“I’m certain Grayson doesn’t blame you.” He kisses her forehead and turns to me. “I am glad that you’re back. She was never happy without you.” He offers me his hand which I accept. “You’re a good man,” he says. “Take care of my daughter.”
“I will, sir, every day of the rest of her life.”
He nods and turns to Mia. “I’m going to leave because as much as I want to stay, I sense that you and Grayson need time together. Come see me soon.” He hugs her and looks at me. “Both of you.” He looks at Mia. “I love you, daughter.” He kisses her temple and then heads for the door.
The minute it shuts, I lock it and turn to Mia who is suddenly shaking all over again, adrenaline and emotions making for a bad cocktail when mixed with shock. I grab her, scoop her up and start carrying her toward our bedroom.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Grayson
I set Mia on the white tiled ledge of the sunken tub and then walk to the shower, turning on the water. Once it’s warming up, I walk back to her and stroke her cheek. “Stay right here,” I order. “I don’t want you to fall. You’re still unsteady.” I try to pull away but she catches my hand.
“Grayson.”
“I’ll be right back, baby. I want to get you something to take the edge off.”
She nods and releases me and the fact that she welcomes whatever I bring her says a lot. Mia isn’t a drinker and she hates drugs of any type. I walk out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, stopping at the mini-bar in one corner, pouring her a stout drink that she’ll hate, but it’ll help her relax.
I return to find her shoes kicked off and I go down on a knee beside her. “Drink,” I order, pressing it into her hand and when her hand shakes on the way to her mouth, I help her hold onto the glass. “Like a shot. All at once.”
She swallows hard and then downs the whiskey. “Oh God. That’s horrible.”
“That’s a twenty-five-year-old scotch that cost ten thousand dollars a bottle.”
“That’s a lot of money for something that tastes that bad.”
I laugh. “It’s good stuff. Even better with the second glass.”
“It made me warm all over.”
“I’d rather it be me that makes you warm all over.”
“Then take that damn bloody shirt off. I can’t look at it.”
“Let’s both just strip down and I’ll get rid of our clothes.” I set the glass down, stand up and take her with me.
She fumbles with my buttons and I take over, quickly pulling it over my head and then walk to the trash can, hit the lever with my foot, and stuff the shirt inside. “Better?”
“Yeah,” she says. “The blood reminds me that he’s dead.”
And the world is a better place, but I don’t say that to Mia. Ri was a killer. I saw that in his eyes tonight. He would have killed her. He would have killed again. I help her undress and then do the same. I then walk to the trash can, hit the lever on the floor and trash everything. “I’ll get it out of the house after we shower,” I say, grabbing her hand and leading her to the shower.
I grab the soap and waste no time making sure I get all remnants of the night off both of us. She needs it all washed away and she needs to rest. “You okay?” I ask when we’re just standing there under the spray a few minutes later.
“Because you’re here and I’m feeling that twenty-five-year-old whiskey. It’s helping. Thank you. I can’t believe I saw a man die tonight. I can’t believe he was going to kill me and he was. It’s—surreal in so many ways.”
I stroke a strand of hair from her face. “I know, baby, but it’s over and you’re safe.”
“My father didn’t help.”
“About that. What happened to not telling him about the bonus Ri gave you to help him?”
“I got angry and I probably misunderstood him, but I didn’t think the man I love, who also risked his life to save me tonight, needed to be blamed.”
“Come on,” I say, turning off the water and grabbing a towel from over the side to wrap it around her. Once she’s wrapped up well and I dry my hair and pull a towel around my waist, I lead her to the bedroom.
“Our chair,” she whispers.
Our chair. I didn’t sit in that damn thing the entire time she was gone. I go there willingly now, and pull her down into it with me, angling us to face each other and pulling the blanket over us. Her fingers splay on my jaw. “I’m glad Blake killed him instead of you. You would have had to live with taking a life, and we both would have known I caused it.”
I roll her to her back and settle my leg between hers. “Baby, you did nothing wrong tonight. Nothing.”
“Maybe I should have stayed in the office. Maybe I shouldn’t have even gone back there at all. I pushed to protect you but you almost got killed tonight.”
“You did protect me. You saved me, with Ri and by coming back. I’m the one who wasn’t good without you. I needed you, Mia. You belong here with me, and nothing was ever going to be right again until you came back.” I lean in and brush my lips over hers and it’s all I can do to hold back, to remember how delicate she is tonight. I need to taste her, to feel her, to be inside her.
The instant I pull back, she lifts her head and presses her lips to mine and that’s all it takes. My mouth closes down on hers, and I kiss her deeply, intensely, drinking her in, owning her because that’s what I need right now. I need to feel her, to know she’s here. “You’re mine,” I whisper, caressing a hand down her back and cupping her backside, pulling her closer. “No one will ever take you again.”
“Never again,” she promises, her hand on my face, and I drag her leg to my hip, the thick ridge of my erection pressing between her thighs.
“I need to be inside you, but if you—”
“Now would be good,” she whispers. “Now, please, Grayson.”
I press inside her and thrust deep, angling her to take all of me. She gasps out, “You’re much, much better than whiskey.”
I tangle my fingers in her hair and drag her gaze to mine. “Just seeing him hold that gun to your head almost killed me. I’ll have nightmares about that for years to come.” My mouth closes down on hers and I can’t kiss her deep enough, I can’t be inside her deep enough. I can’t touch her enough or feel her close enough. And yet I go slow, I cradle her hips to my hips. I kiss her neck. I touch her breast and lick her nipple, suckling her until she arches into me. Until she pants out my name.
And those sounds she makes, those soft, sexy sounds drive me crazy and I press my lips to her ear. “I thought I’d never hear you make those sounds again. I thought I’d never hold you like this again. And not just tonight, Mia. I thought I lost you.”
“Not for even a moment.” She pulls back to look at me. “I was always here in my heart. Always.”
My mouth crashes down on hers, and this time, I lose everything but the taste of her, the feel of her, the hunger I cannot sate for this woman, and God knows I tried while she was gone. I tried and failed, and I didn’t even want to succeed. I have never been as lost in any other human being, including Mia, as I am lost in her now. The world fades and there is just the two of us and when she shudders in my arms, this time with pleasure, not shock or fear, I follow.
It’s long minutes later, that we lay on that chair, clinging to each other, when I tilt her head back and say, “Yes, I would have killed him and I wouldn’t have regretted it one day of my life or yours.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Mia
I wake in our chair with Grayson curled around me, his body sheltering me the way I know he tried to do last night, the way he was trying to shelter me even when he fired me from that case, even if he went about it the wrong way. I roll around to face him and find him awake. “How are you?” he asks.
“I’m here. I’m perfect.”
One of our phones buzzes somewhere in the distance. “Yours or mine?”
“Probably both. They’ve been going off f
or an hour.”
“Don’t we need to get them?”
“Yes, but I just couldn’t make myself get up with you laying here with me.” He kisses my temple. “I’ll go find our phones.” He throws off the blanket and walks across the room and any worry I have is momentarily lost to the sight of his perfect, naked backside.
He disappears into the bathroom and I sit up, pulling the blanket around me. “I don’t remember where my purse or briefcase are,” I call out.
Grayson exits the bathroom in a pair of pajama bottoms with my robe in his hands. “I don’t either actually.” He crosses to sit next to me and I eagerly accept the robe as he glances at his phone. “Blake, Eric, Davis, Courtney, and your father have taken turns calling.”
“Courtney. Oh God. I didn’t even think about calling her.”
“I’m texting Courtney and your father in a group text,” Grayson says, “Because I need to call Blake first.” He looks at me and reads the message he’s just typed: Mac and Courtney, we were asleep. We’re fine. Mia lost her phone. We have a few calls to make and then we’ll call you both in a few.
“Perfect,” I say. “Hurry and call Blake. I need to pee and I don’t want to go until I know what’s going on.”
“Go, baby. I’ll be right here.”
“Yeah. I better go.” I stand up and race across the room and leave the door open as I hear, “Blake. What’s happening?”
Of course, I can hear nothing else and by the time I exit the bathroom, Grayson is meeting me at the door, no longer on the phone. “Blake is having one of his men bring your phone and purse up to us. He had to get it cleared with the police to give it back to you.”
“And?”
“And the police will want to interview us again this afternoon. Blake took the liberty of calling our attorney and offering to host the interview at his office. It’s a non-event for us, outside of them going after anyone that was helping to set me up.” He snags my hand. “Coffee. I need coffee.” He starts walking, pulling me along, and I find myself smiling. I love coffee and Grayson, but in our kitchen, together, it’s even better.
A few minutes later, we both have steaming cups in our hands and I’m using his phone to assure first Courtney, since she knows nothing at this point, and then my father that all is well when the doorbell rings. Grayson heads for the door and returns with my purse. He’s barely handed it to me when my phone starts ringing. “I need to go, dad. I have to return some calls. We’ll come see you soon. I love you, too.”
I trade Grayson his phone for my purse and quickly pull out my phone “Kevin,” I say, “my boss at Ri’s firm. He’s a good guy. He knew Ri was a problem and he wanted to protect me. I have to call him back, but my client called too, and she must be freaking out. She has to come first but I need some idea of what’s on the news and what she’s heard.”
Grayson grabs the remote and turns on the small TV under the kitchen counter which offers us nothing. “The internet,” he says, searching his phone and a few minutes later we both finish reading up on the press which amounts to questions about the future of Ri’s firm.
I dial my client. “Mia, what the hell is going on?” she answers. “Are you okay? God, am I okay?”
“I’m fine. You’ll be fine. I’m not going back to the firm. I’m—” I look at Grayson, who arches a brow. “I’m going to be with Grayson Bennett’s firm. He’s my—” I turn away. “We’re together. I’m sure you saw that on the news. I want to take you with me but I need to be sure legally I can do that. No matter what I’ll take care of you.”
“I’m in limbo. Please say that isn’t so.”
“I’ll handle this for you one way or the other. I promise. I’ll be in touch by tomorrow.” I hang up and Grayson steps in front of me. “I assume I’d come back to the firm. That’s okay, right?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, but let’s do this a little differently this time. You don’t work for anyone but the firm. Take the cases you want but I’d really like you to work on the bigger picture with me that reaches beyond the firm. Then we can travel together.” His hands come down on my arms. “If you want to. I know you want to forge your own career, but you have a brilliant mind and insight I value. You always make me think wider. I’d be lucky to have you work with me as the fourth in my team; you, me, Eric, and Davis.”
“I’d like that. I would. I do love criminal law though and I have to take this case all the way. I believe in my client.”
“Then you will take it all the way and you’ll win. I’ll get the case moved. Under the circumstances that won’t be an issue. I’ll make the calls right after I call a mover to get your things.” He folds me against him. “You belong here with me.”
“Yes,” I say softly, trying not to think about that awkward moment when I didn’t know what to call Grayson. “I do.”
He strokes my hair from my face. “I’m your future husband,” he says. “Don’t forget that. I don’t plan to.”
All those weird feelings fade away. Of course, he’s not going to ask me again the morning after we were both covered in a dead man’s blood. He’s not going to ask me until this is over, because he still doesn’t get that I will go to hell and back with him, but I’ll have a lifetime to show him that I’m here to stay. I will show him every single day.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Mia
The rest of the day goes by in a whirlwind of press and chaos. The interviews with the police, however, are uneventful, at least for us. And as Grayson expected, Blake and his team are wonderful. Our team is just as wonderful, including our attorney who I barely know. By the time we leave Blake’s office, Grayson has me moved back into the apartment, compliments of a big tip and a moving company. My father stops back by that evening to help us unpack. We’re standing in the kitchen, while Grayson takes a few calls in his office, both of us drinking coffee. He tells me about all the new business he has, a woman he might keep seeing, and I pack up some things for him that I don’t need now that I’m here.
“Mia,” he says, stepping in front of me and taking my hand to shove something in it. “Thank you. I’ll never put you in that position again.”
I look down and stare at a check for fifty thousand dollars. “The money I owe you.”
“You keep it and invest it in your business.” I press it back into his hand.
“No. I’m never putting you in that position again. I won’t let you make decisions for me.”
“And she won’t have to,” Grayson says, appearing at the bottom of the stairs that lead to his office. He crosses the room to join us, standing beside me, his arm at my waist. “Mia has all the money she could ever need and so do you. Keep the money and we’ll talk about how to expand your business.”
“No,” my father says, holding up his hands. “I never asked you for anything, Grayson. I’m not going to start now.”
“But I’m offering and I had planned to offer before Mia and I broke up. We’d talked about it but you’re prideful just like your daughter. We’ll tread cautiously, but I have money, Mac. Your daughter is the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. We’re going to support your business. I want to have Eric look at your books, if you’re okay with that. He’s got a magical mind. Let him help you with a five-year plan and I’ll invest the money.”
“No, I—”
“Dad,” I say, hugging him. “Let him help.” I pull back to look at him. “He really wants to and I didn’t ask. He did this himself. Just talk to Eric. Get excited about not struggling anymore.”
He looks at Grayson. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’re going to be kinder to my football team this year.”
“Damn Patriots,” my father grumbles.
Grayson and I laugh. “That is a little kinder than normal,” Grayson says, and the two of them head to the balcony with beers in hand to talk about those damn Patriots.
I finish unpacking because I’m home to
stay.
***
The next morning, after much debate, Grayson and I decide that his offices don’t need the press we would bring to them but we can’t avoid their obsession with us. We agree to a press conference with law enforcement present that is held at Blake’s offices. And once again, Grayson shelters me. He takes the heat of the questions for a solid hour before he says enough. Eric takes over from there and we hurry to a car that drives us to the airport for our escape to the Hamptons with not one, but two of Blake’s men with us, just to be safe.
By the time we land in the Hamptons and we’re in Grayson’s Porsche that he’s left at the airport, we have the legal approval for us to take over my client’s case from Ri’s firm. I call my client who is relieved. Next up, is a call to Kevin, my ex-boss, who I’ve discussed with Grayson in depth. “Mia, how the hell are you?”
“I’m good. Really good. How are you?”
“Afraid for my job. It’s not good here.”
“Come to work for Bennett. Grayson is going to extend you an official offer for twenty percent higher than you’re being paid now.”
“Sold. When do I start?”
We work out the details, talk about my client, and then plan to meet at the Bennett offices Monday morning. “I’ll arrange to have her there,” Kevin promises of my client and we disconnect right as we pull up to the house. “Everything is falling into place,” I say, feeling a pinch of sadness. “I remember coming here and it being your father’s house he just never used. Now, it’s yours.”
Grayson pulls us into the garage and parks. “And he’d want me to share it with you.” He kills the engine and exits, and by the time I’m standing beside my door, he’s there kissing me. He glances at his suit and my dress we’d worn for the press conference. “Let’s change and take a walk.”
“I’d like that.”
A few minutes later, we’re both in sweats, tees, and we head to the beach where we start walking. We talk. We talk about everything and then we do it again and as we always do, we end up at the lighthouse. Grayson follows me up the stairs, and we reach the railing just in time to watch the sun begin to lower and streak the darkening sky in orange and red.
Dirty Rich Betrayal Page 20
