Page 56 of The Sweetest Obsession

Almost like years haven’t been lost in time, tossing us back to those easier days when we’d spent our evenings together.

And if it wasn’t for the gaping chasm left by Ethan missing, I’d smile.

The drive to Grant’s cottage is short enough. I mean, technically every drive through Redhaven is pretty short.

I curl up silently in the passenger seat, basking in the warmth coming from the heating vents. Grant stays silent and brooding.

I try not to let him catch those little glances I throw him from the corner of my eye, desperate to read his mind.

What’s he thinking now?

Does he sense the same tension in the air?

He’s certainly turning over something in that big head of his. His brows always stitch together a stark line when he’s deep in thought like gathering thunderheads.

And now that he’s sporting this full, thick beard, it just adds another layer when his beard twitches, grinding his jaw like he can chew on those ideas until he gets to the truth.

I’m sneaky as I glance at him, but I get the feeling he knows I’m watching.

Do you know how long I’ve been watching you, though?

Do you know how much I wanted to know you before everything turned so crappy?

Sigh.

I’m not supposed to do this again.

I know I’m not.

I’m not supposed to be having warm, fuzzy feelings for Grant like I’m a kid with a crush all over again. Especially not after he’s knocked around my heart like a tiger with a ping-pong ball.

But he’s always been the compass, hasn’t he?

The lodestone that draws me back.

No matter how much older and wiser and more immune to impulsive emotions I’d like to think I am, I’m still helpless to resist his magnetism.

When I was young and stupid, I used to think we were made for each other.

That I was the only one who could understand him because I was the only one besides Ethan who ever really tried.

Then I grew up and found out that broody men like Grant don’t want to be understood.

They’re content to be these enigmas put on the Earth to drive women like me insane.

Honestly, they’re a little like self-absorbed children who don’t quite realize relationships are a two-way street—even friendships—and it’s not all about finding people who are just sidekicks along for the ride with a moody, intense, mute main character.

Yeah.

In case it wasn’t obvious, my post-Redhaven love life hasn’t been stellar. When I think about the men I’ve dated ever since I left, my stomach twists with a truth I hate.

I’ve always been trying to find another Grant.

Someone who’s snarly and blunt and kind of a dick.

But actions speak louder than words.

Grant’s actions have always hinted that under his grouchy surface there’s a kind, thoughtful man who puts others first.

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