I held my hand up to stop him from going into further detail about swimming cats, though. “No, I know that part,” I said while scooting off the bed. I gave Robert one more rub behind the ears before we walked out, promising I’d be back in a bit. “But I’m blown away that you looked into all of this. How did you have time? How long were you really planning all this?”
In a lot of ways, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to that. Had Grant been looking into this charter for a long time? If so, why? Had my eventual meltdown been that obvious—or was his motive threaded into something else? Something like…desire?
For me?
That last notion got dismissed as soon as we sat down to eat. The simplest answer was usually the truth about something—and for this, the simplest solution also brought the deepest dagger to my chest.
Grant had this floating resort on standby because he’d used it with other women.
Whisked them all away for decadent cruises because he could. And because they were willing and wanton and beautiful. Not frazzled and fucked up and confused.
“Well, Elijah was a lot of help on arranging things,” Grant explained while pouring me a glass of juice. “The man has connections you can’t imagine. But when I finally nailed down the charter, they asked if there would be pets coming along. That reminded me to go back to your place to get the little guy.”
And maybe, just maybe, all of this was really a last-minute thing. I let myself believe it for a little while longer, grinning before I asked, “So…you did?” I tacked on a laugh, because the mental image of the Tree in his suit, crawling through my bushes to find Robert, was too delicious to resist.
Grant squashed the vision with a fast head shake. “In the end, Elijah ended up having to do that too—so I could stay with you. Which, of course, I now owe him for, and in a big way.”
“Oh no.” I giggled harder. “What happened?”
“I don’t think they will be exchanging Christmas cards anytime soon, let’s just put it that way.” He loaded a piece of quiche on his plate and looked to me in question. I shrugged, and he dished me a piece before continuing. “Apparently, Elijah’s allergic to cats.”
My mouth dropped open. A new gasp tumbled out. “And he didn’t tell you?”
“He didn’t know,” Grant protested.
“Well, crap,” I muttered. “I guess he does now?” I slanted a questioning glance his way. “And do I want to know why you’re getting so much entertainment out of that?”
“Just the mental image he painted when we talked. Banks is a tough guy, as you’ve probably figured out by now. The fact that a little fluffy kitty had him sneezing and wheezing and breaking out in hives on his model-perfect skin? I don’t know… It cracks me up.”
I just shook my head, grinning as he laughed harder, telling me the details.
“Makes me sound like an asshole, huh?” He looked abashed, trying to school his features.
“Not really. I’ve seen the way you guys go at each other.”
“Are you going to eat any of that or just push it from one side of your plate to the other?” Grant asked, abruptly changing the subject and bringing the attention to the food I’d been toying with. My stomach just wasn’t interested in the fluffy egg pie in front of me.
“Oh, here we go,” I said, putting my fork down with a clatter.
“Blaze.” He sighed, setting his own fork down with careful grace compared to my toddler tantrum style. “I’ve said a few times now, this trip is about you relaxing and getting away from the stressors back in LA. But there are a few things I’m going to have to insist on.” He held his hand up to tick off the items—finger by long, capable, sexy, and strong finger.
I shook my head a bit to refocus my concentration. Pretty sure his fingers’ talents weren’t going to be on the list he was about to lay out for me.
“You with me, Blaze?” He chuckled and waited for me to respond. All he got was my best glower, however. He knew damn well what he was doing to me. Scrambling my brain and my libido until I didn’t know which one to listen to anymore.
“Can you swim?” I asked breezily.
“You want to go swimming? Now?” He sounded genuinely confused. Not a tone I