Page 44 of Flare Up
“You must have started working at the salon after the last time I searched for you,” he said, and she looked up from the cards she was shuffling. “What? You’re surprised I looked for you?”
“I...I don’t know. I guess maybe I thought you’d be too angry.”
“I was pissed. But I was also scared because, even if you wanted to break things off with me, the way you did it seemed so out of character for you that I wanted to make sure you were okay. So yeah, I tried to find you.” He paused to take a swig of his beer. “But it was painful and eventually I told myself if you’d wanted me to know where you were, you would have told me, and I stopped looking.”
“I’m sorry.”
He hated that pained expression on her face. “I know, and I didn’t mean to drag it all out there again. Since you know there’s a chance he knows you work at that salon, just be vigilant. If you get scared, call me. If you think something’s wrong, call 9-1-1 and then call me.”
“I’d feel stupid if it was nothing.”
Grant reached out and grabbed her wrist as she went to deal the cards so she’d look at him. “I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that the police would rather respond to a false alarm than get there after the fact because the victim talked herself out of calling. I mean it.”
Her gaze locked with his and he knew she meant it when she nodded. “I promise, if I feel unsafe at all, I’ll call 9-1-1. And then I’ll call you.”
“Good.” He let go of her wrist and blew out a breath that turned into a wry chuckle. “Do I know how to suck the fun out of game night or what?”
“Stop.” She dealt the cards, and then glanced at him. “It’s kind of sexy, having you worry about me like that.”
“Really?” He liked the sound of that. “How sexy?”
She gave him that slow, sensual smile that made everything else fade away until it was just the two of them, just the way he liked it. “Everything about you is sexy.”
“Wanna play strip gin rummy?”
Her musical laugh drove the lingering shadow of her ex away as she shook her head. “One, I don’t know how you would even score that. And two, you’re fully dressed and I’m wearing two articles of clothing.”
“It’s easy to score. If I win, I get to choose which article of clothing you take off. If you win, you get to choose which article of clothing you take off.”
“You suck at gin, so—” She stopped when what he’d said sunk in and he laughed. “Hey!”
In the end it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d agreed to the stripping or not because he didn’t win a game. He didn’t care, though. Wren was more competitive than he was, and he got a kick out of watching that victory shimmy, and she was pretty good at trash talking for a woman who didn’t watch a lot of sports.
When she got bored with beating him, she got up and carried the paper plates from their pizza to the trash. He watched her go, admiring the way the hem of the sweatshirt flirted with her thighs and wished like hell she’d drop something and have to bend over to pick it up.
But she didn’t, and then she started puttering around the kitchen. He couldn’t let her do that alone, so he pushed back from the table and walked over to her. His intention had been to stop her from trying to wash the few dishes sitting in his sink, but when he got there, he couldn’t stop himself from putting his hands on her waist and dropping his mouth to that bare shoulder. He kissed her there, nipping at the skin lightly, as she dropped her head to the side to give him access to her neck.
“I won more games than you tonight,” she said in a breathy voice. “You know what that means.”
“It means I get to take off your clothes now?”
She laughed, and then sucked in a breath when he caught her earlobe between his teeth. “Since I won, that means later you get to strip for me. But that’s after the movie.”
He groaned and dropped his forehead to her shoulder. “I was hoping you forgot about that.”
“It’s a comedy, Grant. I don’t think anything blows up, but it’s not about women traveling to find themselves, either. You can do it.” When he started kissing her shoulder again, his hands sliding down to the hem of the sweatshirt, she sidestepped away from him. “And no, we’re not watching it naked because I actually want to see the movie.”
He poured them fresh drinks while she flipped through the on-screen menu to find the movie he’d agreed to watch. If they’d already decided on gin rummy, he never would have agreed to the wager. If they’d played chess tonight, which she sucked at, she’d be baking him snickerdoodles right now.
But once they were settled on the couch, his feet up on the table and Wren snuggled against his side, he had to admit he didn’t really care who won what because the real prize was having her with him. It didn’t matter if they baked cookies, watched movies with no action or washed the damn floor. Any day she was with him was a good day.
“Did you tell Gavin we’re up for going out?” she asked during a lull in the movie.
“Yeah. Cait’s going to look at her schedule and then she’ll probably get with you and you two can figure it out. She wants it to be a real date night, I guess.”
“Good.” She smiled up at him. “I like real dates with you.”
“We could have gone out tonight if you wanted.”
