Grace took a long look at him. He seemed to have tried to conceal it, but sure enough his eye was slightly swollen, and his nose looked rough, too. Her self-pity took a momentary backseat. She put her hands up to frame his bruised face. “Oh, sweetie, what happened to you?”
“I got mugged. I got mugged by a stupid, overly-possessive asshole.” His sensual mouth was pouting a little. He really was heartbreakingly attractive. He was leaner than Sean, but there was no doubt Adam Miles was fit.
Someone had gotten him good. “How do you know if your mugger’s overly possessive? The asshole part is obvious.”
“Well, he seemed awfully possessive to me when he was beating the crap out of me over something that doesn’t really belong to him. Anyway, let’s forget about him, love. Come out with us. If we can tempt you away from that big hunk of man meat, I promise to show you a civilized time. We’ll get a couple of drinks and then go heckle some romantic comedy at the theater. It’ll be fun.”
She shook her head and then stopped. What was she planning on doing anyway? Was she planning on going home and crying her eyes out? Yes. That had pretty much summed up her plans for the evening. She would go home, stare at the television for a while and then try to eat something. After that she would go to her empty bed, if she could stand to sleep there, and cry. Couldn’t she go out with her friends and then go home and cry her eyes out? Maybe, if she spent some time with the boys, she wouldn’t need to cry. Maybe she wouldn’t feel that overwhelmingly oppressive loneliness that threatened to swamp her. Maybe that damn voice would go away.
And why should she cry? It wasn’t like Sean loved her. He’d made that plain last night. No man who really even cared about her would have left without saying goodbye. That stupid note didn’t count.
“Okay.” She was hesitant, but she managed to get the words out. Before Sean, she’d been forming a nice little friendship with Adam and his boyfriend, Jake. It would be comforting to not spend every evening alone. Sure she was the third wheel with Adam and Jake, but at least she wasn’t alone, crying into her wine glass.
Adam’s face lit up, and he looked younger than his thirty years. “Awesome.” He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “I’ll go make reservations. I’ll be back here at five, okay?”
Reservations? “I thought we were going to happy hour.”
“We will. Some place nice. Now that we have you all to ourselves, we should celebrate.” A long, slow smile crossed his handsome face. He reached out and touched her nose playfully with his index finger. “It’s all going to be okay, Gracie. It’s for the best, you’ll see.” He winked and strode from the room, already on his cell phone.
What had that been about? What was for the best? Men. She didn’t understand any of them. Gay, straight, vanilla, Dom. She would never be able to get into those odd brains of theirs and come out with any form of logic. Saying I love you wasn’t like asking for a commitment. She hadn’t asked him to marry her. She’d just muttered something affectionate in the middle of some truly filthy, mind-blowing sex. It shouldn’t have sent him scurrying halfway across the country just to escape her.
Damn it. She was going there again.
Matt’s head popped out of his office. Grace noted that his eyes were bloodshot again. She would have sworn that he was wearing the same suit he’d worn the day before. Unlike Adam, Matt looked far older than his years. “Could I see you in here for a minute?”
Grace picked up a notepad and followed her boss into the office. Her heart hurt as she remembered the last time she was in here. Sean had ordered her to lean over the desk, and he’d had his way with her. Of course, he’d pretty much had his way with her any way he’d wanted. She could still feel his hands on her hips as he pushed that big dick of his into her pussy. He’d filled her up until she couldn’t remember that she’d felt lonely before. It had been so much more than sex for her. That was what hurt. It hadn’t meant the same thing to him. Not even close. She would remember him forever, and he’d probably already moved on to the next woman.
“Are you working on the party? I’d like to see the plans.” Matt’s voice brought her out of her memories.
She tried to shake off the vision of Sean’s big body taking hers. She had a job to do. She needed to concentrate on that. “I called a caterer.”
“And the venue?”
“I thought we’d use the Ashton.” It was a gorgeous Art Deco hotel in the heart of downtown. The ballroom was the perfect place for corporate parties. Grace had thrown the Christmas party there two years before.
Matt was quiet for a moment, his eyes still as he seemed to consider her plans. “All right. That’s a nice place. Close to the freeway. That will work.”
Grace wasn’t sure why he cared, but the street the hotel was on was close to I-35. “Yes. I got a good rate. I’m using their kitchens. Luckily they had a cancellation, so they could fit us in. I thought it would be nice to do an Asian buffet.”
His nose crinkled up in distaste, but he shook it off. “I don’t care about the food, just make sure everyone comes. Send out invites to everyone and their significant others. And invite the other tenants in the building. This is a big deal, Grace. This is going to take us to a whole different level.”
“I understand.” The Bryson Building deal was big. It made sense that Matt wanted to celebrate. It was just that he said all the right things, but Grace could see he was unmoved on an emotional level. He seemed so very disconnected.
“Good.” He sat back down at his desk and started to go through the papers there. Grace waited for a moment. He didn’t look up at her when he spoke again. “I got a call from Kelvin. They decided to go another way.”
Sean wouldn’t be coming back. He was gone. “I’ll cancel your meetings with Mr. Johansson.” The words tasted like ash in her mouth, but she managed to get them out.
His eyes came up to search hers. “And what about your meetings with him?”
“I didn’t have anything scheduled with him.” She hadn’t thought she needed to. He was living at her place.
“All right. It’s for the best, Grace. You’ll see. We don’t need that contract. We’ll be rolling in money, now.”
She was happy he was sure of it. She still hadn’t seen the contract and wouldn’t hold her breath. He hadn’t put it on her desk this morning. He was holding it close to his vest for some strange reason. A couple of questions started to play at the back of Grace’s brain.