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Audrey might get her shot, you know? I don’t want to fuck that up by tying her down to the same farm that’s got me pinned here.”
turns out I loved drugs more than anyone. Even myself.” Ouch. “You don’t love ’em so much as you used to. Maybe she’s still out there.” He shook his head. “I killed her brother.” “Oh.”
I went to bed wondering how to talk to Audrey. And marveling at the fact that a recovering addict and felon was my second-best employee. And that a guy who hadn’t had sex for three years just schooled me on my relationship woes.
I spent every Friday feeling a little crazy, looking into the driver’s seat of every passing truck. But the man I was looking for never appeared.
“Princess! You back here somewhere?” My head snapped up, and I saw the most unlikely thing in the world. Griffin Shipley was standing in the doorway to the kitchen,
I took off my baggy chef’s jacket. “Don’t do that,” Griffin growled. “I’m having a French culinary fantasy right now.
“You’ve got it bad.” “Maybe I do.”
“What shall we do before dinner, hot stuff? I think there’s still enough light to butcher something.” He let out a bark of laughter and got out of the truck. “I really know how to impress the ladies, don’t I?” “Well, it was original.”
It’s Saturday. You’ll be slammed, right?” He gave a little growl and kissed my forehead. “Hopefully in more ways than one.”
“Come see my new tanks.” “I’ll bet you say that to all the girls.” “It’s my best line,”
“Did you enter the sexy cider?” “Of course I did.” He grinned.
You’re my dinner date.”
throughout the meal, Griff held my hand under the table whenever he could.
“You okay, princess?” Griff gave my knee a squeeze under the table. “Never better,” I replied. And it was the truth.
“Nice wrapping job,” I teased, but my voice came out a little shaky. Griff got me a present?
I opened the top and looked down into the box. And what I saw there made my breath catch. An Easy-Bake Oven—the old kind, like I’d had as a child.
I wrapped my arms around him. He felt so good. He was so good. Damn it. I loved this man. How ridiculously inconvenient.
I wish things were easier. Because I’d really like to have you here with me.”
I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re a good fit. I miss you. All the time.”
I’d never made love to anyone. Great sex was something I’d experienced many times. But as I methodically kissed away every one of Audrey’s defenses, it occurred to me that this was the first time I’d ever tried to show someone how I really felt about her.
My whole life I’d been told I was too blunt. Too gruff. But I’d done well enough at telling Audrey how I felt. Then she told me to shut up.
I was right where I wanted to be—on top of my girl.
Whether it was convenient or not, Audrey and I just fit. We’d always been good together. It’s just that I’d never allowed myself to imagine a future where we shared everything. A bed. A home. A name.
To think of her as mine seemed like an impossible luxury. It’s the only luxury I’ve ever been greedy for.
I stared at her hand, putting a ring on it in my head.
My kitchen wouldn’t be a battle zone. People would do good work there, because they’d want to.” I liked the way her voice sounded when she was thinking about it.
I knew she was my endgame.
“What’s it called?” She lifted her face and smiled at me. “Audrey’s.” “Clever.”
“Hey—is there cider on the menu?” “Of course. There’s an award-winning cider on the menu. From Vermont. Some grumpy farmer makes it. I forgot his name.”
“You can’t forget my name. I’ll be a regular.” She grabbed my hand off her breast and kissed it. “I’m never forgetting your name, Griff. Geez.”
And I’ve built a house, too. With awesome views of the Green Mountains and a chef’s kitchen. Just in case any chefs stop by.”
Audrey giggled, so I tickled her. Then I flipped her over and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around me immediately. This right here was my five-year plan. I didn’t know how it was going to work out yet. But I wasn’t giving up.
“I like having you in my bed.” I smiled up at him. “I like being had in your bed.”
“But I’d keep you here if I could. And I’m going to keep saying it, just in case you forget.”
You know you’ve got it bad for someone when watching him pull on his jeans makes you heartsick.
I wasn’t afraid to show Griff that I loved him. Loving him wasn’t the problem. But loving myself enough to return to Boston and make a go of my career was the hard part.
What if we didn’t get along? What if he got sick of me? People usually did.
It was hard to walk into Griff’s kitchen in the morning and look his mother in the eye. My guilty conscience would start shouting at any second, I had dirty, dirty sex with your son!
It was embarrassing how much I loved this family and how badly I wished it were mine.
We ordered venison duck confit and two appetizers and shared everything. Vermont was doing its best to woo me.
It had honestly never occurred to me that I would have had the power to hurt him.
Timing has never been our forte, Griffin.”
“But if you get discouraged…if you need a day off from trying, I’ll be here where you can find me.”
“Never expected you to run a car into the ditch beside my road,” he said. “But I’m sure glad you did. Most fun I had in a really long time.”
“My mistake. I make a lot of those, apparently.” That statement sent a chill running down my spine. I knew without any doubt that he also meant me.
“I have to go. I’m going to fix this.” I yanked my duffel bag off the floor and grabbed for the door handle. He didn’t stop me.
Griff always said he refused to do business with people he didn’t trust. Now I understood why. I didn’t want to breathe the same air as people who would do what they just did. So I sure as hell didn’t want to be the face of their restaurant.
I’m done with BPG.” “Man, Griffin, I’m sorry,” Leah said. “I don’t think Isaac will want to sell them anything now either.”
“Entry number one-forty-seven, you called it…aw.” “What?” “Audrey.”
“It sucks, what happened. But you and I will be fine.” All it took was one look at her for me to understand that some things were more important than selling two hundred fifty cases of cider.
