Emily stopped all movement and her head jerked around to look at Grady. A few seconds later, she burst into uncontrollable laughter, her whole body shaking, her eyes tearing with mirth. “This isn’t getting you out of giving my truck back, but I can honestly say I’ve never had someone offer to be my butt warmer before,” she gasped, still trying to recover her breath.
“Your truck is nonretrievable. You’ll have to take the newer one,” Grady answered, knowing that even if he could get it back, he wouldn’t. There was no way his woman was driving around in that old hunk of junk during a Maine winter. “Most people would be happy to have a more reliable vehicle.” Honestly, he didn’t understand her ire. “Why can’t you just take it as a Christmas present? You’re the one who said Christmas is all about giving. You’re not exactly cheery about getting a gift.”
“It’s too much, Grady,” she answered him seriously, her blue eyes warming as she ran her palm along the stubble on his jawline. “I appreciate it, but I can’t take a gift that expensive.”
He shrugged. “It’s not expensive to me. Shouldn’t a gift be relative to what someone can afford? I have other vehicles. I even have another truck. I’ll never even miss it.” It was the truth. He’d gone out and bought another truck right after he’d decided to give her the one she had been driving.
Emily sighed, her eyes searching his face. “We really are from two different worlds. Having that kind of money is unimaginable to me. I have to budget for everything.”
“I don’t have to budget. I just write a check and I never miss the money. Please take it, Emily. Let me have peace of mind that you’re more secure in shitty weather. Please,” Grady asked huskily, hoping she’d say yes.
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. I think that death trap is probably already scrap metal.”
Emily sighed, resigned. “Give me some time, okay? I’m not happy that you made that decision without talking to me first.”
Grady shrugged. “You would have said no, and I wouldn’t have accepted that. It was easier this way.” She might as well get used to it. He was going to protect what was his, and as far as he was concerned, she already belonged to him. He knew she definitely had him, whether she wanted him or not.
Dropping her hand, she folded both of them together in her lap, and Grady saw tears begin to stream down her beautiful face.
Fuck!
“I don’t know how to deal with this,” Emily said, dejected.
“What?” Grady asked, confused.
“I don’t understand. I don’t know why you’re doing this. I’m used to solving my own problems, and I’m not used to having anyone who cares whether I drive an old vehicle or if my glasses are scratched. I’m definitely not accustomed to a man who would donate a million bucks just to spend Christmas with me, thereby saving my ass and maybe my job after another man just used me to get quick access to money.” Emily drew a deep breath and added, “I can’t figure out your motive and it’s driving me crazy. I’m just an ordinary woman. I’m not beautiful or the type of woman any man would lose his mind over. I’m not worth all this, so the things you’re doing make absolutely no sense.”
Grady had tried to be patient, but as soon as she finished speaking, he completely lost it.
CHAPTER 4
Emily was on her back on the couch, Grady pinning her body to the leather, before she even knew what had happened. Startled, she stared at the fierce expression on his face, looming right above hers, with trepidation. He’d switched positions so fast that her mind was still whirling.
“It’s only money. And don’t ever say you aren’t worth it and that you aren’t beautiful,” he rumbled angrily. “I grew up with money, I’ve always had it, and now I have more than I’d need in a hundred lifetimes. I don’t give a shit about money. It doesn’t make people happy. Rich people can be pretty damn miserable. Maybe it would be worth it to me to actually experience a different kind of Christmas for a change. I think you’re worth every stupid thing I give you and a hell of a lot more.”
She gaped at him, his words touching a place in her heart that made it ache with sadness. Because right at that moment, she realized that this man wasn’t happy, and probably never had been. The fact that he hated Christmas should have tipped her off, but she’d been too busy wondering why he was doing anything for her to realize that he was actually hurting. Somewhere deep inside, Grady Sinclair had wounds that weren’t visible, but were obviously painful. She’d been too caught up in the money to realize that there was so much more to his behavior than money. In fact, she believed him. The money really did mean nothing to him.
“You don’t have to give me anything to spend Christmas with me, Grady. I want to be with you,” she answered, feeling the truth in her words. “You didn’t need to give so much to the Center, and I don’t need an expensive truck. I’m alone this year too,” she whispered quietly.
“Not anymore,” he answered fiercely. “You have me.”
Emily sighed and her body relaxed beneath his. She could have protested that they barely knew each other, that they hadn’t had more than a spectacular kiss and a long phone conversation. But, the truth was, she had felt the connection between them from the very moment she’d looked up at him from her undignified position on his front porch. But she was a practical woman, and she was afraid that Grady Sinclair was heartbreak waiting to happen. “Did you really think I was a prostitute? Do you . . . um . . . do that a lot?”
“No. But my younger brother Jared seems to think not getting laid on a regular basis makes me irritable,” he replied, his eyes still boring into her, his expression intense.
“Does it?” she asked curiously, wriggling a little to see if she could escape her prison, or at least get her arms loose.
“Not any more irritable than I usually am. But it doesn’t stop him from trying occasionally.”
Emily’s arms finally broke free from between their bodies, and she wrapped them around his neck, aching to try to relieve some of the turmoil she could see in his smoky eyes. “Where is all your family?”
His eyes grew darker. “None of us particularly like the holidays. My father was a drunk, and the holidays weren’t a good time for my family. Evan is conveniently on business in another country where they don’t celebrate Christmas, and my other brothers are working too. My sister is in Aspen with her latest loser boyfriend whom none of us can talk her into dumping even though all he wants is her money.”