Page 124 of Meet Your Match
And there she was.
Staring right at me.
Those green eyes I’d fallen so easily into that night in Austin were glossy and red, her button-nose the same rosy shade. The bags under her eyes were a terrible shade of purple and gray, her shoulders slumped, bottom lip trembling the longer she stood there without anyone saying a word. She was petite, even in heels, but standing there in flip flops, she was so slight, so small, like a little mouse.
Her long, straight blonde hair that had blurred my vision the night I twirled her around on the dance floor in Austin was a tangled mess, dirty and greasy and dull. She’d covered it with a ripped-up ball cap that said Asshole on it.
But even with her lips in a flat line, I could remember her smile.
I could remember her laugh, her ridiculous dance moves, her even more ridiculous questions.
I remembered everything.
As put out as she looked, her bronze skin still blazed against the white t-shirt she wore, against the tiny jean shorts she paired it with, like she had been at the beach for weeks. Her shirt had a cartoon of an opossum wielding a gun like a cowboy, and the text under it said we ride at dusk.
I would have laughed, if the sight of her didn’t make my chest spark with something possessive and feral.
She looked like hell, like she’d been through hell, and yet she was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
Before I could think better of it, I started toward her — at the very same time Vince did. He gave me a strange look before I stopped in my tracks and he continued on, rushing to his sister and wrapping her in a fierce hug.
Maven turned back to unpacking, giving them privacy, and Carter pretended to be on his phone.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t look away.
Vince pulled back after a moment, holding Grace’s shoulders in his hands as he spoke in a hushed voice to her. She said something back, and then Vince hugged her again, and grabbed her suitcase. They walked down the hall and up the stairs, and when they were gone, Maven blew out a breath.
“That didn’t look good,” she said.
Carter’s mouth pulled to the side as he looked up the stairs and then back at me. His eyes narrowed a bit then, but before he could say a word, Vince was back, running a hand over his head.
“She okay?” Maven asked.
“No,” he said. “But she will be. I told her she could stay here with us.”
“Of course,” Maven said, rounding the kitchen island until she was slipping her arms around Vince’s waist. “For as long as she needs.”
Vince nodded, blowing out a breath and kissing Maven’s forehead. He seemed to relax with her embracing him, but my muscles were coiled tight.
Carter tried to lighten the mood with a joke, and then Will walked in, breaking the tension of the moment as he grumped about it being too hot to play golf. I mumbled something about needing to use the bathroom before we left, excusing myself down the hall.
Then, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching, and I made my way up the stairs two at a time.
Vince’s new place was massive, with so many rooms I wasn’t sure which one he would have put Grace in. But I heard her sniffling through a cracked door toward the middle, and I paused just outside it, rapping my knuckles lightly on the wood.
“Come in,” she said softly, pathetically, her voice hoarse.
I pushed the door open just enough to see her, for her to see me, and then we both froze.
I wasn’t sure what I expected. Maybe it was for her to tell me to fuck off and leave her alone, because when she lit up with a smile, it twisted my gut — like I didn’t deserve that, like it was dangerous for me to want every smile she ever had to give. Her cheeks lifted, eyes crinkling, and two more tears slid down in perfect unison, like the smile had set them free.
“Hey,” she said, and it was just one word, just a greeting. But that smile, the way she watched me, it made me feel like I had the power to make everything okay.
“Who do I have to kill?”
She choked on something between a sob and a laugh, wiping her nose with a bunched-up tissue in her hands. She swiped the tears away next. “He’s not worth the jail time.”
My chest ignited then, the spark turning to flame.
