Page 66 of How He Got the Girl
Griffin snorts behind me.
Connor looks over my shoulder, eyeing him warily. “Who’s this?”
I sigh. “Do you ever read the family group chat?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“I see bluntness runs in the family,” Griffin teases, wrapping one arm around my lower back and extending his right hand to my brother. “I’m Mallory’s boyfriend, Griffin Reynolds. Nice to meet you, Connor.”
My brother shakes Griffin’s hand without an ounce of emotion crossing his face. He releases it immediately and turns to me. “You landed a guy?”
I cross my arms, shooting him a glare.
“It’s a Christmas miracle,” Connor deadpans.
“I’m the one who was lucky enough to land her.” Griffin presses a kiss to my cheek.
The way he says it is so honest that I truly believe him.
My brother frowns as Griffin turns back to him and asks, “Do you live around here?”
“Washington, currently.”
“Currently?” I raise my eyebrow.
“Yeah, it’s where I live.”
“But you wouldn’t have felt the need to add the wordcurrentlyif you weren’t thinking about moving somewhere else. Isn’t that right?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“Excuse me for caring about my brother’s life.”
I know Connor cares about our family deep down, but he’s always been quieter and more reserved than the rest of us. His grumpiness makes me look like a ray of sunshine, and that’s saying something.
“What do you do for work?” Griffin asks, trying to lighten the mood, and I’m grateful for his effort.
“Firefighter.”
Yep, there’s my brother. Never using more words than necessary.
“That’s some hard work right there.” Griffin pulls me closer, but I’m not sure he even realizes he’s doing it. “I have real respect for anyone in public service.”
“Thanks.” Connor looks around the room and sighs. “What do you do? Graham, was it?”
“Griffin.” He smiles, looking relieved that there’s someone in the world whodoesn’tknow who he is. “I’m, uh, actually an actor.” He rubs the back of his neck, surprisingly bashful. But I guess he doesn’t often have to tell people what he does. He probably just takes pictures with people and thanks them when they say that they loved his latest movie.
“Huh.” My brother doesn’t say anything else.
I’m surprised he even seemed interested enough to ask Griffin a question. Although when he looked around the room, he was probably trying to find somewhere he could escape and avoid all conversations, but my parents’ house is filled to the brim with family members.
“You seriously haven’t seen any of the news articles about us?” I scoff. “I even made a social media account. I followed you.”
Connor shakes his head. “I haven’t logged into my account in years. And I don’t get out much.”
“What do you do with all your free time out there by yourself?”
“Sleep. Take a walk. Enjoy the peace and quiet.”
