that he was freshly shaven—after scraping her inner thighs with his morning stubble as he “kissed” her awake that morning—or how he’d styled his hair or any of that. It was his confidence, his smile, and honestly, how damned excited he was to be talking about this stuff.
He’d said she looked beautiful when she was serving the bakery customers and especially when they chose her cakes out of the display case. Now she understood. Watching Grant in his element, happy and excited and doing something he was clearly passionate about, and very good at, was a turn-on. Plain and simple. He looked hot talking about money.
Not because she cared about money—she so didn’t—but because he did. And more, he cared about these people. She’d had no idea what these seminars were about. She never would have believed that someone could make money personal like this and that they might care about the people sitting in the straight-backed hotel conference room chairs. But clearly, Grant did. He was part educator, part life coach, part cheerleader up there. He was teaching them about their finances, but he was also preaching that they not only should take control of their money but that they could. They had that power. They didn’t need anyone taking care of them. If they were in control of their money, they were in control of their life. And he was going to help them get there.
She had to know more about him now. Why was he so passionate about this? There was a story there, and she couldn’t wait to hear it. He was fascinating.
He was gruff and serious and protective and bossy, but he was also sweet and, dammit, romantic and passionate and so, so sexy.
Josie sighed and sat back in her chair, watching him up on the raised platform at the front of the room with the headset microphone, pacing in front of the screen that displayed his PowerPoint slides.
He was a grumpy, suit-wearing, money guy from the big city. Who, it turned out, did like her cupcakes, but could show amazing restraint around them.
And yes, she was never going to get over him.
They took an hour-long lunch break where everyone was on their own for finding food in the various restaurants in the area. Grant bought Josie a salad in the hotel dining room and they chatted as they ate.
“So how did this all happen?” she asked, waving her fork in the general direction of the conference room.
“The seminars?” he asked.
“Yes. Your passion for helping women become financially independent.”
“My sister and grandma,” he said. He sipped his iced tea then met her gaze. “My grandma was widowed at age forty-eight. Really young. She’d never even balanced the checkbook when my grandpa died of a heart attack in the backyard while mowing the lawn.”
Josie felt her eyebrows rise. “Wow.”
He nodded. “She didn’t know where their life insurance policies were, where the key to the safe deposit box was—nothing. She was completely scared. So she quickly started another relationship. She was afraid of being alone and thought she needed someone to take care of her. Ten years later, he stole a bunch of her money and left her for a much younger woman. Very cliché.”
Josie frowned. “Oh my God.”
He nodded. “I watched her struggle after that, not just financially but also with her self-esteem. She felt stupid and used. She dated on and off but had a hard time trusting anyone, obviously. Finally, when I was old enough, I decided to teach her everything she needed to know about managing her money and her finances. I wanted her to be totally secure in that and how to take care of herself. I taught her everything from interest rates to taxes to investments. We’ve played the stock market together for about ten years now.” He smiled. “Once she felt confident and secure financially, she was able to find a guy she really liked who she could get close to—because she didn’t have to worry about him scamming her. Because she knew everything about her accounts and her money and could make all of those decisions completely on her own.” He shrugged. “So they signed a prenup and got married about three years ago.”
Josie smiled at that. “Wow. That’s pretty amazing.”
He smiled.
“What about your sister?”
Josie watched his eyes harden with that question. “My sister was in a flat-out abusive relationship,” he said. “Corey wasn’t physically abusive, but he was emotionally and financially abusive. She never had money of her