Downpour (The Griffith Brothers, #2)

by Maggie C. Gates

any time soon. I didn’t pack a white dress and I’m not driving us...

“Don’t play this fucking game with me. I thought you were better tha...

“The thing people do where they pretend like I’m not paraplegic. I am. That’s not changing. The game where people pretend like it doesn’t affect everything. I can’t drive you on dates. I can’t walk beside you and hold your hand. I can’t dance with you at a wedding. I can’t be the one to take you to the hospital when you’re in labor...

take on a dependent when you should have a partner. I’m not going to be selfish, no matt...

“Did you just say you love me?”

“Really? That’s what you got from all of that?”

“Yes or no.” “It doesn’t matter.” “It matters to me. Isn’t that something people promise to each other? For better or ...

“They promise those things before the...

a frivolous insurance policy that doesn’t apply to pre-ex...

You’re

forgetting that you don’t need me. Remember?” His eyes were soft and glassy. “I think I was wrong.”

“Besides, you in those shorts? No way in hell I’m letting you walk in there alone.”

“Sounds like you’re staking your claim.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Still pulling buckle bunnies, I see…”

“Oh my god. You’re the sweetest. Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment, honey.”

“Because it sounded like you think I’m hotter than you are. So, yeah. If being hot and getting laid by a bull rider who fucks like a god makes me a buckle bunny, then give me a belt and some rabbit ears, sweetie.”

“You are something else,”

“No one touches my man.” It had been a while since I’d fallen. But this time, I didn’t mind. My gait and stability were no match for Brooke. Because just like that, I fell.

“You enjoy putting on a show, don’t you?” I nodded. “I want you to see me.”

“You’re pure sunshine. There’s no way I could miss you.”

I wanted his gaze. I wanted his approval. I wanted him. All of him.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing your ass in those chaps…”

“Please, daddy,” I begged. “Fuck me hard.”

“Say that again.” “Fuck—” “No. Say all of it.”

“P-Please fuck me, daddy.”

“This is heaven, baby girl. You’re my heaven,”

I wanted to live between his arms. I wanted to be consumed by him.

Ray pressed his lips to my temple. “How was that?” Our chests stuck together, fused by sweat, adrenaline, and comfort. “Like I’d

wait lifetimes for you, if only to find you once.”

“—Yeah, riding a fucking bull with my tits out in front of my boss before we went back to a motel and fucked like rabbits,” she hissed. I grinned. “It was a pretty great night.”

Cassandra snorted. “See? She’s an animal-whispering fairy tale princess.”

I felt like a potted plant sitting on a windowsill, waiting for brief moments of sunshine to keep me going, when all I wanted was to put down roots.

“If it’s meant to be, he’ll come around. Because the alternative is him getting his way, but not having you. Sometimes being wrong feels really good.”

“Ray wasn’t too thrilled about me leaving the ranch this weekend,” I mentioned. Becks grinned. “Because he’s protective of you.” “I think you’ll be sticking around for a lot more weekends,” Cassandra said. “I’d like to stay,” I admitted as Becks maneuvered the winding dirt road. “But eventually he won’t need me. Ray doesn’t really rely on me anyway.”

This place felt like family. It felt safe. It felt like home.

“When I saw you on the ground in the arena, all I wanted was a popsicle. And you weren’t there to give it to me.” “Bree—”

Until he confirmed the reality I was avoiding. This was temporary. I was just his employee.

I couldn’t imagine a world without Ray. Without his family. Without this place. I didn’t want to.

“Brooke—“ he paused. “I don’t know your fucking middle name or I’d use it.”

“I do get to be angry. Do you understand how fucking worried I was? You can’t just walk away from me without an explanation. You don’t get to do that. Not when I care about you.”

“I absolutely get to walk away. Especially because I’m just the girl who works for the company that you hired to send help.”

“That felt great after spending the weekend thinking that I meant something to you.”

“You do mean something to me. Do you understand that? Coming out of the bathroom and finding you gone scared the shit out of me.”

“I care about you!”

“You don’t get to say that and think it’ll make everything better. Your

family knows we’ve been fooling around. You saying that I’m just ‘the help’ hu...

“But every fucking time I think I can do this, something reminds me that I can’t. Someone broke into my house. What if we had been there? What if I couldn’t protect you? You don’t think that weighs on me?” “That’s your problem,”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve told you how I feel. I can tell you that I want you just like this until I’m blue in the face, but believing it is on you.”