‘I might have to keep you around.’ He gazed appreciatively at her and the table. ‘Linen napkins? I’d forgotten I owned any, although I’m not sure the cheap store-brand pizza deserves those. Salad and home-made dressing, too? I could get used to this.’
Lyndsey colored. This was exactly the sort of thing Becca picked at her for. Always having to make things just-so. ‘I’m sorry, I—’
‘No, I’m sorry.’ Griff crossed over to her in a couple of strides. ‘I should’ve put my brain in gear before I spoke. I wasn’t belittling you. Far from it. I’m amazed you took the care to do this for me . . . for us.’ He looked sheepish. ‘I usually eat sitting in my recliner, with my food on a tray and a book in hand.’
‘Me too. I think it’s a common habit of the comfortably single.’
‘Are you?’
She swallowed hard, scared to give him an honest answer. ‘I think our pizzas should be ready.’
A slow, sexy smile inched over his face, making her blood heat. Naturally he’d read her mind.
‘Sounds like a plan.’
To regain some sort of self-control, she hurried across the room to get the pizzas out, then slid them onto two of his attractive brown glazed pottery plates. Lyndsey carried them over to the table.
‘I do love your home. It’s so you. I can tell you’ve put a lot of work into it.’
‘Yeah, I suppose I have. This is the next project.’ He gestured around the kitchen. ‘It hurts my eyes every time I come in here.’
‘It is a bit . . .’Garishanddatedsounded judgmental. ‘In need of modernization?’
‘I’m not one of your clients, so you don’t have to be tactful with me.’ He chuckled. ‘It’s ugly and you know it.’
‘It probably wouldn’t win any kitchen beauty contests.’
They chatted easily, touching on their reading tastes, and she asked about the pictures in his living room, making him laugh with her sharp comment on what his previous girlfriend probably thought of them.
‘Yeah, you got that right. I’ve been collecting prints by some of the nineteenth-century artists like Cole, Church and Durand for years now.’ He fiddled with his wine glass. ‘They never quite fit with my old life, but does it sound crazy to say they’ve settled in here like old friends?’
‘Not at all. Perhaps deep down, you knew the lifestyle you had then was never really you?’
Griff nodded. ‘I reckon you’re right.’ He tilted her a cautious look. ‘So you gonna tell me why you were all out of sorts when you came over?’
The perceptive question came out of nowhere and momentarily sucked the breath out of her. Lyndsey hadn’t intended to mention her contentious talk with Becca, but now the whole story poured out, from the encouraging beginning to the far-less-uplifting end.
‘Are you afraid there’s some truth in what she said? Is that what hurts most?’ Griff’s raspy whisper snaked under her skin.
‘Maybe . . . probably.’ Lyndsey half-heartedly put her hand over her glass when he offered her the last of the wine.
‘People used to say similar things about me.’ Griff’s confession took her by surprise. ‘My career was everything, and I planned to retire as a multi-millionaire before I was forty, with the ridiculous idea I’d then be free to fall in love, get married and have a family.’
‘But a lot of people would say you’re obsessive about your work now, too. So why is one right and the other wrong?’ She genuinely wanted to know, because that was one of the criticisms Becca threw her way.
‘It isn’t that black and white, honey.’ Griff covered her hand with his own. ‘Yeah, I love what I do, but I’ve also got my old-man hobbies and good friends around here.’ A shadow crossed his face. ‘I’m not the best to ask about sibling relationships, and I’m takin’ a guess yours with Becca is equally complicated.’
Lyndsey couldn’t help sighing. ‘ “Complicated” doesn’t begin to cover it.’
‘Did Becca hit the nail on the head when she brought up your mom and birth father?’
She shrugged.
‘The way I see it, his family in Dominica are the ones who’ve missed out.’ Griff caressed her cheek. ‘Did your stepdad make you feel unwanted and a nuisance?’
‘No! Absolutely not!’ Lyndsey’s voice turned shrill. ‘But . . . I could see how much it meant to him, and my mum, when Becca was born.’
‘That’s hard on a kid who’s insecure. Theo’s the same way, yeah?’
