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“Thanks,” I say tightly.
“I thought Brecken and I were moving fast, but then I saw your wedding announcement inPage Six. To be honest, I was shocked. You’d been bombarding me with all those wedding details, the cake, the flowers, a spring wedding at the Plaza or a fall wedding at the Botanical Gardens. It was overwhelming. And then you ended up eloping.”
He chuckles and takes a long pull of his drink.
If I thought this moment was uncomfortable before, now that Alec is explaining in detail my plans for our wedding before he broke up with me, in front of his fiancée, the humiliation factor has leveled up.
And while it makes sense that exes can move on, find new love and congratulate each other on finding happiness, that’s not what is happening here. Griffin and I aren’t real. The happiness that Alec is congratulating me on isn’t real. He doesn’t know that, but I do and that makes this conversation feel like salt in an open wound.
“Everyone is entitled to change their mind, right?” I say, channeling lighthearted, determined to exit this conversation gracefully, when in reality my heart is hammering in my chest, the fruity drink I’d enjoyed so much before now turning to acid in my stomach.
“Yeah, but you were pretty insistent there at the end. You could say you were begging me to get married.”
“Alec—” Brecken tries to interject.
“Now you’re married to another guy. It’s a bit suspicious, that’s what I’m saying.”
For a moment I thought he actually cared, but now I get where he’s going with this. His ego is bruised. He was perfectly happy moving on with Brecken, but I should be alone and miserable? Walking around with sad puppy dog eyes, mourning our relationship for months, maybe even years.
I’m about to walk away, be done with this ridiculous conversation, when a strong arm encircles my waist.
“There you are.” Griffin pulls me to him and before I have a chance to react, his palm cups my jaw and he crushes his lips to mine. It’s confusing how his lips feel both familiar yet completely uncharted. I get lost in the feeling of rediscovering how Griffin tastes, the slide of his tongue against the seam of my mouth, the way he grips me to him so tight, like he’s afraid I’ll slip out of his grasp.
When he pulls back, I’m not even half done with him, but I’m forced to open my eyes and remember where we are. Who we’re standing in front of. My eyes widen, and Griffin’s lips quirk in a sexy knowing smile.
“Hi,” I tell him, still breathless.
“Hey, gorgeous. Did you get your drink?”
I nod, still trying to reconnect the pathways in my brain that Griffin’s kiss dismantled. All the work I’ve been doing all week to keep my brain from going to this place with Griffin is annihilated with one kiss.
Alert! Alert!My brain sounds the alarm.We’ve been breached.
He turns to Alec and Brecken, whose jaws are hanging slightly and extends his hand to Alec.
“Griffin Hart.”
Alec seems as dazed as I do and he wasn’t on the receiving end of Griffin’s kiss.
“Alec Mitchell,” he says, then introduces Brecken and Griffin politely shakes her hand.
Griffin smiles confidently, if not a little cocky. “And how do you know my wife?”
CHAPTER18
Griffin
“God, Alec’s face.” Emma laughs, turning on the barstool. “It was too good.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
I set a glass of water down in front of her, then turn back to flip the grilled cheese I’m making us.
After we finished our conversation with Alec and Brecken, we spent the rest of the night talking with Emma’s friends. Now, we’re back at her parents’ apartment, rustling up some late-night snacks and water to rehydrate from the cocktails we consumed.
“How do you know my wife?” She repeats my words. “If you knew anything about Alec, he hates when people don’t know who he is. So, the fact that you swooped in with such confidence and raw sex appeal, and then acted like you didn’t know he was my ex.” She laughs, the airy sound making it impossible to take my eyes off her. “It was the best line of the night.”
I set the grilled cheese on a plate, then cut it in half.
