As we started to move, I looked forward, but sensed Grant’s eyes on me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“You were staring at me.”
He looked back and forth between my eyes. “What’s your address?”
For some crazy reason, I debated giving it to him.
Grant must have seen the conflict written on my face and chuckled. “The driver needs it to take you home, Ireland. I wasn’t inviting myself over.”
“Oh, right. Of course.”
Feeling like an idiot, I spouted off my address. Grant leaned forward and relayed it to the driver. When he settled back into his seat, his leg now firmly pressed against mine.
“Tell me something about you, Ireland Saint James.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Anything.”
“Okay…” I thought about it. “I’ve had four promotions within Lexington Industries over the last nine years.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
I arched a brow. “You’ve looked me up.”
“How else would I have decided to give you your job back?”
I shifted in my seat to face him. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you something about me you don’t know, if you promise to answer a question for me honestly.”
He nodded. “I can do that.”
It’s not easy to come up with a little-known fun fact about yourself when you’re under pressure, but I did my best. “I can do a backflip from standing still.”
Grant smiled. “Interesting.”
“Thank you. My turn. Did you decide to hire me back because of what I looked like?”
“Truth?”
“That would be nice, yes.”
I watched the wheels in his head turn. “If I say yes, that could be sexist and inappropriate based on our work relationship.”
I leaned over to him and lowered my voice. “It’ll be our little secret.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I decided to hire you back because you have balls and don’t put up with shit from people like Bickman. I respect that.”
“Oh. Okay.” As screwed up as it was, my shoulders slumped a bit.
Grant leaned in to me and whispered, “The fact that you’re gorgeous is just a bonus.”
If I were a peacock, my feathers would have fanned. I smiled. “Thank you. My turn. Tell me something about you that I don’t know.”
I liked that he seemed to actually give it some thought, when he could’ve rattled off some business accomplishment. Instead he said, “I’m one of three children. We were all adopted from different families after being foster children.”
“Oh, wow. That’s really personal. I feel like I owe you more than a backflip now.”
Grant’s eyes dropped to my lips before returning to meet my gaze. “I’ll take whatever you want to give me.”
There were a million things I could’ve shared—that I have a scar on my torso from a bicycle accident when I was seven, that I sleep with the light on because I don’t like to be alone in the dark… Hell, I could have shared my bra size. Yet I had to go and share the most screwed-up thing about me.
“My father is in prison for killing my mother.”
Grant’s smile immediately fell. But while it affected him and changed the mood, there was no sign of surprise.
I blew out a stream of air and closed my eyes. “You already knew that, too, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “I pulled your file. We do extensive background checks on employees….”
I forced a consolatory smile. “Of course.”
Grant bumped his shoulder with mine. “But it still counts. I appreciate you sharing that with me.”
Thanks to my big mouth, the fun mood had been transformed to gloomy. Though a thought popped into my head that might change that. “So, if you pulled my file, does that mean you watched the offending video?”
Grant cleared his throat and looked forward. “I had to see what I was dealing with.”
I watched him for a second. He looked slightly uncomfortable with the direction I’d taken the conversation, which only made me want to take it further down that path.
Leaning in slightly, my voice registered lower. “Did you watch it more than once?”
Grant struggled a moment. He looked relieved when his cell phone rang.
Pulling it from his pocket, he read the name flashing on the screen. “Excuse me. I have to take this.”
He swiped. “What’s going on?”
I heard a woman’s voice on the other end, but couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“How long ago did he leave?”
The woman spoke louder. She sounded upset.
“Alright. I’m nearby. Don’t leave the house. I’ll find him.”
He swiped to end the call and leaned forward to speak to the driver. “Get off at the next exit. Make a right on Cross Bay and a left on Singleton.”
“Yes, sir.”
Grant blew out a jagged breath. He frowned. “I’m sorry. We need to make a detour.”
“Is everything okay?”
He shook his head. “My grandfather has dementia. He’s still in the early stages, but sometimes he takes off. My grandmother can’t handle him anymore by herself, but they also won’t let anyone help until things blow up. It’s the third time he’s gone missing in the last two months.”
“I’m sorry. That must be tough to deal with.”
“It wouldn’t be happening if they’d let the alarm installer do the job I hired him to do when he showed up at their house the other day. But they won’t even let me have someone put in a monitor so my grandmother could be alerted to a door opening while she’s sleeping.”
The driver got off at the exit and made the turns Grant had instructed him to make. Then Grant directed him into the side streets of a pretty exclusive area. The homes were all set back on sprawling front lawns, and one house was bigger than the next. He told the driver to slow down and put on his brights.
“This is their house. He usually takes the same path. Go to the end of the road and take a left and a quick right. Follow the winding path down to the water.”
“You sound like you have a pretty good idea where he’s heading,” I said.
Grant looked out the windows, searching as he spoke. “He always goes to the same place.”
A few minutes later, I spotted someone walking along the side of the road.
“There!” I pointed. “I see someone up ahead.”
Grant let out a deep breath. “That’s him.” He instructed the driver to pull up behind him slowly, and he jumped out of the car before it had even rolled to a complete stop.
I watched the interaction between the two men through the front window of the limo. Grant’s grandfather was dressed in a brown bathrobe and slippers. His hair was disheveled, and he turned around, seeming confused when the headlights caught his attention. But his entire face lit up as he shielded his eyes and got a look at the man stalking his way. He definitely recognized his grandson. He opened his arms wide and waited as a tuxedoed and clearly frustrated Grant approached.
I couldn’t help but smile when Grant gave in and let the old man swamp him in a hug. The two of them spoke for a minute, and then Grant led him back to the limousine.