Building Our Love (Griffin Brothers #2)
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Authors: Crystal Perkins
Building Our Love
Book
#2 of The Griffin Brothers
by Crystal Perkins
Copyright © 2014 by Crystal Perkins
Cover Design by Helen Williams
Ebook
formatting by
Jesse
Gordon
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Table of Contents
A
secret that tore them apart…
Chloe Jamison has
spent three years away from the love of her life for reasons she
can’t reveal. When a scandal causes her to lose her job prospects
as an interior designer, she has no one else to turn to except for
the family that was once like her own.
Architect Ryan
Griffin waited five years for the girl he loved to be ready and then
she dumped him for someone else after giving him her virginity. When
she comes back into his life, needing his family’s help and wanting
him back, he vows to protect his heart at all costs.
An
arrangement that has to be broken…
Agreeing to give
him her body whenever he wants it, Chloe soon realizes that having
only a piece of Ryan will never be enough. When he comes to the same
conclusion, they reignite their relationship while mixing business
with endless nights of pleasure.
Combining their
talents in and out of the bedroom, it seems nothing can come between
them this time. But, lingering issues with trust may end their
relationship for good. Chloe and Ryan’s love for each other, along
with the revelation of the secret from three years ago, may not be
enough to get them past the hurt they have inflicted on each other a
second time.
Is
love really worth it if you
have to fight so hard to keep it?
Gaming
For Love (The Griffin Brothers #1)
For my dad…
He
was the best man I’ve ever
known. Alzheimer’s took him from
us,
but we’ll never forget him.
Cletus
John Goetz June 1, 1915-July 4, 2008
Ryan
As I head to my dad’s
office, I can’t help but wonder what my brother wants to see us
about. Scott usually sticks to his computers. Or his fiancé. He’s
well underway with his new software project, so I don’t think
there’s anything going on with that. It’s unusual for him to ask
to see us in a formal setting.
When I get to the outer
office, my dad’s longtime secretary, Angie, looks at me nervously.
That’s strange. She usually playfully flirts with me, even though
she is pushing 60, and I am just shy of 25. I don’t have time to
ask her what’s wrong as Scott storms out of the office.
“You didn’t tell me
that she would be here!” he yells over his shoulder. She? What she
is he talking about?
The floor drops out
beneath my feet as I hear the person he is yelling at respond. “I
had to bring her, Scott. Your family is her only hope.” John’s
here. And there’s only one “her” that Scott would be yelling
about in relation to John. Chloe. The girl I gave my love, my
everything, to. The girl who shredded my heart and never looked back.
Scott sees me then.
“Ry, I swear I had no idea. John asked if I could set up a meeting,
but I didn’t know that bitch would be here.”
Before I can say
anything, John is in his face. “Do not call my daughter a bitch.
She may have made choices that you and I don’t agree with, but my
daughter was a great friend to you when you were younger, and you
will respect her in my presence.” He then looks at me. “I’m
sorry, Ryan. I wouldn’t have brought her here if she had anywhere
else to go. I need your help. Yours and your father’s. Please just
at least listen to us. If you can’t bring yourself to help, we’ll
both leave, and you will never have to see us again.”
“What do you mean,
both of you will leave?” Scott is panicking now. I know that John
is his closest confidant, and I need to calm him down. Even if it
will hurt me in the process.
“No one will be
leaving. We’ll help you, John. You’re part of our family, and if
that means helping Chloe too, we’ll do it for you.”
I walk into my dad’s
office to find him looking uncomfortable while Chloe sobs into his
jacket. I can only see the back of her, but my body instantly reacts
to the sight of the only woman I have ever loved. Her soft blonde
hair is cascading down her back and she’s wearing a flowered dress
that hugs her thin body and perfect ass. She’s got heels on that
bring her height up to six feet.
I stand there and just
stare at her, wondering again about what I did to lose her. How bad
was I as her first lover that made her leave me the next day for
another man? No, I’m not going to do this. I don’t care why she
left. I don’t care about her. But, I do. I still love her. That
doesn’t mean that I’ll let her hurt me again. She will never get
that close to me again. I need to take control of the situation.
“What are you doing
here, Chloe?”
She turns, and her
beautiful blue eyes take me in. She is as gorgeous in person as she’s
been in my fantasies for the past three years. Maybe more so, now
that she is no longer a teenager. She’s still thin with soft,
natural curves and legs a mile long. There’s nothing fake about her
body. It is just her who’s fake. I make my expression one of steel
as she looks at me with a hint of sadness.
“I had nowhere else
to go, Ryan.”
“What about your
fiancé? You know, the guy you left me for.”
“Adam and I are no
longer together. He left me.”
“Karma’s a bitch,
huh? Just like you.”
“Ryan, I warned
you-,” John starts to say.
“Dad, it’s okay. I
deserve whatever Ryan calls me.” She takes us all in. “Can we
please sit down, and then I can explain why I’m here?”
* * *
Chloe
Ryan nods, and we all
take seats around the table in his dad’s office. I take a deep
breath and my dad reaches over to squeeze my hand as I start to
explain. “I just graduated at the top of my class and I had offers
from several interior design firms. Then Adam and I broke up, and
what he told the press caused me to lose all of those offers. My
student loan payments are pretty big, and I don’t want dad to take
on the burden of paying those along with helping out my sister and
her family. I need a stable job, and he thought you might be willing
to give me one. I know it’s a long shot, but I had to ask. I
promise that I will be professional and work hard.”
I look at Ryan and have
trouble breathing. He looks so gorgeous, even as he’s glaring at
me. His black hair is a little long on top with a few strands hanging
down into his eyes. Those amazing green eyes, that all the men in his
family have, are like hard emeralds that are cutting through me right
now. He’s clean shaven and conservative looking in his designer
suit and tie. I can see his muscles trying to break free under the
suit. He worked construction every summer to learn that side of
building. He’s kept that strong physique and looks like he is
carved out of marble. I remember the way it felt to be held in those
strong arms, and I have to stop myself from jumping onto his lap.
Yeah, that would go over well.
“What do you mean you
lost your job prospects after Adam went to the press?” Gary’s
voice breaks my trance. Ryan’s dad is a good man, and I hate
knowing I let him down. Now I have to tell him things that will make
me look even worse to him.
“You don’t know? I
thought that you would get the Chicago papers here.”
“Contrary to what you
seem to think, we have better things to do than keep up with your
love life,” Ryan spits out and I flinch.
“Adam told the press
that I cheated on him throughout our entire relationship and that he
caught me and broke up with me.” I say it all fast. I need to get
it out without thinking about it.
“So, you made me wait
five years, and then you just went crazy and fucked everyone in
sight?” Ryan’s eyes are now flashing and not in the way I used to
love.
“Ryan, I love you
like a son, but I will not let you speak to my daughter that way.”
My dad is on his feet.
“Dad. Please sit
down. Ryan has every right to be angry. Even if what Adam said isn’t
true.” It isn’t true. The only man that I have ever slept with is
the one in front of me with murder in his eyes. I can’t tell him
that, though. I can’t tell anyone the truth.
Scott speaks for the
first time since we sat down. “I don’t have any interior design
work, but you can help me if you want. I can pay you to be my
secretary. God knows I need one.” He laughs to try to lighten the
mood.
I turn to thank him but
Ryan’s voice stops me. It’s cold and hard, and when I look to
him, he is sneering at me. “If Chloe is going to work for us, she’s
going to work for me. I happen to be in need of an assistant since
mine left to get married.”
“Ryan, I’m not sure
that would be a good idea,” Gary says.
“I’ll take the
job,” I tell them as I stand to face Ryan. “Thank you.”
“Oh, don’t thank me
yet, sweetheart. I’m not the sweet college boy who worshipped you
anymore. You saw to that. You may not like who I am now.”
I swallow hard before
answering. “I’m not the girl you worshipped anymore, either. And
it doesn’t matter if I like you. I’ll work hard for you.” He
turns to leave, motioning for me to follow. I smile at my dad, hoping
to reassure us both that this will be OK, and follow Ryan out the
door.
We take the elevator
down a few floors, and walk into an office full of cubicles. There’s
one desk in the middle of it all, manned by a handsome guy who looks
more put together than I do on my best day. Ryan introduces me to him
as Kevin, and tells me he’s in charge of the secretarial pool. He
tells him that I’m his new assistant and need training on
everything. Kevin looks at me curiously as Ryan walks away.
“You have no
experience?”
“Not really, no.”
“How did you get this
job, then?”
I don’t want to lie
to him so I sigh, and just say it. “My father has worked for the
Griffins since I was 11. I needed a job, so Ryan agreed to hire me.”
“Most people wouldn’t
have admitted that so readily.”
“I guess I’m not
most people.”