Besides, she could at least warn Griffin that Katie knew what was happening between them—and that his cookie connection had been cut off.
She took the back steps quickly, opened the screen door and stepped into a strange new world.
Griffin and Lucas were arguing over something at the counter, their backs to her, so they didn’t see her come in. Nicole took a moment to simply stare at what had been done to her grandmother’s old, familiar kitchen.
Shaking her head, she looked from the pale-green walls to the light-wood cupboards, from the tiled floor to the granite countertop that was exactly the stone she had once described to Griffin. There was a six-burner gas stove on one wall and a brand-new French-door fridge on another.
This wasn’t the kitchen she had asked for.
This was her dream kitchen.
The one she couldn’t afford.
“Griff!” Connor shrieked and both men spun around to stare at her with matching expressions of guilt.
But it was Griffin’s gaze Nicole caught with her own. Then she managed to croak out, “What the hell have you done?”
Nine
“Busted,” Lucas muttered.
“I can’t believe this,” Nicole said, setting Connor on his feet and glaring at Griffin.
“How did you—why did you—” She spun in a tight circle, sending her hair into a blond wave around her head before she stopped abruptly and glared at him again. “You had no right.”
Griffin gritted his teeth and faced the fury of the woman across from him. He’d known this moment would arrive, he just hadn’t expected it this soon. Lucas and the crew still had some finishing work to do, so Griffin had thought he would have a couple of days before this particular fight. Now that it was here, though, there was no avoiding it.
“Nicole, this is your dream kitchen.”
“Yeah, it is,” she said. “And one day I would have had it.”
“Instead, you have it now,” he said, refusing to acknowledge the cold, clipped tone to her voice. “What’s the difference?”
“Are you crazy?” she countered. “The difference is that I would have paid for it. I can’t afford this now.”
“It’s all been paid for,” Lucas offered, and she turned her glare on him.
Jabbing a finger toward Griffin, she asked, “Yes, paid for by whom? Him? How is that ethical? What kind of business are you running anyway, Lucas?”
“Ethical?” He stiffened and shot a quick look at Griffin. “I’m damn ethical, and we did some great work here.”
“Work that I didn’t order,” she reminded him. “I didn’t sign off on any of this.” She gulped in a breath. “I could sue you!”
Lucas shot a hard look at Griffin.
“Relax,” he said, “she’s not going to sue King Construction.”
“Really?” Nicole argued. She folded her arms over her chest and tapped the toe of one foot against the gleaming tiles in a furious rhythm. “Know me that well, do you?”
“Yeah, Nicole,” Griffin said, taking his life in his hands to move a step closer to her. “I think I do. You’re pissed right now, but once you’ve had time to think it over, you’ll realize I was right to do this.”
“Oh, that’s so not going to happen,” she muttered darkly.
“If it helps,” Lucas put in, “Griff meant it as a surprise for you. He’s covered all the bills insurance won’t cover.”
“Not helping,” Griffin said without looking at his cousin.
“Has he?” Nicole’s gaze narrowed on Lucas briefly, but it was long enough to have the man taking one long step to the side of Griffin. Obviously, he was trying to stay out of range.
“A surprise.” Nicole glanced down at Connor to make sure her son was nearby, then she lifted her gaze to Griffin again. “Flowers are a surprise. A box of chocolates. A damn teddy bear. Not a kitchen!”
“Gotta admit, you were surprised,” he said and shrugged as if completely unaffected by her fury.
“And you thought I’d like this.”
“Of course you like it,” Griffin ground out. “Hell, you love it. You’re just too stubborn to admit that you’re glad I took care of the changes.”
She just blinked at him and a corner of Griffin’s mind warned him that that wasn’t a good sign.
“You are unbelievable.” Her breath huffed in and out of her lungs. “What made you ever think even for a second that I would want you to do this? I told you I didn’t need your help.”
And he was tired of hearing it. What was he, blind? “Yes, you told me that. But it’s bull. You do need my help, you just don’t want it.” Griffin crossed his arms over his own chest, deliberately mimicking her stance. “Well, too damn bad, Nicole. You got it whether you want it or not.”
“The last time that happened, there was a fire.”
He winced, but stood his ground.
She looked at Lucas. “Rip it out. All of it.”
Lucas actually paled.
Griffin’s temper snapped. “Now who’s being crazy? He’s not going to destroy a kitchen he just finished building. Take a look around, Nicole. This is the room you described to me. The tiles. The color of the paint. The damn granite that the guy spent two weeks looking for!”
She only stared at him. “I didn’t ask you for this, Griffin. What I told you was a dream. Idle imagination.”
“And now it’s not.”
This wasn’t going at all the way he’d hoped it would. He knew she’d be pissed, of course, but he’d thought that seeing the kitchen of her dreams right there in front of her would take the sting out. And okay, yeah, he’d expected her to thank him for going to all the trouble of making sure she got what she damn well deserved.
“It wasn’t up to you to do this, Griffin,” she said, and her voice was softer, lower, as if most of the anger had drained away. But her eyes belied that supposition. They were still flashing, still furious.
“Look, it’s done.” And even he wasn’t sure why it had been so important to him to give her this. He only knew it had been, and now that it was done, he wanted her to enjoy it. To cook in it every day. To remember him every time she walked into the room.
Griffin frowned as that thought flashed in his mind. Where had that come from? Shifting uncomfortably, he ignored the truth he’d just stumbled on and asked, “Why don’t you at least take the time to look around?”