Page 43 of Sealing the Deal

I shake my head in answer. “No. Sonia’s handling everything. Why?”

Grayson’s expression shifts. I can’t tell if it’s relief or trepidation. “I’m needed in New York. It’s a little over an hour away. I wondered if you’d mind if we detoured. My father has called a last-minute board meeting for Ashborne Holdings. If we head straight there, I can make it.”

I don’t know much about this level of business, but I still frown. “On a Saturday?”

“It’s whenever my father decides to call them. Usually when he thinks the people who’ll vote against him can’t make it.”

“And you’re one of those people?” I ask, remembering what Grayson told me about his return to New York and wanting to keep an eye on his father.

“Yes.”

“Then we should go,” I say, surprising myself. “I can catch a normal flight from New York, right? It’s no big deal.”

“I’ll only be a few hours. If you’re happy to wait.”

I study him for a moment, seeing the tension in his shoulders. “Even better,” I say lightly. “Let’s go to New York.”

Relief crosses his features before it’s quickly buried beneath control. He stands and moves through the cabin, long strides, disappearing to talk to the copilot.

When he returns a minute later, whatever storm is raging inside him is fully formed. Tension radiates from him, rolling off his shoulders and crackling in the air. He looks like a man arming himself for a war no one else can see.

He stops in front of me, eyes dark, unreadable. “Thank you,” he says quietly. And there it is again. The wall. Polite and impenetrable.

Frustration sparks through me. Why does he keep doing this? Keep stepping close then backing away? What’s he scared of? Or does he just not feel the same want I do? That want to get under his skin—and maybe more…?

His phone buzzes again. He checks it, frowning. Deeper this time.

“Another problem?” I ask.

He hesitates. “My father is inviting me to family dinner tonight,” he says carefully. “With you.”

I stare at him. “How does your father know who I am?”

Grayson’s mouth twists into a grimace. “It’s a hobby of his. Keeping an eye on mine and Helena’s lives and the people we spend time with.”

Grayson’s reply makes me wonder if he isn’t guarded because he’s keeping himself back from me. Maybe he’s guarded because he’s been brought up to believe he has to be. And because he’s carrying his own business, and still a part of his father’s empire, and now he has the Stormhawks, too. This is a man being pulled in too many directions with no one to share the load.

“I’m happy to go, if you want me there,” I say.

A silence draws out. “Flic,” he says quietly, “I meant what I said about my father. Charles Ashborne isn’t a nice man. I don’t want to inflict him on you.” His voice hardens. “But if he knows about you and I don’t bring you, he’ll assume I’m trying to protect you, and that there’s something more between us than there is.”

Something more between us than there is.

For a heartbeat, I’d let myself imagine it. That the almost-touches and the lingering eye contact weren’t just in my head. But apparently, they were.

I force my expression into something neutral. Unbothered. Of course there’s nothing more. This is a deal. A strategy. A partnership. I’m not naïve enough to forget that. Still, something small inside my chest tightens in a way that feels a lot like disappointment.

I straighten my shoulders. “Right,” I say evenly. “Well, we wouldn’t want him getting the wrong idea. So, it looks like I’m coming to dinner.”

Grayson studies me. “You’re sure?”

I lift my chin. “I’m a big girl, Grayson. I can handle myself.”

His lips twitch, almost a smile. “I know you can.” He hesitates and then: “It means staying over. Flying back to Denver tomorrow.”

“I like hotels,” I reply.

“Would you… I mean, you could stay at my apartment. I’ve got a spare room.” It’s a simple sentence, but I think I catch a vulnerability threaded through it.