“Well, how astute,” he teases.
We walk down the hallway and make our way to the end. The master bedroom. A wall of windows brightens the area, the white duvet only strengthening the pour of sunlight splashing off the fabric that halos around the walls.
Grant looks around and nods, eyes lackluster and dulled. “Looks like all his other houses.”
Seeing the look on his face, I decide to spill the truth about my ties to this place and tease him. “Did you know I was supposed to decorate this?”
“Were you?” Groomed brows pull up. “What happened?”
“You.” I bite down on my lip and smirk. “You came into Layton's and made me work for you, and that was that.”
“Oohh.” The eyes, lackluster only one second ago, awaken with a coyness. “Then, you should thank me.”
“Oh, really.” My arms fold across my chest. “For what? Taking me away from the job I loved?”
His wide chest reverberates with a silent chuckle. “For sparing you from Alan.” He crosses the room, pulling me close, and grips his fingers around my hips. The strength of his hands bite through the fabric. “He's dull and predictable. It sounds like I rescued you just in time.”
“No.” I work my hands up his torso, heart gradually picking up speed the more I touch him. “You messed up what was supposed to be a promotion.”
“Something I won’t apologize for.” He pulls me flush against him. “I’d much rather have you in my arms than working for Alan. However, now, if you wanted to go back and work there, I’d allow that.
“You would?” My question comes out in a breathy surprise.
“Of course, I would,” he says, surprising me more. “Life is yours to control, my sweet. If that’s what you want, all you need to do is say the word. So? Is that what you want?”
I shake my head. Sweet as his gesture is, I don’t have to think about my answer. “Not anymore,” I say softly.
He smiles. “Good.”
We almost kiss, his lips drawing closer with his head ducking. Most days I'd toss my hands around his shoulders and finish the gap, but today is a little different for me.
I’m more absorbed about the man than sex for now, and my heart wants to understand Grant better. Particularly, his past. Patting him on the shoulder, I crane my neck to look up.
“Grant.” An unsure smile takes over half of my face. I’m not sure if he’ll want to talk about her, but if he doesn’t, maybe he will someday.
He nods, urging me to continue.
“Would you be willing to tell me how you met April?”
He freezes, giving me two rapid blinks. “My information is yours, Olivia. I’ll gladly tell you about anything at any time, but why are you picking right now?”
“The event is still stuck in my mind. Plus, I don’t know … I feel like there’s so much I haven’t discovered about you yet, and I want to make that different.”
A warm smile breaks across his face. “Beautiful and genuinely interested in me. What more could I ask for?”
Warm hands fall away from my body, and he clutches onto my wrist, walking us toward the bed. The mattress bows to his weight as he sits. Sprawling his legs open, he pulls me between corded thighs, then wraps his arms around me while I stand over him.
“What would you like to know? Ask me anything, Olivia.”
“I’m willing to listen to anything you want to tell me.” I place my hand of the tops of his shoulders, loving the natural heat of his body. “Tell me how you met, what you liked about her, what happened that last night—anything, so long as it brings me closer to you.”
“Very well,” he says softly.
He pauses for a long while. It’s the longest moment I’ve ever witnessed him take, and it’s like I can see the different emotions. In the passing seconds, sometimes his eyes tighten, or his mouth frowns. There’s a few soft chuckles and a few times there’s flexing of his biceps or hands against my clothing. I watch him silently go through a myriad of agony, grief, joy, and all the in-between before he starts to talk in a low, humming voice.
“We met in college during our sophomore year. It was at a study group, and she asked for a partner that she could get together with over coffee a few times a week. I thought she was cute, so I offered to study with her. It didn’t take me long to notice that her and I, even though we were opposites, meshed really well. The two of us just balanced each other, you know?”
I nod, knowing almost too well what that perfect off-set is like.
“We made sense enough together that we got our own place and moved in about three months after we met. And things were so smooth and perfect that about eight months later, I proposed.” He frowns, and I see the pain swirling in his gaze. “That ideal pinnacle was so wonderful while it lasted.”
“What happened?” His pain is mine. A sorrowful ache radiates up and down my spine, deep into my veins, stabbing at my heart with each pump.
“Small things at first. She liked to drink and party, and I didn’t. Fun-filled evenings meant keeping us both awake, even if we had finals to take care of. Near the end of our junior year, she stopped caring, and her grades began to slip. Instead of trying to fix them, she drank more.” He cringes. “I didn’t like it. Nothing pisses me off more than watching a smart person have their senses fucked up because of the liquor in their blood. Our honeymoon phase was quickly evaporating, but how I loved her. Her laugh, smile, corny little jokes, her obsession with anything that had unicorns, and the way she loved animals. Flaws and all, there was so much vibrancy in her. And then…”
This pause is thick in the air, and ice embeds in my bones when Grant’s jaw clenches, a light red hue blossoming across his face. “Then?”
“Seth Alec transferred to our university, and he had classes with April. I started noticing his name arise more often in conversations, and he partied harder than anyone from what I know. At the same time, girls started reporting odd things, like sounds near their window, or having a person who they thought was him following them. But none of them were serious or frequent enough to investigate. The fact, however, is that April held some kind of fascination for Seth. I heard it, and I sure as hell saw it any time we’d cross his path at the university. It was like I wasn’t there anymore.”
“I can hardly see why.” My eyes study Grant as I say it. He’s so handsome compared to Seth. Maybe carved jawlines, thick lashes, and strong bodies weren’t her thing.
He shrugs. “I think it was because he encouraged her drinking. There were several times April and I had a fight and she would mention Seth laughing about her antics instead of making her feel bad for it. Regardless, it caused a huge fracture in our relationship, and one night, she took my engagement ring, threw it in my face and called me a stupid asshole who couldn’t stand the fact that other guys liked her. We broke up five months after Seth arrived. She was still living with me until she could find another place since she blew her money and her friends didn’t have room for her.” He winces. “That … hurt. I’d cry, sleeping on the couch while she was in bed. The only thing I wanted was to hold her, kiss her, hear her laugh in my ear … anything. I just wanted her back.”
“But that didn’t happen…” I frown, hating Grant looking like this—shrunken, quiet, withdrawn. I can’t imagine what he felt all those years back, as a younger man, fresh and full of fire, I’m sure, but with his footing, less secure at the time.
“It didn’t.” He sighs, raking his fingers through one side of his hair. “That night … Jesus, that night. I wanted to talk with her and try to win her back. I was willing to do just about anything to make it happen. When I got done with classes and went home, she was getting ready for a party. Seth was, of course, brought up, since it was at his house, and for whatever reason, hearing his name set off a few alarm bells. A girl who lived near his house claimed that some of her bras and underwear had gone missing earlier that week, and I connected that these minor incidents started happening after Seth arrived. I mentioned it to April. I said I felt like going was dangerous, asked her if she knew any of the people attending this party. Shit, I even offered to go with her—no chance. All I did was raise an argument, a pretty loud one that our neighbors heard. Before she walked out the door, she flipped me off, called me a jealous fucker who needed to grow up … and…”
“You…”
“Never saw her again,” we say in unison.