“December Thirtieth.”
My eyes lose focus as I brace for the inevitable. This is it. This is where everyone finds out this baby doesn’t belong to Griffin.
I don’t fit here.
Nausea suffuses me, bile rising from the pit of my stomach. Before anybody can say a word, I dash into the house,making it to the guest bathroom on the main floor just in time to empty my stomach.
Footsteps follow after me, and the door creaks open. Griffin kneels at my side, rubbing my back. “You okay?”
“Nothing like some well-timed morning sickness to get me out of an awkward situation.”
He tilts his head to the side, assessing me. “What do you mean?”
“When they find out I’m eleven weeks pregnant, they’ll be able to do the math and figure out that it’s not yours.”
His nostrils flare. “Say that shit again, and I’ll turn that ass red.”
The coarse threat wrenches me back in time to traffic lights and filthy words whispered in my tiny Denver apartment. Desire flares low in my belly, a momentary distraction from my current predicament. No matter how much I still want him, it doesn’t change our circumstances.
“It’s the truth, and we shouldn’t pretend it isn’t. Help me up.” I take his hands and let him haul me to my feet. “They aren’t stupid. What happens when they work it out for themselves?”
I wash my hands and dip my mouth under the faucet to rinse away the disgusting taste. Griffin reaches into the medicine cabinet and hands me a small bottle of mouthwash.
“Doesn’t fucking matter,” he says. “Let them think we had an affair for all I care.”
After rinsing my mouth one last time for good measure, I meet his gaze in the mirror, then I turn to face him, leaning back against the vanity. “No. I won’t take the blame for Tyler’s choices.”
He pulls out a peppermint from his pocket and holds it between us. I pop it into my mouth as my thoughts trail back to the awkward conversation to come.
“Ok. So, what do you want to do?”
I sigh. “Is it too late for that honeymoon?”
“I’d run away with you any day, Angel.” His knuckles brush the underside of my jaw, and his expression softens. “But if there’s one thing you should know about this family, it’s that once you’re in it, it’s a lifetime appointment. They don’t care who that baby belongs to any more than I do. The second I slid that ring onto your finger, you became a Hayes.”
He pauses, smiling down at me. His palms run down my upper arms in a soothing motion. “Truth be told, you were part of this family the second Jess married into it. That didn’t change when we lost her.”
My eyes sting at his fervent declaration and the reminder of my best friend. I feel her absence more intensely now than I have in a long time. I wish she could be here to see our babies grow up together. I’d like to think she’s watching from a different view.
Griffin’s thumb captures a single tear, and his brown eyes meet mine. Time seems to slow as his warm amber scent envelopes me. I’ve spent weeks trying to resist the pull. I can’t do it anymore. Not when he’s doing everything to make me believe he’s in this for the long haul. Maybe I’m not quite there yet, but I can’t walk away this time.
My heart beats erratically as I flatten my palm on his cheek and close the distance between us. It’s a chaste kiss, little more than our lips meeting, until Griffin pulls me in for more. The bristles of his beard slide against my palm. He groans into my mouth, deepening the kiss as his hands splay across my lower back. The peppermint clicks against my teeth as his tongue slides over mine, slow and sensual, just a hint of pressure like he wants to devour me, but he’s holding back. It’s dizzying and all-consuming.
All too soon, he pulls away, pressing his forehead to mine. “Mm. If we don’t stop, I’m gonna fuck you right here in my mama’s bathroom.”
I bite down on my bottom lip, half tempted to drop to my knees. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
He reaches down, adjusting the erection tenting his jeans. “You have to stop looking at me like that, Angel.”
He palms my shoulders and spins me toward the door. “Go. I need a minute.”
I walk back out to the family gathering as Jaxon and Wilder are setting the table. I almost forgot the whole reason we’re here is to eat, too busy worrying about what they might think of me.
Evelyn envelopes me in a warm hug. “Morning sickness?”
“More like all-day sickness.”
“Been there,” Olivia says. “It gets better over time. Have you tried peppermints?”
