Crossed by Lacey Silks Page A

you?”
    “Pretty much.” He gave me the most adorable smile I had ever seen and kissed the tip of my nose. By this time Emma had landed a few feet away and was running toward me.
    “Are you mad, Grace? Why did you wait so long to pull the chute?”
    “I didn’t know I had.”
    “Well, ten more seconds and I would have been scraping you off the ground.”
    “Maybe you should have thought about that before you blackmailed me to jump.”
    “How else was I going to get you to do so?”
    We were both screaming at each other. We’d never fought, nor raised our voices the way we had today.
    “What’s wrong with you, Emma? You know I love doing all the crazy shit with you, but this… going about it the way you did… it’s just wrong!”
    “I’ll tell you what’s wrong! It’s the fact that you keep on looking for the one and you don’t see the life that’s running ahead of you because no one will ever compare to Marcus.”
    I raised my hand to slap her but was stopped midway when she caught my wrist. Of course she would have. Emma was a kick-ass woman with black belts and training I’d never seen another woman possess. I pulled my hand back to my mouth, covering it. The pressure collecting behind my eyes was about to burst. How could she go there?
    “Okay, ladies, I think it’s time to go to your separate corners.” Hunter stepped between us.
    Stepping up on my toes I looked over Hunter’s shoulder and pointed my finger at her. “You just wait until next weekend!” This must have been how the devil sounded.
    “Are you gonna make me hand-feed the sharks?”
    “I don’t know what I’m gonna do yet, but you won’t like it,” I barked back.
    “Okay, I think we should take a minute now.” Hunter was acting like a referee, standing between us. “Emma, Julian’s waiting for you in the car.”
    “Great,” she mumbled under her breath. “My babysitter is here. I’ll call you.”
    I nodded in reply. We both knew I wouldn’t stay mad at her for long. I couldn’t. She was my best friend.
    “Come on, pretty lady. Let’s get you out of here. We need to get rid of some of that tension of yours.” As my imagination began picturing him between my legs, buried to his root, he draped his arm over my shoulder and led me to his car. I prayed his definition of relieving tension was the same as mine, and not another flight in a plane.
     

 
    C HAPTER 6
    “I didn’t really expect you to come,” I said as Hunter weaved through the streets back to the city in his charcoal Aston Martin. I wasn’t a big car person, but since it was the same one my brother Cash had driven when I last saw him, I recognized it instantly. I felt an odd tug at my heart, for a split moment wishing I could have been closer to my family.
    Hunter laughed off my comment, shaking his head as if it was funny. What was so funny about it?
    “Why do you do this crazy stuff if you don’t want to? I mean, I’m sure as your best friend Emma wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. I’ve known her for a long time and can’t picture her really blackmailing you.”
    “I know. I do it for her. And Emma understands.”
    “You mean Marcus?”
    I remained quiet and turned, looking out my window. I didn’t want to talk about Marcus, not to Hunter, who was the first man in the past year who had helped me forget about what had happened to me for more than twelve hours.
    “How do you know about Marcus?”
    “Your fight with Emma, and you said his name last night. Through your dreams.”
    I let go of a long-held breath. “It’s a long story. Will you drive me home?”
    “Of course.”
    An hour later we were in the parking garage at my condo. I leaned back against the seat and looked over to the side, where Hunter patiently waited.
    “You look stressed,” he said.
    “You feel it too?” I let out a shaky laugh. “I don’t know why, but going back home doesn’t feel right.”
    “May I walk you up?”
    “I’m afraid if you do you’ll distract