Building Our Love (Griffin Brothers #2) (24 page)

“What the hell does
he mean about my daughter getting on her knees for you? What did you
make her do, Ryan?”

Scott jumps in between
John and me as he advances with his fists clenched. “He didn’t
make her do anything, John. She did what she wanted.”

“Move out of the way,
Scott. He needs to hit me. I deserve it.” I look John in the eye as
I step around Scott.

John swings and
connects hard with my jaw. When I straighten back up, he holds out
his hand with a smile. “I always knew you were the right man for
Chloe. Win my daughter back, Ryan. She deserves the love of a good
man.” I shake his hand and pull him into a hug.

“She doesn’t want
me to fight for her, though. She said that we hurt each other too
much.”

“Bullshit. She
doesn’t mean that. And even if she does, you’re going to do
whatever you can to prove to her that you aren’t going to hurt her
again. Because you aren’t, are you?” Owen is still glaring at me,
but at least I know that he’s on my side.

“No. I’m going to
do everything I can to never hurt her again. And I do want to fight
for her. I may need some help, though.” I look around and everyone
is smiling, so I know I can count on them.

“Now that this is
settled, I need to go talk to Chloe. You said the library, right?”
Owen asks. I nod, and he walks out the door.

* * *

Chloe

The knock on the door
is not a surprise. I’m a little surprised that it took so long for
someone to come looking for me. I needed these few minutes alone, so
I’m glad no one found me right away. Seeing myself on the screen
brought back all of the pain I felt that day. But now it’s time to
face things.

“Come in.”

It’s Owen who walks
through the door. He strides over to me and gathers me in his arms. I
hug him back as he holds onto me tight, his head on my shoulder. I
feel him shudder and pull back to see him crying.

“Owe.”

“I’m sorry, Chlo. I
know that it’s not cool or manly to cry, but what you did for me…”

“I would do it again
without hesitation. As for the crying, it’s nice to see this side
of you. I always knew it was in there, under the sarcasm.”

“I would do anything
for you, too, Chloe. Just name it. Anytime.”

“I’ll keep that in
mind. Now, tell me how things are going out there.”

“Well, now that your
dad finished punching Ryan, all is good.”

“Punching Ryan? Why
did my dad punch Ryan? Is he okay? Are they both okay?”

“One question at a
time, woman. He punched Ryan because when he told us you broke up
with him, I kind of went off on him.”

“You went off on
him?”

“Yeah, he was sitting
there looking like his life was over, and it pissed me off. I wanted
him to fight for you.”

“I told him not to.
What does that have to do with my dad punching him?”

“We’ll get back to
you telling him that in a minute.” He shifts uncomfortably for a
minute and I feel the apprehension set in. “When I was yelling at
Ryan, I may have said something about him having you on your knees
for 2 weeks.”

“What! Oh my God,
Owe! You said that in front of my dad?” I smack him hard.

“I know! I know! I
wasn’t thinking. I was trying to tell Ry that he needs to fight for
you.”

“So then, what? Did
my dad lunge at him or something?”

“He got up and
stalked towards him. Scott jumped in between them and told John that
Ryan didn’t make you do anything. Then Ry told Scott to get out of
the way because he deserved for John to hit him. He stood there and
took the hit. After, your dad shook his hand and told him he always
knew that Ry was the right guy for you, and told him to win you
back.”

“He let my dad hit
him, and then my dad told him to win me back?”

“Yeah and back to the
not fighting for you thing. You may have said that, but we both know
you don’t mean it.”

“How do you know I
don’t mean it?”

“You weren’t with
another man for the three years that you were apart, and you came for
him once your sentence was over, Chlo. You want him. I get that you
want to know he thinks you’re worth it. News flash—he does. We
all do. I don’t know why you broke up with him other than him
saying that he was an ass, but give him another chance.”

“He thought I cheated
on him with Adam yesterday, Owe. He didn’t ask me about it. He just
accused me because Adam happened to be at the W while I was having a
business meeting in the restaurant there. I can’t be with someone
who doesn’t trust me.”

“Fucking A. I always
thought he was the logical one. I don’t have any excuses for him,
but I know you love him. Is your relationship really past the point
of no return?”

“I don’t know. I
really don’t. But it doesn’t matter anyway. I took the job that I
had the meeting for. I’ll be leaving for London in a month, and
I’ll be there for three months.”

“You’re going to
London? What’s the job?”

“I’m designing the
interiors for a new hotel. I was going to talk to you about it when
we got back to Vegas. They love your artwork and would like me to
incorporate some into my designs.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The job is
yours if you want it. It doesn’t pay as much as the Griffin jobs,
but I know you aren’t hurting for money.”

“I don’t care about
the money. I’m in. I mean, I have to ask my dad and Ry, but I can’t
imagine them telling me no.”

“Great. I’ll get
the details, and we’ll talk more when we’re home.”

“I’m sending Ryan
in. You should know that my entire family and our friends have agreed
to help him in his fight for you. You don’t stand a chance.”

I laugh. “Honestly, I
want him to win this fight, Owe.”

He kisses me on the
cheek and then jogs out the door.

* * *

Ryan

Owen comes back into
the room, and I immediately stand up. “How is she, Owe?”

“She’s alright. I
told her I was sending you in to her, and that we’re all going to
help you fight to win her back.”

“What did she say?”

“She said that she
wants you to win the fight.”

I jump up and run down
the hall as fast as I can. I stop outside of the library and knock on
the door.

“Come in, Ry.”

I walk into the room to
see her sprawled on the window seat. I have to smile. “I remember
when you used to sit there reading while I tried to do my homework.”

“I remember that you
always ended up joining me and my book and your homework were soon
forgotten.”

“Can I come over
there and kiss you for old times’ sake?” I have to try.

“No. But you can come
over here and sit with me while we talk.” She curls her legs under
her to give me room.

I walk over and sit down across from
her. Neither one of us says anything for a minute. Then she uncurls
her hand, and I see my note to her. I reach out and open it up.

Reason #75 that you are AWESOME and I LOVE YOU: You call me on my
shit. I want you to keep doing it for the rest of my life.

“I meant it, Chlo.”

“I know, Ry.”

“Chloe…I have to
ask you something. When you told me that you’d never done anything
but missionary with a guy, were you talking about me and our first
time? You haven’t been with anyone else, have you?”

“Yes, I meant you.
And no, you’re the only man that I’ve been with.”

“God, Chloe. If I’d
known.”

“You didn’t.”

“No, but still. You
have to know that none of the women I was with meant anything to me.
I was trying to forget you, but I never could. No one could compare
to you, in bed or out of it. If I could go back and not sleep with
anyone else, I would. I can’t, but I want to more than anything.”

“Thanks for saying
that, Ry.”

“It hurts you,
though, doesn’t it?” She nods. “It shouldn’t, Chlo. It really
shouldn’t. There’s no one for me but you.”

“I want to believe
you, but whenever we’re together, I can’t help thinking that you
wish I was more experienced.”

“That’s a joke
right? I’ve never come as hard with anyone as I come with you,
Chloe. The things you do to me, with me, are so fucking hot. Besides,
love is more important than experience, sweetheart. You show me your
love whenever we’re together. And the alpha me wants to thump my
chest and shout to the world because you’re only mine. I’m the
only one who has gotten to taste you and make you come. I can’t
even tell you how great that makes me feel.”

“I love it that I’ve
only been yours, and although I’m having a hard time dealing with
you and all the women who keep popping up or being talked about, I’ve
been trying to get past it. I told you I wanted to concentrate on our
future.”

“So, we’re going to
have a future then?”

“Maybe, Ry. I don’t
know. I want to be with you, but I’m scared. You were so ready to
accuse me of cheating on you, and I’m so worried about all of the
other women that you’ve been with. How is that healthy or normal? I
think that it’s good that I’m going to London for the next few
months. It’ll give us both time to see if we want this.”

“I can tell you now
that I want this. I don’t need to be away from you to know it. Last
night with you on the couch nearly killed me.”

“Because we didn’t
have sex?”

“What? No. I mean, I
love making love to you, but I missed waking up with you.”

“I’ll be gone for
three months, Ryan. You’re an extremely sexual guy. Have you gone
that long since you started having sex?”

“No. But I told you
that I was trying to forget you. I’m not trying to forget you now.
Do you think I can’t go that long?”

“I don’t know. I
don’t want you to suffer or hold yourself back from other women if
you want them.”

“I only want you. And
thoughts of you along with my hands will be enough until I can be
with you.”

“You can’t know
that now.”

“I do know it, Chloe.
I don’t even want to look at another woman. I want my shopaholic,
stylish, talented, sexy as fuck woman and no one else.”

“I like how
shopaholic was first.” I made her laugh. That’s a good sign.

“So, can we stay
together, then?”

“Not right now, Ry. I
need to be on my own for a little while. I have to decide if I can
still be with you or if it’ll be too hard.”

I want to argue with
her some more, but I can sense that she’s made up her mind about
this. I need to let her think I’m going along with everything,
while I work on my plan of attack. “When do you leave for London?”

“In a month. I told
them I need to train a replacement for me as your assistant.”

“Replacement? No
one’s replacing you. You can train some of the girls from the pool
to help out, but I want you back when you’re done in London.”

“Even if I don’t
want to be with you romantically?”

I take a deep breath.
Fuck if she’s not making it hard. For both of us. “Even then. I
don’t want you out of my life, Chlo. I’ll take whatever I can
get.”

“I won’t quit now
then. I love working for you. But, if it gets too weird for either of
us, I’ll quit.”

“Deal. Now, can we
talk about London?” I’m going to have her back by the time she
leaves. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. I’ll do whatever
it takes. I have absolutely no shame when it comes to Chloe and
making her mine again.

“Tell you what. Why
don’t we play it by ear? We can keep in touch with each other while
I’m gone. Phone calls, notes, Skypes, etc. There’s a big charity
ball for the opening of the hotel. If you can get away, then I would
love for you to be my date and then spend a few days after doing all
of the tourist stuff. I won’t do anything touristy without you.
I’ll probably be too busy, anyway. But, if you find someone you
want to be with, you go ahead and be with her. Same for me. We just
have to tell each other so the other person isn’t waiting around,
thinking that we’ll be together.”

“That seems a little
too easy. I thought that I’d have to fight harder.”

“On the contrary, I’m
going to be in a country full of hot guys with sexy accents. I’d
imagine that a few of them might find me attractive. So, you’d
better bring out your romantic side, Griffin.”

“You want romance,
I’ll bury you in romance, sweetheart. Now that my workload has gone
down, I’m also going to start designing our house. I will be your
date for that ball, so put me down as your plus one now. If I hear
that there’s some other guy you’d rather take, I swear I’ll be
on a jet to London faster than you can warn him to leave the
country.”

She smiles at me. “I’ll
put you down as my date, Mr. Alpha. I promise to take you even if
there does end up being someone else.” I clench my jaw to stop from
saying something that will piss her off as she continues. “I have
to admit that I’m a little excited for you to work on our house.
Now, you should get back to your family, and I should head to your
apartment to get my stuff.”

“I want to warn you,
Chloe. For the month that you’re still here in the States, I’m
not going to fight fair. I plan to win you back so we can still call,
Skype, and write to each other, but you’ll be mine again already by
the time you leave.”

“A big part of me
hopes that you succeed.”

“I plan to.”
Failure is not an option.

Chloe

It’s been two weeks
since we came back from Chicago. Ryan has kept his word. Every day
I’m showered with notes, flowers, and small gifts and gestures
meant to show me how much he loves me. He’s also worn jeans and
t-shirts to the office a few times, knowing how hot I think he is in
them. He’s definitely not fighting fair, and I’m loving every
minute of it. I haven’t given him any notes back yet, though. I
don’t want to give him any false hope when I’m not sure. Oh hell,
I know that I’m sure, but I’m not quite ready to let him know
that yet.