The Gate to Everything (Once Upon a Dare Book 1) (20 page)

She repeated the numbers and watched him dial in her name as well.

“I live close to you, so I can just pop over and pick you up.”

A chill skittered down her spine. “Wait! How do you know where I live?”

But even as she said it, she knew. She started backing away. His smile died, and he reached for her hand again.

“You must have said it,” he told her, but his eyes betrayed him.

She shook her head as Alfonso headed in their direction. “You’d better go. Alfonso and the rest of the staff don’t take kindly to people messing with me.”

He looked around and held up his hands. “Look, do I know you’re Jordan Dean’s baby mama? Sure. Am I a huge Rebel fan? Yeah. But I like you, and you’re prettier in person. What’s wrong with hoping I might meet him if things…clicked between us?”

Her ears started buzzing, and the whole room seemed to fill with water. Aaron was trying to talk to her, but she could no longer hear him. She turned around and walked smack dab into Tony. Then she fled to the kitchen.

The minute the doors swung shut behind her, she started shaking.

“Grace!” someone shouted, and soon Victor, Carlo, and Ricardo swooped in around her like a bunch of protective hens.

“Give her some space,” Tony shouted, making her jump.

She wrapped her hands around her body. “He knew.” How could she have been so stupid? “He knew who I was.”

“He’s gone,” Tony said, “and he won’t be allowed back inside the restaurant.”

That wasn’t the point. “I thought this was all behind me. I’m not even safe here.”

Tony put his hands on his hips and stared her down. “Yes, you are, Grace. This is why you shouldn’t talk to the patrons.”

“So I’m never supposed to talk to anyone?” she asked, feeling her heart beating out of control in her chest. “What kind of a life is that? I don’t want to hide in the kitchen just because of Jordan.” Suddenly she was so incensed by the injustice of it all that she wanted to throw something.

She wanted her life back. The old life. She had walked through the world anonymously before Jordan had become famous and tethered her to his stardom.

She took deep breaths, watching as Tony made a gesture to the staff to clear the kitchen. Even though she knew she was in the grip of a panic attack, she couldn’t stop it.

Tony helped her over to the chairs one of the guys had brought over. He sat beside her as she put her head between her legs, but she could only focus on breathing.

“I can’t do this again,” she said after the worst had passed.

“You don’t seem to have a choice,” Tony said. “It is your life now, Grace. Maybe we can come up with some positives to focus on?”

“Like what?” she asked. “Are we talking about all the money and the perks? Tony, I don’t care about any of those.”

“I know you don’t. I was thinking about charities and helping people.” He shook his head. “Perhaps it’s time to accept things have changed and do your best to follow the new lines defining your road. I’m sorry.”

He patted her back and left her alone.

Chapter 17

Jordan was pacing in front of the windows, bursting with news for Grace. Ella had done something pretty spectacular, and he couldn’t wait to tell her about. Where was she?
 
Ella had rolled over. His daughter had rolled onto her back. She was a genius!

He hated that Grace hadn’t been there. It was like walking for the first time, right? But he’d done his best to encourage Ella to do it again by dangling a toy within her reach, and darn it all if she was the smartest girl in the world. She’d done it again, and he’d gotten it on video for Grace that time. Being a dad totally rocked.

But Grace hadn’t answered any of his texts. He hadn’t wanted to call. Maybe they had a late table, but Tony usually sent her home by midnight. Right now, it was just shy of thirty minutes past one. If he didn’t hear from her in another thirty minutes, he was going to call Tony.

Fifteen minutes later, the security guard alerted him that Grace was at the gate. Except she was in Tony’s car, not hers.

Something had happened.

He opened the front door and was waiting in the driveway when Tony pulled to a halt. When Grace left the car moments later, the set of her shoulders was all the confirmation he needed.

“Grace,” he said as she came forward.

“Not now, Jordan,” she crisply replied, heading past him into the house.

He strode over to the driver’s side and rapped on the glass. When it lowered, he noted the tension in Tony’s face.

“What happened?” he asked.

“A customer asked Grace out after her shift, and from what she told me, the man knew who she was.”

His stomach sunk. “Shit.”

“The
testa di cazzo
gave himself away by saying he didn’t live too far from her, and then everything untangled. He was a huge fan. Grace freaked out.”

Jordan pushed away from the car and let out a stream of cuss words, wanting to punch something. “How could this happen?” he asked Tony when he stalked back to the Porsche. “Dammit! You and I talked about everyone keeping an extra eye out for her.”

“We are, and we did, Jordan,” Tony said in a curt tone. “The man complimented her about the meal, and Grace waved off Alfonso so she could talk to him. Everything seemed to be fine…and then it wasn’t. Trust me, that man is never going to return to my place.”

He took some cleansing breaths. Taking his anger out on an already pissed off Tony wasn’t the way. “But the damage is done.”

“Yes,” Tony said, tapping the steering wheel. “I insisted on driving her home because she had a panic attack and wasn’t steady enough to drive. I’ll have one of the guys bring her car back in the morning.”

“I can arrange that,” Jordan said, already thinking of his next move.

“I can fucking handle it,” Tony said with edge. “It’s late. I’m going home to sharpen my knives. Goodnight, Jordan.”

Jordan empathized with the need to do something physical. Rather than head into the house, he walked down the drive.

Of all the things Jordan had feared, he’d never thought about some Rebel fan asking Grace out to get to him. Maybe since he’d never considered the possibility of Grace dating someone else period. Had she wanted to go out with this guy before she’d found out the truth? Tony seemed to think so.

That knowledge sliced him to the core. Maybe she didn’t want him, after all. Maybe Blake was right, and he had a dangerous habit of seeing what he wanted to see.

Well, he’d broken this. It was his responsibility to fix it. He would save his hurt feelings for later.

He let himself back into the house. Her bedroom door was open when he reached the upstairs, but when he looked inside, she wasn’t there. Jordan padded silently to the nursery. Soft light spilled out into the hallway. He peered into the room. Grace was in the rocking chair nursing Ella, her eyes pinched shut like she was fighting her own demons.
 

He almost hated to alert her to his presence because she hadn’t thrown a blanket over Ella, which meant she hadn’t expected him to follow her. Even though he knew he should announce himself, he couldn’t look away.

She’d kicked her shoes off carelessly, and they lay haphazardly on the rug. The rocker moved in a slow rhythm as she pushed off the floor. Ella’s little fist rested against her mouth as she nursed. He could tell his daughter was mostly asleep.
 

He leaned against the doorjamb and fell into the moment. Seeing them like this… It was simply the most beautiful thing he’d ever witnessed.
 

Grace was so still that Jordan thought she might be asleep too. But then she opened her eyes and saw him in the doorway. Jordan didn’t move. When she reached for the blanket hanging on the side of the rocker, he uncoiled from the door.
 

Bending on one knee in front of her, he stopped her hand. “Don’t.”

Ella stirred and opened her eyes, turning her head to look at him. She reached for him with her little hand, so he took that precious link. He breathed a sigh of relief when Grace let the blanket fall to the side.

Jordan looked down at his daughter, her face so dear to him. Then he shifted his gaze to Grace.

“She rolled over tonight,” he told her, watching her expression change from anger to shock.

“She did?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly, hoping this would help reestablish the ground they’d made over the past weeks. “I coaxed her with a toy to do it again and caught it on video for you. I’m sorry you weren’t here for it, but maybe when she walks…”

“I can’t wait to see it,” she replied, soothing Ella’s little curls. “It was a…horrible evening.”

“Tony told me,” he said, feeling Ella’s hand go slack in his. “I’m sorry, Grace.”

Her eyes clenched shut briefly again as she shook her head.
“Me too.”

“I think she’s asleep,” he said, gently placing Ella’s hand on her tummy.

“Give it a couple of minutes,” Grace said. “She sometimes starts nursing out of the blue.”

Sure enough, Grace was right. Her little mouth started sucking again, and Grace rolled her eyes. “It’s gotta be instinct. Usually I wait until her whole body gets heavy, but even then, it’s no guarantee.”

“I fed her a bottle before bed,” he said. “I’m surprised she was hungry.”

Grace looked down and fingered Ella’s nightgown. “I wanted to feed her.”

He didn’t say anything, but he’d read how some women nursed to savor the connection with their child—even if they weren’t hungry.

“She was clearly a little hungry,” he said, going along with her. If Grace had needed comfort or connection from their daughter, he was glad she’d sought it out.

He stayed on the floor and watched them. The moment was simple—two parents sharing a private moment with their baby—but it felt like a revelation. Jordan hadn’t expected the intensity of it, but in this moment, the past fell away. Love swept over him like an intense wind.
 

He reached forward to touch Grace’s cheek. “I’ve never seen you more beautiful than you are in this moment. Thanks for letting me see both of you like this.”

She lifted a shoulder, but didn’t respond. Pretty soon, even Jordan could see Ella was sound asleep. Her mouth finally fell away from Grace’s breast, and from the tension in Grace’s shoulders, he could see her embarrassment.

“Here, let me take her,” he whispered and carefully scooped Ella up, stepping away to pat her on the back to bring up any burps.

There weren’t any, and he rocked with her until he felt it was time to put her in the crib. When he turned around, Grace wasn’t in the room any longer. He tucked the blanket around Ella and then went off in search of her. Again, she wasn’t in her bedroom, but down in the kitchen, making herself a cup of tea.

“You didn’t send the video,” she said.

She was waiting for him, which lit an ember in his chest, but she still had her work clothes on, which meant she hadn’t felt comfortable enough to change into her pajamas while he was burping Ella. Her guards were back up.

“I thought it would be more fun if we could watch it together,” he said honestly. “I didn’t want you to feel bad for not being here, especially when you were working.”

She took the steaming mug of tea over to the kitchen table. He grabbed his phone out of his jeans pocket and took a chair next to her. She grew very still, and he feared all of her earlier tension had returned.

When he hit play, he watched her face—not the video, which he’d already seen tons of times. The stiff muscles in her shoulders dissolved, and a radiant smile flew across her face.

“Oh, look at her! She did it!”

“Yeah,” he said, taking in the quiet force of her beauty. “She’s a genius.”

“And she knows it too,” Grace said, playing the video again. “Look at her smile at the end after she grabbed the toy from you.”

“She knew what the game was,” Jordan said, puffing his chest out.

“Oh, I wish I’d been here.”

“Me too,” Jordan said. “Every time she does something, it’s like a miracle, you know?”

She gave him a beaming smile. “I know. She’s the miracle.”

“She is at that,” he said, and then watched Grace play the video three more times, giving a play by play with each viewing. “You’d make a great sports announcer.”
 

And just like that, the smile disappeared from her face.

“Tell me what happened tonight, Grace,” he said, seeing no reason to delay it.

Her green eyes blazed like holy fire when she looked at him again. “Didn’t Tony tell you?”

“I want to hear it from you,” he said, not reaching for his phone when she slid it his way.

“One of our patrons flattered me, which then turned into a dinner invitation.” She gripped the handle of her mug. “I agreed, but then he gave himself away by saying he knew where I lived. I lost it, and while he tried to assure me that he liked me and that I was prettier in person even though he was a huge fan of yours, it made me pretty upset.”

Prettier in person?
He wanted to beat the man into a bloody pulp.