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him.
                “Knock it
off Grant! Stop acting like my father! I can spend time with whomever I want!”
    Grant stood his ground
and didn’t even flinch at my tone. He was always better at arguing. Whenever I
got angry I wanted to cry and right now I was choking back the tears. This was
not the time to appear weak.
                “Natalie, I
normally don’t care who you spend your time with. But I know Dominic and I
don’t want to see you getting involved with him or anyone else at Crimson,” he
said rationally. “I think he’s playing you, plus he’s the owner’s nephew.”
    I hadn’t thought about
it from that perspective. But then I remembered Miranda. “Oh really? What about
Miranda?” I threw back at him.
                “That’s
different,” he replied, but I knew I had a reaction when his stance loosened.
                “Grant,” I
said softly. “I know you’re head of security and all, but you don’t have to be
my personal bodyguard. If I am making a mistake, let me find out the hard way.
Otherwise, I won’t learn. But, I think you’re wrong about Dominic.” And boy did
I hope he was wrong.
     Grant’s shoulders
dropped and I knew he was ready to concede, “I wish there was a way I could
make you understand. I’ve done things I’m not proud of to get to where I am. I
just don’t want you to pay for my mistakes. “
                “Please,
what are you talking about? You are such a Boy Scout!” I teased.
                “Do Boy
Scouts drive Lexus’ and carry a gun?” Grant said as if trying to allude to
something more sinister.
                “I’m sure
some do when they grow up.”
                “Alright.
Well what about your first night working at Crimson - the gunshots, the
discreet transaction with the cop? What do you think that was about?”
                “A corrupt
cop in Philadelphia? Now there’s an anomaly!” I laughed. “Dominic told me how
many businesses the Grabanos own. It doesn’t surprise me if there are a few
city officials on the payroll.”
                “That
doesn’t bother you?”
                “No. Should
it?” I couldn’t believe it. My brother was seriously annoyed that this didn’t
bother me. It’s not like I was born yesterday, I knew how the world operated.
Did he really think he had sheltered me?
                “Never
mind!” he snapped. I was suddenly very tired. The high from spending the night
with Dominic was gone. Arguing with my brother as the day was just beginning
was not what I had in mind.
                “Grant can
we talk about this later? I really need to get some sleep and you do too. We
both have to work tonight,” I whined.
                “Fine,” he
sighed. “Just please be careful, okay?”  
                “Yeah,
sure…see you tonight.” I turned around and went inside.

Chapter 7
    Chelsea wasn’t waiting
up to ambush me, much to my relief, and I was able to collapse. I was so exhausted
that I didn’t bother taking off my uniform. I just fell across my double bed,
with my feet hanging off the edge. Gravity took the high heels off for me.
Hours later my cell phone woke me up out of a deep, dreamless sleep. It was my
mom wanting to know how the new job was going. Recalling the angry exchange with
Grant, I felt like I lied to her when I said everything was great.
    I was too awake to go
back asleep after her call. So, I rolled over onto my back and thought about Dominic
– the way his thick, dark hair framed his face and accentuated his green eyes, the
taste of his lips, the spicy smell of his skin and how perfectly our bodies fit
together when I was on his lap. I knew I had it bad when I started counting
down the hours until I saw him again. Three hours. That didn’t give me much
time to get ready and I still had assignments to work on, which were due in