Beyond the Team (Out of Reach 4)

“We’ll be on our best behavior,” Drew assures me.

Somehow, I feel like he’s pulling my chain, but I tug my phone out of my pocket anyway. I scroll to Griffin’s contact and hit call as I walk into my bedroom and close the door.

“Morning, beautiful. I wanted to text that, but I didn’t want to wake you, and then Dad and I got busy preparing for tonight. How did you sleep?” he rambles.

“Morning, or afternoon, rather,” I answer. “I was up a good part of the night.”

“Me too,” he confesses.

“So you’re prepping, huh?” I can’t take him away from that. Our dinner tonight was planned first.

“We were. It’s all done until it’s time to start cooking later. What are you getting into?”

“Well, Holden and Cameron are here, and my uncle Drew. We’re going to a late lunch.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“They’re a riot. That’s for sure.”

“Sounds like you all are close.”

“We are, which is kind of why I’m calling. It was their idea, but I want you to come. Anyway, the guys suggested I see if you wanted to come to lunch with us today?”

“Do you want me there, Peyton?”

“I just said that I did.”

“If you feel pressured to ask me, I won’t do it.”

“I want you to come with us, but you have to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“They’re protective. I don’t want them to scare you off.”

“Not a chance.”

“Then I’d love for you to come to lunch with my family.” I find the words to be true as I say them. Sure, I’d like to keep him just for me, but the cat is already out of the bag, so to speak, so there’s no use in hiding that I’m into him, even if this ends when I go back home.

“Tell me when and where I need to be, and I’ll make it happen.”

“I’m not sure. How about you just head this way?”

“I’m heading out the door now. I’ll just come up to your room.”

“Okay. That works. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Let me see. Am I sure that I want to spend the rest of the day with this beautiful girl I recently met and can’t stop thinking about? Hell yes,” he says, answering his own question, making me smile.

“I’ll see you soon, Griffin.”

“Ten minutes tops.” The line goes dead, and I fall back onto my bed.

I can’t believe I just did that. Yesterday, I was freaking out about him meeting Cameron and Holden, and now I’m inviting him to do so, and Uncle Drew is here. I’m not naïve enough to think Drew’s not going to call my dad and fill him in. Those two are thick as thieves. I just set myself up for an interrogation when I get home. Possibly sooner. I did it willingly, all just to spend more time with him.

Knowing that if I don’t get out there and fill them in, the four of them will come to me, I climb to my feet, slide my phone back in my pocket, and head back to the living area.

“Well?” Parker asks.

“He’s on his way.”

“All right.” Holden rubs his hands together.

“I swear on everything holy, if you embarrass him or me, I’m never babysitting for you,” I warn him.

“You might want to hold back,” Cameron tells him. “She’s helped us out more times than I can count with Jett.”

“You wouldn’t do that. You’d be depriving yourself of niece and nephew time,” Holden counters.

“That’s how important this is to me,” I admit.

“I’ll have his ass running sprints if he does,” Drew speaks up.

“Damn,” Holden mutters. “Fine. I’ll be good. As long as he’s good to you, that is.”

“I can live with that.” Griffin is good to me. Opening doors and leading me into rooms good to me. I can’t imagine my family will have an issue with any of that.

“So, where are we headed?” Drew asks.

“A restaurant not far from here. Some of the guys were talking about it. They went last week and said the food was out of this world,” Cameron tells him as there’s a knock on the door.

The sound seems to drown out all other noise in the room. Maybe that’s because it does. Everyone goes quiet and looks at me expectantly. “I’ll get it,” I mutter, making my way to the door. I pull it open to see Griffin’s smiling face. He looks good. He’s wearing khaki shorts, a polo, and boat shoes. His shaggy brown hair is slicked back, making his brown eyes sparkle.

“Hey, beautiful,” he whispers, but from the “Aw” I hear come from my sister behind me, I know they heard him.

“Come on in,” I say, stepping back. “I hope you’re ready for this.”

“You’re here. Of course I am.” He winks, and my heart flutters in my chest.

Closing the door, I move to stand next to him. “Guys, this is Griffin. Griffin, you met all but Uncle Drew yesterday, but I’ll go through introductions again just in case.”