As much as Griffin hated to admit it, Ryan had a point, asshole though he may be about it. Griffin had been distracted. He had been spending a lot of time with Jaggar and he was slipping on little shit. But it was piling up. Before he'd met her, he'd been a fucking perfectionist. Before Jaggar, he'd had the perfect trajectory. He was the wonder kid.

And now because he couldn’t seem to keep his dick under control around her, his perfect record was slipping. He had to right that shit no matter what, otherwise Ryan was right.

And that's what he'd been doing. At least that was the lie he'd been telling himself since he'd been avoiding her. Or, not so much avoiding her as focusing on nothing else but work.

The knock on his apartment door yanked him out of his thoughts. He checked the clock and it was eight, so not too late. When he yanked the door open, Jaggar stood on the other side of the door in a cream colored trench and a pair of stilettos high enough to make him drool. Hell.

She gave him her usual sunny smile. "Hi."

He cleared his throat as he let her in reluctantly. He wanted to see her. But he also needed to work.

"Uh, hey, what’s going on?" He stepped aside to let her in.

She frowned and cocked her head. "Why aren’t you happy to see me? This doesn’t look like happiness to see me."

Damn. He pulled her close and brushed his lips over hers. "Of course I'm happy to see you. I’m always so damn happy to see you. You can feel how happy I am to see you." Sure enough, his cock was at the ready, prepared for any opportunity to slide into it’s favorite place on the planet.

"But?" she prompted.

"But, I totally forgot we were supposed to Netflix and chill tonight. And Ryan has been riding me hard."

She pursed her lips. "Isn't that supposed to be my job?"

Griffin laughed. She was so good at that. Just getting him to loosen up and not take himself so seriously. "Yes, and you do that very well."

"I get it. You have work. I can bust out my laptop and we can work together."

He didn't dare tell her the real reason, that Ryan wanted him to betray her to prove his loyalty. That an interview with her mother was weighing on him. That he had no idea how to tell her what he was doing.

He had to tell her. He couldn't let her be surprised, and at the end of the day, there was no way in hell he was going to spring it on her. He would tell her. He just had to figure out how to do that. "I'm sorry. I've been so out of it lately. I don’t know what's wrong with me."

A frown marred her forehead. "Is something going on? Do you need to talk?"

Yes. Yes, he needed to talk to her, to tell her the shit he was walking around in. "No. I'm good. I just need to focus tonight. If that’s okay. I'm not good company right now."

"Of course. You just have to tell me that. I get it. I of all people totally get it. You do what you have to do and we'll talk tomorrow. I mean, I can’t guarantee that I'm not going to DVR cheat on you for our shows, but hey, that’s the price you pay."

She gave him an impish grin and he kissed her again. Shit he loved her. Damn it. Where had that come from? It was way too early for love. He swallowed hard. "I hear you. And it's a consequence I accept readily."

And because being with her settled the roiling emotion in his gut, he kissed her again, sliding his tongue between her lips and taking advantage. He missed her. She’d been working on something else for the last week and he'd barely seen her.

She moaned and molded her body against his. Her moan filled his head with the injection of lust and need he knew he wouldn’t shake for hours. But then she pulled back. "You, sir, are too good at that. If you want to work, I need to go. Or I'll distract you."

Reluctantly, he let her go. This wasn't something he wanted to do. But it was something he needed to do. His job hung in the balance. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

“Okay.” Her smile was sweet, and then her gaze flickered to the paused television screen. “You're watching one of my mother’s movies?”

Fuck. “Background while I worked. I was curious.” The lie tasted bitter on his tongue. “She’s a good actress.”

She shook her head. Shadows darkening the light in her eyes. “If only she was a half decent human being.”

He frowned. “You don't talk about it. About her. I know nothing except what I see in the movies.”

“Yeah well. How does one say my mother was verbally abusive and blamed me for my father leaving? It’s her favorite story to tell. That I was too much work. And so he left.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

She put up her hand. “No, it’s fine. I guess we still have a lot to talk about.”

“I don't want to force you.”

“Yeah, well. It’s part of being in a relationship. The sharing is caring stuff.”

He laughed, despite the pit in his belly. “I’m here if you want to share anything.”

She nodded. “Okay, I hear you, and I’ll take you up on that. But first, you work. We have plenty of time to talk.”

Yeah, but was she going to want to talk to him after she learned everything? He kissed her again. “I’ll see you later.”

The moment she was gone, he pulled out his laptop. He had work to do.