Page 44 of Blade

While that may be true, the fact was that he had no one to blame but himself. If it bothered him to see me going out with Grant, oh well. He knew what day it was.

With the last few touches done on my makeup, I placed my phone and ID in the pocket of my dress and headed downstairs to wait for Grant.

Walking into the kitchen, I heard a whistle.

I stopped inside the door just as Jack walked over and circled me.

“Beck, you look stunning.”

“Thank you, Jack.” I looked toward the table, sure I heard a growl. “It’s just a sundress.”

“No such thing asjusta sundress. A sundress is every man’s kryptonite. You hoping to get lucky tonight?”

My jaw dropped open.

Rachel was right.Jackass.

“No, Jack, Grant and I are old friends. We are just having dinner to catch up.” I stole a quick glance at Blade and,shocker, he was glaring at me again. “I had dinner with Ryder and his girls on Wednesday. Same thing.”

“You didn’t get dressed up for Ryder,” Blade mumbled.

I didn’t think he meant for me to hear that, but I did.

Before I could comment, there was a knock on the door.

I spun around as Grant walked in.

“Wow, Beck, you look beautiful as always.”

“Thank you, Grant.”

“Good evening, Willow. You are also looking lovely.”

Jack coughed as he looked at Blade with a smirk.

“Jack, Blade. I wasn’t expecting to see you both here. To what do we owe the pleasure?” Grant asked, narrowing his eyes the slightest bit in Blade’s direction.

Blade opened his mouth to answer, but Grams cut in first.

“Grant, are you questioning why my guests are in my home? I wasn’t aware I needed your permission to have friends over for dinner, seeing as Beck will not be home.”

Looking over at Grams, I wondered what game she was playing.

“I apologize, Willow, I did not know you were all that close.” Grant placed his hand on my lower back, a hair too close to the top of my behind to be comfortable.

Hearing another growl, I wondered if I was imagining them all. Surely no one growled like that so consistently.

“Shall we go, Beck? We have reservations for six-thirty.”

Grant led me toward the door, stopping briefly to look back at the men sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table. “Have a pleasant night, gentleman. I know I will.”

I heard chairs scrape across the floor just before the side door closed. When I looked up at Grant, his smile waswide. Grant made that comment to antagonize Blade, and it sounded like it worked. Thank goodness Jack was there, too. I knew he was the reason Blade couldn’t follow us out to the driveway.

Grant held the door open to his sleek shiny Camero, like the perfect gentleman. It didn’t have the same effect as it did when Blade held the door of his beat-up pickup, though.

“So, where are we having dinner tonight?”

“There is a steakhouse right outside of town. It opened up after you left, so I assume you haven’t been there yet,” Grant said, glancing over at me as he placed his hand on my thigh.

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