Building Our Love (Griffin Brothers #2) (20 page)

We say our goodbyes and
then head back to the hotel. All of our packages are in the living
room part of the suite, and I stop short upon seeing them. “Oh my
God, did I really buy all of that?”

“Yes, you did,”
Ryan laughs as he confirms it.

“I may have to eat
ramen for a month.”

“What? Are you short
on money, Chlo?” He looks genuinely concerned.

“No. I’m not. I’ve
gone a little crazy with the designer clothes and now the souvenirs,
but I’m far from ramen. I was just joking. It’s just that for so
long, I couldn’t pick my own things, and now I can, so I want to.”

“What do you mean you
couldn’t pick your own things?”

“Oh, never mind about
that.” Shit. What was I thinking? Obviously, I wasn’t thinking. I
quickly change the subject. “I should scale back and put some in
savings, though.”

“If you want. Just
remember that there’ll be other projects for you to work on later,
plus your salary. So you don’t have to worry about having a steady
income. My parents will let you stay free at the guest house as long
as you like, and you know my mom will feed you anytime.”

“What if you get
bored with me?”

“Bored with you? You
mean sexually?”

“Yeah. I mean, I
won’t do anything too kinky and that may not be enough for you
eventually.”

“You’re joking
again, right? Because I’ve had you seventeen times in the last two
days, and I’m still rock hard when we’re in the same room. I
can’t get enough of you, Chlo, and I don’t thinkI ever will. I
don’t need kinky. I just need you. But, I’ll admit thatI liked
what we did in the club last night. That was fucking hot.”

“Yeah, it was,” I
tell him with a smile.

“I need you to
understand that your job is safe. If for some insane reason we broke
up—which I’m not in any way thinking of—youwould still always
have a job. You’re beyond talented, and I want to build many more
buildings for you to design the interiors for.”

“Thanks for the
reassurance. I want to work on more buildings with you, too. I don’t
have any thoughts of ever leaving you, either. And I’m equally
insatiable when it comes to you and your hot body. If you haven’t
noticed that already.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed,”
he tells me as he grabs me and pulls me into the bedroom.

* * *

Ryan

It’s the morning of
the wedding and everyone else is pretty much freaking out. They have
a day full of pampering and shit, but since Chloe and I aren’t in
the wedding, we have most of the day free. We decided ahead of time
that we’d spend the morning at Animal Kingdom and the afternoon at
Disney Studios. The morning is filled with rides and more shopping.

My pep talk last night
must have worked because Chloe isn’t checking the prices on things
she picks up. She doesn’t need to with what we’re paying her in
salary plus the seven figures she’s getting for the Seattle
project. I’m glad that she’s not worried anymore. Since my family
is beyond wealthy, we pay our employees extremely well and can pay
for the best to work with us.

I got us a reservation
at one of the restaurants in the park. It’s a character buffet, but
I heard it has a killer atmosphere and good food. The concierge was
correct on both, and also managed to secure us a patio table. We
enjoy our lunch while watching the characters interact with the kids.
They come by our table, and we’re good sports about it, taking some
pictures. It’s actually pretty fun.

“We’ll have to
bring our kids here one day, Chlo.”

“Yeah, we will.”

After lunch, we go to
Disney Studios and spend a couple hours riding the rides and yes,
shopping. We get back to the hotel with time to shower and change
into our wedding clothes. It’s cocktail attire, so I’m wearing a
black suit and white shirt with no tie. Chloe is stunning as usual in
a pink dress with black buttons down the side and pink and black
heels. We walk over to Epcot, where the wedding’s taking place.

Sam and Danny chose a
part of the Italian pavilion to get married in. She’ll be coming
across a bridge to meet him under a flower arch. Chloe and I walk to
our seats next to my parents. When my dad stands, Chloe hugs him
tight and thanks him for giving us the extra time together. My mom
and her compliment each other on their dresses, and we all sit down.

The string quartet
starts playing a song, and I recognize it as “Mirrors” by Justin
Timberlake. That’s perfect. Sam loves him and his music. Alex comes
over the bridge first. My niece looks beautiful in her dress. It has
one shoulder on the top, which is off white with beading. The skirt
is long and full in a dark teal. Candi, Erika,and Yasmin all follow
her. Then the wedding march starts and we stand to wait for Sam.

Sam looks amazing in a
dress that is modern but princess at the same time. It’s strapless
lace on top but then has some kind of construction that has material
flowing from the sides. It’s pretty cool. She and Danny make it
through their vows while all of the women cry. Chloe’s turned into
my shoulder sobbing while I rub her arm and chuckle at her. She
punches my arm for that. It really is a nice ceremony.

The reception is taking
place at the British pavilion, so Chloe and I head there after taking
a couple of pictures with everyone. We find our table and sit down.

“Where would you like
to get married, Chlo?”

“Are you going to be
pulling out that ring now, Ry?”

“No. Not yet.” But
I’m planning to soon. “I’m just wondering.”

“I’m not sure, but
I know that I would like it to be in a cool building. If it is in
Vegas, it would definitely be the Frank Gehry building for the Lou
Ruvo Brain Institute. I love that building. Or…” She stops, and I
know she’s made her decision. I’m not sure why she’s hesitant
to tell me.

“Or, what?”

“Our building, Ry.
I’d like to get married in the first place we designed together.”

“Wow. That would be
perfect. I think we can get permission to use it when the time
comes,” I tell her with a wink.

“I love you Ryan
Griffin. More than you could ever know.”

“I love you too,
Chloe Jamison.”

I lean towards her, but
we’re interrupted. “Hi, Ryan.”

“What the fuck do you
want?”

“I want just that. A
fuck.” The bitch starts rubbing my arm. In front of Chloe. “It
was so hot and you know it.”

“You have five
seconds to stop touching me and go sit as far away from me as
possible before I have you removed from here.’

“This is Sam’s
wedding. You can’t kick me out.”

“My brother is paying
for the wedding and since Chloe is one of his best friends, I think
he’d have no problem with me getting rid of someone who’s being
so fucking disrespectful to her. Also, I know Sam told you to
behave.”

She turns to Chloe
before leaving. “Good luck. He’s going to get tired of you soon.”

Chloe rolls her eyes.
“I think your five seconds are up.”

She storms off and I
pick up where we left off. We kiss and talk until everyone else
arrives. The wedding is pretty small, only about 30 people, but Scott
has spared no expense. We receive actual menus to order from, with
choices for every taste. Peter Pan, Mickey, and Minnie make an
appearance. The cake is a masterpiece, depicting Cinderella’s
Castle, and there is a separate dessert bar. The DJ starts playing
after dinner, and we dance for a couple of hours before heading back
to our table.

After Sam and Danny say
their goodbyes to head to a special room inside Cinderella’s
Castle, my family and friends gather our chairs together. My dad
looks a little serious, and I ask him if something’s wrong.

“I didn’t want to
bring this up until tomorrow, but I guess that this is as good a time
as any.”

“What is it, Dad?”

“I got a call on
Thursday from one of the guys who’s looking for land for us for the
new Chicago building that we have talked about. He told me that the
Richards’ are causing a big fuss, saying that our family is
unethical and steal ideas. They have some architects from Seattle who
said you stiffed them at a meal when you were there.”

“What the fuck? We
are nothing if not ethical. We don’t need to steal ideas, either.
Those assholes in Seattle insulted Chloe and then expected me to pay
for them. I paid for Chlo and me. I wasn’t going to pay for them
after they insulted her, though.”

“I know, Ryan, but
they also have Deanna backing them. She’s saying that Chloe slept
her way into her position, and with…well, with the news articles
about Chloe and Adam, it just doesn’t look good.”

“I am so, so sorry. I
never meant for my scandal to affect you. I’ll quit. I do quit.”
Chloe gets up from the table, shaking and crying.

“You are not
quitting, Chloe. Once we show the Seattle building in a couple of
days, everyone will see your talent and know they’re all bitter
liars.” I grab her arms and pull her to me.

“I swear that I’m
going to castrate those people if I ever meet them,” Candi says,
looking murderous.

“Well, we have to
meet with them and several representatives in Chicago in two weeks to
tell our side of the story. I would love to have everyone there to
support us. But you can’t injure them, Candi,” my dad tells her.

“Sean and I will be
there, Gary.” Erika looks at Yasmin, and I see something pass
between them, although I’m not sure what it is.

“I’ll close the
store for however long it takes so that everyone can go. I wanted to
go to Scott’s alma mater anyway.”

“What for, Yas?”
Scott asks her.

“I can’t tell you
yet. Can you set up a meeting with the president of the college and
your old tech advisor for me?”

“Yeah. Sure.” I can
tell he’s as confused as the rest of us, but he’ll do anything
for Yasmin.

I see another look pass
between Yasmin and Erika, and then also Candi. I’ll have to figure
it out another time, though. I’m too worried about Chloe to think
of anyone else. She’s still sobbing into my shirt while holding my
biceps tight.

“It’ll be okay,
Chlo. Let’s go back to our room. I’ll make you a hot bath and you
can relax.”

She nods against my
chest as I wrap my arm tight around her and walk back to the hotel.
When we get there, she doesn’t want to let me go, so I hold onto
her with one arm while drawing her bath, and then I undress us both
so I can join her. I rub her shoulders and back until she stops
shaking and then lift her up to tuck her into the bed. I climb in
beside her, and we fall asleep in each other’s arms. Just like
every other night for the past couple of months.

Chloe

We had a subdued
breakfast with everyone this morning before we left Orlando. I guess
Adam isn’t as stupid as I thought he was. He never even hinted that
his family was planning something. Now, we’re on one of the jets
heading to Seattle. Scott, Yasmin, Owen, Candi, Sean, and Erika are
with us. Since it’s the tech building for the company, Scott and
Sean will be a big part of this building, even though they’ll
continue to spend most of their time in Vegas. Owen is, of course
here because his work is part of the design. He needed a date for the
events, and no one is surprised that he brought Candi. Especially
since we ended up purchasing some of her photos for the upper floors.
The employee preview is tomorrow night. and I hope that everyone
likes it.

We land and head to the
hotel. We’re all staying at the W. Scott and Yasmin said the one in
Chicago was really cool, so we all agreed it would be a good choice.
We plan to all meet for dinner later. Since the hotel restaurant is
not open Sunday nights, Ryan suggested the restaurant and wine bar
that we ate at last time. Everyone was good with that, and we split
up to head to our rooms.

We’re in an Extreme
Wow Suite. I’m happy to see the Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. I have
a feeling that four days of non-stop tours, interviews, and parties
are going to do me in. I unpack all of my dresses because I don’t
want any of them to be wrinkled for the events. I also pull out a
short red dress with cutout batwing sleeves for tonight.

Ryan comments
appreciatively on my dress, and I tell him that he looks hot, too. He
always does. We have a fun dinner at the restaurant. My hot boyfriend
can’t help but tease me about ordering the lobster mac and cheese
again,but when I whisper to him that the couch in our suite looks
comfortable to sleep on, he quickly grabs my spoon and feeds some to
me. We make it an early night because Ryan, Owen, and I have to look
over the building in the morning.

The next morning we
wake up and take quick showers before heading over to the site with
Owen. We’re all casually dressed as it’s just us, Reuben, the
local girl, Tera, who we hired to help me with the furniture
deliveries, the construction foreman and the workers who are loading
in the furniture. If I thought it looked good partially done, seeing
the furniture being placed is just, wow. There’s no other word for
it. I immediately jump in to help.

“This place is just
amazing, Chloe. The furniture you picked is perfect,” Tera tells me
when I greet her.

“Thanks. It looks
like you have everything handled out here. I’m going to head to the
upper floors. Call me if any problems come up.”

I go up the elevator
and check each floor. Everything is right where it should be. Owen
and Candi’s work enhances each floor, and I’m really proud of all
of us. I head back down to the employee break rooms and quiet room.
Tera is there and everything’s being loaded in. I thank her for
doing such a good job upstairs, and we work together on these rooms.

We’re all exhausted
when we leave in the late afternoon. Candi came by after lunch and
took pictures for us. The building looks beyond amazing. I’m
excited for the employees to see it and give their reactions. Tonight
is the most important party for me. The employees are the ones who’ll
use the building, so their opinion means more to me than anyone
else’s.