“She left me at social services when I was five. They claimed they tried to find someone to take me like a relative, but that they couldn’t get a hold of anyone.”
“I never moved until two years ago when I lost my house after refinancing it. Now I live in a small apartment, subsidized housing.” The woman broke out into full on sobs now. “Oh, Gracie, I can’t believe you’re alive. I just can’t believe it! I’m so glad you called me. How did you find me? Why?”
“I looked you up in the White Pages online.” Gracie paused, gathering her courage. “I—I want to come see you sometime soon, if you don’t mind. When I can get away from work, which might take a while.” She couldn’t believe how accepting her grandmother was. How good it felt to feel her emotion come over the phone lines, to know that she’d been missed and loved all these years.
“You have a job? Oh, that’s so wonderful. Are you married? Do you have kids?”
Gracie smiled through the tears. “No, not yet.” Not yet. Why did she say that? She’d never planned on getting married or having kids before.
“Are you at least happy then? I’m sure…” Her grandmother seemed to choke up, her breath hitching and she sniffed loudly. “I’m sure you went through some tough times. Foster homes and the like.”
“Yeah, it was hard,” Gracie said softly. Tears spilled freely down her cheeks, and she swiped at them with her fingers. “Really hard. But I’m okay.”
“Are you happy, though? You never answered that. I want to believe that you’ve been happy since I lost you. That you’ve grown up well, that you’re healthy and went to college. And now you have a good career and you’re living in a nice house. Do you have a nice car? Your mama was always obsessed with cars. Cars and clothes.”
Her grandma’s questions and comments made her both smile and worry. They were so simple, so direct and to the point yet difficult to answer. What could she say? There were so many things she wanted to tell her, but she didn’t want to bombard the poor woman after contacting her so out of the blue. “I’m…I’m happy yes. I have a good job. I live in Queens, so I don’t really need a car.”
“Queens? Oh my word, do you work in New York City?”
“I—I do.”
“How fancy are you? My darling child, you must come and visit me soon. Send me pictures, something. I want to know what you look like, what you do.”
They spoke a bit more, Gracie getting her grandma’s email address, promising to send her pictures of herself and to visit her soon. Her grandma even went as far as to tell her she loved her before hanging up.
Gracie hadn’t the guts to do that. She hardly knew the woman, despite the fact that she was her grandma. She couldn’t throw around the love word so casually.
She’d never told anyone she’d loved them. In her entire twenty-six years of existence, not a single soul had ever heard those words pass her lips.
Opening up her photos folder on her laptop, she scrolled through them, looking for a few she could send to her grandma. She found one of her and a handful of her fellow employees standing in the lobby of the Worth building, including Hunter. He stood just behind her, smiling broadly, wearing one of his usual, sexy suits. Looking gorgeous and confident, the sight of him filled her with so much joy it almost hurt.
Are you happy?
The question her grandma kept asking rang in her head. No, not really. Yearning for something she had no right to have, someone she could never truly value and treat right. She wasn’t a whole person but a mere half. Shallow and going through the motions, unable to love, unable to exhibit any sort of real emotion. She’d been sleepwalking through life and for whatever reason, tonight, this moment, had finally woke her up.
Reconnecting with her grandma could help her. Show her roots, where she came from, give her purpose beyond doing a good job and making enough money to live. Maybe it would make her stronger, able to face and deal with the tumultuous emotions that constantly swirled within her.
She needed to make changes to her life. Reconnecting with the family she lost so many years ago was the first step. If she could learn how to deal, maybe, just maybe she could open up her heart to others and finally let them in.
If she was lucky, maybe she could eventually let Hunter in…
Chapter Ten
Two weeks later…
“What did you do to Gracie Hayes?”
Hunter went still at the mention of her name. Glancing up from his computer screen, he met Alex’s scrutinizing gaze. “What are you talking about?”
He was amazed at how calm he sounded, how in control he appeared. Deep inside his nerves rioted, his heart kicked up about a thousand notches, and he swore he was this close to breaking out into a cold sweat.
“Becky sent me an email first thing this morning. Gracie’s asking for a leave of absence for an undisclosed amount of time.” Alex’s expression was pointed. “I figured her request had something to do with you.”
His heart sank. Believing that everything was settled between them, he’d never mentioned her wanting to transfer from his department again. She hadn’t talked much to him at all, if he was honest. Not another mention of her wanting to back out of attending the spring launch, either.
“I’ve been on my best behavior,” Hunter finally said. And he had been. He hadn’t done or said anything remotely inappropriate toward Gracie. As he’d sworn from the start, he’d kept his word.
It had nearly killed him to ignore his feelings and pretend he didn’t care about her, but damn it, he never went back on his word.
“Tell me. Is there a reason you need to be on your best behavior when it comes to Gracie?” Alex cocked a brow. “I had no idea there was anything brewing between the two of you.”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Gracie.” At least, not anymore. She’d made that more than clear.
“So why does she want a self-imposed sabbatical, ‘effective immediately,’ and I quote.” Alex asked.
Disappointment simmered low in Hunter’s gut, along with a fair dose of frustration. What the hell? Did she hate him that much that she needed to get away from him as soon as possible? He believed she was over it. Over whatever had transpired between them that made her so damn jumpy when she was around him.
Despite what had happened, she was one of the key members of his marketing team. To lose her would leave a tremendous hole—one he didn’t want to fill with someone else.
She hadn’t looked good lately, though. Dark circles under her eyes, moving a little slow. He wondered if she felt overworked.
“Hunter?” Alex’s voice broke through his mental fog. “Why does she want a temporary leave? Do you think she wants to leave Worth permanently?”
“I—I don’t know.” He glowered at the screen of his laptop. “If she was having a problem, she should’ve come to me first.”
“See, that’s the funny thing.” Alex sat forward in his chair, his expression grim. “She informed Becky that she has come to you, and that you continually ignore the problem.”
“That’s completely untrue. And what goddamn problem is she talking about?” Anger stiffened his spine. Could her earlier request to leave Worth be considered coming to him about the problem and he never taking care of it? He’d taken everything so personal. Not allowing work to play a part in it, he figured she wanted to leave because of him and not some professional issue.
He’d gone about it all wrong, clearly. Now she treated everything between them like a work transaction and went through the proper channels in reporting him to Becky for the love of God.
And she ended up making him look like a complete asshole.
“She has never, not once, complained about anything to me since she’s come to work for Worth, and that was over a year ago.” It felt like a lie. And he hated that.
Alex shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. According to Becky, that’s what Gracie said.”
“I should talk to her.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Hunter stood. “I can’t afford to lose her, Alex. Not now. Not with our new marketing campaign barely out of the planning stages. Hell, the spring launch for Worthwhile is next week, and she’s overseen the entire event.” Besides the all-important launch, the overhaul of the Worth Luxury image had been in continual effect for the past two years.
The marketing team—with Hunter at the helm—had given Worth Luxury a younger, more vibrant edge. Considering today’s competitive market and fine goods culture, it was a constant, evolving project.
One slip, one wrong move, and the company could settle back into near obscurity, like it had been when Alex took over as CEO all those years ago. Hunter didn’t want to disappoint his brother. He didn’t want to let down the family business.
And he needed every single member on his in-house marketing team—including Gracie. Especially Gracie. She was extremely talented and her finger was on the pulse of what was current, both now and with future trends.
Okay, and she was fantastic in bed and sweet as hell and quite possibly the woman for him, but that was something he refused to focus on. He wasn’t allowed.
He
couldn’t
allow it.
“Let me talk to her.” Alex stood as well. “I don’t want you barging into her cubicle and making her feel uncomfortable.”
“Why would you think I’d do that?” Alex made him sound like an uncouth jack off who had no idea how to approach an employee. His employees loved him, couldn’t get enough of him.
Well, with the exception of Gracie. And didn’t that just burn like a son of a bitch?
“Remember how you treated Tessa when you and Becky questioned her? She came to me in tears afterward. She still thinks you don’t like her very much. That you merely tolerate her.”
“That’s not true. I love Tessa. She’s good for you. She’s good for our entire family.” Damn, had he lost his touch with women or what? His sister-in-law thought he hated her and the woman he cared for, but was forbidden to touch, wanted to run as far away from him as her little feet could take her.
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt if you told her that every once in a while.” Alex rubbed a hand along his jaw. “We’re getting off track. Let me handle Gracie. She doesn’t want to leave Worth permanently, so let me see what her explanation is.”
He knew his brother’s suggestion made sense. There were too many emotions involved when it came to Gracie and thankfully, Alex didn’t question him about any of it, either. “You’ll tell me what she says as soon as you find out, right?”
“Of course, I will. Though you might not like what she has to say.” Alex studied him, his eyes narrowing. “There’s really nothing going on between you two?”
“No. I’d tell you if there was.” Another lie. He was racking them up this morning. He felt like an ass for deceiving his brother, but he did it to protect Gracie. He didn’t want Alex to think less of her because they’d fooled around.
More than once.
Nights that still lingered in his mind and he couldn’t forget them—or the woman he spent them with—no matter how hard he tried.
Alex remained silent, as if waiting for him to break. But Hunter stayed strong, giving as good as he got and finally Alex offered a little grunt before he left Hunter’s office.
He fell back his chair and smoothed a hand over his face. Wished like hell he could call Becky or even better, Gracie, and ask what was going on.
What had he done to offend her, to make her want to leave—even temporarily? He believed they’d finally come to an understanding. Though he’d solemnly sworn he wouldn’t so much as flirt with her again, he secretly hoped she wouldn’t be able to withstand being near him and finally give in.
Turned out she was more than able to resist him—she’d turned cold as ice. And so he’d had no choice but to adhere to her rules, not wanting to offend her, especially not in the work place. He’d been perfectly willing to settle with their professional relationship and never taking it further again.
At least, that’s what he’d told himself.
He checked his email, went over some notes a staff member sent him in regards to a new fragrance line they were considering, something Worth had never attempted before. They were supposed to have a meeting about it this afternoon, a brainstorming event that was scheduled to run for two hours. Would Gracie attend? Or was she already prepared to bail?
Frustration flooded his veins and he glanced around the office. The urge to throw something was overwhelming. Jesus, he was sick of walking on eggshells around the woman. Forget what Alex said, maybe they should have it out. He was getting nowhere in their current situation and apparently, neither was she.
Hunter frowned. For once in his life, he didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to fix it. And that irritated the ever-loving crap out of him.
Gracie sat huddled over her keyboard, staring listlessly at the monitor but not really seeing a thing. She was tired, worried and on edge. Too many overwhelming things were happening in her life, and she was afraid she couldn’t keep it under control any longer.
She’d been riding the top of an emotional roller coaster since she came into contact with her grandma. They talked on the phone, sent regular emails to each other and shared photos. Cried a lot of tears over it all too. Not that she regretted contacting her grandmother…