Chapter 32
CECE
W hen we landed, I could feel the shift in his energy. Grady helped Sophie down from the plane, his big hands gentle as he lifted her to the tarmac. She immediately launched into a detailed recap of everything we’d seen, as if he hadn’t been sitting right there with us.
“And did you see the boats? They looked like tiny toys!” she chattered, bouncing on her toes.
“I did see them,” Grady said, crouching down to her level. “What was your favorite part?”
“When Granny did that swoopy thing!”
“The banking turn,” Mom clarified with a grin, pulling off her headset. “Someone’s going to be a pilot someday.”
I watched Grady interact with Sophie, something tight in my chest loosening. He wasn’t just being polite; he was actually listening to her, engaging with her excitement. Most adults either ignored kids or gave them that patronizing fake enthusiasm. But Grady was different. Natural.
“You hungry?” I found myself asking. “We’re having pizza for dinner.”
The words were out before I could stop them. What the hell was I doing? Inviting him to family dinner? That was about as far from keeping things professional as I could get.
“I don’t want to impose?—”
“You’re not imposing,” Mom interrupted, slinging her jacket over her shoulder. “Cece, we’ll be in the car. Ride with your friend.”
Before I could protest, Mom was already walking toward her car with Sophie skipping beside her, chattering about pepperoni. I stood there on the tarmac, suddenly alone with Grady, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Your mom’s not subtle,” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
“She never has been.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, suddenly nervous. “You don’t have to come to dinner if you don’t want to.”
“Do you want me to come?”
The question hung between us, loaded with meaning. I should say no. I should make some excuse about family time or needing to get Sophie to bed early. Instead, I found myself nodding.
“Yeah. I do.”
We climbed into his Jeep. It felt a little strange to be confined in a small space with him again. I knew he was probably confused about why I invited him to the airfield. I hoped I wouldn’t have to explain it. He was smart. He’d figure it out.
“That was a hell of a thing,” he said finally.
“The flying?”
“All of it.” He stopped at a red light and turned to look at me. “You made your point.”
“Did I?”
“Yeah, I get that you’re not some fragile flower who needs protecting. That being a mother doesn’t make you any less capable.” His green eyes were intense, searching my face. “I was being ridiculous. And unfair. I see that now.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. “Good.”
We arrived at the house before Mom and Sophie. I knew they had stopped to pick up the pizza.
“Welcome to our humble abode,” I said.
“Cute place.”
“It’s a rental. Maybe one day I’ll buy a house. That’s what Sophie wants. She’s got big plans for a dog and painting her room Princess Pink.”
“She seems like a fun kid,” he said.
“She is. She’s got enough personality for twenty kids.”
Sophie and Mom arrived a few minutes later. The smell of pizza and breadsticks filled the air and my stomach rumbled.
“I’ll help with that,” Grady said and quickly stepped forward to take the two boxes.
“Thanks,” Mom said, looking pleased. “Make yourself at home. Sophie, go wash your hands.”
“Can Grady sit next to me?” Sophie asked, already heading toward the hallway bathroom.
“If he wants to,” I called after her, shooting him an apologetic look. “We rarely get visitors. And you’re the first in this place.”
“I’d be honored,” he said, and the sincerity in his voice made my stomach flip.
We settled around the small dining table, Sophie chattering nonstop about a new school, friends she would make, and the elaborate Lego castle we were building.
Grady listened with genuine interest, asking questions that made her beam with pride.
Watching them together did dangerous things to my heart.
“So, Grady,” Mom said between bites of pizza. “I hear you spend a lot of time out in the field for your research. That must be exciting work.”
“It has its moments,” he replied. “Though most of it is less Indiana Jones and more sitting in the dirt with a toothbrush, carefully cleaning pottery shards.”
Sophie giggled. “You brush teeth in the dirt?”
“Kind of,” he explained with a grin. “We use little brushes to clean very old, very fragile things we find buried in the ground.”
“Like treasure?”
“It’s all precious, but yes, sometimes we find jewelry and stuff. Though usually it’s broken pieces of bowls or old tools. But those tell us stories about how people lived a long time ago.”
“That’s cool,” Sophie said, clearly impressed.
I leaned back and studied him while he took a drink from the can of Coke. I couldn’t help but watch his throat work. How was that sexy? Everyone swallowed the same way, but for some reason when he did it, I got hot and bothered.
Away from campus, he was softer. I knew he was sexy and could be relaxed, but our dinner was different.
He laughed more. And he was so gentle with Sophie.
Not gentle like kid gloves, but he relaxed and was very casual with her.
And Sophie liked him. She was usually a pretty chill kid and got along with everyone, but with Grady, she was very comfortable.
That was different. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“Do you like dinosaurs?” Sophie asked seriously, like the answer was important.
Grady’s eyes lit up. “I do.”
“You should look for dinosaurs then. Pots are boring.”
He laughed. “Compared to dinosaurs, yeah. I don’t actively look for them, but I have seen some.”
Sophie’s eyes went wide. “Really? Real ones?”
“Real ones,” Grady confirmed, setting down his Coke. “In Montana, there’s a place where you can see T-Rex fossils still in the ground. And in Argentina, I worked on a site where they found some of the biggest dinosaurs that ever lived.”
“Whoa,” Sophie breathed, her pizza forgotten. “Did you touch them?”
“Very carefully. With special tools.” He mimed brushing something delicate. “You have to be really gentle because they’re millions of years old and can break easily.”
I caught Mom’s eye across the table. She was watching this interaction with the same fascination I was, a knowing smile on her lips.
Damn it. Mom was getting ideas. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head—successful, handsome man who was good with kids?
She’d probably have us married off in her mind before dessert.
She gave me a small smile and winked before reaching for another slice of pizza.
Sophie launched into another round of questions about dinosaurs and treasure hunting, completely oblivious to the undercurrents swirling around the table.
Grady answered each one patiently, his face animated as he described different digs and discoveries.
He was still a teacher, regardless of the age of his audience.
The domesticity of it all was doing dangerous things to my resolve. Watching him with Sophie hit me in my ovaries like a freight train. Hard and sudden. My eggs were dancing and begging to be fertilized. I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.
After dinner, we migrated to the living room where Mom produced a massive pink Lego box from behind the couch like some kind of fairy godmother.
“Surprise!” she announced. Sophie practically launched herself across the room.
“Is that the Princess Castle Deluxe?” Sophie shrieked, her voice hitting octaves that probably bothered dogs in neighboring counties. “The one with the dragon and the tower and the spinning dance floor?”
“The very one,” Mom said, looking pleased with herself.
Sophie tore into the box with the enthusiasm of a treasure hunter, tiny Lego pieces cascading across the coffee table in a pink and purple avalanche. The instruction manual was roughly the size of a phone book, and I felt my soul leave my body just looking at it.
“This is going to take forever,” I muttered.
“I can help,” Grady offered, settling onto the floor next to Sophie. “I’m pretty good with complicated builds.”
“Really?” Sophie beamed at him. “Do you know about princesses?”
“I know about castles,” he said diplomatically. “The structural engineering is basically the same whether it’s for a princess or a knight.”
I sank onto the couch, watching. Grady spread out the instruction manual and began sorting the bags of what appeared to be a million pieces into neat piles after checking the numbers on the bags.
His movements were methodical and I imagined it was probably the same way he approached an archeological dig.
Sophie mimicked his technique, her little hands carefully separating the tiny pieces by color and size according to the manual.
“Look, we have to build the foundation first,” Grady explained, pointing to the diagram. “Just like real castles. You need a strong base or everything falls down.”
Sophie nodded solemnly, as if he’d just shared the secrets of the universe. “Like when I tried to build the tower first and it crashed?”
“Exactly like that.” He handed her a flat pink base piece. “You want to start?”
Mom settled into her recliner with a cup of coffee, watching the scene unfold with obvious delight. She was already planning wedding colors in her head. I shot her a warning glance, but she just smiled innocently and sipped her coffee.
The next hour passed in surprising harmony.
Sophie chattered constantly, asking Grady about everything from why certain pieces fit together to whether real princesses actually lived in castles.
He answered every question with the same patience he’d shown at dinner, never talking down to her or brushing off her curiosity.
“Mommy, look!” Sophie held up a partially constructed tower. “Grady showed me how to make the windows line up perfectly!”
“That’s beautiful, baby.” I meant it. The precision of their work was impressive, each piece fitted exactly where it belonged. Usually, I gave up after an hour. I was certain Lego was Latin for torture.
It was two hours later when I finally had to call it. “It’s time for bed, Sophie. We’ll have to finish another time.”
I expected the usual argument but she just shrugged and accepted her fate.
“Mr. Stone, can you read my story?”
He looked at me. I nodded, giving him the approval he asked for.
She handed him the same book she always picked about the stegosaurus pilot. Grady delivered the story with the performance of a skilled actor. Sophie giggled so hard she had tears in her eyes.
“I’m not sure that’s historically accurate,” Grady said, frowning at one point. “A stegosaurus wouldn’t have had the brain capacity for complex flight maneuvers. Or fingers. Or a plane.”
Sophie dissolved into another fit of giggles. “It’s pretend, silly!”
“Oh, right. Pretend.” Grady’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “In that case, this stegosaurus is an excellent pilot.”
After I tucked Sophie into bed and kissed her goodnight, I found Grady and Mom tidying up the loose Lego pieces in companionable silence. The sight of him carefully sorting tiny pink bricks into bags made something warm and dangerous unfurl in my chest.
“I should probably head out,” he said when he saw me. “Let you all get some rest.”
Mom didn’t miss the chance to interfere. “Cece will walk you out. I’ll finish up here.”
I wanted to strangle her with her own subtlety, but I followed Grady to the front door anyway. The night air was warm and humid, typical for coastal South Carolina. The sound of crickets filled the comfortable silence between us.
“Thank you,” I said finally. “For today. For dinner. For being so good with Sophie.”
“She’s a great kid, Cece. You’re doing an amazing job with her.”
The compliment hit me harder than it should have. “I’m trying.”
“You’re succeeding.” His voice was soft, intimate in the darkness.
I looked up at him, studying the sharp angles of his face in the porch light. The way his green eyes had gone dark and intense, fixed on me like they had that night at his house.
“Grady,” I started, not even sure what I wanted to say.
He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell his cologne mixed with the lingering scent of his skin. Close enough that I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. My pulse hammered against my throat.
“I should go,” he said, but he didn’t move. If anything, he leaned closer, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. His thumb traced along my jawline, sending shivers down my spine.
“You should,” I agreed breathlessly, but my body was already betraying me, swaying toward him like a magnetic force pulling me in.
“This is a bad idea,” he murmured, his breath warm against my lips.
“Terrible idea,” I whispered back, but my hands were already fisting in the front of his shirt, pulling him closer.
That was all the invitation he needed. His mouth crashed against mine, hot and demanding and everything I’d been craving since that night at his house. I melted into him, my back hitting the front door as he pressed his body against mine. God, he felt so good—solid and warm and perfectly male.
His tongue swept across my lower lip, sending a jolt of electricity straight to my core. I moaned softly, my fingers tangling in his hair. He deepened the kiss, his hands sliding down to grip my hips. Every nerve in my body was on fire, every thought consumed by the feel of him against me.
“Cece,” he growled against my mouth, his voice rough with need. “You know we can’t.”
“I don’t know anything anymore,” I whispered, cutting him off with another searing kiss. I didn’t want to hear about why this was a bad idea, about all the reasons we shouldn’t be doing this. All I wanted was him.
“God, Cece,” he muttered, breaking the kiss to trail hot, open-mouthed kisses down my neck. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Good,” I breathed, arching into him as his teeth grazed the sensitive spot just below my ear.
The porch light turned off, then on.
Mom may as well have turned the hose on us. We stepped apart, both breathing hard and trying to get ourselves under control.
“Night,” he said softly, and started to walk to the car.
“Night,” I said.
He paused at the Jeep door and looked up at me. He offered a soft smile that had my body clenching with desire.
I couldn’t control myself around him, and what’s more, I didn’t want to.