by Rye Hart
But in the cold light of day? This place wasn’t my home.
It hadn’t been since I was eighteen.
I typed up a few responses to some of Matt’s emails and told him I was on my way back, that come dinnertime tonight, I would be back home and able to kick off this acquisition. I told him to set up the meeting, so we could sit down and draw up not only a formal purchasing document but make sure we took all my mentor’s wishes for his company into consideration. I didn’t want to dismantle what he’d built. On the contrary, I’d modeled myself after what he had done. I didn’t want to change his vision or direction for his company simply because he was ailing. I wasn’t that kind of businessman.
I wanted to do right by the only man who ever remotely saw past the barbaric, angry boy he had employed to work for him.
I sent off the email just as Theresa began to stir. Her grunting and yawning was a sound I’d grown accustomed to hearing. I turned myself toward her and smiled when she sat up on the edge of the bed. Her breasts hung against her beautiful body, and her curves made my groin throb. Her hair was crazy from sex, and her eyes were hazy with sleep, and she’d never looked more beautiful than she did in those first few moments. When her mind wasn’t right and the only thing guiding her actions was the routine she’d ingrained into herself.
Then, her eyes connected with mine.
She wrapped the sheet around her body, and I cursed her for covering it up. If she were mine, I’d encourage her to walk around naked. To let me see those curves while she did all those mundane tasks men thought were idiotic. She padded over to me and I spread my legs, accommodating her full and luscious tones as she sat against my thigh. I wrapped my arm around her and settled it on her hip, and her head fell to my chest.
I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to caress her. I wanted to slowly slip that sheet from her silky skin and pull my cock out just for her. To eat and ride and suck on for her morning meal until she was begging for her own release.
But I couldn't.
No matter how much I wanted to, I knew I was about to break her heart.
“Morning,” she said into my skin.
“Sleep well?” I asked.
“Always, with you.”
I clenched my jaw and tried to stay as strong as I could.
“What are you doing?” Theresa asked.
“Just sending out some emails.”
“Your company already falling apart without you?”
I moved my head away from her, and it caused her to look up at me. The playfulness in her eyes died and in its place was a worry I watched surface. Fuck. I was really going to do this. I was going to give up the one thing I wanted and cherished more than my fucking life.
But I loved her too much to make her choose between her home and mine.
“I’m needed back in Boston,” I said.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Yes, but nothing bad. I’m making strides to buy out another contracting company in the area and merge it with mine. I have to be there to assist in the transition and make sure things go smoothly.”
“Grant, that’s incredible,” she said with a smile. “I’ll pack my things.”
I stared at her blankly, my eyes blinking as her smile slipped from her cheeks.
“We’ll have to go to my apartment,” Theresa said. “I don’t have enough clothes here.”
My brow ticked in confusion as I adjusted myself in my seat.
“You’re packing,” I said.
“That’s sort of what I have to do if we’re heading to Boston. I can’t walk around town naked.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she covered it with hers before I could say anything. Her tongue shoved its way past my teeth and I groaned. My hand flew to her hair, grasping her tangled tendrils and tugging her off to the side. She fell into my lap, and my arms wrapped around her back as she slid her soft arms around my neck. Our lips danced together, and our tongues intermingled, and the languid kiss sent soft flames rushing over my skin.
I pulled back and found her smiling at me as her fingertips danced along my jawline.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said.
“You didn’t ask,” she said.
“But this is your home. Your family, your friends, your job, your life is here.”
I saw a fire rise in her eyes as she stood from my lap. She turned her back to me and walked away, her feet falling heavily against the carpet. She turned around and stuck her finger out at me, then turned her back again and groaned. She whipped around with her fist in the air, and I braced myself for whatever she had to give me. She did this time and time again, turning around and catching herself before she approached me again.
It killed me to watch her struggle with this as much as she was.
“Are you really that thick?”
I looked up into her eyes, unsure of what to say.
“Do you really think I would let you go after getting you back?” Theresa asked. “I waited eleven years, Grant. Eleven. Eleven years of trying to make someone else into something he wasn’t. Eleven years of dreaming you would come back and scoop me up into your arms and take me away. Eleven years of wondering if I was ever going to see you again. Or if I was destined to simply love this figment of my imagination for the rest of my life!”
My eyes locked onto her angry face, and I watched her skin flush. She was panting. Seething with an anger she didn’t know what to do with.
Then she strode over to me and punched me in the arm.
“You’re an idiot, Grant Hooper. But you don’t get to get rid of me that easily,” she said.
“I’m not trying to get rid of you.”
“Yes, you are. If you think you know what’s best for me and you try to force me to stay, you’re no better than Ike. Or my brother. Or my father. In fact, you’d be worse than my father, because at least my father admitted what he was doing.”
I rubbed my arm where she had punched me as I sat up in my chair.
“But if you cared about my opinion and about what I wanted for my life, then you would give me the option. You wouldn’t tell me what to do like so many others have throughout my life. You’d tell me what my options were and you’d let me decide.”
And she was right.
“Okay,” I said. “Here are your options. You can come with me and stay at my place while I work myself to death trying to get these two companies to merge. Or you can stay here with your family surrounded by a community you were raised in and find someone to share that with. Take your pick.”
Theresa’s eyes locked with mine as I stood from my chair. With my arms hanging at my sides and a lump in my throat, I slowly approached her. I watched her stand her ground as I got to her and watched her crane her neck back to keep my face in view.
Then, I asked the one question no one had ever asked Theresa before in her life.
“Which do you want?”
“You listening? Because I’m only going to say this once,” she said.
“I’m all ears.”
“You’re taking me back to my apartment so I can pack. And then we’re getting in your car and going back to Boston. There’s shit from my place I need that isn’t here, and I’m not leaving until I have it.”
“What about your job?”
“I have a damn business degree, Grant. I can work anywhere,” she said.
“What about your apartment?”
“I’ll take the money out of my savings to break the lease.”
“And your car?”
“A heaping piece of junk. It won’t make it to Boston. I’ll sell it to a junkyard or something.”
“What about your family?”
She paused, her eyes dancing between mine before she drew in a deep breath.
“They’ve got cars of their own. If they want to see me, they can come visit.”
I chuckled and shook my head as I looked out over the ocean. I felt Theresa’s smile warming my body as I took in the sight. This beaut
iful woman, who was shorter than me by at least a foot, was telling me what to do. And I had to admit, I liked her plan. I shook my head and looked back down at her, finding her smile so big it was almost closing her eyes.
“I love you. You know that?” I asked.
She shook her head as her smile faded, then her hand came up and cupped my cheek.
“If you ever think about playing the martyr for me again, you’ll regret it,” she said.
Then she stood on her tiptoes, brought her lips to mine, and warmed my body with hers as the sheet dropped to the floor at her feet.
CHAPTER 31
THERESA
I called Jane from the car as we were cruising toward my apartment. I had so much to fill her in on it was crazy. This business trip had taken her a lot longer than I figured it would, and the karmic part of all this was that I’d be on my way to Boston by the time she got back.
She needed to at least know I wasn’t going to be here.
“I swear, I’m going to ream my boss for not getting me a better phone plan,” Jane said.
“Then you’re really going to be mad when I tell you what I have to tell you,” I said.
I looked over at Grant and found him grinning as his arm hung out the window of his car.
“Do you want me to start with the good or the bad?” I asked.
“Tell me whatever it is I’ve missed from front to back.”
“Well, you know Grant and I were hooking up.”
Grant ticked an eyebrow into the air, and it made me giggle.
“Yes, I know all of that. Who are you giggling to?”
“Grant,” I said.
“Wait, you’re with Grant right now?” she asked.
“Just listen. Ike came back to the apartment.”
“What the hell did that asshole have to say?”
“It wasn’t so much what he said as what he did.”
The silence on the other end of the line made me nervous.
“Jane?”
“I’m fucking grabbing my crowbar. Where the hell is that son of a bitch?”
“Jane, settle down.”
“Did he lay a hand on you?”
“Hands and knees and all sorts of other things. Jane, he’s in jail. And he’s not getting out on bail,” I said.
“I’m going to kill that fucker.”
“Well I won’t be here to witness it,” I said.
“What the hell does that mean?” she asked.
“I’m going to Boston with Grant.”
There was another brief pause, but this time it wasn’t as tense.
“Boston.”
“Yes,” I said.
“With Grant.”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Holy. Shit. Does your dad know? Fuck me, does Hollis know?”
“No, and no, and it isn’t any of their business.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Theresa?” she asked.
“Are you ready to stop asking questions and listen?” I asked.
“I’m going to chew my cheap ass boss out for this stupid phone plan,” she said.
“When Ike put me in the hospital, Grant came. Hollis saw Grant kiss me.”
“Well, I’m sure that went over well.”
“And by well, I’m sure you mean absolutely terribly. And of course, in wonderful Hollis fashion, he called my father.”
“Who then came to try and beat the shit out of Grant.”
“Yep. But I kicked them out of the hospital room.”
“You did not,” she said.
“I did.”
“Holy fuck, Theresa. I would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall for that.”
“I didn’t even tell them when I got out of the hospital. My apartment was still an active crime scene when they released me, so Grant booked us an oceanfront hotel suite.”
“And I’m sure he made you feel all sorts of better,” Jane said.
“Oh, you better believe he did. After a couple of days there, I went to talk to my father. And I laid all of it out for him.”
“When you say all of it, you mean?”
“Everything. How disappointed I was with him for kicking Grant out. How angry I was at him for being a hypocrite and bashing Ike when he and Hollis do a version of the same thing.”
“Oh shit. You gave it to him.”
“I did. And do you know what he told me?”
“What?”
“That he was the one who emailed Grant to come into town for me.”
“I’m not following. Did I miss something?” she asked.
“Long story short, Grant originally came into town because of an email he got from someone. An email that said I needed him.”
“And your father sent that.”
“He did.”
“Are you sure he didn’t have a stroke?”
“I’m sure. My father told me he knew Grant was the only person I would even remotely listen to,” I said. “And I have to admit, it pissed me off.”
“Um, yeah. I could see that happening.”
“But we talked it out.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Grant asked.
I looked over at him and smiled as Jane squealed in my ear.
“I heard that! I heard all of that!”
I giggled as we pulled into the driveway of my apartment.
“Grant told me he loves me,” I said as I looked over at him.
His eyes raked down my body before he reached for my hand. He wrapped it up in his and brought it to his lips for a kiss, and I felt my cheeks flush.
“I can’t believe this. I miss everything!” Jane exclaimed. “Did you say it back?”
“I’m in the car going to Boston with him, aren’t I?” I asked.
“Say it back to him, Theresa. I know you. You wait too long on these kinds of things. If you feel it, fuck what you’ve been through. Screw Ike and his jailbird ass. Fuck Hollis and whatever bullshit he thinks is his to be pissed over. It’s about damn time you lived your life by your own rules.”
I gazed into Grant’s eyes as her words descended onto my ears.
“When are you leaving for Boston?” Jane asked.
“I’m about to pack, then we’ll be on the road.”
“So, you know I’ll be coming to see you soon, right? And by soon, I mean all the damn time.”
“I know,” Grant said.
“Can he hear me?”
“The entire East Coast can probably hear you,” I said.
“Well damn. Aren’t you a sassy pants now?” she said.
“When are you coming back?” I asked.
“I’m still here for another couple of days. I mean, it’s paid leave, and I have a per diem stipend, but I’m ready for this boring ass conference to be over. I’m ready to write some shit.”
I shook my head as my eyes gazed up at my apartment. The crime scene tape was gone, and the door looked fixed, but I still felt my heart fluttering in my chest. I swallowed thickly as images of that night came crashing into my mind, and I felt my hand trembling in Grant’s.
“I gotta go pack,” I said.
“You call me as soon as you and Grant get into Boston, okay?”
“I will, Jane. I promise.”
“And Theresa?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m so happy for you, it’s sickening. We’re going out when I get to Boston to celebrate.”
“Looking forward to it,” I said with a smile.
I hung up the phone and looked over at Grant and found nothing but empathy in his eyes.
“You okay to do this?” he asked.
“Yep. It’ll be quick. I promise.”
“Then let’s go.”
We headed up to my apartment, and the door was unlocked. Everything had been cleaned up and the broken furniture had been hauled off. But having Grant next to me made the trip around the apartment less painful. I saw my set of keys sitting on the kitchen table with a note from my landlord, and I picked it up and took in
the words.
Theresa,
If you still want to stay, here are your keys. If you don’t, call me. We’ll work something out.
Short. Sweet. And to the point.
I showed the letter to Grant, and he immediately pulled out his phone. He dialed my landlord’s number at the corner of the page, and I made my way down the hall. My hands trembled, and my breaths came in short spurts. The sooner I could get out the better off I would be. Grant’s voice drifted down the hall as I pulled out a couple of bags, and I stopped to listen to what he was saying.
“Theresa?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you be okay for a few minutes? Your landlord agreed to let me settle this on your behalf.”
“You go ahead. I’ll finish packing. Almost done.”
“I’m taking your keys back to him. He said to just lock the door when you leave.”
“Grant?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’ll be back soon.”
I drew in a deep breath as the door closed behind him, and I went back to packing. I was shoving every piece of clothing into my bags that I could. Dresses with tags still on them because Ike didn’t like them. Shoes I’d never worn because Ike didn’t approve. Sweaters and jeans and socks and underwear. So many things I would enjoy donning in the streets of Boston at Grant’s side.
And the next thing I knew, I was waking up in darkness.
I couldn't remember anything that had happened. The last thing I remembered was grabbing a pair of pink heels from the back of my closet.
My body rolled around in the tight space it was crammed into, and I quickly figured out where I was.
I was in the trunk of a car.
Tears flooded my eyes and panic robbed me of my breath. I was gasping for air as my legs throbbed in pain. My ribs hurt again, and my tears were blinding what little bit of vision I had in the darkness of the moving vehicle.
