She felt warm all over and noticed all sorts of things about Grant before he gently set her down.
He smelled amazing; his cologne made her want to stick her nose in his neck and just inhale. Those muscles she’d sensed beneath his sweater were rock hard and real. And he felt a lot bigger up close, at least a few inches taller than her own five eight.
She had an overwhelming urge to kiss him, to see if that smile felt as soft as it looked when under her mouth.
Instead, she took a hasty step back and did her best not to appear flustered. Especially since his smile kept growing.
“It’s so nice to finally be bigger than you.” He ran a finger over her cheek and had her stuttering in response.
“Y-you wait, bozo. Just for making short jokes, I’m going to use up all the hot water tomorrow and leave you nothing but ice in the shower.”
He winced and moved back around to his seat at the island. “Ouch. Had enough of those. Do you know how painful it is to sit in an ice bath? Yikes.”
Doing her best to look as unaffected by their embrace as Grant, she forced a smile. “I know how it feels to get dumped in the snow on a bad run down the mountain. But I can still ski my brother under the table.”
“That’s right. You like the cold sports. Skating and skiing, right?”
“Just for fun. The town has a skate rink that gets really festive in a few more days, in fact. They kick off the festivities with Hannukah and by mid December put up a Christmas tree in the center. It’s really fun.”
“Good to know.”
She wished he’d stop looking at her like that. As if he wanted to hear every word that fell out of her mouth. “Right. Well, I should—”
“I need a favor, Piper.”
She sensed the seriousness from his voice. “Sure. What’s up?”
“Don’t mention what I said about Cade to anyone. He doesn’t want anyone to know that he and Ellie are having problems. My being here puts another strain on them, and that’s the last thing I want.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t say a thing. It’s not my business.” But it made her sad to see a wonderful couple having problems. “You made the right choice coming here. Before you know it, your time away will have you all healed up, trained up, and ready to get back into the big leagues.”
“Just what I wanted to hear.” He turned on his stool and looked around. “So tell me, did you sell Jared this house? I know Cade fixed it up and all, but it’s in a prime spot.”
“Isn’t it gorgeous?” Warming up to a topic she could talk about for hours, she told him about the home, the neighborhood, and a funny story about the stone hearth Cade had complained for days about installing.
They laughed and talked about Cade and his ideas about contracting. Then Jenna came downstairs and cooked them a mean spaghetti dinner. The mood felt light, the attraction for Grant still strong but manageable, especially with the keen eye of a teenager taking in every glance and word.
The night ended with smiles. Then Jenna headed back upstairs with Piper, leaving Grant to the guest room on the ground level.
What a lovely night. Maybe the holidays won’t be so lonely after all. Piper snuggled in her brother’s bed with a book and tried to pretend to be engaged in the romantic comedy and not the hunky bit of hero-material downstairs.
But it took a long time before she found sleep. To say nothing of the nightmares of broken weddings and broken vows that followed, all with Grant’s face replacing her ex-fiancé’s atop of a four-tiered chocolate wedding cake.
Chapter 3
Grant woke to quiet except for the occasional burst of wind to rattle the window letting in the sunlight. Rousing to wakefulness in seconds, as he always did, he took a moment to recollect and felt a new sense of satisfaction.
The past evening had gone well. Finagling his way to spend his time off at Jared’s had been a stroke of genius. As a man with goals, Grant had had a major one for the past nineteen years, and now within sight of it, his drive to succeed refused to quit.
The previous night, it had been all he could do not to gather Piper in his arms and run away with her. To live happily ever after. Forever.
But one, he wasn’t a kidnapper. Two, the extreme need he felt for the woman didn’t seem to reflect anywhere on her face. And three, he had a feeling she hadn’t thought of him nearly as much as he’d thought about her during their time apart.
She didn’t like baseball.
For some reason, her admission only enamored her to him even more.
Piper would never use him. Not for connections, money, or, unfortunately, sex.
