Page 78 of Home Safe

“Gatorade!” Jason chirps with a little bounce.

A few minutes later, Samantha and Adrian come through the front door of the condo, laden with bags from a local taco shop. We stuff ourselves with delicious food as Jason gives his full breakdown of the game today, causing all of us to stifle our amused laughter. Adrian and Griffin regale us with stories from training camp and the games so far, causing multiple rounds of unstifled belly laughs.

When the tacos are gone and the chips are down to crumbs, Adrian leans over the table toward Jason. “I think it’s about time you tried the best ice cream in Arizona. What do you think?”

“Yes!” Jason yells, pivoting to look to me. “Can we, Mom?”

“I’m too full for ice cream, but you should definitely let Ortiz take you, Fireball,” Griffin says, eyeing me meaningfully.

“I’m in!” Samantha says, giving me a similarly pointed look.

“Oh, yeah, I’m pretty full, too, after all those tacos. I’ll pass on ice cream this time,” I say. Standing up, I start gathering the trash to throw away, trying to look occupied and not like I’m obsessing over finally being alone with Griffin again.

Adrian fist bumps Jason and ushers him toward the front door, closely followed by Samantha. She gives us a sly look over her shoulder as they exit the condo, their laughter echoing behind them.

It’s a matter of milliseconds before Griffin spins me toward him and captures my lips with his. I loop my arms around his neck, melting against him. When he pulls back from our kiss, he trails the tip of his nose from my chin up the line of my jaw. The resulting shiver thatskitters through my body must delight him because he smiles against the skin below my ear.

“Have I mentioned I missed you?” he murmurs, voice warm and tantalizing. “That I thought about you constantly the past five weeks? That every day I’ve been daydreaming about drinking in your kiss again?”

Before I can respond, his lips are back on mine, his hands moving from my waist to my hair. I sigh, so blissfully happy to be back in his embrace.

“Everything about you is so soft,” he whispers. “Your skin,” he says, placing a gentle kiss to my cheek. “Your hair,” he adds, running a lock of my hair through his fingertips, his eyes tracking the movement. The gray has almost completely clouded out the blue in his irises as he stares at me. “Your lips,” he breathes as his fingers trace the outline of them.

I move my hands from behind his neck to his shoulders, slowly sliding them down to his chest. When I feel his heart thundering beneath my hands, I mimic his self-satisfied smirk. “I’m really glad to see you again,” I say. “That was way too long apart.”

“Agreed,” he says. “Let’s not do that again.” He leans in to press a kiss to my neck, then takes one of my hands and leads me to the couch.

“Listen, I could stand here kissing you for the entirety of however long Adrian and Sam manage to distract Jason. But I want to talk with you too,” Griffin says as he sits on the couch. He pulls me down next to him, and I drape my legs over his as he tucks me under his arm.

“Would this be an appropriate seating position for reading at the ski lodge?” he asks, voice teasing.

“Hmmm,” I say. “Realistically, if I was going to be able to hold my book, I’d have to face the opposite direction and lean my back against your chest.”

“I can get on board with that too,” Griffin says, “but for now, I’m happy just like this.” He kisses the top of my head, pausing to noticeably smell my hair. “What kind of shampoo do you use?”

I laugh. “Some cheap stuff from the grocery store. My days of regular highlights and high-end hair products got left behind when I cut tieswith my parents. But I like the mango citrus scent of this shampoo, so I don’t even care.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” Griffin replies. “Don’t ever change it. I can’t believe you used to highlight your hair. It’s already the perfect shade of auburn. Why would you mess with perfection?”

I shrug, his arm wrapped around me rising and falling with the movement. “It was part of the lifestyle my parents wanted for us. Regular beauty treatments to look as chic and posh as possible were as much a part of my upbringing as learning to ride a bike.”

“I’m almost surprised you know how to ride a bike,” Griffin remarks.

Slapping him on the chest, I lean back to give him a fake scowl. “We weren’tthatout of touch with reality,” I say. He raises his eyebrows. “I’m not saying I could tell you the last time I actually rode a bike, but I did learn.”

Griffin laughs, and I lean my head against his chest to fully appreciate the thundering sound. I trace lazy patterns on his forearm as I ask, “How has training been?”

“Different this year. Mentally harder than usual,” he says. “Mostly because of the separation from you. But also because the seed of doubt about whether I’d be good enough to make the squad was bigger than ever after coming back from the injury.”

“I can imagine that weighed on you,” I reply. “You were amazing today, though.”

“Did you think so?” he asks, pulling back from me enough to look at my face. The tentative smile on his face looks as though he’s genuinely searching for my approval. To know if I’m proud of him.

“Of course,” I say, reaching a hand up to trail my fingers along his beard. “Even from someone who doesn’t care for the sport, I can appreciate the talent you had in fielding that double play. Not to mention three hits.” He smiles more fully, looking pleased. “But the walk-up song was by far my favorite part.”

His smile breaks into a grin. “I thought you might appreciate that. Good thing my nickname lends itself to a littleHarry Pottermagic. What did Jason think?”

“Oh, he was beside himself. Thought it was the coolest moment ever. Well, until your double play. Then that was the coolest momentever. Althoughnowhe probably thinks getting the game-winning ball is the coolest moment ever,” I say. My voice drops to a murmur as I add, “You’re giving him a lot of coolest moments ever.”

---