Courtship? He was still stuck in the royalworld.
I finally got a word in. “Calm down,” I said. “We’ll date for a little while, and if everything goes well we can see what happens.” So much was about tohappen.
“Sit down,” he said. “I want to talk to you, I want to hear your voice.” Damn that wassmooth.
I sat on the couch and stared at him, having a hard time believing he was there after the day I’d had. “What made you decide to come here?” Iasked.
“Ellion and Chandler wouldn’t shut up about you.” He shook his head ruefully. “I’ve been fighting myself since you left—what is it now, six weeks ago?” He took my hand. “I should’ve known that I should come here the moment they told me I was free to remarry if I wanted to. Your face sprung into my mind as they said thewords.”
His rough fingers brushed across my knuckles, and I gripped hishand.
“I tried to be content. I adore Chandler and Ellion, truly I do. But you wouldn’t get out of my mind.” I laughed. “I really did try; I fought against my attraction toyou.”
He brought my fingers to his lips and whispered a kiss across my skin. The goosebumps started and didn’tstop.
“Griffin, I—” I didn’t know how to say the words. Hiscourtshipof me made itharder.
His breath was hot on my wrist as he kissed the inside of myhand.
“We really don’t know enough about each other.” I needed to feel him out and see if we’d be compatible. “For example, do you want more children?” I asked. “What side of the bed you sleep on? I know nothing of your politics. We do need to get to know each other a little bitmore.”
“I want whatever you want, and I believe whatever you believe,” hesaid.
I laughed—and laughed—and laughed. “You’re full of crap,” I said,chortling.
He sat back and stared at me and started laughing as well. “You’re right. I got caught up in the moment,” hesaid.
I leaned forward and gave him a kiss. “No, but seriously, do you want morekids?”
He furrowed his brow. “Of course Ido.”
I smiled. Maybe we would be compatible after all. I wantedseveral.
After the initial shock of seeing Griffin sitting on my couch, I got my wits about me and offered him a drink. We considered our options and made plans to order dinner in so that we could talk somemore.
Our Chinese food arrived, and by the time it got here, I was starving. I snatched an eggroll out of the top of the bag before we’d even unpacked it and snarfed itdown.
Griffin laughed appreciatively. “I like a woman who’s not afraid toeat.”
I shrugged and continued unpacking the bag. My hunger must have ordered for me because I’d ordered enough food for fivepeople.
Once we’d both had our fill, I cleaned up the mess. We’d eaten almost all thefood.
Griffin gave me an amazed look. “You really werehungry.”
That ass. “First of all, for all you know, that was my first meal today.” Some days I didn’t get lunch. “Second of all, never comment on how much a woman eats.” Good grief, he was on track to make me cry the first night we weretogether.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I don’t remember you being this sensitive.” He stormed out of thekitchen.
“You can’t stomp around here like that,” I yelled toward the living room as I washed our utensils. “We’re not on the ground floor, we haveneighbors.”
He sighed loud enough for me to hear it in the kitchen. “Is it always going to be like this?” heasked.
“I hope so,” I said to the dishwater. To him, I called out, “At least we won’t bebored.”
We slept in separate rooms that night. At times, being around him was awkward. The next morning, I woke to breakfast on the table. “I’m sorry, Griffin, this looks absolutely amazing, but I’m feeling a little off this morning. I’m not hungry atall.”
When I came out of my room, ready for work, he handed me a sack lunch. “I couldn’t find much, you need to grocery shop.” Not even Ellion had made melunch.
