Ridgewood, NJ.
That’s fairly close to where I grew up in my foster parents’ home.
And also not that far from my parents’ place.
I know that area well.
Why do these two bits of information come from the same man? And what do the two places have in common?
Who is this Grayson guy?
A knock on the door startles me and makes me jerk my hand and shoot my phone across the bathroom. It falls on the tiles and slides away.
“Shit, shit…” I mumble under my breath.
“Are you okay?” Kai asks from behind the closed door.
“Yes, yes… I’ll be out in a second,” I say, rushed, crawling on my knees while looking for my phone.
I collect it and spring up.
“I’m fine…” I say again, panicked and distracted at the same time.
With a swipe of my thumb, I close the window on my phone screen and press the side button to darken it.
A moment later, I suck in a scant breath and open the door.
I expect him to stand there, waiting for me. His footsteps echo far away from me.
“Kai?”
I put my phone on the nightstand and follow him into the kitchen, but not before collecting his dress shirt from a chair and throwing it on.
I find him next to the kitchen counter, his back turned to me, wearing only shorts.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asks.
“No. Thank you.”
He pours himself a glass of water before shifting to me.
His hypnotic eyes find mine, and I almost stumble back, shuddering from the bursts of energy lining his gaze.
He tilts his glass against his lips and sets it down before giving me a swift once-over.
“How do you feel?”
I lean against the kitchen island, trying to smile.
“Good. You?”
A secret grin spreads across his lips, casting a glow over his cheekbones when he looks down and lifts his drink to his lips again.
“I’m fine.”
His chest grabs my attention for a second before I raise my eyes to him.
He leaves his drink on the counter, pivots to me, and closes the space between us.