by Stacy Finz
She squinted at the Lexus and walked closer to get a better look. “It’s brand-new.”
“Nah, it’s a few years old. The owner just took good care of it. You want to take it for a test drive?”
“Uh, yeah.” Her eyes sparkled. “But how much is it?”
“Four thousand. You may be able to whittle it down, though.”
“You know the owner?” she asked, reverently running her hand over the Lexus’s silver finish.
“Yup. Good guy. Knows his cars.”
“Can I look inside?”
Griffin popped the locks with the fob. “Of course. Take it out on the highway, see if you like the ride.” He handed her the key.
“Leather seats,” she said with awe as he watched her climb in.
“It’s got the full package: all-wheel drive, seat warmers, navigation system, upgraded sound system, the works.”
She looked at the odometer. “Not much mileage on it. Do you think they may have done the thing where they roll back the numbers to make it look better than what it really is?”
The corners of his mouth curved up. “I don’t think so.”
“I’m scared to drive it, it’s so nice.”
“Want me to come?” Now why had he offered that?
“Could you? I don’t know where everything is.”
“No problem.” He got into the passenger seat and buckled up. “It’s an automatic. You won’t have a problem.”
She backed out and pulled onto Main Street. “I’ll take it around the square and then to the highway.”
She drove like a granny, but Griff didn’t say anything. Clearly she needed to get used to the vehicle.
“It’s different than Maddy’s Outback,” Lina said. “It’s so smooth.”
Griff turned on the radio. A country station. “This making you nervous?”
“I’m okay.” She checked all the mirrors and adjusted the one on her side. Griffin thought she looked good in the SUV. Then again, she’d look good in a Vega hatchback.
She wiggled her butt in the seat, oblivious to what it was doing to him. “It’s comfortable.”
They went around the square, took the road out of Nugget to the entrance of the highway.
“How about driving over fifty?” Griffin said.
“I will when I’m ready.” She shot him a look and he grinned. Fiery thing. “Four thousand, huh? It seems that a truck like this would be worth more.”
“That’s what he’s asking.” Griffin looked down at his boots.
“I’ve only got three thousand. I could probably borrow five hundred from my brother. But he and Maddy are paying to throw me a big party. I wouldn’t feel right about asking for any more.”
Griff nodded in understanding. “See if the owner will take thirty-five hundred. Can’t hurt to ask.”
“I’ll have to talk to Rhys first. He’ll probably want you to check the engine and all the other stuff a mechanic is supposed to look at before buying a car.”
“No problem.” Griff glanced over at the speedometer. And what do you know? She was doing sixty.
“I really love it, Griff. How did you find the car?”
“The guy came in for an oil change, said he’d just bought a hybrid and wanted to unload this one.”
She’d pulled over to the side of the road, hung a U-turn, and headed back to Nugget. “It seems like it would be super reliable.”
Anything would be more reliable than the Scout. Rhys had given him the go-ahead to junk it. “It’ll definitely get you to Reno and back for a lot of years.”
“It’s so luxurious.” She gazed at the dashboard with its gauges and screens.
“Lexus makes a nice vehicle.”
Feeling more comfortable in the driver’s seat, Lina played with the windshield wipers, the heater, and the radio.
“How are plans for your party coming?” He didn’t know why he asked. But idle conversation seemed like a better alternative than what he’d like to do.
“Brady has a great menu planned, and a lot of people are coming. My mom couldn’t afford a quinceañera, so this is my first big birthday party.”
Griffin knew that a quinceañera was the equivalent of a sweet sixteen for fifteen-year-old Mexican girls, only fancier. They wore big poufy dresses that looked like wedding gowns, had attendants, and there was some kind of religious ceremony involved. Parties like that took a chunk of change to throw, and like Griff, Lina had grown up dirt-floor poor. Griff hadn’t come into his wealth until he was twenty-five. Lina had lost her mother when she was seventeen. She and her brother, Samuel, had come to Nugget to live with their half-brother, Rhys, and their father, who’d died a short time later.
So this damned party was a big freaking deal.
“You’re coming, right?” Lina turned into the Gas and Go, pulled the Lexus around back, turned off the engine, and pressed the emergency brake.
“I have another commitment,” he said, and couldn’t look her in the eye. “But I’m gonna try.”
“Okay,” she said, like she couldn’t care less. “I’ll talk to Rhys and get back to you on the SUV as soon as possible. Are there a lot of people who want it?”
“You’ve got first dibs,” he said and hopped out of the cab.
She handed him the key. “I can’t thank you enough, Griffin. I hope I get it.” Lina crossed her fingers and Griffin wanted to tell her that the Lexus was hers. Instead he kind of stared at her, slack-jawed. She was just that beautiful.
The next day, Rhys showed up at the Gas and Go wanting to see the Lexus. Griffin took him to where he’d parked it. He walked around the truck a few times, peeked in the windows and kicked the tires.
“What the hell are you trying to pull, Parks?” Griffin feigned innocence, but Rhys wasn’t buying it. “This vehicle is worth five times four thousand bucks.”
More than that, but Griff didn’t say anything.
Rhys waggled his hand for the keys, got inside the truck, slid the seat back, and took off.
Rico sidled up to Griffin. “What do you plan to tell him when he gets back?”
“Don’t know yet.” Griff went inside the store and poured himself a cup of coffee.
A few customers filtered in and out. Griffin rang up their purchases. The kid he’d hired didn’t come in until after school, leaving him and Rico to handle the cash register in the morning. He could really use another mechanic who could also help out in the store.
Rhys returned about a half hour later. Apparently he’d wanted to put the Lexus through its paces. He walked into the shop, dangling the key from his finger.
“You trying to give the car to my sister?”
“No, I’m trying to sell it to her for somewhere close to four thousand dollars.”
Rhys huffed out a breath. “You’re giving it away, Griffin. Why?”
“You know why.” Griffin pretended to organize the maps on the counter.
“No. You need to explain it to me.”
“Because I love her. There, are you satisfied?”
“If you love her, do something about it. I’m sick of watching the two of you moon over each other. It gives me heartburn.”
Griff jerked his head up. Lina wasn’t mooning over him anymore. “What about the age difference?”
Rhys shrugged. “She’s a grown woman. I can’t stop her from wanting an old man.”
He laid four thousand dollars cash on the counter. “I take it you’ve already gone over the Lexus with a fine-tooth comb?” Clearly, Rhys was being facetious.
Griff nodded.
“Good.” Rhys made his way to the door. “Tell her, Griffin.”
Brady was getting in deeper and deeper with Sloane. Every night he stayed at her place, telling himself it was for her safety. The woman was a cop, armed to the hilt, for God’s sake. She could take care of herself.
But he liked being with her, talking with her, eating with her, and feeling her nestled next to him in bed. The sex was great, but the waking up together was even b
etter.
And that’s not the way it was supposed to be. Not for him, anyway. He didn’t like roots, he didn’t like commitments, and he especially didn’t like embroiling a person he cared about in his personal hell.
Although Sandra had been oddly quiet these last few weeks, she was like a rattlesnake in the grass, coiled and ready to strike. Brady just never knew when. A few times, he’d considered flying to Los Angeles on a reconnaissance mission. But why tempt fate? He liked things quiet, even if it was only temporary.
As much as he knew it would be best to cool it with Sloane, he just couldn’t do it. Running with her after work, having dinner in her kitchen, listening to her talk about her day . . . well, it had become an addiction. She’d become an addiction.
Here he was, preparing food for Lina’s party tonight, doing what he loved, and he couldn’t stop watching the clock. Waiting for the minute she’d walk in the room and rock his world. He’d never been in this position before, and frankly it scared the hell out of him. What happened when it all blew up?
“How’s it going?” Sam danced into the kitchen. Maddy and Rhys were hosting the party, but there could be no mistaking who was orchestrating it. Sam, event planner extraordinaire.
“Piece of cake,” he said. “The pigs and cake have been done for days. I fried the chicken this morning and made the sliders. Just have to pop them under the broiler when the time comes. I’m working on the salads now. Slaw, potato, green, and macaroni. We’re going retro, baby.”
“What’s the big hunk of cheese for?” she asked, a big smile lighting her face.
“I decided, in addition to the potato chips and onion dip, to throw in a nacho bar, which reminds me, I’ve gotta make the queso fun-dido —Cecilia’s recipe.”
“They’ll be back in time from their honeymoon, right?”
“Yep. No one is missing this party.”
“It’s gonna be pretty great. You should see what Nate and I got her.” She could barely contain her excitement.
“What?”
She ran out of the room only to return a few minutes later, holding a small rectangular velvet box. “I still have to wrap it.” She flipped up the lid and a gold necklace with a diamond pendant twinkled under the lights.
Brady whistled. “Big-ticket item.”
“Every young woman should have a special piece of jewelry from her family,” Sam said, and Brady wanted to say, Spoken like a true socialite. “Anyway, it doesn’t compare to what Griffin gave her . . . well, may as well have given her.”
“What’s that?”
“A Lexus SUV.”
“Get out,” Brady said. “He gave her a freaking car?”
“It’s used, but barely. Rhys says it’s worth nearly thirty-five-thousand dollars and Griff sold it to her for four thousand.”
“That certainly trumps my fifty-dollar iTunes card.”
“Griff in is a good guy.” Sam assessed the kitchen. “You need help in here? I could do the dishes.”
“I’ve got it covered, unless you’re done with everything else.”
“I am,” she said, sounding surprised. “This is the easiest party I’ve ever organized. The birthday girl is incredibly low maintenance. Told Maddy and me to do whatever we wanted.”
“Same with the food,” Brady said. “She had a vision for a cookout. Since it’s February, we did the next best thing.”
“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to the food. I’m so sick of Richard’s pretentious dishes. Every Breyer hotel event has to have beef Wellington. Do you know how tired that dish is?”
“Tell that to Gordon Ramsay.” But secretly Brady agreed that it was pretty tired. “Richard is okay. Nothing wrong with sticking to the classics.”
“Nothing wrong with it as long as you’re not an insufferable ass too.”
“What’s going on now?” Sam had never gotten along with Nate’s corporate chef. Brady would never come out and say it, but Richard was a prick.
“He just fights everything,” Sam said. “Any suggestion to switch up the menu with lighter dishes or something more festive, and he balks. People, especially in California, don’t eat all those rich foods anymore.”
“Has Nate talked to him?”
“Nate shouldn’t have to intercede. I’m Breyer Hotels’ corporate event planner. Richard needs to take direction from me. But he doesn’t like women.”
It wasn’t that Richard didn’t like women; he didn’t like having them as his boss. Brady could understand Sam’s frustration, but he didn’t like bad-mouthing other chefs.
“Sorry,” Sam said. “I was just venting and you don’t need to hear this while you’re in the middle of preparing for a big party. Did you see the beautiful pastries Emily brought?”
“I did. It’s gonna be one hell of a dessert table.”
Brady looked at the time and got to work on the cheese sauce for the nachos. While that was cooking, he began slicing cabbage for a spicy slaw he planned to use as a topping for his mini fried-chicken sandwiches. By the time all his prep work was done, salads made, and oven preheated, some of his helpers had arrived. He’d assembled an experienced catering team that he used regularly. A number of the servers and line cooks moonlighted from their permanent jobs at hotels and restaurants in Reno and Glory Junction. Brady put them to work building sandwiches and sliders and plating.
When the first gaggle of guests streamed in, Brady sent servers out with passed hors d’ oeuvres. Sam had seen to the setup of the bar and had hired Floyd from the Ponderosa to serve drinks, wine, and beer.
“Hey.” Sloane wandered in wearing a simple black cocktail dress that clung to her curves and showed enough cleavage to make him hyperventilate. She’d dressed up for Jake and Cecilia’s wedding, but tonight she took his breath away.
“You look beautiful.” He couldn’t restrain himself and kissed her in the middle of the kitchen for anyone to see. If she stood there much longer in that dress, he’d hoist her up on the counter and have it over her head in no time. And wouldn’t that be a show?
The things this woman did to him.
“Will you be able to come out and mingle for a little while?” she asked.
“I’m planning on it once everything is under control in the kitchen. Even brought a change of clothes.”
She beamed up at him and again he felt that magic pull. Shit, he was so unprepared for these feelings, so ill equipped to parse and compartmentalize them and put them in the proper place. Under different circumstances he might’ve let himself go and just enjoy the euphoria of being this deeply infatuated with a woman. But how could he?
And it seemed as if the powers wanted to reinforce that point because right at that moment his phone vibrated with a call from Santa Monica Police Department’s Detective Rinek.
Griffin planned to stay for thirty minutes, no more. Just enough time to circle the room, show his face, and wish Lina happy birthday. Then he’d be on his way, social obligation taken care of. Someone passed with a tray of sliders and he grabbed one. May as well eat, he figured, and hit the buffet table, where he loaded up a plate.
“Hey, Griff.” Nate rushed by him.
It looked like the family was about to make a toast. Maddy, holding Emma, along with Rhys, Samuel, and Sam, stood by the bar waiting for Nate. Once they were all assembled, Rhys cleared his throat. In an effort to hush the room, a few guests clinked their glasses with pieces of flatware.
Rhys stepped up as the room finally grew quiet. “We just wanted to thank everyone for coming and celebrating my sister’s birthday. Ordinarily, we would’ve waited to do something like this for her twenty-first. But given that she was accepted into the prestigious engineering department at the University of Nevada and she’s home again with the people who love her, we figured we had a lot to celebrate. So why wait? Lina”—he searched the room—“where are you?” She waved her arm in the middle of the crowd and a shout went up. “Just wanted to say how very proud we are of you. Happy birthday, little sister
.”
The guests hooted and hollered as they broke up to mingle, leaving Griffin with his first glimpse of Lina. She was so stunning that his mouth went dry. Her hair had been swept back in an intricate twist that involved a braid with loose tendrils framing her face. Griff took in her strapless dress, shapely shoulders, tiny waist, and mile-long legs. He’d never seen her look so sophisticated.
“Gorgeous, right?” Darla came up alongside him. “I did her hair.”
“Incredible,” was all he could manage to say.
“Check it out.” Harlee, who’d squeezed in next to them, showed Griffin a photo of a beaming Lina on her camera. “I just posted it on the Trib’s website. She’s a star. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Griff said.
“You looked really far away there for a second.” Harlee felt his head and smirked. “A little hot, perhaps? Go say hi.” She pushed him directly at Lina. Damn, she was strong. Griff stumbled and almost lost his plate. He put it on an empty tray and walked toward Lina. She was surrounded by people he didn’t know, probably her friends from school. A few of the guys stood way too close for Griff ’s taste.
“You came.” Lina separated herself from the group and smiled up at him. Griffin thought for sure his heart would pound out of his chest.
“Happy birthday.” He’d forgotten to bring a gift and felt a little stupid.
“Thank you. Come meet my friends.” She took his arm and introduced him to the circle of folks she’d been hanging with.
As they all stood, talking, Griffin absently put his arm around Lina. She didn’t seem to be bothered by it, so he left it there. He couldn’t help but notice that a few of the clingier dudes had backed off. One had even started scoping out other women, which suited Griff just fine.
“Hey, you two, I want to get a picture.” Maddy motioned for Griffin and Lina to move closer and snapped a photo. “Now with the whole group.” Lina’s school friends gathered around and Maddy got the shot.
The two McCreedy boys and Lina’s little brother came running up. Maddy wanted a picture of Lina with them, too. Griff started to move away, but Maddy told him to stay put.
