Grant’s head snapped back as though he’d been physically struck, and then ice settled around him; his heart, his mind, everything. They didn’t talk about that… it was an unspoken agreement. And for Van to toss it into an argument… over a woman…
“We’re done here,” Grant said, his voice low and deadly calm.This… this was a low blow.
Van backed away; his own face unreadable. “Yeah, we are. Fucking figure your shit out, Grant. She’s not going anywhere.”
Chapter Twelve
Van came back for her, simply taking her hand and pulling her out of the chair she’d camped herself in while he’d been gone. He had taken off his chef coat, a simple white, long-sleeved Henley in its place. He held her against him for a long time, just standing there in the center of the room. They didn’t talk, just stood there in the silence of the room, wrapped around each other like two lifelines clinging together.
He finally pulled back, reaching up and tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, before offering her his hand and leading her from the office and out the same back entrance they’d came in earlier. He led her to a sleek Lexus parked behind the restaurant, holding the passenger door open for her and letting her climb inside before rounding the hood and sliding in behind the wheel.
There was no discussion of where they were going and he didn’t ask her where she was staying, but he began to drive away from the restaurant. Nervousness made her belly do flipflops.
They drove in silence, her hands clasped in his right one where it rested in her lap. His thumb stroked the back of one of her hands idly, and each pass of his skin against hers made electricity zip up her arm and straight to the center of her. She watched him as he drove out of the corner of her eye, his left hand draped loosely over the wheel. Ten minutes later, he pulled the car up to a gated entrance. He flashed a card at the reader, which buzzed lightly before the gate slowly swung open and he pulled the vehicle through. Several condominium buildings stood along the edge of Lake Michigan, and he drove them through the quiet darkness of the parking lot before stopping in front of one. He reached up and tapped a remote garage door opener and they waited while the garage door lifted.
Her heart was hammering in her chest with each passing second. She had no idea what she was doing here. Other than the fact that she was possibly still in shock from finding them… Here, in her hometown of all places. What a world.
After putting the car in park and turning off the engine, Van turned in his seat just enough to look at her through the dim interior. “I want you to know I didn’t bring you here expecting anything more than conversation, Hope. Nothing more than just sitting and talking with you, little one. I need you to know that. This isn’t Chicago.”
She nodded, staring at him. She ran her fingers over the back of his hand, where it still clutched both of hers. “Okay.”
“Wait for me,” he said, nodding toward the passenger door. He opened his door and climbed out, rounding the car to hers. He opened her door, reaching in and grasping her hand again as he assisted her out. “Welcome to our home.”
“Our home?” Hope whispered, sudden panic flaring in her chest.Oh god, he’s married. He’s married and I’m a dirty mistress that he’s sneaking into his house…
He led her toward a door in the garage and nodded. “Grant and I split this condo.”
Oh. “You and Grant?” she whispered.
“Mmhmm. We work pretty crazy hours, it just made more sense to save on a payment than for both of us to live separately, especially since we’re hardly ever home. And we get along pretty well, most of the time.”
“So you aren’t…?”
Van opened the door and walked her through it into a wide, tiled hallway. It was dark inside except for a dim light that shined on the far end of the hallway. “Aren’t what, little one?”
Her hand still held securely in his, he walked them through the hallway and it opened up into a vaulted ceilinged living room. A massive, expensive looking kitchen was situated on the right, and the light that she’d seen was from the light over the sink. Just light enough to see without running into anything, but dim enough to feel incredibly intimate. She shivered.
“Are you married?”
Van laughed, his white teeth showing up against his tanned face. He shook his head, and that blonde hair flopped over his forehead. She ached to reach up and push it back with her fingers. “Married to my job, maybe. But no, neither Grant or I are married, Hope. Nor are we involved with any other women currently.”
“And you’re not… involved with each other?” she asked, stopping on one side of the large marble topped island in the center of the kitchen. Everything was lavish, but surprisingly stark. As if it was more for show than for living.
Van crossed to a wide, stainless steel, double door refrigerator, opening the right side and fishing out a bottle of water and some kind of craft beer in a glass bottle. He opened the water and passed it to her before opening the beer and taking a long drink himself. He leaned his hips against the oppositecounter. She fidgeted with the crinkly plastic label on the water bottle.
“No, Hope. Grant and I are not nor have we ever been involved. We told you the truth that weekend. We’re business partners and roommates. We share women…on occasion. But we’re not sexually or romantically involved beyond intermittent sharing. It’s not like that for us.”
She swallowed hard and nodded. “How did you two—”
Van set the beer down on the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, leveling her with an intense stare. “Do you really want to know how Grant and I started sharing women, Hope?”
“I guess not,” she whispered, lowering her eyes to the floor. Porcelain faux wood tiles. Pristine white grout lines. So different than her sister’s apartment, so different from her own, back in Ohio. Everything in this condo was expensive. She picked at the label on the water bottle again. “I just thought maybe it might help me understand…”
Pushing away from the counter, Van stepped toward her, slowly, cautiously, and it made her heartrate ratchet up several beats. He stopped in front of her and raised his hands to her cheeks, pushing her hair back away from her face, brushing it back over her shoulders. His hands returned to cup her cheeks, those emerald-green eyes she couldn’t stop thinking about gazing into her own. “The only thing you need to understand is that it’s never been like that before, Hope. Never. For myself… or Grant. He’s a surly, grouchy beast right now, and I’m praying he doesn’t let his pride get in the way. I won’t go into details because it’s his story to tell…but be patient with him. And I need you to know that I have no intention of losing you again. That weekend changed me, Hope. At the very core of me, it changed me. It changed us. We have never wanted to share for more than just a night… and we don’t share girlfriends, period. That’s nothow we play. But with you… we were both ready to change the game.”
His thumbs stroked along her cheeks, one pad of a thumb drifting over the curve of her bottom lip. Electricity zinged through her at the contact, making her lips pop open with a gasp. His eyes dropped to her mouth, then slowly climbed back up to hers. So many emotions flickered in those green depths. Joy. Fear. Sadness. Anger. Hunger.
“And then we woke up and you were gone.”
