Page 55 of Grant’s Heat

“For fuck’s sake!” Grant hissed.

Yep. He knew it too.

“Just go,” I said quietly, wiping my face with the hem of my T-shirt. The phone rang again, and I physically winced from the stabbing reminder of which people really pulled the strings in both our lives. “Grant,” I gritted. “Just leave. I’ll be fine.”

Grant whipped the phone to his ear and growled, “I’ll call you right back.” A quick pause, surely while Sebastian demanded his full attention. “I said I’ll call you right back.” He gripped the back of his neck and looked heavenward. “Yes, I understand that. Three minutes. Asshole.” He stabbed at the screen to end the call and then shoved the thing into his pocket and looked at me. The anguish in his eyes nearly knocked me off my feet.

“I’ll come back when I get this handled.”

“No. Don’t,” I said with resignation. “I wasn’t joking. This has to stop.” I motioned back and forth between us.

“No.”

He stalked toward me. And then kept coming. He yanked me against him so quickly and so fiercely, I made an umph sound when my body thumped against his.

“This isn’t over, Blaze. Not by a long shot.” He bent and kissed me so tenderly, so completely at odds with the fiery look in his eyes, it left me dazed when he stepped away.

And then he walked out the door without looking back.

He was off to save the world in the name of Sebastian Shark.

Again.

Chapter Ten

Grant

My phone was a constant vibrating distraction until I reached the downtown offices of Shark Enterprises. The only factor in my favor about the return drive into the city during rush hour was getting to go against the majority of the rush hour crush. All the people who weren’t so beholden to their boss that they’d leave the woman they loved while she was still trembling and emotional after they broke down her defenses…

Wait.

“Goddammit.” I muttered the curse under my breath as the driver pulled up in front of Shark Enterprises.

I definitely was not in love with Rio Gibson.

Rio was still broken over the tragic loss of her husband, and our agreement about it all was very implicit. We were just scratching an itch together. Because we both knew—all too well—what a bitch loneliness could be. Not to mention I was not the kind of guy someone fell in love with.

What did I have to offer a woman long-term? Yes, I had money and a stable job. I had plenty of places to sleep at night. Hell, the fucked-up childhood scars I refused to deal with ensured that. But that line on my résumé was reason enough not to saddle a woman with the likes of me.

Fine, so I made decent arm candy. I had plenty of women stroke my ego over the years. Although I wasn’t as pretty as Elijah, I did okay in the looks department. Also, I knew I was good in the sack. Again, I didn’t have Elijah’s Prince Charming reputation or Sebastian’s devil’s spawn notoriety, but the ladies I slept with always added my name to their contacts for a repeat performance.

But when I was being honest with myself, which I tried to do as a way of living, I’d make a shitty husband. I’d had no mentor to guide me growing up, and I wasn’t sure it was something innately inside me like there seemed to be in Bas.

If I really cared about Rio, like I was completely sure I did, I would stay away from her. Her words of insistence ran through my memories from when I was leaving her place less than an hour ago.

So why did they feel like a broadsword being thrust through my sternum? Not a nice, clean impalement like a long sword, but a messy, difficult execution. It was to be expected when you didn’t use the right tool for the job.

Which was much like abandoning Rio. No matter how adamantly she’d ordered exactly that. There was a better solution here, something in the middle of the two extremes. The proverbial dagger for this stabbing. I just needed to figure out what that looked like in my painful, emotional reality.

By the time I walked into Sebastian’s office, Elijah was already there. Both men were divested of their suit jackets and ties and were huddled behind Sebastian’s computer monitors. They were deep in conversation.

“All right. Gang’s all here. What’s the big emergency that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice, despite Elijah shooting me a warning look from where he stood behind Bas. But his expression was Hello fucking Kitty compared to the glower on our boss’s stubbled, stressed-out features.

“The investigators’ reports came back,” Bas bit out. “They showed there was definitely foul play with the equipment that led to Sean Gibson’s death. At the very least, we’re going to have a huge OSHA test to deal with. The timeline is so fucked.” He thrust a hand through his hair in frustration. As he scowled down at his blotter, Elijah and I traded terse looks.

“I’ll start working with the superintendent and foreman first thing tomorrow to prepare for OSHA,” I said, keeping my gaze fixed on Elijah’s. “The inspector assigned to our site has been pretty easy to work with up to this point, so hopefully that will continue.”

“This has the potential for a spectacular lawsuit if the wrong person hears about it, too. So I think discretion is in our best interest,” Elijah added.