He frowned. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll let things cool down for a bit.” Pressing his thumb on my lower lip, he asked, “Do you want to take the day off?”
“I can’t do that. I told my boss I’d be in the office at nine thirty. He expects me there.”
Griffin’s gaze zeroed in on mine. “I want to take you home and spoil you all day long.”
My heart exploded with joy. I wanted to climb him right here, right now. “It’s not possible, though.”
He groaned. “I know. I’ve got a full day, too, and I have todrop by Sterling Investments. But for now… do you want to order waffles?” he asked.
I sighed. “Honestly, I’ve kind of lost my appetite. Maybe I should just go to the office.”
“I’ll drop you off there.”
“Do you think Jude will pull out of the deal?”
Griffin’s smile faltered. He rolled his shoulders back. “It’s possible. But I’ll talk to him before he has time to do anything too rash.”
“I’m sorry.” I felt horrible about all this.
“Don’t. You’re more important than any deal, okay?”
I nodded, but I was still upset. I knew how important this deal was for him, and I felt incredibly guilty that Marshall had completely shit on it. Griffin would have to start doing damage control immediately, and I didn’t want him to waste any more time on me.
“I think we should go,” I said. “My boss will be happy if I show up earlier.”
“Okay.”
It took a while to flag a waiter and ask for the bill. After paying for the coffees, Griffin took my hand and led me to the car.
As we climbed inside, his phone rang. He immediately answered.
“Hey.” He frowned, then closed his eyes. “For fuck’s sake! Yeah, I literally just had a meeting with him. Hold off for now. I’m going to fix this.”
“What happened?” I asked when he hung up. My heart was in my throat. I was afraid of the answer.
“Jude already informed my team that they are no longer considering us as a potential investor.”
“Oh God!” It was all my fault. If it weren’t for me and my ass of an ex, Griffin wouldn’t be in this situation.
“I didn’t think he’d act so fast.”
Griffin said nothing else after that. His mind was probablyworking at full capacity, thinking about how to fix things with Jude. I wished I could help, but I didn’t have a single good idea.
The man was right. We’d lied to him, and I couldn’t really imagine a more terrible way for him to find out.
“Hey, want to bounce ideas off me? We’re good at coming up with stuff together,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
“No, I need to discuss the options with my team.”
I didn’t know how to reply to that, or how to make this better. But the silence felt heavy, and I had a sudden urge to fill it with chatter.
“Are you going straight to your office?”
“No, I’m dropping by Sterling Investments first. We need to vote on a strategic decision.”
“Right.”
We sat in utter silence for the remainder of the drive because I had no idea what else to talk about. My heart felt heavy.
