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By the time they convinced him I needed a hospital, my voice was slowly coming back. I still couldn’t move much though. The doctor in the ER said I needed to stay overnight for observation, which pissed Grady off.
“Why are you so mad?” I asked.
“I don’t like seeing you hooked up to all these machines. I could have taken care of you at home.”
I smiled, liking that he called it home. Now that Bradley was gone, we’d have to discuss our relationship. For now, I was just going to enjoy the fact he was staying close and watching over me. He stretched out in the recliner by the bed and glared at anyone who came near me. It was sweet. No one had ever watched over me like Grady did. I just hoped he was up for doing it long-term.
“Thank you for coming after me,” I told him.
“It was my job, right?” His jaw tensed.
“Is that all it was?” I asked softly. Had the last few days not meant as much to him?
“I’m a guy from the wrong side of the tracks and you’re practically royalty.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You think I didn’t do some research on you the last several days? I know your mother is related to the president. You’d have found a way to hand Bradley his ass without my help. All you had to do was make a phone call.”
I winced. “I wasn’t trying to keep the connection from you. No one knows about it. Mom worried that I would be in danger if anyone ever found out, so she made me swear to not tell.”
“Then why did you call me that night? Why not have it taken care of? I would think an attack would be a good reason to make that connection known.”
“Because you make me feel safe. You make me feel more than that. I’ve wanted you since the moment I opened my door that day. I wasn’t lying about that. I guess I just wanted some alone time with you. Was that so wrong?”
“You put yourself in jeopardy just to have some quality time with me?” he asked.
“Maybe.” I bit my lip.
“And you didn’t think of just asking me out on a date?”
“Would you have accepted?”
He hesitated.
“That’s what I thought.” I frowned. “So, was our time together just because of our circumstances? Would you have walked away after the deck was finished and never looked back?”
His stared at me, but didn’t answer. That was answer enough for me. Here I’d been falling in love, and I’d just been convenient for him. I should have known. What would a guy like Grady want with someone like me? I had very little experience with men, and I’d thought surely he felt the same about me. Maybe sex was always that hot with him, no matter who he was with.
I fought back tears as I looked at him for what I knew would be the last time. My throat ached from the need to cry and I managed to get myself under control long enough to tell him to go.
“You’ve done your job,” I told him. “I’ll have your check couriered to your house after they release me from the hospital.”
“So, that’s it?” he asked.
“You obviously don’t want to be here with me, Grady. I’m not going to force you to do something you don’t want to do.”
He nodded and stood. “I’ll leave your key on the counter after I collect my things.”
As he walked out the door, I allowed myself to cry. Sobs racked my body as I cried for everything I’d ever wanted, and knew I’d never have. Because the only man I’d ever love was Grady, and he thought I was some spoiled princess who was too far above him. And there wasn’t a damn thing I knew to do to fix it.
By the time they released me the next morning, my stomach was aching. I didn’t want to go home to an empty house. I called a friend to take me home, who asked more questions than I wanted to answer. She dropped me in the driveway and I dug through the purse Grady had brought to the hospital to find my keys. When I let myself in, I was surprised the living room was put back in order. I made my way back to the kitchen and found all of the glass cleaned up too.
Had Grady taken care of it? And if so, what did it mean? Would someone who didn’t care take the time to do that?
Upstairs, I stopped at my old room. The sheets were folded and stacked on the bare mattress, and I wondered if Grady had washed them to remove the taint of what had happened. In my bedroom, I face planted on the bed and breathed in his scent on the sheets. Tears sprang to my eyes and I worried that I would miss him the rest of my life. Wanting to keep my promise of payment, I went back downstairs and wrote him a check in the amount we’d agreed upon for him guarding me in addition to the amount for the deck. Then I called a courier service and had it delivered to him.
It felt so final… and my heart broke further.
