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She pushed her hair back over her shoulder as she walked through the front doors of Radden Automotive. She had an hour to wait until she needed to pick Allie up from school. If this conversation went bad—and she didn’t know what other way it could go—then she at least had the excuse to leave and not be subjected to the storm of anger that was undoubtedly coming her way.
“Hey, Mr. Radden.”
Bart looked up from the stack of work orders in front of him and his face lit up at the sight of Terra.
Shit, this is going to be even harder than I thought.
“Terra, hey,” he said. “Fancy meeting you here, daughter-in-law-to-be.” He grinned ruefully. “Wow, that’s a mouthful, huh?” He chuckled at his own joke.
Terra knew the smile she was trying to muster up must look like a scowl mixed with a look of disgust. But the disgust was for herself. She was about to rain on this man’s parade, a man she’d once believed was just as crass and ignorant as she’d thought his son was.
Wrong again.
“It sure is,” she replied weakly. “Is Gray around?” She cast a glance across the garage bays but couldn’t see him from where she stood.
“Nah, you just missed him. Sent him out on the tow truck to bring a vehicle back for repair. Had to get him to do something seeing as his mind was obviously off somewhere else today. Hell, I probably shouldn’t have given him the damn keys to my truck, either, but if he wanted to clock his time in for the day, he was going to have to do something productive.”
Terra cringed. She knew exactly what was on Gray’s mind, and she felt even worse knowing that their argument was causing an even bigger riff between him and his father. “You know what it’s like,” she countered, trying to defend Gray without actually sounding defensive. “Something’s on your mind and you can’t quite focus on anything else. We’ve all been there.” She shrugged, hoping to make it seem like no big deal.
“Or someone,” Bart replied with a knowing grin. “It’s you, isn’t it? Hell, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to that boy. Can’t really blame him with his head in the clouds when he’s going to be marrying you. You’re probably the only thing him and I have ever seen eye to eye on, Terra.”
Gray’s father might have meant it in a joking manner, but she heard something else in his words that stopped her in her tracks. “You both agreed?”
“Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you are.” Bart chuckled.
“No, wait.” She couldn’t keep up with the thousand thoughts bouncing around in her mind. “You and Gray talked about us? I mean, Gray said that?”
Bart arched an eyebrow, and Terra knew damn well she was piquing his curiosity, but the man nodded. “Yeah, the other night. Gray was still here after the garage closed. I told him you two might have rushed things a little bit, but that I couldn’t think of anybody better suited to keep him in line.”
The other night. So, not last night, or he would have said that. If it was the night before that, then it was before they slept together. Before everything went to hell because of her own fears.
“And Gray agreed with you.” She had a hard time believing that, but Terra needed to know. It was important. “Gray said those words to you.”
Bart, thank God, laughed at her incredulity. “I believe his exact words were that he never expected you, but that no one was more surprised than he was by how much he cared about you. That, to me, is saying something. There’ve been days—hell, probably years—when I didn’t think my son had it in him to care about anybody but himself. But you’ve turned him around, Terra Payton. You made a man out of him.”
She wasn’t sure if she could get the words out, her breath coming out in short, shallow spurts thanks to the emotional hysteria that was threatening to overtake her. She swallowed it down, desperate to keep herself calm. “He’s a good man, Mr. Radden.” She met Bart’s eyes steadily. “He’s a hard worker and a good father.”
That seemed to take Gray’s father aback. “I know that.”
“Then, tell him.” She gave the older man a sad smile. “Please. He needs to know how you feel. He needs to know that you care.”
Whatever Bart Radden was thinking in that moment, it was a conglomerate of feelings that he wasn’t quite sure how to handle. Terra could relate, more than he knew. But Gray’s father nodded, and Terra felt a sliver of hope swell within her. Maybe Gray and his dad could mend the wounds of their relationship that had caused them so much pain throughout the years. There was a chance. All Bart had to do was talk to Gray about how he felt.
She couldn’t think about that right now, though. Terra had to go find Gray. Because she needed to tell
him how she felt, too.
Chapter Nine
Gray
There was so much about the entire situation that was pissing Gray off. Well, he would use the term pissing him off purely because it was better than confessing that it was hurting him more than he wanted to admit.
Sure, their relationship started out as a fucking joke. It was a joke that should have never been played, that much he knew now, but that was besides the point. And, really, Terra got the money she wanted for watching Allie, he got a nanny for his daughter when he needed one, and their little charade had got his dad off his back for a short period of time. Honestly, it even seemed to lighten his dad up a bit, which was interesting all by itself.
It should have been a win/win situation. Everyone got what they wanted.
Then, everything changed. Suddenly, he wanted more. Terra wanted more. And by God, did they ever get more.
