Page 110 of On The Rocks

I slipped out of bed and grabbed one of his Henley shirts instead of my own clothes. I needed something of his on my skin. I stopped in the bathroom to take care of business and groaned at my image in the mirror.

“Not good, girl.” I gently prodded the purple bruise that climbed from my cheek to my hairline. I found a bottle of Advil in the medicine cabinet and swallowed three after I brushed my teeth.

I padded out to the living room and found him in his music loft. From my vantage point, his massive, bronzed shoulders made my mouth water. Evidently, a man and an acoustic guitar were now on my list of sexual chocolate.

I wasn’t mad about it.

Ipaused, not wanting to interrupt him. The melody was a sad one. His hair fell forward, the curls even longer now. They softened the angular lines of his face as he plucked at the strings.

No pick for Griffin.

Nope, he used the tips of his fingers—the result being the tiny callouses that played along my skin as perfectly as those strings. The melody was full of longing, dragging me ever closer to him.

I didn’t even realize it until I was at the stairs, leading to the dining area. Silently, I made my way up the ladder to his domain. He was so immersed in the music that he didn’t hear me.

When he finally looked up, surprise lit his green eyes followed by a smile that warmed me from the inside out.

He rested his arm on the body of the guitar as if they’d been created to fit together. “Morning.” He stood, setting the honey and fire-colored guitar in the stand before he lifted a hand to gently touch my face. “Time for more peas.”

I covered his hand with mine. “It’s fine.”

“When do you work next?”

“Wednesday. Hopefully, I’ll be able to patch it up with makeup by then.”

“So, you have four whole days off?”

“One-track mind.”

He laughed. “I was thinking maybe we could get out of here for a few days.”

“We just went somewhere two weeks ago.”

“Yeah, it was an overnight.” He stepped into me, sliding his arm around my waist. “Show me your bar.”

Startled, I tried to back up. “Why?”

“Because if it’s part of you, I want to see it.”

“I…” At a loss, I didn’t actually have words. “Okay.”

He grinned. “Good. I’ll take care of the details; you go get whatever clothes you need.”

Excitement and trepidation hummed under my skin. Seeing it would make it real and seeing it with Griffin made it complicated.

I lifted onto my toes and kissed him. “Thanks.”

Before I could think about it too hard, I hurried down the ladder and to go get dressed.

When I came out, Griffin was on his phone. “Our flight is at 3:20.” He glanced up. “Think we can swing it?”

I checked my phone, finding a few texts from Annette and Bells. “Plenty of time. Kain and Bells invited us to dinner.”

Griffin sighed. “Figures he finally makes an offer.”

“We don’t have to go.”

He crossed to me. “Absolutely not. This is more important. Kain isn’t going anywhere.” He brushed his thumb along my bruise. “This still looks gnarly.”

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