16. Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
“Where do you think you're going?” Grayson demanded, his voice low and controlled, a hint of frustration simmering beneath the surface.
Golden reluctantly turned to face him. She swallowed hard at the sight of his face. His beautiful features were hardened into a mask of barely controlled fury as he glared down at her. The temperature in the room felt as if it suddenly dropped twenty degrees.
Her eyes darted away; she wasn't strong enough to hold his gaze. “I was…I was going to go home and change.”
Grayson’s gaze didn’t waver. “I’m pretty sure Omar still has clothes in the closet for you. So, try again,” he said, his tone brooking no argument.
Golden’s chest tightened and her stomach fluttered with nerves. “I’m not doing this with you right now."
Grayson leaned in slightly, his hand still planted on the door beside her head, the intensity in his eyes making it clear he wasn’t backing down. “I planned on having this conversation over breakfast, but since you tried to sneak away from me for the second time in twenty-four hours, here we are.”
Golden’s mind raced, searching for a way out, but he was blocking any possible way of breaking free. “I…”
"Like I told you last night,” he began, his tone solemn, “the woman in my office was an ex trying to rekindle something that isn't there.”
Golden’s lips thinned and she looked up at him sharply. “I really don't care," she said, forcing an air of flippancy in her voice. "What you do and who you see isn't my business. You're just my boss, and I'm just your employee. Now if you’ll excuse me,” she said, attempting to push past him.
Grayson’s other hand shot out, gently but firmly turning her back to face him. “What are you afraid of?” he asked, his voice dropping to a tender whisper as he cupped her face in his hands.
Golden froze, her breath catching at the softness in his voice. For a moment, she stared into his eyes, the weight of his question sinking in. A dozen emotions warred within her.
Golden's exasperation boiled over. "I'm afraid you're going to leave again! Your house is practically barren," she cried, waving a hand at the empty living room. "And you have a young, hot girlfriend who no doubt would kill for a man like you and probably has no intention of staying in Stardust full-time."
Grayson took a deep breath, his gaze never leaving hers. “You're surprisingly accurate about her but wrong about me, sweetheart. I'm not going anywhere, and the house is empty because I got tired of seeing the same things for twenty years.”
Golden blinked, processing his words but still unwilling to believe the simple answer. Shaking her head she stared at the wall beyond him while her fears poured out. “I just can't survive losing you again,” she said softly, the pain in her voice palpable. She would rather leave him than face the possibility of him leaving her.
“Remember when you asked me why the day you left was the single worst day of my life?" A shadow passed over his eyes as he looked at her seemingly recalling that day. "It was because it broke me. I told you that you could always call me and I failed and lost you. You will never know what that did to me.”
For a moment she didn't move. She studied his serious face, letting it linger on his freshly shaven cheeks and up to the blue gems of his eyes that stared back at her.
Overwhelmed by his words, Golden threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him as if he were her lifeline. “So, you’re not moving, right?” she asked, her voice muffled into his shirt. She needed to hear him say it again, to kill off the shadows of doubt still lingering in her heart.
“Never,” Grayson assured her, his voice steady and his arms tightening around her drawing her closer.
“And you really don't have…” Golden hesitated. She recalled the beautiful woman in the office and knew the bitter memory reflected in the grimace on her face.
“A girlfriend?” he supplied, leaning back to give her a smirk. “No.”
Golden looked up at him slowly through her lashes, searching his face. “And you won't leave me again if I make you angry?”
Grayson’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Golden, I've never been mad at you.”
She gave him a skeptical look.
"Okay, yes," he sighed, still keeping his hands at her waist. "Last night I was angry, but I had reason to be. But I had no intention of leaving you. If you remember, it was quite the opposite."
"I'm not talking about last night." The ghosts of that past hurt still lingered inside of her.
Confusion settled over his face before realization darkened his eyes. In a quieter voice, he said, "I was never angry with you. But you're right, I should not have left. Two years of you not talking to me more than drove that lesson home. I promise I'm not going anywhere."
Golden’s heart swelled with emotion, her eyes searching his for the truth. They were so close, their breath mingled together. She felt herself being pulled toward his lips like a magnetic force she couldn't resist. Did he feel it too? Grayson's eyes were so dark as he looked at her, his eyes lingering on her lips and his head tilted forward.
Omar’s voice shattered through the spell. “Breakfast is ready!” he announced, stepping into the foyer with a cheerful grin.
Embarrassment struck her like lightning. Golden slipped away from Grayson, her cheeks burning hot. Blindly she hurried to follow Omar, who was oblivious to her near transgression. Like a coward, she didn’t dare turn back to look at Grayson’s face, too afraid of what she might see.
Her mind raced, a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts. She was shocked at herself for reading her boss's look as an invitation for a kiss. How could she even think it? He wasn't leaning forward, right? It was all in her head. Had Grayson noticed that was what she had been thinking? She tried to think of the look on his face but her stomach jolted with nerves every time she tried to recall his burning gaze. No. It was all in her head. She was just hugging him and that's it. That was all he saw too, she told herself. Thank God, she didn't lean in any further and really make a fool of herself. Once in her lifetime was more than enough, thank you very much.
For the first time in years, Grayson honestly considered firing Omar.
It wasn’t that he didn't expect Golden to try to sneak out that morning, that was why he was waiting nearby. It was the fact that she proved him right. When he found her trying to escape, something he knew she would try, anger flickered to life inside of him. But it all disappeared when her face tilted up toward him and his eyes focused on her slightly parted lips.
He had felt the slight puff of her breath against his lips and all of his intentions to just look after her and care for her evaporated into smoke, revealing a long-hidden truth. And then Omar came in.
He could've killed the man then and there.
Grayson sighed and glanced out the jet window. He could see thick clouds and occasional glimpses of the deep blue ocean far below. Naturally, his eyes drifted to the girl lying in the reclining seat next to him. Golden was lying on her side snuggled into the offered cashmere blanket.
Yesterday, after breakfast, he ordered her to go home and pack. Cruelly he waited just for a second for the hurt of misunderstanding to color her eyes before he told her about his intentions to fly to Italy—with her. The surprise and elation on her face had been worth the moment of deception. Without argument, she allowed him to drive her home and pack for the trip. He had sat on her bed as she pulled out her suitcase and dug out her passport. Grayson had even listened as she finally called Gaige back and listened to his half-hour scolding for going off to get drunk with Lydia.
The entire scene had felt intimate and right. Pleasure coiled around him as he carried her suitcase while she locked up the house and walked back to his car. Knowing she was under his roof a second night was a feeling he couldn't explain. For the first time in two years, his house felt alive again.
The decision to bring her along on the trip was fueled by two distinct reasons. One, her classes started next week and he would be seeing her less. And two, he was tired of doing these trips alone; he wanted her by his side.
He thought of what she said yesterday in the foyer, “And you won't leave me again if I make you angry?”
Is that what she thought? That he was angry at her? How could he have been angry at her? When he walked into his room, found her in his bed, and read the note from Gaige explaining what had happened, he was furious. Yes. Furious enough to bankrupt Arnold Harrington, the little fuck's father, certainly. He was furious, but not so furious that he lost control and choked the little bastard in his own bed. No, he had stayed with Golden that whole night sitting next to her on the bed as she slept. In the stillness of the night buried desires slipped past his defenses. Fantasies that he would normally never let himself entertain torturously played themselves out in his unguarded mind. For what seemed like hours, he watched her sleeping face as his body and soul burned for her.
And as the sun rose and the light shifted in the room in a nebulous haze, casting a soft, ethereal glow across his bed's occupant, Grayson had thought he passed the test. That he survived the gauntlet of his own making. Until her eyes opened. Slowly, he watched as Golden's unfocused eyes found him and he heard the dangerous words spill from her lips.
"I wish I could have you."
Like a witch's spell, she’d nearly undone him. The urge to crawl over her and pull her into his arms had burned to life within him, like a relentless fire he doubted could ever be quenched. By the grace of God, he had stood from the bed and left before doing something he could never take back.
He feared she had noticed it—the near-maddening desperation in his eyes, the breakdown of his willpower. Leaving the house that morning, he had boarded his jet within the hour and had flown halfway across the world. He couldn't face her. He could hardly face himself. With just a few words he nearly turned into the very predator he was supposed to be protecting her from. When she had called, he had been so wrapped up in his own guilt he didn't hear the distress in her voice, he just pushed her off onto his son and quickly hung up. For years he thought back on that moment with poisonous regret. Why didn't he just listen? Like a fool, he spent those following weeks running, buried in work. And when he wasn't working, he was dismantling Ashford Harrington's life until the man had no choice but to move his family far away from Stardust. It wasn't until his brother called him that reality came crashing back down around him.
"Is there something I should know?" Grant began with the terse question.
Annoyed and in no mood for his brother's games, Grayson scowled. "What are you talking about? I'm busy."
"Fine. I'll cut to the point. Even though you've never said directly, I thought you had some sort of…affinity," Grant coughed. "Toward Gaige's little friend, Golden Ray."
Grayson stilled. Something cold formed in his stomach. Not once did he discuss Golden with Grant, he wasn't even aware he knew her name much less his fondness for her. "What's happened?"
Grant sighed on the other end of the line and the pit of ice in Grayson's gut began to spread. "Well, from what I can tell, her aunt died nearly a week ago. There was a funeral yesterday and now Gaige is coming to me about putting her house up for rent."
Nausea clawed its way up his throat, and Grayson sat heavily back in his chair. He was in his hotel room in France. He was on his way out to a meeting when he answered his phone. Staring blankly out the window, he replayed his brother's words.
Grant's voice softened. "I asked Gaige directly and I think the boy is more than a little angry at you."
Despite the cold nausea, Grayson stood up and began to walk toward the door. He would head to the airport immediately. "I will be back by -"
"Gaige has taken her out of town," Grant said quietly. "From what I can see, he is taking her traveling before she starts that art college in New York."
She was leaving him. The words rang out in his hand like the chime of a clock.
"Look," Grant began again, his tone harder now. "If you've done something, we can fix -"
"I haven't done anything!" Grayson snapped, realizing what his idiot brother was implying.
"Thank God," Grant mumbled under his breath. "So that just means you haven't done anything at all," he chuckled, obviously relieved. "That sounds about right. When it comes to women, I can safely say the things you haven't done are always what kicks you in the nuts."
He hung up on him. By the time Grayson got back home he realized just how pervasive the damage was. Everyone was gone. Gaige was in New York helping her find an apartment and once done he would be moving to Cambridge. At least Grayson knew his son would forgive him and come back home eventually. But for her, he had no such assurances. Her house was empty and for rent as if every trace of her presence had been scrubbed from his life. One mistake had cost him everything.
Golden stirred beside him bringing his mind back to the present. Dressed in a cream-colored short set made out of the softest-looking fabric he had ever seen, she looked amazing. For some reason it made him want to reach out and touch it. He continued to study her as she finally woke from her nap. Sleepily, she pushed herself up in her chair and glanced over at him.
Her brows dipped in slight confusion. "You're still awake? You're not tired?"
"Mmm not yet," he hummed, enjoying the sight of her stretching.
"How much time is left?" Not waiting for an answer, she looked toward the display screen mounted on the wall by her seat and gasped. "We still have six hours!"
Grayson nodded with a smirk, wondering where this was going.
Her eyes darted to the wood-lacquered door a few feet away. When she first got on the plane, she spent twenty minutes oohing and ahhing over every feature, one being the bedroom in the back.
"Do you want to go lie down?"
Grayson did not react; he kept his features schooled as he stared back at her.
A blush crept over her features and she rushed to explain. "I mean, I saw that the bed can sit up like a recliner. We can watch movies on the TV."
Grayson nodded and stood up. Despite it being his plane, he followed her to the bedroom, letting her take the lead. He knew how this was going to end. Thirty minutes into whatever movie she picked, she was going to be dead asleep in the bed next to him and he would be in hell.
"So, what movie would you like to watch?" he asked.