Page 119 of Counterfeit Connection

“I wantusto build ahomehere.”

I can feel my bottom lip beginning to tremble. “You told me to go. You pushed me away.”

He surprises me by closing the distance between us and takes my face in his hands.

“I fucked up,” he says. “I know that, and I’m not sure how I can make that up to you completely. My father crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed, but he’s out of my life now. Gone. Done. You’re all I want, Kaitlyn. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to fix any and everything that my world did to hurt you.”

I reach up and wrap my fingers around his wrists, struggling between wanting to grip him so tightly that he never leaves me again and pushing him away. “I’ve missed you so much it hurts.”

“I know, baby. I know,” he whispers. “I felt it. The pain was ours. Everything has and is ours. I’ve never known something like we have. I don’t want to just belong to myself. I want to belong to you. Kaitlyn, do you remember what I said before all the bad things happened?”

“You… you said ‘what if you were my forever? Do you still want that?’”

“Yes. I still want that, but I know we can’t do that right now. I wouldn’t want to. I’d like to earn your trust back. I’d want to earn your family’s trust again. I’d want your father’s blessing. Believe it or not, I have Jason and Gillian’s already.”

“What?”

“Jason paid me a visit in London. When he was wherever he told you he was, he was with me.”

With the shock of being in this field and seeing Griffin in front of me, I didn’t realize the fading bruise on his jaw. “Did he hit you? I’ll fucking kill him.”

“No. Don’t talk like that. He, by right, should have beat me senseless. Even when he was getting me to see things I didn’t want to see or realize, he did it with the kindness of a brother. I’d missed that. I’d take a thousand more punches if they were coming from that place. He loves you. Gillian loves you. Kaitlyn, I love you. Tell me you don’t love me and I’ll walk away.”

I shake my head slowly as the tears finally break to the surface. “I’d be lying. I love you. I love you so much.”

Griffin releases his tender touch from my face to wrap his strong arms around my body, pulling me tight against him. There it is, the warmth I’ve needed. “Kaitlyn, let this house, this land in a place that means so much to you, serve as a promise that will be unbroken. I will do all those things I said I’d do and so much more. Let it be my promise to you that someday it will be the home where I carry you across the threshold in your bridal gown and the place where we will raise our children.”

I rest my head on his chest. “This is like a fairy tale,” I look up at him and his face is hazy behind my tears. “You’re really going to buy it?”

“I really hope you take me back… because I already did.” He smiles, pushing the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.

It’s as simple as that. I throw myself at him, even closer than we were already, and kiss him like he’s oxygen and I’m starved for breath.

This may have started as a favor and a business decision, but it quickly melted away and became something real, beautiful, and powerful.

I’ve never believed there is one person out there for everyone. That’s silly. It’s mathematically impossible because you change as you grow, as you age, and as your life progresses.

Griffin shattered his way through that opinion and planted himself firmly as myoneand now that I have him back, I’m never going to let him go.

Epilogue

Kaitlyn

City living and country living are different in so many ways.

While our house was being built, we shared time between staying in my apartment in the city and also, when we needed to be nearby, we stayed with my father and Hilary. There were pluses and minuses to both. Today, we hit a milestone. It’s the last night in the apartment before we turn it back over to Mika. When I left here the first time, there were so many unknowns. There was so much sadness. This time, there’s a bit of sadness, but so much more excitement.

The house is basically finished. There are a few details that need to be ironed out, but nothing that will prevent us from moving in. With all the final boxes we’re going to take with us lined near the front door, and Griffin finishing the dishes fromdinner, I let the hot water from the shower rain over my tired body.

My face is turned up to the gentle stream, allowing the warmth to trickle down my body. I tune out everything around me until I hear the weight of Griffin’s bare feet on the tile right outside the shower. “May I help you?” I ask.

The next thing I hear is Griffin’s jeans and belt open. His white T-shirt hits the floor with what I can only describe as a sound of victory. “Honestly, I think I can help you. Care for company?”

“Well, since you’re already here.” I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly, but with a smile.

His chuckle sends a shiver from my toes to my neck, only made more pronounced when he slides the glass door open to step inside. The cool air from the bathroom whips through the steam.

“Scoot forward a little,” he urges. His body is large and looming over mine. He doesn’t exactly fit easily in my tiny, New York City apartment shower.

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