Chapter 23
Cori
He was poisoning the horses.
There was no other explanation, and it was right there in the test results. Something that you wouldn’t ever see if you weren’t already looking. Coumarin.
Now that I knew what to look for, the evidence was obvious. A substance found in spices that, in low doses, wasn’t fatal—especially not to humans. But in high doses could destroy the liver. If you didn’t know what was happening, the death would easily be written off as something else. Accidental. A rare virus. They just “got sick” with no other indicators.
It built up in the system gradually, which would explain the multiple times I saw Sunrise when she was getting worse. Easily introduced through food or even injection.
Maybe it was some kind of fraud scheme, but it was still baffling to me that someone with that much money could need more. Enough that they’d want to kill a racehorse for it. It wasn’t like the animals weren’t valuable. They were. Possibly more valuable alive. So why?
I rubbed my temples, trying to soothe the ache that was growing there. It was past closing at the clinic, and this was my last task before I went home. I needed more information on this, so I emailed the data back to Kevin. Hopefully, he knew how we could use it. Right now, I wasn’t sure what we could do other than to tell Mr. Pearson that I knew he was poisoning his animals.
Something told me that wouldn’t be enough to stop him from continuing.
A knock sounded on my office door. Probably Jenna telling me she was leaving for the day. “Come in. I’ll lock up, Jenna.”
“Funny, I told her the same thing.”
I whipped around to find Grant leaning in the doorway with a smile. “Hi. Did I know that you were coming to see me?”
“No,” he said. “But I wanted to. Because I have to drive down to Missoula and stay overnight. Seeing a doctor. I wanted to see you before I left.”
“Oh.” A small wave of disappointment hit me in the stomach. It was the first night we’d spend apart since we’d started spending them together. Which was fine. But I knew that I would miss him. “Is everything okay?”
“Should be,” he said. “I promise I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. But I needed to see you. Since I won’t see you tonight.”
I smiled. “I appreciate that.”
“And I wanted to give you these.” He closed the distance between us and took my hand, pressing two keys into my palm. “One is the key to my house. If you want to sleep there, you can.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Because of Joel?”
He grinned. “Yes. Or if you missed me. But mostly because of him.”
I loved that he thought about that. The idea of sleeping in his bed, even without him there, felt nice. “I might take you up on that. What’s this?” It was a much smaller key, silver. Not like any key I’d ever seen.
“That is for what’s next. Close your eyes.”
As soon as I did, his hands were on me, lifting me out of my chair and up onto my desk so I was perched on the edge. “What are we doing?”
His hands circled my wrists. “We may not be spending the night together,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun before I go.”
His pain must be better today. My whole body thrilled at the way he was touching me. Strong and confident. Cold metal surrounded my right wrist, and he lifted it, the sound of metal clicking before it circled my left, and I couldn’t lower my hands.
I opened my eyes. Handcuffs bound my wrists, looped through the handles of the cabinets above my desk. Heat sank through my body. “Handcuff key,” I said quietly.
“Yes.”
Outside, the sun was setting, painting the office with orange through the window.
“Is this all right?” he asked with a grin. The flush on my skin and the way I was breathing were obvious. But he was never going to do anything without me saying yes.
“Yes.”
Grant’s hands slid under my shirt, lifting it along with my bra so I was exposed to him. “It would have been a shame if I didn’t get to see these before I left.”
“It would have been,” I said. The air was cool on my skin as he leaned forward, his lips touching between my breasts. I arched forward, chest rising toward him. He moved with almost aching slowness and flicked his tongue against a nipple. “Grant,” I said. “Please.”
I pulled on the handcuffs. I wanted to touch him and couldn’t, unlocking that impossible lightness. The sensation of falling through weightlessness.
“Please what?”
“Please.”
“You’ll have to be more specific than that,” he said. His gaze was locked on me as he lowered his mouth back to my skin. I cried out as his teeth caught my nipple, biting gently. Close to being too much, but never too far. All I wanted was to feel his mouth all over my body. “Grant.”
It was as if his hands hadn’t been all over me last night. And this morning. The way need rushed to the surface and made me desperate. Even more so with my hands locked above my head.
He unbuckled my belt, lifting me off the desk long enough to force my pants over my hips and lower. Down below my knees. They were a restraint of their own, locking my legs together enough so my hands and feet were bound and he could push my knees apart.
“I should make more plans for things out of bed,” he said quietly. “I like this.”
If there was one thing I’d learned about Grant, it was that he liked to move slowly. So that he could savor every move he made. Tease me until I couldn’t contain myself anymore. Today? I couldn’t wait.
“Please don’t go slow,” I begged. “I need you.”
Grant’s eyes went dark, and his hands dropped to his belt. There wasn’t any slowness now. The condom was on, and I had only seconds to admire the way his hard body shone in the dying light.
Stepping close, he fit himself against me and pushed in, kissing me as he did so that all I felt was him. Inside, outside, hands gripping my ribs.
“Oh my God.” The words were strangled with pleasure as he began to move. Grant shifted his hands under my ass, pulling me to him as he drove himself deep. Hard and fast. Relentless, delicious pleasure that swirled through me. Up and out. Every time we did this and that kind of trust was built between us, it became easier to let go. Because he was safe. Because he would take care of me and only wanted pleasure for both of us.
I lost myself in the way his tongue danced around mine. In the way he fucked me, rattling the handcuffs and cupboards, dragging pleasure up through every movement until I was begging for more of it.
Grant broke away from our kiss to whisper in my ear. Dirty words that he knew drove me crazy. Made me latch on to that pleasure even harder, and then let go completely.
My vision went white, and I came.
The office echoed with the sounds of my cries, and they were joined by Grant’s voice signaling his own orgasm. My whole body was shaking and limp, racked with the orgasm as it worked its way through me. I gulped down breath, letting my head fall forward onto Grant’s shoulder.
He didn’t pull away from me as he unlocked my hands and let them gently down around his shoulders. “Now I don’t want to leave.”
“Agreed,” I said, still leaning on him. “But you should go. Your back is important. At least, I’m assuming that’s what it’s for. Sorry.”
Grant chuckled and pulled me upright so that he could kiss me. “I like it when you’re drunk on orgasms.”
“I am not.”
“Are too. And it’s adorable.” He separated us gently, making sure that I wasn’t going to fall off the desk before he cleaned himself up. “Tomorrow, I’ll make up for the fact that I couldn’t take you to bed. Promise.”
“That was a pretty good start. But I will be sleeping in your bed.” I made the decision right that second. “So you can think about me there.”
“Cori, there won’t be a second that I’m gone when I won’t be thinking about you.”
I blushed, and he helped me off the desk to put myself back together. “When you say things like that, I still can’t believe it.”
“Really?” he asked.
“I’m just not used to it.”
“Having people say nice things?”
I shrugged. “Being complimented at all.”
The look on his face…I wasn’t sure what it meant. Grant locked his eyes on mine and deliberately stepped into my space. He slid one hand around my neck and up into my hair. He tangled his fingers in it so I couldn’t look away. “You, Cori Jackson, are kind, beautiful, and one of the best people I’ve ever met. Waking up next to you makes me happy, and I’m going to miss you, even though it’s only going to be one night. And I’m going to make sure you hear enough compliments that you finally believe them.”
He captured my lips in a kiss that stripped me open. My stomach spun with a thousand butterflies, and I realized that this was the moment I might be falling in love with Grant Carter. No matter how fast we’d moved or how long we’d been together.
The knowledge hit me, and I couldn’t breathe.
When Grant broke the kiss, all I could do was stare. “I hope you believe that,” he said.
“I do.”
He smiled. “I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.”
I was still in a daze as he left. Holy shit.
The glow that I felt was everywhere. It made the room and the sunset brighter, my thoughts easier. And it was because of him.
No response from Kevin yet. There probably wouldn’t be until the morning at the very least, so there wasn’t any point in me staying here. I would go home, grab some things, and head to Grant’s house. I loved my house, but I did feel safer in his place.
And there was the added benefit that his whole house smelled like him. I could sleep in one of his shirts, completely wrapped in his scent. Just the thought made me smile. Everything about him made me smile.
This was the happiest I’d been in a long time. Since I was in veterinary school, actually.
That made everything simpler, didn’t it?
I still had a few days until my birthday and the deadline, but I’d made my decision. It would be harder without the trust, but I could do it. I’d already been doing it.
Four years away from this place, for essentially nothing, was out of the question. I was going to fight for this life that I’d made here. With Grant. With Lena and Evelyn and all the other people in the Resting Warrior family. They were more my family than my own had ever been, and that was worth a hell of a lot more than money.
The day after my birthday, I would tell my parents my decision. I was staying here.