Working On Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 6) (5 page)

“I don’t need to be
sung to. And you didn’t ruin my party.”

“I still want some
desserts. The Drago Sisters really outdid themselves.”

“They did. And I want
dessert, too.”

“Wait here.”

I jog over and grab one
of the dinner plates from the buffet area. When I come back over with
it, Alex bursts out laughing. “You really are hungry,”

“I thought we could
fill it up and share, brat.”

Her face falls and she
looks away. “Why do you always do that? Bring up how much younger I
am?”

“Defense mechanism.”

“What?”

“Let’s load up, and
I’ll explain everything to you. I promise.”

We grab cupcakes,
cookies, macaroons, little tres leches cups, mini pies, and cream
horns. The plate is almost not big enough, but everything looks
amazing, and we both want to try it all. I carry it with both hands,
while Alex grabs us some waters. She opens the door and we walk
inside.

“Wow. It’s pretty
cool in here.”

“Yeah. Chloe just
re-decorated it recently.”

It’s a little awkward
now. I grab a lemon cupcake and hold it out to her. She takes it with
a smile. I take a cream horn and pop it into my mouth. I need some
courage, but if it’s not going to come in liquid form, why not
sugar? Time to man up.

“I fell in love with
you that last summer we spent together in Florida.”

“You did?”

“Yes. I know we’d
been spending summers together since we were little because our moms
and grandmas were friends, but that year was different. You were so
fucking beautiful, it took my breath away.”

“You didn’t act any
different towards me.”

I give her a rueful
smile. “I couldn’t. You were thirteen, Xandy. Still a little
girl. I shouldn’t have been feeling the way I felt towards you. It
was wrong.”

“Wrong? You weren’t
some forty year old man lusting after me.”

“No. I was an
eighteen year old man lusting after you. I was an adult.”

“Oh my God. You
idiot. Chloe was in middle school when she started dating Ryan.”

“Yes, but they’re
closer in age and lived on the same property. I couldn’t ask your
parents to trust me. Especially after the things my dad said to me in
front of everyone.”

“Your dad was a mean
bastard. We all knew you weren’t the bad guy in that situation. My
parents even told me that they hoped I’d end up with someone like
you one day.”

“They did?” Her
parents were such good people. I still can’t believe they were
murdered a few years ago.

“Yes. They knew your
dad was too hard on you. I think they knew he hit you, although I
never told them. I promise.”

“I know you kept my
secret. I wanted to reach out to you when they died, but I still
thought it would be wrong.”

“You really, truly,
thought that and stayed away all these years because of it?”

“Yes.”

“And you slept with
all those women because you thought you couldn’t have me?”

“Yes.”

“You can have me now.
I mean, if you still want me.”

“I can’t imagine
ever not wanting you, but I don’t deserve you.”

“Why? Because you
slept with a bunch of women?” I can’t speak, so I nod. “I’m
the one who should be worried. I mean, I
know
I can’t compare to them. I’ve seen them. Hell, I work with some
of them. I’m no sexy supermodel type.”

“They can’t compare
to you. I mean it. You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever met. Not
because you dress to get attention, or show off your goods. You
don’t. You’re just naturally sexy. To me at least.”

“I’m also not very
experienced…in…you know, the bedroom. I mean, I guess you
do
know that.” I see tears start to form in her eyes as she looks down
at the half-eaten cupcake in her hand.

She thinks she’s not
enough for me? Is she insane? She’s everything. Every damn thing.

“Look at me.” She
shakes her head, so I slide off the couch to kneel before her. “Maybe
you didn’t hear me clearly enough before, but I love you, Alexandra
Marie Roberts. I. Love. You. More than my next breath, in fact. So
please don’t ever be embarrassed around me. Anyone else, fine. But
not me. Because no matter what you do or
don’t
do, I will never stop loving you. I swear it.”

“Even if I don’t
want to be too adventurous? I mean, you’ve probably done everything
there is to do.”

“I’ve done quite a
bit, I’m not going to deny it. But not everything. I have my own
lines that I won’t cross. Anything that causes serious pain to me,
or my partner, is one of them. It’s not my thing and I won’t do
it. And I don’t need you to be adventurous. I have no doubt that
being with you will be better than everyone else combined. You’re
it for me.”

“I love you, too. I
just realized that I haven’t told you, but I do.”

“Thank God. I was
starting to think I was going to have to kiss you again before you’d
say it.”

“I kissed you out
there, jerk.”

“Yes, you did. It was
the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“You’re easily
pleased, then. Good to know.”

I pull her forward on
the couch and spread her legs. “Are you easily pleased?” I ask as
I trace circles on her upper thighs with my thumbs.

“N-no. I never, umm,
you know. With Nick.”

“Did he put his mouth
on you?”

“Not there, no.
Actually he only kissed my mouth.”

I don’t try to stop
her when she closes her legs. I won’t force her to do anything, or
to let me do anything. If she doesn’t want it, then I don’t
either. I rock back on my heels and put my hands in the air.

“One day, I want to
lay you down on a bed and taste every inch of you. But only when
you’re ready, my beautiful Xandy.”

She bites her lip and
looks nervous for a moment. Then she smiles. “Thank you for that.
Can I kiss you again?”

“You don’t have to
ask. You own me. Every inch of me is yours. Whenever you want it.”

She leans close until
her mouth is inches from mine. “Anytime? Really? Even in the
employee cafeteria, in front of all those women who want you?”

“You feeling the need
to claim me, baby?”

“A little.” She
starts to pull away, but I grab the back of her head and hold her in
place.

“I’m going to come
get you from your desk for lunch on Monday. Then, I’m going to hold
your hand the whole way there—I never hold a woman’s hand, just
so you know. Once we’re inside, I’m going to get you that salad
you eat every day and sit you on my lap while I feed you bites in
between the kisses you’ll be giving me. You see, I need to claim
you, too. Because every man in that cafeteria has been checking you
out since you started, and it’s taken a strength I didn’t know I
had not to fight them all.”

“You know what I eat
for lunch?”

“I know everything
about you at work. If I tell you the rest, though, you may run out of
here thinking I’m a crazy stalker.”

“Tell me,” she says
before leaning forward and brushing her lips over mine.

“Do I get a kiss for
every secret I reveal?”

“Mm-hm.”

“I have access to the
security cameras. Sometimes I bring up the foundation lobby and watch
you work. You have no idea what it does to me when you chew on your
pen when you’re thinking. Or twirl your hair around your finger
when you talk on the phone. My favorite is when you’re talking with
the other girls. Your smile is so beautiful. I love seeing you
happy.”

“That isn’t
stalkerish.”

“It isn’t?”

“No.”

That’s all the
warning I get as she takes my mouth. I let her control the kiss,
because I know she needs to feel in control. And because it’s hot.
Like five alarm fire hot.

She pulls me to the
couch and then slides onto my lap. Our hands are moving over the top
of each other’s clothes, but it’s not enough. I’m just
unzipping her zipper when the doorbell rings. What the fuck?

“It’s my family.”

“Shit.”

She gets up off me,
taking a moment to straighten her hair a little before she goes to
the door. I button my suit jacket back up. The last thing I need is
for her uncles to see my hard-on. I may be stupid, but I want to
live.

“Hi guys, what’s
up?”

“What’s up is that
you’re in here alone with him.” Shit. Owen’s pissed. Never
good.

“And?”

“He’s…well, you
know.”

“My boyfriend? Are
those the words you were looking for?”

Whoa. That’s hotter
than the kiss. Having her call me her boyfriend. Fuck yeah, I am.

“Boyfriend?”

“Yes, I’m her
boyfriend. Do you have a problem with that Owen? Because if you do,
we should talk about it now. I’m not going anywhere.”

I walk up and put my
arm around her, kissing her cheek. Maybe I
do
have a death wish, but she’s worth it. Owen opens his mouth to
speak, but his wife, Candi, smacks his arm before he can say
anything.

“Let’s all go
inside. Because we
are
going to talk about this,” Ryan says as he pushes past us, nearly
knocking me over in the process. Yeah, this should be fun.

* * *

Alex

I’m angry. Like,
really angry. Who do they think they are? And if my Uncle Ryan thinks
he can get away with slamming into Miles, he has another thing
coming. I wait until everyone is seated before speaking.

“Apologize to Miles,
Uncle Ryan.”

“What am I
apologizing for?”

“You purposely pushed
into him when you walked in.”

“Its fine, Xandy. He
doesn’t need to apologize.”

“Yes, he does. I
don’t want them giving you a hard time and scaring you away.”

“They can’t scare
me away. Now that I finally have you,
nothing
could scare me away. Not even your uncles.”

“Maybe you two should
sit down and explain this all to us. I, for one, am a little lost,”
Yasmin tells us.

“Fine. But someone
has to move. I see that you haven’t left two seats next to each
other. I’m sitting with Miles. I’ll always be sitting with Miles,
so you should get used to it.”

They look like they
want to argue, but I stand my ground. Everyone shifts so that one of
the loveseats is now available for Miles and me. I know he’s trying
hard not to laugh as I lead him to our seat and sit so I’m
practically on top of him. It’s time for me to stand up for myself,
and for him.

“Okay. I need to get
this out of the way. You all know how close Alex and I were when she
was younger. So I know more about Miles and her than the rest of you.
While I’m trying to be cautious, because I’ve heard of his
behavior the last few years, I also want to jump up and down for
Alex.”

“Thanks, Chlo, I want
to jump up and down, too.”

Miles kisses my temple
and squeezes my hand. “Do you want me to tell them our story?”

“Yes. I’ll jump in
when I need to, but I’d like to hear you talk about me again.”

“Okay. Most of you
know that Alex’s mom, Erin, was good friends with my mom. From the
time I was sixteen and Alex was eleven, we spent every summer
together in Florida. Our dads would come down when they could, but it
was usually just the four of us. I used to babysit Alex—God, that’s
weird to think about. Anyway, I was in charge of taking her to Disney
World, Universal Studios, or anywhere else we wanted to go. Don’t
get me wrong, our moms hung out with us, too, but they needed some
alone time a couple days a week.

“I didn’t mind
hanging out with Alex. My dad made me go to military school, which
was pretty rough for me. So, it was nice to have fun for a change.
She
was fun and
didn’t ask me to do anything too bad. Actually, I take that back. I
remember going to some Princess Breakfast thing where I had to wear a
tiara.”

“I still have that
picture.”

“Of course you do,”
he says with a laugh. “Like I was saying, it was fun for those
first couple of years. We saw each other over the summer and sent
each other cards and little gifts. For holidays and birthdays mostly,
but other times, too. We were good friends. Things changed the year
she turned thirteen. When she walked into our vacation home, I almost
forgot how to breathe. She was so beautiful and grown-up, though not
really. Immediately, I knew things wouldn’t be the same for me
anymore. I tried to hide my feelings and act like I always did with
her.”

“You did a good job.
I thought I was the only one feeling things that summer.”

“Good. That’s what
I wanted,” he tells me softly before turning back to my family. “It
wasn’t right. I knew it wasn’t right. Falling in love with a
thirteen year old is not what an eighteen year old man should be
doing.”

“Stop saying it
wasn’t right. It’s not like you were trying anything with me.”

“No. But I wanted to.
And it
was
wrong.
Anyway, by the end of the summer, I was hopelessly in love with Alex.
She was everything a guy could ever want in a girl. Smart, kind,
funny, talented, and so beautiful it made you hurt to look at her.”
I stop to turn to her. “You’re still all those things, you know.”

“Thanks.”

“That’s why you
broke off all contact with her that summer. It killed her, you know.”

“It killed me too,
Chloe. I knew there would never be another woman who I loved the way
I love her. I also knew that by breaking off all contact, I’d lose
any chance with her when we got older. I accepted what I had to do
and, well, slept with any woman who’d have me. I thought that if I
couldn’t be with the woman I loved, I’d just have fun.”

“Wow. You slept
around because you couldn’t have Alex and didn’t want anyone
else? That’s really romantic,” Olivia says.

“Seriously, Ollie?
He’s a man whore.”