GRIND

LIAM

I twirled the cowboy hat around in my hand, smiling. Owen was one hell of a gift-giver for only being seven years old. "Please tell him thank you for me, Mrs. Darlington. I never thought I'd see a hat that was too big for even my giant head."

The hat nearly ate half my head as I tried it on again, both me and Owen's mom, Gwen Darlington, laughing.

After she gave me a brief hug, Mrs. Darlington headed back into the gathering, and I set the huge hat down on the wine servers’ tip table. There was nothing like receiving a belated Christmas present from my favorite kid. Owen's parents were both regulars at Spa Unico, so I saw him all the time when I was working. He was a sweet kid, so I always let him hang out with me in between appointments.

I straightened my tie and jacket, scanning the main ballroom for any sign of Aly in that devilishly sexy black dress she was wearing. Damn, she could have come in a potato sack and I would've wanted to steal her away and fuck her underneath one of the round tables that dotted the outskirts of the room.

Trying to avoid the gaze of several of the women who kept gawking at me, I kept to myself as I looked for her. But by the time I ended up where I started, disappointment pulsed through me. Where was Aly, anyway? Dad and Kay were still entertaining, and even Sage was hovering over a table, writing something down on a clipboard.

I was surprised she would just walk out like that without telling me she was leaving, but who was I to ask her to do that on my behalf?

Spinning around, I tried not to seem as disappointed as I felt, wondering where Aly was. I had some big plans for later. The goal was to finally take her to my place and show her around. I wasn't big on showing off or anything, but I wanted Aly to see the tournaments and classics I'd won with all of my trophies and awards.

It may have been difficult trying to accept that maybe I'd never go around the circuit again, but it was still a huge part of my life, and despite whatever was happening between me and Aly, I wanted to share those things with her.

Several of the older women that cornered me earlier kept looking at me, wiggling their fingers in my direction, but I ignored them. Wasn't she just here?

Since Kay was supposed to be sleeping over at Dad's place and she wouldn't be suspicious about Aly leaving with me, I had already cleaned up back at my place just in case.

Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick text asking her where she ran off to, figuring she'd text me right back. I slipped out of the ballroom and grabbed my keys from my pocket, deciding to go ahead and have the car waiting for her. She couldn't have gone very far.

Being the cheeseball I was now turning into on her behalf, I turned on the radio and sent her another text.

Hey beautiful. I was thinking about some ice cream. You in?

Another few minutes passed by, and Aly hadn't even read either of my texts. Shrugging, I called her, waiting for her to pick up on the other end. I let it ring in my ear, frowning as I ended the call, wondering why the hell she wasn't picking up.

Turning the radio up a little louder, I told myself to get over it and chill out. If Aly was busy elsewhere inside, I'd look like a damn idiot pestering her like this.

I debated on whether I should just look for Sage or Kay and ask where Aly was, when Jackson pounded on my window, motioning for me to roll it down.

"What's up?"

"You mind helping me and Dad close down the food? It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes between the three of us, and I'm dying to get off my feet. I think Sage and Aly left, so it's just us now," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

On one hand I had no problem helping out, and I knew he was right, if we all pitched in, it would go by quicker. But I knew that my time with Aly was slipping away between my fingers, and if I missed her call or text, I wouldn't be seeing her tonight, especially if she had already left. And why did she leave without at least saying 'bye?'

I didn't want to come on too strongly with her, and in my own head, I didn't want to feel obsessive. Maybe I overwhelmed her with everything this weekend, from the sauna on. And maybe I should just let it go and give her some space.

"Yeah, okay."

It wasn't as though I had anything better to do, it seemed.

Chapter 13

ALY

* * *

I was only a few steps away from raking out my emergency pint of Ben & Jerry's, going back and forth between whether I was just being melodramatic about the whole thing or not. It sucked to admit that Liam had been pretty much leading me on this whole time, when really I wasn't the only action he was seeing, and perhaps I really shouldn't have been surprised.

After all, he was easily the most attractive man I'd ever met, so it wasn't hard to believe that other women felt the same way. It just hurt to know that he was so… intimate with me, and that in the end, it didn't really mean much of anything to him. I'd been failing myself the whole time.

Even my sister noticed how glum I felt, and while I was hanging around Mom's back office, Sage even tapped me on the shoulder, looking concerned. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or do I have to pry it out of you?"

I sighed. How pathetic would I sound if I complained about how much awesome sex I had over the weekend, only to find out that it didn't matter? "I don't really want to talk about it, Sage. Sorry."

I knew she wasn't going to give up that easily, but she at least gave me some space, going back over to her desk to make a few more phone calls for the day. When I overheard her talking with Mom on the phone about the distribution checkup Sage was scheduling for the week, my heart lifted an inch or two.

"This is probably going to sound a little crazy, but can I join you on your little trip this week? You're going up to northern Sonoma County, right? To check up on the wineries up there? I could… use a little more diversion. Still haven't got those results back, and all that, you know?" I asked, chalking it up to my apprehension while still awaiting the bar results.

Sage had her fingers on the desk, looking me over as if she could see right through me. My little sister knew me way too well. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what's got you all bothered… Not. But, since I am the best little sister anyone has ever had in the entire history of the world, yes, you can come along. It's going to be boring —"

I shook my head. "I don't even care. I will sit there and watch you check off your little boxes on the clipboard all week long, it doesn't even matter. Whatever I can do to get my mind off… things."

This made Sage raise her dark brown eyes, but she shrugged anyway. "Whatever you say, sis. I'll go ahead and call Mo

m back and let her know you're coming along. I love you and everything, but I still want my own room at the hotel."

I laughed, already starting to feel a little bit better.

It was a pretty good distraction, at least for the week. Our first date at the sleek hotel had me and Sage both sitting poolside and enjoying the complimentary bottles of wine that Mom’s sommelier friend, Darren, provided us. And I did manage to keep myself busy, helping Sage whenever I could, and even getting halfway through my book I was working on…

But that didn't stop the texts. The phone calls. All the guilt that was eating up inside of me. I was intentionally ignoring all of Liam's attempts to talk to me, unsure of how I would handle myself if I were to actually talk to him. The sound of his voice alone was enough to make me weak in the knees, and I didn't want that when I was trying to let everything that happened last week go already.

One of the last nights of our trip in upper wine country, I finally caved in and listened to Liam's voicemail messages, my eyes tearing up.

"Hey… Listen, I'm really sorry. I know I've been blowing up your phone, probably sounding like some crazy stalker. This will be the last message, I promise. I had a lot of fun with you, Aly. And you… Well, you’re really special. I get it if you don't want to see me again, even though I don't really get it I guess, but whatever. I'll respect whatever you want to do. Just know that I had the best time of my life with you, and I certainly don't regret one minute of it." Dial tone.

A sob built up in the back of my throat, threatening to escape. It felt like pure torture not immediately calling him back and confessing how much I already missed him.

Was I being a bitch by simply ignoring him like this? I thought I was trying to put myself first… But now, listening to the desperation in Liam's voice, I was having second thoughts. It was easy to tell myself that Liam didn't give a damn about me or my feelings, that I was just another piece of ass to him, but there was a true sincerity in his words over the phone. And if he really felt that way, why did he keep trying to call me? He could just walk into any old place and probably scoop up the hottest woman in it, no problem. So why me?