Sophie sat in the passenger’s seat of Grant’s weather-worn Jeep as he barreled down the highway. The thing had to be twenty years old at least, although it was in relatively good shape. She had no idea where they were headed but their destination was the least of her worries. What had she been thinking, agreeing to thirty days with this man? Her husband, she reminded herself.
“You okay over there?” Grant glanced at her from the corner of his eye. It was dark outside, the only light reflecting from the dashboard.
“Just wondering how I’m going to survive an entire month with only one suitcase of clothes and shoes.”
Grant chuckled and she felt the vibrations low in her gut. “Hey,” he said, placing his hand on her thigh, “it will be okay. The town’s not far away. You can get anything you need there.”
She stared down at his hand in the dim light of the cab. His touch burned through her jeans, sending sparks up and down her body. Searching the interior of the car to avoid his gaze, her eyes focused on the thick carpeting on the floorboard. “Just how old is this car?”
“First,” he lifted his hand and raised a finger in the air, “it’s not a car, it’s a Jeep.”
“Oh,” she said, nodding her head, “sorry. So how old is this Jeep?” She used air quotes.
He ran his hand affectionately over the dash. “This beauty is thirty-two years old.”
Sophie’s mouth fell open and she leaned against the passenger-side door. The handle of the window crank pressed into her back, indicating that Grant was telling the truth. She’d known it was an older car when he’d come to pick her up earlier, but she had no idea it was older than they were.
“Grant, this car,” she paused, “sorry, this Jeep can’t be safe. This is Colorado. You need a dependable car, with good wheels and stuff. Right?”
“The Beast is safer than seventy percent of the vehicles out on the roadway.”
“The Beast,” she said, using air quotes again, “is older than we are.”
“You sure do like those air quotes.”
“I’m serious.” She swatted his arm. “This thing can’t be safe.”
“You think I’d take you out into the wilderness of Colorado in a truck I wasn’t one hundred percent confident in?”
He had a point there. Grant had always been protective of her safety, until she’d had her miscarriages. Then he’d seemed to pull away and let her care for herself. Of course, she hadn’t really reached out to him for support either, if she were honest.
She glanced around the cab. She had to admit, the car was clean and seemed well-cared for. “This was really your car in high school?”
He lifted his chin with pride. “Sure was. Me, my dad, and my Uncle Mark all worked on restoring it. My brothers helped too, when they could. I bought The Beast when I was fourteen. Took two years of hard work for me to get it running, but by my sixteenth birthday, this girl was ready to roll.”
“First of all, if this car is female—”
“Jeep,” he corrected. “We will also accept ‘Wagoneer’, but definitely not ‘car.’”
“Anyway,” she rolled her eyes, “if your Jeep,” she said sarcastically, “truly is a girl, you can’t call her a beast.”
“Sure you can. She’s beauty and the beast. She has a split personality some days.”
Sophie laughed, shaking her head. “So, you bought a car at fourteen?”
“Yeah. I always worked as a kid, odd jobs here and there until I got paid. My mom said I was pretty hyper.”
Sophie chuckled. “Yeah, I know.” Grant had never been one to sit still for very long, something she knew for a fact drove some of his directors crazy.
“Anyway, I started working at the local grocery store. Mr. Thompson’s wife had this beauty and I fell in love.” He ran his fingers against the dash again, seemingly in awe of The Beast. “I worked hard, saved my money, and when Mrs. T was ready to buy a new car, Mr. Thompson sold me this one.”
She sat silently, watching as he basked in the welcoming embrace of the car he so obviously loved. She recognized that look, it was an expression she missed. He used to look at her that way.
He turned his head toward her and stared. “What?”
She didn’t want to think of those adoring looks. She needed to keep her walls up, for now. “This car is a far cry from your Mercedes SUV in California.” That vehicle had cost over a hundred thousand dollars, something Sophie had balked at, and never understood. Who needed to spend that much on a car?
“Yeah, that SUV had nothing on this beauty.” He patted the dash again. “Besides, you know all those high-priced cars in California are for show anyway.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Feel like you had to put on a show for everyone?”
His jaw clenched. “You do it too, Soph. You know better than anyone that our outward appearance is a game, part of the act we’re selling. No one could be as perfect as our publicists make us out to be.”
Sophie sank back into the seat and stared straight ahead. He was right, of course. She was always as genuine as she could be with her fans and the public, but sometimes she was worn out, putting on a smile for the cameras when all she really wanted to do was run and hide.
“As demonstrated earlier this year by me,” Grant added.
She stared at him, waiting for him to continue, not surprised when he didn’t. For months she’d wanted to know what had fueled the fight between Grant and his long-time manager and agent. “May I ask you something?”
“Of course,” he answered, gripping the wheel tighter.
“What happened between you and Don?” He’d nearly beaten the guy to a pulp, if the magazines could be believed—which, she should know, they couldn’t. Still, there had been enough reports of it that she thought there might be some truth to that story.
“Misunderstanding,” he said calmly, never taking his eyes off the road.
“I know there’s more.”
He shrugged.
“Will you ever tell me?”
He finally glanced over at her. “Would it matter?”
Would it? “I guess it was just a shock, finding out you’d been so violent with someone, with anyone, but especially your own agent. You’ve never been physical in any way.”
“I had my reasons,” he said, his jaw flexing. His face glowed from the lights of the dashboard as he stared straight ahead, eyes narrowed. “I’d do it again if I had to,” he said, half under his breath.
She stared at him slack jawed, unable to believe Grant was the vicious person she saw before her.
“Did you have to this time? What it something you had to do or something you chose to do?” she asked.
“It was necessary,” he practically growled.
“Was it worth it? Losing everything for a stupid fight?”
He cut his gaze toward her, his brows narrowed. “Absolutely.”
Absolutely? He said it with such certainty she shivered. What the hell had happened? Realizing she would never get any more information, not now, maybe not ever, she turned and faced the front, staring off into the darkness.
“I can’t believe how dark it is here at night,” she said.
“You forget when you’re surrounded by all the light pollution of the city.”
She leaned forward, looking out the windshield up at the sky past the tall trees. The stars were shining bright and she felt a sense of peace wash over her. They turned onto the road that led to Grant’s mother’s home and the lodge. “Are we staying at your mom’s?”
He glanced over at her, his eyes raking over her body, laughing out loud. “Seriously? I have a month alone with you and you think I’m taking you to my mom’s?”
“I don’t know.” She lifted one shoulder.
“No,” he shook his head, “definitely not my mom’s.”
“Then where?”
“Jackie didn’t tell you?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
“Surprising.”
“I know.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Why are you two working in cahoots now anyway?”
“I wouldn’t call it cahoots.”
She raised a skeptical brow. “Then what?”
“She wants you to be happy,” he said.
She stiffened in her seat. “I am happy.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, never looking over at her. Thank God.
“I’m not,” he said, his deep voice cutting through the silence.
She turned and stared at Grant but his gaze was fixed on the road ahead. “You’re not?”
His hazel eyes cut to hers. “Not yet, but I’m getting there.” He smiled, a genuine expression that sent her heart beating faster. Oh, no, she was in deep doo doo with Grant.
She stared out of the passenger side window, watching the changing landscape. “Hey, isn’t that the ski resort? Are we staying there?” The idea of spending a month at a fancy resort sounded idyllic in some ways, but she longed for the peace and quiet that came with anonymity. She’d never get that if she and Grant were seen together at a big place like that.
“Nope, not the resort.” Grant continued driving past the outcropping of resort buildings and turned down a small road. The path was no more than a rutted-out trail, one lane only and leading to God knew what.
“This reminds me of that horror movie you made.” She laughed. “Remember?”
“Oh, God,” he groaned. “Please don’t remind me.”
The film had been made early on in Grant’s career and was so horrible it was a cult classic now that he was famous.
“What was it called?”
“I don’t remember.”
She snorted in disbelief. No one would forget the name of it if it was on their resume forever. “Wait, I’ll find it.” She reached in her purse to pull out her phone, then noticed she had no signal. She stared from her phone back to Grant. “I don’t have a signal.”
“No signal out here.”
Her mouth fell open. “Are you serious? My phone won’t work?”
“Nope.” He shook his head as if this made perfect sense.
“Grant,” she practically shouted. “I can’t live without my phone. What if Jackie needs me? What if my parents need me?”
“They all know how to get ahold of us. Jackie can contact any of my family, or Warner, and they’ll come get us. We’re not that far away from civilization.”
No phone? God, had she become that much of a diva that living without a phone for a few days would be like the apocalypse? “Wait, we’re here for a month. We won’t have any cell service…for a month?”
“Nope. Not unless we’re at the resort or my mom’s, or in town.”
“Uggh,” she groaned, sinking back in her seat. This was going to be the longest month of her life.
She sighed. Or maybe it would be the best thirty days of her life, the break she needed. She turned and glanced at Grant, who was now staring at her as he smiled. Whether she needed it or not, this was going to be the longest month of her life for sure.