Page 48 of Break My Fall

She sat on the floor, eyes dry, mind blank, heart bleeding, until a strong arm wrapped around her. Some part of her consciousnessmust have known it was Mo. There’d been no fear, no spike of alarm, no sense of danger. But that might have been because she was numb to her core.

Gray had broken her.

“Are we going to sit here on this cold floor all night?” Mo asked. “I don’t care. Just want to prepare myself.”

She shrugged.

“Well, if you don’t care, then I’m going to vote no.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. He ushered her to the door, turned out the lights, tucked her against him, and walked her home.

When they reached her door, he opened it, then turned her so she faced him. “I’m here whenever you want to talk about it.”

She nodded.

“Promise me you won’t makeanydecisions aboutanythinguntil we talk.”

She nodded again, walked inside, and closed the door. She’d taken three steps when the import of his words registered. He was worried she might hurt herself. Or worse.

She went back to the door and opened it. She didn’t call his name, but Mo must have heard her because he stopped walking to his house and turned back.

“I would never do that.” She heard the conviction in her voice.

“I’m glad you think so. But never’s a long time to hurt.”

She considered his words as she went through the motions of getting ready for bed. She washed her face. Moisturized. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Mo was right.

She was never going to have Gray in her life.

And never would be a long time to hurt.

What had happened? What had gone wrong? He’d wanted to kiss her. He’d participated fully. He’d been warm and inviting and oh so strong and gentle.

And then he’d turned to ice. There’d been no give in his body or his voice. No room for argument. No place for debate.

But if he thought she’d let it go, he was wrong.

So very wrong.

Meredith gave up on sleep at 5:30 a.m. She drank coffee that tasted like sludge. Ate breakfast that might as well have been sawdust. Made her bed. Dusted. Cleaned her bathroom. At 7:30, she gave up on sitting around. She had taxes to do.

She sent Mo a text so he wouldn’t wake up and freak out when she wasn’t home, then drove into town. It took her a few minutes to get into her office, set the heat to a temperature higher than the normal weekend setting, and find the right files for her accountant.

She tried to lose herself in the monotony of expenses and bills, and at some point, she lost track of time.

Until a deep voice pulled her from her concentrated focus.

“Meredith?”

She didn’t scream, although it was a near thing. “How did you get in here?”

Gray pointed over his shoulder. “The door was unlocked.”

“Well, that was stupid of me. You can see yourself out, and I’ll lock up behind you.”

“We need to talk.”

She opened a random file and pretended to read it. “About what?”

“You know what.”

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