Blurring the Lines-nook (15 page)

She chuckled softly. “Is that right? The old woman always has the advice?”

I smiled despite my tears. “Well, duh. It’s in a grandma’s job description.”

She shook her head, sympathy there.

“Okay, then, here it is.” She grasped my hand between hers and looked at me with those
bright eyes. “Do your remember that little white dog your mother wanted?”

I frowned. “Princess?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Your mother saw a neighbor with that type of dog and had to
have her own. She searched the country for a puppy with exactly the right pedigree.
She wanted it a certain size and color. She took forever to find the perfect fit.”

“And then we got Princess and she was afraid of kids, hated me, and bit me anytime
I went near her.”

“But your mother kept her,” Gran said. “Even when a friend without children offered
to take her in.”

“Because mom loved that dog.”

“No, she kept her because she coveted that dog.” Gran’s hands tightened around mine.
“There is a difference between wanting a thing and loving it. Obsession is selfish.
Love is willing to sacrifice.”

I let that sink in for a moment. “So you’re saying to show my love for Harris, I should
be willing to sacrifice some of my freedom.”

She laid my hand back in my lap, an unreadable expression on her face. “I’m saying,
trust yourself, child. The only times you’ve made wrong turns in life is when you’ve
substituted someone’s else’s opinion for your own.”

That didn’t answer my question.

Gran leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I have to go, my girl.”

“Wait. No.” I grabbed her arm in a knee-jerk reaction. “We haven’t had enough time.”

She smiled. “Now that you’ve opened your mind again, we’ll be able to visit. Not like
this, but like you did with your father.”

“So that was really him?”

“Of course. Your mother is a good woman, but a close-minded one. She didn’t want to
believe you were seeing him because it hurt too much to think he wouldn’t come to
see her.” She tapped my forehead with a gentle finger. “Not many have the sight. Cherish
that gift, child. I’ll be seeing you.”

“Gran, don’t—” But before I could finish my protest, she’d faded into nothing right
in front of me.

I called her name again, but she was already gone. She wouldn’t be coming back tonight.
I knew that. But that sense of not being alone lingered in the air and shifted, changing
directions and scents. Someone else was here now, waiting for me. Movement in the
corner of my eye had me turning.

Harris, dressed in the same thing he’d been wearing last night, stepped out of the
tree line. His smile was tentative, relieved. “Baby, you came back.”

My heart jumped into my throat, the rampant emotions from the day swirling into one
jumbled mess, but I managed to squeak out, “Hey, you.”

He moved forward with quick strides, and I stood, bracing for him. He swept me into
his arms as soon as he reached me, lifting me off the ground and spinning me. “I’m
so happy to see you again, to feel you.”

I made some sort of sound against his shoulder, but he kept going.

“The hours have felt endless. I can’t stand not being able to be around you while
you’re here.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my face buried against him, his cologne so familiar. So
Harris.

“It’s okay,” he said into my hair. “I’m here now. I won’t ever have to leave you again.
We’ll be together.”

A sob caught in my throat.

He looked down at me, taking my face in his hands, and started kissing me everywhere—eyebrows,
nose, mouth—kissing my tears away and murmuring about how happy he was to hold me
again.

But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t move. The tide of mixed emotions felt like it was
sweeping me under, drowning me.

“I love you,” he said in between kisses. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“I slept with Burke.” It came out without warning or preamble.

He stilled at my flat-voiced confession and angled back to look at me. “What?”

My mouth had gone dry and numbness tingled in my fingers. I didn’t know why I was
saying this, but I couldn’t help it. The truth demanded to be told. “Yesterday, before
I met up with you, Burke and I slept together.”

Anger and hurt twisted his features. “You had sex with my
brother
?”

Hearing it out loud from him made it sound so horrible and ugly—like I’d broken some
law of the universe. “I’m sorry.”

He took a few deep breaths, obviously trying to rein in the emotion, and gave a stilted
nod. He tucked my hair behind my ears. “Okay. It’s okay. I’m not mad at you, baby.
You were hurting. And you didn’t know I could be with you.”

I shook my head, not knowing what to say besides, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t. Don’t keep saying that. You’re not the one who needs to apologize. It’s his
fault.”

That snapped my attention upward. “But he—”

“No, don’t even try to defend him. Where the fuck does he get off touching you? Taking
advantage of you when you’re grieving?” He scraped a hand through his hair.

“It wasn’t like that, it—”

“I should’ve known it would happen. He always wanted you. I saw how he watched you.
It was like a game with him. He just wanted to win. You were like this prize.” He
glanced down at me and rolled his shoulders, as if to shake off the anger. “I’m sorry,
Gretchen. It’s just—never mind, it doesn’t matter anymore. I love you. We don’t have
to worry about him. I’m here. I’m back for you. And you’re mine again.”

Mine.

The word sounded wrong and jagged in my head. Not romantic. Not sweet. But victorious.

He leaned in to kiss me again, but I pressed my palm to his chest, halting him. “Wait.”

He brushed a knuckle over my cheek, an adoring expression on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk first.”

His soft smile stiffened. “Baby, we don’t have a lot of time. We have the rest of
our lives to talk after this.”

“No, the rest of
my
life, right?” I asked, my voice wavering. “You can’t die twice can you? Or age? I
mean, how would this all work?”

He grimaced and straightened, giving me a sliver of breathing room. “I don’t know.
It’s not like whatever this is comes with a manual.”

“Then how do you know this will work?”

His gaze shifted to the ground, consternation on his face—like he was having trouble
finding the answer himself. “Because there are things I just know. Like I knew you’d
need to call for me to appear. The knowledge is…already there in my head.”

“And you won’t be able to leave here?”

His brow creased and he reached for my hand. “No.”

“Harris…”

He met my gaze, my hand clutched in his. “I know it’s a lot to ask, to have you move
here. But does it really matter where we are, if we’re together? Remember how nice
it was when we moved to New York—when it was just the two of us? You can paint anywhere.
And neither of us will have to be alone anymore.”

My ribs compressed, the pain of holding all of the emotion in, physically hurting.
“I haven’t been alone.”

His lips pressed together, jaw flexing. “That’s because my brother wouldn’t let you
be.”

My patience snapped at that. “Seriously? Are you really
that
pissed at him that you can’t see what he’s done this past year? What he’s gone through
himself?”

He stared on, all stoic anger.

“Burke’s the only one I’ve been able to lean on. I couldn’t even get out of bed those
first few weeks. I stopped living. He’s the one who got me through this year in one
piece. And he’s been hurting, too, Harris. You may have this grudge match going with
him, but he looked up to you. He
loved
you. Losing his big brother tore him apart.”

Harris flinched, some of the words making it past the mask.

“And he never crossed those lines with me until I gave him signs I wanted him to.
He was—
is
my best friend.”

“He doesn’t want to be your friend, Gretchen,” he said quietly. “He did those things
because he’s in love with you.”

“He was there for me,” I said, my voice thick.

Harris moved closer again, pain marking his features. “I’m sorry, baby. Don’t get
upset. You’re right. If he gave you comfort, then I can’t hold that against him. How
he feels about you shouldn’t be my concern. All that matters is that you’re here with
me. Your heart led you to back to
me
.”

He bent his head to kiss me, and I let him this time. He gathered me against him and
poured everything he had into the connection, whispering to me in between breaths.
How much he loved me. How much he wanted me. And how he’d never let me go.

That was when what Gran had been trying to tell me finally sunk in.

People make sacrifices for love.

Now it was time to make mine.

I took Harris by the hand and guided him to the bench. The sun would be up soon.

~Burke~

Tori was rubbing her body against Burke, using the pumping beat of the music as an
excuse for her grinding. The scotch was wearing off. He wasn’t drunk enough for this
shit.

“You’re a great dancer,” she yelled over the music and let her hand graze over his
crotch in an accidentally-on-purpose way.

His dick jumped to attention, but a bitter taste crossed his tongue. “Maybe we should
take a break.”

But she didn’t seem to hear him. Instead, she brushed her lips along the curve of
his neck, running the tip of her tongue over the sweat there, then put her mouth next
to his ear. “Maybe we should check out one of the rooms. You said you climb mountains.
I bet you’re good with rope.”

So Miss America wanted to be tied up. A little kink on a platter served up for him.
The Burke of a year ago would’ve ordered a full serving. “Tori, I don’t think this—”

A hand grabbed his shoulder. “Excuse me, but this is my dance.”

Tori reared up and looked toward the newcomer, daggers in her eyes. “The hell it is.”

But Burke was already turning to the familiar sound, a compass finding its north.
Gretchen stood stock still in the dancing throng, eyes a little red and puffy, but
a hint of cocky challenge on her face. “Moving on so soon?”

“
Cher
.” His heart fell to his toes.  

Tori molded herself to his back, her hand snaking low on his belly. “Burke, what’s
this?”

He started to answer and extract himself from her hold, but Gretchen smiled big and
broad and stepped closer. “Hi, sweetie. This is me telling you to back the hell off
and stop groping this man.”

“Last I checked, he didn’t seem to mind.” Tori purred next to his ear.

Gretchen lifted an eyebrow, reminding Burke of the feisty girl she used to be. “Might
want to check again, sugar.”

Burke had trouble finding his voice, still taken aback by the fact that Gretchen was
here. Alone. He didn’t know if something had gone wrong or what, but regardless, he
knew he wanted to be nowhere else but with her. He put some distance between him and
Tori. “Thanks for the dance.”

Her jaw dropped for a second and then she narrowed her eyes at Gretchen. He doubted
Tori got turned down much. He’d been about to tell her he was bailing anyway, but
now it’d look like there’d been some competition and she’d lost—which meant she had
to save face. She leaned over to Gretchen. “Your boyfriend was about to tie me up
and fuck me. Just so you know.”

Burke grimaced, but Gretchen simply smiled a smile dripping with sweetness. “Well,
bless your heart. Thanks for sharing.”

Tori—apparently not a southerner—didn’t catch the jab. She blinked, looking confused
for a minute then rolled her eyes and spun on her high heels to shove her way through
the crowd.

Gretchen gave her a little finger wave as Tori left and then swung her attention back
to Burke. She pushed up on her toes to get closer to his ear. “So, hi.”

“
Hi
?” He grabbed her hand and tugged her through the gyrating mass of bodies, which had
gotten more raucous in the last half hour, and found his way to the booth. He stopped
her in front of it. “Gretch, what are you doing here?”

“I needed to see you.”

“What? You needed—did something go wrong? Did it not work?” His questions fired out
in staccato rhythm, but he couldn’t keep them from spilling out. “You look like you’ve
been crying.”

“I have been,” she said, swiping absently at her cheeks. “But not because it didn’t
work.”

He lost his breath for a second. “It worked.”

She shook her head, sorrow there. “Not exactly.”

The music was too loud, and none of this was making sense. “Come on, let’s get out
of here. I can’t hear myself think.”

They made their way into the much quieter hallway and found a little alcove with a
couch. He dragged her down next to him. Somewhere along the way, she must’ve grabbed
champagne from a waiter’s tray because she had a full glass in her hand.

“Talk to me,
cher
.”

She raised a finger to him, telling him to give her a second, and tilted the glass
back. She downed it in a few long gulps.

When she didn’t immediately start explaining herself after putting the drink aside,
he thought his head might explode. “Gretchen, tell me what’s going on. Did you see
Harris?”

“I did.” Her voice sounded distant, like she wasn’t fully there with him.

“And?”

“We talked. We kissed.”

The words hit him like barbs, burrowing into his skin and drawing blood. “Okay.”

“He couldn’t stop saying how much he loved me.” She peered down at her hands, rubbing
her thumb across her palm. “And I could feel this—this really powerful force of
wanting
. Like he would do anything to have me.”

Burke tried to keep his expression neutral even though nausea welled up fast and furious.
“That’s good, right? I mean, that you love each other that strongly.”