“Toast it is.”He padded barefoot toward the door.
“You’re a fucking asshole.”I didn’t put any real heat behind my words.
“So I’ve been told.”He chuckled as he disappeared out the doorway.
I sat there with the mug in both hands and tried to figure out what I was supposed to do with any of this.I felt like my whole life bounced from one crisis to another and I’d barely had a chance to breathe.
Had I made a bad choice by fucking Griffin?Maybe.Did I particularly care?Not in the slightest.I wasn’t too proud to admit the man had rocked my world last night.Even if I only got one night -- and I fully expected this to be a temporary hook-up -- Griffin had given me the most spectacular night of my life thus far.So I refused to regret one fucking second of our time together.
I pulled the T-shirt over my head.It hung past my hips, the cotton soft enough to suggest it had been washed a thousand times.It smelled a little like some kind of fresh laundry detergent and a whole lot like Griffin, which was probably a problem I didn’t have the bandwidth to examine yet.I needed way more coffee than this mug would hold and something other than toast to have the necessary brain power.
I walked into the main room on legs that felt new.He stood at the stove with his back to me, scrambling eggs in a pan, the bread already going gold in a small toaster oven on the counter beside him.He didn’t turn around when I came in.
“Thought I was getting toast.”
“Well, you called me an asshole.Kinda hurt.”
“Uh-huh.”I felt a smile tugging my lips, but I refused to surrender.
Griffin turned to look at me.“You sayin’ my feelings didn’t get hurt when you called me a mean name?”
Without hesitation I replied, “I’d bet my life.”
Griffin gave me a pitiful look.“I’m really hurt.”He put his hand over his heart.“It hurts right here.”He thumped his chest lightly.“Right here where Jesus lives.”
I snorted coffee out my nose.Griffin burst out laughing but still handed me a kitchen towel.I took it gratefully and wiped my face and chin.Then I quit fighting the humor.Christ, laughing felt good.My whole body seemed lighter and, even though so much ahead of me might be uncertain, in this moment I could honestly say I was completely happy.
“I can help.”
“Too late.Sit your ass down.I’m almost done.”His grin was infectious.If I hadn’t already been smiling, I would be when he tossed that boyish look my way.
I sat at the round, two-person table.He set a plate in front of me.Eggs, toast, a wedge of orange.The orange surprised me more than anything else.
“Pippa and Gunnar brought up some stuff earlier,” he said.“Eat.”
The eggs were so delicious I knew I made embarrassing noises as I chewed and swallowed, thoroughly tasting each bite.The toast was buttered just enough.The more I ate, the wider his smile.Like he liked seeing me eat.
“Griffin.”
“Yeah, baby.”
“Last night.”
“Mm?”Why did men like to communicate in one-word sentences?Not even words.Just…grunts.I wanted to claw his eyes out.
OK, so not really.
I didn’t know how to finish the sentence.I picked up the orange wedge and plucked at the peel.“I don’t know whatthisis.”
He didn’t pretend not to understand.He set his fork down, leaned back in his chair, and looked at me across the small table with those steady green eyes.“Doesn’t have to be anything yet,” he said.“No reason it can’t just be breakfast.”
“I don’t…” I swallowed.“What do you want?”
Griffin’s phone trilled and for a long moment, he held my gaze.The phone stopped.He opened his mouth to speak, but the ring tone started again.
“Fuck,” Griffin muttered as he picked up the phone from the table and answered.“Yeah.”A small silence fell and Griffin’s gaze held mine.“Give us five minutes.She needs to finish her breakfast.”Another silence.“Got it.Ten minutes.”
“Everything OK?”
