I was crying so hard I didn’t notice Grant had stepped behind me and took the wineglass from my hand until I felt his hands on me again. He turned me around and placed his thumb under my chin, tipping my head up so he could look into my eyes. He took his thumb and wiped the tears from my cheeks, and I took in a deep breath, trying hard to calm down.
“Becca, listen to me. You are stronger than this. You are tougher than this.”
I shook my head, not believing what he was saying, but he stopped me, placing his warm hands on my cheeks. I stopped crying and looked deep into his eyes. A calmness settled over me the longer I stared into his eyes. Slowly, he bent down and brought his lips to mine; only this time the kiss was far different from last night.
When he pulled away, I looked up at him. “I thought you didn’t want to take advantage of a situation where I was vulnerable,” I whispered, forgetting about everything I had learned only minutes before.
There was no response. Grant stepped forward, pressing his body into mine. My back hit the counter and he bent down and kissed me again, deeper, harder this time. I felt a surge of electricity race through my body as his hands gently gripped my hips, drawing me closer to him.
I rested my arms on his shoulders, and when our lips parted, he brought one hand up and placed it on my cheek.
“I don’t, and I hope you don’t think that’s what I am trying to do. Truth be told, I have wanted you since the minute I walked through the door and saw you. I wanted you the moment that first letter arrived across my path when I was deployed. What I told you tonight at dinner was the partial truth, but this is the real reason I ran: because the want I feel for you is so strong it scares even me.”
Before I could say anything, his lips met mine again, his tongue parting my lips and washing through my mouth. He gripped my hips, picking me up. He placed his hands under my ass as my legs wrapped around his hips. I pulled at my shirt, quickly pulling it over my head, and crashed into his lips again as he carried me down the hall.
I slowly opened my eyes. I could see the start of light peering through the blinds of my bedroom, my head resting on Grant’s shoulder. He was still sound asleep. I lifted my head to glance at the clock; it was only five. I put my head back down and snuggled into him, closing my eyes. I had just gotten comfortable when I felt his arms tighten around me. “Good morning,” he muttered, kissing my forehead.
“Morning,” I said groggily, wrapping my arms around him.
It had been a long time since I had slept as soundly as I had, but after the workout he had given me, I wasn’t surprised. Being held in his arms wasn’t like anything else I’d experienced, and it felt amazing to be so at ease. He held me for a bit and then stretched. “I should get showered,” he said, sitting up and throwing the covers off his naked body.
I couldn’t help but allow my eyes to wash over his strong and scarred body. Each wound told a story, and I wanted to hear about them all. He leaned back down and placed a long kiss on my lips and made his way to the bedroom door.
“I’ll get the coffee on.”
I wandered into the kitchen and busied myself. Once I finished, I looked around. I was feeling rather anxious now, knowing that I had to go into work today. I saw the mail sitting on the table where I had left it and flipped through the stack of bills I still hadn’t opened. When I came to the credit card statement, Grant’s words rang through my mind. “Check your statements, make sure you recognize all the transactions.”
Once we’d eaten breakfast and I’d showered, Grant said he had a couple of calls to make before we left. I sat down with the highlighter and start going through this month’s statement, highlighting every transaction I recognized.
I frowned when I got to the second page. There was a transaction I knew I hadn’t made. I grabbed the red pen sitting on the table and drew a circle around the charge and put a large question mark beside it. Then I moved onto the next one. That, too, had the same charge on it. I was just about to call Grant when he came around the corner with an intense look on his face.
“Becca, we have to get a move on. I have a problem. One guy called in sick, which means a bunch of installations won’t get done this morning, unless I rearrange some things before the guys get there. I need to get to the office to sort it out. I have to drop you off early.”
“No problem.”
I dropped the highlighter on the table and grabbed my things. I made a mental note to make sure that I remembered to tell Grant about the charges I’d found later this morning.
Grant
After dropping Becca off, I got to the office in record time. I greeted Gale, my office clerk, at the front desk and saw the relief on her face as I took the pile of installation orders for the day with me.
“I’m so sorry to call you so early this morning, Grant. I just didn’t know how you wanted me to handle this,” she said, following me with another pile of work orders.
“No worries, Gale. I think I should be able to get it figured out before the guys get here so we don’t miss anyone. I will let you know if I need you to call any of the clients to reschedule.”
“Thanks, Grant. I feel just horrible.”
“No worries, Gale. It’s not a big deal, honestly.”
She nodded. “How about I get you a cup of coffee.”
“That would be great, thanks.” I couldn’t get mad at her. She was new to the city and closer to my mother’s age. Despite having tried to show her around our area, she still didn’t know it well.
I walked into my office and started sorting through the day’s assignments, quickly tacking an installation onto anyone who was lighter than normal and close to the area. I had just finished as, one by one, the installation guys appeared at my door and stepped into my office to grab their day’s assignments.
Once everyone was on the road, I picked up the lukewarm coffee that Gale had dropped on my desk and took a sip. I had just sat down behind my desk when Gale appeared at my door.
“Grant, I forgot to tell you, I received a call from a customer yesterday afternoon once you’d left for the day. You installed a system in his storage locker a few weeks back. He asked that you disconnect them today.”
“What, like stop the feed?”
“Yeah. He says he knows he paid for the entire year, but he asked that you disconnect them for this week only and start them again next Sunday.”
I frowned at the strange request when my phone vibrated, and I peered down to see Becca’s name flash across the screen.
“I’m sorry, Gale, I have to take this,” I said, reaching for the phone.
“Grant, he asked that they be disconnected yesterday.”
“Yep, no worries. I will get to it right after this call.”
I spun around in my chair and picked up the phone, thoughts of last night running through my mind. “Hey, you, miss me already?” I chuckled into the phone.
“Grant.”
I could hear the fear in her voice as she said my name, and alarm rose in my chest. “Becs, what’s wrong?”
“We are being evacuated. There’s been a bomb threat.” Becca’s voice was shaky, and I imagined she was on the verge of tears. She seemed to be out of breath as well.