Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“I do.”
Josh nodded, and we walked out and down the hall. As soon as we headed into the main part of the bar, he locked our index fingers together before giving me a wink and pulling away. Our friends and family had seen, though. Knox and Law looked like they were damn near falling off their chairs in surprise, but the others simply looked at us with a smile or a nod of support.
I didn’t know what it all meant, where Josh and I went from there, but I was happy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Josh
“Do you want some more coffee?” Griff poked his head around the corner from my kitchen. He was bare except for a pair of boxer briefs. It didn’t matter that it had been over a month since we’d started this thing, I still couldn’t get over the fact that Griffin Caine walked around my house naked, or nearly naked.
Or that he spent every night in my bed.
I still wasn’t sure what that was about. Not that I didn’t enjoy the fuck out of it, because I got to hold him and kiss him and come all over him, so yeah, definitely not complaining, but it surprised me that it had become automatic, Griff coming to my place every day, and that I didn’t mind. I’d had men spend the night or I stayed with them, but not on a regular basis like this.
“Hello?” He waved a hand in the air.
“Sorry. I was spacing off. Yeah, I’ll take one more cup.” I picked up my empty mug and held it out to him. Griff took it, and I went back to work on my model car. We’d woken up early this morning and done the meditating thing before breakfast, and now were lounging around.
It had been about a week since the night at Griff’s when everything had gone down. Griff had blown me two more times since then, but inside I knew that was the least of the differences. Something had changed that night, a switch had been flicked, whether I wanted to admit it or not. Whether we said it out loud or not. Denial or ignorance didn’t change the truth, and our truth was that Griffin and I were more than friends with benefits. Fuck, I wanted to be more, but how much could I give?
He came back into the room with my coffee. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I nodded toward the table. “Wanna pull up a chair and work on this with me? I know it’s not exciting, but—”
“Yeah, of course I do. I’ve never built a model car before.”
“Well, I’ve never let anyone work on them with me since Doug, so…”
Griffin was getting a chair, but he paused at that. “Shit. You don’t have to.”
Our eyes met, and I saw the sincerity in his. Griffin would never expect that, but he wanted to build it with me. He would tuck away his own desires for mine, though, because that was his way. “I know. I want to. And if you ever want something from me that I’m not giving—not even just me; from anyone—don’t settle. The last thing in the world you deserve is to settle.” I was aware I’d maybe just signed the end of our friends-with-benefits contract, but as much as that thought ripped me up inside, I didn’t take the words back. I wanted Griff to be happy. Always.
“I won’t.” He gave a simple nod, then sat beside me.
“When I was younger, I was really antsy. I always had a lot of energy. Still do sometimes. These gave me something to focus on and helped with that. I guess it’s the meticulousness of the work? That, and I love cars.” I scooted the car toward Griffin and directed him on what to do next.
“You’re not close to your family, are you?” He began to work while I took in the sight of him, of his triceps tightening, his chest rising and falling. The way his tongue traced his lip when he concentrated, which was cute as hell.
“Nah. I grew up in a small town outside Raleigh. Can’t remember if I told you that. My parents love me, but we’re not close. They weren’t into the whole parenting thing as much as they should have been. I think they only had me because it was expected—getting married and having kids—but they were more into doing their own thing. They moved to Florida not long after Doug’s accident—our parents don’t talk anymore. We talk on the phone sometimes and send holiday cards, but that’s the extent of it.” It felt good to be able to say Doug’s name. I never talked about him except when I called his mom. I’d never just told anyone about him other than Griff, and I thought maybe I needed to. As if by holding it all inside, I was doing an injustice not only to myself, but to Doug as well.