I frowned, the name meaning nothing, then I remembered. “Holy crap, Gray. You mean Green Acres, the retirement homes?”
He nodded. “Nursing homes, retirement communities, memory care centers. He’s cornered the elderly care market in the Rocky Mountain states. He’s big time but not so big on his own. No one cares about a guy who’s made a fortune in taking care of old people. Those are his words not mine.” He paused before he continued. “I think it pisses him off that I made it big, bigger than he’ll ever be.”
“He’s making you mad though, and that’s got to worry him. Retribution from an MMA fighter with your connections has got to be something he has to consider. It makes no sense. Leaving you alone, forgetting you exist, is a better strategy.”
“In the past, he just called every once in a while to fuck with me, reminding me that he was around, watching, even from far away. That’s it.”
“You mentioned a ranch. He still lives there?”
“Yes.”
“You said you don’t go back.”
He shook his head. “Every one of my nightmares was made on that property.”
I ached, my heart hurt for him. “But the land, the open spaces, it’s in you.”
He frowned.
“I saw the pictures in the other room.”
“That’s not his place. I have land of my own. About an hour from here. Nowhere near where I grew up. The pictures are from there. I go there to get away. I’ll take you there one of these days.”
I offered him a small smile. “On one condition.”
He arched a brow and waited.
“You wear those sexy snap shirts. I like that my man’s a cowboy.”
He grinned then. “I can do that.” His smile slipped. “He’s not going to stop.”
I looked at him, really looked at him. I may have gotten him to smile, but it didn’t solve any of his problems. I was missing something, the missing piece that stirred up his past, that had his dad back in his life, pestering him, annoying him, making him angry and tense. It had to be something important to him and—
Of course. I froze, my eyes going wide, so wide at the realization. I could see in his eyes that I was right that there was more. Pulling back, I climbed off the bed, not caring I was naked. “It’s me. I’m the reason he’s calling. He knows about me.”
I talked as I paced back and forth on the far side of the bed while Gray sat motionless, only his eyes following.
“He’s using me to mess with you.” I pointed to myself then at him. “This isn’t fair to you, what he’s doing.”
“I know,” he said, resigned. “It’s more than that. He texted you.”
I froze in place, a slice of panic cutting through my concern for Gray. “Texted me?”
He nodded, reaching for my cell on the bedside table. “Last night when you were in the shower. I heard it ring from your bag and pulled it out to make sure it wasn’t Chris. I thought you’d want to take a call from him. I recognized the number, Emory.”
I took my phone from his hand, slid my fingers over the screen until the text came up. Read it. My stomach plummeted. While my son was fully grown and legally an adult, that didn’t make him any less my baby. No one messed with my kid, even from halfway across the country, and now Gray had the extra weight of this on his shoulders as well. I glanced at his hard eyes. “Your dad knows about Chris.”
He nodded.
“I… I have to go.” I reached down, grabbed Gray’s T-shirt from the floor, put it over my head, but it was twisted, and I couldn’t get my arm in the hole. I yanked it off, worked to untangle it. “You shouldn’t have to deal with this or with him after what he did to you.” I moved quickly around the bed for the door.
“What? Wait!” He used his swiftness to jump to his feet and grab my arm, halting me in my tracks, spinning me to face him, confusion on his face. “Where are you going?”
My heart was racing, and I was frantic. “Where am I going? He knows about Chris,” I repeated. “I can’t stay here, be with you like this with that… that crazy man. Jesus, Gray, you’ve been through so much. God, the horrors you had to deal with when you were just a child and now you’ve got the added weight of me. But messing with Chris is where I draw the line.”
“He won’t touch Chris. He’s just being a fucker and pushing your buttons, which pisses me off. That’s what he wants! He wants you to leave. He’s winning,” he said, his voice snapping, his hand gripping my arm.
I sighed because he was right but held fast to my decision. “You shouldn’t have to deal with that horrible, horrible man, and he’s going after you because of me! It’s all my fault.” I tugged at his hold.
He dropped his arm and stared at me. “Your fault? Are you serious?”
I didn’t respond and looked down at our feet.
“Em, baby, I’m the one who should be letting you go. I told you I was trouble. I told you I was no good for you. My dad, he may be behind the break-in.”
I froze. His dad? His dad didn’t have anything big to bother Gray with until I walked into his life. He may have messed with him, pushed his buttons, but a break-in? Gray didn’t need any of this. “See? I’m just adding to your mess. Before me—”
Instead of releasing me, he picked me up none too gently and dropped me on the bed, so I was on my back, his hands on either side of my head. I had no chance of resisting his actions as he was so damn strong. “It is not your fault.” His dark eyes pierced into mine as he said it, and I squirmed, rolling onto my belly, but that afforded me nothing, no way to escape.
Like the fighter he was, Gray settled on top of me, so I was pinned, the length of his body pressing mine into the bed. I couldn’t get up if I tried, but I knew he’d never hurt me. My head was turned away from him, and I looked at his hand pressing into the mattress, his corded forearm.
“Before you, I… I, shit, I didn’t know that something was missing. This is what he wants,” he said in my ear, his breath fanning my neck. “He wants us to fight. He wants to see us ripped apart, so I’ll be torn to shreds. If he can’t hit me anymore, he’ll get at me another way. The idea of letting you go, of him splitting us up, will be worse than any punch. You’re just a casualty to him, and he knows how to shove the knife into my back using you. He knows you’ll panic by mentioning Chris. But, Emory… you and me? This is one fight I refuse to let him win.”
I felt his forehead lower and rest on the back of my head. “Baby, you’re mine. If you say you don’t feel this between us then go. But you’re right there with me. I know it, so you can’t leave me because I won’t let you go.”
It wasn’t just his words that had me stilling beneath him, giving up. Giving over. It was his voice, his tone, the pleading, the need, the longing, the intensity. He was right. If his dad was trying to rip us apart, he was doing a fine job of it.
“You still want me even with my troubles?” I asked.
His body relaxed and settled against me in an entirely different way. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t so upset that I felt every sinewy inch of Gray’s body pressing into mine. Even his cock, full and thick, nudged against my hip. My body softened and warmed to the feel of him, recognizing his scent. It knew him to be the man who gave it pleasure. My body craved him, wanted him again.