She had a lot to think about. And a lot to talk to Grant about.
But not now, because after breakfast they helped Lydia clean up, then Barrett, Tucker, and Flynn had to leave.
“We have all your schedules. Tucker, we’ll be at your game on the fifteenth,” Lydia said. “And the series you’re playing against Houston and Dallas.”
“Can’t wait to see you again,” he said, giving his mom a kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll be in touch,” Barrett said. “And you know I’ll pop down to stay when I play Dallas.”
“Here, too,” Flynn said.
“I’ll be seeing all of you soon enough,” Grant said, then hugged his brothers.
One by one they all hugged Katrina as well.
“We like you,” Tucker said to her. “We don’t know what you see in Grant, since we think he’s ugly, but we like you anyway.”
She laughed, then said her good-byes.
She headed over to the house to pack, so Grant would have some time alone with his parents.
She was going to miss them all, and felt a tug in her heart.
She’d fallen in love with his family. It wasn’t just going to hurt the kids when the ties were cut to his family. It was going to hurt her as well.
As she started putting things back in her suitcase, she paused, the realization smacking her, hard.
She hadn’t just fallen in love with Grant’s family. She’d fallen in love with Grant. That’s why all of this had been so difficult. Why the prospect of the kids getting close to his family was so difficult.
She loved him. He was hot, sexy, gorgeous, but her feelings for him went so far beyond simple chemistry.
He was also kind and funny and smart and honorable. He loved his family and he was so good to hers.
And she had no idea what to do with all these feelings.
Did he even feel the same? He might, or he might not. To him, this might just be a fun interlude. Or he might love her.
Either way, it was a disaster. She wasn’t ready for a relationship. She might never be ready for one. She had spent her whole life remembering her father, how many times he’d told her mother he loved her. How many times he’d told Katrina he loved her and how he’d always be there for her.
And look what happened there. She knew better than to trust in love. That was why she’d spent all these years saving her money and protecting her siblings.
Her independence meant everything to her. She had a road map she’d carefully constructed for her entire life, and nowhere in there had it included a man. A crazy, sexy man who would disrupt everything.
How had she allowed this to happen?
She didn’t know what to do. She needed time to think, and her heart was getting in the way.
GRANT FOUND SOME TIME ALONE WITH HIS DAD WHILE his mother was in the kitchen. They sat down outside by the pool.
“It’s been a fun couple of days, Dad. I’m glad we came.”
“I’m glad you came, too. It was good to see you.” His dad studied him. “You know what? You’re different.”
Grant arched a brow. “Different? How?”
“You’ve always had this crazy energy. Always up and doing things. You seem a lot more … settled now.”
“Yeah? I hadn’t noticed.”
“I’m not surprised. I’m sure that difference has a lot to do with Katrina.”
“You think so?”
His dad gave him that all-knowing “Dad” smile, the one Grant had seen a thousand times over the years. “I know so. Of course, the same thing happened to me when I fell in love with your mother. I’d been cock of the block, chasing women like there wasn’t a pair of panties I couldn’t get into. It was like a big, fun challenge to me, and one I enjoyed winning.”
It sounded an awful lot like how Grant had lived his life for the past several years. One woman after another. He’d had fun. A hell of a lot of fun.
“Then I met your mom and bam. Game over.”
And then Grant met Katrina. And nothing had been the same since.
“I fell in love with your mother. I never wanted to look at another woman after her.”
The “love” word. Grant hadn’t allowed himself to think it, let alone admit it, but there it was. His dad said the word so easily. He wondered if it had been so easy for him all those years ago. “So it was like that, huh?”
“She was it for me. My skirt-chasing days were over once I met your mother. The thought of ever being with another woman lost its appeal after her.”
That’s exactly where Grant was now. He took a few seconds to let the realization wash over him. “I don’t think I knew it until spending time with Katrina here, but that’s exactly where I am. I don’t want anyone else but her. I don’t want her to be with anyone else but me. Is that love?”
His dad gave him an all-knowing smile. “It was for me. Are you saying you don’t know?”
“I don’t know. I guess it is.”
His father gave him a stern look. “I think you’d better do more than guess. Before you mess with that girl’s heart—and those kids, too. They’re crazy about you in case you hadn’t noticed.”
Yeah, he’d noticed all right. “I know how I feel about Katrina, Dad. And about Leo and Anya. I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. And I know she’s part of a package. The kids have been in her life—in my life—since the beginning. I love her. I love all of them.”