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Before Hannah could roll her eyes again, Jake slung an arm around Grant’s broad shoulders. “This guy here is my brother from another mother,” he said. Laura giggled; Hannah gagged. This game was already going too far. But it looked like Jake was serious. Grant and he had really become friends? Not only was Grant inserting himself into her life—in more ways than one—now he was wandering around town and making friends with her friends. Moreover, those friends seemed to like him a lot. Which made sense, since Grant was a force. Good luck running into him and not being enchanted. Hannah was still trying to shake the effects he had on her. A feat not going so well, considering she was still married to the bastard and he was in her town, her house, and her bed.
All signs of permanence. Which made her chest tighten, and she couldn’t figure out if it was in terror or desperation. The hope that maybe he was serious about making their relationship work. Maybe he really could stick around and they could be together—
Stop.
She needed to stop this thinking. Clearly it was the alcohol swirling in her brain and not her real thoughts.
“She’s surprised I’m so likable,” Grant said to Jake, as if she couldn’t hear him.
“Maybe if you weren’t such a pain in the ass all the time, I’d believe your likability a bit more,” she countered and took a swig of her drink. Grant’s eyes were on her the entire time. Heat burned down her neck from his intense stare, even deeper than the burn of the alcohol flowing down her throat.
“You haven’t gotten a chance to really know my ass, or the pain I can bring yours,” he said with a wink. But his voice was rough and deep, and the seriousness in it made her skin prickle with anticipation.
Maybe this game wouldn’t be so bad . . .
“I wanted to come introduce myself,” he continued, “because you are the most beautifully stubborn woman I’ve ever seen.”
“How in the hell would you know any of that?” she challenged, meeting his “getting to know you” ruse head-on.
“Because I just saw that beautiful face twist with pain, then you mentally told yourself to fuck off.”
Hannah’s mouth dropped open. Either Grant was a psychic, or he read her better than she’d ever guessed.
“I . . . I was just thinking. There’s no way you could know what about.”
He grinned. Holding his tumbler of liquor between two fingers, he casually leaned against the bar, making him the focal point of Hannah’s entire position. And goddamn it, the man looked good. Dark blue jeans, black belt, and white button-down rolled at the sleeves. Still classy casual. Just like Grant.
“I think you were thinking of me. Missing me, even,” he said quietly next to her ear.
“How would you know that? We’re strangers, I thought?” she said, glancing at Jake and Laura, who were clearly playing out their own roles only a few feet away.
“Ah, so nice to meet you then, stranger.”
Shit. By saying that, Grant had trapped Hannah in role-playing, and she’d now basically offered to play along. Fantastic . . .
They were in the middle of this couples’ game, and Hannah wanted to tell both of the lovebirds where they could go.
Instead, she looked Grant over. He wanted to play? Fine. She could play.
And she’d win.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Gary. I’m Hannah,” his wife said to him, and then she shook his hand. Nice touch getting his name wrong on purpose. Brat. Sexy brat, but a brat nonetheless.
Despite his wife being her usual difficult self, Grant felt a swell of pride that the advice Jake had given him earlier might actually pay off. Hannah was on board with this little game, and Grant was excited to take full advantage. He’d have to thank Jake later for the great idea.
“May I sit?” he asked.
She kicked the open stool out for him. Laura was laughing and saying something into Jake’s ear. Those two started to flirt and headed toward the dance floor. Leaving a blessed moment of privacy between Grant and the woman he’d come to see.
“So, Glenn, tell me why a guy like you is in a town like this,” Hannah asked, facing him and taking a confident swallow of her drink. The woman was sexy and sinful, and if she wanted to get under his skin by getting his name wrong, she had another think coming. Because he’d make her yell his name tonight when she begged him for more.
“It’s Grant,” he said. “And I’m here trying to find something I’ve been missing.”
Hannah nodded. “Sounds mysterious.”
He shrugged. “More difficult than mysterious.”
She glared. Yep, he’d just called her difficult to her face. He was ready for her to break character any moment, but she didn’t.
