It didn’t take much to set off guys with too much pride and too little temper control. Plus, it was just plain fun to get into a good fight once in a while. Usually Griffin and his twin could blow off some steam with a friendly fistfight. But since Garrett was off being a damn prince now, it had been a while since Griffin had had anyone to scuffle with. So if Lucas didn’t lay off fast, there was going to be a fight.
“Let it go, Lucas.”
“Sure,” Lucas said, laughing. He held up both hands. One empty, one still clutching his beer. “That’ll happen.” He took a hard look at Griffin’s expression. “Hey, hey, not looking for a fight. After the last time Rafe and I got into it, Rose told me she’d kick my ass if I came home battered again.”
“Hiding behind your wife?”
“Damn straight. She’s scarier than you,” Lucas said, still laughing, damn his eyes. “You do know that when Katie gets back, if she finds out what you’re up to, you’re dead meat.”
“Yeah,” Griffin said, taking a long sip of his beer. “I know.”
Katie wouldn’t hit him, but he’d never get another cookie in his whole, miserable life. And siding with his wife might cause Rafe to go all fury and fists on him, but Griffin wasn’t too worried about that. He could take Rafe.
Still, he didn’t like the idea of creating trouble in the family. And Nicole was seriously trouble. But if he had a choice between keeping things in the King family on an even keel or having Nicole, then the choice was a simple one. The family would get over a shakeup. He wasn’t ready to let Nicole go yet.
“You’re either in really deep,” Lucas said with a shake of his head, “or you’re nuts. Not sure which.”
“Might be both, I’m not thinking about it.”
“Not a good sign, cuz.”
“Tell me about it,” Griffin muttered darkly. He was a man who always knew what was next. The man with a plan. Always. He didn’t do a damn thing without knowing the consequences and what his response would be. In the security business, you’d better have a backup plan—and a plan for when that one went bottom up, too.
Only one other time in his life had he just gone with his heart instead of thinking things through logically, and that had turned to crap in a microsecond. So what were the chances this thing with Nicole wouldn’t go south in a big way someday soon?
Zip.
And wouldn’t you just know Lucas would pick up on what was going on? Most of his cousins would have been oblivious, too concerned with what was going on in their own lives to be working out someone else’s secrets. Figured he had to be dealing with one who noticed more than the job at hand.
“Seriously, man,” Lucas said with a slow shake of his head, “hope it’s worth the trouble.”
“Me, too,” Griffin muttered. The icy cool of the beer bottle in his hand was no match for the heat that streamed through him at the mere thought of Nicole.
So that was his answer. She was worth family trouble. She was worth the fight he and she would be having as soon as Nicole realized he’d already paid her deductible on the fire insurance. And worth the battle they’d have the second she found out he’d authorized upgrades she hadn’t approved for her kitchen.
Yeah. She was worth it.
And that worried him.
“Okay, it’s your funeral,” Lucas told him and pushed away from the counter.
“Thanks for the support.”
“Hey, I’m supportive,” Lucas argued. “I’m just not an idiot.”
“Thanks again.”
Lucas grinned and shot a glance at the doorway through which Nicole had disappeared. “So while she’s busy with Connor, you want to talk about the upgrades for Nicole’s kitchen?”
Nodding, Griffin said, “Let’s take our beers next door to talk about it, though. Don’t want to chance her overhearing.”
“Yeah,” Lucas agreed, already heading for the back door. “Me neither. I’m doing these changes on your authorization, not hers. Hell, if she wanted to, she could sue King Construction.”
“She won’t sue you.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that.”
“Go ahead. Nicole won’t sue.” She’d be mad as hell, but her fury would be aimed at Griffin, not Lucas. Griffin followed him out the door, then just to be mean, added, “She’ll turn your wife on you.”
“Oh, man.” Lucas looked back at him. “That’s cold.”
“Women are dangerous people, cousin,” Griffin said, looking over his shoulder at the empty room behind him.
“You can say that again, cuz,” Lucas was saying, walking toward the gate in the fence and Nicole’s house beyond. “But what would we do without them?”
“That’s the question,” Griffin murmured.
Too bad he didn’t have an answer.
Seven
The following day, Connor was at preschool, and Nicole was back at Sandy’s place with a question about that week’s billing. Not that she’d had a chance to ask it yet.
“So how’s the kitchen coming along?” Sandy asked.
“I’m not sure.” Nicole flipped through her friend’s business file, looking for one page in particular. “I haven’t actually seen it since the first day Lucas had his crew in.”
“What?” Sandy peeled the paper off her lemon cupcake and took a bite. As she chewed, she asked, “Are you nuts? It’s your kitchen. How can you not be curious about what they’re doing in there?”
Nicole found the paper she was looking for and slid it across the table to Sandy. “I was there when they were using sledgehammers to take out my grandmother’s cupboards and the ceiling. I saw a gigantic hole in the floor and looked straight down at the dirt.” She shuddered. “Way more than I wanted to see, so no thanks. I don’t want to see any more destruction in there.”
“But it’s construction now. They’re fixing it all up.”
“And it’ll be great when they’re finished. Meanwhile, Griffin’s keeping an eye on what they’re doing and he tells me it looks terrific.”
“A guy?” Sandy shook her head as if she was hearing things. “You’re taking a guy’s word for what your remodel looks like?”
“Griffin’s there every day. He’s been working with the crew and—” And it was too hard to keep up the pretense of disinterest around others, Nicole thought.