He nodded and opened her door for her. Sheclimbed in and clicked in her seatbelt. “Thanks, Gideon.”
“For what?”
“For listening, for your moral support withmy parents. For,” she smiled a little, “not calling my parents assholes totheir faces.”
He studied her for a moment before letting goof her door and stepped back. “Drive safe, Gracie.”
Chapter Ten
“Yay, I’m not the only late one.” Rayna hadjust climbed out of her car when Grace parked behind her on the street.
“Hey, Rayna. Yeah, we had an emergency atwork, and I stayed to help Grant with the root canal. I shouldn’t have gonehome to change out of my scrubs but…” Grace shrugged.
“That’s a super cute top,” Rayna said.
“Thanks.” Grace tried not to blush. Shereally should have just left the clinic and gone straight to Wanda’s house. Instead,she’d raced home, had a quick shower and then spent way more time than usual onher makeup and her outfit. But she’d wanted to look good, and this shirtreally did make her tits look amazing.
Waste of time, Gracie-Lou. Just becauseyou saw a bit of the old Gideon on Monday doesn’t mean he’s gonna fuck you.
“Did you have an animal rescue emergency?” shesaid to Rayna as they walked up Wanda’s driveway.
“Nope, not this time. Plumbing emergency.Client’s kid shoved an entire hand towel down the toilet and then flushed. Itwas an epic clog… one of the top five of my career. Took me a serious amount oftime to get the towel out. Kids, man.”
Grace laughed and knocked on the frontdoor. “You must see a lot of weird stuff.”
“You have no idea,” Rayna said with agrin. “And if you have a sensitive stomach – you don’t want to hear thestories.”
“Ladies, welcome!” Wanda opened the doorand smiled at them.
“Sorry I’m late again,” Grace said.
“No problem. C’mon in, we’re all in thedining room.”
Grace followed Wanda and Rayna into the diningroom, smoothing her top self-consciously. Maybe wearing such a tight shirt hadn’tbeen such a good idea. She was at a volunteer meeting, not a bar, for God’ssake.
Too late now, Gracie.
She stepped into the room, her gazeautomatically seeking out Gideon. Familiar jealousy pitted in her stomach. Hewas sitting next to Cheri again. Sitting next to her and smiling at her, andhe hadn’t even noticed that Grace was in the room.
Her mood immediately soured, and she satdown with a hard thump in the chair next to Rayna. Arianna leaned around Rayna.“I love your top, Grace. It, like, totally brings out the colour of your eyes.”
“Thank you.” Grace glanced at Gideon. Hewas still talking to Cheri in low tones and when the woman rested her hand on Gideon’sarm and made a soft and sexy laugh, Grace contemplated how exactly she could getaway with murder.
She watched a lot of Dateline. She couldtotally pull it off.
“If you need an alibi, I’ve got youcovered,” Rayna said quietly. “I’d be pissed at her too.”
Grace jerked and stared at Rayna. “I don’tknow what you mean.”
“She means,” Arianna lowered her voice, “thatyou’ve got murder in your eyes.”
“No, I don’t,” Grace said.
“Hey, I, like, totally get it,” Ariannasaid. “Your man is being hit on by that sexy little piece of fruit. I’d bepissed too.”
“Gideon isn’t my man,” Grace said. Herface was on fire and her hands were clammy, and why the hell did she ever agreeto help with this stupid fundraiser?
“Girl, please.” Arianna leaned even closer,her shoulder brushing against Rayna’s. “The sexual tension between the two of youis, like, off the charts. Right, Rayna?”