Page 37 of Now and Forever
For the first time in years, Grayson honestly considered firing Omar.
It wasn’t that he didn't expect Golden to try to sneak out that morning, that was why he was waiting nearby. It was the fact that she proved him right. When he found her trying to escape, something he knew she would try, anger flickered to life inside of him. But it all disappeared when her face tilted up toward him and his eyes focused on her slightly parted lips.
He had felt the slight puff of her breath against his lips and all of his intentions to just look after her and care for her evaporated into smoke, revealing a long-hidden truth. And then Omar came in.
He could've killed the man then and there.
Grayson sighed and glanced out the jet window. He could see thick clouds and occasional glimpses of the deep blue ocean far below. Naturally, his eyes drifted to the girl lying in the reclining seat next to him. Golden was lying on her side snuggled into the offered cashmere blanket.
Yesterday, after breakfast, he ordered her to go home and pack. Cruelly he waited just for a second for the hurt of misunderstanding to color her eyes before he told her about his intentions to fly to Italy—with her. The surprise and elation on her face had been worth the moment of deception. Without argument, she allowed him to drive her home and pack for the trip. He had sat on her bed as she pulled out her suitcase and dug out her passport. Grayson had even listened as she finally called Gaige back and listened to his half-hour scolding for going off to get drunk with Lydia.
The entire scene had felt intimate and right. Pleasure coiled around him as he carried her suitcase while she locked up the house and walked back to his car. Knowing she was under his roof a second night was a feeling he couldn't explain. For the first time in two years, his house felt alive again.
The decision to bring her along on the trip was fueled by two distinct reasons. One, her classes started next week and he would be seeing her less. And two, he was tired of doing these trips alone; he wanted her by his side.
He thought of what she said yesterday in the foyer,“And you won't leave me again if I make you angry?”
Is that what she thought? That he was angry at her? How could he have been angry at her? When he walked into his room, found her in his bed, and read the note from Gaige explaining what had happened, he was furious. Yes. Furious enough to bankrupt Arnold Harrington, the little fuck's father, certainly. He was furious, but not so furious that he lost control and choked the little bastard in his own bed. No, he had stayed with Golden that whole night sitting next to her on the bed as she slept. In the stillness of the night buried desires slipped past his defenses. Fantasies that he would normally never let himself entertaintorturously played themselves out in his unguarded mind. For what seemed like hours, he watched her sleeping face as his body and soul burned for her.
And as the sun rose and the light shifted in the room in a nebulous haze, casting a soft, ethereal glow across his bed's occupant, Grayson had thought he passed the test. That he survived the gauntlet of his own making. Until her eyes opened. Slowly, he watched as Golden's unfocused eyes found him and he heard the dangerous words spill from her lips.
"I wish I could have you."
Like a witch's spell, she’d nearly undone him. The urge to crawl over her and pull her into his arms had burned to life within him, like a relentless fire he doubted could ever be quenched. By the grace of God, he had stood from the bed and left before doing something he could never take back.
He feared she had noticed it—the near-maddening desperation in his eyes, the breakdown of his willpower. Leaving the house that morning, he had boarded his jet within the hour and had flown halfway across the world. He couldn't face her. He could hardly face himself. With just a few words he nearly turned into the very predator he was supposed to be protecting her from. When she had called, he had been so wrapped up in his own guilt he didn't hear the distress in her voice, he just pushed her off onto his son and quickly hung up. For years he thought back on that moment with poisonous regret. Why didn't he just listen? Like a fool, he spent those following weeks running, buried in work. And when he wasn't working, he was dismantling Ashford Harrington's life until the man had no choice but to move his family far away from Stardust. It wasn't until his brother called him that reality came crashing back down around him.
"Is there something I should know?" Grant began with the terse question.
Annoyed and in no mood for his brother's games, Grayson scowled. "What are you talking about? I'm busy."
"Fine. I'll cut to the point. Even though you've never said directly, I thought you had some sort of…affinity," Grant coughed. "Toward Gaige's little friend, Golden Ray."
Grayson stilled. Something cold formed in his stomach. Not once did he discuss Golden with Grant, he wasn't even aware he knew her name much less his fondness for her. "What's happened?"
Grant sighed on the other end of the line and the pit of ice in Grayson's gut began to spread. "Well, from what I can tell, her aunt died nearly a week ago. There was a funeral yesterday and now Gaige is coming to me about putting her house up for rent."
Nausea clawed its way up his throat, and Grayson sat heavily back in his chair. He was in his hotel room in France. He was on his way out to a meeting when he answered his phone. Staring blankly out the window, he replayed his brother's words.
Grant's voice softened. "I asked Gaige directly and I think the boy is more than a little angry at you."
Despite the cold nausea, Grayson stood up and began to walk toward the door. He would head to the airport immediately. "I will be back by -"
"Gaige has taken her out of town," Grant said quietly. "From what I can see, he is taking her traveling before she starts that art college in New York."
She was leaving him. The words rang out in his hand like the chime of a clock.
"Look," Grant began again, his tone harder now. "If you've done something, we can fix -"
"I haven't done anything!" Grayson snapped, realizing what his idiot brother was implying.
"Thank God," Grant mumbled under his breath. "So that just means you haven't done anything at all," he chuckled, obviously relieved. "That sounds about right. When it comes to women, I can safely say the things youhaven'tdone are always what kicks you in the nuts."
He hung up on him. By the time Grayson got back home he realized just how pervasive the damage was. Everyone was gone. Gaige was in New York helping her find an apartment and once done he would be moving to Cambridge. At least Grayson knew his son would forgive him and come back home eventually. But for her, he had no such assurances. Her house was empty and for rent as if every trace of her presence had been scrubbed from his life. One mistake had cost him everything.
Golden stirred beside him bringing his mind back to the present. Dressed in a cream-colored short set made out of the softest-looking fabric he had ever seen, she looked amazing. For some reason it made him want to reach out and touch it. He continued to study her as she finally woke from her nap. Sleepily, she pushed herself up in her chair and glanced over at him.
Her brows dipped in slight confusion. "You're still awake? You're not tired?"
