Page 21 of Two Wrongs

Bursting through the door to the kitchen, I freeze when I see the reason Dolores hasn’t come around to do her usual check on me. At the table, as if he visited her weekly, sits Griffin Fucking Hale.

“Close your mouth, baby bird.” His eyes dance with amusement seeing my shock.

I recover quickly, and send him a glare. I’m acting like a bratty teenager, and a dark place in the back of my mind wonders if I can get him to spank me again. Thankfully, those are not the words that leave my mouth. I sound much more like normal, sane Wren Parker when I finally find my words. “What are you doing here?”

“Wren,” Dolores flutters. “Is that any way to speak to our guest?”

I give her a warning look as well. Really, the way she’s carrying on you’d think she was any other horny twenty something in this town rather than an eighty-two-year-old great-grandma.

“Don’t tell me he shows up with his,” I flap my hand in his general area, “Griffinness, and you simper like all the other women in this town.”

The dimple in his cheek becomes more pronounced with his growing amusement. Enough so that I can see it through the heavy stubble on his face. “Does that include you, baby bird?”

The urge to growl almost won, but him acting like an animal doesn’t mean I need to reciprocate. Instead, I choose the much more evolved route and ignore him. Okay, so maybe it’s not evolved so much as juvenile, but at least I’m not grunting and growling at him like he does to everyone alive.

Griffin stands, and puts his hand on my back. “It was nice to visit with you, Mrs. Howell.”

Damn her, she is actually blushing. She and I would be having a talk about this later.

“Oh, you too, Griffin. Please, do stop by again. I’ll make you that apple cobbler I remember you liking.”

He gave her the first genuine smile I think I’ve ever seen him give anyone who isn’t Liam. The woman is talented in making the hardest and saddest hearts smile, I’ll give her that. The sight of it almost brings me to my knees, and not in an awe kind of way, but in a way that I shouldn’t be thinking in front of my elderly landlady.

“I’d love to. It’s been too long, I won’t go as far between visits,” he promises.

Then he puts pressure on my back guiding me back out of the house. “You and I need to talk.”

Gone is the lighthearted, albeit dirty, teasing from moments ago. In its place is the Griffin I’m used to. The one who seems to hate the fact I exist, and would love nothing more than to never see me again.

He starts to direct me back to my cottage, but I halt mid step, causing him to almost trip over me.

“What the hell, Wren. You know how to walk, right?” he growls.

“I don’t want you inside my house.” It’s harsh, and if I knew he was coming, I’d have explained. My space needs to be free of any reminder of Liam.

His arm slips around my middle, and he pulls me flush against his front. His warm breath fans across my neck as he bends down to whisper, “I was inside ofyoulast night, I think you can stand to have me in your house for a few minutes.”

The swaying of the curtains in the window indicates we have an audience. “Fine, but only because Dolores is a terrible spy, and I don’t like the idea of her standing on a chair trying to see out the window.”

“How did you know where I live anyway?” I ask as I open the door and let us into my tiny living room.

“You said you were picking up Mrs. Howell’s meds at the pharmacy yesterday. When my ex wife first left, Dolores babysat for me until I could get Liam into daycare. She has talked me off the ledge many times. I’m glad you’re here with her.”

My mouth fell open. “You’re giving me whiplash, you know? First you hate me, then you want to fuck me, and now you’re actually being nice. What do you want? If you came here to say that we made a mistake and we can’t do it again, save it okay?”

Griffin comes up behind me and tucks some of my hair behind my ear. His fingers trail down my neck, and my skin breaks out in chills. “First, I never hated you.”

I scoff. “Come on. You have glared at me, snapped, growled, and ridiculed me for the last five years.”

“I’ll admit, I hate that you were married to my son. I do think you were both too young. Clearly, Liam wasn’t mature enough to make that kind of commitment to you for forever. That never had anything to do with you, and everything to do with me knowing my son. Then, over time I started to admit you weren’t a child and when I started seeing you as a woman, for the first time, I was jealous of my son. Then I think I did hate you a little.”

“What’s second? You said first, so what is second?” I try not to tremble as he continues his hypnotic touches. One stroke down my neck, another brush of my hair, his finger trails the shell of my ear and I’m about to melt into a puddle at his feet.

He chuckles seeing my reaction and leans closer to say the next part closer to my ear. “Second there’s never been a time since I started seeing you as a woman that I didn’t want to fuck you. You can’t imagine the many different ways I’ve imagined using this little body for my own satisfaction.”

“That’s all nice to hear,” I begin.

“Nice? It’s nice to hear I want to tie you up, gag you and use you however I want. That I want you to be bad so I have an excuse to warm your ass again? Does that sound nice to you?” he snaps.

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