Page 50 of Subbing For Santa

I redden even more at his compliment, causing him to chuckle as he reaches out his free hand to me. I take it, loving the feel of his fingers linking with mine, and I easily let him lead me to the black Mercedes parked in the driveway.

Like a gentleman, he opens the door and helps me in, shooting me a wink before he closes the door and places my bag in the boot before slipping into the driver’s seat.

I’m nervously quiet for the first few minutes of the drive, unsure of where to put my hands, so I clasp them in my lap, picking at my fingernails.

“You ok over there?” Griffin’s deep rasp snaps my attention to him to see his eyes darting from the road to me a few times. I nod and offer him a small smile. “Hmmm. You’re very quiet. I’ve never seen you so timid before.”

“Sorry.” I bite my lip, focusing on the road ahead.

“No need to be sorry, Aggie.” He states, and I can’t help myself. I look back at his smouldering brown gaze. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I’m just nervous. And I have a lot of questions.”

He grins, looking back to the road. “Ask them. I’ll answer what I can.”

I stew over what to ask him first. I want to know about his family, but I also want to know more about him. Just him.

“Where do you live?”

He chuckles at my question, and I’m confused as to why that would be so funny, until he answers.

“Next door to you.”

“What!” I screech, which just makes him laugh more. “You live next door? Which house?”

I already know the answer to that, even though I still ask. My friends rented the house to the west for a weekend not long ago, so he must live in the house to the east.

“Looking at the lake, I’m on your left side.” He responds, sounding amused.

“No wonder you were able to cut my power so quickly.”

“You nearly busted me the first time I cut it.” He chuckles. “When you came out to check, I was hiding in the bushes just near your garage.”

My mouth drops open at his admission. “Holy shit! You were like, right there?!”

“Yep.” He beams, proud of himself.

“So you own the house I’m renting. You installed cameras that I can’t seem to find, just to watchme, and the whole time you have done that from next door?”

He nods. “Yep. Although I don’t own the house. My family does.”

“Same thing.” I shake my head as things click into place.

“You’re actually lucky to be renting that house. We don’t normally let that particular property to tenants. We typically keep it for Marx crew members that come to town.”

“Marx crew?”

He nods. “Yes.”

“That sounds like a gang.”

“It is, in a way, I guess.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal.

Jesus.

“I’m sure you’ve come across a lot of women in your… what? Thirty years?”

“Thirty-four.” He corrects and I nod.

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