Page 59 of Breaking News

He grunted in response.

“Can you please untie me?”

He ran one palm down his face, smiling as he leaned over to untie the knot. My wrists ached as I pulled my arms down, but I ignored the pain, sitting up to reach for my phone.

It was Meghan. “I’m just checking on you,” she said. “And I know you’re supposed to be resting, but… I’m kind of on my way to your house. With your favorite peach ice cream.”

My blood ran hot, and beside me, Graham moved at lightning speed to the bathroom, picking up his clothes along the way. My eyes followed him to the bathroom, where he gave me a wide-eyed “oh shit” look just before closing the door behind him.

“Um, hello?”

“Sorry, I’m a little out of it. Took a painkiller.” I slid off the bed and looked for my panties before I remembered I hadn’t been wearing any. “How close are you, exactly?”

“Just left Kroger. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t asleep. Or naked. I know how you are.”

I let out an awkward laugh, and said I’d see her in a few minutes. I quickly slipped my robe over my shoulders and fumbled between the pillows for the sash. My fingers hadn’t even found the loops on my robe before Graham emerged from the bathroom again, fully dressed—minus his tie. “I need to skedaddle, don’t I?”

My arms rested at my sides, giving up on tying my robe. “The faster the better,” I said, but a small smile tugged at the corners of my lips as he moved close to me. I stared up into his eyes as he slid his hands onto my hips.

“Are you in any pain right now?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“And you’re not lying?”

With an inhale, I reconsidered my answer. Truthfully, there was a slight ache settling into my hips and thighs, but it was so minor, it almost wasn’t worth mentioning. But Graham wanted the truth, so I wouldn’t downplay it. “I’m only in a little pain. This is just my normal.”

Graham’s thumbs rubbed slow circles on my hips. “Normal is… waking up and going to bed every night without pain.”

“I’ll never have that.”

He opened his mouth to say something and closed it again, almost like he was about to argue with me. Instead, he leaned infor a slow kiss. “Well,” he said, stepping away. “I need to go or I’m going to have to face Meghan. And I’m a little scared of that woman.”

“You should be.”

Graham just grinned, scratching the back of his neck as he turned to go. “Thank you for… this.”

“The pleasure was all mine,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ear with a grin.

He turned back toward me, smiling from one side of his mouth. “No, it wasn’t.”

And then he was gone. I didn’t remind him to take his tie with him, because I fully intended to keep it.

I scrambled to get dressed, smiling as I tugged on my clothes. There was no chance in hell I could smooth the sex hair, so I didn’t even try, deciding I would call itnaphair if Meghan questioned it.

When I peeked out the window and saw my best friend heading up the steps with a pint of ice cream in hand, I bit my bottom lip and grinned even wider.

She had no idea I was sitting on the sexiest secret of my life.

chapter twenty-two

Jillian

Chase had told our viewers I was sick, as if they all hadn’t witnessed my complete breakdown on Tuesday morning. When I returned on Thursday, I decided I owed them the truth—or at least a watered-down version of it.

“As you might have witnessed, I had a health flare-up on Tuesday morning that caught me off guard, and I took some time off yesterday to rest and recover. I want to extend an enormous thank you to Chase Monroe for filling in, and I’m so grateful to all of you for your patience and understanding.”

I wasn’t reading from a teleprompter. That came straight from the heart. I continued with a news story about the local splash pad getting some updates and got right back into my flow like everything was normal. When we cut to Bernard for today’s weather forecast, I let out a sigh of relief, glancing up to see Graham standing in the room sipping from a coffee mug. We locked eyes across the room for a few seconds before I glanced down at the desk with a sheepish grin, hoping Olivia didn’t catchit. She was standing nearby, too, clutching a clipboard to her chest while eyeing the monitors.

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