The King Next Door

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“Please.” Griffin tugged his hands from his pockets and folded his arms over his chest. “I’m in the security business, remember? We know how to keep secrets.”

“Not from women you don’t.” Lucas shook his head. “It’s spooky, I swear. Every time I think I put one over on Rose, she nails me with it. It’s like female radar or something. Built into the whole double X chromosome or whatever.”

Griffin just stared at him. “You’re delusional.”

“No, I’m married.”

“Same thing.”

“You’re a sad, sad man,” Lucas said, shaking his head and grinning.

“Yeah,” Griffin shot back, his smile wide and self-satisfied. “Poor me. Different woman every week. Nobody making demands on my time. Sex whenever I want it.”

“Uh, hello?” Lucas scowled at him. “I get sex whenever I want it, too, you know. And I don’t have to leave home to get it.”

“Yeah?” Griffin laughed. “How’s the sex life these days?”

Lucas’s wife was pregnant with their second child. Just like most of the King family, Lucas had turned from a player into a husband and father. The Kings were falling, one by one, like a row of dominoes bowing to gravity. Pitiful. Just pitiful.

“You should have it so good.” Lucas gave him a wicked grin.

Possibly true. For all his big talk, Griffin knew that his cousin had a point. Hell, over the last few months, Griffin had been less and less interested in living the lifestyle that had been his for years. Dozens of different women had come and gone from his life, barely making an impression. Different. He laughed silently at that, because though the faces and names had changed, they’d all been the same.

Beautiful and boring.

Try having a conversation with any of them. Hell, after the first five minutes, he’d been zoned out and barely listening to talk that centered on the hottest club, the newest designer or the best place to get a spray-on tan.

But then, he hadn’t dated them for their ability to discuss art and literature, had he? Griffin could admit that all he’d wanted from them—any of them—was a quick romp in the sheets. So he really had no room for complaints, did he?

Damn. This whole maturing thing was a pain in the ass.

“So when do you want us to get started?” Lucas asked with another glance around the kitchen.

“This afternoon work for you?”

Lucas laughed. “Got it. You want it done fast.” Nodding, he made a few notes on his computer tablet. “We’re spread a little thin right now—we’ve got at least a half dozen jobs up and running, not to mention that Rosie’s got me building shelves in Danny’s room when I’m not working. But two of our jobs are winding down.”

“Man. Rafe left town for a vacation when you’ve got that much work piled up?” Out of character for a King, Griffin thought.

“Yeah, well.” Lucas shrugged. “Things change when you’ve got a wife and a life. Besides, Rafe wanted to take Katie on that tour of Europe while she was still feeling well enough to travel.”

“Katie?” Fear reached up and closed a hand around the base of Griffin’s throat. Staring at his cousin, he demanded, “Is there something wrong with Katie? Why doesn’t the family know about it?”

“Damn it.” Lucas lifted one hand. “Power down. Nothing’s wrong with Katie. She’s pregnant, is all. And nobody’s supposed to know yet, so keep your big mouth shut. Katie and Rafe are gonna have a family deal when they get back and let everybody know.”

Relief spilled through Griffin. “I already told you, I know how to keep a secret.”

“Right.” Lucas nodded. “Anyway, Rafe wanted them to have some time together before their lives really get busy. Nothing sucks up your time like kids.”

Another King becoming a father. Finding a life. Finding … something more. Something that Griffin wasn’t sure he’d ever find for himself and, if he did, he didn’t know that he’d want it. Which said what, exactly, about him? Griffin frowned to himself.

“Another King bites the dust,” he muttered to cover up the unexpected emotions crowding him.

“Call it what you want,” Lucas said, a little on the defensive side. “But we don’t see it that way.”

“You used to,” Griffin reminded him. “In fact,” he continued, “I remember a poker game a few years ago when we were talking about Adam and Travis getting married and you said—”

Lucas huffed out a breath. “I remember.”

“—you said,” Griffin went on, “that getting married was like being buried, only you didn’t have the sense to lie down and be dead.”

Shaking his head, Lucas muttered, “Yeah, well, things change.”

“Damn straight they do,” Griffin told him, and felt his own wayward emotions coming back into line. Maturing was one thing, he told himself sternly. Going crazy over one woman and signing up for a lifetime of marriage was something else again. He wasn’t about to set himself up to be one of the many Kings ready for a fall. Let his cousins go from happy bachelors to husbands and fathers. Let his own twin, for God’s sake, make that move, but not him. “Things change, cousin, but only if you let them.”

Lucas snorted. “Whatever you say, cuz.”

Griffin knew sarcasm when he heard it. “Just figure out who you can get in here to fix up this place. And do it fast.”

“You got it,” Lucas said. “We’ll take care of permits from the city. I’ll have some plans drawn up and email them to Nicole for approval.” He turned off the tablet and tucked it beneath his arm. “Tell her I’ll let her know when she needs to decide on flooring, paint and appliances.”

“Fine.” And whatever she picked, Griffin promised silently, he’d be upgrading. He paid his debts, and he’d be damned if he was going to let Nicole have a half-assed remodel because of her pride.

Chuckling softly, Lucas headed for the back door. “You know … sometimes things change whether you want them to or not. And not even a King can stop it.”

Griffin didn’t bother saying aloud what he was thinking. You can stop anything—if you never let it get started.

Trouble was, Griffin told himself as he walked out of the destruction into the summer sunlight, as far as Nicole was concerned, he had a feeling it was already too late.