Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Even though my insides were freaking out, I kept my face stoic. I dropped my lipstick into my purse and walked behind her. Catching her eye in the mirror, I said, “Thanks for the advice. But you’re fooling yourself if you think it took a year for you to get over him. Obviously, you’re still not.”
I walked out of the bathroom and stopped in the hall to catch my breath, feeling completely rattled. Clearly, the woman was still hung up on Grant and wanted to shake things up between us. Oddly, that isn’t what upset me. It was what she’d said about him getting her car for her. For the last few days, I’d been feeling like everything with Grant was good, feeling the first sense of security that maybe he wouldn’t rip my heart out. And why? Because of the simplest thing—he’d done something thoughtful by taking care of my problem with the Building Commission.
Not all that different than getting Shannon’s car out of impound, was it?
Chapter 23
* * *
Grant
Something was off with Ireland. I’d sensed it the other night during dessert, but chalked it up to her being tired since she got up so early in the morning. Yesterday I’d texted to ask if she wanted to catch lunch, and she didn’t respond until long after she was home, claiming she’d been swamped at work. Now today, I could see she had read my message, and yet an hour later, still no response.
So against my better judgment, I walked my ass across the street and took the elevator up to the News floor.
Ireland was standing while talking on the phone when our eyes caught. The change in her expression confirmed my suspicion that something was off. She hung up just as I entered and closed the door behind me.
“I don’t like to come over here because I don’t want to make things difficult for you at work.”
She forced a smile. “I appreciate that.”
“But you leave me no choice when you avoid me.”
“I’m not avoiding you.”
I made a face that said she was full of shit.
Ireland sighed and sat down. “Fine.”
“What’s going on?”
“That woman the other night just freaked me out, I guess.”
My brows drew together. At first I wasn’t even sure who the hell she was referring to. “Shannon?”
She nodded.
“We stopped seeing each other probably two years ago. I had no idea she worked there.”
“I believe you. It’s just something she said.”
I tried to think back, but I couldn’t remember Shannon saying much of anything once Ireland had arrived. “What did she say?”
“She came into the ladies’ room when I was in there and said you guys had dated for six months, not just gone out a few times.”
“I honestly have no idea how long it lasted… Maybe we went out six times over four months, at the most. It sounds like she was trying to make it out to be something more than it was.”
“She also said it took her almost a year to get over you.”
I frowned. “I had no idea she followed you into the ladies’ room. I’m sorry if she felt that way. But like I told you, I was honest with women I had any type of arrangement with from the start.”
“I know. And she said that, too. But…” She shook her head.
This was all my fault. I was fucking things up. Ireland was afraid to be with me because I’d given her no reason to feel secure. The best I’d offered was that I wasn’t sure what I was capable of. If it wasn’t me pulling back, it was her. The two of us were playing a game of perpetual chicken, and it was time for me to either get the hell off the road or say fuck it and crash into her and hang on.
I leaned forward. “I’m crazy about you, Ireland. The only other woman I told that to, I married. I’m sorry for giving you doubt. I know I’ve done that. But…” I made sure to look directly into her eyes. “I want to make it work with you. For the last seven years, I didn’t want to make anything work. I think about you at eleven a.m. when I’m busy in a meeting. The last seven years, I only thought about women at eleven p.m. when I was lonely. There’s a big fucking difference.”
Ireland’s eyes started to water. “I want it to work, too.”
I smiled. “So let’s do that, sweetheart. Let’s just let it work.”
She took a minute, maybe to digest everything I’d said, I wasn’t sure.
But then she smiled. “Okay.”
I let out a breath. “Do you want to get some lunch or what?”
She nodded. “I need about twenty minutes to finish up.”
I stood. “I’ll order us something. Meet me over in my office when you’re done.”
“Okay.”
I turned around to open the door, but I stopped with my hand on the handle. “Take off your underwear before you come. Because when we’re done with lunch, I’m going to eat you on my desk.”