“I’m scared it’s not aboutme.”
Unsurprisingly, Gray lookedat me like I’dlost the plot.
“I mean, I’m scared it’sabout me, too, but I’m more scared it’s about… what time is it?”
“Almost ten,” Gray said. “Why?”
“It’d be easier to show you,and there’s somewhere I need to be.” I tapped on the side of my mug, hesitatingto ask what I needed to.
Getting it through my headthat Gray was supposed to be here to make me feel safe was going to take somedoing. I didn’tlike to be waited on in restaurants, having someone else’s whole day revolvearound me was uncomfortable.
Even Amanda, ostensibly myPA, didn’tso much do things for me as make me do things. That, I could handle.
This wasn’t like that. Ifelt like I was asking too much of Gray even when it was literally his job, andhe’d already been so kind to me this morning. How could I ask for more?
“Soon? Because time waitsfor no man, not even an Emerson.”
“Soon enough,” I admitted.He wasn’t going to let me get away with chickening out. “But I think I need youto do the driving.”
“Obviously,” Gray said. “You’renot driving while you’re still in shock.”
“We’re taking my car,” Isaid in a hurry, wanting to get all the awkwardness over with at once. “I likemy car.”
Despite the fact that it’d been brokeninto as well, it still seemed infinitely safer than a strange car. Even if itwas Gray’s strange car.
I hadn’t actuallythought to ask if he had one, I’d just assumed.
“No problem,” Gray said. “Gotthe keys?”
I fished them out of mypocket and slid them across the table. As soon as Gray picked them up, anotherlittle wave of relief washed over me.
I didn’t have to worryabout this. Things were going to be okay.
“BMW. Nice,” he smirked,looking at the logo on the key.
It was hard to tell whetherhe was being sincere or making fun of me. I liked to think he was beingsincere.
“You wanna tell me where we’regoing?” he asked, screwing the lid back on his water bottle.
That was when I noticed thesecond one he’dset down in front of me. I stared at it for a few long moments, marveling atthe way he was being sogoodto me. Maybe it was a sad commentary on mylife that this was the most cared-for I’d ever felt, but there itwas.
“Elmhurst,” I said, grabbingthe bottle of water and trying not to hug it too obviously. “I’ll direct alongthe way.”
TEN
GRAY
THE MAUREEN EMERSON Cancer Center turnedout to be a bright, airy building with high ceilings and big windows andnatural light flooding the space. Glossy indoor plants flanked the receptiondesk, where a curly-haired woman in one of those high-necked uniforms that allmedical personnel seemed to wear smiled brightly at Miles, offering him a smallwave of her perfectly-manicured hand.
“Mr. Emerson,” she greetedcheerfully, acknowledging my presence with a brief glance and a warm nod.
“Personal security,” Milesexplained, gesturing vaguely at me. “Gray, this is Alicia Mathers, secretly thelynchpin in this entire operation.”
I didn’tseehim wink at her,but judging by the way she blushed, he must have.
The thing about Miles wasthat he had this… charm about him, that he could clearly switch on at will. I’dnoticed it with the doorman of his building as we left, then the barista at thecoffee shop, who he’d complimented on the way out. When he wanted to be, he wasexactly what I expected from the heir to a huge family fortune, who’d beenraised to be part of a world where they wouldn’t even let someone like me inthe front door.
Not that he ever did it formy benefit, but I actually kind oflikedthat. The charm wasn’t the manunderneath. I got the feeling I’d seen more of him than most people ever did.
