Grace (The Family Simon Book 5) by Juliana Stone Read Free Book Online Page A

friend down the aisle and then toast her with words that left tears in my eyes. A bad man doesn’t kiss the way you do because a bad man has no feelings.”
    She swallowed and exhaled, her hands still planted on his chest. “I feel you, Matt. I know there’s something more inside and I want to know what that something is. I want to know everything.”
    Matt stared down into her eyes for so long that his vision blurred. Until that familiar feeling of disgust and self-loathing seeped into him. He welcomed it like an old friend because that’s what he knew.
    He stepped away from Grace before tossing his empty beer into the bin beneath the sink.
    “You’ll have to spend the night. The roads aren’t safe. I’m going to sleep down here with Rosie. You can take my room. It’s the first door on your right at the top of the stairs.”
    He moved past her without another word, and after checking on Rosie and her pups, turned to the sofa on the other side of the fireplace. He heard the squeak on the bottom step that led upstairs.
    He tugged off his shirt and tossed it before flopping onto the sofa, grateful for the silence. She was gone. Silence was good. Silence was what he was used to.
    So why did it feel so wrong?

7
    G race woke up to AC/DC and “Hells Bells.”
    What the…
    Slowly her eyes opened and she groaned, reaching around to rub at the kink in her neck. She frowned as the iconic clanging of bells kept ringing. And ringing. And ringing.
    It took a few moments for the fog to lift but eventually she realized that in fact it was her cell phone, and the damn thing was on the other side of the room.
    The room. Funny. She was sleeping in Matt’s bed. In his bedroom. Her body snuggled in his sheets. She buried her head in his pillow. God, she could still smell him. She squeezed her eyes shut and wished that the dull ache in her chest would go away. But it was there. Had been since the night before when Matt had shut down and basically told her to go away.
    How ‘effing embarrassing.
    AC/DC agreed and “Hell’s Bells” rang out once more.
    Grace rolled out of bed and stumbled to her jacket, grabbing up the phone as she pushed a tangled mess of hair from her eyes and walked to the window. Cold. It was so damn cold. Shivering, she gazed out at impressive snowdrifts that clung to everything in sight. Gray skies accented the dull pallet, and a strong wind rattled the window.
    She glanced at the missed calls and frowned. Tucker. Not in the mood to talk to anyone just yet, she decided to call him back later. There were also two text messages from Josh. The first one wondered where the hell she was, obviously sent before she’d messaged him the night before, and the second—she smiled and scrolled over the message—the second was a promise to behave himself, but only if she got lucky.
    “Fat chance of that,” she muttered, cheeks heating up at how she’d been dismissed. She tossed her cell back at her jacket and glanced around the room, getting her first good look at Matt’s private space. When she’d come up the night before, the light had flickered and then went out.
    The hardwood floors had obviously been redone, and the walls were painted a tasteful cream. His furniture was simple, an oak sleigh bed, with a matching armoire, and a deep leather chair next to a fireplace in the corner. A chest of drawers was tucked beneath a second window and other than a few area rugs, there was not much else. Nothing to show her what Matt Hawkins was all about. No personal effects, no pictures…nothing.
    She crossed the room and after a quick glance around, mostly because she was being sneaky and that’s what sneaky people did, she opened his armoire. Sweaters, jeans, and T-shirts were arranged in neatly folded piles but again, nothing personal could be seen.
    Carefully, she closed the door and turned in a full circle, spying another door to her right. She crossed the room and opened it, happy to find a bathroom where she could