“I didn’t mean to make you blush. I just find you interesting—different. Unique. And I like to solve mysteries.”
“But a girl needs to remain at least a little mysterious so she won’t go stale. If you figure me out too fast, you might get bored of me.”
“I don’t see that happening.” He reached out and caught her hand, and she let him hold it as they continued their walk. It felt nice, safe—like he was protecting her as well as wanting to make contact.
They came around the block and headed back to Tony’s car. Before he started the engine, he looked over at her and said, “Thank you for coming out with me tonight. I’ve been so tied up in court and in the office that I haven’t had much of a chance for fun this last week—you’ve created a bright spot for me.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she replied. “I’m like a little portable flashlight, making bright spots everywhere I go.”
“You joke about it, but I’m serious. Thank you.”
She smiled, realizing she was giving him kind of a hard time. “You’re welcome. I’ve appreciated this too.” She couldn’t resist adding, “And the tortillas. I definitely appreciated the tortillas.”
Tony laughed as he backed the car out of the parking lot.
***
There was still a definite aroma of floor varnish in the air when Griffin stepped into the hotel the next morning. Some electric fans had been set up here and there, and the windows were open, but the increased ventilation didn’t seem to be doing much good. Or if it was, the place had absolutely reeked before—it only mostly reeked now.
Griffin found Andrew in his office, where he was flipping through pictures of a house on his laptop. He looked up when Griffin entered.
“Oh, hey,” he said. “My Realtor went out and took pictures of my house over the weekend, and now she wants me to choose my favorites for her website. How am I supposed to know which ones are the best?” He shook his head and swiveled his chair to face Griffin. “I’m sure I’ll survive it. How are you?”
“I’m good.” Griffin took the chair Andrew indicated and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I’ve decided that I’d like to take you up on your offer. I know it’s not a sure thing and that he might not be able to find anything, but I’d like him to give it a try.”
Andrew nodded. “You bet. He’ll have some questions for you—anything you know about where you came from.”
“It won’t be much, but I’ll write it down. Thanks again for making this available to me. I’m a little nervous about it, to be honest, but it’s an opportunity I can’t pass up.”
“I’m glad to help you out. Family’s important—I didn’t used to think so, but I guess I’m having a change of heart.”
Griffin started to rise, but then paused. “I wonder if I could ask you a question.”
“Sure.”
“Well, I’ve always had this dream of opening up a construction arm of my company—design and build it both—and I’ve recently been made an offer from an investor. It would cover the expansion, but I’m a little worried about being able to pay it back if the company flops. You’re a very successful businessman—what do you think my odds are of success in a venture like that?”
Andrew leaned back and steepled his fingers. “Without having facts and figures, or a crystal ball, it’s hard to say, but your designs are creative and solid, and I don’t see why you couldn’t make a go of it. I also like that you want to follow through on projects from start to finish and not only design them, but build them. That shows a commitment to your customer and confidence in what you’re offering. You might even consider bringing an interior decorator on board so you can do the whole thing lock, stock, and barrel without having to outsource. Or I could just have interior decorators on my mind since I met Marissa.”
Griffin laughed. “Yeah, I can see that, but the idea’s a good one. So, you think I have a good chance?”
“Again, I can’t predict the future, but I’d say that if you take careful risks, look twice and leap once, you’ll stand a good chance. You have talent, and with the right team, there’s no reason why you couldn’t succeed.” Andrew paused. “If you’re serious about this, I’ll hire you to do some building for me, and then you can use me as a referral.”
Griffin was blown away at the offer. “Wow. I didn’t expect that. Thank you, Andrew. I appreciate it.”
Andrew lifted both hands in a shrug. “I like helping people I trust. Keep me in the loop—I’ll be curious to hear about your decision.”
“I will.” Griffin stood, shook Andrew’s hand, and left the office, exhaling. He’d never met anyone like Andrew before—someone who was so willing to use his clout and his resources to help other people succeed.
He crossed the floor to the front door and opened it just as Tabs was getting ready to open it from the other side. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “The delivery trucks just pulled up—the furniture for upstairs.”
“Great. Do they need help carrying it up? I’ve got some time.”
She eyed him skeptically. “You want to spend your free time carrying heavy furniture up a flight of stairs?”
He grinned. “Why not? It’ll save me a trip to the gym later.”
“All right. But your arms fall off and you can’t walk tomorrow, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Well, I don’t walk on my arms, so I should be fine.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and he grinned again. Yes—they were back on track. He’d felt a little awkward since their conversation the other day, but this little sparring match showed him that they’d be fine. They could recover from sparring—awkwardness was harder.
Griffin followed Tabs outside to where Marissa was standing with a clipboard, talking to a man who looked like the foreman of this project. “We ordered all the nightstands the same, so put two in each of the larger rooms, and just one in the smallest room,” she said. “The rest of the furniture is trickier. I’ve taped the name of each room on the wall next to the doorway to make it easier. If you can just place the furniture in the right rooms, we’ll take care of arranging it the way we want it.”
The driver nodded. “Great idea. Let’s start with the beds. First one is item seven-three-five.”
Marissa checked her list. “That goes in the hydrangea room.”
Tabs stepped to the side as two men walked past her, carrying the headboard of an antique king-sized bed between them. Griffin checked to make sure he had the right thing, then followed with the footboard. Tabs hadn’t been kidding—this was heavy stuff. But that meant it was solid and would last a long time, which is what they wanted in a hotel.
Back and forth they went, with Marissa directing them to each room. Andrew came outside, saw what was going on, and began helping as well. After a few trips, Tabs brought out cold bottled water, which was a relief. Griffin didn’t think it was that hot out, but the more trips he took up and down the stairs, the more he realized just how hot it was.
“The air conditioner won’t be hooked up for a little while yet,” Tabs said by way of apology to the deliverymen.
“That’s all right, ma’am,” one of them said. “The water really helps.”
Once the heavy furniture was in place, the mattresses had to be brought in. Those weren’t as heavy, but they were awkward, and required one person on each end—as Griffin discovered when he tried to carry one by himself. It was teetering dangerously, and Tabs ran up, grabbed the other end, and helped stabilize it. That worked well until they got to the bend in the staircase. As the springs in the mattress rebounded from being curved, it flipped backwards a bit, pinning Tabs against the wall.
“A little help here?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Griffin said. “It’s kind of tempting to leave you there. You’re less dangerous.”
“Oh, don’t you think for one minute that just because I can’t move means that I’m not dangerous. Besides, we’ve got more people
coming in just a second—we’re blocking their path.”
“Fine, fine,” he grumbled, pulling his end and releasing her. It’s not like she couldn’t have freed herself—they both knew she could fight her way out of anything.
They leaned the mattress up against the wall in the correct room, then slid to the floor for a moment to catch their breath before heading back down. Griffin had lost count of how many trips he’d made so far. Each room had at least one nightstand, plus a bedframe, plus a washbasin stand, and at least one chair. Desks were also on order, but wouldn’t arrive for another three days. Each room would be a masterpiece by the time everything was arranged. It was just getting it all up the stairs that was the difficult part.
“So, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately,” Tabs said, and Griffin’s heart stuttered.
“What about?” he asked, trying to sound casual, and wishing she didn’t have this effect over him. She could quirk her little finger and give him a full heart attack if she wanted to.
“I’ve been wondering what you’ve decided about trying to find your parents.”
He nodded. He should have known she wasn’t talking about their relationship—or lack of one. “I decided to go ahead. If we don’t find anything, I’m no worse off than I was before, and if we do find something, I can sit on the information or move forward with it, depending. I’m still in control of what happens next. Mostly.”
She smiled. “I’m really glad. Having the option is great—up until now, you haven’t had this option. Or known it was available.”
“Yeah.” Her hand was resting near his on the floor, and he looked at it. Tempting . . . so tempting . . . “Thank you for listening to me. It helps me to talk about things—I can sort them out better when I verbalize them.”
“No problem. Plus, Marissa fed us, so it’s not like I didn’t get anything out of the deal.”
He was going to go for it. If she got mad at him, well, that wouldn’t be anything different. He was used to it. Taking a deep breath, he covered her hand with his, then tensed, waiting for her to pull away, but she didn’t. Instead, they sat there, side-by-side, holding hands, until another couple of people came down the hallway with a mattress, and Tabs stood up. “We’d better get back to work,” she said.
Griffin nodded. “Those trucks won’t finish unloading themselves.” He’d taken a chance, she hadn’t rejected him, and now . . . now he didn’t know what to do. Everything inside him had wanted to pull her into his arms, but he knew that would ruin everything. The question was, what wouldn’t ruin everything? He felt like he was walking on thin ice, not knowing which direction to turn.
Chapter Ten
Tabs felt like kicking herself. Why had she let Griffin hold her hand? That was just asking for trouble. The thing was, she’d liked it. She’d liked it a lot. Even though he was an untrustworthy, heartbreaking Neanderthal, she liked it, and she was mad at herself because of it. She went back outside to see what else there was to be done, trying to shake off all these conflicting feelings, very aware that Griffin was right behind her.
Tony arrived just then, walking around one of the trucks up to the front of the hotel. “Looks like I’m just in time to miss all the hard work,” he said, looking back and forth between the trucks and the hotel.
“Well, you’re not dressed for it anyway,” Tabs pointed out, nodding toward his nice suit—a charcoal gray one this time, with a blue shirt. “Another day in court?”
“Yes. I’m starting to think I’ll live the rest of my life there.” He looked around. “Is Florence here? She asked me to make up an employment contract for the hotel, and I have a few drafts for her to look over.”
“I haven’t seen her,” Tabs replied.
Andrew walked up just then. “She’s out looking at condos. Now that I’m selling my house, she doesn’t have a place to live either, so we’ve worked a condo into part of her salary for helping run the hotel.”
“I wondered where she was going to live now,” Tony replied. “Do you think she’ll be back soon?”
“I have no way of knowing.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll leave these here with you, then.” Tony handed Andrew a folder, then turned to Tabs. “Have you had lunch?”
For some reason, she glanced over at Griffin, but he was busy chatting with one of the truck drivers. “No, I haven’t,” she replied.
“Come grab something with me. I’ll have you back here in an hour.”
“Okay, but nowhere nice—I’m all grimy.”
He gave her a smile. “You look beautiful, but okay. Nowhere nice.”
They went to a small, casual Italian place, and Tabs ordered a calzone. While they waited, Tony reached over and took her hand. He’d done the same thing the night before at dinner, and she’d enjoyed it then, but now . . . now she couldn’t stop thinking about Griffin. This was ridiculous. How many months without even a date? What was going on? Was she suddenly so much cuter or something? Why was fate doing this—bringing two men into her life and making them both so hand-holdy?
Tony seemed to notice that she was distracted. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she replied with a smile. “Just thinking.”
“I bet you’ve had a busy day, what with the furniture coming in.”
“Yeah.” She hadn’t been thinking about furniture in the slightest. “I’m glad it’s here. Now we can really start putting things together.”
“And what will you do once this job is finished?”
Tabs hadn’t given that much thought. “See what the next one is, I suppose.”
“I have a lot of wealthy clients who buy and sell vacation homes like it’s no big deal, and they’re always looking for decorators. I can put a few bugs in their ears, if you like.”
“That would be great. We’d really appreciate it.” She paused, then shuddered. “Ew. I just had a mental image of actually putting bugs in someone’s ear. I have the willies now.”
Tony laughed. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. I just need to stop using my imagination so much.”
Tony gave her hand a squeeze, then slid a little closer to her on the bench. “Thanks for coming out with me, Tabs. I was hoping you would—I wanted to talk to you.”
“And here we are, talking. Your devious plan worked.”
He surprised her by leaning in and kissing her. It was nice—really nice—and she curled her hand around his neck and let herself enjoy the moment. She’d never kissed—or been kissed—in an Italian restaurant before.
When Tony pulled back, she studied his eyes and saw warmth and attraction there, and she was definitely feeling attracted too. But . . . that was all. Tony was a really nice guy—he was drop-dead gorgeous, he wanted to treat her well, he was a good kisser, and she should be falling head-over-heels in love with him, but she wasn’t. Her reactions to him were just physical, nothing deeper. And that was hugely disappointing.
He stroked her lower lip with his thumb. “This isn’t going to work, is it?” he asked softly.
She closed her eyes. “I want it to,” she replied. “I really do.”
When she opened her eyes, she saw that his were shadowed. “I really like you, Tabs, and maybe even a bit more, but we can’t force a relationship to grow where there’s no place for it. I understand that.”
“I’m really sorry, Tony. In every way, you’re the perfect guy, and you’ve treated me so well. I just can’t seem to think of you as anything but a fantastic friend . . . who also happens to be really easy on the eyes and a great kisser.”
He laughed, put his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her in for a hug. “I’ll try to live with that,” he said, releasing her. “It’s going to be hard for me to find someone else with your sense of humor, though.”
“Oh, you never will,” she replied. “I’m completely irreplaceable.” She snaked her arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder. “But you’ll find someone even better, and then you’ll be so glad you didn’t en
d up with me.”
“I doubt that, but if you say so, I’ll try to believe it.”
***
Tabs walked into Marissa’s apartment and flung herself on the couch. “This is stupid! It’s so, so stupid!”
Marissa looked up from her laptop. “What is?”
“Me!”
“Oh? What did you do now?”
Tabs decided to ignore Marissa’s needling. “I just let go of a really fantastic guy for no good reason except that I’m not falling in love with him.”
“If you’re not falling in love with him, isn’t that a good reason to let go?”
“You’d think, but for the last two hours, all I’ve been able to think about is, what if we just needed a magic moment—like a starry night and a boat ride—and then I’d fall madly in love with him?”
Marissa raised an eyebrow. “You mean, like The Little Mermaid?”
“Sort of. It wouldn’t hurt.”
“This is Tony we’re talking about, right?” Tabs nodded, and Marissa went on. “If you aren’t falling for Tony, there’s gotta be someone else. Heck, I’d even fall for Tony if he was interested.”
“What about Andrew?”
“Andrew . . . Andrew who?” Marissa laughed. “You know I’m kidding. I’m just saying, Tony’s an amazing guy, and if you aren’t developing those feelings for him, maybe you’re feeling that way about someone else.”
“Or it could be that I’m not interested in falling in love with anyone right now, and so what I’m experiencing is fine and normal.”
Marissa gave her a look. “Or it could be that you’re feeling that way about someone else,” she repeated.
“Okay, fine!” Tabs threw both hands in the air. “It’s Griffin, all right? He’s really getting under my skin. He held my hand for about half a minute this morning, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all day. Tony gave me the most awesome kiss at lunch, but no—I’m obsessing over that thirty seconds of hand holding. What’s wrong with me?”
Heartstrings (Brody Hotel Book 2) Page 8
