Chapter 32 #2
I wanted so much more, but that was stupid. Wasn’t it? For the first time in a while, my inner voice had shut up. Figured, just when I could use her the most.
Clay reached out, stroking his hand up my shin and over my knee. Much farther and he’d thoroughly distract me. I stopped his movement and the cutest pout took over his face. I’m sure he’d hate for me to say it, but I definitely thought it.
“Tell me more about your grandmother and brother. They’ll both be at dinner, right? Not your sister?”
He dropped his head back on the sofa, giving up his attempt to stop my questioning.
“Sofia’s in Europe working on our social media marketing for several new hotels we’re opening. She seems to know exactly what the brand needs in an online presence. I know one day she’d like to come home, spend more time with us and Grandmother, but right now she loves what she does.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Not that we know about.” His fingers were back to making lazy patterns on my skin, leaving my nerve endings overly sensitized. “Which is probably a good thing. As an older brother, I don’t want to know.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me.” Life with Logan had been hell since I’d gotten involved with Clay.
“Lachlain is, well, he’s unique. My family may not be as large or boisterous as yours, but he’s my best friend.
” His green eyes captured mine, and it felt as if I were really seeing into him, the Clay few others were privy to.
“It’s a different dynamic in our world. Money and power, especially the type that has been in the Conti and Montgomery families for years can make for hateful and strained family dynamics.
For as much as we had, our parents never let us be ungrateful.
I started working in the mailroom of our corporate building when I was only twelve.
Mother insisted it was so I could learn every aspect of the company, but I think Father wanted me to see the people who were there more. ”
Lifting his hand from my leg, I laced our fingers together. “They sound wonderful.”
He nodded. “They were, and so is Grandmother. She’s already halfway in love with you, I think.”
Sucking in a breath, I bit back the words that were on the tip of my tongue. No need to tell him I knew how she felt. Knew what it was like to be in love and have no idea what to do about it. Instead, I settled on another truth. “I’m excited to meet her. I’ve looked her up a bit online.”
He chuckled wryly, “Of course you have.”
“Listen, I needed to know what I was getting into, though I never expected you to show up.”
“That’s what you get for challenging me, Reese. I never knew how much I liked it.”
Heat and desire flared to life in his eyes. I wanted to jump in and let him burn me up, but I wanted to learn about him even more.
“So, your Grandmother?”
Clay’s lips quirked up in a full-blown smile, the dimple on full display, before nodding his capitulation.
“Grandmother was the glue which held us together after Father died. She loved him fiercely, believing he rounded out some of Mother’s rougher edges.
Sometimes I wonder if she ever got to mourn him as she needed to because she was so busy seeing to us, especially Sofia.
Mother was a wreck and then turned to Reginald not long after Father was killed. Grandmother never wavered though.”
He closed his eyes again, the memories seeming to overwhelm him.
Knowing it was dangerous for my own heart, I shifted, retaking my spot on his lap and wrapping my arms around him.
He needed comfort in this moment, and I wanted desperately to be the place he found it.
My Grams once told me that the best she’d ever felt was when she’d held Gramps after we’d gotten word Logan had been injured overseas.
That comforting a man who was always the one to give it, had filled something inside her.
Now I understood what she meant.
This may not be forever with Clay, because how could it? There were more than miles in our way. Still, when he looked back on his memories one day, I want him to remember his moment and the peace he could find with me.
“She was everything to us. Hell, she still is.” He kissed the top of my head and shifted me closer.
“It would not be uncommon for other families in our circles to pass grieving, broken children off on nannies. Grandmother helped me with my homework, played video games with Lachlain, and woke up in the middle of the night when Sofia had nightmares.”
“She didn’t abandon you.” I couldn’t imagine someone doing that to their kids or grandkids, especially when they were reeling from death.
“She didn’t, but it felt like Mother did.” He looked at me, a small smile tipping the corner of his mouth. “She sent us to therapy too, so I dealt with that.” He may have talked about it, but I wonder if he’d actually dealt with it.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he grabbed my waist and maneuvered me until I straddled him.
“Enough talking for now.” One hand stroked up and down my spine, his fingers moving in tantalizingly light caresses.
His other hand tangled in my hair, moving me exactly where he wanted me.
“I need you,” his whispered plea sent me spiraling.
His mouth was all consuming, his presence all encompassing.
Our tongues mated, dueling with each other, but I held no shot at winning.
Then again, I didn’t want to.
Letting Clay take over did something for me, and until I had to, I wasn’t about to let it slip away. The kiss went on and on, until he smoothed back my hair and looked at me with something I didn’t dare name in his eyes.
“How about I go help you get ready for dinner?”
I sent him a more than skeptical look. “Why do I think your version of helping will simply slow the process down?”
“It may,” he answered with a shrug, “but you want to be clean, don’t you?
I think there’s a few areas you need help getting to in the shower.
” He stood, lifting me up with an ease I was getting far too used to.
With a sparkle in his eyes, he kissed the tip of my nose.
The heaviness of moments ago replaced with something I wanted to experience for the rest of my life. “Why are you so little, Reese Henley?”
“Because I’m fun-sized,” I quipped back.
“That you are,” he responded as he climbed the floating staircase, “and I plan on having a lot of fun.”