Page 45 of All Out of Love

When they came back up for air, Grayson smiled. “Before the cops pull us over,” he said, “let’s go home.”

She laughed. And he drove them home.

That night, they made love again. And it was even more special, and more passionate, than the time before.

If that was even possible.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

That next morning, Grayson sat in his office at the top of Carrington Capital corporate office building like a man on top of the world. He wanted to go another round with Latoya when he woke up that morning, but she was sleeping so peacefully that he couldn’t bring himself to awaken her. But after he had showered and dressed, he stood there with his hands in his pockets and stared intensely at her. She looked so sweet sleeping in his bed that he wanted to crawl back in bed with her and just hold her for the rest of the day. Which was remarkable for him.

But the way his body responded to her body last night stunned him. From the moment he entered her and he felt her tightness, he was gone. He’d never wanted to make love to a woman as badly as he did once he entered her. Then he wanted to stay inside of her. He did everything in his power to make that fantastic feeling never end.

But was that the end of it for him? Was it lust all along? He knew it was more, but was it much more than that?

He couldn’t answer those questions when he left her in his bed that morning. Now he was at work, still thinking about her rather than the various issues Dena Allen was standing on the side of his desk reciting for him. And then his father walked into his office.

Sebastian Carrington had a smile on his face, the way he always presented himself to the outside world, but as soon as he closed the door to Grayson’s office, that smile was gone. And he was enraged.

Dena, whom he never bothered to put on his pretend face around, smiled when she saw him. “Good morning, Mr. Carrington. How are you, sir?”

“Terrible,” he said as he hurried to his son’s desk. “What’s the meaning of this, Grayson Carrington?”

Grayson was not in the mood for any of his father’s antics this morning. “The meaning of what?”

“How dare you tell Emily Preston that I’m going to throw my support behind her reelection bid for state’s attorney? I’ve never supported a democrat in my life!”

But Grayson hadn’t even broached the subject with his father yet. How did he even know? “Who told you this?”

“That bitch was on the morning news touting my pending endorsement! She said they can expect an announcement from me at any moment now. When I called her ass to find out what game she was playing at, she told me that my son, that you, guaranteed that I would endorse her! Then she told me about that Jameeka or Jameesha or whatever her name is. She told me about that black gal you bailed out and how she was facing a murder charge if I didn’t endorse her. A murder charge, Grayson! And you had the nerve to bring that bitch to my club? That hood-rat! Are you out of your cotton-picking mind?!”

Grayson knew his father would have been under the jail ten times over if half of the crimes he’d committed ever came to light, but that was how he rolled: He’d scream to the top of his lungs about everybody else’s bullshit. But his own bullshit he ignored.

Dena was also confused. “I don’t understand. I thought you were supporting the republican candidate like you always do, sir.”

“I am! What I look like supporting some broke-down democrat socialist? Have you taken leave of your senses man?” he asked his son.

But Grayson didn’t declare that his father was mistaken the way his father hoped he would, and the way Dena was certain he would. Grayson held his ground. “I need this favor,” he said to his father.

Seb was now steaming hot. “I’m not supporting that bitch just to help your bitch on the side. There’s no way!”

Grayson was staring at his father. “Dena, give us a minute,” he said to his chief-of-staff.

Dena didn’t like it, but she knew Grayson could fire her on the spot if she ever defied him. She left the office, closing the door behind her.

“I’m going to say again,” Grayson said. “I need this favor.”

“And I’m saying again you aren’t getting any favor like that from me ever!”

“Remember that hooker at the lake house about seven or eight months ago? And that new letter I received a few months back?”

It was now Seb who was staring at his son. “What about it?”

“I’m sure Mother would love to know all about it.”

Seb facial expression changed. “What kind of fool do you take me for? I call your ass every time I get in trouble, not because I want to, but because I know what I’m doing.”

Grayson didn’t understand.