Bewitching You(51)

He glanced her way and noticed her hands trembled against the wine glass. “I’m glad. This is all quite a coincidence, don’t you think? You and I meeting here?”

She nodded.

Gray took in a breath and got back to work, pouring the chicken, sauce, and pasta all into one bowl. The recipe said he should pair it with asparagus, but he hated asparagus. Broccoli would have to do. He scooped everything onto two separate plates. Nice plates he’d bought for this occasion.

“Do you like broccoli?” He turned to ask, and saw that her wine glass was empty.

“Yes. Everything smells great.” A forced grin spread across her glossed lips.

He poured her another glass. She was as nervous as he was, maybe even more with the way her face was flushed.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded again, pursing her mouth. What she must think of him. He could only imagine.

“I, uh…” Tell her you love her. Tell her you never once stopped loving her.

Not yet. The timing wasn’t right. She needed to see the bedroom first.

“I’ll take your plate to the table if you want to carry your wine.”

She agreed, and he followed her, setting a plate down in front of her and placing one at his place. He’d already set the table, so he poured himself a glass of wine and sat.

Everything was in place. Nothing had burned, and he hadn’t said anything too idiotic. Yet.

“Where are you staying?” Nice, safe topic.

She looked up from forking a noodle around. “I’m staying in a hotel room right now. I have a scholarship, but it doesn’t pay for housing, so I’m looking for a roommate who doesn’t charge too much.”

Gray had an extra room. But he didn’t want her sleeping in there. He wanted her sleeping with him. Just as they’d planned before any of this love spell crap happened.

“You can stay with me,” he offered.

“Here? But—”

Mozart starting ringing from her purse sitting at her feet.

“Sorry. It’s probably my mom.”

“Sure, no problem.”

She pulled out a glittery pink phone and answered. “Hello?”

The volume on her phone must have been turned to the max or her mother had an extremely loud voice, because he could hear every word. Gray figured it was the latter.

“Hi, Mom.” She held the phone away from her ear some. “I’m safe and everything is going well. Can I call you back?”

“You can spare a moment, can’t you? Your Nana’s here. We called to see how you did on your first day of school.”

“It was… Hold on.” She fiddled around with some buttons, but gave up. “It was good. It went really well.”

“Nana wants to know if—wait. I’ll put her on the phone. She’s driving me crazy with all these questions.”

“Sofia?” Her grandmother was even louder. Did they ever use the telephone?

“Hi, Nana.”

“Sofia, did that Steven guy ask you out on a date yet?”

“What?” Sofia’s cheeks flared red, and Gray’s heart stopped beating. “No, Nana. That’s not going to happen.”

Thank God. The last thing Gray needed was competition.

“Nana, can I call you guys back later? I’m kind of busy right now.”

“Well, what’s so important? Are you on the toilet? Having sex? What?”

“No, I’m having dinner with Gray. I ran into him this morning. He lives out here.”

Silence.

“Nana?”

“Yes, dear. Call me back as soon as possible. I want to hear all about this.”

“Sorry,” Sofia said as she closed the phone. “I guess distance doesn’t stop me from having a nosy family.”

Mozart blared again. She checked the caller ID and simply powered it off.

“No problem. Who’s Steven?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“You heard all that, didn’t you? Dang it. Steven is the man who discovered my paintings and then helped me get into the school for next to nothing.”

“Sounds like a great guy.” Jealousy started in again.

“He is, but he’s not interested in me the way Nana thinks he is. I don’t have the heart to tell her he has a boyfriend.”

“He has a boyfriend?”

“Yes. I’ve had dinner at their house. They’re both very nice. And they have the most amazing art collection.” Her eyes softened, and she seemed to relax for the first time.

Gray smiled, hoping he’d get one back.

He did, but lost it when her gaze dropped down to her plate again.

She forked at a piece of broccoli. “Gray?”

“Yeah?” His pulse quickened as he waited for her next words.

“I’m sorry for everything that happened. My mom’s reading. The love spell. I want you to know I wasn’t behind any of it. And my mom has agreed to start being more honest with her clients. She was very upset by what had happened to Hayes. And Nana, well, she hasn’t agreed to anything, but she—”

Gray put up his hand to stop her, surprised she was apologizing to him. “It’s all in the past, Sofia. I’d rather look to the future.”

“Okay,” she said, and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“I’ve missed you.” He couldn’t hold back any longer.

Her eyes widened. “You have?”

“God, yes.”

She still looked surprised. Maybe too surprised. Another rush of panic rounded over him. Had he waited too long?

“I…” he began again, feeling desperate to make her understand just how much he had missed her. “I always think about you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I think of everything. The sweetness of your smile. The genuineness of your laugh. The soft sound of your voice. Your kindness. Your smell. The warmth of your body when you’re lying up against me. Touching you. Being inside you. Everything.”

The words spilled from his mouth, releasing and exploding into the air between them like a heartrending bomb. They must have hit her the wrong way because she didn’t look too thrilled. Confused was a better word.

“I have to use the restroom,” she said, and rose from the table.

“The restroom?”

“Yes. Where is it?”

He set his napkin on top of his untouched food and stood. For the first time since they’d separated, he let himself question if maybe Nana’s love spell hadn’t been so ridiculous.

What if, just what if, Sofia’s love for him had faded?

He hadn’t wanted to believe any of her grandmother’s nonsense, and he’d purposely and patiently waited for destiny to catch up—for Sofia to make her way to San Francisco. He knew she’d eventually come. It was their fate. The dreams had made that clear.

And once she saw the bedroom, she’d forget about the spell, and she’d realize his love was real.

The only question was did she still love him?

He had to find out.

But first he’d tell her where the bathroom was. “It’s right over there.” He pointed to the door next to the kitchen.

She headed that way, almost passing him, but stopped abruptly and stared up at him. “I don’t really have to go,” she said.

“I didn’t think you did.”

“I was going to go in there, splash cold water on my face and try to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why you left me. I probably would have blamed it on the spell or my mother. I might’ve thought you needed some time to cool off. Most likely, I would’ve started to doubt myself and my gift. I would’ve wondered if you left because you couldn’t accept me and all the crazy stuff that comes with me. Or maybe you found another woman, had an affair—”

“Why don’t you ask me?”

She planted her feet stubbornly in front of him and met his eyes. “Why did you leave me, Gray? I loved you and I needed you and you weren’t there for me. I thought I’d never see you again. I thought you hated me. And I just…” She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can be here with—”

“Wait. Just wait.” Damn, he was going to lose her.

Don’t ask. Just do it.

Confused as to what else to do, Gray grabbed her by the waist and lifted her over his shoulder. “I’m taking you to the bedroom.”

“What?” She kicked and swatted at him. “No, you aren’t, Grayson Phillips. I need an explanation.”

He took the stairs as fast as he could, making sure he didn’t bump her head into the railing. One hand gripped firmly on her thigh, the other around her waist. Lord, did he miss touching her, even if she loathed every minute of it.

“I’m not having sex with you, Gray. You can’t walk back into my life and expect me to simply spread my legs for you. I’m not that type of woman, and if you think I am, then you don’t know me at all.”