Three Rivers (19 page)

"Cool, I've made arrangements to send it up with a courier. Mail makes me nervous. You'll get it tonight."

"I gotta ask — anything illegal, dude?"

"No. Not illegal. At least I hope not...but definitely confidential."

"I feel you. Let's do this." Griffen could almost hear his smirk over the line.

"Yeah," he answered seriously. "Let's do this."

Griffen looked at the time. Eleven a.m.

He moved back from his laptop and rested his elbows on his knees, trying to get his head right. The only thing that made sense right now was Althea's face. He pictured her smooth skin and soft curves and had to see her.

CHAPTER NINE

As Althea watched her mother walk toward the cab in her front driveway her heart sank. It doesn't matter how old you are or what you do with your life, sometimes you just miss your mom.

As if sensing her mood, Vivian turned around and smiled. "Come here, baby." She pulled Althea into her arms, her mother's
Annick Goutal
perfume wrapping around Althea as her huge purse knocked her on the butt. "I love you honey. So much. But I worry about you, too, you know."

"I'm okay, Mom."

Vivian pulled back and held her at arms length, answering, "Are you, honey? I'm not so sure. I know you never really come back from what you went through, especially with such a demanding job and a baby, but you need to try."

"Mom, please, I don't want to talk about this right now."

"I know," she sighed. "You never want to talk about it. We've tried to be patient, just waiting for you to come around, but you still seem to be deeply in pain. Sort of stuck. You were always so responsible, so in your own head. I loved Jack, like a real son, not a son-in-law. He brought you out of your shell, but then you went right back into it after he died."

Althea felt tears prick at her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. Don't be silly. I want you to have some fun and just let go for a bit."

"How?"

"Start by letting yourself enjoy this time with Griffen, okay? You know I think sex is pretty much the main reason for everything, but that's not all this is about. It's about doing something for yourself for once. Letting yourself enjoy something without feeling guilty or like you are betraying someone."

Althea smiled weakly. "Okay. I promise. And I love you, too."

"Good!" Her mother sealed the deal with a smack on Althea's rump. "Now go get you some!"

"Eww, Mo-om!" Some things never changed. Althea waved goodbye as her mother loaded into the cab and it pulled away.

Althea stared at the cursor blinking dumbly at her from her computer screen. It felt odd to be back in the office after another evening of spending several hot hours in Griffen's hotel room, only a few blocks from the stuffy desk at which she sat. There was just something about writing a motion in a contract dispute that was so much less stimulating than being alone with Griffen. Althea's mind began to wander to how he'd greeted her at his hotel door and her office started to get unbearably warm when she was rescued by the phone's loud ring.

"Hey gorgeous."

"Hey stud, I was just thinking about you."

"Hopefully they were not safe for work thoughts."

"Of course. With you, that's pretty much a given, right?"

"Well, if thinking of me is not safe for work, how about I steal you from there for lunch today."

"I like the sound of that. Give me an hour to get my filing out and then I'll definitely play hooky with you."
Or any other games that might strike my fancy
, she thought, shocked by her own mischievous glee.

"Perfect. I'll meet you outside your office at twelve-thirty. And gorgeous..."

"Yes?"

"I'll be counting the seconds."

"Oh please, you smooth talker. Bye." She smirked but knew she was beyond eager to see him again.

Griffen was nothing if not good for Althea's productivity. As soon as she knew she had a midday escape with him to look forward to, she wrapped up her motion and filed it in no time. Looking at the time on her computer, she put it to sleep, checked herself out in her compact mirror, grabbed her purse and darted out the door.

"Tracey, I'm going to lunch. I'll be gone at least an hour. Maybe two," she breezily said to her secretary on her way down the hall.

"Client meeting?"

"Uh, no. A personal lunch." Althea bit her lip. She adored her secretary, but Tracey had the biggest mouth in the firm.

"
What?
Yinz is leaving the building for lunch? Get 'aht of here!" she exclaimed. "Who with? I’m dyin’ to know!"

Tracey also had the thickest Pittsburgh accent Althea had ever heard and used so many colloquialisms from Pittsburgh's distinctive dialect that at times Althea struggled to understand her at all.

"Oh, just a friend that's visiting town."

"Whoever it is, I'm thrilled, hon. It's about time you did something besides work and PTA meetings."

She was right. Althea never went out for lunch, never did much of anything other than work and rush home to Johnny.

"And if yinz feel like any more personal lunches, let me know. My nephew is a real cutie, you and he'd get along like a house afire."

And there it was — another try at a fix up. But this time it didn't make Althea want to grind her teeth. Maybe these baby steps were working. "You never know, Tracey. Thanks."

"I'll cover your phone and keep an eye on your email. Go have fun," Tracey said with a wink.

"Sounds like a plan. See you soon!"

Griffen was waiting outside the door of her building, as promised, and damned if he didn't look hot, as usual. She smiled and took a moment to enjoy his low-slung jeans and navy blue Henley shirt with sunglasses tucked into the unbuttoned neck. "Wow, I feel over dressed," she teased.

"No problem. I love you dressed for work." And from the looks of the way he was eyeing the knee-length pencil skirt and fitted top she was wearing, he certainly did.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?" Althea asked.

Griffen smirked and pulled out a picnic basket from behind his back.

"A picnic? How great! That should also leave plenty of time for you to have your wild way with me. Isn't that what nooners are?"

"I didn't know anyone still said that, but I'm certainly game for one if you are, but first, I want to feed you. In public."

She laughed. "In that case, follow me. Let's eat it at the fountain."

"Perfect. How much time do you have, I don't want to miss out on that nooner."

"I got my filing out and no meetings this afternoon — so a couple hours."

"The fountain it is then," Griffen said as he led the way.

They walked side-by-side straight to Point State Park at the edge of downtown, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers met to begin the dramatic Ohio River. The confluence of the rivers formed a natural triangle featuring a giant fountain that drew onlookers all day to marvel at its high plume and series of water shows.

Downtown was at their backs, sprouting with huge skyscrapers but all they saw was the mighty rivers meeting before them, crisscrossed with more bright yellow bridges than you could count. And all this was cradled on both sides by hills and cliffs. Griffen felt lucky to be in this spot with this lovely woman next to him. He'd run from this place and all it represented but now he felt the pang of realization that part of him had missed it.

"Beautiful," Althea whispered.

Griffen pulled her onto his lap and looked in her eyes. "Yes, so beautiful."

He silently thanked the
Fairmont Hotel
for being so close to her office. It had been his idea to take her to eat in public, but the sight of her had him already eager to steal her away for a quickie as soon as possible, even though they'd only been apart for a few hours.

Griffen took out the basket of goodies the hotel had put together for him. They took a seat on the concrete benches ringing the fountain, choosing to sit closest to the point where the three rivers met.

This feels
like we're a real couple
. It shocked him how nice that thought felt to him. He looked over and kissed her softly at first. She tasted too good, he began to deepen the kiss and stroke her tongue with his. She backed away and looked around nervously. When she must have registered that no one she knew was nearby she kissed him again. She was always so delicious and receptive that he had no idea how much time passed when he finally broke the kiss and looked in her eyes.

"I should probably feed you instead of feasting on you all afternoon, huh?"

"You did invite me to lunch, I would hate to feel like I was getting ripped off," she said with a wink and squeezed around his waist with her arms for good measure.

"I'm nothing, if not a man of my word." Griffen adjusted her in his lap and began to feed little bites of salami and parmesan atop freshly baked bread into her mouth.

"Mmm, that tastes good, and you are much sexier than a fork. I could get used to this."

"Good," he said and licked a breadcrumb from the corner of her luscious mouth.

Griffen watched her beautiful eyes as they looked up to take in the view. It was objectively spectacular. As any good Pittsburgh boy, he'd seen it countless times, but sitting here with this perfect woman in his arms, it was as though he were seeing it all for the first time. Mt. Washington rose up above them to the left. Covered with trees, their leaves not yet changing into the bright fireworks of colors that autumn would soon bring, leading to the top ridge and its luxurious apartment buildings, spectacular churches and sightseers looking down at the city below. On their right the sports stadiums and boats dotted the landscape, but it felt to him like they were completely alone.

"I love this spot so much," she whispered, breaking his own reverie for a moment. "Jack brought me here when he wanted to persuade me to move to Pittsburgh with him after I graduated."

"I believe it. We used to come down along the river and hang out. But we would go to a much less public place and..."

"I'm guessing there was beer and girls involved?" she asked with a laugh.