And he loved Kinsey.
He couldn’t let Kinsey lose what she wanted in life if it was in his power to help protect her—and it was. The worst thing for her career if people were beginning to talk about corporate secrets being spilled was for her to be connected to a Beckett.
Griff dropped his phone onto the bathroom countertop and sat down on the edge of the tub. His big ass barely fit, but he didn’t give a shit, because his legs weren’t about to hold him upright at this moment. He sucked in a deep breath as his eyes watered—and it had nothing to do with the soap suds.
There was only one solution.
He slammed the heels of his palms against his eyes, trying to stop all of it, the emotions, the agony, the truth that was so obvious, he didn’t need his eyes to see it.
Fuck.
This was the last thing he wanted—the very last thing—but it was the best thing for her, and that’s all that mattered. After all, it wasn’t like they were a real couple. This whole thing was one-sided. She was having fun. He had fallen in love. Now, all that was over.
He got up, grabbed the towel off the hook on the back of the door, and shut off the shower. The silence meant he could hear Kinsey’s murder podcast, the one she listened to while doing yoga on his bedroom floor. The woman was chaotic good personified, sunshine wrapped around steel. Taking longer than necessary, he dried off and forced himself to figure out the next steps. Never in his life had his brain moved so slowly to put the pieces together.
Finally, when he had it together, he wrapped the towel around himself and walked out into his bedroom. Kinsey was laying on her back, her eyes closed, with her arms by her sides and her legs extended. If this had been the first time he’d found her like this, he would have assumed she was asleep, judging by her slow, steady breathing. He couldn’t help but wish that she was, so he could delay this.
She cracked open an eye. “Well, hello there, good-looking.” She opened both eyes and gave him a more considering look, her grin melting into a flat line. “Bad news?”
Griff affected a relaxed expression, forcing his mouth to curl upward as he leaned against the bathroom doorframe, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Actually, it’s great news.”
Kinsey sat up, her eyes wide in anticipation. “So spill.”
Pain made his gut twist into a knot that nearly brought him to his knees, but he could do this—he had to—for her. “I got my cousins to agree that the dates we planned ourselves should count for the bet and so that’s six dates out of the way. We’re free.”
She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she cocked her head to one side. “Free?”
“Yeah.” He pushed through the agony squeezing his chest, determined to keep it light so she didn’t feel bad.
“Griff, I can’t—”
“Believe it’s finally over?” he interrupted, needing to get this over with before he broke down in front of her. “I know. Don’t take me wrong. It’s been fun and all, but we both have regular lives to get back to.”
Kinsey narrowed her gaze and stood up, placing her hands on her full hips. “That’s a lot of words.”
“Just excited, I guess.” He shrugged, ignoring the rusty-ice-pick-worthy sharp pain in his side. “You know, there’s a guy at the gym you might like; I can vouch that he’s not a complete asshole.” How he’d even gotten those words out, he had no idea. There was no one at his gym good enough for her. She was amazing. Smart. Funny. Ambitious. She deserved everything that she had coming to her, and he wasn’t about to stand in the way of that. “Can I give him your number?”
“Sure,” she said as her expression changed, going from concerned to utterly and completely neutral.
There. The confirmation he needed to see that all of this was just fun for her, that none of it mattered. She was just being a friend, helping him win a bet. He’d known it all along; he’d just been foolish enough to think he could change that. Somewhere, his dad was laughing his ass off.
“Cool.” It was anything fucking but. God, his whole body hurt; every inch of skin was on fire and his joints blazed. It was like he was only seconds from combusting.
She let out a long, shaky sigh and grabbed her phone and keys. “Congrats on winning the bet.”
This fucking bet. He didn’t give a shit about it and hadn’t since he’d first heard her voice, but he had to play along for her. All of this had to be convincing. She wasn’t the type of person who would leave someone who needed help, which was why she’d agreed to help him in the first place. She’d sat by him at the campfire, but now he had to let her go—for her own good.
“I haven’t yet. Nash still has to fall in love, but I have ideas.” God, he sounded like the biggest douche even to himself. “Thanks for doing this. I can’t imagine it working with anyone else but you.”
She shot him a tight smile. “I’ll get out of your hair, then.”
He kept his arms bolted to his sides so he wouldn’t reach for her. “Let me know when I can return the favor.”
Kinsey nodded, her lips smashed together, and then walked out of his front door and his life—exactly what he wanted to happen. Just like he wanted his legs to finally give out, because his heart had cracked wide open.
Chapter Forty-Three
Kinsey
Kinsey made it to her front door before everything clicked into place.
The bet.
The breakup.
The bullshit.
That. Fucker.
Whole body practically vibrating, she spun around and marched back into Griff’s, throwing open the door without even knocking first, and marched into his bedroom.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, still in just a towel, looking out the windows overlooking the city. He scrubbed at his cheek with the back of his hand, trying to be all smooth about it like no one would be able to guess he was upset. All the what-the-fuck annoyance left her body like a demon after an exorcism. Dammit. Why was she so frickin’ soft when it came to this man? She closed her eyes and let out a breath, nearly giving in to that gooey feeling before yanking herself back to reality.
By the time she opened her eyes again, Griff was standing in the middle of his room, his whole demeanor changed. Gone was any hint of softness, replaced with that gruff exterior he wore like a shield. Well, too bad, because she knew better. Still, her gaze dipped down to the towel barely hanging onto his hips.
Focus, Kinsey!
Damn, that was hard when Griff was basically naked. He was all muscles, tattoos, and a really fucking bad attempt at a snarl. Ha! Like that was going to work on her—especially when he had the one piece of information she needed to figure out what in the hell had just happened.