Can't Let Go Read Online Free PDF Page B

name again and she sensed him pause in her bedroom doorway. She caught a whiff of that cologne she wished he would stop wearing as he knelt in front of her.
    “Grace?”
    “I told security not to let you in here.” Her voice was muffled because she refused to lower the hands that shielded her devastated face from his view.
    “You didn’t come to the party. You wouldn’t answer your phone. What’s wrong?”
    She’d known he would come. While she stared at the phone by her feet she saw his name appear at least four times. She couldn’t find the strength to answer, to tell him she was fine because she knew she couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. Please leave me alone, she thought as he dragged her hands from her face. She gave in because she didn’t have the will to fight. He looked at her bloodless face for a long moment and rubbed his hands up and down her sides in an intimate, comforting caress he had no right to do. She pushed at his chest and he sat back on his heels.
    “I know something’s wrong, ” he said, dark eyes glued to her face.
    As much as she wanted to keep this from him, to keep him out of her personal life h e had to be told. She was going to need time away from New York, from the boutique for... How could you put a time limit on what she had to do? Her mind couldn’t wrap around the concept. She had to go to Texas and restructure her whole life because everything changed.
    Mitchell waited for Grace to say something. She was so pale he thought she was going to faint and he poised himself to catch her. Was she sick? The worry that caused him to force his way past her security hadn’t abated now that he saw she was safe. Something was wrong. He’d known as soon as he came into her condo and heard the dead silence. If it wasn’t for his sixth sense where Grace was concerned he would have assumed she wasn’t there but something urged him to search the condo. Finding her sitting on the bed in a sapphire blue gown, hunched over with her hands covering her face made his heart stop. Even when he called her name and moved towards her she hadn’t moved a muscle. He reached out and brushed her hair back from her face and found her skin clammy.
    “Casey died in a car accident five hours ago.”
    The utter calmness of her voice made goose bumps rise on his arms. Her eyes were glassy with shock and she stared straight through him. Her voice was flat and emotionless. Only one other time had he seen her like this and seeing it again ripped at him. He felt just as helpless as he had then. He knew Grace loved her sister more than anyone else on the planet. He grasped her ice cold hands and rubbed them together.
    “What about the baby?” he murmured, squeezing her limp hands. Had Grace lost her sister and niece?
    For a long moment she didn’t answer. She withdrew her hands from his, stood and walked unsteadily around the bed to an open suitcase that was half full. Her whole body trembled as she started throwing the clothes scattered over the bed into the bag.
    “ If anything comes up with the boutique that Amy can’t handle, can you take care of it? I need to fly to Texas and take care of my sister. I need to grab Evie. She needs me. If you have trouble you can reach me on my cell or you can email me. I need to call Amy and I need to get a flight-”
    Mitchell turned her ar ound. Reaction was setting in and he could see her breaking apart. He wasn’t sure if she knew her voice was rising to a frantic note. He waited until she focused on him.
    “I’m coming with you.”
    “I need you to take care of the boutique,” she said through chattering teeth.
    “I can handle everything through my laptop and phone. I want to help.”
    “You staying in the city will help me,” she said stubbornly.
    Inside, she could feel herself crumbling and she was determined not to lean on him. This man had torn her to pieces before. He made her lose control and scream and cry until she couldn’t anymore. She wouldn’t give