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“Please tell me you didn’t say that. Please.” I covered my face, shaking my head. As nice as it was to see Karen blush, being taken down a peg or two, I truly hoped he hadn’t aired our sex life to a woman in the dance class. The last thing I needed other than being viewed as the class charity case was to be the class whore.
Beck and Briggs walked over and Beck shook Griffin’s hand. I kept my eyes on the tension in his face, trying not to die from embarrassment.
“Hey, eyes up,” Griffin growled, making me turn in time to see Beck look up from my ass. I nearly giggled, but then realized Griff wasn’t teasing. He looked like he could jump Beck at any second, and I moved between them.
Beck stepped around me into Griffin’s face. “Excuse me?” Briggs grabbed for his brother and I stepped wedged between them again, putting my hands on Griffin’s chest, thanking the Gods that the girls were sliding at the other side of the park. “Get the fuck off me, Briggs. If this clown wants a fight, I’ll give him one. No one talks to me like that, friends or not.” Beck was obviously dumber than I thought because Griffin was way bigger than him.
Griffin growled and I leaned up to his ear. “Celia is here. Beck isn’t worth it. Please just stop. It’s not a big deal.”
“Don’t be a piece of shit, Beck. You know she’s mine.” Griffin glanced down at me and spun to go play with Celia, leaving a pissed off Beck and a relieved Harriet. Briggs yelled at Beck, telling him to leave, but Beck lingered around, asking for Griffin to beat his ass. Once Beck finally left, the tension eased, and Griffin still seemed off, but it was better than a fight.
We played at the park until dinner time then walked back to the cars with Griffin agreeing to let Harriet watch the girls for us one night, so we could take another stab at a real date. Harriet clapped and squealed, swearing to have it all planned out soon. The woman swore she didn’t want kids, but her reaction to babysitting made me question her.
“Come to my place for dinner.” He took my hand, jerking me into him, “I need a reminder of what’s mine.” He smirked, but I scowled.
“Don’t act like a caveman. It’s not sexy,” I lied. Griffin shrugged and opened my door. I took it to mean the conversation was over so I got into the Jeep, cursing him under my breath. He pulled out, and I followed him to his place right behind Needles.
The house looked like something from a fairy tale, not at all like the place Griffin would live. It was three stories and slate gray with white trim. The flower garden overflowed with bright pink flowers. It was like Pleasantville, but in color. Perfect lines were in the fresh-cut grass; the second story even had window boxes. We got out and I looked up at Griffin with what had to be pure confusion. He shrugged, took my hand, leading us up to the black front door, complete with a summery wreath, and pushed it open. I almost expected someone, the real homeowner to stop us, but no such luck. Celia pulled Axel in and down the stairs of the split foyer. Griffin pulled me up the wooden stairs to an open kitchen with a dining room and sitting room. It was decorated elegantly with antique furniture and oil paintings. Not prints, genuine oil paintings. It was like walking intoThe Twilight Zone, but in a good way. Textured walls ran through the house, a complimenting wooden floor was dotted with area rugs and a few family photos adorning the walls.Yeah, Twilight Zone.
A gigantic buckskin Pitbull came thundering down the hall, sliding across the hardwood floors, feet scrambling to get traction. The dog slid into Griffin’s shins and he dropped to the ground to tickle the dog’s belly. “Who’s a good boy?” Griffin crooned over the dog, rubbing his belly, “Tank’s a good boy. Tank is.”
“You have a dog?” I crossed my arms over my chest, not believing that the guy had a dog and never told his … whatever I was.
“Tank is my boy.” The dog jumped to his feet, letting me pet him before scrambling to go see the girls. “Would have made sense to tell you, huh?” I rolled my eyes and he pecked my forehead.
“Griffin?” His mother appeared from the hall and startled when she saw me there too. “I didn’t know we were having company.” Lily took my hand and squeezed it lightly.
“Cori and Axel are staying for dinner, but I’ll order out.” Griffin kissed my head leaving me to stand awkwardly in the hallway with his mother.
“I didn’t mean to intrude. We were just down at the park.” Lily started shaking her head fiercely. Griffin was already on his phone, dialing us up some food.
“You aren’t intruding. I’m so glad you’re here.” She hurried into the kitchen after Griffin, fussing for him to hang up so we could. Griffin silently asked if I was okay with cooking. I nodded. Cooking with Lily sounded like fun, especially once the girls got involved. The kitchen was as gorgeous as the rest of the house with plants in every window and tons of granite counter space. Ax and I could do some serious cooking in there.
FOURTEEN
Griffin
Iwatched from the doorway while Cori, Mom, and the girls made breakfast for dinner. I was witnessing the single best moment I had ever seen. I had died and gone to heaven, but it was an entirely different version of heaven than I had pictured a few months before. Flour covered nearly every surface in the kitchen, including noses and hair. Cori had tiny flour handprints all over her black shirt with white streaked through her hair. Axel looked more like a ghost than a little girl and Celia kept shaking clouds of powder from her curls. Mom finally made her exit, joining me at my post to watch them for a while. I draped my arm over her narrow shoulders just as Celia hopped off the counter into Cori’s arms and hung off her hip to the fridge for eggs. Cori popped Celia back on the counter, walking her through cracking eggs before planting a kiss on her forehead. Celia giggled. Axel was stirring a pitcher of lemonade, laughing when it made a tornado down to the bottom of the plastic pitcher and sloshing it on the counter.
“Celia likes her.” Mom laid her head on my chest. I nodded. It took my princess longer to talk to me than it did Cori. Celia whispered to her and Cori tugged her phone out, touched the screen a few times and music started playing. Axel squealed and started singing along while they cracked eggs, dancing. Well, it was more like convulsions than dancing, but they looked like they were having fun. It was more fun than I had ever seen my princess have. Mom went to lie down, leaving me to watch alone and simply enjoy the moment.
The four of us sat on the patio, eating pancakes, eggs, and bacon while the girls talked excitedly about playing on the swing set once they were done. They must have been more than excited about it because they shovelled food into their mouths in record time then bolted into the fenced yard. Tank laid at my side, licking up the bits of egg I “dropped” then lumbered out into the yard to tug a rope with the girls. Even when they teamed up on him, he got the rope every time. I watched Cori smile at them before gathering up the plates.
“We can clean up later.” I put my hand on hers making her drop the plate before pulling her into my lap. “Were you serious about Sophie’s party? I don’t think we should go.” I had my own reasons and they surprisingly had nothing to do with Cori’s insecurities where Karen was concerned. Watching my woman get all possessive over me was hilarious, like she needed to be defensive. She would run hard and fast if she knew how obsessed with her I was.
“I already mentally bought a present. You’re the one who told Karen we would be there.” She smirked, calling me on my bluff. “Why would you not want to go to watch all that mess unfold? Shane will undoubtedly get drunk and cause a huge mortifying scene.”
“I don’t want Celia being judged.” I swallowed, watching the girls play in the yard. I could picture the confusion on Cori’s face without even looking. “People can be cruel, Cori. Your sister made it clear the other day. I don’t want Celia treated differently because of the way I look or bringing up that her mother isn’t around. I don’t want her to have it any harder than she already does.” When I finally looked at her, she looked on the brink of tears and leaned in to kiss my scar.
“You’re a good dad, Griffin. An amazing dad. Just worrying about things means you are, but you can’t not live, or let her live because you want to protect her. She has had enough trauma for a lifetime, but look at her.” I let my gaze move to Axel putting little white flowers in Celia’s hair. “We don’t have to go, but don’t let fear hold you back. Assholes are everywhere. If she’s happy, you’re doing fine, and she is a happy little girl.” I pulled her into me, kissing her head, breathing in her smell. It was the lightest floral scent, that drove me wild.
“What did she say to make you turn on the music?”
Cori smiled. “She said her mom used to play music when they cooked, before she got sick.” A tear ran down Cori’s cheek and she swiped it away. Drug abuse was something she knew far more about than she should. The situations were eerily similar. I didn’t answer other than to kiss her cheek and slouch back with her in my lap. Celia never talked to me about her mom. I was afraid to ask. I was afraid she would curl back into her shell, but if there were good memories of Trina, I wanted Celia to have those too.
Mom took the girls in for a bath while Cori and I cleaned up the disaster of a kitchen. It was a wreck, but between the broom and a lot of elbow grease we got flour out of every crack. Cori kept apologizing for making such a mess and letting it get out of hand, but I hadn’t invited her over only for her to cook. I figured it was fair to let her mess slide. After the kitchen was cleaned up, we put on a princess movie and the girls laid out on the floor of the playroom to watch it before bed.
“You know I’m not letting you leave, right?” Cori nodded against my shoulder and I tipped her head up to put a soft kiss on her lips. I don’t think she knew exactly what I meant, but at least she knew they were staying the night. Cori snuggled back down into me, holding my hand tightly while we watched the movie. Was it possible to fall in love in a week? Waylon said he knew instantly that Dana was his. Briggs said the same about Harriet. Both of them had their share of drama and hurdles, but they were strong, united. I never had the desire for any of it until Cori. When I looked in the window to that dance class and saw her sitting alone with her back to me, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Cori took all my rules about life, about women, tearing them to shreds.
