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“I own my business, my car, and my home. I have Celia. And I elicit a similar reaction everywhere I go.” He crossed his arms over his puffed chest, smirking. “What do you do? You look like an artist who would have a little kiosk at farmer’s markets selling handmade something.” So far, the man had used “pious” and “kiosk”. Beauty paired with brains.Nice.
“I’m a dog groomer. So, it’s like an art form, I guess.” Tall, sexy, and tatted was smart and a good conversationalist. With my luck, he was married as well, just didn’t wear a ring. Not that I was looking for a man, Axel and I were fine alone, but Griffin was the polar opposite of what I went for. He was genuinely engaging, despite the bad boy appearance. He made me forget how screwed up I was in one very easy conversation. “What do you do?”
“I am a tattoo artist.” Not my type at all, but then again, my usual type was currently in prison. “Do you know where Needles is?” I nodded slowly. Needles was two blocks from work, where Harriet got all her ink done, and sometimes cleaned after hours. Hell, everyone I knew went there. “I own it.”
It was also an award-winning tattoo shop; one people drove and even flew in to use. It had awards out the ass. Needles had been featured on several tattoo shows over the years as well as in magazines. So, the man owned an award-winning shop, was sexy as all hell, and a good conversationalist. Not like I was taking notes, but Griffin Steele was perfect, not to mention totally out of my realm of possibilities. My girls had put crazy ideas into my head about needing a man.
“I know a few of your clients.”
We slipped into conversations of tattoos and what a small world it was that I worked nearby, but I wasn’t ready to give up how nearby, so I kept it vague. He talked about his art with passion, making him even sexier. We worked and lived a few blocks away from each other, but I wasn’t ready to give up many details yet. Griffin and I talked like we’d been friends for years, covering superficial topics of work and daughters until class ended. The shuffling from the other end of the room snapped us both to attention.
He leaned in close as we both stood. “I’m very new to this parenting thing, but playdates are real, right?” I laughed, but Griffin jerked his head to our daughters holding hands walking toward the door to meet us. He donned his devilish smile again, making me need to swallow. “I hope they are, because my girl is picky about friends, but she likes your daughter.”
Before I could respond, Karen Tolley strutted over with an audience behind her and tapped his shoulder. “Hello Corrine.” I smiled, internally rolling my eyes and starting to make my retreat. “I’m Karen. Your little angel must be new.”
Griffin exchanges pleasantries as I hit the door. Karen was married to some former MMA champion and big shot realty mogul in the area. Her daughter, Sophie, went to school with Axel. She flirted relentlessly with any dick she could find, and I knew she had been caught with more than one guy who wasn’t her husband. At least Karen was attractive enough to pull off all her skanky arrogance. Once the class dismissed, I was met with my daughter flying at me, her new friend in tow.
“You rocked your class. Munchkin,” I said as Axel climbed off me and tugged me toward Celia. I promptly dropped to my knee, smiling at her. “I’m Cori.” She gave me a tiny scared smile before looking over me at her dad looming over us. Her fear seemed to vanish at the sight of him, and I understood why. If I were in those arms, I would feel safe too. Safety was not something I ever took lightly.
“Can Celia play soon? I like her.” Axel started another ascent up my body until I was balancing her on my hip. The child was part monkey.
“Sure. This is Celia’s dad, Griffin.” My spawn immediately shook Griffin’s hand like a little lady, and he promptly offered his other hand to Celia. Looking at her mocha skin against his made me wonder about her mother and his statement about being new to parenting. There had to be a hell of a story there, but I had one of my own, so no judgment from me. I was curious as hell, though. The other women collected their children, still staring at Griffin, and Karen waved at him as she left. Griffin gave her a polite nod then went back to looking down at Celia.
“Can she come to my party?” Axel grabbed my face in her hands to make me look at her, and I nodded. “Then we can play ninjas.” I couldn’t deny that Ax was my kid. Celia looked terrified but smiled at Axel. “Can we get ice cream now? I’m starving to death for it.” My little drama queen. Celia’s eyes darted to Griffin at the mention of ice cream, but she still didn’t speak.
“Uh, yeah, sure. You guys wanna come? It’s frozen yogurt across the street. Very low-key.” Celia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“Sound good, Princess?” Griffin scooped her up and started toward the door with us trailing behind him. She nodded her tiny head into his neck, whispering a yes. Axel squealed in my ear, fist pumping the air.
The dance studio was nestled in a strip with a nail salon, a shoe store, and a coffee shop parallel to the yogurt place, a Mexican restaurant, and a fabric store. What else could you possibly need? If a liquor store moved into the vacant place, it would be my favorite strip of Broadway.
We darted across the street, kids in our arms, and into The FroZone. Yogurt machines and toppings lined the lime-green. The bored looking girl behind the counter perked up at the sight of Griffin. I couldn’t blame her; I did the same thing. She tossed us a greeting, adjusting her shirt over her breasts. Axel dismounted to jerk me to the chocolate machine. Then I noticed Griffin still standing near the door looking confused and overwhelmed.
“It’s just yogurt, come on.” He shook his head with a smile, following me to the cups. I went through the process with him, showing him and Celia how to mix the toppings, then I explained the weighing process at the end. Celia pointed as Griffin read the flavors to her, not saying a word, then pointed to the sprinkles. Big, badass tattoo artist whispered softly to her, being as gentle as possible as he helped her get a spoon and they joined us at our table. Axel started talking a mile a minute as soon as Celia sat down, but Celia didn’t say a word, merely giggled, nodded.
Griffin watched them interact as closely as I was. “Have you always lived around here?” He took a bite of frozen yogurt from the bright orange spoon and I bit my cheek to not laugh at the sight. He was easily six-four and bulky as all hell eating frozen yogurt with his little girl. It was the cutest thing ever.
“Yeah, we used to live out west, then we stayed with my parents a while last year, then I got my place right after I started full-time at my job. My boss is flexible since she’s a parent, so it works out. No we’re close to the preschool, too.” He nods his head slowly, like he’s processing. “You?”
“Uh, I have, but Celia moved here a few months ago.” He paused, licking his bottom lip. “She could use a friend like Axel.” Griffin indicated I should look so I move my attention to Celia whispering in Axel’s ear. “She doesn’t do things like that.”
Like what? Talk?
It’s not my place to ask, but the urge was strong. I needed to know what the hell was with them if my kid was going to be around them.
Before I could ask, though, he answered, “It’s a long story.” He leaned across the table, dropping his voice, “Celia had a rough start, and I had no idea she existed until four months ago.” Griffin clenched his jaw at the thought. “So, we’re still working things out. I was advised to put her in an activity. Celia said she wanted to dance, so now we dance. I need her to make friends.” His eyes looked almost pleading when they caught mine, and something beyond the attraction simmering between us came to the surface. Like he was asking for my help.
Then my flipping phone rang; Joviewouldcall at that moment. “Hey, girl.” Griffin still hadn’t taken his eyes off me, but I stared at my melting yogurt with the phone to my ear. His sexiness was distracting me from the phone call, so I couldn’t look.
“I see your car, where are you?” I cocked my head to see out the window. There she was with Ruby, Norah, and George. Only Jovie would take a week off only to add another kid to her chaos, then venture out in public.
“God, let me come help you.” I tossed my phone down and darted out the door, leaving a shocked Griffin with our two girls. George ran at me and immediately tugged at my industrial piercing in my ear when I picked him up.
“What are you doing out in the wild? Did you notice that you’re outnumbered?” I glared at my boss. I knew it was because keeping the kids cooped up was worse.
“Amelia is at her dance class. Can we join you?” She looked exasperated and exhausted. I tipped my head, telling her to follow me in for some yogurt. Once Jovie made it in, she froze to look between me and Griffin. “Griff. What are you doing here and …” Jovie looked around, “Yeah, just what the hell?” I settled back down with George in my lap as she grabbed high chairs for the twins. It did look very date-like, even with the kids.
“Celia is in dance class with Axel.” I gestured toward the two little girls giggling over yogurt, oblivious to the world. I tried to eat, but finally had to let George finish my yogurt. George belonged to Jovie’s best friend, Nick, and his wife, Rae, but the twins were hers. Little George was staying at their place for a couple of nights and Jove was very overwhelmed, with good reason. She was still dealing with the business end of work plus three kids under a year and her teenaged sister-in-law who was more like a daughter.
