Give Me Grace(43)

I wanted to tell him to shove what he knew up his ass, along with his apology and the new phone, and despite the anger, I almost laughed, thinking it was getting crowded in there, but he continued before I got a word out.

“What I do know is that you have an issue with food. If the amount you ate at dinner on Sunday night was normal for you, then I have no idea how you find the energy to get up each day. I know you get photographed for a living. I googled and saw pictures of you that took my breath away. I know that when your older brother needed you, you dropped everything in an instant to be there for him. I know you’re good at making threats but your follow-up could probably do with some work. You have a soft spot for aggressive little dogs that nobody else wants. You’re crazy beautiful when you’re angry—your eyes become like some wild, windswept ocean that a man could drown in and die happy. I know that nothing is sexier than you half asleep in bed, and after seeing your photo message without all that makeup on your face…” there was a pause before his voice got huskier “…I now know you have a sprinkling of freckles across your nose that I have a desperate urge to kiss.”

Dazed, I slid slowly down the kitchen cabinets as he spoke. How could he do that—piss me off and make my body melt into a puddle on the floor at the same time? I barely knew him.

“There’s something else I know,” he continued. “Somehow, somewhere along the way, something happened to make you think your self-worth was based only on how much money you earned.”

“No.” My voice came out hoarse so I cleared my throat. “Maybe when I was younger I felt that way, but not anymore.” I’d made the declaration on the phone to John that my new life started now. I had all intentions of following through. I wasn’t going to feel sorry for myself or sorry for the choices I made. I was just going to start making those choices for me now rather than everyone else.

“What happened when you were younger?”

I moved my hand away from my mouth when I realised I was chewing my thumbnail. “You heard some of Henry’s stories. That was me all the time. I was a difficult child.”

The light flicked on, flooding the dark kitchen into brightness. I hissed and burrowed my face into my knees. I tried opening my eyes against the blinding glare and failed. Covering them instead, I peeked through my fingers to find Henry standing in the kitchen. The left side of his hair was sticking up and pillow creases lined his cheek.

“Grace?” His brows were raised as he stood looking down at me. “What are you doing?”

Casey was silent on the line while Henry spoke.

“I’m trying to make a cup of tea.”

He paused. “In the dark while sitting on the kitchen floor?”

Henry sounded incredulous, as though such a feat was impossible to perform. “You think it can’t be done?” Casey’s laugh came through the phone. “Stop laughing,” I told him.

Henry shuffled over to the sink and filled a glass with tap water. He turned around eyeing me as he took a sip. “Who’s on the phone?”

I opened my mouth to answer when Casey said quickly, “Don’t say it’s me.”

“What? Why?”

“Grace?” Henry prompted.

“Just a friend,” I told him as I pushed up off the floor.

“Am I being friend-zoned?” Casey sounded annoyed.

“Seriously?” Shifting the phone from one ear to the other, I dusted off my hands. “You know that term was created by men with overinflated egos who, for some unfathomable reason, can’t understand why a girl doesn’t want to have sex with them.”

Henry’s hand jerked, spilling water down his chest. His brows rose at me inquisitively as he wiped himself dry with the tea towel.

I rolled my eyes. After saying goodnight to my brother, I left him to his water and headed back to my room.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Slim,” I was told as I made my way back up the stairs. I could hear the smirk in Casey’s voice. It was louder than my growling stomach after being denied sustenance. “I haven’t mentioned the possibility of us getting naked together.”

“Oh, of course. Because that whole I didn’t say where I wanted to kiss you thing in the limo had nothing to do with getting naked.”

“That’s right.” Casey’s voice deepened. “You don’t need to get naked for that. All I need to do is kneel between your thighs and slip your panties to the side.”

Heat.

Waves of it slammed my body until I was on fire. Damn him. I climbed back under the sheets and buried my face under the pillow, as if hiding would somehow cool me off. It was either that or slip my hand beneath my panties to ease the ache.