Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Chapter Eleven

Mark didn't offer any parting words to Grayson before he left, but he made a point to close the door. Grayson was soon out of his seat and, before uttering a word to me, closed the heavy slatted blinds to cover the glass walls and the window in the door. I didn't want to be the first to say anything. After all, I'd interrupted Grayson at work. I couldn't imagine he was happy about it. I didn't want to do or say anything to make him angry at me. All I wanted was to talk, and that couldn't happen if we had a noisy, gossip-inducing fight in his office.

The last thing Grayson did was flip the lock on the office door. It was only a light click of noise, but it still made my spine stiffen. "What are you doing here?" he hissed. "I told you I was working late."

I held up the bag. "Exactly what Mark said. Bringing you dinner." The scent of food was undeniable. No matter what my ulterior motives were, I had brought something for him to eat. Still, I added, "And because you've been avoiding me."

Grayson took the bag to the coffee counter and set it down. "Thanks for the dinner. I'll be back late, so you can–"

"Go home and be ignored?" I asked.

After a heavy sigh, Grayson leaned against the edge of the desk and folded his arms across his chest. "What do you want to talk about?"

"How about the fact we had sex and then you just ghosted me?" I suggested. "I didn't know you could ghost someone when you live in the same house as them, but you proved me wrong."

Grayson unfolded his arms and reached down to grip the edge of the desk. He averted his gaze and focused on a spot on the floor instead of me. "What we did was a mistake."

It was like a punch to the gut. I'd suspected he had regrets about falling into bed with me but calling it a mistake was an insult.

"Is that what you really think?" I tried to keep my voice from shaking but it was a losing battle. "Or are you just trying to ditch me now that you've gotten what you wanted out of me?"

The accusation was enough to grab Grayson's attention. "You think I've gotten what I wanted?" he asked. "Can't you see what a fucking mess this is? How wrong this is? Your dad is my best friend. I never should've even thought about getting you into bed, and now I've got to figure out how the fuck I tell him what I've done after over twenty years of friendship."

"What we've done. I'm an adult, Grayson, and I have enough agency to decide who I sleep with."

"You're right. You do. And I took advantage of that."

"How, exactly?" I challenged. Boldly, I took a step closer and held his gaze. "I wanted you. You wanted me." Another step. "We had sex and it was fucking amazing. The best I've had. And now you're saying that it was a mistake. That I was a mistake. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"

Grayson stood to full height. I refused to be intimidated by him. Nothing he could do would make me break eye contact, nor would it drive me away. I deserved to know how Grayson felt about me and if he really believed that it had been a mistake. I'd had enough of men lying to me. If he really didn't want to be with me then I wouldn't force him. Hell, I couldn't. No one could make Grayson do anything that he didn't want to. But I deserved to hear him say honestly that he had no interest instead of just lying to save face with my father.

Grayson held my gaze. "I never said that you were a mistake."

Risky though it was, I was ready to call his bluff. Grayson had said while we were in bed that I was meant to be his. That might have just been bedroom talk in the heat of the moment, but if he really felt like we should be together, then he wouldn't take kindly to the idea of another man taking me out to dinner. I adjusted my purse on my shoulder and tried to adopt a nonchalant attitude.