by Shealy James
I smiled back. “I might. He’s pretty great, smart, and funny on top of all that other stuff.”
“Good on paper meets good in bed.”
“To say the least.” I agreed with her assessment. “He’s just…different…in a good way. The way he touches me, it’s like I’m precious. He’s so careful yet possessive at the same time.” I could gush all day about the very sexy man who spent the weekend with me, who was not the same person I was currently stalking online. The man in those images was stiff and unapproachable.
“Then don’t let this get in the way. If you keep looking for reasons to end it, you’re going to find them. Not all men are like Mark where the bad things outweigh the good, but everyone has things about them we wish they didn’t.”
“Yeah? What does perfect Matt have?” I challenged. I had never heard or seen one negative thing about Matt other than the fact he’s in a band, but that’s Holly’s dad’s issue with him, not Holly’s.
“You really want to know?” she asked.
“Yeah. Does he wear your underwear or have a weird fetish? Oh, please tell me he has a fetish. That would make my day so much better.”
“No, you freak. Matt doesn’t have a weird fetish. He’s a mama’s boy and way worse than Mark. We could be in the middle of sex, and if his phone rings with her ringtone, everything stops. He has to answer it. The worst part is she calls all the time.”
I paused for a moment before bursting out in laughter.
“It isn’t that funny, Evie,” she whined. “My fiancé would rather talk to his mom than finish giving me my happy ending.”
“Oh god! Stop. Please! I can’t take it.” My hysterical laughter had progressed, making me clap like a seal. I had officially lost it.
“I’m going to hang up on you.”
“Okay. Sorry. Seriously.” One more giggle and then I was able to compose myself enough to speak. “It was just so unexpected.” My phone beeped with an incoming call. Grant’s name was on the screen. “Hols, Grant’s calling me.”
“Then you better answer. Call me if you need anything. Love you, Evie.”
“Love you. Call me if you need a phone buddy. I promise not to answer if I’m in the middle of—”
“Fuck you, Eve!” I heard her laughing as she hung up.
I was still laughing at Holly’s calamity when I clicked over. “Hey there, handsome.”
“Hey, babe. You sound happy.”
“Just had a chat with Holly. How are you? You have a good day?”
He blew out a deep breath. “Day’s not over yet. I have to go to a business dinner. Do you want to meet me at my place afterwards?”
“I might meet Tara for dinner and drinks. I blew her off last night to have dinner with you.”
“Then come over after that.”
“Grant, I have never been to your apartment. I don’t want to just show up there and wait on you. I’ll see you tomorrow if you plan to come to the lecture. Of course, your sister isn’t lecturing, so you may not want to come.”
“And miss your famous red velvet cupcakes? No way.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, disappointed that I wouldn’t see him sooner.
“We’ll see. I have to go, babe. My dad just waved me over to the table.”
“Enjoy your dinner.”
“You too.”
After I hung up with him, I called Tara and met her at a sushi restaurant nearby. We were sitting on the patio drinking saki and laughing loudly at our girl talk when Tara saw some of her friends come in. Three guys came and joined our table. Sure enough one of them was Jake, the J. Crew guy from the other night.
“Eve, you remember Jared.” Jared, not Jake. Why couldn’t I remember his name? “This is Michael and Daniel.”
I greeted each of them, suddenly feeling uncomfortable when Jared sat down next to me. I wanted to make friends in the city since I didn’t have any of my own, but I had a feeling Grant wouldn’t like this one bit. Eh, what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
“So, Eve, how’s it working with Tara?” Michael started the “get to know you” conversation, but it wasn’t long before the guys were telling embarrassing stories about each other, and I reciprocated by sharing what kind of girl Tara was in college.
We were still laughing about Tara’s first keg stand when a deep voice behind me said my name. “Eve?”
I turned and found Grant standing there with an angry expression marring his exquisite face. “Grant! Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you had a business thing.” I stood up to kiss him, but it was barely reciprocated.
He did wrap his arm around the nape of my neck possessively. “You’ve been drinking.”
“Yeah. Saki. It’s good. You wanna try some?” I asked, happily ignoring his foul mood, knowing it had everything to do with the company I was keeping.
“No. We need to go.” He let go of my neck to grab a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and dropped it on the table. “It’s good to see you, Tara.”
“You too, Grant. You coming tomorrow?” she asked him.
“Perhaps. It may be the only way I can keep my girl out of trouble.” No one missed the way he emphasized my girl.
“Oh, stop,” I said playfully. “Well, friends, I have some baking to do. I’ll see y’all another time. Tara, drink some water.”
She laughed. “Bye, Evie. Have a good night.”
The guys all said goodbye, and I was sure a conversation about my new boyfriend acting like a caveman was about to ensue amongst them, but I had bigger fish to fry right then. That big fish was currently dragging me out of the restaurant at a pace my feet didn’t want to carry me.
“Slow down, Grant.” He ignored me. “You know you didn’t have to pay for dinner? I can pay for myself, and it certainly wasn’t in the hundred dollar range.”
He ignored me again. He didn’t even talk once I was settled in his car. In fact, Grant continued to silently fume all the way to my apartment. He pulled up in the turnaround and turned off the engine. He obviously wasn’t planning to stay, but his manners were infallible, so he helped me out of the car and walked me to the door.
“You aren’t coming up?” I asked.
“Not tonight.”
“Do you want to tell me why you’re so angry?”
“No. Go inside. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He wasn’t touching me, and the tense expression hadn’t left his face.
I didn’t say anything else. I just walked inside. As the elevator doors closed I saw his car pull away. Okay then.
It was after ten when I was back in my apartment, but I could make cupcakes in under an hour and then let them cool overnight. I would just have to get up early to ice them. No problem. I didn’t think I would be sleeping much anyway with the possible demise of my new relationship bothering me.
I pulled out everything to make cupcakes and started mixing the batter. I heard my low battery signal, so I grabbed my phone from my purse only to find six missed calls and three text messages from Grant asking me where I was. Apparently he had come by my apartment. He knew I was out with Tara, so why would he come by here? Then something occurred to me. How did he know where I was? I started mixing more vigorously. At this rate, I wouldn’t need to use my beautiful red Kitchenaid stand mixer I loved so much.
After I poured the batter into the cute little paper cups and put the trays in the oven, I called Grant. He didn’t answer, which didn’t surprise me, so I sent him a text.
Me: How did you know where I was?
Grant: Does it matter?
Me: Yes.
I sat on my couch biting my fingernails, waiting for either an explanation or the oven timer to go off. When I had successfully chewed my entire thumbnail, I decided to go change into my pajamas. By the time the oven timer went off, I still didn’t have a response. I set all the miniature cupcakes on the cooling racks and covered them with thin dishtowels. When the cupcakes were ready and my alarm was set for six in the morning to ice them, I headed to
bed. I plugged my phone back in knowing I wasn’t going to be getting an explanation tonight.
Unfortunately, sleep did not come easily. I tossed and turned for a little while, but I kept smelling him on my sheets. That would prompt me to check my phone just in case I missed something. Then I would lay back down, stay comfortable for a few minutes, then find the need to roll over and start the process over again. Finally I climbed out of bed and grabbed a spare pillow and blanket from the closet and moved to the couch.
I guess I fell asleep, because I woke up the next morning when my alarm started blaring from the other room. I threw the blanket off and shuffled to my bedroom to shut off my alarm. I went ahead and showered and dressed for the day. I went with my hair up because I didn’t have the energy to curl it. I did have to spend some time covering up the dark circles under my eyes, which really burnt my butter. I was sick of my body wearing my emotional turmoil on the outside.
I threw on my monogrammed red and white polka dot apron and made coffee before I mixed the cream cheese icing, opting for my expensive mixer instead of attempting to mix it by hand. When I felt like it was ready, I filled a pastry bag and started piping away. Lost in the motion of swirling the icing on the tiny cupcakes, I jumped when I heard a knock on my door when I was about halfway through the batch.
When I peeked through the peephole, sure enough, there was Grant in his stupid three-piece suit with his stupid hair perfectly combed into place. I opened the door and walked back to the kitchen without even greeting him. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. We could have done that last night when I wasn’t so tired and grumpy.
“You’re up early,” he said carefully.
“Yup.”
“I brought you breakfast.”
“Thanks.” I didn’t look up from my cupcakes.
He leaned across the bar on the opposite side of sink on the opposite side of my galley kitchen, so he was speaking to my back. “I traced your phone.” I froze. “I was worried when you didn’t answer your phone and I couldn’t find you. Then I show up, and there you were getting cozy with that guy from the other night.”
“You traced my phone? Are you out of your mind?” I shouted. “How did you even do that?”
“Maddox runs a tech company specializing in security technology. My father’s company owns Maddox’s tech company, so I have access to all of their programs. He has an app that traces phones simply using the number. That’s also how I knew you were from Georgia and where you lived.”
“What do you mean that’s how you knew?”
He rubbed the back of his neck before folding his hands and setting them on the counter. His face changed to reflect no emotion, just as a good business executive would do in a tense situation. “I looked into you.”
I was not a business executive, on the other hand. “Why would you do that?” This time my voice came out low and was reminiscent of the tone my mother would use when Jane and I were in trouble. It was the same tone I used to discipline students when I was a teacher.
“I wanted to find a way to get to know you. I’ve never been interested in a woman my family didn’t already know. I wasn’t sure how to proceed.” He spoke so blandly, as if I was annoying him by making him explain his behavior.
I was angry…really flipping angry. “This is ridiculous. What else do you know about me? Did you know I was caught speeding a week after I turned sixteen? Did your little background check tell you I had surgery when I was seventeen? Maybe you found out I bounced a check once. What were you expecting to find that you couldn’t have just asked me about?”
“I don’t know. You wouldn’t give me the time of day, so I had to find a way to reach you. I didn’t find anything before we went out. I wasn’t expecting to see you on Friday. I was hoping to ask Tara about you, but then you were there and that jackass was flirting with you just like he was last night.” He was raising his voice now.
“Oh, get over it! Tara was introducing me to her friends. It was unplanned, and I wasn’t going to be rude to him. I couldn’t even remember his name. I wasn’t interested in him then, so I certainly wasn’t interested in him after our weekend together.”
“That little fucker needs to keep his hands to himself,” he snapped.
“You need to manage your jealousy better.”
“Jealousy? You think I’m jealous of that wannabe little prick? Please!” he scoffed.
“Could you be any more arrogant?” I sneered.
He ignored me because his phone rang. “What?” he snapped to the person on the phone. “No, Rachel, I told you that I would be there by eight-thirty. Set up in my conference room, and I’ll be there in a half hour.” He hung up his phone and set it on the bar with his keys. “Look, I have to go. I can’t come to the lecture tonight, but I’ll pick you up afterwards.”
“Don’t bother.” I turned my back to him and went back to my piping.
Grant came up behind me and placed his arms on either side of the counter, effectively trapping me. “You promised you wouldn’t do this anymore.” He spoke quietly, but the anger still lingered in his voice. He moved the collar of my shirt and kissed me before running his nose down my neck, knowing it would be hard for me to resist him.
“Do what anymore?” I whispered.
He kept his lips against my neck, causing my body to heat in response, and this time it wasn’t from anger. “You promised you wouldn’t keep trying to end this.”
I pulled away from his lips. “That was before I knew you were tracking my phone and performing a background check on me. Not to mention, you were the one who left last night. We could have easily talked about this then.”
“Babe, we do background checks on all employees of the company and college. I was just using that information to find you. I tracked your phone because I thought something was wrong, and I’ll do it again if it means I know you’re safe. This city isn’t safe for a girl like you. I left last night because I didn’t want to say something I would regret. Don’t be mad. I have to go to work, and I can’t be worried about you all day while I’m negotiating a fifty million dollar merger.”
He kissed up my neck to my cheek. “By the way, you look gorgeous today.” He stepped away after one last kiss to my cheek. “Eat your breakfast. See you tonight.”
After the door closed I started breathing again. The anger didn’t disappear, but I didn’t know what to think about Grant right then. What I did know was that the icing on top of every single cupcake was a perfect little swirl. I sprinkled them with red shimmer dust. Perfection.
Chapter 12
Obviously Tara knew something was up by the way she was treading lightly around me at work. We went to lunch together at one of Tara’s favorite sandwich shops. It was quick and busy and distracting. She told me all about how much she liked Daniel, and she was excited about going on a date with him this weekend. I tried to be excited for her, I really did, but I just couldn’t muster the enthusiasm.
Tara was kind enough not to ask. She knew if I wanted to talk, I would. I didn’t want to tell anyone what was going on, which was strange for me, because I always wanted other people’s advice to help guide my decisions. This time I didn’t want anyone else’s voice in my head, because I already knew I had forgiven Grant for invading my privacy. The only thing I wanted to discuss at this point was his behavior when he found me last night. He couldn’t go around claiming me and embarrassing me. He was far too charming to be so disconcerting.
That discussion would have to wait until later, though. I had another mundane lecture to sit through first. At least that meant I would be busy until Grant showed up, or so I thought.
Tara came into my office at four in the afternoon, right as I was shutting everything down. “You leaving to run by the bakery?”
“Yup. I also need to run by my apartment to get the cupcakes I made.”
“Why don’t I come with you? I’ll come with you to your apartment, and then you can stay there and take the night off. I’ll handle the lecture ton
ight.”
“That’s really nice of you, but I don’t mind. It’s my job, and I like doing it.” I picked up my purse and headed toward the door that she was blocking.
“Eve, I’m not trying to be mean, because you know I love you, but you look exhausted. I know there is a lot going on with Mark, and now Grant. Just take the night off and get yourself together. You’ve been awesome jumping in the way you have, but you need to take a break tonight. I can’t have my best employee burning out on me.”
Tears started filling my eyes, but not because I was upset. I was getting emotional because I was tired. Some professional I was. Tara saw it. “Aw, see! That’s it. You’re going home. Come on.”
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t sleep well, and then I woke up early to ice the cupcakes,” I tried to explain, but even I heard my voice crack.
“Not to mention you hardly ate anything at lunch,” she scolded me. I rolled my eyes because that is exactly what my mother would have said.
By the time I had the cupcakes packed up and sent Tara on her way, I was thankful for the time off. I washed the makeup from my face and changed into an old sorority t-shirt that had been washed a million times and some hot-pink sweatpants—my comfort clothes I only allowed my parents to see me wearing. I climbed on my couch where the blanket and pillow were still sitting from last night. It turned out my couch actually was comfortable. I fell asleep in a matter of minutes.
Knock, knock, knock.
Silence.
Pound, pound, pound.
Silence.
Buzz, buzz.
Buzz, buzz.
The ceaseless racket woke me from a dream, leaving my muddled brain confused as to where it all was coming from until I heard one word. “Eve!”
My apartment was really dark like it was the middle of the night. Someone was at my door. Someone was at my door! I tried to climb off the couch and tripped over the blanket. My body crashed to the floor, and I fell on my arm that was still wrapped in the blanket. “Shit!” I cursed.
