Page 50 of Grim

“No.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

It was clear something was bothering him—more than likely something with the club or one of his brothers, and even though I wanted to push for answers, I let it go.

It was something we both did whenever one of us didn’t want to talk. It was an unspoken parameter that we’d created since I’d been staying there. It wasn’t the only one. In fact, there had been several—like don’t leave the coffee pot empty, and if one loads the dishwasher, then the other empties it.

Those were the easy ones.

The tough ones were things like, don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to. That one was for me, and I struggled with it, especially on nights like these when Grim wasn’t himself. I moved slowly as I continued towards him and said, “I messaged Jud and let him know about Luna and that I wouldn’t be able to make it in tonight, but I haven’t heard back from him.”

“Already talked to him.” He lifted his drink and took a sip. “He was cool with it.”

“Oh, okay. Well, thanks.” His eyes locked on mine, and I felt an unexpected chill down my spine. I tried to look away, but there was something about the look in his eyes that kept drawing me back in. “I’m sorry for this whole thing with Luna. I know you are busy, and...”

“Don’t,” he interrupted. “You need me, you call.”

I nodded and held his gaze as long as I could bear it, then looked away and sighed, hoping the slow release of air might help ease the tension I felt brewing between us. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it.”

I was about to turn around and leave when Grim muttered, “Jenna?”

“Yeah?”

He didn’t respond.

Instead, he stepped toward me and placed his hand on the nape of my neck, pulling my mouth to his, and he kissed me like I’d never been kissed before. There was no hesitation. No second thought. I kissed him right back. I couldn’t help myself. His big, strong arms felt so good wrapped around me, and having his mouth on mine had every nerve in my body burning with need.

He dropped his hands to my waist, pulling me closer as he deepened the kiss. Our tongues twisted, tasting each other, and we were on the brink of losing control. I couldn’t let that happen. Luna was recovering in the next room, so I placed my hands on his chest and gave him a slight push, breaking our embrace.

The loss of his touch had me feeling an immediate pang of longing. His arms felt like home. It was a feeling I hadn't realized I’d craved until now. Craved or not, I had a daughter to tend to, so I took another step back as I whispered, “Luna.”

“Yeah, yeah. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Grim.”

“Don’t.” His face was void of expression as he reached for his glass and downed the rest of his vodka. “It never should’ve happened.”

He was shutting me out, or at least, he was trying to. There was something about his tone that made me think that he didn’t really mean what he’d said, but it still hurt, especially when I’d enjoyed kissing him as much as I had. I didn’t want him to know that his comment got to me like it did, so I feigned a smile as I whispered, “I should go see about her.”

“Yeah, you should.”

“Have a good rest of the day, Grim.”

I turned and I’d just started out of the room when I heard him mutter, “Lawson.”

“What?”

“Call me Lawson.” I turned to face him, and his longing expression tugged at my heart. “When it’s just you and me and the kid, it’s Lawson.”

And just like that, he inched the door open.

Progress.

It was small and I had no idea why it happened, but I took what I could get and said, “Bye, Lawson.”

Grim

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