Playing with Danger (Desire Bay 2)

“These arrangements are looking great,” Hannah said. Laura was putting several centerpieces together for the event tomorrow night. Looked like the hiring company had gone local for not just the bar—which was Hannah’s job—but the flowers and food, too. Laura’s flowers would be on display at the event, and she was proud of her friend for all the hard work she’d put into making her business a success.

“Thank you! I’m so excited for this job. I love getting to put arrangements together. I haven’t done it much lately, since I’ve been doing more landscaping stuff.”

“Well, they look wonderful,” Hannah said, handing her another flower. “How do you and Jake do it? You two are different, yet you work together and live together.”

“Great sex,” Laura said with a smile, adding a rose to the arrangement.

Hannah raised a brow. “I guess that counts for something.” She snipped another flower and handed it to Laura.

“I mean, nothing is ever easy, including our relationship. It took a lot of hard work, and yes, we’re different. Remember what we went through when I first came back to town?”

“You two fought and hated each other,” Hannah recalled.

“Which, again, made for great sex, but we had to meet each other halfway.”

“I don’t know how to do that without knowing everything will work out.”

Laura laughed. “You don’t know everything will work out. Because there’s no way to know. You just have to have faith it will. Go into it knowing that you’re going to try your damnedest and you love him. That’s what you know.”

“Yeah . . . ,” Hannah said quietly. Then frowned. “Wait, what makes you think I love Grant?”

Laura grabbed a lily, put it in the arrangement, and spun the vase. “Because I can see it. You’re trying so hard not to count on him. You’re actually trying not to love him. But you do. You have. Which is why you married him on a damn boat.”

/> Laura shot her a playful smile.

There was that. Hannah had never been impulsive like that. She knew then and still did now that Grant was special. She thought back to what Grant had said to her that night at dinner . . .

You love me. Stop acting like you don’t . . .

Was that what she was doing? Trying to find any reason to remind herself why this was a bad idea? Why Grant was a bad idea. Because he was the only one that could hurt her. Which meant that . . .

Crap. I really love him.

“You can’t control everything,” Laura said, keeping her eyes on her vase.

It hit Hannah just then, the connection she and Grant had. She tried to deal with so much, tried to be in control and plan for the worst. Deal with endless responsibilities. But Grant took care of her. Let her be free. He took over, and she felt truly seen and taken care of.

“I trust him more than I even knew,” she said.

“Duh,” Laura said, grabbing a carnation out of Hannah’s hand.

“But that doesn’t mean we’re right for each other. Or can even make this work,” Hannah said.

Laura stopped fussing with her flowers and stared at Hannah.

“Right for each other?” she repeated in a snippy tone. “You’re the most stubborn, pain-in-the-butt person I’ve ever known. And you finally met your match. You’re not right for each other—you’re perfect.”

Hannah glanced down. She wondered what it was about her that made Grant want her. He challenged her, and she challenged him back. There was a lot of push and pull and . . . spankings.

But she really did feel herself with him. Felt like he saw her for her. Never a local, never trash, never mean . . . he embraced her difficult side and matched it.

“Of all the times a man has never shown up for you,” Laura said, “Grant has. Even after you ran. And Jake did the same thing for me.”

Hannah thought hard about what her friend was saying. And she was right. There was something special between her and Grant, and it deserved a chance. A real chance for her to trust in what they could be. Her gut had told her once before that he was it. Now it was time to listen to it again.

Maybe Grant would stay here. Maybe at the end of these two weeks, she’d be his wife, just like he wanted. Then they could really try to make this work. There was no way to know unless they tried. And damn the man, but he might have just gotten her to fall in love with him again.

“I think I need to go to work. Then I’ll find Grant for a little chat.”