Page 36 of Give Me More
She didn’t break eye contact. “I would’ve expected you to ask me for an explanation and then wait until I provided it to decide how you were going to react.”
He dragged a hand down the back of his head. “Well, it’s done. I apologized and we can move on.”
“Yes, we can,” she said. “We can move on.” Grace stood from the chair and went to the door. “I’m really tired now and I told Nina that I’d meet the girls in Riley’s room by seven tomorrow.”
RJ didn’t stand immediately, but he did look at her. For an instant she thought it was the same shocked and confused look he’d given her that night at the restaurant, but no, this look was different. It was disappointment and despondence. She wasn’t sure how much of that was attributed to her or what he’d just found out about his parents, but the fact still remained that everything between them was different now.
“You’re angry,” he said when he finally came to stand in front of her.
“No,” she said, and to prove her point she smiled. “I just don’t want to make the same mistakes I made before, so I’m telling you how I feel this time.” Against the incessant pounding of her heart, and the panic of losing what just hours ago she’d been ecstatic to find with him again, her brain insisted she keep going. “We should take some time to figure out if this is what we really want. This forever love the people around us seem to have. Because I don’t know, RJ. I don’t feel like I know anything about this anymore.”
He stepped closer to her. “You’re afraid.”
Irritated that he continued to blame everything she did or said on fear, she snapped, “And so are you! Which is why you could so quickly jump to the wrong conclusions about me. You’re afraid that what we’ve been doing these last two weeks and all that it’s made you feel might’ve been a mistake. You want what your brothers and sister have, but you’re afraid it won’t work out that way for you again. So yelling at me and threatening me came as your natural defense.”
And it had cut through her like a hot blade, leaving her to deal with the hurt she supposed she’d inflicted on him all those years ago.
His eyes glittered with intensity, his lips forming a tight line. “I wasn’t lying about how I feel about you and that has nothing to do with two weeks or ten damn years. I loved you then and I love you now.”
He was standing close, so close she could reach up and touch his face, put her finger on that muscle in his jaw that jumped as he clenched his teeth.
“I didn’t lie about my feelings, either. But you know what, RJ? We were in love before. And that wasn’t enough.”
“Grace—”
“This time, before we go any further, we should make sure we have what it takes to make it work. Because if not, we shouldn’t put each other through another ten years of heartbreak.”
He looked like he didn’t know how to respond to that. She didn’t really know what else to say, either. There was a dull ache in her chest and she was still feeling like a breakdown was imminent. She needed to get him out of here because the last thing she wanted was for RJ to see how badly he’d hurt her.
“I don’t want to lose you, Grace. Not again.” His words were so sincere, and Grace wanted nothing more than to fall into his arms and say that all was well, but it wasn’t.
When he was gone, she locked the door and sat on the couch, dropping her head into her hands. She hadn’t trusted him with her feelings about her career in the past, and tonight he hadn’t trusted her to keep her word. Did that mean they shouldn’t be together? She didn’t know. Was she overreacting? She wasn’t sure. Was everything she was feeling in this place, amid all the wedding excitement, wreaking havoc with her emotions and the commitment she’d made to her career? Possibly.
It was all so confusing and exhausting. All Grace knew for certain was that the man she loved had just walked out that door and she was sitting here feeling like he probably had years ago—that love was a cruel joke and she no longer wanted any part of it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Four monthslater
Manhattan, New York
“ICAN’TBELIEVEyou’re still acting like this,” Maurice said. He was standing near the door of the suite RJ had reserved at the Park Lane Hotel, where Ron and Marva’s anniversary party was being held.
RJ looked in the mirror one last time, adjusting his bow tie and then smoothing his hand over his beard. “I got this,” he told his brother.
Major, who was lounging in the chair across the room, laughed. “You always say that.”
RJ turned to face both of them. “And I always mean it.”
“Yeah, but we haven’t seen Grace since Saint Lucia and we know the two of you are in love, so what gives? Are you getting her back or are you just gonna sit on your ass like you did before and let her get away again?” Maurice wasn’t known to mince words.
“My love life is none of your business,” RJ said, enjoying the perplexed look on Maurice’s face.
“I mean, you can’t still be upset with her,” Major interjected. “The story that appeared in the paper was touching and painted Dad and Tobias as trailblazers and role models. It even spotlighted how much influence Mom had on the business in the early years. We’ve received nothing but good press behind it.”
That was true. The week after Riley’s wedding, the story had been printed in theDaily Gazetteand posted on all digital media outlets. The Golds and the Kings were making headlines once more, but this time it was in a way that would ensure their story would go down in history. To RJ and the rest of the family’s surprise, a few photos from their outings in Saint Lucia and one photo of both families together at the wedding were also released with the story. Riley had called from her honeymoon in Venice to tell them she and Chaz had approved the pictures and worked out an agreement with Grace to have them released with her story.
“The good press made up for that mind-blowing admission Mom gave just before the wedding,” Maurice added with a rare frown on his face.
