The Boss Vol. 6: a Hot Billionaire Romance by Cari Quinn, Taryn Elliott Page B

what the truth was with her grandmother.
    Oh, I had my strong suspicions. I could connect the dots and come up with a far from pretty picture. But there was a difference between honesty and casting aspersions on someone she’d loved with all her heart until I knew more.
    Fuck, I needed to know more.
    “You’re not like Dante. He made the decision to live that life.”
    “You pieced that together from one meeting?”
    “It wasn’t too tough. He’s open about who he is. So slick and charming, so casual about murdering his own father. You couldn’t be like that.” Her tone held a vehemence I was tempted to refute.
    I didn’t know if I could’ve killed my father. God knows in those days, I’d been angry enough to. But someone else had gotten there before me.
    “You heard his sister-in-law. Her life was on the line. It was a mitigating circumstance—”
    “It was, you’re right. I don’t know the story behind why Dante’s father wanted Carly and her baby dead. She seemed nice enough, and the baby was cute, but I don’t care about the backstory because I’m hoping we’ll never see them again.”
    I gave a disparaging glance at the backseat. “So we’re trying out a bunch of cupcakes we can never have again?”
    She surprised me by letting out a dry laugh. “God, Blake. Are you men all wired differently? Is that how it’s so easy for you to slot murder and death and betrayal into a neat compartment and just go on living your life?”
    “It’s not easy. None of this is goddamn easy. But I have a business to run. I have a girl—” I broke off as she removed her hand from mine. “I have you. If I still have you.”
    She didn’t answer long enough to make my pulse thud into high gear once again. Then she huffed out a breath and pulled off her scarf, balling it in her lap. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”
    “Yes. You’re still here.” I shut my eyes. “Every time I can’t find you, I go crazy. The idea of anything happening to you—I couldn’t survive it, Grace.”
    But if I didn’t, whomever responsible would pay first. Even if it was the last thing I ever did.
    “Nothing is going to happen to me.” She cupped my hand again, this time bringing it to her cheek. “I’m right here.”
    My only response was a nod. I wasn’t sure my voice wouldn’t betray me, so I didn’t try to speak.
    “Hey, we even made it through the worst first date in the history of them.”
    “It wasn’t that bad.” A glance at her showed her eyebrows were climbing for her hairline. “Okay, yes it was.”
    “Only if you consider talk of patricide at the dinner table off-putting. Otherwise, no big.”
    I couldn’t help laughing. “You forgot the ruined tie.” I lifted it and sighed. The drool spot had dried, but it wasn’t vanishing anytime soon.
    So much for silk.
    “Your fault for being so completely chewable. Besides, we have cupcakes.” Grace shot a look at the backseat. “So many cupcakes.”
    “I made sure the bakery would be open after dinner because I wanted to stop there after a movie.”
    “You made sure…” She trailed off. “Christ, I’m an idiot. Bakeries are never open that late. And there were no other customers. You made sure, as in paid for the place to stay open?”
    I shifted on my seat. “She’s a friend of the family by association.”
    “Yeah, and I heard tonight how valuable that was.” Grace rolled her eyes. “You shelled out money just so I could have my pick of cupcakes.”
    Put that way, it sounded very date-like. Albeit in a high-handed, king of the world type way.
    But still romantic, if viewed through the right rose-colored lens.
    “There was guilt involved. Significant guilt. I knew I had other motives.”
    “Don’t you always? And do you think I don’t know that about you already?”
    “Hmm. Good point. So you do know about my tendency to multi-task, yet you expect me to change. Is this an Oprah teaching moment?”
    “I don’t even know what that means, but it