Jilted in January by Clarice Wynter Page A

cappuccino. Afterward they’d danced in the ballroom, all by themselves, to music only they could hear, and now, as darkness fell outside and the last storm of January raged, they headed upstairs to make use of the pink velvet couch.
    “Oh, I never got to tell you the other reason I was coming over here,” Harper said as they waltzed over the threshold into the ornately decorated room.
    Grant turned on the electric fireplace, bathing the room in a flickering amber glow. “You mean you had an ulterior motive, besides wanting to seduce me again?”
    “Yes, actually I did.” She lowered herself to the couch , and he sat next to her and pulled her into his arms. “They’re in my car. I was going to leave them here even if I didn’t get to see you.”
    “What is?”
    She met his gaze. In the faux firelight his eyes had dilated with desire. Harper wanted to dive into those blue depths and never surface, but she needed to tell him she still felt responsible for any business TF lost because of Mrs. Moriarty and Mrs. Dawson. “I had a thousand flyers made up advertising Taverna Fiora. My boss said I could put some up in our building, and I looked into getting a town permit to pass them out in the shopping district—when it’s a little less snowy, of course. I figured that might help drum up some business.”
    Grant stared at her, his mouth slightly open.
    “Say something.”
    “I can’t. I’m speechless. You didn’t have to do that. I’m sure it wasn’t cheap.”
    “I used the money I made from the Auxiliary Club centerpieces. I figured that was fitting. If Mrs. Moriarty wants her friends not to come here, then maybe some of her money should go toward getting other people to book TF.”
    Grant shook his head. “You’re amazing.”
    “You should see me calculate interest.” She laughed, but Grant took her face in his hands and stared into her eyes.
    “Really. You’re amazing. I thought it the first moment I saw you , and I never doubted it for a second after that. I want you to know something. I brought you up here to make love to you tonight, but I know you were worried about this being some kind of rebound relationship that would fall apart when you got over what Brad did to you.”
    “No, I —”
    “It doesn’t matter. If you’re the least bit worried about whether or not this is real, or whether or not we can make it work, that’s okay. I’m willing to give you all the time you need. We can go as slow —” He paused to kiss her quickly on the lips. “Or as fast as you want, but whatever the pace, I want you to know I’m going to stick around for as long as it takes. I’m not going to run out on you.”
    Harper’s throat constricted , and she had to look away in order to get her next words out. “You can’t promise you’ll never leave me, but you can promise me one thing.”
    He lifted her chin so she had to look at him. “Anything.”
    “Just promise if you think something is wrong, or if you’re not happy, you’ll just tell me, to my face, not by phone from the airport.” She tried to make her voice light, but this wasn’t a joke. That was the part with Brad that had really hurt the most, that when he doubted their relationship and his commitment to it, he’d run away instead of letting them deal with it together. She couldn’t go through that again.
    Grant kissed her lightly. “That I can definitely promise.”
    His next kiss was more demanding, and their conversation ended in a mutual sigh as he stretched her out on the cushions of the couch and settled his body over hers.
    “ Face-to-face,” he said as his hands roamed her body, heating her from within and making her forget it was the middle of winter. “That’s how it’ll always be between us.”
    Harper smiled through a moan of pleasure and raised a brow. “ Well, I can think of a few occasions where we might not want to be face-to-face.” She wrapped her legs around him and kissed him with all the pent-up passion she