Chapter Twenty-Five
Sebastian
“You went to bed early last night,” I say, sitting on the arm of the couch by Grace, having just come home from work. It’s a lot later than I have been coming home since she’s been here, closer to the hours I had worked before, but I had too much work to catch up on. Although after not seeing her last night, then being so late tonight, I don’t want to admit I was starting to fuckingmissher.
I second-guessed everything when I found Grace in my office yesterday—on my computer—and with the way she fled the room, I’d thought the worst. Everything Easton had been banging on about for the past week filtered through my mind in a new light.
There shouldn’t be anything important stored on the desktop computer in my office, and you need a password and credentials to get onto the company server. So, unless you were a computer genius, there wasn’t much you could do, but that’s not the point. It’s the motivation behind the actions, but what I found when I checked the browsing history was surprising, to say the least.
“Sorry, I was tired.” Grace’s lips turn down as she watches a show on the flatscreen, though her distant gaze tells me she’s not really paying attention to it. The words don’t come out as convincing as I think she intended, but I don’t push. Grace had been completely rattled when I walked in on her in my office. It was the first time I’d seen her scared. No, it was more than that. She was completelypanicked. At first, I’d thought it was my reaction, and I don’t deny, in the moment, I was pretty heated, but it didn’t feel like the right answer. I might have raised my voice a little, but I hadn’t been threatening.Much.
“Did you get my note?” she asks, finally looking at me properly for the first time tonight.
“Yes, thank you for that,” I say, and she lets out a relieved breath. The note on the bench when I’d come back from work had been a surprise, and I thought Grace had maybe gone for a shower or something. Only leaving the note in case I’d shown up while she couldn’t tell me. But she never emerged from her room. To be honest, it was strange not having her there when I walked in. You wouldn’t think I’d get so used to something in just over a week, but here I was. I’d checked on her, and her room was closed up and dark, but I could make out the distinct shape of her form in the bed, so I left her be.
“Of course,” she replies, her lips hooking at the sides. I can’t look at them without remembering what they feel like on mine. It’s both a blessing and a curse, but right now, I was leaning towards curse, not being able to take them whenever I wanted.
With a sigh, I stand from the side of the couch. “I’m going to take Shadow for a walk if you want to come,” I offer her.
After glancing to the large windows in the lounge and the dark sky beyond, she mulls the question over for a minute.“O… okay,” she says.
We go our separate ways for a few minutes, then meet back in the foyer. Grace’s attention goes straight to the coat in my arms, the same one she’d worn two days ago at the beach. Shadow bounces on his paws as he waits for us to get going, and I hold out the coat with a pointed stare. She doesn’t protest this time, and approval flashes through me. I’d tried to ask her what she needed the other day, I wanted to help, but she wasn’t having any of it. Still, I feel guilty, and I’m torn between just fucking getting her what she needs regardless or dropping it and respecting her pride.
After taking the lift down to the main floor, I clip Shadow’s lead on before we head outside, not that he really needs it. He doesn’t usually stray from your side unless he’s at the beach, then everything is fair game.
Every now and then, Grace’s arm bumps mine as she walks right at my side, and any time we cross paths with someone else, she moves even closer to me. The anger I feel whenever I think of who the fuck she’s so scared of bubbles in my stomach.
“Have you always lived in Sydney?” I ask, going for anything that might break the silence between us. Also, something I might be able to use to get some additional answers.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Not in the city.” She doesn’t elaborate any further, and I have to stop the growl of frustration from leaving my throat.
Does she ever answer a question without being vague?
“What about you?” she asks, shifting the question back to me.
“For the most part,” I say, glancing at her. “Though my parents’ house, where I grew up, is a little bit out of the city. I haven’t been back there since…” I trail off. I don’t want to think about what happened before the Reeds found me. Nor do I want to think about the family home they gave me for twenty-five years.
Grace’s steps falter at my answer, and Shadow halts as I stop to face her.“Are you ok—”
She steps into me, cutting off my words, and a small oomph puffs out of me as she wraps her arms around my waist. The move is so unexpected, it takes me a second to lose the stiffness in my stance, but then I come to rest my hands on her back. If I thought she fit against me when I kissed her, it’s nothing compared to now. “Grace?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers into my chest. “I’m sorry you lost them.”
My breath hitches at the sudden grief that slams into me, but it’s not only that. It’s the pain inhervoice. Pain for my family. For my loss. I don’t know how to take it. How is it that she has so much compassion for me? What did I do to deserve it?
Clearing my throat, I say, “We should go back. You shouldn’t be on your ankle for long.”
Her arms squeeze me tighter, and I don’t move, letting her have this moment she clearly needs. And strangely enough, I get the feeling I needed it as well. It’s another moment before she untangles herself from me, and only then do I let her go.
It doesn’t take long for us to get back to the penthouse, and Grace yawns as we walk through the open lift doors into the foyer. A glance at my watch confirms it’s nearly eleven.
“I think I’m going to head to bed,” she says, and another yawn escapes her.
“Mmm, I might try and get a little work done,” I say. It’s still early enough for me to fit in some extra work. And with all days I’ve left work early to be home for dinner, I had to make up for it somewhere, even if I did stay later tonight.
We walk down the hall together until we reach Grace’s room.
Instead of entering, though, she leans her back against the closed door of the guest room I’ve come to know asherroom and stares up at me. A rumble starts in my throat at the look she gives me, and my hand finds her hip, squeezing it.
“Good night,” she says, and her voice is nothing but breathy words.
Heat sparks in my chest, and I lean down, moving my lips closer to hers, but then I stop, hesitating before I can reach where I want to be so badly. How many times have I been in this position? It’s getting to the point now that I’m not going to be able to stop myself from taking everything I want from her. And with all the heated glances she throws at me that are almost innocent in nature, it’s almost like a part of her is asking me to do just that. Clearly, I’m not the only one feeling something.
Grace licks her lips, and I follow the move. Lifting her hand, she rests it against the side of my face and her nails scratching through the stubble on my jaw breaks the last string of my control. I close the distance between us, pressing my lips to hers in a sweet, fleeting kiss.
Before I do something she isn’t ready for, I tear my mouth away from hers. “Good night, Grace,” I say, squeezing her hip again before I step back and flee to the safety of my room regaining a sliver of control.