TAKE A CHANCE – Teaser :)

Coming February 25, 2014

A small teaser…

Three days after Grant had disappeared, I was outside swimming.  Today I had successfully managed to push all thoughts of Grant to the back of my mind. So when my head broke the water to find Grant Carter standing there, looking down at me, I wasn’t sure if I was imagining things or if he was really there.

I pushed my wet hair back and wiped the water from my eyes. Then I opened them again, and there he stood. Still there.

“Hey,” he said with his sexy grin. I wanted to hurl something at him to make that smile go away. It needed a warning label, too.

I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him. “Nan isn’t here,” I replied. She hadn’t been back since she’d left for Rosemary the last time. I was sure that was where Grant had run off to as well. He had gone to find her. Like he always did.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied.

I really should’ve gone back to swimming and ignored him. It was the smart thing to do. But then he could possibly take that as an invitation to join me. “What do you need?” I asked, in the most annoyed tone I could muster.

“I came to see you. It seems once a guy kisses you, you’re hard to forget,” he replied.

Not what I had been expecting. I swallowed the nervous knot in my throat.  I would cave and forgive him too easily if he started saying things like that. Where had my backbone gone? I used to be stronger than this.

“You’re mad because I left,” he said.

I thought about retorting and changed my mind. That would only give him more power. He didn’t need to know he affected me at all.

“It was a jackass thing to do. But you scared me. I like to flirt with beautiful girls, but I don’t handle it well when one simple kiss makes my fucking head spin. You make me want things and feel a certain way. I’m not ready for that.”

I was expecting a lame I’m sorry; not that. “Oh,” was the only thing I could come up with. What did it mean, exactly, that our kiss made his head spin? Was that a good thing? It sounded like it… maybe.

Grant ran a hand through his long, unruly hair and let out a frustrated sigh. “I shouldn’t have left you without an explanation. It was unfair and I was only thinking of myself. I’m good at that. I just… what can I do to get you to forgive me?”

He still wasn’t asking for forgiveness. He was asking how to get forgiveness. Had anyone ever asked me how to get forgiveness before? How… unique.

Warning signs were going off in my head loudly, but somehow I ignored that. Because my heart wanted to forgive him. I didn’t want to push him away. No one ever took this much time to get to know me. Being lonely was something I had grown used to. Having someone here who wanted to get to know me bad enough to admit he was wrong, someone who cared to ask me how he could fix it, meant more than he realized.

“Don’t do it again,” I replied.

Grant’s eyes went wide and then a slow smile slid across his handsome face. “I won’t.”

I stepped back as he started tugging his shirt over his head. He threw it aside and slipped off his shoes, and then his eyes lifted to meet mine. “I’m not leaving this time. When you get tired of me, you’ll have to force me out.”

I couldn’t keep the silly smile off my face.

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