Page 38 of Heartbreak Hill

“That’s really great news, Grayson.”

He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. She stepped back and pulled him closer to her to clear the path for others. “What’s wrong?” she asked him.

“Nothing at all, Sully.” He pushed her hair off her shoulder and smiled. “Remember when I was in the hospital, and I asked if you wanted to go on a date?”

She gave him a noncommittal nod.

“I’m serious, Reid. That is, unless you don’t want to explore this with me, which I’d totally understand.”

“Grayson ...” She paused and bit her lower lip. “I don’t think this is the place to have this conversation.”

He looked up and down the street, and then across it. “Then we’ll have it at the park or on the subway or at my apartment. It doesn’t matter where, but we’re having it unless you tell me you’re not interested, because I’d get it if you weren’t. I was a dick, and while I had my personal reasons for being such, that doesn’t negate that I hurt you, and I want to fix things. Or make it up to you.”

“Make it up to me or date me?”

“Both. One and then the other or at the same time. Whatever you’ll allow.”

Reid huffed and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. “Why now?”

“Because someone’s given me the gift of life, a second chance at doing this the right way, and I don’t want to waste a single second of it. And in all those seconds, I want them to be filled with you by my side. Not only as my best friend, but as a lover and partner as well.”

She eyed him warily. He accepted the scrutiny. He deserved it and more. But he’d give her time, because he now had it in spades. As long ashe maintained a healthy lifestyle, his new heart would give him another twenty years, and by then, advancements in medicine would afford him another twenty or so. Grayson wasn’t worried.

They started walking again. At the street corner, when it was time for them to walk, he placed his hand in the middle of her back. He wanted to hold her hand but feared rejection. This was as good as it was going to get for the time being. If they were going to date or even have a relationship, he’d have to move at Reid’s pace and not his. His pace of jumping right back into the sack wasn’t going to work. They’d already been there, and his recollection of the night was nothing short of magical. He was the one who’d pumped the brakes on anything developing. Even a friends-with-benefits-type relationship. Those never turned out the way the parties thought they would. It was inevitable that someone would end up hurt.

Now all he had to do was not mess things up.

For the first time since his surgery, Grayson swiped his Metro card and boarded the subway. His healed incision allowed him more exposure to the elements and society. They found a two-seater and sat down. Normally, he would sit on the aisle. It was the right thing to do, but Reid insisted he sit near the window.

“There’s always a chance someone comes by with a large bag or something and bumps you.”

“My eyes still work,” he told her jokingly.

She rolled hers for effect. “Humor me.”

Grayson did, but not without some exaggeration.

For his part, he wouldn’t have to change the way he approached her. He would still open the door for her, compliment her, and tease her, all the while turning on the romantic charm he’d kept hidden. He was ready to unleash the beast. To prove his point in a bold move, he reached for her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of hers. Despite the rumble of the train, there was no mistaking her intake of breath when his lips touched her skin.

“Don’t do that,” she told him.

“Do what?”

“Act like we were on our way to being this couple before you had surgery. We weren’t.” She didn’t need to remind him. “There are things I want, Grayson. Things I need as a woman. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to do a lot better than telling me you want to date, that you want to be my partner, and kissing the back of my hand, for me to be all in.”

He lifted his eyebrow, challenging her. “Okay.”

“‘Okay’? That’s the best you can come up with?” Reid rolled her eyes.

She was right. His response was lacking. He needed to shift his way of thinking. This wasn’t Reid, his best friend. This was Reid, a woman he wanted to date. Grayson needed to approach the situation as if nothing had ever happened between them before. He was going to have to romance her. Wine and dine her.

Grayson was going to have to work. He nodded. “I see you, Reid Sullivan.”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes again.

After transferring trains, and a few stops on the one that would take them to their apartment complex, they were out and walking up the street. Since his release, he hadn’t walked much outside, mostly in the courtyard of the complex or from the car to the doctor’s office.

Grayson kept his gait slow, savoring nature, the beauty of the city in which they lived, and being with Reid. An idea struck, and he stopped walking. She turned, and a look of horror washed over her.

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