When he left, it took all my self-control to keep from running outside like a lunatic and jumping back into his strong arms.
I can’t explain my feelings. The guy is a human thundercloud. And yet, when he heard about my late husband, Griffin’s whole face softened. Notdramatically, but enough that I felt it. A shift. A reassuring,I’m herekind of shift.
How does someone go from glowering at my two-for-one rose suggestion to being gentle with my grief?
And it’s not just that. Word around town is that Griffin has been quietly helping Nick fix up the Timberline Inn. No fanfare, no thanks expected. Grumpy men don’t just wander around sanding banisters for fun.
Then there’s the way he listens to all my mad, ramblings about wedding bouquets, the cotillion, and whether the community theater really needs thirty-two fake trees for their spring musical.
He listens, even when I know I’m too much for most people.
“What am I doing?” I ask the ceiling.
I shouldn’t like him. Idefinitelyshouldn’t be thinking about him.
But every time he’s near, I feel that tug in my chest, the one that says the grump on the outside is not the whole story.
Which is ridiculous.
And completely impossible to ignore.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Griffin
I’m staringat my laptop screen, Logan’s face filling the frame as he leans back in his chair.
“She got weepy?” he asks, clearly shocked someone would ever cry around me.
“Yeah.”
“And wiped her nose on you?”
I roll my eyes. “I wouldn’t put it like that.”
“On your custom-made camel hair coat?”
“What’s your point, Logan?”
“Oh, no point.” He grins.
I sigh. I can’t deal with my brother when he gets like this, trying to eke an emotion out of me.
“All I was saying was I blew it. I nearly kissed her.”
“She’ll get over it.”
“Helpful as always.”
Logan says, “That’s not how I mean it. She’s probably just as confused as you are.”
“What about the fact that her husband died?”
“If it was last year or even five years ago, I’d say you went too far, but from what you’ve said, she was twenty-eight, which means it was two decades ago. Maybe she’s ready for another relationship.”
“Who said anything about a relationship?”
“Listen, Griff, I know these things are tough for you, but if there’s even a chance that this woman could mean something, you need to test the waters. You’ve been alone too long, and you’re getting stodgy, you know, cranky. Ever since the divorce, which is ancient history. Let someone in, bro.”
