Garrett’s Destiny by Anna Blakely

Chapter 17

Two weeks later…

“Knock, knock.”Bones appeared in Garrett’s office doorway.

“I’m busy, Bones,” Garrett lied. “What do you want?”

“Nothin’ much,” the Texas native drawled. “Just that there’s a smokin’ hot brunette out front, and for reasons I will never understand, she’s asking to see you.”

He shot up out of his chair so fast the damn thing flew back and smacked the bookshelf behind him.

“That’s what I thought. But I should tell you—”

“Out of my way,” Garrett muttered as he pushed past the other man and headed down the hallway toward their office reception area.

“Falcon, wait!” Bones hissed as he caught up to him. “It’s not who you—”

“You.” A smokin’ hot brunette who was most definitely not Avery Webb stormed toward him. “You’re Garrett Morgan, correct?”

She looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. “Yes, I’m Garrett. How can I help you?”

“You can start by telling me why you haven’t called my sister.”

Oh, shit.

“Alex,” he spoke her name out loud. He remembered her from the picture Avery had shown him. “You’re Avery’s sister.”

“Damn right, I am.” The pissed off woman crossed her arms and shot daggers at him from across the room. “Now are you going to answer my question, or try to BS your way through having ghosted her for the past two weeks?”

The handful of clients—actual insurance clients—who were sitting in the seating area waiting to be seen were staring at him as if they, too, wanted to hear his answer.

Behind him, Bones whispered, “I think I’m in love.”

Clearing his throat, Garrett held out his arm and motioned back to the way he’d just come from. “I think we should talk in my office.”

“I think that’s a fabulous idea.”

Storming past him, Garrett couldn’t help but see what Avery had meant about them being different.

Physically, they had similar attributes. Alex was petite and lean, but curvy in an attractive, feminine way. She had dark hair like Avery’s, but it was cut short in a sharp, straight bob.

The white blouse and gray pencil skirt she wore was conservative, but they’d been paired with a set of red stiletto heels that looked like they could be used as a deadly weapon.

He was reminded of another set of heels.

On an entirely different woman. One he missed with every breath of air his lungs pulled in.

Focus, dickhead.

A blaring difference between the women was how they handled their anger. Back on the ship, he’d known Avery was angry with him, but she hadn’t come at him guns-a-blazin’ like Alex was now.

She’d been almost quiet. Withdrawn. And it had broken his fucking heart.

Alex followed Garrett into his office. He’d hoped to meet her at some point. Let her see what a nice guy he was and how much he cared for Avery. All that ‘meet the new boyfriend’ stuff people did when they first started dating.

But this…this wasn’t quite how he’d imagined that first meeting would go.

“Please.” Garrett shut his office door. “Have a seat.”

“I’ll stand, thank you.”

“Okay.”

He walked to his desk but remained on this side of it, rather than sitting in his chair. A move like that seemed a bit pretentious and stuffy for his first chat with the woman he’d hoped to someday be his sister-in-law.

“She’s miserable, you know.”

Her words turned his stomach. “She is?”

Alex mumbled something about men being stupid before saying, “Yes. She is. So, I’ll ask again…why haven’t you bothered to contact her?”

“Avery said she needed time to process everything.”

“Yeah, well…that was two weeks ago. Time’s up.”

He knew exactly how long it had been since he’d seen her. Down to the very last minute.

“I told her to call me when she was ready.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned his ass against the front of his desk. “I picked up the phone a million times, but I figured if she wanted to talk to me, she would’ve called. I just assumed she didn’t want to see me again.”

“She didn’t.” Alex didn’t pull any punches. “Not at first.”

Hope began to bloom inside his chest. “And now?”

“Now she spends her days drowning herself in work and her nights cuddled up to Gus.”

Those hands came flying out of his pockets as Garrett straightened his spine. “Who the fuck is Gus?’

Alex’s bow-shaped lips turned into a slow grin. “Her cat. But I’m glad to see your jealousy is alive and well. Means you still care.”

“Of course, I still care.” He frowned. “I wasn’t trying to ghost your sister, Alex. I was trying to do the right thing and give her space like she wanted.”

“I’m sure you were.” Some of the heat cooled from Alex’s dark eyes. “And I’m trying to do the right thing now by telling you she’s a mess.”

Garrett studied the other woman closely. Through all her anger and desire to rip his balls off, he also found sadness and concern.

“I take it she doesn’t know you’re here?”

“No, and she’ll kill me if she finds out.”

“It’ll be our secret.” He offered her a small smile. “And, for what it’s worth, Avery’s lucky to have a sister who cares so much about her.”

“Thank you.”

Now that it seemed as though he was out of the line of fire, he shifted from the defensive to the inquisitive. “You said she’s a mess. Are you sure it’s because of me? I mean, she went through a pretty traumatic experience.”

“I know.” Sadness filled her sister’s eyes. “Those first few days after she got back, she had a rough go of it. She stayed at my place, which was good because she’d get these nightmares and wake up crying. I’d put on some coffee, and we’d talk them out. She told me everything that happened that day.” Alex drew in a breath and said, “Thank you, by the way.”

“For?”

“Risking yourself by going after her. You could’ve just gotten yourself and those other passengers back to the ship, but you didn’t. You went looking for her. And if you and your teammate hadn’t found her when you did, who knows what would’ve happened to her and that girl.”

“I wasn’t leaving until I found them.” She needed to know that.

“That’s what Avery told me.”

“You said she stayed with you when she first got back. What about now?”

“She’s back at her own apartment. I think the nightmares have subsided. She pretends to be okay, and…I don’t know. Maybe she really is. Avery’s a strong woman. A hell of a lot stronger than me.”

“Funny.” He grinned. “She said the same thing about you.”

“Of course, she did.” Alex rolled her eyes and sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I stormed into your place of business like this. I just—”

“Love your sister.”

“Yeah.” She smiled again. “I do. And from the way my sister talked about you while she was on that cruise, I’m willing to bet you do, too.”

Confession time. “I do.”

Alex’s smile grew wide. “That’s what I was hoping to hear. I guess the only other question I have is, what are you going to do about it?”

Thirty minutes and one half-assed plan later, Garrett found himself standing outside Avery’s door.

“You sure this is a good idea?” He glanced over at the woman who’d talked him into this hair-brained idea.

Alex simply shrugged and knocked on that door. “We’re about to find out.”

* * *

Avery squeezedthe last of the water from the tips of her hair and tossed the towel across the edge of her tub. She should probably hang it up, but whatever. She’d do it later.

With no plans for the day other than going through her emails and returning a couple of calls, she decided to throw on her stretchy pants—or fat pants, as she liked to call them—and her favorite oversized t-shirt.

It was stained in a couple of places, and there was a hole just under the collar in one spot, but it had been her dad’s, and she loved it.

That’s not all you love.

A low growl built up from deep inside her throat. Damn it, she had to stop thinking about him.

Garrett Morgan was nice, funny, had a mouth made for sin and abs that went on for days. He was the kind of man who ran into danger, rather than away from it.

He’d done that for her and Jessica. He risked his life on a regular basis and for what? For complete strangers. Who did that?

Heroes, Aves. Smart, sexy, amazingly selfless heroes.

Stomping to the kitchen, Avery went to the freezer and pulled out the tub of chocolate chip ice cream she’d bought the night before. Yanking her silverware drawer open, she grabbed a spoon, closed the door with her hip, and went into her living room where she unceremoniously plopped down onto the couch.

The first bite didn’t help. Neither did the second. Nothing seemed to help ease the aching in her heart.

You could call him.

She could. She probably should. Yeah, she’d been upset about the whole secret agent job thing at first. But come on, what girl wouldn’t?

No woman wants to be with a man who isn’t completely honest with her. And okay, so his deception wasn’t really that big of a deal. So he hadn’t told her he worked for a government sanctioned company who went on super classified hostage rescue missions. So what?

They hadn’t even officially declared themselves in a relationship yet. Did she really expect a guy like that to divulge top secret information to a woman he’d just met? Sex aside, had they sat down and talked about the future…their future?

No. They hadn’t.

So why are you still mad at him?

She took another bite to keep from admitting the truth out loud. Because if she were being honest, Garrett wasn’t the one she was pissed at.

No, if she didn’t have a mouthful of delicious, creamy, soul-healing yumminess, Avery would have to admit that she was the one she was mad at. Not Garrett.

He’d done nothing but treat her with kindness and a gentleness she’d never known with another man. Taught her about passion and adventure.

It was because of him that she’d gathered the courage to jump from that damn truck to begin with. And what had she done in return?

I walked away.

Shoving another giant bite of ice cream into her mouth, Avery thought about the countless times over the past two weeks that she’d picked up the phone to call him. The numerous texts she’d typed out and then deleted because she was too chickenshit to follow through.

Truth be told, Avery was afraid after the way she’d left things between them, that he’d decide she wasn’t worthy of his love and reject her.

So instead of calling or texting, she’d spent the last two weeks trying desperately to forget him. But she was finally beginning to realize that no amount of ice cream—chocolate chip or otherwise—was going to fix what felt broken inside her.

There was only one thing that could heal a wound that deep. One man. She just had to find the courage to pick up the damn phone and call him.

And she would. After a few more bites.

Filling her spoon again, she’d just put the next helping in her mouth when someone knocked on her door.

Alex.

Avery dropped the spoon into the round, cardboard quart container and pushed herself off the couch. With the ice cream in tow, she began walking to the door.

Mouth filled with the freezing cold dessert, she did her best to talk around it.

“Go away, Awex. I awready tode you, I don’t wanna go out wi you tonight.” Avery opened the door and, sure enough, she found her sister smiling back at her.

“Nice outfit.”

“Thanks.” Avery ignored Alex’s obvious sarcasm and swallowed the final remnants of her bite. “Now, go away.”

She started to shut the door, but her persistent sister threw up a hand to stop her. “I’m not here to talk you into going out.”

Relieved, Avery sighed. “Then why are you here? Because as much as I love you and appreciate what you’re trying to do, I’m also not up for one of our sisterly heart-to-hearts.”

“Good.” This seemed oddly pleasing to Alex. “Because I didn’t come for that, either.”

Avery frowned. “Then why are you here?”

“For him.”

Alex reached for something out of Avery’s line of sight. A second later, in one sudden, breath-stealing moment, Avery found herself staring into the eyes she’d dreamed about every night since coming home.

“Garrett?” She blinked, half-expecting him to disappear.

He glanced down at the tub of ice cream in her hands and then back to her. “Hey, sweetheart.”

Avery opened her mouth to say something more. Something profound and wise and…yeah, she had nothing.

So instead of saying anything, she grabbed hold of her sister’s arm and yanked her into the apartment. “Give us a second.”

Then she slammed the door in Garrett’s face.

“What are you doing?” Alex scowled at her.

“Me?” Avery’s voice rose two octaves. “What about you? What the hell is he doing here?”

“I knew you wanted to see him, but I also knew you were too damn stubborn to call him yourself. I saved you the effort.” Her sister shrugged. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Are you kidding me right now?”

She’s your sister and you love her. Don’t. Kill. Her.

Avery spoke through a set of clenched teeth when she asked,“Why didn’t you at least give me a heads up?”

“What, and ruin the surprise? That’s kinda the whole point here, Aves.”

“Alex, look at me. I’m like a cross between a drowned rat and the poster child for Losers Anonymous.”

“You’re not a loser.” Alex chuckled.

Avery wished there was a mirror close by because she was certain there was smoke shooting out of her ears. “Never said I was one…just that I looked like one. But thanks for that.”

“Honey, listen to me.” Alex’s tone softened. “That man out there couldn’t give two shits about what you’re wearing or whether or not your hair’s done. He just wants to see you.”

“How do you know?”

Her sister crossed her arms and raised a pointed brow. “Because I know misery when I see it. And believe me, that man out there? He’s as miserable as you are.”

“Really?” With a quick glance at the door, Avery bit her lip and tried not to feel happy about that fact. She didn’t want Garrett to be miserable. She just wanted…

Him.

“That’s what I thought.” Alex went to the door. She opened that door, and then she said, “Now that my work here is done, I’ll leave you two lovebirds to figure all your shit out.” To Garrett she turned her tone serious long enough to give him a parting, “Hurt her, and I’ll rip your balls off and shove them down your throat.”

“Understood.”

“Good.” Her sister shot her a parting smile. “Call me later.”

Avery was still trying to figure out what the hell just happened when Alex hollered a belated, “I expect details!”

Mortified, she closed her eyes and hung her head. “Yeah.” She glanced back up at him. “So that’s Alex.”

“We’ve met.” His eyes twinkled with humor. “She seems…”

“Certifiable?”

Garrett chuckled. “I was going to say very protective of you.”

“Overprotective you mean.” She stepped to the side and held out her free hand. “Would you like to come in?”

He motioned toward the now-melting ice cream. “Only if you plan on sharing some of that.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “I’ll get another spoon.”

One empty quart later, and they’d made it through the awkward stage of their reunion. The whole ‘How ya been?’ BS that people used to procrastinate saying what really needed to be said.

Like a band-aid Aves. Just get it over with, already.

“Garrett, I—”

“I wanted to—”

Avery smiled when they both started talking at the same time. “You go.”

“Nope. You.”

“Fine.” She filled her lungs, releasing the air slowly to buy herself even a second more. “I’m sorry.”

Confusion and shock filled Garrett’s blue eyes. “For what?”

With a chuckle, Avery stood and grabbed the empty ice cream container. “Where do I begin?” Filled with nervous energy, she walked to the kitchen to throw it away. “For starters, I shouldn’t have jumped at you about the whole job thing. I also shouldn’t have pushed you away like I did.” She returned to the living room but remained standing. “And I should’ve called you before now.”

Garrett’s expression was impossible to decipher as he made his way across the room to her. She’d been so busy worrying about her appearance she hadn’t taken the time to notice how he looked.

And damn.

Talk about suit porn.

Wearing black dress pants, a white button up, and a black suit jacket, the man looked good enough to eat. And the way he was staring back at her was…

“I’m a mess,” Avery blurted randomly.

His steps never faltered as he continued moving forward. “You’re beautiful.”

“You don’t have to toss out lines, Garrett.” She ran a hand down her damp hair. “I know exactly what I look like. Something else I should probably apologize for.”

“You don’t need to apologize for a damn thing, Avery.” He stopped inches from where she stood.

His familiar, masculine scent blanketed her the way it had when he’d first walked in. Her fingers twitched at her sides with the need to touch him. To feel his arms around her and know she hadn’t destroyed her chance of having a future with him.

“You have nothing to apologize for, but I do.”

“No—” She started to shake her head, but he cut her off.

“Please, just…let me say this.”

Avery nodded. “Okay.”

“The second I realized how I felt about you, I should’ve called my boss and gotten permission to tell you. So, while I couldn’t tell you at first, I should have given you all the facts sooner. You never should’ve found out the way you did.”

“H-how much sooner are we talking?”

The corner of his lips curved in a boyish grin. “I knew after that very first kiss that you were it for me. As crazy and unbelievable as it seems.”

“It’s not crazy.” Avery took a small step forward. “I felt it, too.”

His eyes locked with hers. “I should’ve called you before now. To be honest, I was afraid you’d hang up on me.”

“I’d never do that to you.”

“It was stupid.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ve been stupid.”

“We both have.” Avery blinked at the sudden moisture forming in her eyes. “I’ve missed you.” The confession escaped with a whisper.

“God, Avery.” Garrett reached a tentative hand toward her face. When she didn’t flinch away, his lungs expelled what sounded like a sigh of relief. “I’ve missed you, too. So much.”

She leaned into his touch. “Garrett…”

“Sweetheart.”

Avery wasn’t sure who moved first. It didn’t even matter. She was finally back in his arms, and if she had anything to say about it, she was never, ever leaving them again.