Page 50 of The Billionaire's Beauty

14

Griffin

There I go,lapsing into dickhead mode again. It’s a real talent. If I have any doubts about how abrasive I just managed to sound, Bellamy’s startled expression immediately removes them. Hell, even the dog is looking up at me, a perplexed look on his furry face.

Yet I plow ahead like a rodeo bull turned loose in the fine china and crystal department at Macy’s, destroying the peace in my determination to get the answers I need from Bellamy.

“You’re looking for an apartment in Berkeley? Already?” I’ve barely had the chance to enjoy this apartment, which is so much warmer and cozier than my apartment. That place has stellar views of the city, true, but with its sad lack of furniture and echoing emptiness, it feels like an airplane hangar. “I thought you weren’t moving until August.”

“I’m not,” she says, passing me my glass of Prosecco as she sits in the chair to my right. She seems neutral now. “But that’s not much time for me to find a new place. Which you should know, since you’re in real estate. I’m starting to look. I’ll probably make a weekend trip or two out there to see what I can find.”

A weekend trip or two—?

The hits just keep on coming. As if I haven’t got my hands full trying not to lose my shit over her pending departure, now I have to worry about these weekend trips cutting into our already limited time together. Why can’t we just enjoy each other for two seconds without these constant reminders that it can’t last?

“I’ll go with you. Help you find something,” I say.

“Really?”

I don’t know why she looks so surprised. She should know by now that I’ll do anything to keep that exact look of delight on her face. Discover the lost city of Atlantis? Buy her a private island? Done.

“Of course,” I say. “Just say when.”

“Thank you.” She presses a hand to her heart. “I appreciate the help. I’ve got so many things to do before I leave. And I’m feeling so unsettled now that I’ve let my apartment go. It’s like I don’t belong anywhere right now.”

Keeping my mouth shut and not spouting nonsense—You belong with me quickly comes to mind—takes every ounce of my energy.

“Will you have to vacate this apartment before school starts?”

“No. Luckily.”

I don’t feel so lucky that I won’t have the opportunity to suggest she move in with me for the rest of the summer, but I decide to keep that to myself as well.

“Right,” I say, absently stroking the dog’s head. A sip or two of the Prosecco and Bellamy’s calming presence start to mellow me out a bit, especially when she slips over to the sofa and sits beside me.

“Hey,” she says, leaning in for a kiss.

“Hey.”

I keep it short and sweet, emerging glazed with pleasure but not quite ready to rip her clothes off just yet. I want to wallow in her space for a minute. Her sofa. Her dog’s comforting presence on my lap. Her romance books and linen-scented candle on the mantel. The crystalline sparkle of her brown eyes and the steady warmth of her smile she looks at me.

“Thanks for the invite,” I say, savoring the moment even more because it spares me from another night alone in the echoing emptiness of my apartment. “I’m glad to be here.”

“Good.”

I’m about to dive back in—another kiss never hurt anyone—when she pulls back, snapping her fingers.

“That reminds me. I didn’t get the chance to mention it before I came home, but I’ve lined up several great candidates for us to interview to replace me.”

I blink, my growing sensual haze making me slow to shift gears. “What?”

“My replacement,” she says, now riffling through her papers on the coffee table. “I have some of the résumés right here, if you want to take a look.”

See? There it is again.

I’m leaving you, Griffin. Don’t get too used to me because I’m not sticking around. Matter of fact, I can’t enjoy our time together because I’m so consumed with planning my departure.

“I don’t want to take a look,” I say. “What part of this aren’t you getting? I’m trying to relax. I don’t want to talk about you leaving. I don’t want to talk about work. Work belongs at the office. It doesn’t belong here on the sofa in between us.”

---