The King Next Door (10 page)

“Fine. Talk to you then.”

He hung up, but didn’t turn around. Instead, he stared out at the horizon. Coral, scarlet and gold splashed across the sky and spread brilliant reflections of color on the water. The tide was shifting, heading in closer now, and drenched his bare feet as he stood on the sand.

End of the day.

Which meant the beginning of the night with Nicole.

Yeah, he could understand how a woman could turn a man’s world upside down.

Didn’t mean he liked it.

Eight

“Y
ou don’t understand how this works,” Griffin said later that night, and Nicole heard the oh, so patient, genius-to-moron tone in his voice.

“Wow, you’re right,” Nicole said, widening her eyes and blinking a couple of times for the dumb-blonde effect. “I’ve never had to pay bills or work out a budget. Is it a lot of math?”

A second or two ticked past before Griffin huffed out a breath. “Funny. Very funny. Okay, point made. You’re an accountant. You get math.”

She got a lot more than that, Nicole thought. Griffin might have thought he couldn’t be overheard when he was talking to his brother at the beach. But she
had
heard him when he told Garrett that he felt
sorry
for Connor. That he and Nicole weren’t permanent and so neither was his involvement with her son. Fine. She could accept temporary. She’d known that going in. But where did he come off feeling
sorry
for Connor? Her son wasn’t a charity case, starving for male attention.

Well, maybe that wasn’t completely right, either. Rafe and Katie spent time with them, and Connor loved Rafe a lot. But under Griffin’s attentions the last couple of weeks, Connor had blossomed and Nicole couldn’t deny it. She tried so hard to be everything her little boy needed—and still, she could see that having a man in his life made a huge difference.

Damn it.

Irritated, she snapped, “Yes, I understand math, but if it makes you feel better, only the little numbers.”

He slapped one hand to his chest and gave her a half bow. “Apologies. Now, you going to keep making me pay, or are you going to help me out with this?”

She swallowed the lingering anger over what she’d heard at the beach. He didn’t know that she’d heard him and unless she was willing to open up that particular can of worms right now, which she wasn’t, she had to let this go. For now, anyway.

“Depends,” she said. “Are you going to keep talking to me in the voice you use to read stories to Connor?”

“Another point. Okay, then,” Griffin said, sitting down beside her at the kitchen table. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Good to hear,” Nicole told him, and looked into the blue eyes that had come to mean way too much to her.

She was an idiot. Even knowing this was temporary hadn’t been enough to make her guard her heart. Instead, she’d practically
run
into a relationship that was going to end up crushing her.

But for now, working with him might be a sort of bridge from the personal to the impersonal. Because God knew, she needed one.

The overhead light was on, spilling down over the papers spread out over the oak table. Connor was sleeping, and the house was quiet. Usually about now, she and Griffin would be doing something a lot more fun than working. But seeing him poring over numbers and logistics had intrigued Nicole enough to offer her help. Which of course he’d dismissed, and that had only made Nicole more determined to prove to him that she was more than he thought she was.

“So,” she said, smiling at him, “you need to come up with an estimate for the security at a museum showing of some historical gems?”

His mouth quirked. “Yeah, that sums it up.”

“Okay.” She shifted her gaze to the papers in front of her and quickly thumbed through them. “Garrett sent the specs of every important gem in the collection and his suggestions for the security.”

“Yeah, Garrett’s always got plenty of suggestions.” Griffin leaned back in his chair. “He’s usually the one putting these things together. I’m the on-the-ground guy, making sure it all holds together, that our men are where they’re supposed to be.” Sitting up straight again, he leaned forward and braced his forearms on the table top. “I think he did this on purpose. He knows I hate this kind of stuff.”

“I love it,” Nicole said. “There’s clarity in numbers. They don’t lie. They don’t change. You can count on them being exactly what they’re supposed to be.”

“Yeah. Annoying.”

She laughed a little and picked up the top sheet. “See, Garrett’s wrong about this.”

“Garrett? Wrong?” Grinning, he leaned in closer. “You’ve got my attention. What do you see?”

Here was her chance. To show him what she could do. “Do you and your brother compete on everything?”

“Absolutely.”

“All righty then,” she said, shaking her head. “Well, you’re going to love this.”

“Show me.”

She used a pen to point at a single line in Garrett’s notes. “Garrett’s suggested using four men around the sapphire collection.”

“Yeah, so?”

“The sapphires, while gorgeous, let me just say, aren’t exactly the centerpiece of the collection.”

He frowned, but he was watching her with a calculated gaze, as if seeing her in a whole new light. “What is, then?”

“There’s a brooch. A really old, really ugly brooch.” Nicole fought down the nerves jumping inside her and kept her voice cool as she tapped her finger on the grainy photo. The brooch was a swirl of small stones, set into a starburst pattern that then wrapped around a central piece made to look like a clutch of lilies. “It’s not pretty at all, but it
was
a gift from Marie Antoinette to the ancestor of the guy who’s loaning them to the museum.”

He looked like he wanted to argue and then he said, “But the sapphires are—”

“Gorgeous, and yes,” Nicole interrupted before he could speak up, “easily sold off on the black market. But Marie’s brooch would make most private collectors sit up and beg for a chance to own it.”

“Good point,” Griffin said. “I would have seen that eventually, of course…”

“Oh, of course.”

“I’m gonna ride Garrett, though, because he didn’t notice what you did. So, you see anything else?”

Pleased at the gleam of approval in his eyes, Nicole grabbed another sheet of paper and started to make a list. “The rubies should be shown near the sapphires, of course, because the color compositions will complement each other.”

“Naturally.”

“Two men on each display,” she continued, making notations as her ideas began to fly. “With four stationed around Marie’s brooch. Then you’ve got the diamond room.” She paused to sigh over the pictures that didn’t do the stones justice. “Tiaras, bracelets, a necklace with more than thirty-five carats of diamonds hanging by slender threads of gold…” She stopped and put a hand to her chest. “Excuse me, I’m having a personal moment here.”

He laughed. “I never would have guessed that you loved jewelry.” He picked up her left hand. “You don’t wear any, except for those tiny gold hoops at your ears.”

She pulled her hand free, embarrassed to be caught drooling over faxed images of priceless jewels. The only jewelry she’d ever worn had been her wedding ring. That thought brought up memories of the man who’d walked away without a glance backward. The man who’d been a player—as Griffin was—she reminded herself.

“I don’t exactly go places where jewelry is necessary. Doesn’t mean I can’t admire them.”

“You should be draped in diamonds,” he whispered, his eyes suddenly smoky and filled with a heat she recognized.

“I don’t want diamonds,” she whispered. But oh, God, she’d love to have the man who was right now staring at her as if he could eat her up.

“Maybe that’s why I want to give them to you.”

Not permanent,
her mind echoed, replaying a couple of the words that she’d overheard Griffin say to his twin. It was enough to stiffen her spine, thank God. “Contrary to the end, huh?”

He gave her that half smile. “Part of my charm.”

“Is that what that is?” she asked.

“Admit it, I’ve got you right where I want you.”

Oh, he really did, she thought, wondering just how she’d come to this place. She’d gone into it for the fun, but now, that fun had become something else. He already had one foot out the metaphorical door and she— Nicole froze as realization crashed down on her. Oh, God. She was falling in love.

Something she’d planned to
never
do again.

Her heartbeat thundered so fiercely in her chest, she was surprised that Griffin couldn’t hear it. There was a knot in her throat threatening to cut off her air. Her mind was churning and not coming up with any idea at all to help her find her way out of this. Worst part? This whole situation had been
her
idea. And now she was caught in her own trap.

“Hey,” Griffin said, laying one hand on her arm. “You okay? You went sort of white.”

“I’m fine.” Liar, liar. She really wasn’t anywhere close to fine. She was as far from fine as she could possibly get. “I’m just…I don’t know.”

“It’s probably dealing with all those numbers,” he teased. “Always does it to me.”

She forced a smile she didn’t feel. Her insides were twisted up and tangled. Her heart ached as if something was squeezing it. And she knew, deep in her bones, that this pain was just the beginning.

There was much more coming. Soon.

But she wouldn’t let him know. Wouldn’t let him see that she had been stupid enough to fall in love with a man who was no doubt already preparing his “See you later, take care” speech. So Nicole took a deep breath and told herself firmly to hold it together. Focus on the math, she thought. Just concentrate on the task at hand and get through this moment and into the next. That was all she could do at this point.

“Funny,” she said, “numbers do the opposite for me. Let’s just finish the job, okay?”

He frowned a little, his blue eyes narrowing on her face. “Okay. I’m not crazy enough to turn down help when it’s offered. But—”

She cut him off. If he was nice to her, she might break. If he was tender or sweet or romantic right now, it would do her in. She might blurt out that her feelings for him had changed. That she didn’t feel temporary. That she wanted…more. Might actually make the
huge
mistake of saying the
L
word, and where would that lead? To disaster. Pure and simple.

She knew how he felt already. She’d heard him talking to Garrett, hadn’t she? She wasn’t permanent. He felt
sorry
for Connor.

Oh, God. Connor. Losing Griffin was going to be so confusing for him. He wouldn’t understand that Griffin had only been in his life temporarily. That he’d been the object of pity. Her heart hurt for Connor, and she wondered if she shouldn’t just pull back from Griffin now. Do what she could to make this easier on her son, if not on her. But would hurrying his hurt make it easier to understand? And how could she leave now anyway? Her house was still not ready, and she couldn’t afford to go anywhere else.

She was going to have to try to protect Connor the best she could while, at the same time, dying a little inside.

Shaking her head, Nicole concentrated on the papers in front of her and completely ignored Griffin’s attempt at trying to soothe her. “Okay, then, first, we figure out how many men you’ll need to work the job.”

“We also have to factor in the laser alarm system, the cameras and computer equipment,” Griffin was saying, his voice crisp and cool, businesslike, as if he’d accepted that she wasn’t interested in anything more at the moment. “We’ll cooperate with the museum’s standing security, but I’ll want King equipment to bolster it.”

She looked up at him and thought again that this had become more than just an affair. This was the first time she’d ever talked numbers with a man without watching his eyes glaze over. A part of her warmed to the idea that they were working together. If things were different, they could have had a future where he came to her for help with his business. They could have, over time, developed trust and cooperation and maybe even—

His cell phone rang. Griffin glanced at the readout, and almost instantly his open features closed up tight. His eyes shut her out and he stood up as he answered.

“Brittany, hi.”

Brittany.
Griffin’s voice dropped to the husky, intimate tone she knew so well and Nicole cringed a little. Oh, dear God, was she
interchangeable
with the other women in his life? Did he use that sexy voice on all of them? And did every woman finally imagine herself in love with him?

Probably, she acknowledged, and didn’t know whether that made her feel better or worse.

“It’s good to hear from you,” Griffin was saying as he walked a few steps across the kitchen. “Yeah, I meant to call you, but well, work’s been busy.”

Huh. He was on
vacation.
She guessed that was his standard line, used to put off women who got too clingy. So if she called him a few weeks from now, it would be her getting the brush-off, not poor Brittany. God, this was so embarrassing.

“Actually,” Griffin said, “I’m with my accountant right now, so it’s not a good time to…”

His accountant?
Whatever else he said was lost on Nicole. That’s what she was. Some nameless grunt helping him out with a little math. If she could have, she would have found the nearest hole and crawled into it.

All of her lovely little fantasies popped like soap bubbles in her mind. Pain opened up inside her and Nicole had to force a sudden film of tears from her eyes. Here it was, she told herself. Proof that she’d made the second biggest mistake of her life.

She’d fallen for a man too much like her ex. Oh, Griffin was a better man than Connor’s father, but at the heart of it, he was no different. He wasn’t interested in commitment, and if she was dumb enough to let him know that she cared about him, she’d see pity in his eyes. That was one thing she never wanted to go through.

So she’d keep her feelings to herself. She’d go along with their affair until it was over and then she’d curl up with a gallon of ice cream and a couple bottles of wine. Until then…

“Sorry about that,” Griffin said, sitting down beside her. “Brittany’s an old friend and—”

“You don’t owe me an explanation, Griffin. I’m just the accountant.” She winced as she said it and would have slapped her own hand across her mouth if it would have called the words back. But she so didn’t want to hear him try to explain away one of his old girlfriends.

“Hey,” he said, catching her chin and turning her face toward him. “I didn’t mean—”