rushed, especially when she had her own personal goals that had fuck all to do with me.
I think the worst part of that had been that I didn’t have a plan. When I’d been focused on Kain, I didn’t have to worry about the fact that I was drifting. The orchard kept me busy enough, and the people were welcoming, but since the band had crashed and burned, I’d been in a holding pattern.
Day to day.
No goals, just existing.
Seeing Lennon in her element drove that home and the idea of losing her cut deep.
Bells squeezed my shoulder. “You might have to learn a little patience. Lennon has been on her own for a long time.”
“I know. I’m trying to remember that.”
“What were you down there for? Just to get away?”
“She was looking at a property for a club.”
Bells paused with plates in her hand. “Really?”
“Yeah. It was a cool place. Right on the water. It needed a lot of cosmetic renovations, but it would be a really cool place.”
Bells sat down in her chair. “I didn’t know she was looking to do that.”
My chest tightened. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it. “It didn’t pan out.”
“Sorry to hear that. She didn’t mention it at all.”
“Are you surprised, kaimoni ?” Kain took the plates from her. “She’s a vault, unlike the rest of us.”
“You were just as secretive, once upon a time, big guy.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Until a feisty redhead schooled me.”
She grinned up at him. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Okay, gross.” I stood and cleared the rest of the table, Elmer following me into the kitchen.
Kain laughed. “We say the same when you’re mooning over Len.”
“I don’t moon over her.”
“Oh, you do.” Bells crouched down to give Elmer all the lovings, but he kept his eyes on me, even with all the attention. “But I think it’s cute.” She stood and came over to me to kiss my cheek. “And great. I like you two together.”
“If I can get her to stick around.”
“You have to make her want to. And if she doesn’t, you have to let her go. If she’s smart, she’ll come back.”
Annoyed that she was right, I took my anger out on the griddle that Kain had burned the shit out of with the onions and mushrooms on the grill.
After cleanup and goodbyes, I wrapped Elmer back up in the towels and toted him out to the truck. I set him on the bench seat next to me and texted Lennon a photo.
Meet Elmer. Evidently, I now have a dog.
Lenny:
Are you kidding me? I’m coming over.
You sure? Said you wanted your place tonight.
Lenny:
Shut up. Do I have to go to the store?
Maybe some toys. I have food.
Lenny:
On it.
Oh, and a collar and leash.
Lenny:
So, you need everything else.
My hero.
She sent me back a rude emoji and Igrinned down at Elmer, then I kissed his block head. “Just wait until you meet Mom.”
I headed home, suddenly in a much better mood.