Page 28 of Grant’s Heat

I tried to pull my hands from his, but he gripped them tighter.

“No. No, baby. That’s not it. I will be here for you.” He shook his head and then whispered, “Always.”

I was even more confused. Baby? He never said things like that to me. He called me Blaze. That was the furthest he’d strayed from Rio. Ever.

He sucked in a huge gulp of air, steeling himself to finally say what he needed to. The man sat up taller and straightened his spine, appearing stronger by doing so.

“Look at me, Rio.” His voice was back to the velvet command I was used to. Seconds passed while he waited for me to meet his dark-blue gaze. When I finally did, he said with quiet clarity, “There’s been an accident. A terrible accident.”

“What? Where?” I shot to my feet. “What do you mean? Who’s been hurt? Is it…Abbi?” Oh, God. If it was Abbi… But why else would Grant be here to tell me this news personally? “Is it Abbigail? Oh no, oh God, no. The baby? Are they okay?” I started grabbing things off my desk…

“My keys. Where are my damn keys?” I muttered, searching frantically through the papers beside the computer.

“Rio, stop. Stop.” His voice was firm. Tone assertive. “It wasn’t Abbigail. She and the baby are fine.”

But why was he still sitting there as if an emergency wasn’t underway?

“What? Who? Who, then?” I continued to plead. “Tell me, Grant! Fuck! Tell me!”

“Please. Sit down.” He waited for a beat before repeating the request. “Please sit down. So I can tell you what happened.”

“Grant!” I yelled his name then, my shrill voice bouncing off the stainless counters and the pots and pans that hung overhead. “Fucking tell me what’s going on!” Madness crept up my spine and neck, stretching its boney fingers around to the front of my throat and pressing in so that I couldn’t breathe.

When I finally looked at his face—I mean really looked at his face—I knew. I already knew. The pity in his magical eyes and the way he held my hands. The gentle tone he had taken while talking to me.

I shook my head.

Harder. Harder still.

“No. No. You’re lying! Liar!” I swung my head so frantically from side to side, the whole room started to sway, and still, I kept denying what he was trying to tell me, even though he hadn’t said a word. “No. No, I don’t believe you. How could you be so cruel? This isn’t funny, Grant Twombley!” I insisted. “Please, no,” I whispered as I watched him stand and approach me cautiously.

“Rio.” He held his arms open to me, and I batted at them.

“No. No! Get out! You get out of here! I’ll call him right now, and you’ll see! There’s been a mistake! There’s been a terrible mistake.” I tried to make a beeline for my phone.

Shit! Where the hell is my phone?

“I’ll call him. You’ll see. But he may not answer. Sometimes, if he’s busy, he can’t answer right away,” I babbled on with excuses, and Grant continued staring with that fucking look of pity that I wanted to shove down his throat. So I just kept insisting, “He’s very busy. Sean’s very busy now. But he’ll call back as soon as he has a break when he’s not busy. Where’s my phone? I just had it before.” I looked frantically from side to side, not really seeing anything at all. I had it right before Grant arrived because he had sent me the text that started all this nonsense.

As if being jolted with electricity, I raced toward the stove.

Or tried to…

Grant snaked out a strong arm as I darted past and wrapped himself around me, even though I tried to push him away. He held me to his chest, and still, I tried to push him away. “No! Let me go!”

“Rio. Stop this. Listen to me so I can tell you what happened. I can take you down to the hospital if you’d like.”

I froze. Something about those words caught my attention. I pulled back to look at him before asking, “Why?”

Grant took in a suffering breath and let it out with an equally painful sigh. “Rio—”

“Answer me. Why would you take me to the hospital?” Suddenly, everything was so confusing. “Grant? Who’s at the hospital? Is it Abbi? Is she in labor?”

He closed his eyes for a few long seconds and just breathed. “There are things…” He cast his eyes toward the ground, struggling to find the words he wanted to say, his strong arms still belted around my waist, holding me against him. His light-brown eyelashes, resting on the sharp blades of his cheekbones, were stuck together from the tears he had shed earlier.

“Grant?” I worked an arm free from his embrace so I could reach up and touch his face. “Say what you need to say. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

His voice broke when he gently said, “As Sean’s next of kin…his wife…you’ll need to handle some things. I’ll stay with you if you’d like some help or just some company. Come on. Grab your stuff. I’ll drive. I don’t want you behind the wheel.”