school was surely eager to get a female member of the STEM field.
“Something wrong?” Sydney asked.
“No, no, just…you know, this is cool.” God, that sounded lame to his own ears.
“Well, when I email her, I’ll tell her—”
“No,” he said before he could think about it. “No, uh, we’ll just have it be a surprise when she agrees to meet, okay?” God, he was a deceitful prick, and he was using his daughter to see the woman he wanted to sleep with again. But Chloe had said he wouldn’t want the real her, and now he was determined to find out who the hell that was.
Sydney shrugged. “Okay, well I gotta catch my bus. Later, Dad!”
He waved halfheartedly, and maybe mumbled a good-bye. He clutched Chloe’s business card, running his fingers over the lettering. There was no phone number. Just an email address. He filed it away in his wallet.
By the afternoon Grant had a headache. A giant one. But he was pretty sure he had reached the daily limit of ibuprofen about three pills ago, so he didn’t think he should take any more. Especially because he was supposed to be working.
His office door at Gamers opened and shut, and then the leather of the chair in front of his desk squeaked. He raised his head.
Austin sat across from him, his elbow propped up on the armrest, his chin in his hand. He stared at Grant with raised eyebrows.
“What?” Grant said irritably.
“You tell me.”
Austin was slightly smug. Grant didn’t like it. “What are you doing here?”
Austin gestured toward the door. “Marley was concerned. She said you’ve been holed up here all day and didn’t flirt once with the hot-ass mail carrier.”
Grant frowned. “I don’t flirt with her.”
“Yes you do. And she said you got the Erotech advertising account—congrats on that—but that you didn’t do that little jig thing you usually do when you land big accounts.”
“It’s called a Riverdance,” Grant mumbled.
Austin ignored him. “So what’s going on?”
Grant harrumphed and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair. “Since when do you pop in to my office to talk about my feelings?”
Austin didn’t hesitate. “Since Marley’s in my bed and she told me to get in here.”
Grant squinted his eyes. “So this is under duress.”
Austin tilted his head. “Somewhat. But I do care why you’re acting like a hermit.”
Grant ran his finger along the edge of a yellow notepad, just so he didn’t have to look at Austin. He could email Chloe. He had her email address but somehow that seemed very lame in light of what they had done. And what would he even say in the email?
“It’s a woman,” he blurted out to Austin.
Silence. Grant slowly lifted his gaze. His best friend stared at him with a passive face.
Grant scowled. “No response?”
“You said three words. I’m going to need more so I know how to react properly.”
Sometimes Grant wanted to punch Austin. “I met a woman and she’s under my skin, but she doesn’t want me. At least I don’t think she wants me.”
Austin’s face changed now, softening slightly. He leaned forward. “And you want more?”
“I guess I’d like the chance to get to know her better. It’s complicated but she isn’t comfortable being herself around me.”
“And you can’t convince her?”
Grant threw up his hands. “I have no idea. But Austin, man, she’s beautiful and smart as hell. In bed, she’s…” Grant stared out the window of his office, picturing Chloe’s long hair draped down her back in the hotel room in Philadelphia, then her breasts bared to him in the supply closet of the club, and the sight of her braced against the wall in his house, ass pushed out for him. Just him. “In bed, she’s out of this world,” he finished, thinking that phrase didn’t even come close to what Chloe was like when she let herself go.
Austin sighed. “You’re a persuasive guy. You can’t give up this easily. Imagine if I would have given up on Marley.”
Grant wasn’t so sure it was in his power to talk to Chloe. And even though the thought made him want to hurl, maybe Ethan was his only hope in this whole mess. Grant wished he could just forget about her, and return to his uncomplicated life but he simply couldn’t. He’d seen glimpses of the Chloe she seemed intent on hiding—the loving sister, the smart businesswoman, the caring mentor. He wanted her to let him in.
Grant tapped his fingers on his desk. “You’re right. Maybe