Page 38 of Spring Showers

Grant pulled his hands away and took her by the waist. Her muscles flexed under his grasp as he pulled her closer. “Is this a mistake?” His voice was soft like a whisper, but with the rasp of a man that knew what he wanted.

“Probably,” she whispered back as their lips met.

Grant didn’t take more than she offered. Even in the way he held back his power, she recognized a tenderness, a caring, and a love inside of him.

Needing air, Thandie pulled away. “What are you running from, Grant Goldie, and why The Foundry?”

“You want the truth?”

She nodded.

“I lost someone whom I loved?—”

“I’m so sorry. You don’t have to tell me more if you don’t want to,” Thandie said. Even if Grant wanted to say more, she didn’t know if she had the capacity to show as much empathy as would be appropriate. She was tired, and very distracted by the fact that they were sitting together so intimately and exposed.

He paused, considering her words, but did not finish his story. He nodded ever so slightly, as though to say it was ok. That he was okay.

“I should go.” The rain had let up sometime during their conversation, and she needed to get away from him before real mistakes were made. She stepped out of the spa and grabbed her wet clothes. There was no point in putting them on her soaking body. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said as she disappeared into the safety of the dark night.

CHAPTER18

The next morning, Grant was more confused than ever about what he was doing with his life. During his conversation with Thandie last night, he had accidentally admitted the truth about just how exhausted he was. After he became a widower, his job had given him purpose and a sense of control over his life. Moreover, his job had been a well-timed distraction.

Thandie, or perhaps the serene setting of The Foundry itself, showed him that he couldn’t go on like that forever. Ringing in his head and heart was the warning that he had given to the incredible woman sitting in the spa with him last night.What happens after a year, or even five? You’ll burn out.He was burned out. He knew that now, and maybe he was ready for a change.

The thought of settling down was a secret he had kept in the back of his mind. Until last night, he hadn’t been brave enough to even say it out loud to himself, let alone to a spirited woman who he barely knew. But being around her felt so easy. Why had he broken his own rule to not get involved with the people or places he visited?

“Because I’m an idiot,” he said and buried his head under his bed pillow.

There was nothing wrong with a little flirting. Since there was little pressure that he would ever see her again, it seemed harmless enough. But Thandie was different. He not only wanted to see her again, and soon if he could help it, but he wanted to see much, much more of her.

For once, he wasn’t being consumed by his own heartache. Instead, he possessed an intense focus on what or whom had wounded Thandie and sent her on an escape mission. A mission that had landed her in the boonies, running a wellness retreat, and catering to a bunch of middle-aged people. She alluded to the cause of her pain, but she wasn’t in any more of a hurry to spill all her guts than he was. And who could blame her? They each hardly knew the other.

Grant threw his pillow against the wall and flopped back. Staring at the rounded beams of the ceiling, he remembered the curves of her body as she had slipped out of her clothing and into the warm spa water. Her tan skin contrasting in the low light with her white bra and panties that looked more like a bikini than underwear, and her wet hair falling in long strands over her shoulders. And one delicious brown curl that clung to the damp skin of her chest. How he wished to explore the depths . . .of her soul.

He shot up from the bed and straightened the covers. “What are you doing, Grant Goldie?” he scolded himself. “You’re being selfish. And stupid. And—” He had nothing more to chastise himself about. He had spent a decade wallowing in the cage he constructed around his own heart. She was the one that needed healing now, not him. She was the one who showed him there was hope. She was the one that he couldn’t stop thinking about. She was the one?—

The landline phone rang in the kitchen.

Grant dropped the throw pillows where he stood and hurried across the room. “Go for Grant,” he said and pressed the handset to his ear.

“Grant. Davis Mothan here, I’m glad I caught you. I tried your cell first, but it wouldn’t connect. The front desk put me through.”

Just hearing the nameDavissent a twinge through his shoulders. “Sorry about that. The signal here is terrible, but I have it on good authority that the issue is being remedied.” Grant took a deep breath and sat in one of the leather chairs beside the front door. “What can I do for you, Mr. Mothan?”

“I was hoping for an update. And call me Davis, please.”

The way his boss saidDavis, holding out theslike a simpering snake, curled Grant’s stomach. And his fist. He knew there was no way that Mr. Mothan was the same man who had hurt Thandie, but the name alone caused a protective tension to ignite his sinew.

“Things are going really well. I don’t have my final report completed, obviously, but my first impression is a good one. This place is spectacularly beautiful and serene. The food is fantastic. The activities are engaging and unique. The director is amazing. Thandie has a way with the guests that I’ve never seen before.” Grant paused as Thandie walked by his window on the pathway outside. He swallowed hard. “She makes everyone feel like they are the most important person at the retreat. It feels like home here.”

“Sounds like you want to move in.” Davis chuckled again in that haughty, not funny way. The same way Davis had sounded when he spoke of the people busying themselves on the streets below his corner office. “What did you say the director’s name was again?”

Only half paying attention to the man on the line, Grant answered, “Thandie. She’s doing a bang-up job.” Grant craned his neck, and his eyes followed the sway of her hips as she carried a large tub of something towards the dock. He would be joining the next activity at the bottom of the hour. “Anyway, I have some more things to investigate before I’ll be ready to give my full opinion. For one thing, it’s very wet here, and I see a potential issue during certain times of the year when profitability might go down.”

“And other times?”

“As long as there are procedures in place so that the guests still experience what they’ve paid for, then it should be fine. I can tell you that your investment would allow them to hire more staff and improve some of the buildings where inclement weather activities could be held. But overall, you might want to start looking for your checkbook.”

---