Page 89 of Chasing Grace
To his surprise, Gray took to her feet first. Damn, she was a strong woman.Rubbing her tailbone with one hand, she offered the other to Davis. The kid weighed less than she did, so it didn’t take much effort to haul him to his feet. Once vertical, he preoccupied himself with applying a two-handed butt resuscitation technique involving a shitload of moaning.
Eyeing Grant like a six-hundred-pound sack of rocks, Gray snorted and nudged Davis. Together they pulled Grant to his feet. The sudden influx of blood to his dead zone made him want to join the rub-a-butt club.
Screw it.He did a deep two-handed massage that hurt so bad it felt good.
Grant’s phone pinged with an incoming text. He fished it out of his pocket. Mackenzie. Wanting an update—again. “Uh, Gray?”
“Yeah?”
“We have to start thinking about what comes next.”
Her rear-end ministrations stopped abruptly, and her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“We have to go—”
“I’m not leaving Tara here.”
“Listen, it’s not safe. We—”
“I’m serious, Grant. I won’t leave her. I have to take her body back to Florida. Her parents…” Unable to continue, but composure still intact, she hit him with a pleading look that was tough to resist.
“It’s too risky, and besides, Mackenzie won’t agree.” He wagged his phone at her. Better to pin the order to leave the warehouse ASAP on Mackenzie than face her wrath alone and defenseless.
She snorted. “That man is wrapped around my ovaries. He’s not going to say no to me.”
Grant wasn’t so sure. The ovaries part okay, wrapped like a sausage in a blanket. The “no” part, he suspected Mackenzie might surprise her on that count.
“Excuse me, Ms. Emerson.” Taking up the entire doorway, Drummond looked like he was ready to make a fast retreat if he had to.
“Yes?”
“I couldn’t help overhear. If you don’t mind, I have a suggestion.” When she didn’t object, he continued. “I can take Ms. Pisani back to Florida.” He rubbed the back of his beefy neck and cleared his throat. “Back to her parents, I mean. I ah, actually, I promised her I would. After…you know…after Davis and I found her. And I’d like to keep my promise. If I could.”
“You brought the doctor in?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Drummond dropped his arm like it was heavy.
“And the cot and clean linens?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know what Tom was planning when he sent me to the airport. I never thought…when we got back, he was gone, and Tara…” Drummond pocketed his shaking hands, and started over. “Because it was the right thing to do, Ms. Emerson.”
Gray exhaled hard and nodded once. “Okay. You go get what we need to transport her.” She turned to Grant. “I go with you after Tara’s taken care of. Deal?”
“Mackenzie’s not going to like this, sunshine.”
“Don’t be such a pussy. And stop fucking calling me sunshine, dickhead.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-NINE
Sittingon the underling’s side of the expansive desk, Adam considered how much better the black-and-white abstract behind Bodak’s head would look with a splash of red.
“I’ve waited long enough. You tell Kincaid to kill the spare and bring Emerson to Charleston tonight. It’s a two-hour drive from Savannah. I want her there by ten.”
Make that a lot of fucking red.“I suggest you wait, sir. We’re in a critical phase of operations. It’s a bad idea to mix business with pleasure. Kincaid can hold the woman in Savannah until—”
