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“Then what is the damn point, Nicole?” Annoyance chewed on him. He kept his voice low and even because he didn’t want to scare Connor, who was watching him through wide blue eyes. “Tell me, because from where I’m standing, I did something nice for you and I’m getting slapped by it.”
Shaking her head, she looked around the kitchen again, and when she finally turned her gaze back to Griffin, she said, “Don’t you get it? You doing all of this—” she waved one hand in the air, as if to encompass the entire room “—it’s like you’re paying me to have sex with you.”
“What?” Okay, that he hadn’t expected. Insult slammed home, and he gaped at her in astonishment.
“It’s the big payoff,” she continued. “Most men give tennis bracelets or a necklace or something—”
As she spoke, guilt and something he thought might be shame nibbled at him. That’s exactly what he did when he walked away from whichever woman he was spending time with. Usually he didn’t even bother buying the trinket himself. He simply had his assistant, Janice, pick up something at the jewelry store and send it in his name. Did those women feel like Nicole did? He wondered but had no answer.
But that wasn’t important here, was it?
“That’s insane. And insulting,” he added, before grinding his teeth again. “I don’t pay for sex.”
“Ah, well,” Nicole said, “You don’t have to, do you? Women just line up and take their turns, hoping you’ll smile down on them, is that it?”
Uncomfortable with the shift in conversation, he tried to turn it back. “Where the hell is this coming from?”
“I’m sorry, am I not being grateful enough?” she asked, bouncing Connor on her hip. The little boy didn’t look happy, and Griffin knew just how the kid felt.
Before he could think about it, he snatched Connor from Nicole and held the boy up close against his chest. Connor leaned his head on Griffin’s shoulder and sighed. “Griff play ball?”
“Soon, buddy,” he promised and ran one hand down the boy’s back in a comforting pat.
“Griff, wanna play.” The little boy gave his best begging smile and a curl of something warm settled in Griffin’s chest.
“Pretty soon, kiddo,” he said, then turned to look back at Nicole. “Now how about we just get down to it? I wanted to do something nice for you,” he started.
“I didn’t want you to—”
“Contrary to popular belief, I don’t need your permission to do a damn thing.”
“To my kitchen you do.”
“Apparently not,” he mused and leaned back against the cold granite counter. New tack, he thought. Don’t fight fury with fury. Instead, brush it off. Let her know that her anger wasn’t changing anything.
“Your cousin—”
“Is out of this. I told Lucas to do it, so your issue is with me, not him.”
“Oh,” she said with a grimace, “trust me, I know who I have issues with.”
“Good, then let’s get this settled now.” He moved in closer and she didn’t budge an inch. “I set fire to the kitchen. It’s my job to see it fixed.”
“The way I can afford it.”
“Fixed. Why the hell are you fighting me on this?”
“Because I take care of myself, Griffin.”
“Who’s arguing?” he demanded and jiggled Connor when the boy made a sound of distress. “You’re the most self-sufficient person I’ve ever known. I respect that. Hell, you’re smart and funny and capable and—”
“Your accountant?”
He stopped, took a breath and blew it out again. That phone call from Brittany kept biting him in the ass. He hadn’t meant to insult Nicole; he just hadn’t wanted to talk to Brittany any longer than he absolutely had to. And now that he thought about it, he’d given Brittany a diamond necklace. Damn.
“You’re more than that to me,” he finally said.
“Really, what am I then?”
There was that question again, he thought wildly. And he still didn’t have a complete answer. All he knew was, Nicole had touched him on levels he hadn’t even been aware of having before her. Levels he wasn’t entirely comfortable acknowledging even to himself.
