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She turned back to me. “What do you think, Griffin?”
“Let’s get it.”
She smiled as she returned to me, her hands crawling up my chest. “You love it, then?”
“Why do you think I showed it to you?” It didn’t matter where we lived. All I wanted was something safe, a fortress where I could keep her and the kids hidden away.
“I love that it’s old. It has so much history, so much character. I love my parents’ place, but it seems modern compared to this.”
“It’s a historical landmark, so I’m not sure if getting a pool is possible.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “My parents will love having us over every summer.”
I imagined they would have us over every season of the year. “Then let’s do it.”
She jumped into my chest and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Our home.”
I held her against me easily, her body lighter than air. “Yes. Our home.”
I hadn’t returned to the winery since we’d come back from Morocco. I wanted Vanessa in my line of sight at all times. Now that I had her back, it was impossible for me to let her go. Now that someone had laid a hand on her, I couldn’t let her slip through my fingers again. I accompanied her to the gallery every single day. Instead of being helpful by assisting her customers or handling the shipments, I just watched her the entire time. Sometimes my gaze turned to the windows to see if anything suspicious was out there waiting for us—but there never was.
A couple left the gallery, leaving the two of us alone together. Vanessa walked up to me, wearing a blue dress that made the swell of her tits look incredible. Her hair was curled, and her gold hoop earrings hung from her lobes. With sun-kissed olive skin, she was gorgeous, even when she wore the angry expression she did now.
I gave her the same look I always gave her—like I might rip off her clothes and bend her over the desk.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s time for you to go back to work.”
I’d agreed to take over the winery for her father, but that was twenty minutes away. It would be impossible for me to protect her when there was distance between us. I didn’t care about the commitment I’d made to her father, not when I had a more important commitment to fulfill. He hadn’t asked me when I was returning, probably because he knew exactly why. I stared at her with the same seriousness, disregarding her cuteness.
“You’re chasing away my customers.”
“I’m not doing anything.” I hovered in the background like a statue.
“You’re brooding in silence like a gargoyle. It makes people uncomfortable.”
“Tell them I’m security.”
“Why would a gallery need security?”
Because men broke in and took my woman just a week ago. I held her gaze without rising from the chair, being difficult on purpose. “If they don’t like it, they can leave.”
“And they are leaving,” she hissed. “I need to sell this stuff, Griffin.”
“We have plenty of money.”
“That’s not the point, and you know it.” She walked over to me, her gold sandals slapping against the floor as she walked. “It’s time for you to go back to work with my father.”
I shook my head slightly. “This is where I belong.”
“You’re really going to sit there and watch every little thing I do?”
“I’m not watching you.” I watched everything around her, from the way customers interacted with her to the way the men stared at her as they walked past the windows.
“Griffin, this is unnecessary.”
I didn’t want to argue with her, not after what we’d been through. All I wanted to do was cherish her, live our lives in peaceful bliss. “I will decide what’s necessary. Go back to work and ignore me.”
“Excuse me?” Her hand moved to her hip as she shifted her weight. “You’ll decide what’s necessary? This is a partnership. We’re a team. We decide things together.”
“Yes.” I’d always believed Vanessa was a capable woman who could handle herself. But then my whole world crashed down around me and scared the shit out of me. “But it’s my job to protect you. I’m not letting anyone take you away from me…ever again.” I didn’t want to sit in the gallery all day when I could be lifting weights or doing something more productive, but Vanessa was my responsibility.
Her eyes softened slightly, but she still seemed angry. “I get that, but the threat has passed. It’s over.”
It was over, but I was still afraid. “I’m not ready.”
“Not ready to what?”
“Walk away. I can’t be twenty minutes away from you.”
“Griffin.” She stepped closer to me until she sat across my thighs. Her arm hooked around my neck, and she looked into my face, her feet dangling above the floor because she was too petite. “I understand you’re scared. I was scared too. But we have to move on with our lives. If we keep living like this…they win.” Her hand cupped my cheek, and the second she caressed me like she loved me, I turned soft. “My art is what I’m most passionate about. I need to paint, and every time I sell a piece, it gives me this amazing joy. My artwork is going to hang in someone’s home…it’s such an honor. I can’t stop doing that because I’m scared.”
