Take a Chance (Chance, #1; Rosemary Beach #7)(49)

Harlow jumped when something made a loud noise in the kitchen. Guess we wouldn’t be eating here. “I, uh . . . probably not a good idea,” she said, staring at the kitchen.

“Want to just leave?” I asked.

Harlow shook her head. “No. I live here, too. I want coffee before I leave. I won’t hide; this is my home, too.”

The way her shoulders straightened reminded me that behind the sweet face was a spine of steel. She’d been through a lot. I just nodded and let her lead the way.

If she was getting coffee then so was I.

Nan was standing in front of the microwave and turned to glare at us when we entered the kitchen. Her eyes dropped to our joined hands, and her glare turned to pure hatred.

“You have got to be f**king kidding me. Really, Grant? Holding hands? My God, you have lost your mind.” She snarled and jerked the microwave open and pulled out a small bowl.

Harlow let go of my hand and walked over to the coffeepot. I had to make myself stand still and not run after her to guard her. She wanted to do this and I was going to let her.

“He gets bored easy with your type. I don’t know what he’s telling you but he likes excitement, which you could never give him. Don’t let that little heart of yours get involved, because you’re not Grant Carter’s type,” Nan said in a haughty tone as Harlow went about making coffee and avoiding her. When she set her mug down, she turned and gave Nan her full attention.

“He may get bored with me, but that isn’t your business. It’s mine,” Harlow replied.

I had already realized I would never get bored with her. She was so damn fascinating, no one could get bored with her.

“Grant likes to f*ck. He isn’t into hand-holding and talking about your feelings. He likes it rough. Right here across this counter, he’s thrown me down and ripped my panties off and f**ked me. He loves it, and he’ll be back for more.”

Yeah. That was enough. I started walking toward Harlow to get her the hell out of there before Nan gave her any more details I didn’t want her to hear. She didn’t do well being reminded of my past sex life.

“Then I guess that makes you the slut, Nan. Not me. Because I’d never give you details. That’s just trashy.” Harlow picked up her mug, then turned to me. “Ready?” she asked, as if Nan hadn’t just given her a play-by-play of something I didn’t want her to know.

“Uh, yeah,” I replied, and glanced back at Nan, who was seething. That only made me smile. Damn, my sweet girl could cut deep with no drama. She just did it with ease.

I slipped my hand around her waist and led her to the door, where she grabbed her purse and keys. When we stepped outside, she moved away from my touch and looked back at me.

“That’s done now. I told you I could handle her. I missed tennis so I need to talk to Adam and apologize. Thanks for going with me yesterday. It meant a lot,” she said, then pressed a kiss to my cheek and started to walk toward her car.

What. The. Fuck?

I went after her and grabbed her arm to stop her. “Hey, wait. What was that?” Because it sure as hell felt like a brush-off. And that wasn’t f**king happening.

She smiled at me sadly and shrugged. “My way of putting distance between us. I need it.”

Distance? “What the hell? I thought after yesterday that we had moved past distance.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t do this. I’ve never done this. That’s probably why I’ll have the image of you jerking Nan’s panties off and screwing her on the counter forever etched in my brain. Before, it bothered me; now, I have visuals. So I need distance.”

I wanted to hurt someone. Particularly a certain redhead in that damn house. “Harlow, don’t do this to me. That was before. I didn’t know. I was f**ked up. It was after we found Jace’s body, and I lost it there for a while.”

“I’m sorry, Grant. But I can’t. I’ve been protecting my heart for years. I can’t stop now. You’re dangerous. That sexy smile and those sweet words are hard to resist, but I can’t let something that could possibly destroy me into my life.”

No. Fuck no. She was not going to do this. “I’m not going to go away. I want you, Harlow. Just you.”

She reached up and brushed her thumb over my bottom lip. “I believe you right now. What scares me is who you’ll want in a couple of weeks.”

Then she turned and opened her car door and got in. Had I not just told her this morning that I had never felt this way about anyone? Were Nan’s f**king words that powerful? My chest ached and I put my fist on it to ease the pain. I wouldn’t let Harlow do this. I just needed to find some way to prove to her that I was serious. Completely serious.

Harlow

Iwatched Adam finish his session with a lady I didn’t recognize. I tried to focus on apologizing to him and not on what had happened this morning. The fact that I had just reacted like a jealous girlfriend was eating me up. I wasn’t that girl. I didn’t let something like Grant’s past sex life make me punish him. I could lie to myself and say I had meant what I said, but the truth was I did it to get back at him. For what? Screwing around with Nan? When had I gotten so shallow? Was I acting like Nan? Oh, God. I felt nauseated.

Adam glanced over at me and I smiled. I would think about Grant later. I would work this out in my head. He didn’t deserve what I had done this morning. We were seeing where things could go with us. I knew about him and Nan. It wasn’t a secret. I’d heard them my first night back here. I had just gotten all territorial and been a bitch about it.