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Mia was thinking that it was possible because the only thing she could think about was him.
Be happy. It’s for the best. I don’t want to be selfish.
One thing was for sure, Mia would never forget the man that had saved her life in a hurricane. Even if she lived to be a thousand, Grant would forever be in her heart.
* * *
Grant knew the minute he walked out of the bathroom that Mia was gone. There was a silence that hadn’t been there before, an energy in the room that her presence brought was sapped. When he opened the door, there was only an emptiness that hadn’t existed. A cursory glance around the room showed that her backpack and shoes were missing.
Mia was gone.
For a few moments, he’d tried to tell himself that she’d only run out to her car for something that she needed. She’d be right back. But then another voice in his brain would say that she’d been terrified as to what was on the other side of the door the night before. She wouldn’t have made any trips to her vehicle or the coffee shop downstairs without him with her.
No, she’d left. Made a run for it. Vamoosed, or whatever he wanted to call it. The result was still the same. Mia had decided - for whatever reason - to go.
Shrugging on a shirt and shoving his feet into his shoes, he ran downstairs and out of the back entrance to the employee parking lot where they’d left her car last night. The space was empty. She must have sprinted down here and driven away. He hadn’t been in the shower all that long.
“Brother, are you okay?”
Grant whirled around and his older brother Ace was standing there looking confused and more than a bit concerned.
“Are you okay?” Ace asked again. “The security guard said that he saw you running through the break room. Is there a problem?”
“She’s gone.”
“She? Can you be more specific?”
“Mia. The woman I brought here last night. She left while I was in the shower.”
Ace had that look on his face that Grant knew so well. The one that said he had a bunch of questions, but probably wasn’t going to ask any of them. His big brother was good like that, not sticking his nose into other people’s business unless he was invited to.
“I guess she didn’t tell you she was leaving.”
“She didn’t.” Grant blew out a slow breath. “She’s terrified and on the run. She must have panicked. Now she’s out there alone.”
“Maybe…maybe that’s for the best,” Ace suggested gently. “You don’t really know anything about her or who she really is.”
“I do know,” Grant argued. “She’s a good person who is scared out of her mind. And for good reason. I could have helped her.”
“She might not have wanted help.”
“She wanted it, but she’s scared.”
Ace pulled his keys out of his jean’s pocket.
“Then go find her. How far could she have gotten by now?”
Grant’s SUV keys were still upstairs. He hadn’t even thought to grab them when he’d ran out of the room to try and catch Mia. He’d thought for sure that she wouldn’t have left yet.
His arm extended, his hand reaching for the car keys, but then he hesitated.
Mia had decided to go. No one had coerced her. She hadn’t left him a note or said goodbye. Their night together had meant a lot to him, but…perhaps to her it hadn’t. Running from one man, she probably didn’t need another. They’d met at a terrible juncture in her life.
Yes, I could have helped her. But I can’t make her let me. If I try and force it, then I’m not much better than the guy she’s running from.
Grant’s arm dropped to his side in defeat.
“She made her decision,” Grant said. “I should just let her be. She said she was heading to a friend’s place in Naples.”
