Jennifer’s eyes go wide and her jaw drops. “Seriously? You would do that?”
I grin and nod, knowing how very much it would have meant to me if someone had helped me like this all those years ago. Any time I can lend a hand, I do it.
“Thank you!” she says, throwing her arms around me. “Thank you so much!”
She clings to me tightly for a few moments, then steps back to beam at me before darting back toward her friends.
I watch her go, smiling to myself, before reaching to grab my mop again. A few feet away, Grayson has gone completely still, his chocolate gaze locked on me. His brow is knotted, his mouth tight, his eyes hooded.
Worry clenches in my stomach.
“Is something wrong?” I ask hesitantly.
Grayson nods. “Yeah. Pretty much everything.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I look at him in confusion. “What do you mean, everything is wrong?”
I look around quickly, noting that Laura still has a disproving, if slightly amused, expression on her face as she directs the staff and kids around.
Nothing seems off, though. The children are having the time of their life and, from what I can tell, we’ve earned tons of cash so far today.
I bite my lip and look back at him with a frown. “I mean, I will admit the lime green shirts are a little much but…”
Grayson laughs softly and shakes his head. He rakes a hand through his wet hair and takes a shallow, short breath. He moves one step closer to me and then another, as if he was being pulled by a magnet.
I can only stand there, watching him approach, my heart slowly beginning to thunder against my ribs.
What is he doing?
More importantly, why is he looking at me like that?
His eyes are narrowed on me as if I’m the only person in the ginormous room and he’s completely forgotten about why we’re here or the horde of foster kids all around us. Each step that disappears between us leaves me more breathless.
“Kali, what I’m trying to say is thatIwas wrong.” Grayson is standing a mere foot or so away from me now. He reaches out as if to take my hands before shaking his head and dropping his arms back to his sides. “I was wrong.”
“Wrong about what?” I whisper.
Is he trying to say what I think he’s trying to say?
I can’t let him break my heart again.
I won’t.
He drops his head to stare down at the floor for so long that I wonder if he’s ever going to say anything else when he finally lifts it again, meeting my gaze.
“You terrify me, Kali,” he admits. “Everything about you is terrifying. You’re the type of woman a man could go crazy over. You’re kind and smart and ambitious. You understand me without even trying. It’s like you can read my mind sometimes. I’ve never met anyone like that, and when I learned that you’re famous and adored by millions of people already, I panicked. When I said we couldn’t see each other anymore, it wasn’t because I was worried about the public eye. Not really. It was because I didn’t know how I could compete with the other people who love you. I mean, how I could I possible stand out?”
Heart racing, I take a faltering step forward. We’re so close now that one really deep breath and my breasts would touch his chest.
“But you wouldn’t be competing with anyone,” I tell him earnestly. “I never wanted you to feel that way.”
Grayson shakes his head. “That’s the thing. I get that now.” He offers me a small smile. “I see what you do with your platform and your brand. I see how the Kali in the YouTube video is the same Kali in person. I should know because I watched every one of them. You might force a smile or two when you feel you have to, but your heart is still in everything you do. Instead of working up the courage to try and witness that myself, I bailed. Believe me when I say I’ve regretted leaving you every second since.”
Can he hear my heart hammering away against my ribs?
“Every second?” I echo in a whisper.
