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“Griffin took care of it just this morning.”
“Excuse me?”
“Just what I said.”
My cheeks were on fire and I felt mortified. Obviously, I appreciated Griffin’s intentions, but I needed to do this myself.
I tried to sound calm as I thanked Colin. Stella and I walked out together. With Stella’s office beside Firehouse Café, the parking lot was visible from here. When I glanced over, I saw Griffin standing beside his truck. Without thinking, I immediately veered in that direction.
“Griffin! You could’ve at least told me you were going to do that.” I stopped in front of him a minute later.
“Tish!” I heard Stella’s voice but ignored it. “You left your keys!”
I stayed focused on Griffin. “Tell you what?” he asked.
Griffin was standing beside another man who I’d seen before, but didn’t know. He looked from me to Griffin. “You must be Tish,” he said with a smile.
I gave him a distracted glance. “Nice to meet you.”
Stella caught up to me. “Here.” She thrust my keys at me.
I reached for them and promptly dropped them on the ground. Griffin leaned over to scoop them up.
“Here you go.” It annoyed me that the subtle brush of his fingers against mine sent sparks in a hot scatter through me when he handed over my keys.
“Is everything okay?” Stella asked next. “You ran off pretty quick there.”
My gaze whisked around the small circle, and I let out a sigh. We officially had an audience and I didn’t want to get into my embarrassment about the bill. “Have you met Griffin?” I asked Stella. “If not, this is Griffin Cannon. And?—”
“Hudson,” Griffin filled in. “Hudson, this is Tish and Stella.” His gaze paused on Stella. “Nice to meet you.”
Hudson smiled between us. “Nice to meet both of you. Griffin missed you, by the way.”
When Hudson looked at Stella, I didn’t miss the flare of appreciation in his eyes. Stella was adorably cute and sexy, so I didn’t blame him one bit. She smiled up at him. “Are you a firefighter too?”
“Yes ma’am,” he drawled.
“Seems like there’s a lot of those around here,” she said.
As if on cue, an actual firetruck pulled up on the street and several firefighters piled out.
Griffin glanced at me and nudged his head to the side. “What is it?” he asked once we were out of earshot beside his truck, while Stella and Hudson were talking with the other firefighters who had just arrived.
“You could’ve told me you were going to pay my bill. I can take care of it,” I ground out.
He was quiet for several beats. “Tish, I just wanted to help. I should’ve told you.”
I chewed the inside of one cheek as I studied him. “Thank you.”
“I guess maybe I need not to rush into things. I planned to mention it tonight.”
Trying to keep my annoyance in check, I shrugged. “Just talk to me when you’re feeling that helpful.”
“I will.” He startled me by dipping his head and giving me a fierce kiss. Enough so that when we broke apart, my cheeks were on fire and I was hot all over.
Somebody nearby let out a whistle and I glanced over. Griffin reached for my hand as he glanced over. “Really, Beck,” he said dryly.
Chapter Forty-Three
