“Hi.” Erin smiled at him.
Reid smiled back. “I’m Reid Griffin, Smith’s boss andbrother.” He shook her hand, looking like a poster ad for good teeth and good hair. He wore khaki trousers and a gray sweater under a dark jacket. Erin would probably find him good-looking.
And that annoyed Smith to no end.
Erin compared them both. “His brother? How nice to meet you.” Reid released her hand, and they continued to smile at each other.
“How do you know Smith?” Reid asked.
Smith glared. “You don’t have to give her the third degree.”
“Smith, be nice.” Erin squeezed his arm, and that mollified him a little, because she had no problem showing slick Reid they were together. “Smith and I are neighbors and friends.”
“Friends,” Reid repeated, staring at them both.
“Yeah. Got a problem with that?” He would have stepped forward to press his point, but Erin held him back, tugging him by the arm.
Reid shrugged. “Not at all. In fact, this is perfect. Naomi and I wanted to invite you to dinner, Smith. But I didn’t know if Naomi being there would be weird, just the three of us. Now you can bring Erin, and it’ll be the four of us. How about it?”
“Well, I’m kind of busy and—”
“This Saturday night at seven o’clock. Dinner at our place. I’ll text you the directions.” Reid took Erin by the hand again and squeezed. “I hope I didn’t put you on the spot or anything. But Naomi and I would love for you to come.”
The bastard was using all that Griffith charm, and Erin was falling for it! Smith saw her stare back at the idiot.
“Oh, I bet Smith would love to come. I know I would.” Erin looked up at him, and Smith was nodding before he could think about it. Anything to make her happy.
“Awesome. We’ll see you guys Saturday night. Don’t bring anything, either. I mean it,” Reid said to Smith. Then he left them standing there, staring after him.
“Why did he think I might bring something?” Smith mumbled. “I don’t even want to go.”
Erin tugged him forward. “Sure you do. He’s your brother. Wow, Smith. I’m learning all about you. You hate chocolate, girl shops scare you, and you have a brother.”
“I have two.” He sighed. “There’s more to the story. I think we need another coffee break.”
Erin watched Smith,aware he hadn’t liked Reid much. The man had seemed so nice and polite to Erin, but what did she know? Appearances could be deceiving.
They sat at a local coffee shop and had the place mostly to themselves. She sipped at a latte while he tore pieces off a pastry and pushed them around his plate. He hadn’t touched his coffee yet.
“Okay, tell me. Quit moping. You look like a teenage girl dithering over how to break up with her boyfriend.”
That shook him out of his funky mood. “Excuse me?” His deep voice still had the ability to make her shiver.
She didn’t miss his effect on most everyone they made contact with. People either stared at him, in awe of his looks and size, or they gave him a wide berth. She preferred the latter, weirded out to find herself jealous over the big guy. Especially when they were, for all intents and purposes,almostfriends with benefits.
“Tell me about Reid. I’m not going to judge you, you know.” She took hold of his hand resting on the table, and he stared down at their entwined fingers.
“Fine. It’s a shitty story. You sure you want to hear it? We’re having a nice day.”
They were until he’d started brooding. “Lay it on me.”
He gave her faint grin, then sighed and pulled his hand away. “Short version: the woman who raised me wasn’t my mom. I found this out months ago. Apparently, my real mom was her sister, who gave me up because she didn’t want me. Meg—my aunt—hated me forever. And I recently learned I have two brothers. Reid and I share the same birth mom. Cash—he’s a huge asshole, by the way—and I share the same momanddad. They were raised together and didn’t know they had different dads until their mom passed away. Our mom,” he corrected, not used to the dynamic. “I went to work for the guys because I wanted to check them out. Then they learned about me. So now they keep trying to make us into this big happy family, and that doesn’t work for me.”
She kept track of what he did and didn’t say, and she didn’t miss the slight waver in his voice when he mentioned a big happy family. Something he wanted even if he acted like he didn’t. Growing up with a mother who hated him explained a lot about his gruff nature. “Why doesn’t the big happy family work for you?”
“Because it’s all fake,” he growled. “They don’t want me. They feel sorry for me because Angela lied to everyone and screwed me over. I guess she screwed them over too. I don’t know. She had a diary they gave me to read, but I haven’t read it yet.”
“Why not?”
