Chapter Six

Danielle woke to the smell of bacon. She smiled and rolled over, deciding today was off to a brilliant start. Not only did Grayson give her mad orgasms and want to date her, but he cooked, too.

She definitely won the boyfriend jackpot.

Boyfriend. She wasn’t sure how she felt about throwing a label on this thing so early in the game, but the more she thought about it, the more she wondered if it was her personal problems getting in the way. She’d be the first to admit that she had Daddy issues in a bad way, and that was part of the reason she’d made such…questionable…decisions in the past when it came to men. The one time she’d gone to a therapist to see if the man could smack some sense into her, he’d told her she was remarkably self-aware when it came to her problems and seemed to have things well under control.

Not so much.

But the thing she kept coming back to was the fact Grayson was different. He wasn’t in some high-powered job that would keep him from his family—from her. He was the type of man to fight for those he loved. Hadn’t he basically spent the last few months quietly waiting her out until she was ready to make the next move? A man who’d make that much of an effort just to date a woman he was interested in wouldn’t spend all his time tied up in a love affair with his job. If he had, he never would have looked at Danielle twice after she didn’t fall all over herself to go on a date with him. He wouldn’t be an empty chair at an even emptier dinner table.

That was the kind of man she’d actually consider building a life with.

As she sat up and reached for a pair of sweats next to the bed, a buzzing sound vibrated from the nightstand. Danielle frowned and leaned over to get a better look. “Is that a Takaski Luxom?”

How the hell had he gotten a hold of one? Not only were they expensive as all get-out, they weren’t in any of the stores in town. She knew, because she’d looked even though she couldn’t afford to buy one.

Even as she told herself it was an asshole thing to do, curiosity got the better of her. These things were supposed to have triple the battery life and be twice as fast as anything else on the market. She’d half convinced herself that the press was exaggerating, but there was only one way to tell for sure.

She picked up the phone and brought up the home screen. The first thing to pop up was the text message alerts, but she clicked out of it without reading anything—no way was she that kind of girlfriend. Grayson had left the damn thing in the room—the fact that it wasn’t attached to his hip meant he had nothing to hide. So she flipped through the system setup, her eyes widening at the capacity. “I have got to get me one of these.”

Resolving to make it happen, she started to put the phone down. A message popped up on the screen as her finger hovered over the button to put it to sleep, and a familiar name caught her eye in the preview. Mr. Harper.

Why the hell was he getting an e-mail addressed to the owner of the building they worked in?

Dread curled through Danielle’s stomach. Surely he wasn’t involved in something illegal? Grayson was wicked smart—too smart to hack into Mr. Harper’s account. She hoped. And what would he think to find? From what she understood, Harper had a reputation for being fair—if tough—with his employees. He could have ruled through fear like a lot of CEOs out there, but everyone she’d talked to respected the hell out of him. He didn’t seem to be that bad of a guy when all was said and done—a workaholic, but that was nothing surprising. Hell, he was the one who’d thrown the Halloween party. Hardly the type of guy who had skeletons in his closet important enough to warrant hacking.

But what did she know? It wasn’t like she’d met the man.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she opened the e-mail and skimmed it. It was some confirmation of a meeting the next week between Harper and the guy sending the e-mail—not exactly top-secret stuff. Danielle frowned and flipped back into the e-mail account, scrolling through the messages.

Every single one of them was to Mr. Harper

What the hell?

All of a sudden, her dread tripled. No way. Absolutely no way. She switched to the Internet browser and typed in Grayson Harper. As it loaded, she tried to tell herself it was bullshit. The search would bring up nothing—probably some poor guy in South Carolina who sold hot sauce out of the back of his truck or something. And yet, when the page finally appeared, the top picture was of a painfully familiar face. “No.”

Her Grayson and Mr. Harper were the same damn person.

Betrayal swept through her, thick enough to choke on. He’d lied. The fucking mail guy? Was this all some sort of joke? Let’s see how far we can string poor, stupid Danielle along. She bet he got a great laugh out of it when she agreed to be his girlfriend.

Reality kicked her in the chest. That office they were in last night had been his. No wonder he hadn’t been worried about getting caught. What the hell would anyone be able to do to him? He owned the freaking building.

Which meant she’d been wrong about him all along.

He wasn’t the type to create a family or settle down, let alone with a girl like her. He was just like her father—married to his goddamn job. Danielle knew all too well how mere humans measured up in comparison.

God, she was so stupid.

She should have known something was up, but she’d been so swept away with their conversations, she’d let all her reservations go. She’d let everything go.

She looked at the door to the rest of the apartment, wanting to do anything except walk out there and confront him. Considering she normally enjoyed a good knock-down, drag-out fight, the thought of going toe-to-toe with Grayson made her want to cry. He’d played her. Everything about him was a lie, and that realization hurt way more than it should have.

There was no help for it, though. Her dad might be an ass, but he hadn’t raised a coward. With a deep breath, she lifted her chin and reached for the doorknob.

…

Grayson carefully set the bacon on the paper-towel-covered plate and reached for the eggs. She might have mentioned going to a diner, but there was no reason to leave the apartment when he was perfectly capable of cooking. Besides, he fully intended on keeping her naked for as long as possible. He heard the bedroom door open and turned to greet Danielle, but the smile on his face died when he saw the look on hers. “What’s wrong?”

“What could possibly be wrong?” She dropped his phone on the table, the screen still open to the search she must have done on him. In the picture, he was smiling as he shook hands with the owner of Washington Tech.

Fuck.

“Danielle.” He reached for her. “I can explain.”

She slid back a few steps, putting the table between them. “I don’t doubt it. You’re good with words, right? You knew exactly what to say to make me trust you. Why? Was it all some game?”

A game? Her accusation couldn’t have been further from the truth, though he felt a whole lot like he was losing right now. “No, of course not. How could you possibly think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you lied. God, I should have known better, you know? You were too good to be true.” She shook her head, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

Grayson held up his hand. “Wait—let’s just hold on a second. I made a mistake when I didn’t tell you who I really was, but that doesn’t mean everything else was a lie—last night wasn’t a lie. I know you feel the same connection I do.”

“What connection’s that? I trusted Grayson, the mail guy. I can’t say the same for Grayson Harper.”

“You’re splitting hairs.”

“No, I’m really not. Because the man I thought you were wouldn’t have lied to me, and he sure as fuck wouldn’t have set me up like this. You’re no better than my father, manipulating the little people around him to get his way.”

And this was the reason he hadn’t told the truth. Granted, he usually had to worry about the opposite reaction—women sidling up to him because of his last name and the influence his money brought him—but the fact remained the same. He thought she’d seen beneath the surface level, had actually seen him. After last night, she should have been able to see past the job to the man beneath. Apparently he’d been wrong about a lot of things. “I’m nothing like your father.”

She met his gaze steadily, though her lower lip quivered. “You’re right. Dad might be a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”

So this was it. He should have known this wouldn’t work out. Relationships never did once his career came into the picture. This had just ended a hell of a lot earlier than he anticipated. Grayson took a deep breath and tried to get a hold of his pride before he turned around and walked out of her life for good. “Danielle—”

“I think you should go.” She wrapped her arms around herself, as if she were barely holding it together. Even knowing she wouldn’t welcome it, he still wanted to pull her into a hug.

Goddamn it.

No. Fuck this. He’d be damned before he let this woman get away without a fight. He stalked around the table, hating the way her eyes went wide, hating it even more that she didn’t have a smart-ass remark on the tip of her tongue. When he got within touching distance, he hooked the back of her neck and pulled her in until their foreheads touched. “Make no mistake. I care about you. I’m sorry I lied, but I have no intention of sitting back and doing nothing while you walk out of my life.”

She tensed, no doubt about to sucker punch him, but he moved away before she could break his hold. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Stalking is illegal in all fifty states!”

He stopped in the door and looked back. “You have a week. I’ll leave you alone and let you sit back and actually think about this. Once you do, you’ll realize that I’m nothing like the type of man you believe comes with being a CEO.”

“You’re a jackass and a liar. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“A week, Danielle. And then I’m going to come calling and we’re going to talk this out.” Then he turned around and walked away, though it killed him a little bit inside to do so.