Page 21 of You Complicate Me

Grace blinked twice, very slowly, before saying, “No, really. What do you want, Brad?”

“Honestly, Grace,” he said, sounding a little deflated at her immediate dismissal. “I’ve realized I never stopped loving you. I want you back.”

Come on, Grace, Nick silently urged. Tell this idiot you wouldn’t take his sorry ass back if he was the last guy on the planet. Tell him to get lost.

Tell him you’re here with me.

It was that last part that gave Nick pause.

While Nick stewed silently, wondering what the hell was wrong with him, Grace crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes on Brad. “Is this about the other woman? Did Chesty Cheeto leave you?”

Brad frowned at her reproachfully. “Don’t be crude, Grace. It’s not your nature.”

Shit, this guy didn’t know Grace at all. Anyone who’d been paying attention for more than half a second could see that Grace was passionate as hell, and all passionate people had the potential to be blunt and crude. He shouldn’t scold her for it. He should respect and celebrate it.

Just like Nick would’ve celebrated it if Grace’s cousin hadn’t called and interrupted them that morning.

That thought led his brain down a rabbit hole that could only end with his jeans suddenly becoming too tight. The feel of her—warm and sleepy and soft, on him, then under him—had been as close to perfection as he imagined he’d ever get.

The fact that they’d been interrupted was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it was fortunate that cooler heads prevailed and they didn’t do something Grace would regret. On the other hand, there was that amazing body of hers…

For the second time since they’d met, he’d wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything, anyone, in his life.

He wasn’t used to this kind of emotion. He was an ex-Marine, for God’s sake. Marines didn’t do a lot of sitting around and discussing their feelings with each other. Which was probably why he’d avoided the subject all together and she’d spent the day totally pissed at him. But, hell, he’d rather have her mad at him than thinking he was some kind of obsessed psycho who got too attached too quickly or something.

Grace snorted. “It’s totally my nature to be crude. You just never realized it because I suppressed it while we were married. I don’t suppress anything now.”

That’s my girl, Nick thought.

Wait a minute…no, she’s not.

Nick rubbed his temples, suddenly exhausted. Shit, was he really arguing with himself?

Sadie cocked her head to one side and put a hand on his arm. “Nick, you don’t look so good. Are you okay?”

Not really, he thought, but nodded. No reason to tell Sadie he was losing his grip on reality.

But then, Brad put his hands on Grace and everything went a little…hazy.

Grace had no clue what the hell was wrong with Brad. The divorce had been his idea, for God’s sake. Not that she’d been against it, but still, he’d chosen to leave. Now he was here, at her brother’s wedding, showing more passion than he ever had in their marriage? Was she on Punk’d or something?

He put his hands on her shoulders and stared down at her, intense in a way she wouldn’t have thought him capable before today. “Grace, really. Please believe me. I love you. Our marriage…went off the tracks a bit. But we were good together. You owe it to me—to us—to at least discuss reconciliation.”

She opened her mouth, but whatever scathing retort she planned to deliver ended in a yelp as a corded forearm snaked around her waist and yanked her back against a solid wall of man.

“That’s going to be a problem, Brian,” Nick said, his voice very close to Grace’s ear.

Brad pushed his glasses up again and narrowed his eyes on Nick. “The name is Brad.”

“Whatever. See, I’m afraid Grace won’t be giving you another chance. At least, not anytime soon.”

“And why is that?”

“Because she’s with me.”

Grace gulped. Holy fuck! Had everyone suddenly lost their grip on reality?

Then Nick pushed her hair over her shoulder and dropped a hot, open-mouthed kiss beneath her ear, and her brain fogged up a bit. Her knees might have given out a little, too. Fortunately, he tightened his grip on her and didn’t let her melt into a puddle of lust on the floor at his feet.

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