“You could tell me what you’re doing here to start with,” she interrupted.
“I was in the neighbourhood and thought you might be hungry.”
She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Bullshit. Why are you here?”
“All right. I wanted to feed you. Apologize. Maybe start over.” He hesitated but stepped up to her, placing his hands on her upper arms. “I just want to get to know you, Genevieve. No strings attached, no expectations. Just trying to make up for whatever made you feel bad. Is that so horrible?”
~*~*~*~*~
~ Genevieve ~
“Will you tell me why you took off after what happened? You just left, no word at all. You just left a vague note. We were worried,” Graham inquired before taking a hearty swig from his glass of beer. “If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine, but I’d like to understand.”
Two sides of her were battling. She wanted to start over and forget what happened in Vegas, but on the other hand she was embarrassed. What kind of girl fucks two guys at once, guys she barely knows, twin brothers at that!
“I just… it was too much.”
“I don’t understand.” The concern in his eyes was so genuine it was hard to hold onto her resolve.
She sighed. “Did Dane tell you why I was in Vegas?”
He shook his head. “We never really spoke about you after you took off.” Seeing her face fall, he reached across the table and took her hand in his, relieved she didn’t pull her hands away.
“We’d never done anything like that before, Ginny. It was something that happened. Neither one of us wanted to discuss it after the fact. Especially after you rejected us both.”
Guilt began to fill her. “I didn’t reject you two. I was confused.” Maybe she’d overreacted. It was such a volatile time for her. “I wasn’t thinking straight. It felt so good being with you…” A light appeared in his eyes, the corners of his lips beginning to form into a smile. “… and Dane.”
The light in his eyes died as did the partial smile.
“I see…”
She groaned, lowering her head onto her hand. “You see. It’s too complicated.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“And that doesn’t get us past the fact you allowed me to think you were Dane.”
He chuckled, giving his head a shake. “That wasn’t entirely my fault.”
“You don’t think you could have given me a little heads up?”
It was Graham’s turn to sigh. “I know I should have, but… shit. I was struggling to get over my wife and…”
“Wife!” Genevieve withdrew her hand from his, sat back in her chair and eyed him with suspicion. “You’re married?”
“It’s not like that. I was married. Yes.” He thrust a hand through his hair in frustration. “We got married, I caught her cheating and ended it. We’d only been married a few months. It was a blow, it was part of the reason Dane and I were in Vegas, he was trying to pull me from my mood.” He shrugged. “That and we came into a small inheritance.”
“That’s horrible!”
Graham shrugged. “It is what it is. I’m just trying to move forward and leave her in the past.”
“I was in a similar situation.”
“Running away from a cheating husband?” He cocked a brow up at her, a smile forming on his lips.
“Fiancé. He left me at the altar, broke up with me a half-hour before the ceremony while I was in my wedding dress. He was hooking up with a co-worker.”
He grimaced. “Ouch.” His smile quickly returned. “However, I think I’d prefer to be left at the altar than walk in on my wife doing the FedEx guy on my new kitchen table.”
“Oh my! You’re kidding, right?” She couldn’t have helped the grin forming on her lips if she’d tried. It was such a cliché. Just as much a cliché as her ex-fiancé with a co-worker.
“Afraid not. He was even wearing the shorts with the mid-calf black socks.” He cringed.
“Just humping away.”
She cringed, attempting to force the image from her mind.
~*~*~*~*~
~ Graham ~
While he was making a joke out of his discovery of his wife and the delivery guy, it still stung his ego; he just didn’t want Ginny to know that. He supposed with time he’d be able to genuinely joke about the scenario, he just wasn’t there quite yet.
“So what happened then?” She leaned forward in her chair, her green eyes wide, eager to hear the remainder of the story.
“They heard me walk into the dining room. So he pulls out and turns to look at me. I was in full uniform so his eyes didn’t take long to discover my pistol attached to my hip.”
“Oh my God, did you pull your gun on him!” Placing both elbows on the table, she leaned in even closer, her eyes going wide.
Graham laughed. “God no! I wanted to, though.” Surprisingly, talking about what happened with her didn’t seem to hurt quite as much, although the look of childlike wonder in her eyes as she waited for the rest of his story made him want to tell it. “But I think an angry husband with a pistol and a badge would intimidate most men.”
“Not to mention you’re big.”
“Huh?”
Her face flushed and she lowered her eyes. “I mean. Not like that…”
“You’re not making this better.” He knew what she meant, but seeing her squirm was amusing him. It felt good to laugh again.
“You know what I mean…” She batted at his hand, but continued to refuse to meet his gaze.
“No, I don’t think I do.”
“Where in the hell is our food anyhow?” She looked behind her in the direction of the kitchen. “Awful slow.”
He grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze and regaining her attention. “Don’t change the subject. Explain yourself.”
The pink hue in her cheeks deepened, but she lifted her gaze to meet his, a smile touching her lips. “Stop. You know what I mean.”
He cocked his head to the side, waiting for her to continue, having too much fun at her expense to allow her off the hook.
“You’re of formidable stature in all ways. Is that good enough for you?”
Graham leaned back in his chair, but kept her hand in his. “That’ll do. And I’m pleased you think so.”
She growled, her eyes narrowing at him. “You’re so...”