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And her rooster. Her gaze flicked to the silly bird sitting on her new, truly fabulous stove. Griffin had cleaned the soot off the red teakettle until it, too, gleamed as if it was new.
Everything in Nicole wanted to go to him, but first she had to make him see why she was so upset about this.
“You went around me, Griffin.”
“Yeah,” he admitted, “I did.”
“My ex used to do that, too,” she said, reaching up to stroke her son’s cheek. “He made my decisions for me because he thought I was too stupid to do it for myself.”
“That’s not what—”
She held up one hand for quiet. “Whether you meant it that way or not, that’s how it feels.”
He nodded slowly, as if finally understanding what she was thinking, feeling.
“If that’s true, then...” He paused, took a breath and added, “I’m sorry.”
Nicole smiled. “I think that’s the first time I ever heard you say that.”
One corner of his mouth quirked. “I don’t say it often.”
“Then thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Griff,” Connor said, slapping one tiny hand against Griffin’s cheek. “Wanna story now.”
Instead of answering, Griffin looked at her. One dark eyebrow lifted. “Shall we go back? Have dinner, read a story and get Connor ready for bed?”
“No bed,” the boy wailed, flinging a wild glance at his mother.
“Maybe Connor and I should just stay here tonight.”
“Kitchen’s not completely finished yet,” he said. “The crew will be in to check on grounding wires and that gas hookup for the stove tomorrow, so...”
So, Nicole thought, she could stay here and still not have a usable kitchen, or she could go back with Griffin and have one more night of the fantasy that had come to mean too much to her.
Not much of a contest.
“Okay then,” she said. “Let’s go back.”
“Hear that, buddy?” Griffin asked as he headed for the doorway. “We’re gonna go read a story.”
“And no baf,” Connor said solemnly.
Griffin was chuckling as Nicole paused on the threshold to look back at her dream kitchen. An involuntary sigh slipped from her throat. It was perfect.
And it was going to be a constant reminder of the man she had loved...and lost.
* * *
They made love that night in a room lit only by the pale light of the moon. Griffin looked into Nicole’s eyes as he took her and felt the invisible threads between them tightening. The connection he felt with her was deepening, and he wasn’t sure what the hell to do about it.
Leaving might not be enough this time, he told himself later as he lay awake and listened to Nicole’s soft, steady breathing.
He was getting too attached. Too accustomed to being with Nicole and her son. Even when this time with her was over, he knew he’d carry her memory with him, and that hadn’t been in the plan at all.
Still, leaving was his only recourse. He wouldn’t risk the pain of loving and losing again. If that made him as big a coward as Lucas had turned out to be, then he’d just have to live with it. No sane man lined up for a sharp jab to the heart, so why the hell should he set himself up?
The only thing he could do was leave. Soon, he assured himself as Nicole snuggled into him in the dark. He draped one arm around her and held her close even as his mind deliberately ignored the warning bells sounding out all around him.
Connor’s voice warbled over the baby monitor. “Mommy?”
Griffin glanced down at Nicole. She was still sleeping, so he slipped out of bed, carefully disentangling himself so he wouldn’t disturb her. Then in the dark, he walked across the hall to where Connor was awake and fretting.
The night-light threw a soft yellow light onto the ceiling, where it reflected and fell back down in a soft glow that illuminated the big bed and the tiny boy sitting up in the center of it. Connor wore blue, summer-weight, footie pajamas with baseball team logos stamped all over them. His blond hair was sticking straight up, and he clutched his alligator to his chest. His eyes widened when Griffin walked in.
“Me scared, Griff.”
“Of what, buddy?” He kept his voice low and eased down to sit on the edge of the bed.
