Page 13 of Sweet Temptation (Men of Honor 2)
“No shit?” Kayla asks, seeming surprised by the fact.
We all chuckle, but I sober quickly. “Yeah, he can actually be quite sweet. He’s been real good to me; has said some awfully nice things,” I pause for a moment, before I confess, “I told him about my Mama. Also told him about my Dad too.”
“Holy shit, really?” Kayla asks in shock. Julia looks surprised as well. “I know. I was just as shocked. But he’s real easy to talk to.”
“Well that doesn’t surprise me. I’ve always known there’s more to Sawyer than his charm and insane good looks. He was amazing to me when Jaxson went off the deep-end about the baby.” Julia goes quiet for a minute then asks, “Did he tell you about when he, Cade and Jaxson were held captive?”
My eyes bug out and I shake my head, “No! They were?”
I knew Jaxson had gotten hurt in the line of duty, but I didn’t know it was that awful. Julia’s eyes fill with sadness, “Yes. I don’t know much of the story, and, to be honest, I don’t want to either. It was real awful, and Jaxson bears some very horrendous scars from it. I imagine both Sawyer and Cade bear the same ones.”
My heart becomes heavy and my stomach twists at the thought of someone hurting Sawyer… or any of the guys for that matter.
We all sit in a gloomy silence now, and I decide to drop another bombshell on them: “I contacted my father.” Both of their heads snap up in surprise at me. “I sent him a letter last week because I was too scared of being rejected in person. But his assistant called me yesterday; he wants to meet me for supper tomorrow night. His driver is pickin’ me up at seven.” I smile, feeling happy he didn’t reject me.
Julia smiles back and reaches for my hand again. “That’s great, Grace.”
Kayla clears her throat nervously, “Grace, girl, you know I love you and I’m real happy for you. But… have you thought about if it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to? Not that I think it will, but I think you should just be prepared, in case it doesn’t. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
I nod, understanding her concern. “I have thought about it, but why else would he want to meet me? And I also think that if he doesn’t want me in his life, well… then nothing changes in mine, right?”
Reaching out, she places her hand over Julia’s and mine. “Right. He will be a fool if that’s the case, but I’m sure it isn’t. I’m sure he will know a good thing when he sees it.”
“Thanks, Kayla,” I respond quietly. Seriously these girls are the best.
I turn to address Julia now, “Ummm, Julia? Do you think it would be all right if I borrowed one of your nicer dresses again? This restaurant seems pretty fancy and I really want to make a good impression.”
“Of course you can, but, Grace, if you showed up in pajamas you would still make a good impression. Anyone who meets you knows you’re a special person, no matter what you’re wearing.”
“Damn straight,” Kayla adds.
My throat goes tight at their kind words. “Thanks y’all. I think you girls are pretty special too.”
We all smile at one another. “All right, enough of this sappy shit, let’s move on to a more fun topic, like getting Sawyer to give Grace her first big O.”
We burst out laughing at Kayla’s change of topic.
“Wait, hold that thought!” Kayla says, putting her hand up. “First thing I want to know is: how the hell have you not masturbated after reading the shit you do?” she asks in regards to the book I lent her.
I feel myself turn beet red. “I’m serious, Grace, that was some major sexy shit! You have got to give me more of it! Even Coop wants to thank you. I attacked the shit out of him every time I picked the damn thing up.”
Julia and I both chuckle. “This sounds juicy, Grace, I need to borrow it now.”
“Of course you can. It’s a real great love story.”
“And the sex is fucking hot!” Kayla adds. “Believe me, Grace, we need to get Sawyer going on this. The real thing is so much better than reading about it,” she says with a wink.
I laugh again, and I’m not going to lie, a sharp ache starts between my legs at the thought of Sawyer doin’ anything to me.
“What the fuck is with you, man? You have been in a weird fucking mood all day,” Jaxson asks as we screw in drywall at the gym. Cade and Cooper glance over at me, clearly wondering the same thing.
“I just have a lot of shit on my mind lately.”
Ever since Grace’s confession the other night, I’ve been in a bad mood. I try hiding it when I’m around her, but it’s fucking hard.
With the devil… Her words constantly replay in my head, making me conjure up all sorts of fucking terrible images at what that meant.
I’ve been worrying about her all day because I know she’s meeting her useless father tonight, and I have a bad fucking feeling it isn’t going to go well.
“Did Julia ever tell you about how Grace’s mom died?”
Cooper snaps his head in my direction again and Cade stops what he’s doing to listen.
Jaxson shakes his head, “No, but I did try getting it out of her. She wouldn’t budge; said she didn’t want to betray her trust.”
I understand where Julia is coming from and if it were anyone else in this room with me I wouldn’t share this either. “She was raped and murdered.”
“Holy fuck, are you serious?” he asks with a mixture of shock and rage. Cade’s eyes go dark too, which I knew would, since that shit is already a touchy subject for him.
Cooper though, doesn’t seem all that shocked. “You knew,” I state to him.
“Yeah I did. I knew before the girls. When Kayla told me she suspected Grace was alone, and something had happened, I looked into it. It’s not hard to find, anyone could Google it. It was fucking splashed all over the news for months, so there’s a lot of information out there. But I was able to see the case file.”
