Chapter Twelve #2
The corners of his lips tugged up. His fingers flexed into her side. “I should have done that a while ago.”
She blinked like an idiot. That didn’t make sense. Did he not know of the years she’d made a fool of herself trying to get his attention? “Why?”
“Then maybe we wouldn’t have such a headache to deal with now.”
Did he just suggest that if he had kissed her before Dominic, she wouldn’t have married Dominic? “That’s…” Probably true. “Pretty cocky.”
“Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “It is what it is.” One of his hands cupped her cheek. His thumb teased her bottom lip again. “I just hung up on my boss and have to call her back. Do not run away. Do not leave this house when I’m not looking.”
“I won’t.”
He laughed. “Yeah, babe. You totally would.” Callum kissed her again, smacked her ass, and grabbed his phone. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
Well, that wasn’t planned.
There were countless reasons Callum should have considered kissing Grace a mistake.
He didn’t agree with a single one of them. He had resisted kissing Grace for years, and look where that had gotten them. And what a kiss. Kissing her was better than anything his vivid imagination had conjured up, and some of those fantasies would melt a lesser man to the ground.
Callum dropped onto the couch in the living room. The floorboards creaked above him. Grace was pacing, probably freaking out, and his remaining on this couch took more willpower than he knew he had.
Fuck.
This would complicate the assignment. He struggled to find a reason to care. It was already complicated. What was one more strange development when Grace had returned from the dead?
He blew out a breath and returned Vivian’s call. “Sorry about that.”
“Everything okay?”
His attention was pulled toward the ceiling and the sound of Grace pacing. “Better than I expected.”
“Good. We were on the right path,” Vivian said. “The attorney general’s office wants an informal chat before what is likely going to be an impaneled grand jury.”
“That’s what we thought.”
“Yes. Though they won’t confirm it. So, it’s conjecture and confidential, and we’re going to keep that to ourselves.”
“I don’t know who we would tell.”
“We’ll make arrangements for the meeting. It’ll be someplace low-stakes. Maybe a field office or one of those corporate office rentals. If they hear what they like, then we’ll move on to formalized discussions and the legal maneuvering.”
“She’ll need her attorney present.”
“Everyone agrees with that, and our office will coordinate schedules. You just need to have her there when and where it’s agreed upon.”
“She’ll have questions.”
“Given what you and Dean figured out about her phone, and likely her email, we all have questions. Once we get a handle on the communication issues, we’ll update you.
She should act as though she’s unaware. And stay put.
If there’s not a reason to leave, don’t; otherwise, Marino will get wind of you. ”
“Stay put like a sitting duck?”
“If he had wanted to take her, he would have made his move. Thought we had agreed about that?”
He nodded to himself. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right.”
“Anything else I need to know, Hale?”
“Like what?”
“If I knew that, I would have asked you directly. Wouldn’t I?”
“There’s nothing else to share.”
“We’ll talk again after Dean finds better answers.” Vivian sighed. “You know, I gotta tell you. I didn’t think this would turn into the project that it’s becoming.”
“You and me both, Viv.”
Callum ended the call and pushed off the couch. He’d update Grace, and maybe they could grab lunch. Alicia had told him to eat whatever he wanted from her fully stocked kitchen, but he needed to get out of the house. Fresh air and more space would do him good.
Grace hurried down the stairs, chin up and hand gesturing, ready to make a point. He knew that face and body language. He was about to hear her give him the riot act. That was the Grace he’d always known. He crossed his arms and almost hid his grin.
She opened with, “We need to get a couple of things straight.”
“This have anything to do with upstairs?”
“I’ve known you too long for…” she flicked her wrist and eyed him from head to toe, “…whatever game you have going on.”
“Trust me. I don’t have a game.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t.”
“Whatever it is you’re doing. Trying to distract me. Or draw my attention from my ex—”
“Your ex-husband was the last thing on my mind.”
She appeared to be in total disbelief. “Then why did you just do that?”
“Because I wanted to.”
“That’s a selfish reason.” Her lips pursed, and she shook her head. “I will never let a man manipulate me again.”
“Whoa. Hang on—”
“I won’t be more pliable or listen better or follow your rules and directions just because you kissed me.”
He strode forward.
She took a step back. “And I’m sure as hell not going to—” Her breath quickened. She pressed against the wall. “—not going to—”
Callum closed the distance. “Not going to what?”
Grace rolled her bottom lip into her mouth. “Pretend you were ever interested in me.”
Her breathy whisper went straight to his dick. “I wasn’t pretending.”
“You were. Because I was always interested, and you never noticed.”
He kissed her again. To shut her up. To prove her wrong. To take advantage of the moment when he could pin her to the wall and feel her go completely liquid in his arms.
Kissing Grace restored the sanity he didn’t know he’d lost. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation as her mouth opened to his. Her arms locked around his neck, and she tasted like everything he’d always needed.
But he needed to slow down. Callum pulled back. If she wanted to talk, then they should talk. Even if his mouth on hers was better than any words he could string together.
They breathed hard. Her eyes were just as wild and alive as he felt. “Why do you keep doing that?”
Too many reasons. Most of them were dangerous and the wrong answer. “Because it’s fun.”
Grace smacked her palms into his chest and pushed him away. “I don’t want to play games with you.”
“You don’t think that was fun?” The only game he had in mind involved pinning her wrists over her head and starting this song-and-dance over again.
But warning bells rang out in the back of his lust-fogged brain.
Her ex-husband had put his hands on her in a way Callum didn’t understand yet.
He wouldn’t do anything in the same universe as Marino.
He let her smack his chest again and easily stepped back when she pushed.
“I think—” She threw her hands out. “I have complicated feelings about this.”
“You think I don’t? Grace, I thought you died.”
Her chin dropped.
“Okay,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
She swallowed hard before lifting her chin. “Please don’t make me apologize again.”
“I won’t. Promise.”
Her eyes met his, and he appreciated how easily she now gave them to him compared to when they’d first collided.
Callum lifted his hand between them, silently asking permission, then reached for her.
He brushed loose strands of her hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek.
Her eyelids slid shut. Grace tilted her chin and leaned her face against his palm for a long minute.
“I’ve always wanted to be with you,” he admitted. “The situation didn’t work.”
The prettiest pink blush warmed her cheeks. “I never thought you even wanted to kiss me.”
He wanted much more than that. “Now you know.”