Page 130 of Rough and Rugged

He hands the plate to me, nodding for me to sit in the wooden chair with the small circle table next to it. I do, smiling in thanks before setting the plate on my lap.

Griffin moves my painting stool over to where I’m sitting before he digs into his own food. “Any idea what you’re painting now?”

I nod with a smile. “It’s more a feeling than a scene.”

He doesn’t say anything, his eyes boring into mine, waiting for an explanation.

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I woke up this morning and the colors just started flying and moving around the canvas.” I can’t stop the smile, so I shove another bite of sandwich in my mouth. “Where did you learn to cook?”

“I just like to eat,” he responds before looking at the canvas. “It’s beautiful. You’ve added pink,” he notes, and I love the way he pays attention. Inconveniently, I’m loving everything he’s done in the last twenty-four hours.

“Mhmm. So, what happens on Monday?”

His brows pull down in the center while he finishes his bite of food. “What do you mean?”

“I just want to be completely transparent.” I wave a hand between us, feeling like a total cliché having thewhat are wetalk. His brow raises, humor written across his lips. “I leave on Monday. Should I wait for you to ask for my number, or will I never see you again?”

“I wouldn’t say never,” he responds before shoving the last of his sandwich in his mouth. I watch as he chews, waiting for him to say something else. Because I can’t believe that’s all he’s going to give me.

“I mean, I know we’ve only known each other for, like, a day.” I scan the plate he gave me, pushing a fresh carrot to the right, my hesitation growing. Maybe this connection I’m feeling is only skin-deep for him. “But I want to get to know you better.”

“Well, let’s change that,” he says, standing from his stool and setting it back by my easel. “We can start simple. What’s your favorite color?” His gaze is set on my painting when he asks me, and a zing bursts through my chest.

“Cyprus,” I respond, brushing the crumbs from my hands. “It’s a deep green.”

He points to a color on my canvas. “This one?”

“Close.” I set my plate down on the small table to my right.

He nods. “I’m color-blind.”

My brows shoot to my hairline. I don’t know that I’ve met anyone who was color-blind before. I know it’s really common, though. Especially in men.

“It’s just purples and blues that blend together when they’re close to each other.”

“There are different types?”

He nods, stepping back and leaning against the log siding of his home. “Red, green—which I assume makes driving difficult—blues and greens, all different variations.” “I didn’t know that.” I step closer to him. “So do you have a favorite color?”

“Oddly enough, it’s purple, but like a wildflower.”

Over the next hour, we spend time talking and learning about each other while we clean up from lunch. I help him make his bed while finding out his favorite movie isLord of the Rings, he worked at a pizzeria for fifteen years, and he has two sisters, both of whom live out of state and he hasn’t seen in over five years. Bob, the owner of the cabin I rented, is like a father figure to Griffin, and he’s the only person in the world who gets to call him Griff.

By the afternoon, we’re both reading together, snuggled on his couch, when he asks me, “Can I have your number, Nora?”

I lift my head to see his face, the look of contemplation settled in his features. “Really?” I sit up, turning to face him on the couch.

He places a bookmark between the pages before dropping the book on the coffee table. “I’m not a city man.” He knows I’m from Milwaukee and have lived there most of my life. “But I don’t think three hours is a bad drive, and I’d definitely like to see you again.”

I can’t help but bite my lip. “Really?”

He lets out a dry chuckle, pushing a stray curl behind my ear. “You said that already.”

Who would have thought a getaway to focus on painting would have ended up this way. I found so much more than inspiration here on Lake Bluff. I found a sexy man full of surprises and dare I say it, romance. There is so much more to Griffin and I look forward to finding out all I can. It’s crazy but this feeling inside of me tells me that this has the potential to last.

My gaze moves to the large windows looking out at what seems like nothing but wilderness. The deck that sits to the left and the single chair that resides there. I could see myself with this man, sitting on that deck, with two chairs instead of one, a book in my hand and happiness in my heart.

Griffin

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