“It was a good reason, Gray,” she whispered.
“Maybe. Or maybe I should have just called the cops. Instead, I got right in his face and told him what a piece of shit he was. He was the one who pushed me first, but it was all I needed. I didn’t show him any mercy. He got a few good hits in, but most of the punches were mine. I enjoyed it. And then he fell…” I paused, closing my eyes as I pictured that terrible moment, the one that had forever changed the course of my life. “The way he landed…I knew right away he was dead. People started scattering, cars drove off, soon the police showed up…”
She looked up at me, her eyes so compassionate and understanding I wanted to fall into them. Maybe I’d find redemption there. “You didn’t mean to kill him,” she said.
“No. God, no, I never meant to kill him. I just wanted to hurt him, teach him a lesson. But I had all this pent-up anger inside, and instead of him sitting in jail, it was me who was sentenced to prison. I acted as his judge, jury, and as it turned out, his executioner that night.”
Kira brought her hand up and ran her thumb over my cheek. And amazingly, that same love was still in her eyes, even after what I’d told her. I exhaled a silent breath.
“Did they ever find the girl who’d been roofied?”
“Yeah. When the police showed up that night, she was already gone. They were able to identify her, but naturally, she didn’t remember anything at all, and it was too late to do any drug testing. My defense couldn’t use her at trial. Brent’s friends denied any knowledge of him slipping narcotics to anyone. Hell, for all I know, he was lying about it to me. But…I don’t think so. Even now.”
I took a deep breath. “My father wouldn’t pay for a lawyer—he left me to hang. I had to use a public defender. The guy was totally incompetent. Even so, he was sure I’d only get minimal time for what happened—six months at most, community service at best. There were all kinds of witnesses that testified we’d both been fighting and that his fall was just a freak accident. And so when the judge came back with five years, I was…I was floored, shocked. It felt like my life was over.”
I felt Kira’s body tense but she remained still. I let out a deep breath. “I waited for my father to visit me—even just once—but he didn’t. And then Shane came to see me to tell me he’d married Vanessa…” The hurt of that moment still affected me, even if the outcome didn’t anymore. And then I’d cut Shane off too, taking him off my visitor list. He’d tried. All those years, he’d never stopped writing, trying to visit me, nor had Vanessa.
“It must have been terrible for you. You must have felt so abandoned, so cheated,” Kira said.
I nodded. I had felt cheated by the justice system, but I could have handled it a lot better if I’d had some outside support. “I wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for Harley. And if you didn’t know, you had everything to do with that.”
Her brow dipped. “How?”
I told her about what Harley had shared with me. She leaned her chin on my chest, a small, serene smile on her lips. “Maybe in some small way I was there with you then,” she whispered.
I thought about that, about how actions created reactions and on and on, each link a chain that stretched over time, from one person to another. Yes, then. A small part of her had been there with me. And very suddenly, when I pictured that gray, lonely cell, it seemed just a little brighter in my mind. The result of her transforming magic once again. I gazed down at her, my heart beating swiftly. Her sweet, soft body pressed against mine and amazingly, desire filled me again. But the aching wasn’t only between my legs. The aching was in my heart. You are magic and I love you. I wanted to profess the words, but they stuck in my throat, that final fear rising to choke down any sound. I felt them, so why wasn’t I ready to say them? I leaned down and kissed her, surrendering but not completely. I wasn’t brave enough for that. Not just yet.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kira
How strange it was to be in love with my husband. Strange but completely wonderful. I found myself walking through Hawthorn Vineyard with a small dreamy smile on my lips more often than not. I moved my things into Grayson’s room, and we started over as an actual married couple. I felt as if I was in a constant state of dizziness, not quite able to believe my current circumstances were real.
We said goodbye to Shane and Vanessa, promising them that once the fall harvest was over, we’d come spend some time with them at their beach house in San Diego. How different their departure was from their arrival. I smiled to myself at the thought, giggling at the memory of Grayson and me sprawled on the foyer floor, thinking perhaps we needed a rematch as the Dragon was still under the impression he’d won.
The Dragon. My dragon.
I spent the days organizing his office, paying off the large pile of accumulated bills, and making my way through six years of accounting records. It wasn’t going to be a quick or easy job. Still, I was determined to understand what had happened to bring on the rapid decline of the vineyard that was now my home and would remain so from here on out. I wouldn’t let it fail again.
I waited with eager anticipation for Grayson to get done with his work at the end of each day so we could eat dinner together. And then we’d take long strolls around the vineyard, talking and laughing, sharing secrets and learning about the other as if we were newly dating. For all intents and purposes, that’s what we were doing, only for me, with the added element of already being in love. And I dreamed of the day he might fall in love with me too.
But we had time. There was no need to rush.
When the hour was decent enough, or sometimes when it wasn’t, we’d retire to our bed where we spent long nights making love. I learned things about Grayson that made him go wild with passion, discovered ways to use my body and my mouth that caused him to let go of some of that control he always seemed to carry. And I allowed him to know me too, more deeply and intimately than anyone had before. With every moan, every masculine gasp of breath, every trembling caress, Grayson reassured me that Cooper had been wrong—I brought joy and satisfaction in bed. Cooper’s actions were the result of his own twisted morals or unexplained emptiness or whatever but had nothing to do with me.
When we went into town for dinner a couple times, several people who had been at the party approached us to say hello, and Grayson was warm and personable. It was almost as if I was watching the cold demeanor he’d adopted slide off him in large pieces. Of course, there were still those who eyed him cautiously, but that would just take time. I’d put my mind to work coming up with some other ideas, I told him. He just laughed and said he was sure I would.
One morning, a couple weeks after the party, I decided to take Sugar Pie and stroll through the vineyards. All this time and I hadn’t walked the rows of the plants I constantly admired as a distant view. The day had a slight chill to it, though the sun was shining brightly—fall was in the air. Soon, this fruit would be harvested and the real work at Hawthorn Vineyard would begin. I inhaled a deep breath of the crisp, earth-scented air tinged with sweet, ripening grapes. Sugar Pie snuffled at the ground, exploring the things interesting to a dog’s nose. Grayson had said he was mostly prepared for the upcoming harvest. He had some hiring to do, but other than that, the equipment was all in working order and ready to go.