Page 49 of Grant’s Blaze

“God, woman. You’re a saint. Do you know that?”

“No, I’m your friend,” she said solemnly and simultaneously squeezed my hands a little tighter.

Her words and gesture were my undoing. Those two things combined with the lack of sleep set my emotions into action.

My tears came on like a stampede of wild horses. There was no way I would be able to wrangle them back today. So much emotion had been corralled over the past few days—really, ever since Grant came back. Now, the fence was trampled and the mustangs were free. Hot, burning tears galloped down my cheeks, and even though I did my best to lasso them before they ran completely wild on the wide-open plains, a few still escaped anyway.

Hannah hugged me fully when she saw my tears. Normally I would resist someone’s affection outside of my man’s. Previously, Sean’s, and now, Grant’s. Other than that, I rarely allowed another person’s physical intimacy. But she just enveloped me like it was so natural and acceptable that pulling away would’ve been awkward if not offensive.

My guess was the Farsey family was a touchy bunch. If you gathered in their home for any reason, you’d better have your hugging shoes on. It was going to be a full-contact-sport kind of occasion.

“You call on me anytime you need a friend, Rio. And I mean that, okay?”

I nodded a few times, gaining enthusiasm as I went. I didn’t trust my voice after the stampede but needed to move this pony ride along.

“Are you ready to get cooking? Otherwise, we aren’t going to make the lunch run.” Hannah got a mischievous gleam in her eye. “Hey…do you feel like making the deliveries today? It’s been a while.”

“Hmmm, let me think about it for a minute. I’m not sure I want to deal with that madness on my first day back. I need to assess the mountain of paperwork on my desk. I may be chained to that chair all day.”

“Shoot, I hadn’t even thought of that. You probably will be. I know stuff has been piling up over there. Seems like every time someone comes in, they put something on your desk.”

Hannah went to the service line to get everyone on track with their tasks, and I stepped outside to make a phone call. Once the kitchen got humming with everyone on their stations, it was nearly impossible to make a phone call.

I figured I would dial him one time. If he had a chance to talk, that would be great. If he couldn’t talk, I’d leave a message. The last thing I wanted was for something little to snowball into something big. And really there wasn’t even something little. Not really.

And now I was telling lies too. I shook my head and stabbed his picture in my recent calls list before I got myself all pissed off and spent another day stewing and another sleepless night alone.

One ring barely finished before his voice flowed through my device and right into my bloodstream and caused an explosion in my aching heart.

“Blaze.”

“Hi,” I breathed. Thank God I’d decided to come outside, because he would’ve never heard me inside the kitchen.

“Baby, I miss you. So bad. Please come back. Are you coming back today?”

“Grant.” I smiled and waited to see if he’d give me a chance to talk.

“Sorry.” He sighed, and I swore I could feel his smile across the phone line. “Yeah? You still there? I’m just so glad you called.”

“I’ve missed you too. I’m so glad you picked up before your day got too busy. We’re really spoiled, you know? I mean”—I laughed a little nervous laugh—“look at us.”

“I know what you mean,” Grant agreed easily. “But Rio, I don’t want to let you go. It’s that simple. It gets harder each time I have to say goodbye to you. So, the solution seems so obvious. To me at least.”

I heard a hint of mischief in his voice, but just a hint. When his voice had that particular edge, I couldn’t really guess his mood with complete accuracy. Sometimes I was right, sometimes I was wrong.

Better to just clear it up from the start. “What are you saying? What does that mean?” I was afraid to know the answer but wanted, no, needed to at the same time. Grant chuckled on the other end of the call, and then I was certain the bastard knew right where he had me with this game of cat and mouse he was playing.

Well, this mouse could play dirty too.

“Watch yourself, Tree. Paybacks are a bitch. Especially when you’ve been away from the only vagina you’d better be touching these days.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Did you forget I know where you work?” he asked in a low, promising tone.

“What does that have to do with anything?”