Authors: Elizabeth Moore
Teryn stared at the floor. Al’s words sank in, a hundred
thoughts swirled in her brain, but only one stood out. He was right. Grant had
told her that nothing was ever perfect, but that didn’t mean the world came to
an end. He had been right too. It hadn’t been perfect, and it wasn’t what she’d
expected, but the way she felt about him hadn’t ended. The way she still wanted
to be with him. The way she’d spent the last few nights feeling so empty, so
hollow, wanting nothing more than to see him show up on her doorstep, beg her
to take him back, just to see him. The way she kept playing those words he’d
said over and over in her head.
I want to see you right there with me Teryn,
watching you live every minute with me. I love you.
“Al, how long does it take to get to New Zealand?”
It had been so much easier than she thought it would,
throwing a few clothes into a small bag, booking a flight that left right now.
Finding the hotel online that Al had scribbled down on a piece of paper before
she ran out of her house, with his instructions.
“Just go. I will make sure there is a key to his room
waiting at the desk.”
“How are you going to manage that?”
“Leave that to me, honey, leave that to me. You just make
sure you grab this and don’t ever let go of it, you promise me?”
“I promise, Al, I promise.” The words sounded strong, even
if her heart was faint. She felt crazy, totally bat-shit crazy and unsure if
this was the right move, but if nothing else, Grant had at least helped her
learn to be fearless. Not just for herself, but she also owed him one last
chance to see what the real truth was. Not the tabloid Grant Callahan, but the
man she had learned to love, the one who seemed to loom behind the scenes in
all that drama she’d read in the envelope.
“That’s my girl, now get that skinny ass on the plane. I’ll
deal with everything here, you better have packed something hot to wear!” he
called out after her as she ran out the door, tossing him her house keys.
The trip was long and tense. She didn’t really think he
would turn her away, but she hadn’t exactly ever traveled across the entire
planet before, chasing the man she’d just sent packing. Hell, she’d never
chased any man, anywhere.
Her nerves didn’t settle through the airport, customs, the
pouring Kiwi rain, or finally getting to the hotel two hours after leaving the
airport. She felt exhausted. She prayed the key was at the desk because she had
no idea what she’d do if it wasn’t. The man who helped her was pleasant, and
when she told him she was there for Callahan, that someone should have called
ahead, he said “Certainly, Mrs. Callahan, we have your key for you, welcome to
New Zealand!” She about fell on the floor.
The hotel was nice, kind of normal actually, she mused,
unsure what she had expected. Now that she knew he was part of one of the
biggest family dynasties in the entire US, she felt a bit intimidated. Dealing
with people with money had never been one of her strong points. She usually was
nowhere near socially acceptable enough for them, and now she had been shacked
up with probably one of the top ten richest men in America. Great. In truth, if
he hadn’t signed that damn piece of paper she’d seen, she may have considered walking
away just on the grounds that he
did
have that much money.
How’s that for a switch, sweetheart?
She let herself into the room, hesitating at the door, she
had no idea if he would be there or not, and for an instant, even had the
grindingly painful thought, what if there is a woman here? The room was quiet.
It looked just like Grant. Almost nothing personal there,
just a room. How could a man with a fortune and a family like his always live
so sparsely, with almost nothing? A few clothes draped over the chair, a
really, really big pile of food wrappers in the trash and a rumpled bed. That
was it. It reminded her why she’d decided to come. He had needed very little
the entire time they were together, material things obviously meant nothing to
him. The one thing she had learned, intimately, that he craved beyond anything
else, was someone to share things with. Not someone, her.
She put her bag down, wondering what to do. She didn’t have
any clue where he was, when he’d be back, who he’d be with. Taking a deep
breath, she decided that everything they’d done together so far had been a
complete shock, a complete challenge, stepping out on a limb. Why not now? She
started taking off her clothes. Moving fast, afraid he might show up in the
middle of it, she fished the black lace panties and bra he’d bought her out of
her bag and put them on. Well, here goes nothing, she thought as she stretched
out on the bed. She spied his shirt on the chair next to the bed, and just
couldn’t resist reaching for it, inhaling deep the smell of him. God, she’d
missed that, missed him. Even with her nerves, after a few minutes she was
having trouble staying awake. The flight had been long and jet lag started
setting in.
“Do you think it’s her?”
Teryn heard the whispered voice. Trying to climb out of her
groggy sleep, she kept her eyes closed, half frozen in fear because that voice
was not Grant’s.
“Gotta be, he hasn’t looked at anyone since he got here.
Sheila sure ain’t a race slag, eh?”
A different voice. A Kiwi, sort of. The accent was almost
right, but mixed with something odd.
“It’s got to be her. No one ever leaves me a present like
that laying in my bed, I can tell you.” The first one again. American, young.
“What present?” The sound of that rich, deep,
smooth-as-honey voice rocked through her and her eyes flew open. She sucked in
a breathy “oh” as she faced two of the most incredibly chiseled, handsome men
she’d ever laid eyes on, next to Grant that is. One was an extremely tall,
graceful-looking dark-eyed man with deep caramel-colored skin. His thick biceps
were covered with black swirling tribal tattoos and the left side of his
forehead as well. He had big, perfect white teeth. Grinning at her as if he
wanted to eat her with them. Nolo. Had to be, he was exactly what Grant had
described.
A smaller, younger, carbon copy of the thick frame, and
unruly black hair of her Grant was directly next to him, flashing a pair of
smoky, slate-gray eyes. Also grinning.
“Teryn, I presume?” the young one asked.
That was the exact minute Grant chose to come around the
corner from the little hallway entry, the question of what present was on his
bed barely off his lips. He froze.
“Uh, yes. Teryn. Hi.” She curled her legs up, suddenly
feeling modest as she realized she wore only the black bra and panties, and
nothing else.
“So, so, so damn glad to meet ya, Teryn,” Nolo said,
shooting out a brawny hand at her.
“No kidding! Thank fucking gawd!” Laughed the spitting image
of Grant, smacking the other one on the back.
“What? I mean, you too, I think.” She felt abject terror and
a bit of humor all at the same time. “Uh, why?”
“Because, this motherfucker,” the tall one turned to face
Grant, “has been wallowing for days. We can’t get a decent train in for
nothing. He’s been ear-bashin’ us about nothing but you, darlin. Dragging arse,
total whinger, fucking lost his paddle yesterday. Maybe now that you’re here,
he’ll straighten his arse up.”
“Uh, Nolo?” Grant’s face was dark, he spoke to his friend,
but looked only at her, eyes storming.
“Yeah?”
“Get the fuck out of my room. Now. You too, Tate.”
“Oh. Righto. See ya, mate. Nice to meet ya, Teryn. Don’t let
him go ’til you’ve given him a proper wringing out, eh girl? He needs a good
bonk, we’ve got a race in two days!”
“Now!” Grant roared. The two men scuttled their shapely
asses out the door, laughing like a couple of teenagers.
Grant moved closer, crossing his arms over his chest. His
eyes were that dusky midnight-blue, still storming. There was no anger on his
face, in fact he wasn’t giving anything away. Until he licked his lips. Damn,
she loved it when he did that.
“You fly fourteen hours here to steal my shirt?” He cocked
one eyebrow at her.
She looked down at the rumpled shirt she still had clutched
to her chest.
If he couldn’t be the one to break the distance that had
sprung up between them, she could. “No, I’m here to steal back the man who made
me fall in love with him. No matter what his name is, I love him and I need
him.”
Teryn watched him melt right there in front of her. His eyes
softened and fluttered closed. He let out a huge exhale, as if he’d been
holding it for days, and a small smile curved his lips. The ones she was dying
to kiss, the ones she’d missed so badly. He looked down at her again.
“You want to replace that shirt with the real thing?”
“God, do I ever.” She was in his arms before she finished
the words, throwing herself on him.
“I’m sorry.” They said it at the same time.
“Teryn…” He held her back from him, looking into her face.
“I love you. Do you know that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I hurt you. It’s
been killing me since the last time I saw you, standing there with those damn
tears running down your face. As obnoxious as I can be, you have no idea what
the hell that did to me, knowing it was my fault you were in that much pain. “
“You know, I’ve thought about that, well, pretty much
nothing but. I was so angry at you, I felt so, I don’t know, like you thought I
wasn’t good enough to tell me. Then I started to realize, if I had known, none
of this would have happened. You were right, I really wouldn’t have given you a
chance. I think you wouldn’t have been the way you were with me, either.”
“I wouldn’t have. I didn’t know how.”
“I know that now. You told me that once but I didn’t really
understand until I saw you that night. I didn’t know that man, not at all. You
were still him when you came back down.”
“That’s not who I really am, who I ever was. I’ve lived
someone else’s idea of who I’m supposed to be since the day I was born, and I
hated it, every single goddamn minute of it. The day I met you, something else
happened and I don’t ever want to go back.”
“Good, because you’re right, I don’t like that man. And,
well, Al showed me some things. He uh…”
“I know what he did.” He stiffened against her. “I don’t
need pity, Teryn, is that why you came here?”
“No, Grant, I wouldn’t do that to you. I came because I
realized who you are to me.”
“You wanted me when you didn’t know who I was, when you
didn’t think we had a chance of even making it, even when you didn’t want to
want me.”
A low laugh escaped her, regret now for having fought so
hard to not let him in. “Yeah, I tried about as hard as I could not to love
you. Even while I was in bed with you, wanting to please you, wanting to see
how much you loved everything I did to you. I just couldn’t…I…” She sighed. “I
was afraid you would know how much I just wanted to make you happy and then
that would be the end of it.”
“My whole life, any woman who ever came to me wanted my
name, what I had, what they thought I could do for them. Always tied to some
kind of expectation, every single one of them. They just sucked the life out of
me, I felt empty, always. Not one wanted to find out what I wanted, what I
needed. Hell, I’m not sure I even knew what I needed.” He pulled her close,
leaned his forehead on her shoulder. “You always watched me, and if you saw
something I enjoyed, you did it ten times as much, just to see me go crazy. You
climbed rock walls, you even raced with me, because I asked you to. You let me
feel like I could do anything and everything I’ve ever thought about, right there
with me the whole time. That’s what kept me going, kept me needing you, will
always keep me needing you.”
He pulled back, looking down at her, his face as open as it
ever was, and she realized the face that she’d always looked at, marveled at,
was full of honest, true love for her. There were no words for it.
“And all that time you kept telling me it was about me
learning to do what
I
wanted.” She grinned that wicked smile at him she
knew he loved so much.
“Wasn’t it?”
His lips moved over hers, brushing them softly. He kissed
her bottom lip, the corner of her mouth. Her lips were parted, waiting to taste
him. It seemed like an eternity before she did. Like the first time he kissed
her, all over again she felt every part of his lips press in against hers and a
flood of heat went through her. She felt her breath catch and pull quickly in,
just as his was released softly against her lips in a deep sigh.
“Did you really just walk away from everything? You freed
yourself from all of it?” she whispered against his cheek.
“I did. It was easier than I thought it would be.”
“Good.” She tried to make it sound casual, hide the relief
in her voice.
“Never heard that before.” He chuckled, sounding pleased
that he had.
Lingering questions nagged at her, needing answers. “Grant,
why did you walk away from me? Why did you just leave, you didn’t even try?”
He sighed, hung his head a little and pulled her closer.
“Because I was so humiliated that I’d done it, that I’d been exactly what my
family has always been. I just, I didn’t want to hurt you anymore. You were
pretty, uh, straight about what you thought about me that night when you found
out.”
“I was angry, hurt. What did you expect me to do?”
He grinned and she felt a sweet pang of relief that his
relaxed, devilish grin had returned, and that she was there to see it. “I
thought you might want to kill me, is what I thought.”
“Yeah, well I did.”
“What if I said I was going to come back, when you had time
to calm down a little. After I finished sorting this all out, and tried to
figure out how to get you back?”
“Hmm.”
He reached into the drawer of the nightstand next to the
dresser, and handed her an airline ticket. “I was going to finish the race and
head straight for the plane. I had a lot of time to think on the way here. I
wasn’t sure how the hell you were going to take it, but I was prepared to
pretty much live on your porch until you let me at least talk to you.”
“No more lies, Grant. Ever. No matter what the truth is, how
much it sucks.”
“I promise. Which, I have to tell you, my family is still
going to come back and bite me in the ass now and then. I mean, my brothers are
still part of my life. I’m sure I’ll get dragged back now and then for one
reason or another. That was Tate, by the way, my youngest brother.”
“I figured. He looks a lot like you.”
“Wait ’til you see Jack. Anyway, my life is mine now. I’m
not the man I was, and I never will be again but I’m still a Callahan, can you
handle that? I mean, I’m stuck with it. Can you deal with being stuck with it
too?”
“Depends on what you mean by stuck.”
“It means I want to live just how we have been. Whatever we
decide is right for us, we do it, no regrets. I want to show you the world,
Teryn, I want to share every single waking minute of my life with you. Spend
your life with me, Teryn, live your life with me, wherever we are, whatever we
do.”
“Do I get to have the cool UV tatt?” Her snappy comment
couldn’t hide the overwhelming feelings that flooded her.
“You can have anything you want, baby. Anything.”
“A big, muscular librarian rippin’ up my sheets every
night?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“Then, yes. Like you said to me once, it really is just that
easy. If you let it be.” She looked up at him. “Grant, it was kind of a twisted
path we took to get here, but, what I want, all I want, is you. The you I was
afraid to believe was real. Whatever we’re doing, and wherever we’re doing it,
it doesn’t matter, because I only feel this safe, this loved, this insane, when
I’m with you.”
“That’s my girl. Damn I love you. But, uh, before I get my
ass in trouble again, there’s something you need to know.” He twisted his head,
rubbing the back of his neck, uncomfortable.
“Oh shit, here we go again.” She felt the familiar sinking
feeling in her belly.
“I probably won’t be working as a librarian anymore.”
She laughed, punching him in the arm. “Well, whatever! I
didn’t mean literally. You said you just travel and work where you are. We can
both do that, my laptop is portable, I can write in the middle of the freaking
desert if I want to.” Even as she said it, she had the feeling there was more
to it than just that, especially given the apprehensive look on his face.
“That’s not what I meant. Part of being stuck, is, I, uh,
well I did walk away from everything, any control, any kind of long-term
attachments to the businesses, but my brothers and I still have to make
decisions from time to time. And, well, then there’s the money.”
“The money?”
“Yeah. When I signed away my control of everything, my
inheritance, the trust fund automatically kicked in. It’s probably only a tenth
of what I could have had, but let’s just say, we can go wherever we want,
whenever we want, for pretty much the rest of our entire lives. I mean,
considering we tend to not need much besides each other, and a bed to park in…”
“Or a table, or a shower, or a rock wall, or…”
“You okay with it?”
She thought of all those little oddities that had bothered
her for so long. The man who didn’t care if he was in the middle of a mud pit
racing his heart out, but knew how to buy a hundred and twenty-five dollar
bottle of wine for the woman he loved when the need arose. The man who didn’t
blink an eye about buying a five-hundred dollar set of lingerie because he
didn’t care how much it cost, or if she even know how much it was, he only cared
that she would love it. The same man who would buy her a fifty-cent sucker just
as fast if he thought that was what she wanted. And probably do crazy things to
her with it. The same man who she now knew, beyond a doubt, would burn it all
down and give her the ashes to stomp on if he thought he needed to do it to
keep her heart.
“The money doesn’t make you who you are, Grant, you don’t
let it. So I’m good with it. Besides, do I have a choice, Grant Callahan? I
love you, and I always will.”
His now-familiar grin, as amazing and disarming as ever,
flashed at her as his hands slid over her skin, thumbs hooking on her panties.
She didn’t waste time pulling off his clothes, and within seconds they were
skin to skin, bodies connected, lips devouring each other as he dove deep
within her. Moving together, she felt the ever-present hunger for him, and his
for her, but now no nagging doubts ebbed at the outer edges of her mind. She
gave herself to him once again, knowing it would be forever this time.