He seemed like he had money and came from a good home. I should stop freaking out. But the hairs on the back of my neck were standing at attention. Maybe it was because of the way he kept staring at me like he knew me. Or it was merely due to the panic attack from a past I was trying to erase.
“I should return to my friend,” he said. “Are you sure you’re okay, Grace?”
“You know my name?” Fingers of panic clutched my throat.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
I ground my teeth together. “You said my name.”
He cupped my elbow. “You look pale. You should sit down.”
I jumped away and stumbled, horror careening through me. “Did you or did you not say my name?”
“I guess I did,” he confessed. “I heard someone at my table talking about you.”
“Grace.” Brian’s voice drifted into my ears. “What’s going on? Is this guy bothering you?” He sounded angry, trudging toward me with his fists clenched.
The young guy held up his hands. “Just trying to help her. She looks pale.”
“Thanks,” Brian said to the guy. “I got her.”
I glared at the retreating college grad. There was something weird about him, but maybe I was reading too much into it.
“College guy,” I called. “Who’s your friend?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Ryan Montgomery.”
“Ryan is the boy Fran likes,” Brian mumbled as he placed a hand on my lower back.
I sighed heavily, sagging against Brian. I was losing my marbles.
“You do look as white as a ghost. Are you feeling okay?”
“I need to eat. Give me a minute. I also need to use the bathroom.”
I dashed into the ladies’ room to check my makeup and take a moment for myself. My brown eyes were dull. Strands of my hair were falling out of my updo, and my complexion looked as though I’d just returned from the dead.
“What’s happening to me?” I asked, eyeing myself in the mirror. “One day everything is normal, and the next I’m in a full-blown panic attack.”
I rubbed my chest, blowing out a breath. After I patted water on my face and left the ladies’ room, Brian was waiting for me, leaning against the wall, looking as handsome as ever in his blue suit, gold tie, and white shirt.
He gave me a blinding smile that sent shivers of delight through me, erasing any sign of my paranoia. “You okay?”
“Hungry.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him why I had freaked out. He would worry, and he needed to be fully present for his daughter tonight.
He stuck out his elbow, his vibrant green eyes dancing with pleasure. “Shall we head in, then?”
A surge of adrenaline coursed through me as I clung to his arm, my skin prickling with goose bumps. As he enveloped me in his protective grasp, a calmness draped over me. It was a web of safety that I desperately needed.
Halfway toward the dining room, he stopped abruptly, looked both ways, and then did something I wasn’t expecting.
His lips were on mine before I could blink. The kiss was tender at first until he pushed his tongue into my mouth and pulled me against his extremely hard body. Then he kissed me more thoroughly than he had in his condo, if that was even possible.
I clung to him as though he was my lifeline, matching his every move, pouring my heart and soul into the kiss. Nothing mattered in that moment, not even the horrors of my past. Brian was beginning to make me believe in a happily ever after that I’d felt certain I would never have.
He broke the kiss and pecked me on the nose, eyes, forehead. “You’re gorgeous, strong, resilient, and whatever is going on in your head, know I’m here for you.”
I craned my neck upward, confused. “Why would you think something is bothering me?”
