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He shook his head and started to pace. “You know what the worst part is? I don’t even remember the night it happened. Mel and I have been best friends since we were kids, but never anything more. She threw this big party after her boyfriend dumped her, and I clearly drank too much because the next morning, I woke up in her bed. We found out she was pregnant a few weeks later.”
I sucked in a breath, imaging how scared they must have felt.
“Our parents forced us to get engaged to avoid embarrassing both families.” He let out a despondent chuckle. “It was what they’d always planned for us, we just sped up the timeline.”
“Jesus, you were just a kid,” I said, disgusted with their parents’ intentions.
Grayson stopped pacing and turned to me. “It doesn’t matter. I screwed up her life, Jos, and I owe it to her to make it right.”
“And if you can’t?” I grimaced, knowing he had little control over her self-destructive behaviour.
“I…I don’t know.” His eyes glistened. “I’ve made such a mess of everything. Of her…of us…” He moved towards me and lifted his hand, running it slowly down my cheek. “I’ve missed you so much.”
I trembled. “I meant what I said, Gray. I can’t be with you like this.”
With a silent nod, he dropped his hand and stepped back, but his longing gaze penetrated my soul more intimately than his touch. Grayson’s cell phone blasted from his pocket, like a wrecking ball smashing through the tension between us.
As soon as he answered, Adam’s voice bellowed through his phone. “You fucking better not be where I think you are!”
“I know, I know. Just buy me some time until I get there, okay?” he replied, quickly glancing in my direction and moving away.
I couldn’t hear Adam’s response, but Grayson winced. “Well, she can wait!” He hung up the phone and lifted his gaze to mine. “I’m sorry.”
He left without a second glance.
***
22
“I know you.”
I froze before reluctantly turning to Melanie Warren as she stood between Grayson and Adam at the front of the conference room. Dodging my colleagues as they exited the room after Melanie’s introduction, I approached them, wishing I’d been faster in my escape.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, my gaze glided over Grayson and Adam’s paling faces.
“You’re Josie Spencer.” Melanie’s signature red lips curved upwards. “You took the photos at my bachelorette party in Las Vegas last year.”
I stared into icy-blue eyes that weren’t as cold as I’d expected, and my heart slowed. “Um, yes…I did.”
“That was one wild night.” She chuckled. “Sorry you had to leave early.”
I smiled tightly and pretended to laugh along, before shooting Grayson a nervous glance.
“We’ll have to get you back to cover our wedding, won’t we Grayson?”
My eyes widened.
Adam cleared his throat, and placed his arm around Melanie’s shoulders. “Let’s go find you an office, shall we?” He quickly ushered her out of the room.
I lifted my eyes to Grayson. “She doesn’t know, does she?”
He shook his head. “It’s better if she doesn’t.”
“For who?”
“For everyone. Trust me.”
* * *
