CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
That Friday night and they were heading to the mayor’s annual ball. Marti didn’t think she was going to be able to attend anything four days ago. Those doctors ordered so many x-rays and lab work that she was certain they were bound to find something was wrong with her. But they didn’t find a thing. Late that next evening, she was free to leave the hospital. She was glad Grant had ordered her to stay.
But going to a ball wasn’t something she was accustomed to, especially going to a ball that a mayor who hated her guts was hosting. But he invited her to quell any public speculation about his hatred of her, Grant had purchased her a gorgeous ball gown, and she agreed to go. She was at least getting out for a change.
Which surprised her too. “Aren’t you worried?” she asked him as he drove them to the mayor’s mansion.
Grant glanced at her. “Worried about what?”
“When you show up with me by your side. I’m sure Captain Jeffers and Lieutenant Kerrigan are expecting you to show up with Celeste or Ingrid or any number of those other ladies that constantly call your phone. But you’re showing up with me.”
“You or nobody,” Grant said.
But Marti stared at him. “I thought our relationship was a secret.”
“It was. It wasn’t any of their business.”
“But now it’s their business?”
“No. It’s ours. And I’m tired of hiding you. Hiding means it’s wrong. What I was doing with all those other women was what was wrong. Being with you will never be wrong.”
Marti smiled. It was those moments, when Grant could be so charming, that kept her from calling him out every time he took control of what should be her business. Because he was never petty with it. Like at the hospital earlier that week. He was never bossy for bossy sake. Or because he had it going on like that. It was all about what was best for her. And since he was older than her, and a wise man in many ways even though he was a lousy cop, she could dig what he was laying down. He wasn’t like any of the others.
But she did have her limits.
Grant looked down at her beautiful red ball gown. “You look gorgeous by the way,” he said to her.
She smiled a smile that brightened up the night.
“But be prepared,” he warned her. “The knives will be out tonight.”
Marti smiled. “These women don’t scare me. But rogue cops do,” she added, as her smiled dampened.
Grant took her hand. “I’ve got you covered,” he said to her in a voice so reassuring that she believed him. He could do no wrong in her eyes, which, she knew, wasn’t healthy. But it was their relationship right now.
He pulled up to the mayor’s mansion on a regular street of other big houses, and drove around the curve where the valets were stationed.
Grant looked at Marti again. Marti exhaled. And then they got out of his Maybach.