“She knows,” I said, steepling my hands.
He waggled a finger at me. “I warned ye. You should have told her after I dropped her off at work, confirming your suspicions.”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
I lifted my palm and Griffin looked at the box one last time before giving it back.
“She paid a pretty penny for it,” he commented.
I nodded. She had. In her haste to get away from me, she hadn’t removed the adhesive price tag.
Griffin had run a background check on her at my request when I’d considered keeping her around longer than a one-time fuck. There were cunning women in this world, and one couldn’t be too careful.
Her credit was clean, her savings modest, and her pay mediocre. But he’d found nothing to indicate she was, as the Americans would call it, a gold-digging social climber.
“If you’re not serious about the lass,” he said, giving me a wink, “you should leave her be.”
I glowered at my friend. “Too late for that.”
She’d unknowingly wormed her way under my skin, becoming something I not only wanted, desired, but craved like the air I breathed.
“You’re going to be late,” he said.
I glanced at my watch. I had to get home. If there was one ritual I kept, it was making time for my son each and every day. I would not be my father, but a better one. Most days that meant dinner and getting him ready for bed. At the very least, I would read him a bedtime story on those nights when work demanded my attention.
That had been the reason I hadn’t yet explained to Bailey why I had to cut my nights short with her.
“It’s getting nasty out there,” he said before switching to a haughty English accent. “Do you require my services for the rest of the evening?”
“Shut up, you arse,” I said in jest, getting to my feet. “What plans do yer have for the night? Are yer going to the club?”
Griffin frequented the underground club Connor owned.
He shrugged. “I dinnae know.”
He followed me out of my office and down the private elevator. We parted ways at my car and he got into his own. I was grateful I’d driven the SUV when I pulled out into traffic. He’d been right. Snow was falling heavily and already accumulating.
My thoughts traveled to Bailey and how I hoped she was home safe. Or rather that she’d stayed put. Griffin had driven there to make sure she’d made it home and had called me earlier with that report.
I thought about calling to deliver flowers, but held off. It was likely anything I sent her in her current state of mind would end up as trash.
When I walked into my apartment thirty minutes later, Gabe rushed to greet me.
“Da,” he said.
He was the sunshine in the midst of the storm. There was no one I loved more than him. I bent down to scoop him up and walked into my home office to dump my bag.
“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the box I held in my other hand. “Is it mine?”
It should have been her presenting this gift.
“Yes, it’s for you.”
I set him down and gave him the box he held wide eyes on.
“It’s your car,” he said.
I nodded. “And this one is yours.”
He wrapped his little arms around my leg. I brushed a hand through his hair and angled his head so I could meet his eyes.
“It’s not me you should thank,” I began. “Remember the friend I told you that would be coming over for dinner?” He nodded. “She couldn’t make it but wanted you to have this.”
“When will she come?”
Another rule of mine was not to lie to my son if at all possible.
“I’m not sure,” I said and glanced out the window, wondering where the lass was at this very moment.
Three
“Come on,” Turner said, shattering my waking dream of the past.
I looked up, reminded I was no longer fourteen. I wasn’t that girl anymore.
Still, I waited a beat for Turner to hold out his hand to me as if we were the same conspirators of the past. That day of our first kiss, we’d practiced to the point I’d finally opened up my heart and truly let him in. It had felt as dangerous then as the glint in his eyes felt now.
But he didn’t offer his hand. I followed him, forced to accept how much things had changed outside of our route. The years lost fell away with every footfall. Home.
Just like then, we were alone. Today, school was in session, and the other members would be busy with their daily work. The place would be ours for now. Privacy we couldn’t get elsewhere without rebuke.
Although it would have been quicker to step inside my parents’ home, it wasn’t proper and could cause shame for my family. So outside in the falling snow was our only choice.