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“Please.” I march to my bedroom and peel off my robe, throw it onto the bed, and march to my dresser for pajamas. I feel like stomping.
He comes to a stop behind me in the doorway. “What did I do?” he demands.
Catching his reflection in the mirror over the dresser, I scowl. “You brought him down here because you knew you would catch us like that, and you wanted to get in the way.”
“Get the hell out of here,” he says, and he even laughs a little. “You think I’m a child? That was not my intention, not at all.”
“Why did you bring him down here, then?” After pulling on a shirt and shorts, I spin on my heel and glare at him. “Because it sure as hell seemed a lot like you were bringing daddy down here to tattle on us.” Grabbing for my hairbrush, I drag it through my hair while grinding my molars. The fucking nerve of both of them.
“Would you relax?”
I hold the brush in the air, and my eyes narrow as I turn to face him. He’s lucky I don’t throw it at him. “Has nobody ever told you to never, ever tell a woman to relax? Like, in no circumstances whatsoever?”
“You’re right. You’re right.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before continuing. “I brought him down here to talk. I wanted him to try to work things out with you. I wanted him to listen to you, finally. That’s all. No ulterior motive.”
“Do me a favor?” I plop down on the bed, groaning as I continue brushing. “Don’t do me any favors. I can handle this myself.”
“You’ve been doing a great job so far.”
Throwing the brush is starting to look better and better. “Did I ask for sarcasm? I don’t think I did.” The fact is, I’m exhausted, in pain, and a little embarrassed. I mean, my brother walked in on me grinding in Dallas’s lap. That’s a little embarrassing. Especially when he already thinks so little of me.
“It’ll be fine. He’ll get over it.” He slowly crosses the room and sits beside me on the bed. As annoyed as I still am, I appreciate his nearness.
“Have you ever met my brother?” I ask with a snort, setting the brush down. “He’s hell-bent on being miserable and bitchy. He’s not about to listen to reason, so it would’ve been a waste of time to talk to him now, anyway. He won’t believe anything but what he wants to believe.” And I could strangle him for it. Mason has no idea the position he puts me in every time he acts like an asshole.
“I was only trying to help.” Griffin finds my hand on the bed and closes his fingers around it. It’s incredible how comforting his touch is. It’s like he has the key to loosening tension I didn’t even know was there. The tightness dissolves from my neck and shoulders like magic.
“I know,” I murmur, because I do.
“I would never do anything that would hurt you. I need you to understand that. Even when we were tracking you down, I only wanted to make sure you were safe.”
The sincerity in his voice loosens me up some more, and now my insides feel warmer, too. I can’t stay mad when it comes to him. “I understand that.”
“And I’m here for whatever you need. I mean, whatever you need.” I look his way from the corner of my eye and see he’s smirking. “Sorry. I had to.”
I would tell him off, but a yawn gets in the way.
“I’m pretty tired, too,” he says. “Fucking beat, actually.”
“Since you’re here, and I obviously need a babysitter anyway, according to certain people, stay with me.” It’s not a question. It’s not exactly a demand, either. I don’t have to demand. He’ll give me what I want because he wants to stay.
It’s not the same as having both of them with me, but crawling into bed with Griffin once he’s stripped down to his boxer briefs and looking sexy as hell isn’t exactly anything to be sad about. My body fits against his, my head on his shoulder, his arms around me. I belong here, in his arms.
“You know,” he murmurs in the darkness, “if that had been me out there instead of Dallas, Mason would’ve given me the same treatment. He’s not going to approve of either of us being with you.”
“Ask me if I care,” I mutters. Already sleep is catching up to me, even with my wrist throbbing with every heartbeat. It’s easy to ignore it when I feel so good otherwise.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking about us while I was away,” Griffin continues. I’m too sleepy to ask what he means. All at once, nothing matters more in the whole world than closing my eyes and drifting away.
