Page 69 of The One You Want

Maybe that was because the “relationship” was starting to feel more and more like somethingreal.

Grant’s hand tightened in mine. “You have a wonderful granddaughter. I feel lucky to knowher.”

I looked up at him, surprised and touched by the sincerity in his voice, but he seemed determined to hold my grandfather’s gaze, as if some kind of unspoken showdown was happening between the two ofthem.

My grandmother opened her mouth, probably to say something cutting, but my grandpa cut her off. “You know, if the two of you are spending so much time together…” he studied the man at my side, an appraising look on his face. “Her grandmother and I should probably get to know you a littlebetter.”

I gaped at him. Spending time with my grandparents was not part of the deal Grant had agreed to. Before I could attempt to brush him off, Grant was nodding at my grandfather, determination in hiseyes.

“I think that’s a greatidea.”

“Brunch tomorrow?” Grandpa asked. “Come up to the hotel. We can show you around the family business a little. Our chef makes a damn fine eggsBenedict.”

“Eggs Benedict is my favorite,” Grant said, grinning, and I felt a little dizzy. What on earth was happeninghere?

“Very good.” Grandpa reached out and shook Grant’s hand again. “We need to be heading back. We just like to make an appearance at these things, for the image, youknow.”

Grant nodded as if he did know, even though I was pretty sure he’d never done something for image’s sake in his whole life. He was toorealforthat.

“Yes,” my grandmother murmured in her tight voice. “The town folk start to get rowdy after a few hours. Hardly a place for a young lady to be spending time.” She shot me a warning glance and I looked down, embarrassed. Did she have to be quite so awful in front ofGrant?

He, however, seemed completely unconcerned. He slipped an arm around me, pulling me in tight. “We’ll look forward to brunchtomorrow.”

My grandpa held out his arm for his wife and they walked away in the direction of the hotel, my grandmother throwing one last disapproving look over her shoulder before they were swallowed up by the darkness. It wasn’t until I could no longer see her that I let out my breath, relief loosening my tenseshoulders.

Grant gave my hand a squeeze. “Youokay?”

“Yeah.” I looked up at him. “I’m sorry about that. I was going to try to get us out of brunch—I know that’s not how you want to spend yourSunday.”

He held my gaze, something serious in his eyes, something I couldn’t quite read. “That’s okay. It’s kind of the point, right? For them to see ustogether?”

I looked at the ground as my stomach dropped, and not in the fun swoony way. He wasn’t saying anything untrue—we had a deal. But the deal had been the last thing on my mind ever since he kissed me lastnight.

“Jenny?” I looked up to see him still watching me, that unreadable thing in his eyes evenstronger.

“Right,” I whispered, hoping I didn’t sound as gutted as I felt. “That was thepoint.”

He watched me for a long moment, opening his mouth a few times, as if he was going to speak. Eventually, he released my shoulder and took a step back, the distance making my chestclench.

“You get the donuts and I’ll get theapples?”

Oh, right. The dessert. I had completely forgotten. I nodded a few times, trying to look and sound normal. “Sure. Apples and donuts. Meet you backhere?”

Before he could answer, I spun on my heel and hightailed it over to Sadie and Lilah at the bakery’s booth. My thoughts were a mess. Was it possible that I was getting myself into the exact same situation all over again, reading into something that just wasn’tthere?

As if drawn by the question in my mind, the last person I wanted to see right then turned around when I got into theline.

“Jenny!” Dr. Miller said, looking both surprised and pleased to run into me. “It feels like ages since I’ve seenyou.”

Yeah, that’s because I’ve been hiding in mortification every time I catch sight of you in town,I thought, fighting ablush.

“This is a nice surprise,” I lied through my teeth. “How are thingsgoing?”

“We miss you at the shelter.” Something crossed his expression, probably a memory of how embarrassed we’d both been the last day I’d been there. “Jenny, I really want to apologizefor—”

Oh, God. Not again. I held up a hand and cut him off. “Please, it’s fine. It was weeks ago. Besides, it was no bigdeal.”

His expression was grave. “But you stopped coming in to volunteer after that, so you must have beenuncomfortable.”