Chapter 38

Crissy

I couldn’t handle watching my father squirm underneath Grant’s scrutiny. At one point, I knew they were arguing. I wanted to go in there and break it up. I wanted to go in there and beg for the truth. I wanted to hear that my father wasn’t doing this, that he couldn’t possibly have stolen from the company. But I knew the evidence couldn’t lie. Now it was out of our hands. Now he was in Grant’s courtroom.

I knew I might have to watch my father be escorted out in handcuffs.

That was why I busted into the room when I saw them shaking hands. I had no idea what was going on, but it wasn’t what I expected. I tried to keep my composure as I watched my father turn toward me, and in an instant, his arms were around me. He was hugging me close, apologizing low in my ear while he told me how proud he was of me. My hands dug into his back, feeling the weight he’d lost from the stress he’d been under, and I caved.

I sobbed into my father’s shoulder right there in Grant’s office as I heard the shredder turn on.

I looked over his shoulder and saw Grant shredding the documents. The red circles. The proof that incriminated my father. I looked up at him in wonder, his eyes meeting mine as he gave me a little grin. My father’s hand descended on my back before he exited the office, but all I could do was watch in silence as Grant shredded every single document from that file.

“What happened?” I asked.

“We won’t discuss that here,” he said plainly. “We’ll discuss it over lunch at my place, Miss Marks.”

His eyes came up to me, questioning whether or not I was going to take his lead. The name threw me back to last night, when I’d screamed at him that he could no longer call me that. This was his way of asking permission, wondering if we would still have our dynamic, wondering if I would follow him just like I had been these past few weeks.

“I’ll make the note in my schedule, Mr. Jacobs,” I said, grinning.

By the time lunch rolled around, I heard Grant’s office door closing. I shut everything down in the office and walked beside him as we headed to his car. I was surprised when he put his hand on the small of my back, escorting me into the elevator. I mean, people were still around. Wasn’t he concerned about what they would think?

We got down to the garage and hopped into his car. I sighed heavily, leaning back into the posh leather seats. Grant drove away from the office and started right in on what had happened in the office.

“Your father admitted to what he was doing,” he said.

“I figured,” I said, sighing.

“He’s not going to jail,” he said.

“I’m still not sure how that didn’t happen, but I figured by the friendly handshake that some sort of an agreement had been arranged.”

“Your father was embezzling money because he can’t get Mel’s spending habits under control,” Grant said. “Apparently, he’s a couple months away from declaring bankruptcy.”

Their fight came drifting back to my mind, and I whipped my head over to Grant. Tears welled in my eyes as I thought about what that would mean for my family. For Sissy. For my father and his future. We’d probably lose the house, the place we’d called home since we were children. I’d have to trade down my car, get something for which I could afford the insurance. I started running numbers and calculations, wondering if I made the type of money to live on my own.

“Slow down, sweet girl. Slow down.”

Grant grabbed my hand and slowly began tracing circles on it. My body trembled as my breathing picked up, and that was when Grant pulled the car over. He stopped driving and looked at me, taking his free hand and turning my gaze to his.

“Listen very carefully, all right? Your father isn’t going to lose anything. You’re not losing your house. Not on my watch. Do you understand?”

I nodded, but I couldn’t speak.

“Your father and I came to an agreement,” Grant said. “He had to lose his job. There was no way around that. But his severance package will be able to pay off the rest of the mortgage on the house as well as the car payments, if he’s smart. I told him I’d work on a financial agreement with him as well as invest his 401(k) well under the agreement. He’ll have to rein in Mel’s spending or just kick her ass to the curb if he’s smart. I told him I’d do all this and keep him out of jail if I could continue seeing you.”

My jaw slowly unhinged, and my eyes widened in shock. My father knew? About us? Holy hell, he must be infuriated. But he didn’t seem upset or angry when he hugged me.

He seemed…thankful, almost.

“You included me in your negotiations?” I asked.

“Yes. Because that’s how important your time is to me. How important you are to me.”

Had I just heard him right? Did Grant Jacobs just admit I was important to him?

Maybe I meant more to him than I thought.

Without another word, he pulled back onto the road. A few minutes later, we were pulling up to his house. Only this time, he wasn’t concerned about keeping us out of sight. He helped me out of the car and pulled me into his arms, pressing a breathtaking kiss to my lips that knocked my knees right out from underneath me. He scooped me up and carried me into his house, walking up his steps as we turned to enter his room. I curled into him, breathing in his cologne and excited for lunch in bed.

“What’s for lunch today?” I asked.

“You are,” he said devilishly.

He threw me down on his bed, and I giggled with joy. I felt my skin heat up as I watched him cross his bedroom, his hands throwing open his closet doors as he disappeared into them. He came back out with something in his hand, and I shivered as it dragged behind him.

He was holding a piece of rope, and he was eyeing me as if I was his caught prey.

I knelt on the bed for him as he tossed the black cord onto it. His hands slowly undressed me, the fabric of my clothes falling to the floor as my skin was revealed to him. His eyes danced along my curves, and his tongue darted out to lick his lips. For the first time since I’d been with him, I felt like he was seeing me.

Not a student and not a colleague, but me.

Crissy.

The woman in love with him.

When I was clad in nothing but my skin and supple curves, his arm wrapped around me. He slowly laid me down, his hands dragging my wrists up to his headboard. The wrought-iron spokes were cool against my skin. His hand pinned me there as he knelt between my legs. Never had I been so hungry for sex, so wet for a man who sat above me. My chest heaved as he tied my wrists to his bed, my body held in place as he eyed me for the taking.

When he was done restraining me, his hands came down beside my head. He hovered over me, surveying his work. Then he slowly lowered his lips to the shell of my ear and kissed it softly.

“I’m tying you down forever, Crissy Marks.”

“You can have me forever, Grant Jacobs.”

“This rope, it’s special to me,” he said. “It’s only ever been used on one other occasion, and the woman who had the pleasure of feeling it against her skin became my wife five months later. These bonds, they symbolize the chains you’ve put around my heart. They symbolize the way you’ve tethered me to you. Your soul. Your life. I breathe because of you, Crissy, and from this day forward, you have me. All of me. Tethered to you for as long as you wish and beyond.”

Tears of joy dripped down my face as his eyes came back into view. Those beautiful green eyes I’d dreamed of in high school. The intoxicating eyes I lost myself in, time and time again over these past few weeks. I couldn’t believe the words he was dripping into my ear. Was he saying what I think he was?

“I love you, Crissy.”

Yes. He was saying exactly what I thought he was.

I reared my head up and captured his lips as my tears tainted my skin. His hand slithered behind my neck, supporting it as my entire body shook with effort to get to him. My heart sang out, and my body came alive. Suddenly, I realized why people were so weak when it came to the ones they loved.

Why their lives turned to dust once they lost them.

“I love you, too, Grant,” I murmured against his lips.