Written in Ink (Montgomery Ink #4)(56)

And yet Griffin was pulling away.

She was sleeping in his bed.

Working for him.

Cleaning and cooking for him.

And loving him.

Damn it.

When had she fallen in love with him? When had she taken the plunge and done something stupid like falling in love with a Montgomery.

And not just any Montgomery.

Griffin Montgomery.

The one who had told her himself that he didn’t want to fall in love again because he’d done so before. He’d been so young when he lost Lauren, and it had scarred him more than he wanted to admit. And now she was freaking in love with him.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

With a sigh, she turned to start making dinner since it would need a few hours to cook. She reached underneath the counter for a pot then went to the other counter for a frying pan and cursed. She’d been living in this house for a week, working in it for over a month, and had been dealing with his unorthodox kitchen organizing system the entire time. It didn’t make sense that the seasonings were near the refrigerator and the cups near the stove. It should all be put in a way that would make sense for anyone who actually cooked more than eggs and bacon.

The thought of the last time he’d cooked that for her made her blush, and she slammed the frying pan down on the stovetop. He hadn’t touched her since that morning. He’d let her sleep next to him, but there hadn’t been any heated moments, no more coming on his thinking chair or shower time breaks.

She grumbled a bit more then let out a breath. “Screw it.” She went to the nearest shelf and started taking things out. She’d rearrange the damn kitchen and make it easy to use. He didn’t cook much anyway, and when he did, he’d find it would be easier. She was the one cooking. She was the one doing all this shit for him when all he did was act hot and cold and confuse the hell out of her.

And if she kept her worries on her relationship with Griffin, she wouldn’t worry about the fact that a man was out to get her, hunting her for the past decade. That fear would never go away, but sometimes she needed to focus on something else.

Something just as scary it seemed.

“What is all that noise? What the hell are you doing?”

She turned on her heel and dropped the package of flour in her hand. Puffs of white dust filled the air and covered her from head to toe. She coughed and looked up and winced. Griffin pinched the edge of his shirt and shook it once, another puff of flour filling the air as he did.

“You scared me!” She was angry, pissed off, heated, all that other crap that had to do with ignoring her fear and dealing with the bearded man in front of her. Of course, his beard was currently white at the moment thanks to the ill-timed flour.

If the damn man had his kitchen organized correctly before, this wouldn’t have happened.

“What the f*ck are you doing, Autumn?”

Always Autumn. He hadn’t called her Fall since he’d come inside her on the kitchen counter. She didn’t know why that hurt so much. She loved him. Damn it, why did he have to pull away now?

Of course, her loving him might have had something to do with it.

“I’m cleaning so I can cook!” She knew she was yelling, but damn it, she didn’t know what she was doing.

Griffin put his hands on his hips, looked around the now flour-covered room, and raised a brow. He should not look sexy covered in flour and acting like an *, but apparently, she had issues.

“What’s with all the noise? And I thought you’d already cleaned. You have everything out of the cupboards and on the counters. What are you doing?”

She blushed then, annoyed with herself. “Your kitchen makes no sense. So I’m organizing it.”

His jaw tightened. “Why? It’s my kitchen. You’re f*cking it up. I know you like things organized, but still, you’re messing with my things.”

Seriously? This guy. He hadn’t spoken to her truly in a week, and now he was getting all ragey?

“It’s my job to make sure things are working right. You let me organize other parts of your house.” She didn’t get why he was acting this way. Or maybe at this point, he was looking for any excuse to act like an *.

“Yeah, you live here, f*ck me, and you work for me. I guess the lines are really blurring now.”

Tears stung the back of her eyes and she took a step back, her chest hurting. Who was this? This wasn’t Griffin. He never spoke to her like this. He’d been so damn careful around her and now this?

What. The. Fuck.

She screamed, unaware she’d been so close to the edge. “You know what? Fuck you. This isn’t working out. I went to the cops and they said they would watch out for me. I can go back to my place now. They said they had a car doing patrols. I don’t need to be here anymore.” Her hands shook and she fisted them, forcing herself to keep in control.

Griffin’s eyes widened. “You can’t leave. It’s not safe. That bastard is still out there.”

“Well, I’m looking at a bastard right now.”

“Don’t you dare compare me to him, Autumn. Don’t you f*cking dare.”

She gritted her teeth. “I didn’t mean it like that. But hell, Griffin. You’ve been treating me like an outcast, like something you want nothing to do with since the morning after I told you everything. I hate being here when you’re like this, Griffin. And if I want to organize your kitchen to help you out, then I shouldn’t have the fact that you used to f*ck me thrown in my face.”