Page 48 of Holding Out

“You looking for something in Seattle?”Jake asked.“Because I could seriously use someone on the PT office reception desk.Sibby’s basically doing two jobs right now.”

“Yeah, Seattle,” Becca said.“But if you want some help in the meantime?I could totally do that.”

“You’re around for two weeks?”

“Yup.”

“Yeah, I mean, if you could come in for the next two weeks and do, I don’t know, four hours a day?That would be huge.It’ll take a day or so for Sibby to get you up to speed, but then you could spot her at the desk and she could catch up on events stuff.”

“If you’re doing that, how are you going to have time to look for a job?”Alia asked.She sounded like, well, a mom—and Griff watched Becca’s jaw tighten.He wanted to kick Alia under the table.

“Just half days,” Jake said quickly.

“Becca, you need to make sure you’re focused on looking for something permanent, not messing around with something temporary,” Alia said.

“I can manage both,” Becca said tightly.

“I can always have Sibby fill in for you if you need a day in Seattle for interviews.And there are long gaps at the desk when it’s quiet.You can work on job stuff then.”

Jake looked toward Alia for confirmation, which made Griff want to howl,It’s not her decision!

Alia opened her mouth to respond to Jake, but Becca’s voice cut across her sister’s.“Perfect,” she said.

Alia opened her mouth, then shut it.

“Thanks, Jake,” Becca said.“That’ll help the wallet.”

“No, thankyou.That’s going to be a lifesaver.”

They smiled at each other.

“You still need to do your rose and thorn,” Becca told Jake.“And so does Griff.”

“I guess my thorn is that I’m short-staffed, and my rose is that Becca is coming to my rescue.”

“Griff?”Alia asked.

He sighed.He’d been hoping they’d get distracted before this came around to him.He’d never been a fan of these kinds of traditions, like going around the Thanksgiving table and saying what you were grateful for.“Well,” he said.“I didn’t erase the debt of any developing nations or stop nuclear war, but I will say that Jake and I did akickassjob at rearranging the dining room to make it cozier.But I think my rose is actually this dinner.”

“Aw, go on,” Alia said, flapping her hand dismissively.

Although he’d meant not just the food but the company.And especially—he admitted to himself—the pleasure of having Becca back in town.He let himself peek.At the long fall of her gorgeous hair, her straight nose with its slight upturn at the tip, and those goddamn red lips which—

He wassogoing in again.

“And my thorn is—I’m all out of dental floss.”It was the first thing that popped into his head.

Becca raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged.“It was a good day.”

My rose,Griff thought, as she smiled at him,is that I am going to have my hands all over Becca as soon as humanly possible.And my thorn is that “as soon as humanly possible” isn’t right this second.

23

After dinner, Jake headed home and the rest of them watched the Mariners game.

Ever since Griff had stepped into the kitchen, her sister’s house had feltwaytoo small.At dinner, Becca’s right knee had almost touched his.Never in her life had she been that conscious of someone else’sknee.It was like now that her body knew what Griff’s could do, it couldn’t leave the idea alone.

And he kept finding new and more creative ways to unsettle her.Right now he had Robbie in his arms, and was swinging him up and rubbing the crown of his own head across Robbie’s tubby belly, making the baby chortle.He did it again, and then again, and Becca’s resolve began to crumble, in direct proportion to the fireworks going on in her ovaries.God, the two of them were so dang cute, the giggling, drooling baby and the big, tough soldier with the look of soft devotion on his face.

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