black leather skirt with cutouts down the sides showing tan skin that made me want to run my fingers through every single loop. Below the sexy leather was a pair of thigh-high black boots that belonged in some ‘70s rerun. Her black cropped top showed off her flat stomach and belly button ring I’d once, for a brief moment, had the pleasure of teasing with my tongue. On top of that, she’d put on her battle makeup. She was beautiful with and without makeup, but today her eyeliner was curling up at the corners, making me think of Adele and Taylor Swift and Gwen Stefani. All musical greats who had, at one time or another, aced the cat-eye look.
“You look stunning!” Khiley said, glancing down at her sweatshirt and jeans with a grimace.
“Thanks,” Grace said as she came farther into the room with Cole following her.
Grace and Cole together were like oxymorons. She was small and tiny, and he was tall and lanky. Easily six feet, six inches, he belonged on a basketball court. The only similarities between them were the dark, wavy hair and the lean muscles they both sported.
“Cole, right?” Khiley said. He nodded with a small smile.
I didn’t waste two seconds on Cole. Cole and I were fine. Cole and I were never not fine. But Grace. Grace and I… My heart snagged. I wanted to pull her up against me, hold on tight, and not let her go until she’d listened to my apology in person. Until she acknowledged we could fix this.
“Grace… God, you look good,” I said with a sigh, stepping toward her. Not only did she look good, but she also smelled good, like she’d bottled the California sunshine and brought it with her.
“Asshole,” Grace returned, but she was at least looking at me.
Unfortunately, the look was full of anger. Anger that was hiding the hurt. Because I had hurt her. I’d hurt her more than I’d ever thought I could, and all I wanted to do―with every single inch of my being―was to make it right. To take away the pain and replace it with love.
I wasn’t sure she’d ever let me.
Grace
LAST CHRISTMAS
“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away.”
Performed by Wham
Written by George Michael
My heart had been a stampede since we’d landed in Tennessee the night before. I was glad to be leaving Dad and Mom behind for a few days. It would give me time to get my act together. As it was, both my parents had been giving me, “What’s up?” looks for the last two weeks as my nervousness at coming here had ratcheted up notch by notch.
Up until now, I’d been able to blame it on the script we were editing. Both my parents understood that revising the screenplay we’d pitched to Dylan Waters came with a lot of pressure. Pressure to keep the deal Cole, the Asshole, and I had gotten with Dylan’s production company. We were lucky to have even gotten a meeting with him to begin with, let alone a deal. We’d gotten the meeting in a good, old-fashioned bout of “who knew who” because my almost uncle, Keith, had worked for him for years, and because the Asshole’s uncle was Dylan’s brother. But Dylan had made the deal with us because our musical spoke for itself. It was going to hit it big at the box office. I felt it in my bones.
Letting my parents have the misconception about the screenplay was the only thing I could do. I sure as hell couldn’t tell them the real reason I was a bundle of nerves. I couldn’t tell them because I was still embarrassed and hurt and angry. I couldn’t tell them because I was pretty sure Dad would end up killing the Asshole the next time he saw him. And let’s face it, they’d be seeing him because we were making a movie together. It was going to be inevitable.
I hardly heard Cole as we drove out to the ranch. My brain was focused on fight or flight. I was trying to figure out what I was going to say―or not say―when I got there.
I parked the car, turned off the engine, and sat for a minute.
Cole already had the door open, and he looked back inside when I didn’t open mine.
“Grace?”
I ignored him.
He sat back down. I could feel him looking at me, but I didn’t return it.
“I know you still hate him right now.”
“Don’t,”