“A birthday party, huh?” She leans back in her chair, crossing her arms.
“Yup.”
“This niece… how old is she?”
“Five.”
She purses her lips, studying me. “Hm, too young to vote. This doesn’t sound much like mayor work to me. Not what I signed up for.”
I shake my head as her smirk grows. I swear she deserves to be taken over my knee and spanked. A thought that I should not be entertaining when this is allfake.
“You signed up for being my girlfriend. That means, as well as themayor workas you put it, I need you to come to things like five-year-old’s petting zoo parties with me.” I know she’s just winding me up. She’s been out to dinner with me twice this week already to keep up public appearances.
“Petting zoo?” Her eyes light up. “Like, real animals?”
“No. It’s a dick petting party. Of course, real fucking animals.”
She glares at me as she bites her lower lip to fight her smile. “Good. I dread to think what venereal diseases might be at the other type of party.”
“This snake always wears his second skin. Don’t you worry about that.”
She snorts. “Please don’t put me off my latte.”
I smile at her as I move toward Griffin’s door. I wait until she has the cup to her lips and then I add, “I stirred it with my cock, especially for you. You’re welcome.”
“Bastard!” she calls back as I open the door, but I can detect a laugh hiding in her voice.
“She’s enjoying her new role, then?” Griffin says dryly as I shut the door behind me and walk over to his desk, setting the coffee down.
I slide into the seat opposite him. “She gives it back too. Don’t feel sorry for her.”
“I don’t. Anyone who agrees to date you does so at their own risk.”
“Fake date,” I interject, causing Griffin to raise his eyes from his cell phone and look at me.
“Sorry.” He pulls his brows together, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “I meantfakedate withfakefeelings.”
“Exactly.” I reach forward to take my coffee, leaning back in the chair. “So, how are things going?”
“Yeah, good. Business as usual here. It’s nice to have some smooth sailing for a change.” Griffin’s eyes darken, and I know he’s thinking about the past year and how bad things got around here, what with the spa formulations being stolen, and him almost losing Maria over the entire mess.
“You deserve it to be boring as shit for a while after what happened. Remember, it’s in the past now. Where it should stay.” I fix him with a look, and he runs his hand down over his tie, nodding in agreement.
We’ve been friends since school. I know him, and he knows me. What happened at The Songbird hit him hard. But not as hard as almost losing Maria. It’s one thing seeing your best friend struggling in business. Quite another to see him heartbroken. It’s something I never want to see again—people I care about hurting.
“How’s Maria?”
Griffin’s somber haze lifts away from his face like a curtain, leaving a contented smile.
“She’s incredible… actually, she said she saw you and Harley coming back from dinner the other night, but you were too far ahead to catch up with.”
“Did she?”
“She said you lookedrather close.” Griffin smirks as I frown at him.
“It’s called acting. We were out in public. There’s press everywhere this close to the election.”
“I see.” He steeples his hands in front of him, looking smug as shit.