Garrett was grateful when Walker Farms’ first official public day was over. He wouldn’t have to put on a happy face any longer when he felt the exact opposite. He was enraged over the situation he found himself in. It didn’t help when he went back to the main house and researched himself.
The more he read, the more he remembered that Thomas Garrett Forrester was arrogant and focused solely on making a buck...or at least that’s how the press presented him. He’d earned a business degree from Harvard and gone on to Wharton, where he’d been top of his class. Immediately afterward, he joined the family firm and followed in his father’s footsteps.
Although he knew he hadn’t wanted to sell his grandfather’s farm, Garrett wasn’t altogether certain he liked the prior version of himself. Checking his social media, he didn’t see much about his own personal life. It was as if he lived to work. His life today was far removed from that world. He worked hard during the day, but he made time to enjoy life, whether that was reading one of the old books he’d found in his grandfather’s library, shooting pool with Kent or spending time with Egypt—in or out of bed. Garrett enjoyed his life now. He didn’t want it to change. At least not entirely.
It wasn’t fair for his parents to think he was dead. He knew that and intended to rectify it immediately, but he also didn’t want to give up the freedom and peace he’d found on the farm. The freedom to make his own choices. Garrett suspected much of his former life had been mapped out by his father. Was that why he kept remembering arguments between them? Was their relationship strained?
Garrett supposed he would have to find out, but he needed to tell Egypt first. The woman who in a couple of months had come to mean so much more to him than a Good Samaritan who visited him at the hospital. She was warm and funny and sexy as well as giving and compassionate. All qualities he never knew he wanted in a mate but somehow had found in Egypt. It was why it had been easy to fall in love with her.
The feelings had sneaked up on him. The old Garrett would have tried to suppress them, because love had never been on his agenda. He always figured he’d marry someone from his same socioeconomic class and they would produce a couple of children, but it had all been very vague and far off in the future. Not now. When he thought about his perfect woman, the woman made for him, he saw a caramel queen with lush curves and a sinful mouth that he absolutely adored. It was time he went to her and told her everything.
Garrett prayed she wouldn’t see him any differently...initially he’d shown up to Flame in smart attire and a fancy car. She knew he had money, but now she knew the man underneath. He was still the same Garrett, just with a lot of zeroes in his bank account.
Egypt was dog tired. Dinner service at Flame had been bananas. She’d had back-to-back large groups, which subsequently made the night drag on, because they kept ordering dish after dish. It was great for her bottom line, but it meant she was pulling into her apartment’s reserved parking space at midnight.
She turned the key in the lock, and when she opened her apartment door, all she saw was candlelight. Rose petals were sprinkled on the floor and led straight to her bedroom. Garrett appeared seconds later, holding a tumbler of dark liquid.
“I know you’re not a big champagne drinker except with your girls, so I thought you might enjoy a bourbon after a long day.”
Egypt sighed with pleasure as she accepted the drink. “Thank you, and you’re right. Wynter and I are the only Gems who actually like bourbon.” She took a generous sip.
“Long day?” Garrett asked, taking her purse and the backpack that carried all her culinary tools. He placed both items on the kitchen counter and then led Egypt over to the couch, where he sat her down and removed her Crocs.
“Yes, it was,” Egypt replied. She released a low moan when, after removing the shoes, Garrett began massaging her feet. She didn’t know if it was the massage, the drink or Garrett, but she felt a quickening between her legs.
“Feel good?” Garrett inquired.
“Oh, yes.” Egypt laid her head back against the cushions.
“Well, there’s more where that came from,” Garrett said and pulled her up from the couch.
Egypt wanted to protest. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
Rather than lead her to the bedroom and make sweet love to her, as she was anticipating, Egypt found he’d prepared a bubble bath. Tears welled in her eyes at his thoughtfulness. “Garrett...”
Slowly, he began undressing her, freeing each button on her chef’s jacket one at a time. When it was open, his eyes fixed on her ample bosom just before he slid the garment from her shoulders. Then he spun her around and unclasped her bra so that it too found its way to the floor. Egypt didn’t have it in her to protest. She let Garrett push her leggings and panties down her legs in one fell swoop, and then to her surprise, he lifted her off her feet and lowered her into the warm water.
Egypt moaned again as she was instantly taken over by bubbles. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy. I’ll be back soon.”
She rested her head back against the bath pillow he must have found in her closet. She drifted off, because when she came to, Garrett was washing her back. Egypt felt like putty in his hands. He continued his ministrations with the sponge, moving forward to massage her breasts. Despite her exhaustion, Egypt could feel dizzying pleasure build within her.
She didn’t object when Garrett lowered his head and subjected her breasts to an array of licks, strokes and circles with his tongue. And when his mouth finally found hers in a long, drugging kiss, Egypt gave herself over to it. She wanted him desperately. And nearly cried with relief when his hands went lower with the sponge, past her abdomen to her sex. She parted her legs, giving him better access so he could sweep the sponge back and forth. It wasn’t enough. She wanted his hands, his fingers and his mouth. She wanted him any way she could get him.
She must have spoken the words aloud, because Garrett’s fingers replaced where the sponge had been. He toyed with her deliciously until she was writhing in the soapy water.
“Enough of this,” Garrett muttered and unceremoniously picked her up and out of the water. He was rubbing her dry and backing her up toward her bedroom. At the same time, Egypt was pulling his wet polo shirt over his head and unzipping his jeans. She fell backward onto the bed, and after removing his jeans and securing a condom, Garrett settled between her thighs.
She wanted him inside her, but Garrett had other plans. He gripped her hips and then lowered his head to drink deep from the heat of her. The possessive warmth of his hands and mouth sent a flare of molten heat to her core, and soon she was sobbing out his name like an incantation as her entire body shuddered. “Garrett!”
He glided his hands up from her thighs to her hips and then to her breasts. Garrett’s gaze was so intense she could hardly see his irises. Then his mouth came down on hers in another explosive kiss that sent shock waves through her body. “Please don’t make me wait,” she whimpered. “I want you.”
“I want you, too, baby. You’ve bewitched me, body and soul.” He splayed his hands over her buttocks, bringing her into full contact with his hardness. He teased her for mere seconds with his tip and then, with one powerful thrust, he was there. Deep at the heart of her body, and Egypt cried out. “Yes, yes!”
Garrett answered her plea, drawing her closer so he could thrust a little deeper. Egypt felt totally fulfilled—the aching and need were gone and replaced with a feeling of completeness. Each time they made love, it was like she was discovering new things about him over and over again. He was setting her up to want no one else but him, because he triggered a need in her that no other man could ever satisfy.
At first his movements were slow and measured, but as his breathing changed, so did Garrett’s rhythm. A tantalizing pressure began to build until Egypt had no choice but to undulate her hips to meet his fast pace. It didn’t take long for them to reach the crescendo, especially when he reached between them to caress her feminine nub.
Egypt shattered into a million pieces, and Garrett was with her as his body quaked and shuddered around her. Dazed, Egypt nearly said those three little words that would surely change everything. I love you. Somehow, she managed to keep them inside, because she wasn’t sure if she was ready to say them—or if Garrett was ready to hear them.
Early the next morning, Garrett crept out of Egypt’s apartment, because she needed her rest. She’d been exhausted last night. Yet she freely gave herself to him like she always did. Egypt held nothing back—unlike him.
Given the hour and her tiredness, Garrett hadn’t had to heart to lay the truth on her doorstep. He would let her sleep—they would talk in the morning, and he would tell her everything. Or, at least, as much as he knew. He supposed last night had been a real catalyst, because when Garrett awoke the next morning at the farm, he knew who he was.
He’d gone off for a few days to check on his grandfather’s farm, never to be seen again. He had to contact his parents and put their minds at ease.
He picked up the phone and called his father’s cell phone. It rang a few times before Hugh picked up. “Dad?”
There was silence on the other end. “T-Thomas?” His father’s voice cracked on the other end. “Is—is that really you, son?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Omigod! Corrine, come quick, it’s Thomas,” his father yelled. “My golf buddy said he thought he saw you yesterday, but I told him he was mistaken. You disappeared months ago.”
Garrett heard shuffling and then his mother telling his father to put the phone on speaker. “Thomas?”
“Yes, Mother, it’s me.”
He heard her loud sobs through the phone. “Where have you been all these months? We’ve been worried sick.”
“It’s a long story,” Garrett responded thickly. “And I want to tell you all about it. Can you come by the farm?”
“The farm?” his mother asked. “Daddy’s farm? Have you been there this entire time? We came and you weren’t there.”
“No, not exactly,” Garrett replied. “Listen, I know that you are both shocked to hear from me after all this time, and I promise I’ll explain everything when you get here.”
“Garrett, you have no idea how distraught we’ve been,” his mother said. “You’re our only son.”
He understood because his parents had always heaped their hopes and dreams on to him. “I know, mother.”
“Do you? It’s unthinkable for a parent to lose their child. We always thought it would be us, that we would go first, but when...”
Garrett could hear his mother begin to sob again and it broke his heart.
“Son,” it was his father again. “We’ll be there soon and we’ll want to know everything and how ended up losing you for months.”
Garrett quickly ended the call before his father could hound him for more details. Their last conversation a few months ago hadn’t exactly gone well. Hugh had his opinion on what to do about Walker Farms, and Garrett doubted that had changed. Then again, Garrett was more certain than ever that keeping his grandfather’s legacy was paramount. Now all he had to do was wait for his parents to arrive, because all hell was about to break lose.