trust Griffin. And he needed... Well, he needed somebody right now too. A woman who wasn’t going to get needy on him. Because he had too much going on to have to put up with someone else’s emotions too.
They could need each other in the right ways.
And that would work. It would.
But she was ashamed to admit that she did wish that he would hold her hand, and as they walked, their hands not touching, she felt somewhat bereft.
Don’t be like that. You’re older, you know better. You’re not a sixteen-year-old girl. You don’t believe automatically that having slept with him means that you’re going to fall in love with him. And you don’t even want that.
She didn’t.
So she ignored the way that her knuckles burned as they hung so close to his during their walk. Ignored the fact that she did wish that he might take possessive hold of her as they did. That he might show the whole town that she was with him.
They walked into the Gold Valley Saloon, and he held the door open for her, and that did bring a flush of pleasure to her face.
She was disappointed to see that no one in her immediate circle was there. Laz was standing behind the bar, as always, his new wedding ring gleaming on his finger, and he smiled when she saw him.
Well, Laz would see her. So there was that. Griffin led the way over to the bar. “I’d like a beer. Whatever you have on tap.”
“Light or dark?” Laz asked.
“I don’t know. What do you recommend?”
“That’s a loaded question. We could stand here and talk about microbrews for quite some time.”
“No thanks,” Griffin said. “Just a beer. Hold the dissertation.”
She saw a flash of who he’d been. Charming. Personable. Light.
Laz shook his head. “Beer is pretty serious business.”
“I’ll have a soda,” Iris said.
“The lady will have a soda,” Griffin added.
“Will she? Okay then.” Laz looked between them with some interest, then went off to fulfill the requests.
The door opened, and Iris turned, and a sharp pang of glee hit her square in the stomach. Because there he was.
Elliott.
The khaki-wearing bane of the last few months of her existence.
The man that Rose had thought she should be with.
The man who had loved Rose instead of her, who had absolutely enraged her, because she hadn’t even liked him, and then he had gone and hurt her feelings. That man.
“Stand closer to me,” she hissed.
“What?” Griffin lifted a dark brow, his beautiful mouth turning down.
“Um, please stand next to me because the boring guy that my sister tried to set me up with just walked in, and the fact that I’m with you makes me giddy.”
“Iris,” he said. “Are you being petty?”
“I am. I’m being very petty. Down into my soul. But you are the most beautiful man that I have ever seen in my entire life, and knowing that Elliott will see me with you brings me great pleasure.”
His lips quirked upward into a smile then. “I’m beautiful?”
“Yeah, kind of like a sheer rock face. Hard and dangerous.”
“Craggy.”
“In a good way.”
He chuckled. And then, Laz returned with their drinks. Griffin lifted his glass, and clinked it against hers. “To your pettiness.”
Elliott saw her then, and looked at her, frowned, then looked away. But he didn’t come over.
Of course he didn’t, he never liked you.
“He didn’t like me,” she said. “He liked my sister. It was the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me.”
“Oh,” he said.
“Like I told you when we first met. That day we went horse riding. My sisters are... They’re really something else. I mean they’re both adventurous and energetic and...and I’m just... Me.”
“Just you has proven to be pretty miraculous for me.”
Suddenly, she felt flushed with pride. And it didn’t matter that Elliott had ignored her. She didn’t like him, so what did he matter? Sure, there was the way that her feelings had been agitated during that whole experience, but he didn’t matter.
Griffin did.
“I’m very glad to hear that.” She stretched up on her toes, and kissed his cheek.
His hand went to her hip, and the casual contact that she’d made with him became decidedly un-casual. She was suddenly heavy with need. She could feel a pull starting low in her midsection and dragging down even lower.
“Griffin...”
The door opened again, and in walked a collection of her worst nightmares.
Her brother-in-law, West, her future brother-in-law Logan, Rose and Pansy.
The only silver lining was that Ryder and Sammy weren’t with them. But