Page 14 of Believing in You

She should call and curse him out for not being man enough to face her. She wouldn’t, but she should.

The only thing stopping her was that he didn’t owe her anything. Not an explanation. Nothing. His secrets were his. Well, she also wouldn’t call him because she didn’t have his phone number. Yes, she had given him hers, but she hadn’t thought to text or call herself while she had his phone in hand.

Then again, that probably wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway. He’d seemed to be in a state of shock after dropping his bomb. He might’ve freaked if he knew she had his phone number.

“I should’ve done it anyway,” she grumbled as the office phone rang.

She answered and then directed the call to the tech support department, all the while still contemplating what to do about Harrison.

It wasn’t his fault that she suddenly wanted to know everything about him. She had even considered googling him but shot that idea down. Anything she learned about him, Nyla wanted the information to come from him directly. Or maybe Jamie, but she knew her friend wouldn’t betray Harrison’s trust by spilling his secrets.

I was engaged once, but when I went to prison for first-degree murder, she dumped me.

Nyla dropped back in her seat and rocked in the chair. Never in a million years did she think she’d hear anything like that come out of anyone’s mouth. Let alone Harrison’s. A fiancée? Prison?Good Lord. She could only imagine what that was all about. It was no wonder he hadn’t wanted to discuss it last night. There was a lot to unpack in just that one sentence.

The desk phone rang again, and Nyla answered. “Good morning. Thank you for calling Telecom Solutions. How may I help you?”

There was a slight hesitation before the caller said, “May I speak with Harrison Grant?”

Nyla immediately went on alert. It was the same woman who’d called the day before. Harrison’s mother.

“I’m sorry, he isn’t in. May I take a message?” Nyla asked instead of sending her to voicemail. She grabbed her notepad and pen, poised to write down the message.

“Do you know when he’ll be in?”

“I do not,” Nyla said.

The woman huffed out a frustrated breath. “That’s okay. I’ll try back another time.” She disconnected the call before Nyla could respond.

Nyla replaced the headset and growled under her breath. What the hell had his mother done to him to warrant Harrison ignoring her calls? And did she have anything to do with the ex-fiancée… or worse, him going to prison?

“Ughhh,” Nyla grumbled under her breath.

Harrison Grant, what the hell is your story?

Chapter Eight

Seven days. It had been seven days since Harrison had seen Nyla, and he was having withdrawals. He wasn’t sleeping well. His focus at work was shot, and all he wanted to do was call her.

He couldn’t.

He couldn’t give her mixed signals. She deserved better.

He thought for sure she’d hunt down his phone number and call him. She hadn’t. Part of him had been relieved, but the other, twisted part of him, had wanted her to call.

How messed up was that? He had issues. Even he could admit to that.

Not showing up for her last two days of working at Telecom had been a punk move. But after deciding he wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone, he hadn’t wanted Nyla to stay in touch.

No way would he lead her on if he knew in his heart, he couldn’t be all in. Even knowing that, though, his feelings for her hadn’t subsided. They had a connection that he honestly didn’t want to ignore. If anything, he was more curious than ever about her.

Besides owning Moody Days, what other dreams did she have? How would it be spending weekends roaming the city with her? What would it be like to fix a romantic dinner for her? Would she like that, or would she be like his ex and prefer going to a fancy restaurant so she could be seen?

One question after another had bombarded him, and…

Harrison growled under his breath. “Just stop thinking,” he grumbled into the quietness of his office.

As the director of software engineering at Telecom, he didn’t have time for lingering thoughts of Nyla. He had two meetings this morning, as well as a major report to complete before the end of the week.

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