Page 62 of Dating the Rebel
She flinched as if he’d slapped her.
“You don’t believe me,” he said with a weary sigh. “Just think about this. If I really wanted to hurt you, I would have walked away. I wouldn’t care about helping you with your business or about earning back your trust. I would have just left you alone like you wanted, because you wouldn’t have mattered to me. But you matter, Miranda, more than anything...”
Tears trailed down her face now.
And his heart wrenched over making her cry. No matter what he’d said to her or how hard he’d been on her when they were younger, he had never made her cry. She was like his sister—tough.
And independent...
And his attempts to help her had just hurt and offended her. Just like Blair had felt over his meddling, Miranda felt disrespected.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and his arms ached to reach for her. But he’d already done more than enough damage.
He’d made her cry.
“I’ll do what you want from now on,” he promised. “I’ll stay away from you.”
And before he could act on his selfish desire for her, he turned and walked out of her office.
And out of her life...
CHAPTER TWENTY
EVERSINCESHE’Dlet him walk away a week ago, Miranda had been kicking herself. She hadn’t been alone in that, either. Her sisters had been kicking her, too. And even Blair...
This was the first time in a clash with Grant that her best friend had sided with her brother over Miranda.
“I know he’s an idiot,” Blair said from the cockpit of that two-seater plane Miranda had first flown in with Grant. “But I believe him. He would not lie about loving you. He has never played with anyone’s heart like that.”
“It feels like all he’s done is play games with me since he first showed up at my office...”
“Like I said, he’s an idiot, but he’s a well-meaning one,” Blair insisted. “He wanted to protect me.”
She believed that; he’d always been protective of his younger sister. “What about getting my sisters’ shares of the business away from them?”
“He wanted to help you,” Blair said. “I know and you know that you didn’t need his help, but that’s what Grant does. Or at least, that’s what I think he does when he disappears like he does. I think he’s rushing off to someone’s rescue. That’s his first instinct.”
“You’re his sister,” Miranda said. “You idolize him.”
“So do a lot of other people,” Blair said. “He’s earned it. He’s always taken care of me.”
But nobody had ever taken care of Miranda. So she wasn’t sure how to accept anyone’s help...even though he’d had damn good ideas for the dating service.
She cared less about his ideas than him, though. He’d told her he loved her.
And she hadn’t told him that she felt the same. She’d just let him walk away. She looked out the window on her side of the plane. “Are we almost there?” she asked.
“Yes,” Blair said.
But Miranda didn’t know how the pilot could tell for certain when all the aqua-blue water looked the same. She trusted her friend, though.
That was why she’d asked her to fly her to Rio. To the casino where Grant had signed up to play in a professional match.
He might be too busy to talk, but hopefully he would find time to listen. She had so many things she needed to say to him. But by the time Miranda arrived at the casino where he was playing, she was too late. The match had ended.
“Where is he?” she asked one of the players she recognized from the game on Ibiza, at Grant’s hotel there.
“He should be down here celebrating his victory,” the man replied.
