Page 22 of Save Me the Trouble
“Grace, wait?—”
The door banged as I followed her through it and right into the storm that had opened up over the city.
“Grace, stop.” I grabbed her arm, but she already left the shelter of the awning, rain pelting the both of us. “You’re not walking home in this. Not after you just passed out.”
“I’m—”
“Fine, I know,” I growled. “Well, you can either be fine in the back of my car with Lester driving you home, or I can call an ambulance so they can make sure you’re okay.”
“You have a car here?”
I nodded toward the black Mercedes sedan parked a few feet away, the wipers picking up speed to keep the rain clear from the windshield.
Her eyes flicked to the car and her jaw started to drop before she snapped it shut and declared, “I’m not riding with you.”
“I’ll run back. Just get in the car.”
“You’re going to run in the rain?” Her gaze flickered with wariness, like I’d finally broken through the shield of her anger with my sacrifice.
To make sure she was safe? Felt safe? I’d do anything.
“Another fact no one else knows about me…I don’t melt.” I pushed my wet hair back from my face. We were soaked. “Get in the car. Please.”
“Okay.”
I followed over and held the door as she scrambled into the back. “Take her wherever she wants to go, Lester,” I instructed my driver, who tipped his head back to me in confirmation.
My eyes snagged on hers, wide and confused.That made two of us.I didn’t know what the hell she was told about Aleta, but it sure as hell wasn’t the truth. But then what did the truth matter now if she was so ready to believe a lie?
“Killian—”
“Take care, Grace,” I said low and closed the door, tapping on the roof for Lester to go.
I should’ve picked up my run—or at least moved under shelter, but instead, I stood and watched the car drive away. The farther it got, the stronger the unfamiliar feeling that twisted in my gut.Like I was losing something important.
I didn’t have to answer her accusations. I didn’t owe her the reason for what happened with her coworker, Aleta. Hell, I didn’t owe anyone an explanation for my actions, no matter how grossly misconstrued they were. But if I wanted to see Grace again, if I wanted there to be any chance to know more about her, to feel thisrealthing again…I’d have to find a way to tell her the truth.
Chapter Six
Grace
“Diane wants to see you,” Molly said with a smirk that deepened the pit in my stomach.
I was going to be fired. For kissing him or for yelling at him, I couldn’t be exactly sure, but I was definitely going to lose my job.
I mumbled something in reply and rose from my desk, the stretch of hallway to Diane’s office looming in front of me.
It was bright and sunny this morning, unlike the storms that had steeped the city in rain the entire weekend. I’d spent the last two days in turmoil. Thank God Darcy went to visit her sister for the weekend, otherwise, there was no lie to keep her off the scent of the truth.
I’d kissed Killian Crown.
And then I told him he was a sexist pig who ruined lives for fun. Not in so many words, fortunately, but unfortunately, with enough words to make my thoughts about him clear.
The real irony was my thoughts on him weren’t clear at all. Once I met the man underneath the persona and then kissedhim… No, my thoughts on Killian were as cloudy as a classic Seattle sky.
On the one hand, I knew what he’d done—how he discarded people like their lives were worthless to him. But on the other hand…listening to his answers…the real ones…and then that kiss.
I swallowed a groan and kept my head tall. Killian’s kiss haunted my dreams. The hold of his lips…the command of his tongue…I succumbed like a flame to a tsunami. It was categorically unfair that a man like him should kiss so well. And in my dreams, I lived out the fantasy that hadn’t stopped with the kiss. A fantasy that hadn’t stopped until I’d met the version of him that was turned on by giving pleasure.
