by K. C. Harper
They both looked at each other for another second before he turned and walked out the door.
“Grace. This isn’t fair. You get to eat lunch with him while the rest of us have to sit in a break room looking at posters of sexual harassment laws. I would really like to sexually harass him during my lunch break,” Jessie said, as they both watched Tyler walk out the door.
“I want all the details when you get back, and I mean every detail.”
Jessie loved to gossip. She knew everyone’s business, but she was Grace’s best friend and kept all of her secrets, even the one about Denny leaving her for Miss True Love.
Grace knew people would ask at the Christmas party where Denny was since he was her date for the past three years. She didn’t want to explain to anyone that he left her for someone else, so she lied and said they decided to end their relationship mutually. Jessie knew better when she found Grace crying in the bathroom at the banquet hall.
As she grabbed her purse and made her way to the door to meet Tyler, her heart jumped. It was only lunch, but something deep inside made her want more.
She found Tyler sitting on a bench around the corner from the bank. He looks even more handsome with the sunlight shining on his face, she thought as she got closer.
“I’m ready if you are,” she said, standing in front of him.
In the bank, he only got a look at her from the waist up, but now, with her in full view, he was at a loss for words. His eyes roamed up and down her body as he glimpsed her sexy figure. She had soft curves, legs that didn’t quit, and lips that drove him crazy every time he saw her.
He wanted so badly to feel her lips on his, to pull her soft curvy body to his, and lose himself in her. He pushed those urges aside as he stood up.
They had lunch at Dinks Taxi Restaurant. Tyler found it harder and harder to take his eyes off of her.
“What is it that you do for work here in Bar Harbor?” Grace asked, before taking another sip of her soda.
“I own a custom car body shop back in San Francisco, but I left my brother in charge to run the business. I didn’t want to close a successful business. Right now it’s paying the bills.
“I’ve thought about starting a business here, but will see how things work out.”
He tried to keep his eyes focused on the décor of the restaurant, but it wasn’t working. He always seemed to come right back to her lips. He knew the curve of her lips—every dip, and how soft they looked—because he spent the last few times they saw each other staring at her mouth. He spent the last few months avoiding women. He wanted to get over his fiancé, and he told himself he didn’t need the distraction of a female messing with his life or plans anymore. But Grace was different. He couldn’t get her out of his head or his dreams. Tyler stole glances of Grace from his kitchen window. He thought of kissing her, getting her naked, and hearing her cry out his name as he gave her the best orgasm of her life.
“Gracie, how are you? You look beautiful as always.”
Tyler wondered who the hell this guy was who slid into the booth and sat down beside Grace.
“Denny. Hi . . .”
It was her ex, and he couldn’t have had more perfect timing. She glanced up at Tyler, who looked like he was going to kill someone.
“Tyler, this is Denny.”
He nodded and shook Denny’s hand as they both exchanged possessive glances over Grace.
“Gracie, I was going to call you tonight. I wanted to come over and see you. I can stop by later with a bottle of Dry Creek. Is that still your favorite wine? I remember how much you enjoyed it when I would bring it home.” He pushed a stray hair away from her eye, making Tyler see red.
“Denny, I thought we talked about this already. It’s over between us.”
He never gave up even though he was still openly sleeping with other women. He always tried to get back with Grace even after having the door slammed in his face again and again.
“Come on Gracie! We had some good times together. We had over three years together. Doesn’t that mean anything?” he asked, trying his best to act like he really cared.
It was like a knife to her heart. She loved Denny so much more than anyone she ever loved before, but he took that love and threw it away. Now this; the way he was pretending to care, and want her in his life again, was a reminder of her heartache, which almost brought her to tears.
“I think she said no, so back off.” Tyler’s voice was low, but had a tone that said he wasn’t messing around.
“I’m sorry Gracie. Who is this?” Denny asked, as he glared at Tyler.
“Tyler, I’m so sorry. I really have to get back to work. Thank you for lunch. I’ll see you around.” Grace shoved Denny out of the way as she slid out of the booth, leaving both men watching her walk out of the restaurant.
Wasn’t it enough that Denny cheated on her and then dumped her? But now he kept bringing up their past and ripping the band aid off every time, leaving her heart feeling wounded and hurt all over again.
CHAPTER FIVE
Why does this happen to me? Every time I get past the hurt he shows up again to remind me of it. Grace muttered to herself as she finished her last bit of work before leaving for the day. She spent the rest of the afternoon reliving the pain of Denny walking out on her and their love. She knew she wasn’t in love with him anymore, but it still hurt to know that someone she was ready to spend her life with could just throw it all away over a few nights of hot and wild sex. The bigger problem was she spent the past three years shutting herself off from finding love again. She never wanted to feel that pain again, and closed her heart off completely.
It had been a long day, and what she needed was to slip into a hot bubble bath with a bottle of wine and forget about Denny and lunch with Tyler.
The house was quiet when she walked in. The sun was just starting to set. Autumn was probably at work. She didn’t want to explain why she was in such a bad mood, and was glad to find the house empty.
Skipping the usual routine of going through the mail and missed calls, Grace headed straight to her bathroom kicking off her shoes at the door. She set the bottle of wine down by the bathtub and turned the water on, added bath crystals, and began undressing, leaving her clothes in a pile by the tub. She placed her phone on top of the pile in case Autumn called. She didn’t want to have to get out of the tub soaking wet to search for the phone. She slipped one foot in first, and then the other, letting her body sink down into the warm water. She inhaled the scent of the crystals that smelled of lavender, and took a sip of wine straight from the bottle because it was one of those nights. She felt the tension slowly leave her body as she settled back into the tub, resting her head on the edge. Much better, she thought, as she took another sip of wine.
The silence, along with the lavender and wine, had Grace floating in a sea of bliss and relaxation as the warm water heated her skin. It didn’t last for long because the phone was ringing and she was pulled out of her moment of pleasure. Shaking her hand to get the soap suds off, she reached for the phone.
“Hello.”
“Hi . . .”
Grace recognized the voice on the other end of the phone. It was a low and sexy masculine voice she would recognize anywhere . . . Tyler’s.
“I’m sorry to bother you. I just wanted to see if you were ok. You left pretty quickly at lunch today.” His voice was filled with concern and something else Grace couldn’t figure out.
“Yeah, I just had to get out of there. How did you get my number?” She thought for a second and tried to
remember if she had given him the number, but she knew she hadn’t.
“Autumn gave it to me. I saw her as she was leaving for work and asked her if she had talked to you at all today. I told her I was worried about you because you left so fast and she gave me the number. She said she wouldn’t see you until tomorrow, probably.”
The thought of him being concerned did something to her chest. It felt like a dull ache, and she felt it all
the way to her heart.
“That’s sweet of you Tyler, but I’m fine.” She let out a sigh because she knew the truth. She wasn’t fine. Her heart was hurting, but she wasn’t going to tell him that because he didn’t even know her and probably wouldn’t care. “I’m kind of busy right now.”
She wanted to get back to her wine and bubble bath, but part of her wanted to stay on the phone with Tyler and let him mend her broken heart. Never going to happen though, she thought.
“Grace.” His voice was a whisper now as he said her name, and it made her chest ache again. She placed a soapy hand over her heart and rubbed the dull ache away.
“What are you doing right now that you’re so busy you can’t talk to me?”
She looked around the darkened bathroom. The only light was coming from a few candles she had lit by the window sill and the moonlight shining in. She didn’t want to explain to him she was in the bathtub with a bottle
of wine, trying to forget the heartache of Denny Marshall, but she hated lying so she told him the truth.
“I’m in the bathtub, Tyler.” She sank a little further into the water being careful not to wet the phone. “Tyler . . .” She thought he hung up because all she heard was silence.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
The thought of Grace naked in the bathtub was driving him out of his mind. It was bad enough he thought about kissing her from the moment he met her, but being on the phone with her and knowing she was naked and wet in the tub did things to him and had his heart racing. He got up from his bed and walked over to the window looking down at her house. The only thing he could see was flickers of tiny light from the candles coming from the small window of her bathroom. He didn’t know why she made him feel the way she did, but he was feeling things at that moment that had him questioning himself and his self-control.
“Goodnight, Tyler.”
She hung up before he had the chance to say anything. He stood at the window looking down at the flickers of light.
He didn’t know how much longer he was going to be able to fight the growing desire for Grace. He was going to try with all his might because it was the last thing he needed at the moment. Getting involved with someone right now wasn’t in his plans. With the way things were going, his heart and his head got the memo of ‘no women
baggage needed’ mixed up. His head was winning the battle as it reminded him of her soft lips and curvy body that he wanted to feel all over him.
Two days seemed like a lifetime of not getting a glimpse of Grace. The night he called her was the last day he had seen her since their lunch date. She must have kept herself busy, or was doing a good job of avoiding him, because he hadn’t even caught sight of her coming home from work or leaving in the morning. If he didn’t hate waking up early, he would have been up just to catch a look at her before she went on her morning run.
He wanted to see her and see for himself that she was alright. That night on the phone, he heard something different in her voice. She sounded sad and distant. He wasn’t sure why, but he had a pretty good idea. He was sure it had to do with Denny.
She never told him the details, but he could tell by the hurt in her eyes that Denny just about ripped her heart out.
Tyler was in no position to be mending anyone’s broken heart while his was just as torn apart. Being left at the altar by your fiancé, who you spent the last five years with, was no easy pill to swallow. There was something about Grace that had him considering the option of throwing those plans out of the window and healing her broken heart one kiss at a time.
CHAPTER SIX
Grace sat in the airport waiting for Paige’s plane to arrive. She was excited to see her sister. It had been a long time since all three Carter sisters lived under the same roof. The next three days were going to be fabulous. Paige moved to New York right after high school and never looked back.
After Paige graduated from college, she had even less time to visit. She found herself backpacking through Europe, exploring the art culture, and falling in love with Dominic, her Italian tour guide. When they moved back to New York, she called Grace to tell her she had found the love of her life. She and Dominic were going to get married as soon as both of their lives were less hectic. Two years later they were both still too busy to plan a wedding, but she told Grace that it wasn’t a big deal. One day they would make time for it.
“And here I thought you would be jumping up and down to see me, yet I find you here sleeping,” Paige said, as a startled Grace sat up.
“You’re here!”
Seeing Paige made her feel a little better. The past few days she felt like she was a walking zombie. Restless nights of crying and still thinking of what Denny did to her was taking its toll.
Both sisters hugged each other tight. Paige exhaled a long breath as she felt like she was home and all her worries were left behind in New York.
“Let me look at you! You look so different from the last time I saw you,” Grace said.
Paige looked almost like Grace except she was taller and had green eyes. She had a lean figure and looked like she did Yoga every day. Grace smiled as she looked at Paige, but her smile soon faded when she noticed the look in Paige’s eyes. They weren’t bright and filled with a love for life like they were before. Something was different and she knew it. She could feel it.
“You look amazing, Grace! You haven’t changed at all. Are you still killing yourself with those early morning runs?”
Paige remembered her sister always running. She never missed a day unless she was sick, but it was obvious from her body that she kept up the running and took care of herself. She avoided eye contact with Grace because she knew if her sister really looked at her she would see something was wrong. Paige had no desire to tell Grace what was going on. Not just yet.
“I’m so happy to be home! I can’t wait to see Autumn. How is our baby sister?”
“Autumn is her usual self. You know her;optimistic and positive as always. She has really grown up. She is so
excited to see you, but she probably won’t be home until later tonight. She is working at Geddy’s.”
Paige missed Geddy’s. She loved the great food, but most of all, the great atmosphere. She told herself she would stop by Geddy’s at least once before she went back to New York. “Let’s get my bags. I am exhausted and I need a bed,” Paige said, as they went to get her bags. “I still have a bed, right?”
Grace looked at her sister as she grabbed one of her bags and shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I turned it into my own personal library.”
Paige stopped dead in the middle of the airport terminal and turned her head toward Grace, who was grinning.
“Gotcha! Of course you still have a bed and your room. It’s exactly the way you left it Paige. I would never get rid of your room. Just because you live in New York doesn’t mean this isn’t your home. You know that, right? You are always welcome to come back home anytime and stay as long as you like.”
Those words meant more to Paige than Grace could ever imagine because it was just what she needed to hear. It was what she was thinking about doing, but she was afraid to tell Grace the truth.
“You still have this death trap Grace? Why haven’t you gotten something newer? Is it even safe to drive this car?” Paige stood in front of Grace’s car shocked that it was still
running. She remembered growing up and this car breaking down a thousand times on the way to school.
“It gets me where I have to go.” Grace and Paige both looked down at the car with a look of pity. The car was good to them, but Paige was right. It was about time for something new before all of the wheels fell off. On the drive home, Grace asked Paige about her fun and exciting career in art. She brought up Dominic a few times, but Paige quickly changed the subject, which had Grace’s motherly alarm bells going off in her head. Something was up and she knew it. She was going to get to the bottom of it . . . later.
“Home sweet home,” Grace said, as she parked th
e car in the driveway and looked at Paige.
“It looks exactly the same. I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve been back here.” They both got out of the car as Paige looked at the place she once called home. She felt her heart skip a beat and her stomach tighten at the thought of having to tell Grace what was going on. As they walked up to the house, both sisters looked at each other, smiling and feeling like this was the way it was supposed to be. They were greeted at the doorstep by Tyler. He had been waiting for Grace to get home and wanted to talk to her about the other day at lunch. When he didn’t see her car in the driveway, he figured he would just wait because if he left, he knew he would miss her again and he really wanted to see her. Just from the sight of him, Paige almost tripped over her own two feet. Grace just stood there wondering what he was doing here.
“Hi Grace.” He stood up, taking a few steps until he was standing right in front of her, making her pulse kick up a notch. He looked over at Paige who was almost drooling now at the sight of such a sexy man.
“I’m Paige; the middle sister,” she said, as she shook his hand.
“I’m Tyler. I just moved into the house up the hill a couple of weeks ago. Grace, can we talk for a minute, please?” His voice was low and devastatingly sexy.
“Don’t mind me. I know my way around. I’ll be inside Grace,” Paige said, giving her sister and Tyler privacy.
“Tyler, I really am sorry about lunch the other day. I had no idea Denny was going to show up like that, but I really can’t get into this right now because my sister just got here.”
He didn’t need much of her time. He just wanted to make sure she was alright and look with his own eyes for any signs of her not being alright. Looking into her eyes was trouble and he knew it, but something about her kept pulling him in.
“I know you’re busy. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. You seemed pretty upset when you left.” He took another step closer, putting them inches apart now.