“My son,” she said. “My call.”
A long, humming second passed before Griffin scowled and nodded. “Fine.”
Still holding Connor tight, Nicole headed out of the room. She paused in the doorway to look back at the men watching her. Lucas looked wary, but Griffin’s expression was a mixture of disgust and tightly reined anger. Well, he’d have to get used to the fact that Nicole ran her own life. She didn’t need a big, strong man making her decisions or paying her way. She didn’t need his help to raise her son, either. She’d gotten along fine on her own before he swept into her life, and she’d do just fine again once he was gone.
Although she didn’t like the sound of the word gone.
They were playing a strange game. Lovers at night, friendly enemies by day. He’d become a part of her routine, the two of them sharing everything from kitchen duties to time spent with Connor. They were building a relationship on a foundation that didn’t exist.
This was the craziest thing she’d ever done, yet she couldn’t bring herself to regret it.
Lovers or enemies?
Nicole wasn’t sure which was the truth anymore. Or if either was.
*
“Okay,” Lucas said when she was gone. “That was awkward.”
“Yeah.” Griffin walked to the fridge, opened it and grabbed two beers. He straightened up and tossed one of them to his cousin. “Welcome to my world.”
“She’s still completely pissed at you over the kitchen.”
“Seems that way,” Griffin mused, tossing a glance at the empty doorway. A sizzle of irritation buzzed inside him. Damn woman had a head like a rock. Hell, she should have been born a King. She would have fit right in with the rest of them.
But if she’d been a King, he wouldn’t be having her now, and that he couldn’t imagine. Still, the game they were playing was getting harder to put up with.
Yeah, most of what had just passed between them had been an act. Keep up the tension between them in front of other people so no one would suspect what was really going on. But, Griffin thought, what she had said also carried enough truth to be convincing.
Her damn pride was almost as tough as his. Objectively, he could understand that and respect it. But right now it was getting in his way and that was unacceptable.
Like the damn deductible for her insurance payout. He knew she didn’t have that kind of money to spend, but would she ask for help? No. She blamed him for the fire, but would refuse to allow him to pay for the blasted deductible. What the hell kind of sense did that make?
Lucas laughed and brought Griffin out of his thoughts.
“Damn, cuz, you’re living a rough life here, aren’t you?” He shuddered dramatically. “She’s riding you every day, isn’t she?”
“As often as possible,” Griffin muttered, his mind providing images of Nicole rising up over him in the night, holding his body in hers, riding him to an explosive—
“Look,” Lucas said agreeably, unknowingly shattering Griffin’s thoughts, “I know what life is like when you’re living with a woman who’s mad at you for some damn thing or other. How about I help you out? We had a job wrap up last night. So I can put an extra crew on Nicole’s job, wrap it up faster.”
Faster. Get Nicole back into her own home that much sooner. In theory, a good thing. In reality, not. When she was back home, whatever was between them would end. That was their new agreement. If she was back in her familiar world, it would reset their relationship—or whatever the hell it was—and there’d be no more nights with her.
Their summer affair would be over.
His hand fisted around the bottle of beer. Griffin wasn’t ready for it to be over. On the heels of that realization came a quick mental disclaimer: it wasn’t that he wanted a permanent thing with Nicole. Nothing like that. But he did want more than a measly few days.
“No,” he heard himself say. Lucas looked at him with surprise.
“Seriously? Why the hell not?”
Good question. “Because there’s no hurry,” he muttered, “that’s why not.”
“Uh-huh.” Lucas took a drink of his beer and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Sell that to somebody else, because I’m not buying it.”
Griffin gave his cousin the nearly legendary King freezing stare, designed to shake anyone who dared cross a King. Problem was, it didn’t work on the family. Lucas merely shook his head in pity.
“Fine. You don’t have to buy it, Lucas.”
“Right.” He snorted. “You’re trying to freeze me out, and it’s not working.”
“What will?” Griffin asked.
“Nothing,” Lucas assured him unnecessarily. “So, the thing is, you’re in no hurry to get Nicole out of here, even though she’s making you miserable.”
Miserable?
Hell, she was making him nuts.
He looked away from his cousin and let his gaze slide across Rafe and Katie’s sun-washed kitchen. This place had become a second home to him over the past week or more. And memories were crashing over him. Nicole and him here, in this kitchen, having ice cream at midnight and laughing like a couple of kids. Him, plopping a na**d Nicole down on the edge of the counter and her legs coming around his waist, pulling him deep into her heat until neither of them could have said where one of them ended and the other began.
Yeah, she was making him crazy.
And he didn’t want it to end.
At least not yet.
Frowning at his cousin, Griffin told him, “Don’t make anything out of this.”
“Oh, it’s already been made, and I’m not the one who did it,” his cousin said with a smirk. “You think I can’t read your face? Poker was never your game, Griff. Garrett’s the one with the unreadable expression. Yours is an open book.”
Irritation flooded him. He was a damn security expert, for God’s sake. He made a living by being hard to read. What the hell was Nicole doing to him? “Well, quit reading it.”
“Too late now,” Lucas said, hooting with laughter. “Damn, cuz. With Katie’s best friend?”
Some of the King family brawls were legendary. Once Adam and Travis had a knock-down, drag-out fight that went on for nearly eight hours. It had started at a family picnic, when Travis told Adam he had no skill for horse breeding. A lie of course. Adam had a string of some of the best horses in California—hell, anywhere. But Travis liked to get a dig in, and once Adam cut loose, the two of them battled while the rest of the cousins at the picnic made a damn fortune in bets.