Page 12 of No Going Back
He was supposed to be staying away from her, but there was no way he would abandon Dianna at a time like this. She needed help. She neededhim, and that had always been his weakness. One he obviously still hadn’t learned never worked in his favor.
Griffin pushed through the door, holding it open as Dianna followed. His boots were in a puddle almost immediately, making it clear Dianna had more than just a little problem on her hands. The amount of water he was seeing could quickly turn into a catastrophe. One that could shut her business down indefinitely and cost her a ridiculous amount of money to recover from.
Griffin rushed to the large stainless-steel basin that was currently spewing water like a geyser. A quick look underneath revealed the problem to be a busted pipe. He turned to Dianna, who was close behind him. “Where’s the water shut off?”
She shook her head, blinking furiously. “I don’t know.” Her chin quivered and she sucked in a shaky breath. For the first time since he’d known her, Dianna looked something besides sweet and soft.
She looked scared. Upset to the point that if he didn’t get this under control soon she was going to cry.
And he couldn’t handle tears.
Griffin reached up, sliding one hand across her cheek in a motion meant to comfort her, but might have also been a little self-serving. “Everything will be okay. I can fix this.” He pulled his hand from the warmth of her damp skin and went to the electric panel at the back of the space. Crouching down, he peered behind the line of containers on the wall in search of the main shut off for the water to Dianna’s bakery. He followed the path the main pipe took, moving everything in his way before finally finding the valve and shutting it down.
The sound of spewing water switched to a soft trickle before finally stopping.
“One problem down.” He straightened and turned to the sink, forcing his eyes not to go near Dianna’s shivering body, knowing full well the see-through fabric of her wet shirt would leave nothing to his imagination.
And his imagination had already provided him with plenty of ammunition where Dianna was concerned.
He scanned the room as he went to the sink. Everything was wet from about waist high down. The counters. Everything on the counters. The lower shelves. Everything on the lower shelves. The floors and any items stored there.
All of it was dripping.
He went down on one knee, bracing against the wet floor as he craned his neck to look over the damage. “What happened?”
Dianna sniffed again, the sound burning into his hide, fueling the desire to grab her and pull her close. To comfort her.
To touch her. To make her feel better.
To prove he could do it.
“The pipe has been dripping and at first I just put a bowl under it to catch the water, but it started to leak faster today and I thought maybe I could tighten it up and fix it.” She sniffed again. “But it just came undone and started spraying everywhere.”
“Why didn’t you call your landlord?” Griffin gritted his teeth, bracing himself for the sight about to confront him as he turned to Dianna. “He’s the one who should have been fixing this. That’s part of what a landlord does.”
Dianna had her arms wrapped around her middle, holding herself tight. “I didn’t want to bother him for something little like that.” Her chin trembled and she pressed her lips together, taking a sharp breath before continuing. “I figured I would just handle it myself.”
“I admire your independence and willingness to take care of yourself, but that’s what you pay him for.” Griffin accidentally inched in a little closer. “A leaky sink is his problem. Not yours.”
Dianna’s dark eyes left his face to move over the mess around them. “It looks like my problem is bigger than his problem at this point.”
“It does look like water and flour might not be a good combination.” Griffin reached out to run one finger down the stainless-steel countertop closest to him, lifting it up to reveal the pasty white mixture that seemed to be covering nearly every surface. “You should probably call your employees to come help you.”
Dianna ran one hand down her hair, smoothing it away from her face. “I don’t have any employees.”
“Why not?” He’d been hoping Troy and Amelie were wrong and Dianna did actually have people working for her, but apparently they were sadly well-informed.
She lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “It would take more time to train someone than it does for me to just do it.”
He understood her line of thinking. He’d had a similar one before coming to Moss Creek.
“It’s definitely not easy to bring someone in, but it’s absolutely worth it in the long run.” Griffin kept his tone gentle, hoping Dianna didn’t think he was criticizing her. That’s not what this was. “I hated the thought of not being in complete control of my business, but stepping away from it is the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Not that there was a lot of competition for that spot. He’d fucked up more than he’d gotten right in his life.
But getting away from the day-to-day running of his repair shops gave him the chance to change all that. Now he could be close to his son. Do all the things he never had the chance to do.
Dianna’s eyes widened. “I don’t want to step away. I like running my business.”
