Page 100 of Out Of A Fix

I was confused until he gestured to the wingback chair where Griff was sitting with his feet up on the ottoman, eyes closed, Wink in his lap and his Switch by his side, having slipped from his hands when he nodded off.

“I’m sorry, we’ll get up,” I assured him, about to move.

He put his hand flat on my chest, pressing gently. “Wait. I have something to say to you.”

“Okay.”

“I had no idea my folks were bringing Quinn Gordon with them. We dated in high school, broke up when she left for college, and then I came here, met Caitlyn, and got married.”

I grinned at him. “I appreciate the history lesson.”

He flicked my forehead, and I did not have a free hand to rub the sting away, as there was a kid on either side, pinning my arms down. When that had happened, I had no idea. “Oww,” I growled at him under my breath, since I didn’t want to startle the kids.

“She’s recently divorced,” he went on like he hadn’t wounded me, “and moved back to Maine. Her folks went on a cruise to the Caribbean, her sister is in New Jersey with her in-laws, so she had no place to go except to see friends in Manhattan, but she really didn’t want to cross paths with her ex.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“Our circumstances are similar,” he continued, ignoring me, “since her ex left her for the woman he was having an affair with.”

I squinted up at him.

“Now you know everything I do,” he concluded.

My scoff was soft because of the kids. “She’s here to rekindle the fire with you, not because she was tagging along. Don’t be stupid.”

“Listen, last Thanksgiving was bad here, and Christmas was worse. So my parents, though well-intentioned, have put their foot in it.”

“No, they haven’t,” I muttered, feeling how wrong the words felt in my chest. “They want you to be happy, so it makes sense.”

I got another flick on the forehead.

“Once I get up, you’re a dead man,” I apprised him.

“Yeah, I’m terrified,” he said with a smirk. “But it’s your fault because you keep saying what you think you should and not what’s in your heart. Don’t be a coward. It isn’t you.”

“My heart?”

“Yes. Your heart. We both know the kids are in there, and so am I, so stop trying to give us away because you’re thinking you’re not the best thing for us.”

That shut me up, because yes, talking him out of wanting me was really stupid when it was the exact opposite of what I wanted.

“I know it’s hard waiting for me to figure out my happy, but you have to remember this is all brand-new for me, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I barely managed to get out.

“In the meantime, could you not give up?”

I nodded.

“Good boy,” he said with a grin, then bent and kissed me.

It was fast, just a quick touch of his lips to mine, but electric sparks of happiness churned through me like a wave.

“Come back,” I murmured, and I could hear the pleading in my voice.

He smiled smugly and waggled his eyebrows.

“I’ll give you a dollar.”