Chapter 23
Kate
Kate went back to her grandmother’s house, creeping in to sleep a few hours. When she arrived back at the estate a few hours later, Stefan told her Grant was still asleep. She tiptoed upstairs. Walter was still in the same clothes she’d left him in. He was pacing the hallway. His brown hair with the hints of gray was disheveled.
“Have you slept at all?” Kate hissed at him. She heard a quiet whine and slowly opened the door. Gus trotted out. Kate picked him up before he could make a mess on the carpet. “You need to sleep.”
“I can’t believe that horrible woman,” Walter said. “She’s going to find out about Grant. You know that, right? She probably already knows. I should station guards around the property. Grant cannot leave his room.”
“Look,” she said, turning him around to face her. “Don’t do anything stupid, all right? Danielle still wants your money. She’s probably looking for a way to screw you in the divorce. Grant’s a marine. He’s killed people. He can take care of himself.”
“You’re right, you’re right. And Kate?”
She turned to look at him.
“I meant what I said. He doesn’t leave the room.”
“Girl scout’s honor,” she replied. She followed her boss down the sweeping staircase, put Gus outside, then ate breakfast and went over Walter’s schedule for the day.
“You need to calm down too,” she told Walter, “not just Grant. Leave after your three thirty is over and come home and have some quiet time. You haven’t really had a break since the fire. I’ll have my grandmother over. We can do something, I don’t know, normal. The incident, the funeral, dealing with the police and the city and Danielle, then Grant. It’s one crisis after another. You need to look after your health.”
He smiled and tugged at a piece of her hair. “You are like a daughter, aren’t you? Nagging a poor old man,” he teased.
“I’m not nagging, and you are not that old,” she huffed.
“I have a son that’s almost thirty,” he said.
“Yeah, but you were what? Sixteen when he was born?”
“Yes,” Walter said. He stared off through the window. “I don’t know what I was thinking with Danielle.”
“She’s a sociopath and a narcissist. That’s what they do—manipulate people and destroy their lives.”
“I need justice,” he said.
“You may not have it. Try to be positive and not so obsessed with vengeance. Maybe she’ll slip up somehow and they can nail her with it.”
She watched Walter leave for New York City, then she took some small pitchers of water and juice while Stefan took the silver tray up to Grant’s room. She slowly opened the door.
“Kate,” she heard him call out.
“You’re awake,” she whispered. Gus ran in as Grant came out of the bedroom yawning. Stefan opened the curtains while Kate arranged the food on the table in the sitting room. Grant sat down, Gus jumping around, trying to jump up on his lap. He hefted the puppy up and reached for a plate.
“I’ll fetch it,” Kate said. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy.”
He gave her a half smile while she slid several miniature omelets on his plate along with some potatoes and peppers. He wolfed down the food.
“So,” he said as she fixed him a second helping. “What’s on the agenda today?”
“You have to stay in your room.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your father was very clear about that.”
“I’m an adult. A grown man. I did four combat deployments. I’m not getting locked in my room like a child.”
“Too bad,” Kate said. “He’s freaked out by your panic attack last night. Therefore, you’re stuck in the room today. If you leave and anything happens to you, I don’t know what he’ll do. Definitely fire me, I assume.”
“We can’t have that,” Grant said.
Kate looked at him, a serious expression on her face. “You didn’t see him after the fire. I thought he was going to go on a murderous rampage. We literally had to lock him in the gym at one point and hide all his guns. He was screaming and shouting about how he was going to go after everyone—Danielle, the contractor, the firemen, the police, the building inspector. We were really scared. He would alternate between crying for his dead children and this inhuman rage. My grandmother stayed with him for months after. It was her idea to find you. She remembered the scandal.”
Kate sighed then continued. “You were difficult to find. Danielle and her family had been in charge of your adoption, and of course her parents died in the fire and all the paperwork turned to ash. There were multiple private investigators; it took a while. If you hadn’t been found, I think your father would have been dead or in prison for mass murder. You are the only thing keeping him together, so you understand that you have to stay here.”
“Fine,” he said, “but only if you keep me company.” He grinned wolfishly at her.
Kate looked down at her hands.
“I really shouldn’t. Maybe you can watch TV or something.”
He stood up, and in one smooth motion, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. He hungrily pushed at her clothes, his mouth trailing hot kisses along her torso.
“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Kate,” he said hoarsely as he licked and kissed her whole body then down to the mound of flesh between her legs.
“Oh my.” She moaned.
“Mmm,” Grant said. “I think this is how I’m going to spend the rest of my day—just having my way with you for hours.” He used his tongue and his fingers to pleasure her.
She felt the fires of desire lick her entire body. Kate expected him to stop and take his pleasure in her—most men would. But he kept going, kissing and nipping and stroking all along every inch of her. She moaned low in her throat. He really was going to do this all day!
“I can’t take anymore,” she whimpered. Grant looked up and grinned at her.
“That’s not the can-do attitude I expect from someone in my father’s employ.”
She swatted his head at the comment. He pulled himself up on top of her and lavished her nipples with his mouth and tongue.
“I want to take you nice and slow,” he murmured to her. He flipped her around on the bed then mounted her in one clean motion. She cried out as the length of his member entered her. The flesh between her legs was still tingling with the sensation of Grant’s mouth and fingers. She writhed under him as he pounded away in her.
“Are you going to come, Kate?” he said.
“Y-Yess,” she stuttered. He stopped for a moment.
“Keep going.” She moaned.
He ignored her and pulled her halfway off the bed so that her feet rested on the hardwood floor.
“I need better leverage,” he said to her. He grabbed her hips then pounded into her. She cried out with every thrust. She had never had a man use her like this, take her like this. Every powerful thrust drove her wild. She half expected him to come any moment, but he showed no signs of letting up.
“Are you almost close?” she said breathlessly.
“Baby, I’m just warming up.”
He fucked her for what felt like an eternity. The slide of his large member, the feel of his balls brushing against the tender flesh between her legs—she felt electricity go up and down her body. She came then came again. She could barely keep herself up. She let her body be fully supported by Grant’s hands and the force of him sliding into her. Her gripped her hard and gave a burst of short thrusts, and then she felt him come. He pulled out of her and fell on the bed beside her. She could barely move. Her hair was sweaty. Grant was breathing hard, and his body glistened with sweat, accentuating his muscular form.
“That was insane,” she said.
“Mm-hmm,” he said, smiling at her.
They lay next to each other, basking in the afterglow. She dozed off next to him, feeling completely safe as he wrapped his large body around her.
They woke later and took a long bath together. She floated in the warm water, his arms around her. Kate had never felt so cared for.
“I think I’m smitten with you,” she said.
“Smitten?” he said with a soft laugh. “I’m completely obsessed with you.”