Page 38 of Love Me Boldly

If I went back out there now, there’d be a scene. Caroline would be embarrassed. I’d end up in tears or a fight.

Graham was about to see the worst of me, all because I opened my mouth and told him where I worked and when. It wasn’t like I expected him to show up or bring friends. It was just my luck those girls would be there tonight of all nights.

A knock hit the door, and before I could open it, the decision was taken from me. Graham stepped in, leaving me wide-eyed and slack-jawed as he closed it behind him.

“What are you doing here? You can’t be here.”

“Caroline said I could. Nice aunt, by the way. Seems feisty. That where you get it from?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, firmly fixing that smug grin of his into place. One simple smile from him and I was already wondering what I was so afraid of.

Against my better judgment and totally out of my control, a smile broke out on my face. How was it possible he could disarm me with a grin and sarcasm?

“Why are you here?” I asked, but this time without panic lacing my words.

“Wanted to see if you’re okay and wondering if you’d tell me why you knew what was going to happen as soon as you saw those girls?”

“You didn’t hear them say anything about me before I came out?”

With the way Tanner had glared at them, I already knew the answer.

A muscle on the side of his nose jumped. “They did.”

He wasn’t going to tell me. Cool, cool. Back to secret keeping we went.

“Why’d you come here tonight?”

“Because I missed you and wanted to see you.” He stepped toward me. “I don’t care what those girls said, Holly. And I don’t care about Piper’s opinion either, although we already went over that last night. The only person I care about right now is you and making sure you’re okay.”

“I’m never okay,” I admitted, and my stupid chin wobbled. I breathed in sharply and fought the surge of emotions. I’d been looked down on and pitied for years, and it’d been a full year since I became a pariah. None of it was any fault of my own.

I should have thicker armor by now, but whenever it happened around Graham, the walls I built crumbled and failed when I needed it the most.

He reached out and cupped my cheek. Thumb brushing along my cheekbone, he tipped his head until I met his eyes. So dark, they swirled with tiny flecks of yellow at the irises. “How can I help?”

The urge to suggest he get his food to go and leave came first but stalled before I could give voice to it. Instead, I suggested, “I know it’s not really the ambiance you guys were going for, but what if you and the guys came back and ate in here?”

There was a round table with chairs in the corner. It’d work in a pinch, if he gave me a few minutes to clean off the stacks of boxes of extra napkins.

“We didn’t come for ambiance or the food, Spitfire. We came for you, so where you want to be is where we’ll be. Where I’ll be.”

Darn him. He was so sure. So confident. Socaring. It was the last that shook me most. Outside of Caroline and Tracey, I couldn’t remember the last time someone so easily cared about me. Certainly not a man.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“No thanks required. Being back here with you means I get to do this.” He kissed me, brought my lips to his, and at the first heady inhale of his cologne and the taste of him, I lost track of where I was, what had bothered me only moments before, and a whole new fear raced across my mind.

If he truly cared about me…what would happen when he found out the truth?

And why in the world did I keep forgetting that this thing with him wasn’t a good idea?

ELEVEN

HOLLY

The office door slammed open, banged against the wall behind it, and made us all jump.

“You’re having a party and didn’t invite me?” Tracey stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, scowl on her face as she took me in.

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