He reached for her hand.
She flinched again. He didn’t like that. Not at all. “I’ll never hurt you.” His promise to her. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Thank you for dinner, Jemma. I think that was the best dinner I’ve ever had.” And that was the honest truth. He held her hand for just a moment more and then he let her go. He stepped back, started to leave, then stopped. “Are you free tomorrow night?”
She didn’t speak.
“I’d like to see you again.” Say yes, Jemma. Say yes. He didn’t know why she was so important to him, but…
This couldn’t be it. Not the end. Something was happening between them—something more than just the giant erection he was sporting for her. Yeah, I want her like crazy but this is more than just sex. This is…Jemma.
“I get off work at five tomorrow,” she said, voice hesitant. It was almost as if she’d just confessed a state secret.
Of course, he knew all about those.
A smile spread across Grayson’s face. “Then I’ll meet you at the shop.” Because he had a new mission now…
A mission to get Jemma to trust him. To open up to him.
“Good night, Gray. I…enjoyed being with you.”
Enjoyed, huh? “I’ll see you, tomorrow, sweetheart.” He gave her a little salute and he turned away. But Grayson didn’t leave. Not until he heard her turn the lock behind him.
Then he headed for his SUV. Grayson jumped inside.
The night had been going so well, then that asshole had ruined things.
Time to pay a little visit to that Matthew jerk. Time for him to realize…no one scares Jemma.
He pulled away from her house.
***
When she heard Gray’s vehicle drive away, Jemma peeked out of the window. Her fingers curled around the curtains and she stared into the night.
Some men just can’t take no for an answer.
As soon as he’d said those words, she’d slipped into the past. Back into the nightmare that had become her life when she’d been nineteen years old.
She’d gone to college, left Holly so confident and excited…
And she’d come back, afraid, hurt, and lost.
I couldn’t trust anyone again. Getting close was so hard. It was still hard. She had a few friends in town—like Brad, Ella and Nora, but even they didn’t know the truth about what had happened to her so long ago.
I thought it was better not to talk about it. To just bury it deep. To pretend it hadn’t happened. Or maybe…maybe that it had happened to someone else.
Not me.
Not. Me.
She let the curtains slip away from her. She was twenty-six now. And she was so tired of carrying her past around, feeling it like chains wrapped around her ankles, dragging her back.
She wanted to break free.
Grayson is one of the good guys. He is Brad’s friend. He stood up for me in that restaurant. He was so careful with me…
She wanted her life back. Wanted to stop looking over her shoulder.
For years, she’d shut out the other men who’d come close to her. But Grayson…with him, she had really wanted things to be different.
I can make this work. I can be stronger.
She would be stronger.
***
Grayson braked his SUV in front of the town gym. Hell, even that place had a cutesy holiday name. Frosty’s Fitness. He saw Brad’s patrol car there, and he was glad the guy had beat him to Matthew’s place.
This way, I won’t hurt the guy…too much.
Grayson bounded up the steps. Jemma had told him that Matthew had an apartment right over the gym, and it was time he had it out with that jerk. No one was going to scare Jemma. He took the stairs that led up to that little apartment and pounded his fist on the door.
It opened about two seconds later, only Matthew wasn’t the one standing there. It was Brad, and the guy’s expression was grim.
“Tell me you can lock up that joker,” Grayson snarled. “The creep just came out there to scare Jemma, he—”
“Matthew’s inside—he’s puking his guts out in the bathroom. Seems like he definitely had too much to drink at the holiday parties tonight.” Brad’s mouth tightened. “And there’s a problem…a big one.”
Grayson’s hands were fisted at his sides. My problem is Matthew. He’s—
“Matthew said he hasn’t left since you threw him out of the restaurant.”
Technically, Grayson hadn’t thrown the guy out. Technically.
“But his ride is gone,” Brad revealed. “Someone took his truck and he’s saying—”
“Someone stole my ride!” Matthew’s yell easily reached Grayson.
Brad sighed. “Yeah, that’s what he’s saying. That while he was in here, uh, distracted, someone took his truck. He swears that he wasn’t anywhere near Jemma’s place.” He glanced over his shoulder, then back at Grayson, “And judging by his piss poor condition, I believe him. That guy couldn’t drive a car right now if his life depended on it.”