10. Giffin

Cora yawns and sprawls out on the couch, her feet dangling. She holds the document she's reading high above her head.

She puts the paper down and tilts her head back to look at me. "I think we should get going. It's late, and it's been a long day."

Which is likely a polite way of saying she wants nothing to do with me after I fucked her on my desk.

But I want everything to do with her.

There is no good way to tell her that. Our relationship is complicated as it is. I don't need to make it worse by telling her that I want her all for myself—no, I realize I need her like I need air.

I stretch and get up from the chair, collecting the evidence files to bring home with me. "Alright. Let's pack this up, and I'll take you home."

I don't know when my desperation for her started. It would be impossible to pinpoint an exact date.

Somewhere between when she started working for me and right now, I started caring a lot more about what Cora thinks about me.

Cora collects the papers and stacks them in a neat pile. "I can take myself home."

I give her a flat look and stuff the stack into my briefcase. "I've seen the car you drive, Cora. I'm pretty sure it"ll break down on the side of the road one day. If that happens, I don't want that to be well after midnight on your way home alone from work."

Her lips purse, hesitation in her gaze. "Griffin, are you sure about this?"

I close the briefcase and grab my jacket from the closet near the door. "Yes, I'm sure. Go get your things; let's get out of here."

She leads the way out of the office, and I stand beside her desk as she puts her heels back on. Cora grabs some files and stuffs them into her purse before nodding at me.

We leave the office together, and something about this moment feels right.

Hell, something about us feels right, even if she can't see that yet.

I could make her see that. I could take as long as possible with this divorce. If she just looked a little harder, she would see that there was something between us.

But getting closer to her comes with its own risks… I'm mainly concerned about my friend Jake. It would only hurt him.

He would worry when I was going to hurt his sister. He'd never accept us together because he'd think I was only using her for the short term to fill a void.

But there is nothing short-term about a relationship with Cora.

I unlock the doors to my car for her, and she slides into the passenger seat, setting her purse on the floorboard.

The drive to her house is quick and filled with the soft sound of music playing in the background.

Tension resides between us, making me feel like there is nothing I can say to break the uneasiness.

We slept together, and although I know I should regret it, I don't.

I want to spend the foreseeable future tangled up in the sheets with her for as long as possible.

Cora's finger darts out in front of me. "Take that street there. My apartment building is at the end of it."

My eyebrows raise, but I keep my mouth shut.

The neighborhood surrounding us is rundown. Houses look like they are barely held together.

Children's toys and rotting cars litter overgrown yards. People rest against fences under flickering streetlights.

Cora's apartment building is right in the middle of it. I pull up in front of the main door, my hands tightening on the wheel at the lack of security.

"Why is there no code to enter your building?" I glance over at her as she grabs her purse.

Cora rolls her eyes. "It's a safe enough building. Keep your head out of everybody else's business, and nothing will happen."

I twist to look at her. "You've got to be kidding me, Cora. If that's how you feel about your neighborhood, maybe it's time to look for a new place to live."

"I'm fine where I am." She gets out of the car and slams the door behind her.

I turn off the engine and get out, following her to the door. "No wife of mine is going to live here. You're going to pack a bag—right now—and you're going to come with me."

Cora shakes her head and leads the way down the hall to a staircase with a flickering light. "You can't tell me what to do just because we're married and we—"

We fucked.

I point at the dried blood splatter on the wall. "This is not a safe place to live in."

"And why should you care? It's not where you have to live, so everything will be fine." She climbs the stairs to the second floor and opens the door to her unit. "I'm fine here, and besides, it's only until I have my debt paid off. After that, I can go rent somewhere nicer to live."

The carpet that lines the hall is dark brown. As I gaze at the swirls in the carpet, I ponder whether they've always been that color or if they've just never been cleaned.

"Cora, you know your brother would lose his shit if he knew you were living here."

She unlocks the door and steps inside. "Which is exactly why he doesn't need to know that I live here."

I pull out my phone and look at her. "Alright, so either you come with me to my house, or I call Jake and get him to come pick you up."

Her cheeks flare a bright red as she dumps her purse on the counter. "I don't know why the two of you think that you can run my life."

I sigh and walk past her, going down the hall to where I assume her bedroom is. "Since I'm guessing you don't want me to call your brother, I'll help you pack."

"Fine!" Cora brushes by me, giving me a sharp glare as she flicks on the lights and enters her bedroom. "One night. That's it, and it's just so you won't rat me out to Jake."

I lean in the doorway as she grabs a bag from her closet. "He worries about you because you're so stubborn. I wouldn"t have known anything if I hadn't come here tonight. But now that I've seen where you live, I can't let you stay here, Cora. Jake would be mad at me if he found out I knew where you were living and didn't do anything about it."

She whirls around, the duffle bag dangling from her hand. "You've been talking to my brother about me? Does he know that we're married?"

"He said you've been acting weird lately. He's worried about you."

Cora's entire body tenses as she yanks open her drawers and tosses clothing into her bags. "Great. You couldn't stand me when we were younger, but now you think that you can have a say in what goes on in my life?"

I shrug as she slams the drawers shut. "It seems to me like you've hit the self-destruct button. I don't know why you even have the problems you seem to when Jake could bail you out."

Cora throws her bag at me—and I catch it—laughing as she storms to the other side of the room. "I don't need my older brother to solve my problems."

She's always been feisty and independent, but this is another level. I know that whatever I say is not going to make her situation better, but I can't help myself.

Getting her all wound up only turns me on.

Cora normally exudes confidence in every aspect of her life. She knows exactly what she wants and how to achieve her goals. It's nice to see her let go every now and then.

I pull the bag over my shoulder. "You should take his help. You wouldn't have to go through this trouble. You can live in a better area where you wouldn't have to worry about safety."

"I have many concerns beyond financial matters, thank you very much." She swipes a book off her nightstand before pushing past me into the living room. "Let's go. The sooner we go to your place, the sooner I can come back here and live the life I'm trying to build for myself."

She snatches her purse off the counter and heads for the door.

I follow her out of the apartment and can't help but smile at her back. "I have a hard time believing this is what you wanted to build for yourself."

Cora scowls as she locks the door. "You don't know everything that there is to know about me."

"And that's because you have this lovely habit of trying to hide away from the world as much as possible."

She spins to face me, her finger ramming into my chest. "Listen, Griffin, I might be staying the night with you, but you're not going to spend time trying to pick apart my brain."

My smile drops as I loop an arm around her waist and guide her toward the staircase door.

Shouting comes from one of the units on the other side of the hall before we hear a heavy thud.

"Look, I won't pick apart your brain, but if you make leaving here any harder than it already has been, I will toss you over my shoulder and carry you out of here."

Cora's jaw takes on a stubborn set as she crosses her arms. "You wouldn't dare."

"Stubborn ass." I drop the bag before grabbing her and slinging her over my shoulder. I stoop to pick up the bag while her fist collides with my ass.

"Griff! Let me down."

"Nope. This is what you wanted. I warned you what would happen if you made this harder; it's now happening."

I keep one arm wrapped around the back of her thighs as I head downstairs. She jabs at me with her pointy finger, a leg swinging every now and then.

I put her down as I get to the bottom step. When she laughs, I know that she's enjoying herself.

We get outside and toss her bag into the trunk of my car. "You know, sometimes I think you like being difficult just for the sake of being difficult."

"Well, you might be right about that." She tosses her purse and book in the trunk beside her bag. "If you want to act like a caveman, I'm not going to make it easy on you."

Grinning, I reach out to twirl a strand of her hair around my finger. I give it a light tug before slamming the trunk shut. "It would be interesting to see what happens if we got along with each other for more than ten minutes at a time."

"You saw what happened when we did that." A flush spreads across her cheeks, though mischief shines in her eyes.

I round the car and open the passenger door for her. "I know exactly what happened. Now, come on, we should go home and get some sleep."

Screw sleep. I'll be going for the coldest shower of my life.

Cora turns up the music as I get in the car. She hums along with the song, her fingers drumming on her thighs.

Her attention stays focused on the bright lights blurring by the car as I leave her neighborhood behind and head for my beachfront house.

One thing I love the most about living in Maine is my New England-style home on a private beach. This home was the first thing I bought for myself after taking over the firm.

I love nothing more than going home and sitting outside while the waves crash against the private beach.

Cora's mouth drops open as we pull up to the white iron gate. I roll down the window and punch a code into the keypad beside the gates.

There is a low hum as the gates open, revealing the winding driveway and trees lining either side.

"Like it?" I grin as I take the turns slowly.

Small lights are strung between the trees, illuminating the driveway and the flowers that are my gardener's pride and joy.

Cora shakes her head, looking back at me. "Your place is beautiful. I mean, I knew you had money, but this is... It's nice."

I park the car in front of the house and get out, grabbing her things from the back. She follows me as I lead the way up the stairs into the house.

I turn on the lights as I go, pride swelling through me when she takes a moment to admire the pale wood floors or the art hanging on the walls.

The floorboards creak slightly beneath my feet as I lead her up the massive staircase to the third floor.

"Here." I open the door to the suite room that takes up half of the floor. "This is going to be your room."

"For the night." She glances at me before stepping into the room and turning on the overhead light.

"We can talk about that in the morning."

Cora gasps as she turns in a slow circle, looking at the massive windows surrounding the room. "This is amazing, Griffin, but I'm serious. I'm going back to my own home tomorrow. I only agreed to this tonight so you wouldn't rat me out to my brother."

"Cora, if you think I'm going to let you return to your neighborhood, you're mistaken."

"Well then, it seems like we've reached a problem. I'm not going to live with you. I'm not your wife. And I need those divorce papers signed. Trust me, once you spend more time with me, you"ll want me gone, just like you always have."

I put her bag on the corner dresser. "Get settled in. I'll see you in the morning," I tell her.

"We're going to talk about this now. You don't get to run away from this and leave me to figure it out all by myself. You said that you don't hate me, and you refuse to sign divorce papers, but everything I've known about you indicates that we would be the two worst people ever to be together."

My chest aches as I look down at her. I hate the person I was to her while we were growing up.

Would we even be in this position right now if I didn't make her feel unwanted?

"Cora, I want you here. I want you safe." I sigh and rake a hand through my hair. "Consider this another step in paying off your debt. You can stay somewhere safe and put the money you were putting toward rent to the debt."

"I don't want your pity."

"It's not pity, Cora." My voice is low as I step toward her. She tilts her head to look up at me. I want to kiss her until we forget how to breathe. "There are many things I feel for you, Cora, but pity is not one of them."

I do my best to sound sincere. Her cheeks flush with a sudden rush of emotion, and she looks up, meeting my gaze with a mixture of surprise and intrigue.

She holds my gaze for a minute before she frowns, glancing away from me and out at the night sky.

"I'll stay."

I don't know what finally changed her mind, but I'm glad she's staying.

I don't want to see her get hurt staying in a rough neighborhood.

And I don't want her to have to struggle more than she already has to take care of her debt.

I'm in a position to give her the kind of life she deserves, and that"s exactly what I'm going to do.