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Mia reached up and cupped his jaw, her expression soft and loving.
“I want to be there for you. I want to make it better if I can. You’ve done that for me, so I want to return the favor.”
She didn’t have a clue. She made it all better just being there.
“I love you, Mia.”
He hadn’t planned the words, but now that they were out there, he didn’t want to take them back. It was right and good to feel this way. He was happy with Mia, and he didn’t want to be without her.
“I love you, too,” she replied quickly, before he could tell her that she didn’t have to say it back.
This was how he’d hoped it would be. No pretending. No playing games.
He wanted a lifetime with this woman.
* * *
Mia was walking on clouds after they’d both declared their love for one another. She couldn’t think of a moment in her life when she was happier and more content. When she’d met Grant in the past, she’d known that he was special. And now this man was in her life, making it better each day.
All the while they’d worked in the tiny kitchen to make dinner, she’d been humming a cheerful tune. Everything was coming up roses, puppies, and rainbows. She came down to earth with a huge thump, however, when she opened her phone to find several texts messages that she’d missed while they were outside.
I see you.
I know what you’re doing.
Some things are inevitable.
The dirty dishes were forgotten as she read through the texts over and over again, her brain not quite comprehending the words.
“You’re staring at your phone like you hate it. Is everything okay?”
It wasn’t okay. Not even remotely.
But Mia wasn’t going to hide and pretend. She and Grant had said that this relationship would be open and honest. No head games. No funny little loyalty tests. They were grownups and they were damn well going to act like it.
“I received some weird texts from an unknown number,” she replied, holding out her phone. “I don’t know who these are from or why they would be sending them.”
Grant accepted the cell phone and quickly scanned the texts, his expression growing darker by the moment.
“Son of a bitch,” he muttered under his breath. “I don’t like this at all.”
“I’m not that thrilled with it either. Maybe it’s just someone playing a weird prank.”
That would be the best-case scenario. Or a wrong number. Had she received any calls from the person who had this phone number before her? She couldn’t remember any, but that didn’t mean that these messages weren’t meant for someone else. Someone that wasn’t her.
“Does the number look familiar to you?” Grant asked, still scowling at the screen. “It’s not a local area code.”
Grant handed her the phone before retrieving his own from the kitchen counter.
“I’ll look it up. I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”
It only took a second for it to come up as “843” which was the Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head area.
“I don’t know anyone there,” she said. “Do you?”
“No. I’ve been golfing there with a few buddies a couple of years ago, but that’s it. Let me get my laptop and dial into work and see if I can’t run the phone number. Get a name to go with this.”
“It might be a wrong number.”
