So what if that beautiful woman couldn’t bring herself to kiss him on the lips?
A familiar ache slammed into Griffin’s chest.
He hadn’t realized just how meaningful a simple kiss was to him until the moment it registered that he and Indina had never really kissed. For months they’d engaged in every carnal act known to man, but not when it came to that most basic form of intimacy. He craved it. To have her open her mouth and let him inside—it would mean everything to him.
But that wasn’t the way they operated.
They got each other off. Period. And once they were out of bed, there was no talk about what went on behind closed doors. As far as anyone else knew, they were coworkers and nothing more.
Griffin told himself he was okay with that, but lately, thoughts of Indina eventually finding a guy she was willing to kiss had been keeping him up at night. Even though, as far as he knew, she hadn’t so much as looked at another guy since they’d been together, there had never been a discussion about exclusivity. What if she suddenly decided she was ready to test the dating waters again? What would he do if one day that text message wasn’t about hooking up, but instead was news that she’d met someone else? Just the thought sent a rush of anguish spiraling through him.
Griffin knew he was on borrowed time. Indina would eventually want a relationship. And he couldn’t pretend he was okay with that being with anyone but him.
Timing was key. If he told her how he felt about her before she was ready to consider taking that next step, he could risk messing up what they had going here. But if he stuck with the status quo, he ran the risk of some other guy coming in and sweeping her off her feet. He couldn’t just sit back and allow that to happen either.
He looked over at the conference table. Jason had just zipped up the case he’d used to transport the model. Indina stood off to the side. She was frowning at her phone.
Griffin was at her side in three strides. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
Her head popped up. “What?”
He motioned to her phone. “Everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah.” She waved off any concern. “Just my brother nagging me again.” She looked down at the phone, then back up at him. Her brow dipped.
“What is it?” Griffin asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “Never mind. You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“Try me.”
She hesitated for a moment before releasing an exasperated breath. “I understand that this is an outrageous request and I don’t blame you if you say no.”
“Indina, would you come on with it?”
“Okay, fine. Here’s the deal. This coming weekend is the annual Holmes Family Reunion. This year they’ve decided to hold it on a three-day cruise to Mexico.” She bit her bottom lip as she looked up at him. “I need a plus one.”
Griffin’s head snapped back.
She held her hands up. “Like I said, I know this is outrageous. And I’ll pay for your cruise, of course. It’s just that the room is double occupancy, and the friend who I thought would be able to come with me won’t be able to make it. And the chances of me finding someone who can come along at the last minute are slim. And—”
“Indina!” Griffin stopped her. “Yes.”
Her eyes blinked several times in rapid succession. “Yes? You’ll do it?”
Three days on a cruise ship with her? Hell yeah he was down for that.
“When do we leave?” Griffin asked.
Her entire body seemed to wilt with relief. “Friday afternoon,” she answered with a grateful smile.
Griffin couldn’t stop his own smile from forming. She didn’t know it yet, but she’d just given him the opportunity he’d been hoping for. If he couldn’t convince Indina that they should be together while they spent three days sharing a cabin on a cruise ship, then maybe he didn’t deserve her after all. But Griffin knew he most definitely deserved her. They deserved each other. He couldn’t wait to show her.
“Thank you so much,” Indina said. “You just saved me from having to eat crow spoon fed from my brother. And remember, this is my treat. Consider it the celebration for getting through this presentation.”
“I’m all for celebrating, but you’re not paying for my cruise,” Griffin said. “If anything it should be the other way around. Using that image projector on the 3-D model was a huge hit. That was all you.”
A blush formed on her soft brown cheeks. She seemed to feed off the praise he heaped upon her body in the bedroom, but for some reason that didn’t extend to accepting compliments at work.
She gave him a casual shrug. “I guess you’re right.”
“I know I am.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her out to dinner tonight to celebrate their big day. But he and Indina didn’t do dinner. The closest they’d come to an actual dinner date—outside of a few casual Friday get-togethers for drinks and half-priced appetizers with the rest of their work team—was eating leftover Chinese from his fridge one night when she’d had to wait out a rainstorm after sex.
It was that same night, when he couldn’t convince her to stay at his place, that Griffin first recognized just how much his feelings for her had changed. And how he couldn’t go on with the way things were.
He was no longer satisfied being Indina’s friend with benefits. He needed more. He needed to be the man in her life. He needed to be the one she shared more than just her body with. He needed her heart.
He had to let her know how he felt about her. And with the invitation to join her on this cruise, she’d just given him the perfect opportunity to tell her.
Now he just had
