by Cari Quinn
My vision blurred. I backed out of his hold, and turned away before the tears could actually fall. “I’m no angel.”
He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. “Neither am I. If there was anyone less deserving of you, it’s me.”
I sagged. The anger that had fed me—sustained me for so long—drained out. And the only thing left was truth. I couldn’t keep doing this, and yet I couldn’t seem to walk away from him.
I turned in his arms. “I’m so tired of the lies.”
“All we have are lies, Grace.”
His serious dark eyes were so sad. I picked around the anger that I’d been holding on to. Fear seemed to be the single thing that linked every fight, and every lie.
I took a deep breath. There were things I needed to tell him. Things I had to say that just wouldn’t make sense unless he saw them for himself. “Come home with me, Blake.”
“To your real home?”
I nodded. “No more lies.”
Nine
I couldn’t breathe. He stared into my eyes for so long, I was fairly sure my lungs were going to explode.
He stepped away from me, and went around his desk.
I closed my eyes. I heard a door click shut. Loss seeped into my chest. When I finally breathed in, it felt like I’d replaced my lungs with shards of glass. Then his hand wrapped around mine.
My eyes flew open.
“Take me home, Grace.”
He was wearing his suit jacket again—still no tie—with an overcoat on, keys in hand.
Blake didn’t seem the type to hold hands, and yet this was the second time he’d kept me close this way. We rode down in silence. I peeked up at him, unsure what was going on in his busy brain.
I knew something was going on up there.
I could pretty much hear the gears whirling, but he didn’t say a word. Then again, neither did I.
When the doors opened, Violet stood. “Before lockdown, and no bloodshed.”
“You let her upstairs?” Blake asked.
“Yep.”
“Hmm.”
Vi gave him a cheeky grin. “Leaving for the night.”
Blake glanced down at me. “It appears so.”
“Well, all right. I’ll see you Monday.”
Blake nodded. “Yes, Monday.”
I swallowed hard. No pressure with the truth thing. Nope. None at all.
“Good night, Violet.” Blake headed for the door to the parking garage, lacing our fingers together. “Where’s your coat?”
“I sort of forgot it.”
He released my hand. Was it wrong that I wanted to snatch it back right away? That I craved that simple touch? Such a simple link seemed huge right then.
He sighed and shrugged out of his. My entire body was still numb from the barrage of emotions, but the moment he draped the heavy wool over my shoulders, I shuddered. It was warm from his body, and smelled of him.
Relief seeped into the warming edges. After today, there was no going back. Either he’d understand, or he’d walk away.
He herded me forward with a hand at my lower back. I already missed his hand in the moment since he’d held mine. The dry, heated touch from a palm that was surprisingly rough in spots.
Another question to add to all the others about Blake Carson.
“My car is across the street.”
“It’ll be fine.”
I stopped in the middle of the parking garage. “It’ll get towed.”
“I’ll pay.”
I bristled. What if this entire thing went south? Then I’d have no car to fall back on. “You can follow me home.”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
I turned to face him. “What if you don’t like what I have to say?”
“I guess we’re both going to take a chance then since you’re being so cryptic.” He took my hand and hauled me across the garage. When the headlights flashed on a Range Rover, I frowned.
Definitely not the car I’d have imagined for him. A sedate BMW, or a sporty one that was all speed and grace—that seemed to fit him. A beast of a car created for off-road exploring? Yeah, not so much.
He opened the passenger side and crowded into me. Before I could figure out if he was going to kiss me or…well, I wasn’t sure what else he’d have done, he boosted me into the SUV and buckled me in. Then he shut the door without a word.
He pulled out of the garage. “All right, where am I going?”
“Head into Marblehead.”
He glanced over at me. “The gallery?”
“No, but not far from it.”
The streets had cleared a little with the late hour. Blake’s company wasn’t exactly in the center of the entertainment district of Boston. We didn’t speak as he navigated the winding streets and roundabouts that created the dizzying infrastructure of the city. Once we hit the straightaway, he took my hand again.
He seemed to understand that I couldn’t really talk. The moment I opened my mouth, there would be such a rush of crazy information, I was sure I wouldn’t be able to stop.
Not unless he made me stop.
Maybe not even then.
The exit for Salem and Marblehead came into view and we ended up on a long stretch of road with water on either side. I evened out as we left behind the industrial vibe and crossed over into the coastal town that had been my home for so long.
I murmured directions to him the closer we got to the gallery, passing it in favor of staying on Ocean Avenue. The closer were got to my grandmother’s house, the tenser he became.
“Where are we going, Grace?”
“Take a left here.”
His headlights washed over the front of the Cape-style house with the large strip of grass, and stone path to the porch. The pop of gravel under his tires seemed to echo in the quiet night. The hiss and roar of the tide infiltrated our silence.
“Why did you take me to my house?”
I stiffened. “It was my house first.”
He turned to me. Confusion creased the skin above his nose as his brows lowered. “What?”
“It seems you bought my grandmother’s house out from under me when it was in foreclosure.” I opened my door, took my purse, and slid out onto the driveway.
He stared at me through the window, then looked down at his lap.
I drew in a cold sea-scented breath, and marched up the driveway. Instead of going to the front door, I bypassed it for the side of the house.
He turned off the Range Rover, and the sound of his shoes followed me in a much quicker stride. I got to the side of the house where the maid’s quarters’ door was before he hooked his hand around my elbow to stop me.
“This isn’t your house.”
I turned to him. “Not technically. I was never on the paperwork to this house, but I was the executrix of the trust.”
His face was mostly in shadow, save for a single safety light throwing harsh white light across his cheekbones. “I bought it from the bank.”
“Because it went into foreclosure almost immediately. My grandmother had a reverse mortgage on it that I didn’t know about.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I didn’t even get through the reading of the will before I was told the bank had taken the property, and you bought it.”
“That’s proprietary information through the bank.”
“This is a small town, Blake. Of course everyone knew who bought Annabelle Stuart’s house. Lady’s Cove is one of the oldest areas in Marblehead.”
Something flashed across his face, but it was too dark. I didn’t know if it was surprise, or that he’d actually been trying to keep this secret. “Your name isn’t Stuart.”
“No, she’s my maternal grandmother.”
He paced away from me. “What does that have to do with me and why you’ve been lying to me for nearly a month?”
I dropped my purse on the walkway, and chased after him. “I lost the most important—” I grabbed his arm until he faced me. “The only person in
my life. I was at the will reading, and couldn’t get past the grief, or the idea that I was suddenly destitute.”
“So you came looking for me?” His eyes were hot.
“Can we go inside?”
“I don’t know, can we?”
I tipped my head back. “May we?”
“This isn’t a goddamn grammar lesson, Grace. It’s my goddamn house.”
I dragged him back up the walkway and grabbed my purse. I could feel him fuming behind me as I searched for my keys. When I unlocked the door, I actually felt his seething breath on my hair.
I flipped on the lights as he climbed the three steps to my part of the house. “This is the maid’s quarters.”
“I know. Why are you in them? And why is there power? I haven’t turned it on yet.”
I pressed my lips together. The space felt even smaller with him inside. I swallowed hard, and shrugged out of his coat. “I have a generator.”
“So you’ve been squatting in my house?”
My shoulders stiffened. “I told you, my house.”
“No, I have the deed, Grace. It’s my house.”
I pushed my hair out of my face. “Technically.”
“We have very different definitions of that word.”
“I’m trying to explain how this whole mess happened. Would you just shut up for five seconds?”
He took a step closer to me, his chest heaving. “Were you trying to con me?”
“No! Not really.”
“Grace.”
“Stop growling. The day you were interviewing for a new assistant was the same day I found out the bank had sold the house before I even had the option to buy it on my own.”
He opened his mouth to interrupt, but I pointed my finger at him. He dipped his hands into his pockets instead. “Go on.”
“It was the same day I found out I lost everything. You have to understand, nothing made sense. I never paid attention to money, it was just there.”
Blake’s jaw flexed.
“I know that sounds awful, but it’s the truth. My family has always had money. My parents, my grandmother, my great-grandparents. This house was one of the first houses built on Lady’s Cove. Yes, ignorance is a big factor in all of this, but I was completely unprepared to find out everything was being taken from me.”
“So you came to me?”
“The plan was to talk to you.” He took a deep breath at the word plan. I walked toward him and placed my hands on his chest. “It wasn’t a con. I went there to try and make you understand why you should sell the house back to me.”
He frowned. “You have nothing.”
I winced. “I was crazy with grief, and I know it doesn’t make any sense. All I could think about was that my grandmother was gone, and you took the very last bit of her away from me.”
His face went blank. All emotion gone. “So you thought you’d seduce me into giving you a house?”
Ten
I pushed him back a step. “No, you idiot. Not every single move was so calculated. I went there to convince you sell the house back to me, but when I met you, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I had to figure out another way to get my house back.”
“And I’m the idiot who hired you.” He shoved his hands into his hair. “Wow.”
“No. Not exactly.”
He laughed. It was a horrible sound. I so rarely heard him laugh, but the absolute desolation in it made my heart ache.
Hearing that had my hackles raising, but I forced myself to keep going. “I know people, Blake. It’s my gift.”
“No, your gift is glass and metal.”
“Glass and metal is my passion. It’s been my center since I was a girl, but I’ve always been good with people. From school, to living in Marblehead, to the gallery—I understand people.”
He looked away from me for a moment, then took a breath and faced me once more. “Then why are you still here? Don’t you have someone you can stay with?”
“Just because I know people, doesn’t mean I’m good at keeping them in my life.”
His eyes shuttered. “Evidently we’re alike in that regard.”
“You push people away. I’m assuming a lot of it is because of your money. People want things from you all the time.” His chin lifted.
I sighed. “Yeah, I thought so.”
“Well, if you can read me so well, what is it you thought you were going to accomplish?”
“The minute I walked into your office I knew nothing was going to go the way I thought. At first, I thought I could get to know you. That maybe I could figure out a way to make you understand my situation.”
He frowned.
“I didn’t say it was a good plan. But then I started to love what I was doing. Digging into your world, I saw your passion. I even understood it. There’s so much more you can do with your glass.”
“So you were going for what? Insider trading?”
“Oh, my God, Blake.” I moved into him, but he folded his arms and angled away from me. I grabbed his arms.
Was that really how he lived his life? The first thought was who was going to screw him over?
I looked up at him. I saw the obstinacy and the hurt there under the cool stare. I lifted my hands to his face. He tried to shake me off, but I wouldn’t be denied. Not now. “No, Blake. I just wanted to be part of your world. Then the vestibule happened and everything got so twisted.”
If I wanted him in my life, and I was pretty sure I did. More than I thought was even possible just a day ago. He made me insane, but he also made me see exactly what I’d been missing.
Life.
I’d never lived as much as I had in the last month with him.
“Then I just wanted you, but I didn’t know how to tell you.” My throat tightened. “I didn’t even know how to tell myself.”
His shoulders heaved as he took deep breaths. I didn’t know what he was going to do. I closed my eyes, unwilling to sway him with tears. I only had words to convince him. “Please don’t leave.”
Please don’t leave me.
He dropped his arms to his sides. I swallowed the sob that wanted out so badly. I’d let him walk away. If he didn’t understand that everything I’d said was heartfelt, then that was his loss.
He lifted me up and crushed me to him. I opened my eyes and encircled his shoulders. “Blake—”
“No more talking,” he said against my mouth.
Then there was nothing but his kiss, and him surrounding me. He walked through my workshop area, past my table to the corner of the room. He set me down next to the twin bed.
He looked down at it. “Really?”
“I’m tiny.”
“Truth,” he muttered. He shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it onto the chair at the end of my bed. He pulled me in front of him, and coasted his fingertips over my shoulders. “I can’t even describe how bad I am at relationships.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“I don’t know why you want to be with me—” He held up a hand. “I’m not fishing for compliments, and I don’t even want to know why right now. I’m just thankful.” He cupped my face. “So, goddamn thankful, because wanting you is the only thing I understand.”
I tipped my head into his hand. “I hope one day it’s more than wanting me.”
“It already is.” He unbuttoned his cuffs, then his shirt, and tossed it aside as well.
I drew in a breath. I’d never seen all of Blake’s upper torso before. He was so incredibly broad and smooth. He dropped his pants, and reached for my zipper a moment later. Our clothes became piles at our feet, then he sat down on the edge of my little bed.
“I just want you too.” He pulled me forward until I straddled his waist.
He stretched out under me and let me touch him. Every part of him. I learned his shoulders and chest with my fingers and lips. I could measure his sighs and his gasps from a single twist of my wrist.
His taste became part of me as I crawled lower to take
him in my mouth.
Nothing was off limits tonight. There was no rush, no timetable. There were only the sweet sounds of his groans of my name and the silky glide of our bodies. When he grew impatient with me using him as my personal playground, he rolled me under him and showed me what it was like to make love to Blake Carson.
Because neither one of us could call that night anything but lovemaking.
Even when we landed in a sweaty heap on the second round, and the night melted around us, I drifted to sleep with a smile.
Of course sleeping on a twin bed was a lot more fun when I’d been in college. Blake took up a lot of space, and his body was more muscular than soft. The books got that wrong too.
Especially when you had to lay on top of a man from chest to hip.
I tried to get comfortable, and gave up with a sigh.
“I don’t know what would be worse. If you snored, or if you’re this restless every night.”
I pinched his shoulder. “A twin bed was not made for your particular body weight.”
“My BMI is eight percent.”
I giggled at his voice. Oh, so very affronted. “That’s the problem. There’s not a cuddly bit of fat on you, Mr. Carson.” I sighed at his silence. “There’s a king-sized bed in the blue room upstairs. Of course that would mean finding a set of sheets.”
“You could come home with me.”
I folded my arms on his chest and wiggled until I slid down along the wall. “It’s cold outside.”
“Remote car starter.”
I laughed. “There’s a thought.”
A crash from the other room made us both jump. Blake sat up and eased me off of him. “Are the other doors locked in the house?”
“Yes.” I reached for the light above our heads and clicked it on.
Another bang, this time from the front.
“No, turn that off.” He slipped out of bed and smoothly hiked up his pants. The moon was low, highlighting his shoulders and back as he stood.
“Blake, wait.”
“Stay here.”
“It’s probably just kids,” I whispered. “We used to break into empty houses to party when I was a kid.”
