Bare (Just This Once 2)

“I can’t wait.” I lean into his kiss. “I’ll see you then.”

Chapter 43

Piper

I’ve been thinking about what happened last night since I got out of bed this morning. I headed back over to Crispy Biscuit for breakfast since Jo had slid another envelope under my door.

The message written on this one was to the point.

Be at the diner before 9 a.m.

I showered, and dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt before I slipped on a pink sweater and my short brown boots. I was out of the door before the clock hit eight-thirty.

“You look like you’re thinking about something.” Jo refills my coffee as she clears my breakfast plate.

Today the special was two waffles with a side of bacon. I was ravenous after my night with Griffin. I ate every last bite in record time.

“It’s Griffin,” I confess as I empty a packet of sugar in the mug. “We were together last night.”

“I know.” She winks as she stirs splashes some cream into my coffee. “We passed each other in the hallway.”

“Did you talk to him?” I don’t want to seem overly nosy, but there was something off about him after we talked about my early days as an artist.

He was kind and considerate in the moments before he left my apartment, but there was a distance in his demeanor that hadn’t been there before.

“We spoke,” she says as she reaches to wipe the counter in front of me. “It was passing words about the weather, but he looked sad.”

That’s not something a woman wants to hear after a marathon fuck session with the man she’s crazy about, but it’s the confirmation that I needed to hear. “We had a great time, but something changed right before he went home.”

“Some men can’t handle the emotions that come with sex.” She leans her hip against the counter. “It’s too intense for them. My first husband cried after sex, every single time.”

Griffin wasn’t that extreme and it didn’t feel as though it was related to sex at all. “I’m not sure if that’s what it was.”

She rubs the back of her neck with her hand. “You like him a lot, don’t you?”

I nod. “He’s not my type at all, yet he’s everything I could ever want in a man.”

“I’m not going to pry and ask about what happened last week and why he bailed on you, but keep that heart of yours safe, Piper.” She taps the middle of her chest. “A man’s secrets can be hidden behind a handsome smile. When that fades, the truth will come out and it can bite you so hard you’ll never recover.”

We’re sliding back into territory that is painful for her. “Is that what happened with your ex?”

“I saw him the other day.” Her voice brightens. “He came in for a coffee. I hadn’t seen the man in three years, but there he stood by the door with that look on his face that always caved my chest in.”

“Did you two talk?” I take a sip of coffee, biting my lip at the burn of hot liquid against it.

“He said I looked good.” She looks down at her T-shirt and jeans. “I said he was still a liar. We laughed and he left.”

He took a piece of her heart with him again. It’s evident in the faraway look in her eyes.

“Will you see him again?” I ask tentatively. “Did he say he’d be back?”

“I won’t be waiting if he does.” She leans both elbows on the counter. “After he left, Jerry asked me to a ball game.”

I gaze over her shoulder toward the kitchen where the gray-haired cook is hard at work. “Jerry? As in that Jerry?”

“As in the man who always has my back.” She glances back at him. “After my ex walked out and I turned around to see Jerry’s face, it hit me. It’s not about what’s on the surface. Jerry’s not my usual type, but he looks at me like I’m his everything.”

That’s how Griffin looks at me.