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I held my breath to prevent a moan from escaping my lips. Erika smacked my arm with the back of her hand. I turned to look at her and she narrowed her eyes.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you,” said Grace.
I watched her as she walked away. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Well, well, well. Sleeping with the accountant, huh?”
“We aren’t sleeping together,” I said. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Maybe because the two of you together need to come with a ‘highly flammable’ warning. Geez, that was intense.” She fanned herself. “I think I need to reevaluate my relationship. Because I want that!”
When she left the staffroom, I splashed some water on the back of my neck.
Erika was right. My body kicked into high heat when Grace stood near me and it wanted her badly. I couldn’t wait for tonight.
I kept my distance for the rest of the day. I popped in and out of the boardroom to check if she needed anything. When she asked for a report, I got Daniel on it right away. It was kind of nice working together. Around three in the afternoon, I sat inside the office Colton had assigned to me, organizing a marketing plan for Mario’s restaurant, when Grace walked in.
“Hey,” she said, her hands clasped in front of her.
I smiled. “Hey. Do you need something? I can stop what I’m doing.”
“No, no,” she said, waving for me to sit back down. “I just came in here to tell you I can’t go to dinner tonight.”
“Oh,” my heart deflated. “Why not?”
“Lorna has this thing tonight and can’t stay late to keep an eye on my mom. I’m really sorry, Luke. I wanted to go.”
“So, the only reason you’re saying no is that there’s no one to take care of your mother. Is that right?”
“Yes. I swear.”
She nodded emphatically, and I believed her. “Okay. Leave it with me.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll find someone to take care of your mom so you can have dinner with me.”
“Luke, it’s not like there’s a queue of people available to fill the position. It needs to be someone with some medical knowledge of her condition.”
“I understand. She has a kidney disease, you said?”
“Yeah, but—”
“I’ll take care of it. Is six o’clock, okay?”
“For what?”
I wondered if she was deliberately being obtuse or if she wasn’t getting that I would do anything to make this date happen tonight. Even if I had to fly some doctor in from New York City to stay with her mother.
“Dinner. With me. Six o’clock. I’ll take care of your mom. Okay?”
“Ah… Oh… Okay,” she stammered and turned to walk away. She looked over her shoulder as she walked back to her office, as though waiting to see if this was some sort of prank.
I didn’t like to show off how much money I had because most of it came from the investments I’d made through the dividends of Crawford Corporation. But tonight wouldn’t just take money to happen. I would need to call in some favors, too. I picked up the phone and started dialing.
15
Grace
