Page 26 of Grant’s Blaze

“Elijah. Hey. It’s Rio.”

“How can I help you, Rio? Is Grant okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine.” With a deep inhale, I tried to calm down. This guy made me so uneasy, and I didn’t want to spend too much time trying to figure out why that was. “I was hoping you and I could meet somewhere to talk? Maybe tomorrow or the next day?”

Instead of an answer, he offered me the tension of a long and nebulous pause. And then finally, “Does Grant know you’re calling me right now?”

The frown in his voice was as glaring as a bat signal in the sky.

“No,” I answered with embarrassing haste. “But what does that have to do with anything? I really just wanted to apologize for the sneak surprise earlier today…”

“Accepted,” he stated. “Is that all?”

“Well…no. I also want to say…I just think we’ve gotten off to a bad start. I know—”

“I think we should leave it at that,” he said with a rough edge. “I don’t like doing things behind my best friend’s back.”

I sighed until it was almost a snarl. “Well, it’s not really like that. I mean, you’re making it sound sordid, and that’s not my intention. At all.”

He let out a long sigh.

I clamped my lips shut, afraid I’d spit out some snide line about wasting his precious time, and again took a deep breath just to keep my cool.

“Then what is your intention?”

“I just wanted to talk with you.” I tried to add some sugar to my voice without turning it into a verbal diabetes attack.

“We can talk now,” he leveled.

“Well, no. I can’t talk right now. And I’d really rather talk to you in person. If you can’t meet with me this week, maybe early next week?”

“I’ll check my schedule and have my assistant contact you with my availability.”

“Oh, okay. That sounds great.” But it didn’t sound great. Not one damn bit. It sounded rude and like an easy brush-off, but I’d play the man’s high-and-mighty game. I’d already struck out with one of Grant’s best friends, and I was determined not to with the other one. “I’d really apprecia—”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The dreaded three in a row blared in my ear, letting me know I’d been hung up on. Profanity brimmed at my lips, but why bother? This guy was an asshole of stunning proportion and didn’t deserve that much of my energy.

I know he had a stellar reputation with the ladies, but outside of his good looks, I just wasn’t seeing the appeal. And yes, I knew some women liked asshole dudes, so maybe this was all part of his schtick? Clearly, I wasn’t in that camp. He’d be lucky if I didn’t kick him in the nuts when I did eventually earn an audience with him.

After looking through Grant’s freezer, I realized a home-cooked meal wasn’t looking promising. Shit, I was striking out everywhere I turned since getting out of the shower. I decided to deal by going to find my man in his office.

My man.

I let out a girlish giggle as I walked down the short hallway to the bedrooms, one of which Grant used as his home study at this place. I could hear his deep voice coming from behind a closed door, so I paused before knocking.

“How’s fatherhood treating you?”

There was a pause then, giving me room to recatch my breath. Oh, damn. I assumed, for a lot of obvious reasons, that he was talking to Sebastian Shark. I wanted to walk away. Seriously, I should have. It would be the right thing to do…

But that was not what I did. And I gave karma a shameless middle finger about it too. Grant was the most important human in my world. What affected his heart, soul, and mental outlook was the same important shit in my book. Especially right now.

“And how’s Abbigail doing?” Another few moments passed, and then Grant murmured, “Oh, that’s good. I’m glad she’s doing so well. Yeah, Dori seems nice. I mean, I didn’t really talk to her much, but I’m glad Abbi has help and trusts her.”

It was a little odd only hearing one side of the conversation and trying to imagine all the things that were said on the other end, but so far, it was a pretty basic conversation. Regardless, feeling like twenty kinds of a creeper, I raised my fist to knock on his door. I was just going to peek in and say I was headed to the market on the corner for some essential groceries—but then he said my name.

Creeper stalker girl right here at your service, fellas.