Page 32 of All Out of Love

When the limo drove past the main house and made its way around to the servants’ entrance, she decided he was putting her off to stay the night with what she assumed would be his live-in maids and butlers and other household workers like that. But when the limo kept going, past the servants’ quarters, and all the way around to the far backside of the main house, she was surprised to see an entrance in the back that was identical to the entrance up front.

Which amazed her. “This looks like the front of your house,” she blurted out, “but it’s the back of your house.”

What she did like about Grayson was that he never treated her offhand comments as stupid or ignorant-revealing the way other upper-crust people would. He always answered her. “Two main entrances,” he said. “I live back here. This is my private residence.”

“So the front entrance is for your home office only?”

He nodded. “That is correct.”

“The whole front wing of your house is your home office?”

“That is also correct.”

“I thought a home office was one office. Yours is like an entire company.”

“I employ a lot of people.”

“But can’t y’all just go into the office? I saw your office complex. It’s humongous.”

“They work where I work for that day. Sometimes I work in the office. Sometimes I work from home. It depends on how much sleep I’m able to get the night before.”

Toya found that an odd thing to say as the driver opened the back passenger door for them. “You don’t get a lot of sleep?” she asked him.

“I try to,” he responded, “but it rarely comes in buckets. More like frying pans.”

“Not a lot, but a little?”

Grayson nodded. He liked how quickly she picked up on his often odd way of speaking. “Exactly,” he said. And then they got out of the limo.

He placed his overcoat over her shoulders again as soon as they got out of the limo, as the chill factor had picked back up again. But instead of allowing her to include him in the comfort, he walked ahead of her until they made it up the steps and to the front double doors.

She expected the butler or assistant butler to open those doors before he could even touch the knob, but it didn’t happen. Grayson pressed in a code and opened it himself. And then he stepped aside and allowed Toya to walk in ahead of him.

Grayson still felt perplexed and very unsure of himself as they entered his house. He was so out of character that he wondered if something was wrong with him. Why did he believe her preposterous story? Why did he put his own name and reputation on the line when he promised that state’s attorney something he had little to no chance of delivering, but he did it anyway because he wanted Latoya away from that jailhouse that badly? Why didn’t he leave her at her mother’s house and be done with her for the night? Why did he bring her to his home, something he never did. Having anybody in his private residence had always been verboten. But suddenly he was voluntarily bringing her into his personal space? It seemed so far-fetched to him that it worried him.

But there was no denying it. When he heard her voice on that phone call, he could feel her distress to the depths of his soul. It was as if he was experiencing exactly what she was experiencing. And when he saw her at that detention center, and the anguish on her face, he knew then and there that he was going to try to move mountains to get her out of there. He was not leaving without her. And when he saw where she was living, and the danger he sensed all around her, even in her own home with that provocative sister of hers, he knew he couldn’t leave her there either. He just knew it.

He also knew it was all so contradictory. Because his reaction to her had him questioning everything. Including his own sanity! But the one thing he didn’t question at all was her sincerity, and his strong need to make certain she was going to be okay. It was arrogant. It was protective. Perhaps it was even a tad misogynistic.

But he couldn’t help it. He had to look out for her. He felt it was his responsibility, not anybody else’s, to protect her when, oddly enough, he didn’t have a protective bone in his body. Not one. He never even had a lady friend he went out of his way to help, let alone protect. But with Latoya? Something was different. Something was brewing inside of him that he couldn’t even name. Was it love? Lust? Both? Neither? He was clueless!

When they entered his home, Grayson took his coat from her and hung it in the foyer. Toya began looking around. She was impressed with the simple elegance of it. The front side of his house, his home office, looked like a palace with lots of corridors and offices and people in and out of it. But this space was empty of everybody. There were no servants or executives from his corporation anywhere. It looked normal on this side of the house. It looked like somebody’s well-appointed open floor plan home with the living room and the kitchen and the dining room all in one huge space. It was big, but it was cozy too. Toya immediately felt relaxed there. She felt comfortable there. She couldn’t even imagine why Grayson would have trouble sleeping in a place so peaceful.

“This is beautiful,” she said to him as they walked further in.

“Thank you.” Grayson was proud of his home. It was his calming space. That was why he immediately felt uncomfortable having somebody else in such a private place.

“Have a seat,” he said to her as he removed his suit coat jacket, tossed it on the back of a chair, and began heading for his kitchen. “What would you like to drink?”

She had no clue what she wanted to drink. She wasn’t much of a drinker at all. “Whatever you’re having,” she said as she sat down on the sofa. That was when she saw his driver enter the home with her suitcase and garment bag. He made his way across the back side of the living area to a room at the opposite end of the space. It was obvious that he sat them in that room and came right back out because he was in and out of the private residence within a minute of his arrival.

But what was curious to Toya was how did he know which room she was going to stay in? Nothing had even been discussed. And being her curious self, she had to ask. “Miss Javits said you don’t allow anybody inside of your home.”

“That can’t be accurate because she was saying it while she, and you, were inside of my home.”

Toya laughed. She realized she had misspoken. “I meant she said you didn’t allow anybody to spend the night in your home.”

“That’s correct.”