Chapter 16
Cricket
“I can’t hang on much longer, Savvy.” My fingers begin to slip, so I slide my back down the wall to get a better grip under the loveseat.
“We shouldn’t have done this,” she says, worry smothering her tone.
“Too late.” I take a breath to help heave it up just a bit more, but I’m failing. “Now we’re wedged here on the stairs. I just know this is how we’re going to die.”
“I love you, cuz, but this isn’t how I’m going down. Death by loveseat isn’t my destiny. I haven’t had the chance to have sex at the stadium—”
“Ew.” But I see what she means. “Or in a rowboat in the moonlight.”
“Oddly specific, but I’ll allow.” I can see her thinking when she looks up at the ceiling. When her expression reflects her excitement, she says, “I haven’t kissed my soul mate at the top of the Eiffel Tower.”
“Or at midnight at the top of the Empire State Building.” I grin despite my fingers and muscles in my arms aching. “I haven’t . . .” I close my mouth as the weight of guilt sets in.
I can see the strain of concern weaving across her sweat-glistening forehead. “You haven’t what?”
“I haven’t given my son a father.”
She anchors her leg under her end of the small couch with a heavy sigh escaping her. “You can’t beat yourself up over that. Accidents happen, Crick.”
“But what if . . .” My arms begin to shake. “What if I could right the situation?”
“You already know the answer to that.” A small smile spreads across her face. “If you can right it, then you should.”
I have no idea why I thought we could carry this beautiful, leather loveseat up a flight of stairs. I’m for sure going to be bruised from this dumb idea. “I’m about to drop it.”
A bead of sweat runs down her forehead as fear widens her pupils. “Don’t. You can’t. It will fall back on me, and I can’t hold it by myself.”
“We must let it go. It’s us or the loveseat.” My voice cracks, the last of my strength snapping with it. Just as my fingers slip off the side, the thunder of footsteps pulls my gaze past Savvy. “Griffin?”
I didn’t expect him to dive to catch the loveseat from falling and save the day, but it’s a nice touch. Lifting the center of the furniture to balance my end on a step, he asks, “No movers available?”
“It wasn’t in the budget,” I reply, still pinned to the wall by the cushioned corner of the couch.
Savvy stretches her fingers as Griffin holds the bulk of the weight in his arms. He eyes her and then me. “What’s the plan here?”
My cousin readjusts, appearing to be ready to take this battle on again. “Getting this piece of furniture up the stairs into the new office was the goal. Now I’m leaning toward the trash,” she deadpans. “It’s not worth the effort anymore.”
When Griffin is amused, he struggles to hide it.
His grin is quick and reaches his eyes, crinkling them at the sides.
This lightheartedness on display last night and today is the opposite of how I initially judged him.
“We can do this as a team.” Looking straight at me, he says, “I can lift, but I want you to guide it up.”
Savvy snorts. “Why do I feel like I’m interrupting something here?” I practically lose my footing on the staircase as mortification strikes like lightning. I want to cover my face, hide in shame, but my hands are still stuck holding this damn thing. “You know, that’s what he—”
“We get it, Sav.” I don’t dare look anywhere in the vicinity of Griffin. No way. No how. I can only imagine what he’s thinking. We’re grown adults and still cracking jokes like we’re teenagers. I mean, we do, but that’s between us, not for others to hear.
While I shoot my cousin with a thousand dagger glare, Griffin is kind enough not to add any commentary fuel to the proverbial fire.
“We should get moving,” he says. Spinning the couch a few degrees away from me, he frees me.
I take two steps up to get a hold of it to guide it from hitting the walls or railing.
With a devious grin still on her face, Savvy takes the other end.
Ready to get this over with, I take the glasses that were slipping down my nose from sweat and tuck time onto my head. “I’m good to go.”
Without much effort on either of our parts, the weight falls on Griffin, and he replies, “Two steps at a time.” Fortunately, there are only about twelve steps left since we made it around the split in the staircase.
I help guide it up and around the corner, but each time I look back, he doesn’t seem bothered and makes it look as light as a feather.
When we get into the office, his patience is one of a saint as Savvy and I discuss where we want it, though I can’t say his expression doesn’t slip a few times as the couch bears down on him.
As soon as it’s set down, he flops on the center of it. “How’d you get the other furniture up here? Don’t tell me you two did it all?”
“Ding. Ding. Ding.” Savvy taps her nose, then points at him. Sitting down on her chair, she rolls to the window and looks out.
Looking at me, he asks, “What gives? Is the winery having money issues?”
My father would blow a fuse if that was ever even hinted at in his presence, especially by Griffin, a Greene of all people.
“No money issues,” I say, acting nonchalant.
“Long story. Not worth wasting time on when we could be talking about what you’re doing here, which is much more interesting to me. ”
I sit in my chair and glide a little closer since there’s no desk to separate us.
He grins. That’s all the sign I need to make me want to roll right up on him and kiss that mouth of his. I don’t. Well, I roll over to close the gap, but the kiss is going to have to wait. “Hope you like surprises.”
“Sometimes.” His eyes are bluer in the defused sunlight drifting through the large windows, especially against the white of his T-shirt.
That tee is doing me all the favors. too.
Tight around the biceps, fitted across the shoulders enough to see the dips and hills of his muscles even when he’s sitting still.
I don’t think I realized men could be built like Aphrodite had a say in the matter.
Good lord almighty. Griffin Greene is quite the man indeed.
“This time it’s more than welcome. In the area?
” I ask as if I wasn’t just drooling when I checked him out.
I need professional help with my totally shameless behavior.
“Nowhere near it. I just wanted to see you again.”
Just as my usually dormant heart roars to life again, like it did when I was with him last night, a clearing of the throat drags our attention toward the door.
My cousin stands in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and one quirked eyebrow.
“Don’t mind me. I’m going to pop out to .
. .” She investigates the hallway and then doesn’t bother finishing the sentence.
She just walks out, shutting the door behind her.
She was always good with the subtleties.
In this case, we’re practically skywriting that we’d like to be alone, so not-so-subtle messaging that was hard to miss.
Being alone with Griffin plants a smile I don’t want to hide right on my face.
Giddiness zips through my veins. It’s been years since I’ve felt like this, and all because this guy came to see me.
I glide my chair the rest of the way, closing the gap between us until my knees bump against his. “You came all this way to see me?”
“It’s not that far, LIttle Chirp. Like twenty minutes.”
“If you’re speeding.”
The rogue grin splitting his cheeks tells me he might have been. “A few speed limits were broken, but all for a good cause.” He shrugs so casually that I honestly don’t think he’d care if he had been ticketed. “What can I say? I was looking forward to seeing you.”
I can feel the heat flooding my cheeks as he stares at me. It’s so tempting to look away, to hide my face like I should be ashamed by the pinkening. I don’t. I force my chin up and soak in his gaze because I’ve never had a man look at me as he is now, like I’m endgame material.
Overanalyzing would typically be my go-to in these types of situations, but is it so wrong just to enjoy the moment we’re sharing? I deserve nice things, and he’s proving to be a really nice thing in my life.
He spreads his legs farther apart as his boots loop with the metal base of the chair to slide me even closer. Leaning forward, he whispers, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”
I gulp. So embarrassing. I blush for different reasons now but he’s quick to caress my cheek and soothe it away, replacing it with comfort from the warmth of his hand. I take a quick breath, and whisper, “Same. I’ve been thinking about you since you dropped me off last night.”
“What do you say we do something about it? I know a little swimming hole not too far from here—”
“I can’t,” I say, starting to think whatever this is between us is more real than I first imagined.
Last night I was saying yes to anything he asked because I was right there with him.
But it’s not smart for me to act like I don’t have responsibilities when I do.
Jacob being the main one. As much as I want to toss my work aside and run off with him for a few hours, I know I can’t.
It’s not my job either. It’s the secret I’m keeping from him.
It’s time for me to face my fears and make a decision.
I’m either going to tell him or not, and I know the answer, even if I’m not ready to fully admit it yet.
“I’m sorry.” I look around as if that’s enough for him to know what I’m thinking.
“We have more to move, and it must be done today. And then later—”
“Later? I could stay and help you and make later come a lot sooner.” The gleam in his eyes makes me want to say yes to him so badly.