Page 124 of On The Rocks

Being New Yorkers, this was bikini weather for us—even after dark.

Lights dotted the water in the distance from pleasure boats and yachts. Miami was a mix of the rich and the working class,with a healthy dose of danger on the fringes. It was one of my favorite places.

It should be the perfect place for me to bring Daphne’s to life.

I leaned against him as he wrapped his free arm around my shoulders. “It is,” I said, quietly.

“You know I’d come with you, right?”

I drew in a quick breath. “Griffin...”

“I just want you to know that. We still have plenty of time to figure stuff out, but I want you to know that if this is your place, it can be mine.”

“What about the orchard?”

“It’ll always be there.”

“Starting a business means I’ll be working all the time. I won’t have time?—”

“Time for me? Or time for a relationship?”

“Isn’t it the same thing?”

“You make time for the people who matter.”

“I just don’t know yet.”

“That’s fair.” He tightened his hold, then he let me go to link our fingers. “Want to head back?”

“Yeah.”

At the top of the beach, we washed off our feet before we found the elevators to our room. We were quiet, the heaviness of our conversation like an unwanted person in the room.

We got ready for bed. I sat on the side of the bed wearing the silky nightgown I’d brought with me, but it didn’t feel right. I wanted one of his shirts.

Instead of fighting it, I went to his duffel bag and took one of his shirts and swapped it out. When I turned back to him, his eyes were warmer. It was my Griffin before the hard talk.

He turned out the lights and I slipped into the ridiculously decadent sheets and found him. Let him curl around me, tuckingme tight against him until my back was with flush with his chest. His hand slid under the shirt to my belly like we often slept.

And I let myself drift off with his heartbeat against me and the waves crashing outside.

When morning came, he was gone.

I sat up and slipped out of bed to find him on the balcony staring out at the water.

I padded back into our bedroom of the suite and found my phone.

Free to meet about the club?

Richard:

I can be there in two hours.

See you then.

I wasn’t sure this was the way we should go...Ishould go.

I closed my eyes because the we came so very easily. Was that a sign? Or just my mixed-up emotions?

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