Building Our Love (Griffin Brothers #2) (8 page)

“So, you are back
together then. That’s great,” Erika says. “Were you okay with,
you know, being with him? You said you had only been with him that
once and then nothing for three years. I don’t mean to pry.” She
adds quickly.

“No, actually we
aren’t. There’s more. As for being okay, it was uncomfortable at
first, and he noticed. I told him he shouldn’t believe what he
reads in the papers and that it had been while. He asked if that
meant I hadn’t been with Adam recently, and when I told him that I
hadn’t, he seemed happy. After that it was very good.” I can’t
help but smirk a little thinking about how good it was.

“Anyway, I screwed
things up after that first night we were together. I told him I loved
him. He freaked out and left. I haven’t said anything like that
again, because I didn’t want to scare him off. Yesterday when I
went into the office, I decided to take a chance. I left him a little
note in this office telling him one of the reasons that I love him. I
know it’s silly but, I wanted to put something in writing.”

“It’s not silly.
Scott and I write each other letters all the time. I love it, and he
does too,” Yasmin tells me.

“Thanks for telling
me that. So, I left him the note hoping he would like it and then I
started on my work. Ryan came in and asked me to come into his
office. I closed the door and went to give him a kiss. He stopped me
and told me that he had things to discuss with me. He went over my
salary and what he needed from me, as well as telling me he wanted me
to stay on as his assistant. I couldn’t stop myself and ran over to
hug and kiss him. He responded at first but then pulled away. And
told me to send red roses to his date from the month before, telling
her that he would make it up to her for leaving her.”

“What the fuck?”
Candi blurts out.

“Yeah. I wasn’t
expecting that, and I honestly went into the bathroom and cried for
like 15 minutes. I couldn’t help it. I really thought there was a
chance.” I take a deep breath and continue. “About an hour later,
Ryan comes out and stands in front of my desk. He tells me he has
something to say. Then, his phone rings and he takes the call, making
a date with that woman, Cel, in front of me. He asked her to be his
date for the party on Saturday, and also said he wanted to take her
out that night. Before he goes back into his office, he leaves me a
piece of paper telling me one of the reasons that he thinks that I’m
awesome.”

“Again, what the
fuck?”

“I know. The mixed
signals were giving me whiplash by then. That’s when Alex came by
and asked me to drive her to the bookstore and meet all of you. Ryan
came out and was acting like nothing had happened, and even led Alex
to believe that we were together. I told her he was with someone
else, and he didn’t correct me. I had pretty much decided by then
that I couldn’t keep this up and retain my sanity. I decided that I
could maintain a working relationship with Ryan but there could be
nothing else.

“I called in sick
yesterday and was at home, trying to relax and accept my decision,
when Ryan came to my door. With my favorite flowers. I went off on
him asking how he could make me order flowers for another woman and
then just show up with some for me. He tried to laugh it off saying
he couldn’t ask me to buy my own flowers and that he wanted to talk
to me. I told him if by talking he meant sex, I couldn’t do that
anymore even though I knew that I had agreed to it originally. I told
him it was too hard and asked him to tone down the PDA with his
girlfriend on Saturday. He said that he would, and he didn’t
correct me when I called her his girlfriend. So that’s where I’m
at now.”

“Wow. I thought Scott
and I had some miscommunication, but this is on a whole other level.
No wonder you’re going crazy,” Yasmin tells me, squeezing my
hand.

“I think you need to
force his hand. Wear something sexy and talk to the other guys at the
party—not Owen, though. If he really wants you, it’ll drive him
crazy, and he’ll come to you. If he doesn’t, then you know he
isn’t into you,” Candi advises me.

“First off, Owen is
like a brother to me. So no worries there. But I don’t know if I
can go around flirting with a bunch of guys like that. I don’t like
playing games. Besides, he’s not going to just up and walk away
from his date, or girlfriend, or whatever to claim me at the party.”

“So, don’t flirt
with the other guys. Butdo dress sexy,” Sam says to me.

“We’ll all be there
to back you up no matter what you decide,” Erika tells me.

They all agree, and I
thank them as we settle in to watch You’ve Got Mail. It feels nice
to finally have friends. Women who I can talk to without being afraid
they’ll make fun of me or tell all of my secrets. I had to
socialize with a bunch of fake women while I was pretending to be
with Adam. I hated every minute of it. These women are real and
pretty wonderful. I’m glad that I met them, even if things don’t
work out with Ryan.

Ryan

I head downtown to
Owen’s place after work. He used to live in City Center like Luke
and me but he felt that downtown would be a better fit for him, so he
moved into the Ogden. The Downtown Project is revitalizing the area
and some cool places are moving in. I’d like to bring Chloe down
here for a date night if I can convince her to go out with me. A few
days ago, I know that she would have. But after yesterday, I’m not
so sure.

I park in the garage
and head up to Owen’s apartment. He opens the door with a smile.
“Hey, Ry. We’re glad you could grace us with your presence for
once. All work and no play makes Ryan a grumpy brother.”

“Ha-ha asshole. Just
let me in and be ready to lose some cash.” I walk in and see Sean
and Danny there, as well as Luke and Scott. I didn’t know they
would be here, but I don’t mind. They’re cool guys and I can use
all the help I can get to figure out how to make things right with
Chloe.

Speaking of Chloe, Sean
surprises me when he tells me that he met her tonight. “I met your
assistant, Chloe. She was just getting to the house when I was
leaving. The girls met her yesterday and invited her over. She seems
really cool.”

“She used to be. But
not anymore,” Scott tells him. I see the pain in his eyes. Chloe’s
betrayal of me hit him pretty hard too.

“She’s still cool,
Scott. And I need all of your help to fix the mess I’ve made with
her.”

“You messed something
up at work with her?” Owen asks.

“No. Work is amazing.
She’s doing great as my assistant and after hearing her plans, I
gave her the interior design job for the Seattle building.” I look
over at Owen. “She’ll be contacting you soon about the art. She
wants edgy and fun instead of the usual corporate stuff.”

“Really? Wow, I can’t
wait. But if it’s not work, then what did you screw up with her?
You aren’t with her again, are you?”

“No, but I want to
be. It’s always been only her for me.”

“I called it last
month when you were coming home from her place. I told you I thought
you would want more, that your ‘sex only’ deal wasn’t going to
fly for long,” Luke reminds me.

“You were at her
place all night? And what the hell does Luke mean by a ‘sex only’
deal?” Scott asks me and he’s honestly looking a little pissed
now.

“Yes, I was at her
place. As for the deal, I need to explain everything to you guys.
Then, I need your advice and help.”

“You’ve got it,
man. Whatever you need. Now enlighten us,” Luke tells me with a
smile.

“I’ll hold my
opinion until you finish, but I’m honestly a little pissed right
now. What Chloe did to you was inexcusable, but she doesn’t deserve
to be fucked around with just for fun.” Scott’s eyes are blazing.

“I know, Scott.
That’s why I need your help. Let me explain and then you can punch
me if you want to.” He nods. “I don’t think Danny and Sean know
my background with Chloe, do you?” They shake their heads. “I
don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, so here’s the short
version. I have known Chloe since she was 11, and I was 14. We were
really good friends. I dated girls, but no one ever seemed right.
When I was almost 17, I realized that it was because no one else was
Chloe. I asked her parents if I could date her, and I kissed her on
her 14th birthday in our treehouse. We were together for five years,
and I waited for her to be ready to have sex with me all that time. I
was so happy with her that I really didn’t care. We did other
things, but it wasn’t until she was 19, and I was 22, that we made
love for the first time. The next day, she dumped me and started
dating the douchebag son of one of my dad’s biggest competitors.”

“Jesus. And you want
her back?” Danny looks at me like I’m crazy.

I nod. “I do. I have
a hard time believing that she left me without a good reason, and
having her back in my life these last few weeks has made me realize
how much I still love her. I know that she still loves me. I can see
it in her eyes.”

“So, she’s back and
you both love each other. You seem willing to forgive her. What’s
the problem?” Sean asks.

“The problem is that
I have been behaving like the biggest asshole on the planet. She told
me last night that she’s had enough. Honestly I don’t blame her.”
I hang my head, resigned.

“Tell us what you
did, bro,” Scott says to me. “You all know what a bastard I was
to Yas, but she took me back.”

I take a deep breath
and begin. “A couple weeks after she came to work for me, she said
that she wanted me back. I told her that I would only have her for
sex and only for my pleasure, but I didn’t want her to say I was
sexually harassing her. She typed up a document and signed it saying
that whatever happened between us was not sexual harassment. Then she
got on her knees and took care of me. She did it every day for the
next two weeks.”

“Wait a minute. You
told her she could only blow you, and she not only agreed but signed
some paper and then did it for two weeks?” Owen is looking at me in
disbelief.

“Yes and no. I didn’t
tell her she could only ‘blow me’, as you so eloquently put it.
But I did tell her that I didn’t care if she came or not. It just
happened that we didn’t do anything else those two weeks. I was
afraid that if I even kissed her, I would give in to my feelings for
her.”

“So what happened
next? You came home minus a shirt, so I don’t think she only went
down on you that night,” Luke points out.

“I came in to work
one day and just seeing her made me weak in the knees. I was afraid I
was getting too close to her so I called her into my office. She was
flirty with me, and I told her I didn’t need my whore, I needed my
assistant. Then I had her set up a date for me with a girl I’d gone
out with last year. I had her make the show and dinner reservations
too.”

“Damn, Ry. You have
been an asshole,” Owen looks kind of freaked out. “I didn’t
think you had it in you.”

“I don’t. I’ve
felt like shit since we started all of this. Anyway, I went on the
date, but all I could think about was Chloe. I left my date with cab
fare and headed to her place. I kissed her and more that night. She
told me her ideas for the Seattle project, and I hired her before
doing things with her again. Then she told me that she loved me. I
couldn’t handle hearing it because I could tell that she meant it.
So I took off.

“We’ve been having
sex for around a month now. I got to work a couple of days ago, and
she looked so beautiful and happy. I knew that she was happy because
of the job and because of being with me the last few weeks. I still
felt the need to hurt her, though. I called her into my office and
kept our conversation strictly business. Then, she jumped up and gave
me a hug and a kiss. I pulled away and told her to send red roses to
my date, along with a note telling her that I would make it up to her
for leaving early last month.”

“Okay. I concede my
title. You’ve been taking bastard behavior to a new level,” Scott
tells me, shaking his head.

“It gets worse,” I
admit and then continue. “After I did that, I found a note she left
for me, telling me one of the reasons that she loves me. I felt like
a jerk, so I decided to write a note to her telling her why I thought
she was awesome—I couldn’t say love yet and I had seen a book
like that at Yasmin’s store.”

“Well, that sounds
good. Yas loves the letters I write to her.”

“It would’ve been
good if I hadn’t answered a call from the other woman in front of
Chloe when I went to her desk to give it to her.”

“Dude.” Luke only
needs to say that one word. I already know what a bastard I am.

“Yep. I took the call
and invited her to be my date to the party on Saturdayand I asked her
to go on a date that night. All while standing in front of Chloe. I
dropped the paper on her desk and then retreated to my office. I came
out later and found Alex with her, asking to talk to her. I tried to
joke about old times when they would talk for hours, and I wasn’t
allowed to interrupt. Alex took that to mean that we were back
together. Chloe immediately told her that we weren’t together and
that I was seeing someone else, who she would meet at the party.
After they left, I realized that I wanted Chloe. Like, really wanted
her. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I canceled my date and then
brought her favorite flowers to work for her. She’d called in sick,
though, so I had to wait until later and then I took them to the
guest house.”

“I’m guessing that
it didn’t go so well,” Sean remarks.

“No. It didn’t. She
was mad that I made her send flowers to someone else and then showed
up at her door with some for her. I tried to make a joke but it only
pissed her off more. She told me she couldn’t keep just having sex
with me while I had her make dates for me and send women flowers. She
begged me to limit the PDA at the party and referred to Cel as my
girlfriend. Then she took the flowers and closed the door in my
face.”