Worth Billions (Worth It 1)

I giggled as a smile spread across my cheeks.

“Just dinner?” I asked.

“Just dinner,” he said.

“Okay,” I said. “Just dinner it is.”

He held me close and I gave into what my body wanted. My mind screamed at me to push him away, but I couldn’t. I wanted to get closer to him. I wanted to know him more. To know him better. Even if it was dangerous and even if the consequences outweighed what I might get out of it.

To me, he was worth it.

He was worth the devastation he could cause.

Chapter 21

Grayson

After staying up all night talking and cuddling with Michelle, we decided to do our dinner date Thursday night. Which meant I needed to make a run to the grocery store. Michelle was sitting in the passenger’s seat of my car and somehow, it felt right to look over and see her there. Her hand rode the waves of the air as we drove through town, moving up and down and swirling around until I pulled into the store. She looked over at me and smiled that beautiful smile of hers, and then we traded places so I could go grab us some things.

She said she had some errands to run while I was in the store, so I gave her the keys to the car and told her to come get me in about an hour.

Then I pulled her into my lips for a kiss that made my cock harden against my pants.

I watched Michelle drive off, waving at me from the window. Every second I spent with her solidified my belief that I had done the right thing. Ever since I had made the decision to stay, a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I felt lighter on my feet and smiling got a bit easier. This town didn’t seem as dark and dank as it had been when I first traveled into town a week and a half ago. There was something about Michelle I couldn’t let go of, and as I turned to walk into the store I started running down the list of things we needed.

I really wanted to make her a very special dinner.

Walking up and down the aisles, filling the cart with things we would need over the coming days. A couple of spices. Some drinks. A decent bottle of wine, though I didn’t make it a habit of buying my wine in grocery stores. But still, I knew of a few brands that I’d allow to grace Michelle’s beautiful tongue. I placed a couple of bottles into the cart and continued up and down the aisles, running down the list I had memorized.

Filet mignon. Bacon. Pepper. Salt. Asparagus. Garlic cloves. Potatoes. Heavy cream. Fresh bell peppers. Grapes. Pancake mix. Buttermilk.

I was glad a healthy store of some sort had popped up in this small town. It even had some of the gourmet items I needed. The quality of the filet mignon was shocking, and the second I saw the fresh crab legs I almost keeled over.

Surf and turf.

That would be the perfect dinner date meal for us.

There was his want I felt to spoil Michelle. This small inkling that flared up every time I passed by something not familiar in this town. Like the freshly-made tiramisu sold by the square in the dessert section. Or the fresh cheeses that even made me salivate as I picked out a few small triangles to slice off with our wine one night. It was an unfamiliar feeling, wanting to do this for a woman.

But it wasn’t something that was unwelcomed.

“Grayson MacDonald?”

I furrowed my brow at the foreign voice as I turned around.

“Holy shit. You’re Grayson MacDonald.”

A woman started down the aisle with her cart, heading right for me. She seemed vaguely familiar, but not enough for me to place a name. I fixed a smile on my face in case this was someone recognizing me from my football days. Maybe someone who had moved to the town to take care of an ailing family member or something. But the second she got up on me, I recognized who she was.

Oh shit.

Oh no.

Her hand lifted up and her palm cracked down against my cheek. My eyes closed and the smile fell from my face as my head twisted off to the side. Connie Lee Thomas. The sister of Derrick Thomas.

A boy Andy and I relentlessly teased in high school.

“You sorry excuse for a man,” she hissed. “Do you know the kind of therapy my brother had to go through to shake high school off his shoulders?”