Touching Down(39)

Like Grant, I wanted to be honest with our daughter . . . but I didn’t want her to know the world as I’d known it. I’d done everything I could to give her a life wholly different than the one I’d been born into, and I wasn’t going to bring her into it by giving her a detailed account of my almost-rape at nine by a man three times my age, the very “boyfriend” my mother had claimed could do no wrong.

“Something I didn’t want to give him,” I answered as evenly as I could, not missing the way Grant’s jaw was grinding, almost like he was trying to crush through a sheet of metal.

“And Grant saved you?” she asked, looking between us.

I nodded, unable to keep from seeing the look on his face when he’d barged into my room. Unable to keep from remembering the sounds and sights of that fight. Unable to keep from remembering the way he’d looked after, the way his hand had felt reaching for mine, the way I’d felt when Grant told me I was okay and that he’d never let anything happen to me, before he carried me out of that room and hardly let me out of his sights ever again.

“He did,” I answered my daughter.

“Is that why you fell in love with her? Because you were like a prince who rode in to save her?” Charlie’s gaze moved back to the photo album, which I could now see was filled with old photos of Grant’s and my life back in The Clink. The one she was staring at right then was the one of him and me at his senior prom.

“No.” Grant shook his head slowly. “I fell in love with her because she saved me.”

That answer made her smile. “Who did she save you from?”

Grant’s head turned toward me. The storm in his eyes calmed instantly. “From myself.”





“THIS KID GOES out faster than I do after the first day of summer training.” Grant yawned from down the couch, where Charlie had passed out in what I affectionately called her starfish position. Arms and legs straight out, taking up as much space as a seven-year-old’s body could.

“Don’t know who she gets that from.” I handed him the popcorn bowl, saving the last handful for him.

After we’d given her a detailed account of every single photo in the photo album, Charlie had managed to talk us into making it a movie/popcorn night because what was another hour and a half when you’d already blown through bedtime?

She’d made it through half of the movie before she fell asleep just like that. One second she was awake, tossing popcorn into her mouth and commenting on Julie Andrews’s wardrobe, and the next, she was lights-out.

“Hey, I’m still awake over here. When have I ever gone out like that? One minute wide awake and bouncing around, and the next one in a heavy breathing coma?” When he shifted to sit up, the rice pad fell from his shoulder.

“I can think of a few instances.” The tone in my voice gave away what I was getting at, but the arch in my brow didn’t hurt either.

“That’s different. You wore me out. With all of that stamina and flexibility and creativity and yeah . . .” Grant’s face pinched up on one side. “Our daughter is sleeping two feet away. Sorry. I’m not used to being around kids and having to watch what I say. I’m used to being around giants whose brains have been cannibalized by their dicks and have no filter. And I just said dick. In front of a seven-year-old.” Grant groaned as he tipped his head back.

“A sleeping seven-year-old who wouldn’t wake up to the sound of an ice cream truck playing outside of her ear. It’s fine.” As I sat up, I stretched to wake up my muscles a little. It helped with the chorea after being still for so long. “That’s part of the reason I was hesitant about us being here. You’re used to being alone. Doing your own thing. With us here, you’re not going to have a lot of breathing room. Bachelor life is going to take a definite hit having a seven-year-old running around and bathing in your fountain, instead of the Playmates you’re probably used to.”

Grant huffed as he tossed the last few pieces of popcorn into his mouth. “That’s the exact reason I want you guys here. I’m sick of being alone. I hate the bachelor lifestyle. And the only Playmates that have tried swimming in my fountain are the same two I had security remove.”

I felt my mouth fall open. The Playmates had been a random guess. “You had Playmates in your fountain and you called security to have them removed?”

“They were only interested in me for my money. I don’t want to get mixed up with someone or someones so shallow.” He was smirking at me, loving the semi-shocked look on my face.