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“Grace, should I not have— When we got back to the room, in the shower, was I too rough?”
I barked out a laugh. Did he think that was what this was about? Men were idiots.
“No, that was fine. I mean”—I felt my cheeks heat—“more than fine.” But I was still so raw, that wasn’t enough. If ever there was a place for honesty, this was it.
I reached out and grabbed his forearm. “It was perfect, actually. It was exactly what I needed in the moment. I needed to get them off me, inside and out. I needed to know I was still a woman and not a… a nameless, faceless object. I needed you not to treat me like glass. You were perfect. If you couldn’t tell by the way I came like a freight train.”
Okay, I couldn’t keep meeting his gaze for that last part, but even not looking at him, I could still feel his smile.
When I glanced at him a second later, though, it had dimmed.
“But all this”—his jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth might crack—“my father. It’s getting to you.”
I huffed out a mirthless laugh. “Yeah, you could say that.”
He pulled me tighter into his arms, so that my back was against his chest as we both looked out at the lake. “I fucking hate it.”
“But hating it doesn’t change anything. And we’re still only halfway through.” I sighed tiredly.
Montgomery was silent for a long moment, and then he asked tentatively, “I saw you looking at the road when you first snuck out of the Manor. Why didn’t you run for it? After last night, why didn’t you hightail it down the road and never look back?”
I settled against Montgomery’s chest. It was easier this way, somehow. Being cradled in his arms but not having to look at his face.
He was asking the forbidden question. We were never supposed to talk about our hopes and dreams because that meant talking about the future. We were supposed to be nothing to each other after this trial.
Like his father had said last night, I wasn’t the marriageable or dating kind. To their blueblood stock, I was just the kind of woman you used and then discarded.
No, Montgomery could never be anything to me other than a partner in the short-term storm. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t be humans to one another. And humans talked and shared.
So, I opened up to him. I told him about my business classes and how I wanted to get an official, accredited degree. How I wanted to open a restaurant that I hoped in time would double as a sort of community center. “I’ve planned out the menu of dishes that feel luxurious but are accessible to a wide audience and not just the elite.”
Then I looked down at my lap self-consciously. “I know restaurants are notoriously difficult to make a profit on, but I’m not in it to make millions. And I care about the food, but that’s because I’m passionate about showing people there are really good comfort foods beyond what you can throw in a deep fryer. I guess I just want to invest in the community and make wherever I end up really feel like home.”
Finally, finally, I’d have a real place to call home, and I’d create it for others, too.
When Montgomery didn’t say anything, I felt a little silly. “Maybe that all sounds really pie-in-the-sky to you.”
But I felt Montgomery’s body move behind me and when I looked back, I saw him shaking his head. His eyes were full of something I couldn’t read. His brow furrowed, and he watched me with this intensity burning from his almost translucent blue-gray eyes. It made my breath catch.
“I’ve never met anyone who talks the way you do. You’re…” He trailed off, shaking his head.
I was still twisted in his arms, my head turned back to look at him. He lifted a hand and pushed some hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear. I shivered at his touch.
“Nuts?” I offered, giving him a lopsided smile.
He grinned. “I was going to say incredible, but nuts works too.”
I smacked him on the arm, but it was light this time, as I turned my head back to the lake and settled into his arms again. “What about you? If you make it through this, then you get your dad’s company? Right?”
“Yeah.”
“And he’s doing illegal shit, but that’s not what you want to do.”
His arms squeezed me to him a little tighter. “You heard.”
“Naked sushi platter, remember? Not much else to do other than listen to passing conversation.”
He barked out a laugh. “I can’t believe you’re joking about that already.”
Better to laugh than cry. “Come on, consider this your confessional. How are you going to take that bastard down? It’ll help me sleep at night. Especially if there’s any way I can help.”
