Page 29 of Grant’s Heat

“Okay.” I could barely utter anything else, and the anxiety from the last few minutes ebbed away. I watched Grant scurry around the kitchen, checking the major appliances to ensure nothing was left on. He flipped the overhead lights off and turned on the one light we used to deter theft. He knew the kitchen’s shutdown routine from the month he’d watched over me.

“Tell me the code for the security system, Blaze.” He nudged me out to the front stoop while he stood inside the door and waited to punch in the code.

“Zero five one nine.” My voice sounded like an automaton as I recited the digits that Abbi and I agreed to. Something we knew we could both remember.

Sean’s birthday.

My husband. Her brother.

“Abbigail.” I searched the doorway for Grant, but he hadn’t come out yet. When he appeared, all I could manage was to repeat her name. “Abbigail.” Tears threatened to obliterate my vision.

“Sebastian’s on his way home to talk to her. Come on, baby. It’s going to be okay. Give me your keys. I’ll drive.” He held me against his body once we stepped out of the protection of the building’s vestibule until we got to my car, shielding me from the fierce late-afternoon wind that liked to whip through the industrial park.

I looked at him, confused. “You don’t have a car.”

As if he were talking to a child, he explained very carefully, “We’re going to take yours. I’m going to drive your car, Rio. Give me the keys.” He reached over the roof of my Fiat with his palm open, waiting for me to hand over the keys.

“You don’t need them. Just get in, and it will work with the key in my bag.” The automatic doors opened on the passenger side first, since I had the key fob, and I unlocked his door from there while continuing to babble. My mind was all over the place, and trying to organize a useful thought wouldn’t be happening. “It’s like magic. I don’t know how it works. Not really. Maybe it’s like Bluetooth or something? Do you know?”

I looked over to Grant because he hadn’t said a word in response, but then I saw why. At six and a half feet, the man had to bend his frame at the strangest angle to fit into the car with the seat adjusted for me. He was frantically reaching alongside the chair to find the control to reposition himself. When he could sit upright completely and inhale a full breath, he engaged his seat belt and adjusted the mirrors.

“Can you drive a manual transmission?” I asked. “I’m fine to drive. I really should be staying here, though. I wasn’t finished with the cleaning, and I don’t want to sit at home alone all night. Who knows how late Sean will be working.” I stared out the window, noticing how many cars were still in the lot at the business park, and then checked my watch to see it was only four in the afternoon. When I realized we hadn’t moved from the parking spot, I looked over at Grant, only to find him staring back at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Rio.” Grant sighed. “Did you understand what I said? In there?” He pointed back to the kitchen, concern twisting his ordinarily handsome face.

I thought for a long moment and then pressed a palm to either side of my head. “Yeah. Sorry,” I said softly. “My brain is so scattered. This can’t be happening.” I began rocking back and forth in the passenger seat as we pulled out of the parking lot. “This can’t be real. This can’t be real. This can’t be real.” My voice trailed off, repeating the words over and over in hopes that if I said it enough times, I could will the nightmare out of existence.

When we pulled up in front of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, I knew, once again, my wishing powers had failed me.

“Grant!” I looked over to him as panic gripped me all over again. “Please! Please call this off now. You’ve made whatever point you’re trying to make. Joke’s over. It’s not funny anymore. Stop this right now! I’m not going to be paraded in there and made an ass of in front of God knows how many people.” I lowered my voice, begging with all I had, “Please. Please just take me home.”

“Blaze.” He tilted his head, that damn pity darkening his face again. “Do you really think I would do something like that to you?”

He searched for my hand, but I yanked it from his reach. In a desperate need for fresh air and space between us, I threw my door open and bolted from the car, hightailing it across the parking lot toward the hospital. I didn’t even know where I was going or what I was looking for at that point. I just couldn’t be in a confined space with Grant Twombley for one more second.

“Rio!” he shouted from about fifty yards behind me. “Lock your fucking car.”

I still had the key fob in my bag, which was slung diagonally across my body. I wasn’t about to double back and have him trap me again, though. I’d have to risk the safety of my car and its contents over my own.

“Just press the button on the door!” I shouted over my shoulder, not slowing my stride. If he went back to do his usual Boy Scout do-gooder bit, there would be that much more of a gap between us.

Excellent.

While pausing for the automatic doors of the hospital’s lobby to whoosh open, I heard feet pounding on the sidewalk behind me. But I barreled through the doors as soon as they were open and strode up to the grandly polished-wood information desk. Orange oil and carnauba wax scents hit me first, followed quickly by the overpowering sweetness of the stargazer lily arrangement waiting to be taken to a patient’s room.

“Rio.” Grant said my name firmly, sounding a little frustrated and a lot out of breath. “They wanted us to come in through the Emergency Room.”

When I turned to look at him, he actually looked a little pissed, too.

“And how was I supposed to know that?” I griped.

“If you had waited instead of running off in a huff…”

“Don’t start with me, Tree,” I growled. “Not now, okay?”

“Come on. I think we can just go through here. The signs point in that direction.” Grant signaled with his outstretched arm, but I ignored him. Instead, I walked up to the clean-cut volunteer who’d been listening to our exchange.