Steph backed away from the pair and stood by Dave’s side, who promptly wrapped his arm around her.
Christina and Griff stared each other down. People started coming out of the restaurant, probably wondering where Griff had gone after promising more music.
“Oh, look,” Christina said with a big smile. “Your favorite. We have an audience.”
Then she threw her arms around Griff’s neck and kissed him for all she was worth. Steph turned to Dave for his reaction to this strange turn of events when he shocked the hell out of her by gripping her hair in one hand as his mouth crashed down over hers. His other arm wrapped around her waist, pressing her flush against his body. The kiss was hard, raw, and unbelievably erotic as his tongue thrust inside. She could do nothing but cling to him as he ravaged her mouth, lost in the unexpected feverish kiss.
~ ~ ~
Griff staggered back as Christina finally let him up for air.
“Told you,” Christina said to Griff with a smirk. She inclined her head to where Dave was still kissing Steph like a sex-starved man. He probably was. Griff couldn’t imagine a guy like Dave saw a lot of action. So why did he have to go after the one woman Griff couldn’t let go?
Griff set the crazy woman away from him. He scanned the crowd and quickly found Mandy in her usual hoodie.
He headed in her direction when Christina pulled on his arm. “What?” he snapped.
She gave him a withering look. The woman had balls, he’d give her that much. Most women were all smiles and soft words around him.
She leaned up on tiptoe to whisper in his ear and, in that terrifying moment between when her mouth reached his ear and when she finally spoke, he thought she might just bite his ear off.
“If you touch a hair on Dave’s head,” she whispered, “I will castrate you.”
He straightened, relieved to still have his ear. “Message received.”
Mandy was taking pictures of him and this lunatic now. He had to stop her. He was about to leave when Christina pulled on his arm again.
He turned back to her. “I get it!”
She smiled up at him under her lashes and pressed a card into his hand. “Call me if you ever want to be with a real woman. Ya know, instead of a plastic doll.”
He pointed at her. “You’re crazy.”
“Only when called upon,” she said with a wink.
She didn’t leave, just stood there studying him, making him feel uncomfortable. He turned away. “Mandy, wait up!”
Mandy was moving at a pretty good pace down the sidewalk, heading toward her rental car. That was not good. She usually would talk to him. He broke into a run and caught up with her at her car.
“You can’t use those pictures,” he said. “Please. It looks really bad for me to be kissing one woman in front of my wife, let alone me watching my wife kiss another man.”
“It doesn’t matter what I do, Griff,” she said in her throaty smoker’s voice. She pushed the hood off her head. She’d dyed her hair. Griff stared. Her blond hair was now dark brown and straightened. And long. It looked a lot like Steph’s hair, actually.
“Did you get a wig?” he couldn’t help but ask. He didn’t remember her hair being that long.
“A lot of people got those shots and video,” she huffed. “That stuff’s already online now. My contribution only means I get to keep my job.”
“I’ll get you better shots soon,” he said. “I promise. You gotta help me out. Gotta make me look good. I need this.”
She unlocked her car and slid in, powering down the window. “I go where you go, but you have to put in a little effort. The camera doesn’t lie.”
“I know, I know. I will. Promise.”
Mandy gave him a small smile, one corner of her mouth quirking up. “Don’t worry about her, Griff. I still love you.”
He gave her his slow, sexy smile in appreciation of her always having his back. He’d never slept with her because that usually ended badly, and he couldn’t afford to have Mandy mad at him. She could do some serious damage to him in the press.
“Thanks, Mandy, you’re the best.”
“Remember that,” she said before she drove away.