Page 32 of Shocking Sapphires
I scrunched up my nose, “If you had a sister, you would slip her the tongue?”
“Gross! No,” he answered, shaking his head at me. “Kristen and I are good friends that are forced to make out a lot for the cameras. We love to tease and prank each other, so over the years, on different movie sets, we’ve started a thing where we see who can eat the stinkiest food before our love scenes together. It helps ease any awkwardness and makes it fun again. There’s never been anything romantic between us.”
“Really?” I asked, almost daring to believe him.
“Really,” he assured me, before adding, “Would I eat sardines and stinky cheese before kissing someone that I was romantically interested in?”
“I hope not,” I chuckled before asking, “How do you two make the love scenes look so real, if you’re trying to keep from gagging over the stench the whole time?”
“I guess we’re good actors.” He beamed at me before turning serious again and said, “I can’t believe I ever allowed Eva to have the power to manipulate us like that. It sounds like she took advantage of both of our insecurities. I’m sorry for my part in letting it happen.”
“It’s not your fault. I should have been more demanding about getting through to see you, instead of taking her word about how you felt,” I offered.
Brushing back a strand of hair that had loosened from my ponytail and was blowing in the breeze coming in off the water, Grant said, “I just couldn’t imagine why someone as marvelous as you would want to be with me now that I’m damaged goods.”
“Damaged?” I asked him, honestly perplexed how he could possibly think that about himself.
When he looked out toward the water and nodded, I used my index finger to angle his chin back toward me, so that he would see and hear my sincerity. “You are the strongest, most resilient person I have ever known. You have been given an enormous challenge, and you’ve handled it like a champ.”
“I was a total jerk at first,” he tossed in.
“Give yourself a break. You were dealing with a lot. Besides, look at you now. You just defended my honor by beating up a large man who had two working legs.”
Downplaying the feat, Grant said, “He’s a pansy that probably sits at a desk, barking orders all day.”
“Perhaps,” I admitted, before adding, “But he also just had his ass handed to him by a man who has had less than a year to adjust to being in a wheelchair.”
“True,” Grant smiled and nodded, unable to keep the look of pride from sweeping across his face and brightening his handsome features.
Changing the subject, Grant said, “I have a question that I’ve been wanting to ask you for a very long time.”
“What’s that?” I asked, not bothering to keep the bubbling anticipation out of my voice.
“Will you go on a real date with me for a meal outside of a medical facility, Molly Malone?”
I tapped my chin and pretended to think it over, even though I felt like shouting with glee. When the concerned look arose in his eyes, I immediately quelled it by saying, “I would love to, but I have one condition.”
“Anything,” he murmured, leaning his forehead against mine.
“I need to see Scout right now.”
“Agreed,” he answered, smiling as he turned his chair back toward the shore.
30
Grant
This was the most important date of my entire life, and I didn’t want anything to mess it up. I’d asked Bonnie not to interrupt us unless there was an emergency with Scout. I’d hired a personal chef from Portland to drive up the coast and cook us a meal at the bed and breakfast, so we wouldn’t get approached by fans in a restaurant. I’d shaved for the second time that day and put on a tailored suit.
I’d done all I could think of to make tonight perfect. I just hoped that I was enough for Molly. The niggling fear that she might look at me as half a man, despite her best efforts to the contrary, simply wouldn’t go away.
Since I felt bad about making her drive to me, I had my bodyguards surround me, so that I could wait for her in front of the bed and breakfast we’d rented out.
When she emerged from the bright lime green Jeep, I smiled and shook my head at her. Somehow, she could make her favorite tennis shoes look good––even with a cute, swingy little red dress.Did the woman not own any shoes other than Converses?
“What?” she asked as she walked in my direction.
I angled my head toward her over-the-top vehicle. “I guess I’ll be driving my customized hand-controlled truck everywhere we go together. I’d been thinking maybe we should have a wheelchair lift installed in your vehicle, but that thing doesn’t exactly blend in.”
