No part of his body language is threatening. He seems hurt and cautious. Scared.
“I willnevertake this place from you, Dean.” If anything, I’ll do all that’s in my power to help him keep it, if that’s what he wants.
“Bryson seems convinced you’re working with your brother.”
“That’s because I lied.” Time to confess, I guess. “The minute Bryson saw me, he was pissed I was here. He accused me of working for my brother, who dabbles in realty, and I let him believe whatever he wanted by not confirming or denying it. The more I act like I know, the more power I have, so I faked it.”
Dean sucks in a sharp breath. His shoulders relax slightly. “If you don’t like him, why did you put yourself between us like that? He deserved an ass whooping for what he did. He put his fucking hands on you, Grace.”
“And that’s why I put myself between you two. I’m not about to let him drag you down to his level. Regardless of how sweet it is that you’d want to protect me, I won’t allow it.”
“Sweet has nothing to do with why I…” He exhales again and runs a hand down his face.
I swear he reminds me of my oldest brother Mason with how acutely protective he’s acting. Mason would never let anyone be mean to me growing up, orthey’d risk his wrath, and I know he’s even more protective of his wife Leah. To think Dean’s being that way with me, when we’ve only just met, is… romantically unsettling.
“He would have let you beat him to a pulp. I’m sure he came with a plan to rile you up somehow and I was a clear and easy way to do it.” A lot of that is an assumption, but I know Bryson well enough to believe I’m right. “He fights dirty, Dean.”
“Tell me about it. I spent most of my savings fighting his lawyers once already.”
My breath hitches. I want to ask more questions. Pry. Dig deeper into Dean’s troubles to see if I can help, but something stops me. The urge to comfort him is stronger than the one to interrogate him.
We lock gazes and I hope he can see my genuine desire to understand and help him. “That’s why you’re doing renovations. You’re trying to save this place.”
His eyes soften with more pain. “It’s all I have.”
If he’s spent his savings fighting Bryson’s company once already, then Clyde-Smith Reality is just circling like vultures to take what they want when Dean finally gives up. It’s a waiting game, and they have all the time and money in the world.
Dean doesn’t.
I step closer to him. “I can help you.”
He backs away. “I don’t need your pity, Grace.”
“It’s not pity.” I make up the distance he puts between us until I’ve practically cornered him in the living room. “It’s revenge.”
He swallows hard and looks away from me. “I can handle this on my own.”
No, he can’t. That’s his pride talking, and we both know it.
“Hey.” I cup his cheek and force him to look at me again. “Just because you can do it all by yourself, doesn’t mean you have to.”
Dean’s cell goes off and he pulls it out of his pocket, answering it. “Yeah?”
“He’s gone,” Nick says through the speaker. “Locked the gates and followed him all the way out of town.”
“Thanks, man.”
“No problem. Is Grace okay?”
He swallows hard, still staring at me when he says, “Yeah.”
“I can’t believe she lobbed a fucking sledgehammer at him, bro. That was unhinged. She’s definitely psycho.”
“You’re on speaker.”
Nick pauses for a few heartbeats, then says, “Hi Grace.”
“Hi Nick.”
