“Yeah, this is so nice.”
“Okay, should I help you cook?”
I shook my head. “Nope. You can sit at the counter and watch me.”
“Really? Come on, let me help.”
“Okay. You can grate the cheese. I’ll fry the bacon. There’s not actually that much to do.”
“I like your style of cooking,” she said and reached for the grater. She sat down and started grating the cheese. I laughed when I saw that the mound of cheese wasn’t getting much bigger.
“Are you eating or are you grating?”
“I have to test for quality you know. Make sure it’s okay and all that. And you’re one to talk! I saw that piece of bacon you popped into your mouth.”
I laughed. “Damn, I thought I’d been so sneaky. So, where were you this afternoon? Did you have to work late?”
“I was at the graveyard, visiting my mom. I usually go once a month to chat with her and my gran. But I didn’t get a chance to go last month.”
“That’s nice of you, Em.”
“Also, my dad was there,” she said.
“Your father? John?”
She nodded. “Yeah, turns out he’s been visiting every day since he arrived in Buffalo.”
“And you seem so calm. Did you guys talk?”
She smiled. “Actually, there’s something I have to tell you. You were right about everything you said to me, Grant.”
I shook my head. “No. I shouldn’t have said all those things to you. It’s your life, and I have no idea how you feel. It wasn’t right that I said that.”
“Yeah, maybe you went about it the wrong way. But you were still right. Anyway, I invited him out for dinner again.”
“You went for dinner?”
“I did. And this time I didn’t storm out. I listened to him and got to know him. And, well, he’s actually a really nice guy.”
“You’re not mad at him anymore?”
“Oh, I am. I mean, I get my moments. But I’m trying. And it was really nice talking to him and getting to know him. He’s an author. How cool is that? I read one of his books this week. He dedicated it to me.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. So much had happened since the last time I’d seen Emily. I couldn’t believe that she’d done all this without me. I should’ve been there for her. I told her, but she just shook her head.
“I needed to do this on my own. It’s okay. I’m feeling better about it all. I’ve spoken to him every day since that dinner. And then, today he came to see my mom, just like I did. We didn’t plan that. We sat for ages just telling each other stories about my mother. It was difficult sometimes, but I loved it. We’re going to do it every month. I’m learning things about her that I never knew before, and so is he.”
“Wow, Em. That’s so special.”
“He’s the one that told me I should call you. He said he could see how much we liked each other. He really liked you, by the way.”
I smiled. “I liked him, too. I can see a lot of you in him.”
“Yeah, me too actually.”
“Em, I also have quite a few things that I need to tell you.”
“You do? Tell me,” she said.
I took another sip of the champagne and sighed. “It’s about your house. I know who did it.”
“What? Are you serious? How?”
“I only just found out today. I actually caught the guy at the house.”
“Who was it?”
Suddenly I remembered why the man had looked so familiar to me. The time I’d gone to visit Emily at work. I’d seen a man standing outside staring at the building. He’d glared at me. It was the same man. I felt cold just thinking about it.
“Em, is there a man who has asked you out three times recently? Some man you keep turning down?”
Her eyes widened. “Brett! That’s Brett. Did he do this?”
“Who is he?”
“He’s the father of one of the kids that I teach. Wendy is the sweetest girl in the world, but her father is a real creep. I used to think he was sweet, and when he asked me out the first time, I thought it was nice of him. But then he asked me out two more times, and it started getting weird. Then, when the house burned down, he tried to get me to stay with him. Grant, did he do this?”
I nodded. “Yeah. And he totally admitted it to me. He didn’t know who I was. He told me he wasn’t trying to hurt you, but he just wanted to give you a reason to come and stay with him. That was his way of getting you to go out with him. I couldn’t believe it. I mean . . . who does something like that?”
“What did you do? Did you tell him you knew me?”
“Uh . . . yeah. And then I punched him in the face.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry. I know I need to work on my temper. But I couldn’t help myself. I mean, the guy could’ve hurt you. And I took away something that meant so much to you. I was so angry. Thankfully, Brady came by and pulled me away.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
“Why? I thought you’d be mad.”
“Thank you for always sticking up for me. And he deserved that. But what if he does it again?”
“He won’t. Trust me. Anyway, I called the authorities. So they’re dealing with him now. I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I’m pretty sure you won’t be hearing from him again.”
“He actually burned my house down,” she said and shook her head in amazement. “How could anyone do that to someone that they supposedly want to date? Thank goodness I didn’t say yes to him that first time. That’s not someone I want to get involved in.”
“There’s something else I want to tell you about,” I said and topped up our champagne glasses. “Although, let’s get these pizzas in so we can go sit in the living room.”
We piled the pizzas up with so much cheese and bacon I wasn’t sure we were even going to be able to lift them up. We put them in the oven and then made our way over to the living room with our champagne. As I sat down, Emily leaned down and kissed me gently on the mouth before going to sit down on the sofa in front of me.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“For punching Brett.”
I grinned. “I can’t tell you how good it felt when I did it.”
“I wish I’d seen it. So, what else do you have to tell me?”
I took a deep breath. “If you’re not happy about this, let me know, okay? I do realize that I should’ve spoken to you about it beforehand. So please be honest with me.”
“Okay, this sounds very ominous. But yeah, I’ll be honest with you,” she said.
I took a deep breath. It was now or never. “Well, here’s the thing,” I started and then stopped.
“Grant, you can tell me anything. Don’t look so worried,” she said.
“Okay,” I said and started again. “I decided to purchase your old house. And I signed the papers already.”
“What do you mean? The house is burned down. How can you buy it? I don’t understand.”
“I know, but it’s not all gone. And a lot of the structure still remains. Most of the important stuff is still there, to be honest. Which means I managed to get it for a very good price. And with the money I saved, I’m going to do it up again. I know how much that house meant to you, and that it was a part of your family history. So I decided to buy it. I needed a place to stay, anyway. I can’t stay with Brady forever. Brady had some connections for me though, and you’re going to get paid out from the insurance. The land is still in your name, so you’re going to have to come in and sign a few papers. I have bought it, but I still want your name to remain. It’s your house Em. It always will be.”
She didn’t say anything for a while. She just sat there staring at her hands in her lap. I thought she was angry at me and I cursed myself for doing this without asking her first. Then she looked up and smiled. She had tears in her eyes.
“You bought my house,” she whispered. A small smile was playing on her face, so I knew that she w
asn’t upset.
“You don’t mind?”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t mind at all. I’m just . . . in shock. That’s the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me. I know you say you need a house to stay in, but I also know that it would’ve been way easier for you to just find a house already standing. I know that you did this for me, and I can’t even begin to tell you how much it means to me. The very idea that I’ll have that house again, is the best thing in the world.”
I grinned. “I’m so relieved to hear you say that.”
“Does that mean you’re definitely staying in Buffalo?”
“I am. I love it here. And anyway, there’s no way I’m leaving you. You’re the biggest reason I have for staying. I love you, Emily Audrey Wessler.”
She laughed. “And I love you, Grant Patriot Maxwell.”
I pulled her toward me. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my whole life.”
“And I would rather be with a man that builds me a house than one that burns it down,” she said and smiled.
I kissed her, and I realized I didn’t ever want to let her go.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Emily
Grant reached up and undid my ponytail so that my hair fell down around my face.
“You’re beautiful,” he said and pulled me toward him.
I leaned in close and kissed him. After not kissing him for so long, it felt like we had a lot of making up to do. I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything in my whole life, and I didn’t want the moment to end. His hands moved through my hair as we kissed, and then he pulled away and began kissing me on the neck. I could feel his hot breath against mine, and the hairs on my arms stood up as I shivered from it. Nobody had ever made me feel the way that he had. I could barely remember what it was like to even be with another guy. The memories all seemed to morph together. The only thing that seemed real to me was Grant.
I moved my leg over him so that I was sitting on his lap. I pulled off his shirt, and he pulled off mine. I reached around and tried to undo my bra, and I chuckled when he couldn’t figure out what to do.
“What’s going on? I’m not normally so bad at this.”
I pointed to the front. “You do it from here with this one,” I said.
He saw the clasp and undid the bra. He smiled. “Well, that’s convenient,” he said. “You should wear these ones more often.”
“Or maybe no bra at all?” I suggested.
“That would work too.”
He looked eagerly at my breasts and reached out to touch them. I watched him watching me, and I could feel myself getting more and more excited. His fingers trailed around my breasts, circling them one at a time. When he got to my nipples, he leaned in and licked them. I arched my back and groaned. When I opened my eyes, I saw that he was tracing my rib tattoo with his fingers.
“I think you should get one too,” I said.
“You think?”
“Oh yeah. It would suit you.” I’d thought from the beginning that Grant looked like a man who would look incredible with a tattoo. And I still thought that about him.
“I might just do that. Will you get another one?” he asked.
I smiled. “Yeah. I might. We can go together.”
“I’d like that,” he said. “Turn around so I can see your other one.”
I stood up, turned around, and sat back down on him. His one hand moved around and clasped my breast. He used his other hand to touch my tattoo. I was still wearing my skirt, so I stood up and pulled it down, along with my underwear. I turned back around and looked at him.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go to the bedroom.” I didn’t want to do it in the living room this time. Nor did I want to do it in the bathroom or the kitchen. I wanted to lie down in bed with him. I wanted it to be slow and sensual.
He took my hand, and we walked to the bedroom. When we got there, I lit a few candles and turned off the light. The room glowed as the candles flickered on and off. Grant took off the rest of his clothes and climbed onto the bed with me. We sat facing together, just kissing and touching one another. Neither one of us seemed to want the night to end. Instead of jumping straight into hot sex, we lingered on each other’s bodies and took our time with one another.
Eventually, we fell down onto the bed, and I groaned with pleasure as Grant touched every surface of my body. Every nerve within me ached for more, and when he finally climbed on top of me, I pulled him down and arched my body against his, welcoming him inside me. We both cried out in pleasure as he entered me. I held onto his waist and pulled him deeper.
He leaned down and kissed me. He was usually clean shaven, but he hadn’t shaved in a while, and his stubble brushed against me as we kissed. I liked it. The sensation of the rough surface and his soft mouth heightened every one of my senses, making every tingle feel like electricity. He rocked over me, over and over again, until I knew I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Harder,” I said, and he pushed against me some more as I pulled him in tight against me, driving him in as deep as he could go.
He leaned down and kissed me on the neck. And as he was about to come, the kissing turned into sucking, and I pushed him down so he wouldn’t stop. He sucked on my neck as my entire body vibrated in orgasm.
“More, more, more,” I groaned. Then, as I reached my peak, I felt him shudder inside me.
He didn’t climb off me right away. Instead, he lay on me and kissed me. The kissing had changed, shifting from hard and passionate to soft and loving. When he did, eventually, move off me, I felt like a part of me was missing. We lay, side by side, holding hands.
“That was . . .” he started.
“. . . Amazing,” I finished.
I turned to him. “That was amazing,” I said again. “You’re amazing. Thank you for coming to see me tonight. Tonight has turned out to be one of the best nights of my life. Let’s not ever fight again.”
“Yeah. Fighting is so overrated. I basically just had a week of feeling crappy when I could’ve just been with you all week. Let’s definitely not fight again. I’d rather just make love to you all night.”
“That’s a good idea. Every time we feel a fight coming on, we just fall into bed together.”
He laughed. “It’s a deal. Em,” he said, and I looked back at him.
“Yeah?”
“I’m so in love with you.”
“You are?”
He smiled. “Of course I am. I think I’ve been in love with you for a very long time. I was just too scared to admit it to myself. I mean, I didn’t come here looking for love. I came here looking to escape my old life for a while. Little did I know that I’d end up doing a job I loved and meeting the woman of my dreams. It all sort of just happened without me trying too hard. I guess that’s when you know it’s all meant to be.”
“I’m the woman of your dreams?” I said. I didn’t think I’d ever be the woman of anyone’s dreams.
“Oh, you are most definitely the woman of my dreams.”
“I like the sound of that,” I said.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I’m so relieved to hear you say that,” he said.
“Really? I thought I was super obvious. Terra keeps telling me that I like you more than I think I do. Even my father said that to me. I didn’t expect to meet anyone either, you know. I mean, especially in this crazy small town. It’s not the easiest place to meet new people. I never thought I’d meet a man like you. You’re all sorts of wonderful; you know that?”
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
“What the hell is that?” he said and sat down.
I burst out laughing and jumped out of bed. “That is the sound of the fire alarm.”
I ran downstairs and opened up the oven, and quickly fanned the air to get the alarm to stop. Thankfully I’d caught it just in time, and the alarm stopped within a few seconds. When Grant came down, he saw the smoke and groaned.
; “Are you sure you love me? I can’t cook to save my life. I mean, I can’t even cook a pizza where the base was already made. I thought that there was no way I could mess something like this up. Although I guess I didn’t take into the account that we’d fall into bed so quickly. That was stupid of me. I should’ve known I wouldn’t have been able to wait until after dinner to touch you. Ah man, look at the pizza. It’s completely ruined.”
For some reason, the more I looked at the burned pizza, the funnier I found it. I was laughing so much that I had to sit down.
“What’s so funny?” he said.
“First my house burned down. Now the pizza burned. What is going on? I don’t even know why I find that so funny. I just do.”
He laughed. “Want to know something even crazier?” he said.
“Always,” I said and looked up.
“We’re both running around a house filled with smoke and burned pizza, and we’re completely naked.”
I looked down at my body and laughed. “I didn’t even realize that. We look like mad people. There is one problem though,” I said and sighed.
“What’s that?”
“I’m starving.”
“Me too. Uh, should I order in?”
“Yeah, I think that’s best.”
“Okay, I’ll order the pizza. You pour some more champagne. Oh, and I suppose we should put some clothes back on for when the pizza man comes,” he said, and we both chuckled at the thought.
When the pizza arrived, we sat down in the living room to tuck in, and I looked at Grant and grinned.
“Remember the night of the fight?” I asked.
“How could I forget it? Yeah, I remember. I remember it a little too well, actually. Why? Did you want to talk about it? I know I have a lot of apologizing to do.”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t need to apologize. That’s all over. And we honestly don’t need to rehash it. No, I’m not talking about the fight. I’m talking about the food. Remember, I was making my gran’s curry for you.”
“Oh yeah, I remember that. It smelled so delicious. I was so looking forward to it.”
“Well, I burned it.”
“Oh no!” he said in shock. Then he started laughing. “I know it’s not funny.”
Dirty Daddy_The Maxwell Family Page 67