The first I knew of this case was when I walked into my office to find it sitting in the middle of my desk like a ticking bomb. That was almost exactly two weeks ago. Damn it, I have nothing here to reference, my computer and all the files are in my hotel room.
“Do you have the letter?”
His jaw is ticking, making his beard move in front of his ear, and he growls througha scowl, “I don’t have it on me.”
“I need more than just an accusation.” I growl back.
“Stop pretending you don’t know anything.”
Now my teeth are grinding together and I’m barely controlling my anger. “I’m not pretending.”
A silent stand-off ensues as we stare at each other. My hands are clenched at my sides and if I were still ten years old, I would stomp my foot.
“As soon as the ice is clear, I want you out of my house and off my property, and I don’t want to ever see you near my home again.” His voice is a low growl, his hatred towards me like little ants all over my skin.
Damn it all to hell. I’ll never get him to sit in the same room with me again, much less sign anything legally binding. “If it’s not me, they will send someone else in my place,” I grind out between clenched teeth.
“Gray.” Mr. Harlow’s scratchy warning is behind me. I didn’t even hear him walk up to the door.
Gray’s eyes linger on me for a moment longer before he looks over my head at his father. I didn’t realize he had bent closer to me, our noses only inches apart, until he straightens his spine and squares his shoulders before he rolls his head from one shoulder to the other, the muscles and bones in his neck rolling and popping.
His chest is in front of my face, and his scent is curling around me.
With a deep breath, he sidesteps me, the angry scowl still on his face, and I hear his boots on the hardwood in the hall. As my anger drains, I feel a sense of loss I can’t explain when I realize he’ll never talk to me again.
The door softly clicks closed behind me, but my eyes are trained on the window and the darkening gray landscape of trees, stables, and the big square areas fenced off with white wooden posts. Mr. Harlow walks around me to the desk and leans on the edge before he slides his fingers in his pockets andgives me all his attention.
He is probably in his sixties, his hair is thinning on top, but he is very fit for a man his age, I can see where his sons get their broad shoulders. Anger drains from the twisted muscles in my back as I make eye contact with him. He doesn’t say anything as he silently studies me.
I need to figure out a way to salvage this and try to move forward in this sale while I’m here. But I need to squash the frustration I’m feeling because of Gray.
Assuming Mr. Harlow heard the conversation, I try to pull together my professionalism that’s hanging by a thread, and take a deep breath as I shake my hair away from my face. The movement makes my forehead throb and I wince.
“Do you need to sit down?” His voice sounds like he used to be a smoker, like each word is being drug across gravel. He waves his hand to the chair next to me, but his expression doesn’t change.
“No, thank you.” I tilt my head and narrow my eyes in embarrassment, “I apologize, that conversation got heated. I rarely react like that.”
He chuckles deep in his chest and says, “Neither does my son, it’s hard for anyone to get much of a reaction from him.” He pulls his hands from his pockets and crosses them over his chest as he looks at me like I’m an Ikea instruction manual. “It’s probably best to let him cool off for a bit.”
I mirror him and cross my arms across my chest with a huff. “That’s probably a good idea.”
I can’t read him at all, he doesn’t feel threatening, but even his body language is a mask of indifference. I need to cool off myself, but I don’t know where to go, I don’t want to go back to Gray’s room. “I think the room I was in earlier is Gray’s room, is there another I can use?”
Lifting his head, he nods. “I’ll ask Hallie to move you to Breanna’s room.”
He’s still not looking in my direction, but I decide to test the waters. “Did you have a chance to look at my proposal?” His eyes snap to mine and I continue before he can object. “The amount we are offering is twenty-five percent over the high-end going rate for acreage in this area. ”
His face softens and a small smile plays at his lips, “I’m afraid that ship has sailed, the person you need to convince just walked out that door.” He tips his head toward the door Gray just walked out of.
Damn it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
GRAY
THE TREESare sagging with the weight of the sleet that’s been falling all day. The aggressive, frustrated breath that puffs into the air in a white cloud in front of me is quite the opposite of the peaceful, soft glow of the moon that’s reflecting off the thin sheet of ice covering everything.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I lean against one of the posts of the wrap-around porch. This side of the house is the part that faces Marley’s stable, it’s also the part of the porch Dad had professionally built out and decorated for Marley after she was raped and beaten by a classmate at her senior prom. She spent a lot of time out here by herself after that happened.
