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He crosses the bathroom until he’s just outside the shower door.
“I did. Do you like them?”
“Of course. I love them.”
The door slides open several inches. He looks me over and his sexy as fuck grin lifts the corner of his mouth and my body tingles.
“I wanted to be the first to tell you happy birthday.”
My cheeks grow warm as I smile. “Thank you, Grayson.”
His hand grips the shower door and he eyes me like he’s struggling to keep from joining me. “We have things to talk about, Princess, but they can wait. Today is your birthday and I want you to enjoy it. I brought fresh clothes from your apartment for you to change into. After breakfast, we have somewhere to go.”
I grimace as my stomach churns. “I don’t think I can eat.”
“Even if it’s just a couple bites it will help you feel better.”
“All right, I’m almost finished. Just need to wash my hair.”
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
He closes the door and it breaks me. Our dynamic has clearly shifted. Ordinarily, he’d have joined me in the shower and pinned me against the wall. Now it feels like we’re walking on eggshells around each other.
Finishing my shower, I see he left my toiletry bag sitting on the sink with everything I need inside. Brushing my teeth rids me of any remaining unclean feeling. A blow dry and light makeup has me feeling presentable. In his room, my bag is on the bed with a few clothing options. I wonder how early he got up to do all this. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand, I laugh. It’s 10:13. He’s had plenty of time to run around while I slept off my hangover. How embarrassing.
Wearing skinny jeans and a sweater, I grab my bags up, tidy his bed, and head to the kitchen. When I set my bag by the door, I notice he’s watching and he seems disappointed. Oddly, I didn’t even consider staying the night. He probably expected I would.
He pushes the glass of orange juice toward me as I join him at the breakfast table in his kitchen. A plate with a waffle and strawberry topping is waiting for me.
“You got my favorite.”
His eyes crinkle as he smiles. “I did.”
“You’re going all out today, aren’t you?”
He laughs and I wonder what I don’t know yet. “I have something special planned for you that I know you’ll love.”
I let out a breath. “Are you doing all this because you feel bad about what your father did or because you want to?”
He glances out the window then back at me. “The truth is both.”
“I know you don’t want to talk about it yet, but I think we should. It’s the elephant in the room and I want to clear it out.”
Grayson sets down his fork and leans back in his chair. “All right. Start with telling me everything he said to you. Don’t leave anything out.”
I stop twirling the fork in my hand and set it down. I take a breath and then retell Grayson everything in detail, from the moment I stepped out of the bathroom to when I ran out of the restaurant in tears.
By the time I’ve finished, his eyes are glazed over and he’s clearly angry. His jaw is locked and he’s running his hand over the back of his neck. Crossing his arms, he looks out the window in thought and I admire his strong jaw, tightly pinched with the emotions he’s holding onto. Looking back at me, there’s so much emotion in his eyes that it’s difficult for me to decipher exactly how he feels. “Emma, I’m sorry he treated you like that. To explain why he did, I think it’s time I share my past with you.”
Setting down the orange juice after taking a sip, I try to calm my rattled nerves. “Ok.”
Still leaning back in his chair, he rests an elbow on the table. “When I was ten, my father caught my mother having an affair. Walked right in on her bent over the desk of his business partner. Before the affair, my father was madly in love with her. Finding her with another man broke him; he divorced her and made sure she received absolutely nothing, including me. She moved in with my aunt and I never heard from her again, which I imagine was his doing. After the divorce, he changed, became bitter and misogynistic.
“Every woman he dated after was a toy, something to conquer, then toss aside. His way of thinking is, break their hearts before they can break yours. Growing up, I was a shy teenager, always had my head in books. At eighteen, he hired a prostitute to help me lose my virginity. Said I needed to learn how to seduce a woman so I could get what I wanted from them before they took what they wanted from me.”
My throat’s so dry I raise the orange juice and take another sip. “Did you have sex…with the prostitute?” I ask, nervously.
Grayson shakes his head. “No, I was too scared back then. I’d never even touched a girl before that day. She gave me oral and then I paid her to tell my father we’d had sex. I lost my virginity to a woman in college.” The sun gives a golden glow to Grayson’s face as he looks out the window, his thoughts miles away from the here and now. “Her name was Danielle and I loved her. I wanted to marry her, but she broke my heart when I caught her cheating. My father gloated, gave me the I told you so lines and then under his guidance, I became just like him; women were to be used, never loved.”
