Page 104 of Two Wrongs

I nod, and pray she lets go. Instead her fingers find the scars on my left wrist. With her medical training she doesn’t even ask what they are, she knows. She takes a shaky breath, then swallows. Her eyes slowly fix on mine, and I can see the tears she’s fighting to hang onto. “From now on, I’ll be here for you. I don’t want you to ever feel this alone again.”

Griffin drops his arm around my shoulders and pulls me to his side. “She won’t.”

I groan, realizing he just told her the news I’d planned to ease her into without saying a word.

Her eyes widen and focus on his possessive display. “Wren?” she asks.

“Can we go inside and talk?” I ask.

Hattie’s eyes narrow on Griffin. “You sick sonofabitch. I know she’s not a child, but she is younger than yours. I might have been gone from Harriston for a long time now, but even I’ve heard rumors about the things you like.” She points at me. “Hasn’t she been through enough? I’m guessing she didn’t run out of town in the middle of the night because of your son, did she?”

“Hattie,” I interrupt. “It was more like late afternoon.”

“You shush,” she snaps.

My back goes straight. “Stop laying into him. Griffin didn’t run me off. I left so he didn’t have to choose between Liam and me.”

Griffin is looking at me weird. There’s no scowl pulling down his brow, or naughty smirk curving his mouth. This look is tender, and it’s kinda freaking me out. Griffin is not a tender man.

“I know the age difference is freaking you out,” he starts.

“That and the fact you’re her father-in-law,” Hattie interjects.

His mouth quirks. Probably at the reminder that daddy is literally part of what he is or at least was to me. My hand falls to my stomach, now he’s daddy for another reason. His chest vibrates with silent laughter and he bends down to kiss my temple.

Then he becomes more serious, and refocuses on Hattie. “I know we started out wrong, but I could no more have avoided falling in love with her than I could stop breathing. I need her, and I promise I’ll work my ass off to give her the world.”

For a second nothing else filters into my brain. Everything stops. Hell, the world could be standing still and I wouldn’t notice. Then in an instant everything snaps back into place. I slap him on the chest several times. Each slap punctuating my words. “Why do you keep saying you love me to other people instead of me?”

He holds my hands still on his chest. I fight the urge to pet him. I’m not even sure that is hormone related. Griffin has a very amazing body. “Stop with the violence, baby bird, I like it too much.”

Hattie groans. “You really are a dirty freak,” she mumbles.

“So dirty,” I agree without thinking, and this time I do rub my hands on his muscles.

That effectively breaks the tension as Hattie bursts out laughing so hard she’s gasping for breath. “Oh my god. Okay, I’m done fighting this. I mean he is pretty hot.”

“He’s also standing right here,” Griffin grumbles.

I beam up at him. “There’s my sexy grouch. You were being too nice and it was freaking me out.”

Hattie rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I get it. This is the real deal. I’m guessing you came to get your stuff?” she asks me.

“Griffin wants me to go home with him,” I tell her.

Her expression turns serious again. “Is that what you want?” she asks.

I look at Griffin, and for once he’s not trying to push me into a decision. “I want us to be a family,” I say mostly to him.

“We will be,” he promises.

* * *

It takesus a couple of days to get back into town. During the drive Charlie calls and lets Griffin know that Liam has agreed to come back to the shop to work. I can tell that Griffin is relieved to know that Liam will have a job, but also nervous to go and work with him again. I silently promise myself that I will do what I can to make it so they can still have a relationship with each other.

The first thing I know is that I can’t go back to work at Hale Automotive. Which only leaves me one alternative. I’m not sure what Griffin is going to think about it. Actually, I’m quite sure he’s going to hate it, but I know that Donovan will give me my job back.

Griffin is anxious to check in at the shop the morning after we get back because he said he fell behind on a lot of work while I was in Florida and he wanted to give Charlie a break. It’s a bit of a relief to have some time to myself. I wanted his attention, and I certainly got it. Now he’s watching what I eat, how much water I drink, and staring at my belly like it’s going to grow before his eyes.

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