CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Mia

Grayson shifts us and we both sit up on the couch, and then he’s standing, taking me with him. I yelp as he scoops me up again, but I don’t know why I’m surprised. The man is always carrying me around, but then we’ve been apart for a year. What is familiar is being reintroduced and in every way, it still feels perfect. He loves to carry me around and I love when he does. A short walk later, I’m on the counter in our stunning bathroom with white tile trimmed by wood that matches the floors. Grayson walks to the bathroom door, reaches behind it and grabs a pair of pajama bottoms he pulls on, which reminds me of my robe that had once hung in the same spot.

“Remember this?” he asks, pulling that very robe from the hook.

“You never moved it?” I ask, surprised by just how much he’d kept his home my home.

He crosses to wrap the white silk around me. “It’s been waiting on you, just like me,” he says as I slip my arms into it.

“You tried to fuck me out of your system, though,” I say, feeling the bite of that confession.

He strokes my cheek, cupping it to force my gaze to his. “Mia—”

“It’s okay,” I say, covering his hand. “I left. I left for a year. You’re human. You needed what I wasn’t here to give you.”

“I needed you.” His hands settle on my waist. “I can’t change how I handled you leaving any more than you can change leaving. You were right in the living room. We need to move on. We need to look forward. I want you back here. I want you next to my side. I want you out of Ri’s company.”

“Me, too, on all counts. I have a case, though, a woman that I really want to help. I can’t dump the case. She killed her abusive husband, but the trial date isn’t for four months.”

“You aren’t staying there for four months.” His hands move to my knees.

“I know,” I say quickly. “I’m not suggesting that I do. I just hate deserting her. I’m passionate about her case. She was defending herself from a brutal attack and she shouldn’t have been charged. It’s wrong that she’s going through this. She trusts me and if she follows me to Bennett, Ri could sue me and you.”

“Ri won’t be suing anyone when I’m done with him,” he bites out, his voice low, tight. “Let’s talk about what went wrong in that meeting tonight.”

“You didn’t like Blake or his team?”

“Not one of them brought up the possibility that Ri could have been having you followed and knows you’ve been with me this weekend.”

“I’m sure that’s assumed with all of the efforts to hide my present location.”

“I don’t like unspoken assumptions that impact your safety,” he says.

“You really believe Ri is dangerous?”

“Yes. I do. If Blake’s team shows up here in the morning and doesn’t make me feel really damn good about you going to that meeting with Ri tomorrow, you’re not going.”

My hands cover his. “I know you’re worried about me.”

“Mia, do not fight me on this.”

“I know you lost your father and I left, but I’m not leaving again. I won’t be stupid. If I get a bad feeling, and you know I have good gut feelings, I’ll just leave.”

“If you can,” he says. “That building is locked down by Ri’s people, who were good enough to hide from a world class hacker like Blake Walker.”

Nerves knot my belly. I’m starting to get nervous, but I have to do what I can to protect Grayson. “Okay. So what makes us feel good about me going in there tomorrow?”

“Nothing.”

“Grayson,” I plead. “I can buy you time. I can keep his guard down just by making him think nothing has changed. I don’t have to play detective.”

“We’ll both know in the morning when Blake’s team shows up. Fair enough?”

“As long as you haven’t made up your mind already,” I agree.

“I do need to buy time, a few days to let our people work,” he concedes. “And I do believe you suddenly quitting would put him on edge. He’d look for trouble, but it’s not worth it if it puts you in danger. Agreed?”

“You going to jail for something you didn’t do is not okay. I’m willing to take risks for you.”

“You are, just by walking back into that building and that’s more than I want you to do.”

“But you will,” I press.

His jaw sets hard. “If I feel good about it in the morning.” He lifts me off the counter and sets me in front of him. “How about some dinner?”

“Chinese?”

“Yes,” he says. “Chinese.”

“You do know I still haven’t become domestic, right?” I tease. “We’re going to live a life of takeout in between the meals Leslie makes us.”

“I can live with a life of takeout,” he assures me, his green eyes lighting with laughter that I’m pleased to see return. He kisses my temple. “Now if I can just find my phone.” He turns me toward the door and smacks my backside. I yelp, but I’m smiling as I head to the bedroom, right up until the moment I reach the doorway. I stop there dead in my tracks and I stare at the room that was mine with Grayson, that is mine with Grayson again.

We decorated it together as well, picked out the navy headboard on the massive bed with chairs that match by the window. We love blue. We love this room. Grayson steps behind me, and his hands settle on my shoulders. “This is where you belong.”

I rotate to face him. “With you is where I belong. I never felt at home at that apartment, but I tried. I thought I had to make it without you, so I tried.”

“Like I tried, Mia, but in a different way. I needed our place to be a sanctuary when you returned, our home, and I promise you, I’ll protect that always.” His hand slides under my hair to my neck. “You fill all the empty places in this home. You fill all the empty places in me, and you’re the only one who knows they exist. Because I trust you, Mia.”

“Do you?” I challenge, “Because—”

“I thought you left me for Ri,” he says. “As I stand here thinking about what you said in the living room, I understand it. I trusted you completely. I pulled back when I thought you betrayed me because to trust that much and be betrayed cuts deeper than any blade, but I’m not pulling back now or ever again. Me and you, forever.” He leans in, kisses me and the touch of his lips, tender and yet possessive, sends a rush of heat and awareness through my body.

“You don’t just belong with me,” he says. “You belong to me, and Ri is going to know that before this is over.” There is something in his voice, a lethal quality that gives me pause.

Despite my push for him to go on the attack, this is the first time I’ve been concerned that the remedy he plans could be worse than the crimes he’s been wrongly accused of. I pull back to look at him. “What are you going to do, Grayson?”

“Whatever it takes to end Ri.”

“End Ri?” I ask, because that tone again, that look in his eyes, worries me. “What does that mean?”

He lowers his mouth to mine and says, “It means he won’t be at our wedding, baby.” He seals that declaration with a kiss that is meant to silence my questions and it works. “And yes, I’m going to ask again. Once I know that I’m not dragging you to hell with me.”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” I promise.

“But I won’t let you.” He strokes my cheek. “Because that’s love, Mia. I take care of you before me.” He kisses me. “I’ll order the food.” He heads toward the bedroom door and I think about those words. He takes care of me over himself. I need to take care of him over myself, but the problem is, with Grayson there is loss and pain to consider. I can’t make a stupid decision that leaves me dead and him destroyed. I can’t sacrifice myself without taking him with me. And yet, I have to go meet with Ri tomorrow after Grayson has all but declared him a killer.