Page 75 of Beautiful Mess

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Are you going to keep asking these annoying questions, or just eat your bagel so we can get this finished and go home?”

“Fucking hell. You really do got it bad for this woman,” Davis says with a laugh. “Alright, you touchy fucking prick, I’ll quit with the questions. But just know, your lack of response tells me everything I need to know, friend.”

Taking another bite, I flip him off, which only makes him laugh harder. He’s right. As far as I know, Grace has no idea we’re here. After I left the other day, I went home and decided to call Everett. Knowing Grace would most likely be stubborn and refuse to ask me to do the repairs needed in here since she insisted on ending things between us, even though we both know my company is her best—and really, her only—option, I decided to go around her. It needed to get done, and fast, and I know the weight of figuring it all out is probably sitting heavy on her shoulders. I can’t stand the thought of Grace being stressed out, especially when it’s something like this, that I can easily take care of for her.

So, I asked Everett to check with Gemma to see if she’d help me while also keeping Grace in the dark. With them being sisters and as close as they are, it could’ve gone either way, but luckily for me, Gemma agreed, and was even weirdly excited about the idea. Since the water in the whole building needed to be shut off while I replaced the pipe, we had to do this outside of business hours, which meant waiting for the weekend. Gemma did some investigating—her words, not mine—and found out that Grace will be here this afternoon to get ready for a large order getting picked up tomorrow, so doing it overnight was the only option.

Georgia was able to unlock the place for us last night. She’s also friends with the woman who opens the bakery on the weekends and let her know we’d be working in the office when she got here this morning. The last thing I need after successfully figuring out a way to do this for Grace without her knowing is to scare the hell out of some poor, unsuspecting woman and have her call the police on me. I don’t think that would do me any favors as far as Grace is concerned, especially since I’m nearly positive she’s going to be pissed when she finds out I did this.

Once Davis and I finish eating, we get back to work. Thankfully, we were nearly finished by the time we stopped for the coffee break so it doesn’t take us much longer. As we’re packing up our gear, I hear chatter down the hall, but don’t think much of it. It’s a little after nine, so I assume more of the staff have arrived. It’s the sound of footsteps coming to a halt in the doorway and a sharp intake of air that finally has me spinning around, coming face to face with a disheveled looking Grace. My heart slams against my ribs as she steps into the small office, her bright green eyes taking everything in before landing on me.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, her voice soft, barely above a whisper.

I’m not an idiot, I knew Grace was eventually going to figure out what I’d done, but when sorting out all the details with her sister, the one thing I didn’t expect was to be in front of her when she did. Like a fish out of water, my mouth opens and closes a few times, words somehow escaping me under her frazzled, yet imploring gaze.

It’s only been a few days since we last saw each other, but I didn’t realize how much I’d missed her until this very moment. After she insisted on ending things in this very office, we haven’t spoken. Not even a single text. When I brought Willow to gymnastics on Thursday night, I thought for sure we’d run into each other there—and I was hoping for it—but it was Ethan sitting in her place. And it’s not like I haven’t wanted to reach out to her, but my plan was to give her space while I sorted things out with Cole. If I could make her see that he’ll get over it, surely she’d feel better, right?

Except I haven’t had a chance to talk to Cole much since he walked in on us last weekend. Between work being hectic for me this week and Cole having to go back to Charleston for a few days for a work thing and his first court hearing for the divorce, we’ve barely seen each other. He’s coming back to my house today—in fact, he should be there already—and I plan to talk to him as soon as I get home.

Davis clears his throat, pulling me from my thoughts and reminding me that I still haven’t said a single word in response to Grace. “I’m gonna take all this out to the truck,” he murmurs, squeezing between us toward the door.

Grace folds her arms over her chest, peering up at me once we’re alone, her eyebrows raised as she asks for the second time, “What are you doing here?” Face clear of any make-up, she looks breathtaking, dressed comfortably in a pair of black sweatpants and a white t-shirt that appears to have Georgia’s bookstore logo on the front.

“This needed to get fixed,” is all I offer.

“I was going to take care of it, Conway.”

Nodding once, I say, “And now you don’t have to.”

Shifting between her feet, she chews on the inside of her cheek for a moment as she holds my gaze, but I can’t make out how she’s feeling or what she could be thinking. A moment passes between us, and the tension filling the air is enough to suffocate me.

“How’d you even get in here?” she finally asks before breathing out a sigh and holding up her hand. “Let me guess. My sisters had something to do with this, didn’t they?”

My chest rumbles with a small chuckle as I scratch a hand across the scruff lining my jaw. “I have my ways.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she murmurs, letting her arms drop to her side. “I really wish you didn’t go through the trouble of doing all of this.”

“It was no trouble,” I say honestly. “I’m happy to help, and I don’t know why you wouldn’t have asked in the first place.”

Clicking her tongue, she looks up at me deadpan. “Really? You have no idea why?”

“No, Grace, I don’t. I know you think we should end what we have, and I know I should respect that decision, but I can’t. But even if I agreed with you, that doesn’t mean I can’t help you out. It doesn’t make any sense for you to not reach out to me for this. It’s what I do, and I’d like to think I can be professional enough to do a job even if we aren’t together anymore.”

“We were never together.” Grace crosses her arms again, as if to shield herself, and I hate it. Hate seeing her close herself off to me after getting to experience the most intimate parts of her. “We were hooking up,” she goes on, and each word feels like a slice to the heart. “Yeah, it was fun, but it was never more than that. It could never be more than that.”

“Like hell it wasn’t more than that!” I boom. Sweat pricks the back of my neck, and my pulse flies at a mile a minute. “How can you say?—”

Holding up a hand, Grace cuts me off when she adds, “And I don’t think being professional includes breaking into my place of business in the middle of the night and doing all of this without my knowledge, Conway.”

“I didn’t break in,” I bite out, nostrils flaring on a harsh exhale. “I knew it needed to be fixed and was another item on your to-do list, so I took care of it. Now you don’t have to worry about it.”

There’s a strong magnetic pull between my body and hers. One that’s damn near impossible to ignore, and all I want to do is wrap my arms around her and breathe her in. Feel her newly constructed walls crumble as she relaxes against my chest.

“I don’t need you to‘take care of it’for me,” she grits out. “It’s not your place. It never was your place.”

“So, what was your plan, then?” I ask, annoyance flaring in my chest. “Hire some other company you find on the internet, hope they know what they’re doing, and let them most likely rip you off in the process? All because you didn’t want to ask me to do it because you’re stubborn as all hell, trying to make yourself believe what you’re doing is what’s best? That’s bullshit, Grace. I’m the most qualified man to do this, and you know it.”

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