Falling for Love by Marie Force Page A

she finally settled and relaxed into his embrace, her head resting on his shoulder.
    “There, was that so hard?”
    “Yes.”
    He couldn’t help but smile at that. “Have you been fighting this battle by yourself all this time?”
    “There’s no one else.”
    “You know,” he said tentatively, “as I writer, I’m pretty good at research.”
    Raising her head from his shoulder, she tried to struggle out of his hold.
    “Wait. Let me finish.” She didn’t relax, but she stopped trying to get free, which he took as a small victory. “All I’m saying is I might be able to help. You’ve been looking at it for a long time. Maybe I’ll see something you’ve missed.”
    “That’s not necessary.”
    “I know it’s not, but didn’t you say before that we’re friends? And don’t friends help their friends?”
    “I appreciate the offer. Really, I do. But it’s not your problem.” This time when she pushed at him, he let her go. She got up and started sorting her papers into neat stacks.
    Grant said nothing as he watched her, but inside he churned. How was he supposed to hear what she’d just told him and not want to help her in some way? She’d said she didn’t want his help, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t look into the case on his own, did it?
    “You must want to get to your brother’s,” she said, obviously wanting him gone after the emotional firestorm he’d started.
    “Only if you come with me.” No way would he leave her here alone after he’d forced her to talk about her painful past.
    “I’m not in the mood for a party tonight.”
    Grant put his feet up on one of the other chairs, settling in. “We can heat up some chowder or something here, then.”
    Placing her hands on her hips, she stared at him, incredulous. “You’re missing a golden opportunity to talk to Abby without Cal around.”
    He shrugged as he realized the idea of talking to Abby had lost its luster in the last half hour. “He’ll be gone awhile. There’ll be other opportunities.”
    She threw her hands up in dismay. “This is why you need constant supervision. You have no idea what you’re doing!”
    Relieved to see some of her earlier spunk returning, Grant took the insult without comment. Instead, he smirked at her, letting her think she’d won a round. Whatever it took to wipe that demolished, devastated expression from her arresting face.
    Glowering at him, she said, “You just want me to go so you can use me to make her jealous.”
    “Are you saying you’re not game? I thought you wanted to help me get her back?”
    “You do need all the help you can get.”
    “I guess you’d better come, then. God knows what kind of trouble I could get into on my own if left unsupervised.”
    He knew he’d convinced her when she growled at him, gathered up the stack of paper and stomped into her quarters off the kitchen. When she returned with the flimsy windbreaker she’d worn earlier, Grant bit back a swear and stood to shrug off his own coat. “Put this on.”
    “Why? That’s yours.”
    “Actually, it’s Joe’s, and that thing you’re wearing wouldn’t keep a flea dry in this weather.”
    “What will keep you dry?”
    “I’ll grab one of my dad’s coats from the office.”
    Tentatively, she took it from him. “I’m not used to this thoughtful side of you.”
    “I can be quite charming when I put my mind to it,” he said, amused by her even though he really didn’t want to be. She had a way of putting him in his place. He was far more used to women who were solicitous toward him, hoping to catch his eye, but he’d been a one-woman man his entire adult life. Sparring with Stephanie was an entirely new—and not entirely unpleasant—experience.
    “Good to know. You might want to show Abby a little more of that and a little less of the pathetic hound-dog thing, if you want my opinion.”
    And just like that he went from being amused straight back to annoyed. “I don’t, but thanks just the