“Did you see his face?” She wiped her eyes. “When the beer hit him?”
A smile tugged at my mouth. “Hard to miss.”
“I learned that little slip-of-the-glass trick a long time ago,” she said, still grinning. “To combat idiots who took things too far.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Glad you never used that on me.”
“You treated me decently from the start.” Her lashes fluttered my way. “Even when you were a grumpy billionaire.”
“Grumpy?”
“Brooding. Intense. Whatever helps your ego sleep at night.” She shifted in her seat to face me. “But you never cornered me. Never made me feel small. You treated me like I mattered.”
“You do matter,” I said quietly.
She held my gaze for a beat. Then looked away. “Anyway. Sorry if I caused trouble.”
“You didn’t. Paul’s been an ass for years. He deserved the beer dump.”
She laughed again. Lighter this time.
We drove in comfortable silence for a few blocks. Then I asked the question that had been nagging at me.
“Why don’t you drink?”
She stiffened slightly. “What?”
“At the club. You went for water. At the cocktail party, you had sparkling cider. Even at dinner last week, you avoided the wine.” I glanced at her. “I’ve noticed.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip. “I’m watching my figure. Trying not to drink as much. Empty calories, you know?”
I reached over and squeezed her perfectly thick thigh.
“For the record? I watch your figure too.” My voice dropped. “And I like every inch. Don’t change a thing.”
Her breath caught. “Griffin...”
“I mean it. You’re perfect exactly as you are.”
She squeezed my hand and beamed from ear to ear. But something flickered behind her eyes. Something I couldn’t quite read.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I brought her hand to my lips, and kissed her knuckles, letting the moment settle between us.
As the city lights blurred past, I meant every word about her. After watching Elsa obsessively count calories during pregnancy, afraid to gain weight, and Theo barely thriving in the womb, I could never be with a woman like that again.
The first night I met Jessa, her body made me want her. Her fire made me respect her. But her heart? That’s what scared the hell out of me.
Because one small-town woman with a beer-soaked sense of justice threatened to unravel my control—and unlock something I’d sworn shut a long time ago.
Chapter Seventeen
THIRTY-FIVE FOREVER
Griffin
My day had runme over, backed up, and run me over again.
