Page 35 of Captive Lies

“Yes.” It was a curt reply. Grant was staring out the window, but he hadn’t let go of myhand.

“Liam was messing with you.” I think I was familiar enough with my man’s moods to tell what changed it. He’d always been possessive as hell. I did complain to Liam about this, which was why my moronic friend decided to poke thebear.

He sighed in frustration. “I know. I’m just pissed he helped you leaveme.”

“At my request.” I felt the need to defend Liam. “I’ll tell you soon enough who he is to me, but I’ll have to start from thebeginning.”

Grant didn’t answer, but he pulled me into his arms and for the first time since I’d ran from him, I feltsafe.

* * *

“We’re home, Blaire.”

I startled awake. I had fallen asleep on the long car ride home, a delayed adrenaline crash of some sort. Grant had his arms around me and my head was on his chest. My heart squeezed. On one hand, I was lucky to have this handsome, caring, albeit intense, man crazy for me. On the other, I felt I was being tortured slowly. Being shown what happiness could be if I was an ordinary girl. But there wasn’t anything ordinary about me. I was a woman with a price on herhead.

I pried myself away from the hard wall of muscle and took in the familiarbrownstone.

“I never thought I’d see itagain.”

Grant said nothing, just stepped out of the SUV and helped me down. He immediately tucked me to his side and we headed up the paved walkway. Another security guy met us and opened the door, speaking into a wrist radio before greetingus.

“I’ve stepped up security,” Grant told me. “Donovan is due back in the morning.” He looked at his watch. “We’re reviewing our protective detail.” He hugged me closer. “We’re going to send a clear message to whoever is after you that you’re under myprotection.”

Oh, Grant, it isn’t thatsimple.

“Wait for me in our bedroom.” His mouth touched my ear, causing a shiver to go through me. “I’ll be in after a few minutes. I have a couple of calls to return.” He pulled back and smiled at me. “Welcome home,baby.”

I watched him disappear into his office. I made my way to our bedroom and entered the closet. Grant had showered me with gifts—clothes, jewelry, and expensive shoes. But I didn’t take them with me. I could have probably pawned the jewelry eventually, but sentimental fool that I was, I didn’t want to tarnish my time with Grant, so I departed with what I came with, except for the Medici paints. I took them with me not because they were rare, but because they were a testament to how much Grant cared about me. I would like to believe that I’d been special tohim.

I moved to the dresser and pulled out some soft pajamas and my lips twitched at a memory. Grant bought me sexy lingerie from Agent Provocateur. I’d wear them for his benefit knowing those pieces wouldn’t last long on my body. They even wouldn’t last long in my lingerie drawer because he frequently ripped them apart in his eagerness to fuckme.

It was not the time to seduce him. I grabbed plain cotton panties and slammed the drawer as anger consumed me at the thought that Grant could have gottenkilled.

I stepped into the shower and let the multiple nozzles wash the night away. There was a massage function and I engaged that as well, letting the water beat down on me in a soothing rhythm. I felt squeaky clean when I was done. When I finished and turned off the jets, the shower stall opened and a thick luxurious towel swallowed meup.

“I wanted to join you,” Grant whispered as he gently dried my hair. “But watching you through the glass was fuckingamazing.”

“Pervert,” Isassed.

“I missed you,” Grant murmured before lowering his head to kiss me. The kiss deepened, his tongue searching and laced with controlled desperation. The towel dropped, his hands slid to my ass, drawing me closer to his jutting hardness. Desire pooled between my legs and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my limbs around him, but there was so much to be said between us. “Grant, we need totalk.”

He didn’t seem to hear me and went for my mouth again, so I arched away from him. “You need to know who you’re letting into your bed, into your life, and who you’re exposing to yourfamily.”

Grant sighed and stepped back, his gaze piercing and I fought the urge tosquirm.

“Answer this,” he said. “Are you aspy?”

Caught off guard by his question, I laughed. “No!”

“Are you involved in anything illegal? Are you acriminal?”

“No, but I may be wanted by the law at themoment.”

“For what happened at the motel? That was self-defense, don’t youthink?”

“Why are you so blasé about this?” I was a bit pissed off, because here I was, all worried about telling him who I was, and he was standing there as if he didn’t give a damn. I knewbetter.

“I’m still mad at you,” he said, his eyes flashing with something unfathomable. “But after everything I’ve discovered in the cabin and having time to calm down, I understood why you ran. You should have trusted me, Blaire. It hurt that you didn’t and that was what pissed me off themost.”

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