Playing with Danger (Desire Bay 2)

“I’m fine. What, did you think she’d hit me or something?”

“No, she has a way of spinning lies to make people feel like shit.”

She looked at Grant. At her husband. The man she’d said yes to after two weeks, and she wondered how she’d got in this mess. How she felt like she knew him so well, yet maybe didn’t.

No, she did. She had to. Because if there was one thing she trusted, it was her gut. And deep down she knew Grant was a good man. He wouldn’t lie to her, take everything from her. He wouldn’t.

“She talked about your dad,” Hannah started slowly. Grant’s face twisted from anger to sadness, back to anger. It was clear how much he loved his father and how much pain he was still in from the loss. There had been no sign of any emotion other than bitchiness on Lillian’s face.

“I don’t need to know what she said to you about him.” Grant’s dark eyes stared straight through her own and into her soul. “The only thing that is important to me is that you know he was a good man. The only mistake he ever made was loving her. She took everything from him. Even now, she’s still trying to take everything.”

Hannah frowned. Lillian had said exactly the opposite. But she had also said that while being frosted in diamonds like a frickin’ blonde Elizabeth Taylor. Hannah was more and more confident that she knew Grant, and if his mother was a sign of anything, it was what Grant had had to struggle with his whole life. Hannah would never want anyone, especially him, to judge her based on her father. So she wouldn’t do that to him. She’d believe him.

Trust in him.

“I have no doubt your father was a wonderful man.”

Grant nodded once. “Thank you. Did she say anything else? Why she was here?”

“She said she was here to see you. You’re trying to take what’s hers? Something like that.”

Grant breathed deep. “I’m not taking anything from her.”

“I believe you,” Hannah said. And she did. She honestly did. She’d suspected that Grant was well off, and now seeing his mom, that was confirmed. But what she didn’t know were the details. Would he really be in the hole? The term prenup stuck in her mind, and she couldn’t figure out why it refused to unstick. Only one way to get a gauge on this . . .

“She asked if we’d signed a prenup.”

Grant’s eyes darkened, and his expression shifted just enough that she could tell he didn’t like that.

“We don’t need one,” he said shortly.

Hanna’s chest stalled. “How come?”

He cupped her face. “Because I trust you.” He searched her face. “Do you trust me?”

She looked at him. Those deep pools pulling her in. His warm hands, capable yet gentle on her face.

“Yes, I do trust you,” she whispered.

He kissed her softly. “I’m sorry about the other night at the bar.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry, too.”

“I just can’t lose you. The thought of anything happening to you . . .”

“I’m okay,” she said. “This is my life here. You have to trust me that I can handle things.”

“I want you happy. I know you love that bar. I still hate you having to throw yourself into something dangerous.”

She nodded. “I know. And I hate that I feel like I don’t quite know everything there is to know about you.”

The tip of his nose brushed hers, but he didn’t say anything. He just hugged her close, and Hannah let his warmth wrap around her. Her heart recognizing him, needing him. Her mind ticking once more . . .

Maybe we really are too different to ever work.

Chapter Eleven

Hannah sat at the little desk in Laura’s flower shop. The front part of Baughman Home Goods was Laura’s display of various flowers and arrangements. It was small and cute and all her style. The back warehouse was where Jake worked.