by Lynn LaFleur
“Hi,” she said, her voice low and sultry.
Griff nodded. “Ladies.”
“The guys are in the game room.” Alaina set the casserole dish next to the microwave. “Rye stocked the mini-fridge with beer and Cokes.”
“Do y’all need help with anything?”
“Nah, we’re good.” She set the timer to warm the baked beans. “Tell Rye and Dax that supper will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
“Okay.”
His gaze clashed with and held Emma’s for several moments before he managed to look away from her and leave the room.
Griff heard the clack of pool balls as he walked down the hall toward Rye’s game room. He remembered the three brothers discussing who would have which “goody” in which home when they started building their houses. They decided Rye got the game room, Dax got the swimming pool, and Griff got the hot tub. Since they lived less than a mile apart on land their parents gifted to them, it was easy to go to Dax’s house if they wanted to swim, or to Griff’s if they wanted a dip in the hot tub. Playing pool or darts or watching sports on the huge, high-def TV happened in Rye’s game room.
“Shit!” Dax said as Griff walked up to the doorway. A quick look at the table showed the cue ball heading directly for a corner pocket. “Shit, shit, shit!”
Rye laughed. “I believe that’s call a scratch, Dax.”
“I know what it is.” Dax scowled when the white ball dropped neatly into the pocket. “I need to get laid. Everything I do is off.”
“There’s a hot little brunette in the kitchen with Alaina who looks like she’d be a lot of fun.”
“I agree, but Emma isn’t interested in me. She only has eyes for Griff.”
Griff stopped in his tracks on his way into the room. “What?”
Dax turned toward Griff. “Oh c’mon, don’t try to tell me you don’t know that.” He collected the balls from the pockets and laid them on the table so Rye could rack them. “She watched you at the bar last night.”
“She watched you too.”
“She didn’t challenge me to a rematch.”
“I lost.”
“I lost too, but she didn’t challenge me to play her again. And I lost twenty bucks because you let her win. You owe me.”
“Yeah,” Rye said, his eyes shining with laughter, “you owe me twenty bucks too.”
“I’d lose on purpose to someone as hot as Emma.” Dax clasped the back of Griff’s neck. “You need some hot in your life and your bed.”
Griff stiffened. He couldn’t believe Dax would suggest he be unfaithful to Jana. “I don’t want to have sex with Emma.”
“Then you aren’t human. She looks like sin in those tight jeans.”
Griff agreed, but he wouldn’t say that aloud. He couldn’t help noticing a woman as sexy as Emma. That didn’t mean he would act on that observation.
“Supper’s on!” Alaina called.
Saved by food again. Griff hurried out of the game room, leaving Rye and Dax to follow.
*
The barbecue had been delicious and melt-in-your-mouth tender. Now Emma was so full, she didn’t know if she’d be able to bend over the pool table to play.
Of course, if Griff wanted her to bend over and play a different game, she’d find a way.
He’d ignored her through most of the meal, looking at her only when she asked him a direct question or made a comment to something he said. She’d feel discouraged if giving up was in her nature. She didn’t believe in giving up, not when she wanted something as much as she wanted Griff.
She understood attraction. She understood desire. She understood wanting to jump a guy’s bones. She didn’t understand this draw, this pull, to Griff. She assumed it was because she had gone two weeks without sex. One of the pastry chefs at the restaurant had been a twice-weekly fuck buddy, but he moved to San Antonio two weeks ago to be closer to his family. His moving meant the end of regular sex until she found someone else.
She looked across the table at Dax and Griff. Both gorgeous, both sexy, both single. She should concentrate on Dax, the one who wanted a good time and nothing more. Griff had been married. He no doubt wanted that whole happily-ever-after, one-person-forever shit that she avoided.
Yet the draw was for Griff, not Dax. He was like the forbidden fruit—something she shouldn’t touch yet couldn’t seem to help herself.
She knew he still grieved over the loss of his wife. That didn’t mean he couldn’t have fun. It would be good for him to loosen up, feel a woman’s body against his again.
Her nipples puckered at the thought of all that tan skin and tight muscles leaning over her in bed.
Rye laid his fork on his empty plate. “Don’t tell her I said this, Emma, but your potato salad is better than my mother’s.”
“You’d better be glad Mom isn’t here,” Dax said, “or she’d hang you up by your ears.”
“I wouldn’t have said it if Mom was here. Or at least not where she could hear me.”
Emma raised her wineglass to Rye. “Thanks. There’s no better compliment than for my cooking to be compared to a mother’s.”
“Anything you make is better than my mother’s.” Alaina shivered playfully. “The concoctions she comes up with boggle the mind.”
“I’ve had your mother’s cooking, so I agree with that.” Emma sipped her wine, glancing at Griff as she did so. He was watching her.
He feels the pull too, just as strongly as I do.
Alaina sat back in her chair. “It’s too bad only the people staying at my B-and-B will taste Emma’s cooking.”
It was the perfect opening to something Emma had thought about for weeks. “I know how we can fix that.”
“How?”
“Open a restaurant next to your B-and-B.”
“Oh yeah right.” Alaina laughed while she looked at each of the triplets. Her laughter quickly died when none of them laughed with her. She looked back at Emma. “You aren’t serious.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” Dax said. “Lanville needs a really good restaurant, a place with class.”
Rye folded his hands across his stomach. “And with Emma running it, you know the food would be amazing.”
Emma’s heartbeat galloped at the thought of actually running her own restaurant. It would be so different than running the kitchen in Alaina’s bed-and-breakfast. More work, yes, but so much more rewarding.
“I have all kinds of ideas,” Emma said to Alaina. “Colors, linens, wall hangings. I could easily expand the B-and-B’s menu—”
“Wait a minute.” Alaina held up a hand to stop the conversation. “Y’all are getting way ahead of me. I’ve never thought about opening a restaurant.”
“You build it, I’ll run it, and Kelcey will keep the books. She’ll add them on top of the ones for the B-and-B.”
“Kelcey should not quit that amazing job to work for me.”
“Kelcey is sick of that amazing job. She works way too many hours without the pay she deserves.”
“She makes a hundred grand a year!”
“And her boss makes four times that much when all he does is pile the work on Kelcey’s desk so he can play golf.”
“Emma, I can’t pay her that much.”
“She doesn’t expect you to, just like I don’t expect you to pay me what I’m making now. When your business grows, we’ll get raises.” Emma grinned. “And really nice Christmas bonuses.”
Alaina looked at Rye. “What do you think?”
“I agree with Dax. It’s a great idea.”
Blowing out a huge breath, Alaina ran her hand through her hair. “Can Coleman Construction do it? There’s still so much work to be done on the house.”
“Yeah, we can do it. We’ll divide up the labor, hire some more workers.” He waggled his thumb back and forth between him and his brothers. “One of us will be in charge of it. I think it should be Griff.”
Emma looked at Griff in time to see him almost choke on his swallow of wine
. “Why me?”
“Because even though you do every aspect of construction, just like Dax and I do, your main job is as an electrician. You’ve done all the wiring in Stevens House. That leaves you free to be in charge of Alaina’s restaurant. You’ll be right there on the property if we need you for something.”
“I second that notion,” Dax said. “Majority rules.”
Emma grinned at the sick look that crossed Griff’s face. “Guess we’ll be working together for the next few months, Coleman.”
Alaina covered her eyes with one hand. “I’m crazy. I’m absolutely insane to do this.” She uncovered her eyes and looked back at Rye. “Can I do this? Legally? Can I build a restaurant next to my bed-and-breakfast?”
“Your land is zoned commercial, so I don’t see why not. I’ll start working on the permits and stuff tomorrow.”
“Are you sure about this?” Alaina asked Emma. “Are you absolutely sure you want the work of running a restaurant?”
Emma looked at Griff. They would work together during the day, and fuck each other blind at night.
“Yes, I’m absolutely sure.”
Chapter Four
So much for my plan to seduce Griff, Emma grumbled to herself. She’d used every “come hither” action she could think of. Nothing worked, at least not on Griff. She’d seen Dax discreetly adjust the fly of his jeans a couple of times when she was bent over the pool table. She knew the position gave everyone an excellent view of her breasts. Dax apparently appreciated the view. Griff didn’t. He remained unaffected, his face completely emotionless.
Maybe she should seduce Dax after all.
The eleven ball glided toward the corner pocket, but stopped right on the edge. Emma huffed out a breath. Griff would probably run the table now. He’d already won two games, the bum.
The corner of his mouth twitched as he lined up his next shot. His remaining three balls dropped into the pockets one, two, three. Emma ground her teeth when the eight ball sailed perfectly into the side pocket.
“That’s three wins,” Griff said.
Emma didn’t like to give up. “Best four out of seven.”
Lips twitching again, Griff shook his head. “You’re good, I’ll admit that. But I don’t think you can beat me.”
“No one can win every game.”
“Griff can,” Dax said.
“There’s a first time for everything. Rack the balls, Coleman.”
“Accept your defeat gracefully, Emma.”
“Bullshit. I don’t do graceful. I play to win.” She gestured toward the table. “Let’s go.”
Rye laughed. “She isn’t giving up, Griff.”
Griff shrugged one shoulder. “She must like losing.”
“There’s nothing more irritating than a cocky man, Coleman. Rack the balls.”
“Before I watch you get slaughtered again,” Alaina said, rising from one of the comfy armchairs, “I need chocolate.”
“Gee, thanks, Lainy.”
Alaina grinned. “I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em. I’ll get the brownies.”
Emma handed her stick to Rye. “I’ll help you while Griff racks the balls.”
Damn, she is something.
Griff watched Emma’s denim-clad ass as she walked out of the room with Alaina. Feisty, independent, sassy…all the characteristics that made her a hell of a lot of fun.
The way she looked made all his male hormones stand up and cheer.
Ignoring the way her blouse gaped to expose her breasts when she bent over to make a shot hadn’t been easy. Ignoring the way her jeans cupped that perfect ass as she made a shot right in front of him hadn’t been easy either. She oozed sex appeal.
Ten months without sex was a long time.
“You’re crazy, bro, do you know that?” Dax asked Griff.
Griff paused while gathering the balls from the pockets. “Why?”
“Emma is hot for you. If you wiggled one finger, she’d be all over you.”
“I don’t want her all over me.”
“Why not? Shit, man, you should go for it.”
“Leave him alone, Dax,” Rye said firmly.
“No.” Dax frowned at his oldest brother. “It’s time for him to let Jana go and get on with his life.”
This was the second time in two days Dax had implied that Griff should let Jana go. Griff had had enough of his brother trying to tell him how to live his life. He rounded on Dax, fists clenched at his sides.
“Shut the hell up. You don’t know how I feel.”
“I know you loved her. Hell, Griff, we all loved Jana. And I know ten months isn’t a long time to grieve. But it’s time to move on.”
“Who the fuck are you to tell me when it’s time to move on?”
“I’m your brother and I love you! I want you to be happy again.”
He made it sound so simple, like Griff could simply snap his fingers and all the pieces of his heart would go back together. “How am I supposed to be happy? Huh? Tell me that, Dax. I lost my wife! Jana was the only woman I ever loved, the only lover I ever had.”
“I know that—”
“You don’t know shit. You’ve never been in love. You go through women more often than I change my shorts!”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Rye said, stepping between the two angry men.
His vision swimming in red from rage, Griff pushed Rye aside and stepped right up to Dax, their noses almost touching. “You don’t know what it’s like to love someone, to devote your whole life to her. You don’t know what it’s like to lose her because some fucked-up kid decided to rob a bank to pay for his next hit!”
His anger, his grief, overwhelmed Griff. The words tumbled out of his mouth, words he’d never meant to ever say.
“You don’t know what it’s like to lose your child!”
Griff didn’t realize what he’d said until he saw the shocked looks on his brothers’ faces. His throat tightened up, making it impossible to say anything else.
“Jana was pregnant?” Rye whispered, the shock as evident in his voice as it was on his face.
Griff dropped his head and stared at the floor. After a long moment, he nodded.
“Oh, Jesus,” Dax breathed.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Rye asked.
Griff swallowed, trying to make his voice work again, then drew in a deep breath and blew it out. Raising his head, he looked into his brothers’ sympathetic faces. “We were going to on Thanksgiving. Since Jana had had one miscarriage, we wanted to wait until she was through the first trimester before we told anyone.”
“Mom and Dad didn’t know either?” Dax asked.
Griff shook his head. “We didn’t tell anyone.”
Rye clasped Griff’s shoulder. “How far along was she?”
“Almost three months.”
Griff’s voice gave out on the last word. His brothers’ faces blurred. Pain filled his chest, squeezing his heart, his lungs.
His soul.
A strangled sound came from his throat. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor. Strong arms wrapped around him, Rye on one side, Dax on the other. Griff gripped his brothers’ arms and hung his head. Tears poured from his eyes, tears he hadn’t been able to shed when he lost Jana and their baby. His body shook no matter how hard he tried to stop it.
“Let it out, bro,” Dax whispered, his voice husky, rough. “Just let it out.”
Griff had no idea how long his brothers held him while he cried. He felt completely drained when the last tear fell from his eyes. Drawing in a shaky breath, he lifted his head and looked at Rye and Dax. Both his brothers’ eyes were wet with tears.
“Can you get up?” Rye asked.
Griff nodded. With his brothers’ help, he managed to make his shaky legs work well enough to stand. He wiped the last of his tears from his face and lifted his head. He saw Alaina and Emma standing a few feet away. Both of them were crying.
He gazed at Emma long enough to see her mouth form the words, “I’m so sorry,�
� before he looked away.
“I, uh, I think it’s time for me to go home.”
“No, don’t.” Alaina stepped closer and touched his arm. “Why don’t you stay here tonight?”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Rye said. “You don’t need to be alone.”
Griff looked back at Emma. “You already have a guest.”
“Hey, no problem,” Emma said. “You can sleep in the guest room. I’m short. I can sack out on the couch in the living room.”
Being alone held no appeal at all, yet Griff didn’t want to inconvenience Emma. “It isn’t right for you to give up the bed for me.”
“I don’t mind. Really.”
“My house is only a mile away.”
“Griff, stay.” Rye clasped his shoulder again. “I’d feel better if you stay.”
“Me too,” Dax said.
He couldn’t fight all of them, nor did he want to. Griff nodded. “Okay.”
Exhaustion took over his body, leaving Griff ready to collapse. “That bed is sounding really good right now.”
“Let me get a couple of things and I’ll leave the room for you.”
“Thanks, Emma.”
She smiled at him before she left the room. Griff rubbed his forehead, where a pounding headache was quickly forming. “Alaina, do you have any aspirin?”
“Sure. I’ll get some for you.”
Once he was alone with his brothers again, Griff turned to face them. Dax stood with his head lowered, his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. “Sorry I yelled at you, Dax.”
Dax lifted his head. His eyes showed compassion, sympathy and regret. “Sorry I pushed you. I was only trying to help.”
“I know that.”
He tugged Dax into a back-pounding hug, then gave one to Rye. His brothers had always been there for him, no matter what. He was so lucky to have them in his life.
Alaina returned with a bottle of aspirin and a tall glass of water. Griff downed three of the little white pills and handed the empty glass back to her. “Thanks.” He glanced at Rye and Dax once more. “’Night.”
