“Do you want me there, Peyton?”
“I just said that I did.”
“If you feel pressured to ask me, I won’t do it.”
“I want you to come with us, but you have to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“They’re protective. I don’t want them to scare you off.”
“Not a chance.”
“Then I’d love for you to come to lunch with my family.” I find the words to be true as I say them. Sure, I’d like to keep him just for me, but the cat is already out of the bag, so to speak, so there’s no use in hiding that I’m into him, even if this ends when I go back home.
“Tell me when and where I need to be, and I’ll make it happen.”
“I’m not sure. How about you just head this way?”
“I’m heading out the door now. I’ll just come up to your room.”
“Okay. That works. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Let me see. Am I sure that I want to spend the rest of the day with this beautiful girl I recently met and can’t stop thinking about? Hell yes,” he says, answering his own question, making me smile.
“I’ll see you soon, Griffin.”
“Ten minutes tops.” The line goes dead, and I fall back onto my bed.
I can’t believe I just did that. Yesterday, I was freaking out about him meeting Cameron and Holden, and now I’m inviting him to do so, and Uncle Drew is here. I’m not naïve enough to think Drew’s not going to call my dad and fill him in. Those two are thick as thieves. I just set myself up for an interrogation when I get home. Possibly sooner. I did it willingly, all just to spend more time with him.
Knowing that if I don’t get out there and fill them in, the four of them will come to me, I climb to my feet, slide my phone back in my pocket, and head back to the living area.
“Well?” Parker asks.
“He’s on his way.”
“All right.” Holden rubs his hands together.
“I swear on everything holy, if you embarrass him or me, I’m never babysitting for you,” I warn him.
“You might want to hold back,” Cameron tells him. “She’s helped us out more times than I can count with Jett.”
“You wouldn’t do that. You’d be depriving yourself of niece and nephew time,” Holden counters.
“That’s how important this is to me,” I admit.
“I’ll have his ass running sprints if he does,” Drew speaks up.
“Damn,” Holden mutters. “Fine. I’ll be good. As long as he’s good to you, that is.”
“I can live with that.” Griffin is good to me. Opening doors and leading me into rooms good to me. I can’t imagine my family will have an issue with any of that.
“So, where are we headed?” Drew asks.
“A restaurant not far from here. Some of the guys were talking about it. They went last week and said the food was out of this world,” Cameron tells him as there’s a knock on the door.
The sound seems to drown out all other noise in the room. Maybe that’s because it does. Everyone goes quiet and looks at me expectantly. “I’ll get it,” I mutter, making my way to the door. I pull it open to see Griffin’s smiling face. He looks good. He’s wearing khaki shorts, a polo, and boat shoes. His shaggy brown hair is slicked back, making his brown eyes sparkle.
“Hey, beautiful,” he whispers, but from the “Aw” I hear come from my sister behind me, I know they heard him.
“Come on in,” I say, stepping back. “I hope you’re ready for this.”
“You’re here. Of course I am.” He winks, and my heart flutters in my chest.
Closing the door, I move to stand next to him. “Guys, this is Griffin. Griffin, you met all but Uncle Drew yesterday, but I’ll go through introductions again just in case.”
“I’m good, Peyton.” He offers his hand to my sister again. “Nice to see you again, Parker. Thank you for inviting me.”
“Nice to see you too. You remember Holden and Cameron?” she asks.
“I do. Nice to see you again.” He offers both of them his hand to shake as well. “You must be Drew. I’m Griffin. Nice to meet you.”
“You as well.”
“So, are we ready to go?” I ask the group.
“Hold up, ladies, you need to change. This place says it has a dress code,” Cameron says, reading from his phone. He looks up at Griffin. “Have you ever been to Anthony’s? Do they really need to change?” he asks.
Griffin smiles. “That’s actually my dad’s restaurant. Let me call them and see if the back room is available. If so, we can go as we are.” Griffin pulls his phone out of his pocket and makes the call. “Hey, Macey, it’s Griffin. Hey, can you tell me if the back room is open today?” He pauses. “Perfect. Can you put me down for six for the next three hours, please?” Another pause. “Great, thanks. Hey, is my dad there today?” He laughs. “Yeah, let him know I’ll be there with Peyton and some of her family. Thanks, Macey.” He slides his phone back into his pocket before addressing Cameron. “The back room is ours. No dress code is required. We can go in through the back.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“You’re not going to get into trouble with your dad for this, are you?” I ask him.
“No. Not at all. He’s not working in the kitchen today, but he is there. I know you were going to meet him tonight, but don’t be surprised if he stops in to say hello.”
“No pressure,” I grumble, and he laughs as he slides his arm around my shoulder and presses his lips to my temple. “They’re going to love you,” he assures me.
“Right. So, shall we go?” Parker asks. My sister knows this is uncomfortable for me. Having all of them here with Griffin. A guy I just met but feel as though I’ve known a lifetime.
“Let’s do this.”
Together we make our way to the elevator. Griffin, as suspected, places his hand on the small of my back and leads me out of our room and down the hall to wait for the elevator. Cameron, Drew, and Holden ask him about baseball, and he talks to them as if they were just strangers off the street. He doesn’t seem to be starstruck by their positions with the Blaze. I move to stand a little closer to him, and he slides his arm around my waist. I knew he was different. And I know what the sport means to him, so this has to be a big deal, but he’s taking it in stride. He’s not fanning all over them. They’re just my family, who happen to be the general manager and two starting players for a Major League baseball team.
“How are we driving over?” Holden asks.
“I have my rental.”
“The three of us have one too,” Parker points out as we step onto the elevator.
“I have my Jeep too,” Griffin adds.
“We don’t all need to drive,” Parker comments.
“Okay, well, Griffin and I are going to drive separately. Whoever else can follow us since we’re taking the back entrance. Sound good?” I ask as we step off the elevator. We make our way outside as the conversation of who is driving continues.