Ivy couldn’t help but chuckle in astonishment as she listened to her grandmother unlatch the lock and open the front door. Her nana was one of a kind.
When she grew up, she wanted to be exactly like her. And now, knowing more about what she had overcome, Ivy was even more inspired and in awe of her grandmother’s strength in the face of all life had thrown at her.
“Ivy, dear!” Nana called from the front door, in her weird, high-pitched, teen-like voice. “This delivery seems to be for you.”
Ivy dropped her chin to her chest. If Nana had ordered her another set of tea towels (becauseone can never have too many, you know) she was going to have enough to open a gift shop.
She picked up her suitcase and carried it down the hall toward the front door. “Nana, I have more tea towels than—”
The sight before her made her heart jump into her throat, and her limbs go numb. She dropped her suitcase on the floor. Standing in the entrance, taking up the entire doorway and dwarfing her nana almost into extinction, stood Sean. All broad, brooding, and contrite six-foot-plus of him, holding the biggest bouquet of pink roses she had ever seen.
And suddenly, “Oh” was the only sound she could make.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Down the length of the hallway, the dark eyes that she’d missed centered her heart and steadied her. He didn’t say anything, just locked his eyes on her and stared. And their string reconnected, like a lock snapping back into place.
Between them, her nana cleared her throat. “Well, dear, perhaps you’d like to invite our guest in.” She glanced up at Sean. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
He looked down at Nana, and blinked, as if realizing she was still there. “Oh, no thank you. I’m good. But I’m hoping I can talk to Ivy.” His gaze met hers again. “If that’s okay with her.”
“Well, of course it is. Heavens, why wouldn’t it be?” Nana stepped aside to let him enter, before she slipped into the living room.
“Uh…” She was trying to get a grip and find her voice, really she was, but seeing Sean in her nana’s foyer was so unexpected, like a scene out ofThe Greatest Showmanand the headline read,A battle of forces. The World’s Strongest Man and the Tiniest Grandmother take the world by storm.
Finally, she got her feet moving down the hallway toward him. “How did you know I was here?”
“Jordan figured it out,” he told her, his voice the sexy rumble that she missed so much.
“Jordan?” How would he know she even had a grandmother, never mind that she’d be here visiting her?
“He went to your clinic looking for you, found Hope helping with administrative stuff, and explained to her what happened. Luckily she listened to him, cause she sure as hell didn’t give me the time of day.” He huffed out a laugh. “My long-lost brother got your location out of her when I couldn’t.”
“Sounds like Hope,” Ivy murmured.
Knowing Hope, she’d probably been in Jordan’s presence for less than three minutes before her sentimental heart rolled over to make room for him. She always had a soft spot for a tortured teddy bear hero.
“Ivy.” When he said her name with a quiet desperation, it was a full body experience. His eyes were tormented. “Please, can we talk?”
The sound of scraping along the hardwood made her turn to look. Nana was dragging Ivy’s favorite rocking chair closer to the velvet settee. Ivy knew that her nana would have sooner died than drag anything across the floor, so Ivy could only assume she was trying to tell her something—or to say something.
“Would you like to come in?” Ivy asked Sean, gesturing toward the sitting room.
Sean let out a puff of air, as if a great weight had been lifted off him. “Yes. Yes, I would really like to come in.”
Ivy nodded, proceeded him into the sitting room, and sat down on the rocking chair that was now within touching distance of the sofa, where Sean took a seat.
“I’ll take these.” Nana relieved Sean of the bouquet of roses. She made a show of sniffing them deeply. “My, aren’t they lovely? The prettiest roses I have ever seen. Aren’t they, Ivy?” She didn’t wait for a reply as she took the bouquet out of the room.
“They’re beautiful, Sean. Thank you, but you didn’t need to bring me flowers.” She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.
He looked massive on the delicate piece of furniture, and Ivy nearly laughed at the sight of her big, bad Sean perched on her grandmother’s dainty English settee.
“I would have brought the whole damn shop if I could have.” He swallowed, looking oddly nervous, which made no sense since she was the one who needed to apologize. And she’d waited long enough to do it already.
“I’m so sorry, Sean.” Saying the words had the same effect as finishing a long run. Centering and cleansing. And she’d waited far too long to get them out. “I should have never invited your brother back into your life without consulting you first.”
But why did he look so shocked?
