Page 380 of Seasons of Love
“I’m um…getting drinks…” I said, squeezing past him into the kitchen.
“Wait, Jake.”
I turned around, but not until I was safe and out of sight from my uncle and cousin.
“I won’t say anything,” I blurted out.
Griff stopped only inches away from me. His dark eyes bore into mine, once again giving me that strange feeling, so I looked away.
“That’s not why I followed you here. I just want to know that you’re okay. You know, after…” he said, trailing off.
I let out a strained laugh.
“I’m okay. Thanks for asking. As I said, I won’t say anything to my uncle so—”
“Jesus, Jake, do you think I’m worried about Mal’s job?”
“How about those drinks?” Gabe said, coming into the kitchen and opening the fridge. “Is there anything alcoholic in here?”
“There’s beer, and I’m making a cranberry-and-white-wine spritzer,” I said.
“Oh, fancy.” He uncapped a beer and took a sip. “So, you must be Mal’s husband. Nice to meet you.”
Gabe extended his hand, and Griff took it. “Nice to meet you too, Gabriel. I’m Griff.”
“Please call me Gabe. Only Dad insists on calling us by our full names,” Gabe said.
Griff nodded and smiled.
“If you want to go back out, I’ll be right out with the drinks,” I said.
Griff looked my way and narrowed his eyes.
Yes, our conversation is over.
Because I couldn’t stop looking at him without remembering that first kiss, I needed him to go out and join his husband, who was also my uncle’s employee…and soon to be my boss.
I would do well to remember all those things.
When I went back out, everyone was sitting around the table, so I placed the tray with the spritzers and ice bucket on one end and started pouring the drinks.
“What are you working on at the moment, Griff?” my uncle asked. “I can’t tell you how exciting it is to have a best-selling author living on the island.”
Griff’s an author?
“I’m finishing a novel I started a few months ago. Something a little different from what I normally do. After that, I’ll have to see. The island is such a source of inspiration, and I’ve met so many great people here. I have a small-island series bubbling in the back of my mind already.”
“Griff can literally go to the supermarket and find inspiration for a book,” Mal said. “Don’t be in his presence for long if you know what’s good for you.”
Both my uncle and Gabe laughed, but I was too preoccupied absorbing the information.
“Does that mean you’re in all his books?” Gabe asked.
Mal looked at me as I stretched my arm out to give him his drink. He looked like he was going to speak, but then Griff laughed.
“No, Mal isn’t in any of my books. Sometimes, the way someone makes you feel is too strong, too intense to put it in a book. If I ever wrote Mal into a book, it would be the last one I wrote because nothing else after that could do it justice.”
My heart beat like it was going to run out of my chest and jump into the cold sea. The way Mal looked at Griff and then slowly met my gaze with the same intensity was overwhelming.
