Free Falling for Love by Marie Force

him. He cupped her face in his hand and forced her to look up at him. “How can you walk away like everything we had meant nothing to you?”
    “Oh, Grant,” she said with a sigh, “that’s not at all how it happened. If only you knew how I suffered over you. But I found something better, and maybe you have, too. Don’t mess it up by wishing for what used to be. There’s no sense in that.”
    Before Grant could think of a reply to that, Luke Harris came into the kitchen, still on crutches from the ankle injury he’d sustained at the marina. “Oh hey. Sorry to interrupt.”
    “You’re not,” Abby said with a sad smile for Grant. “We were done.”
    “Abby—”
    She walked away like he hadn’t said a word, shoulders squared with determination.
    “Son of a bitch,” Grant muttered.
    “Sorry, man,” Luke said.
    “Don’t sweat it.”
    “No luck?”
    Grant shook his head.
    “What can I do?”
    Grant shifted his gaze to find his old friend looking at him with concern. “Not a damned thing, apparently.”
    “I hate to say it—”
    “Don’t bother. I’m hearing it from every corner as it is.”
    “Well, then, I won’t pile on. I sort of wondered…”
    “What?”
    “You and Stephanie were having a good time at the wedding. I thought there might be something brewing there.”
    He wasn’t quite ready to talk about what might be brewing with Stephanie, even to one of his oldest friends. “Maybe.”
    “She’s gorgeous.”
    Surprised by Luke’s blunt assessment, Grant sought out Stephanie in the next room. She was talking and laughing with Janey and Maddie, and he had to admit she was rather cute when she was relaxed and her claws were sheathed. But gorgeous? “You think so?”
    “I do. Seems like a really nice girl, too. I’ve thought so since she first came to work for us. She’s very sweet and accommodating.”
    Grant stared at Luke as if he’d grown a second head. “Are we talking about the same woman? Stephanie who runs the marina restaurant?
Sweet and accommodating?
”
    Luke laughed. “We all think so. She’s madly in love with your dad, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Luke tilted the beer bottle he’d opened to draw Grant’s attention to the hug his father was receiving from sweet, accommodating Stephanie.
    “Well, if that doesn’t beat all. She’s mean and nasty to me.”
    “Come on,” Luke said, scoffing. “She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”
    Grant watched Stephanie hug his mother. “You don’t know her like I do.”
    Luke raised a brow mockingly. “Is that right?”
    “What’re you still doing on crutches, anyway?” Grant asked, anxious to change the subject.
    Luke’s smile became a scowl. “Damned if I know. I can’t put a freaking ounce of weight on it. Cal thinks I might’ve torn a ligament. I was going to the mainland for an MRI tomorrow, but that’s been scuttled because of the storm.”
    “Oh, man, that’s a bummer. I hope it’s nothing serious.”
    “You and me both. I’m sick of being a gimp.”
    Luke’s girlfriend Sydney Donovan came into the kitchen looking for him. Her long red hair was captured in a high ponytail. “Hi, Grant.” She went up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “How are you?”
    “Great,” he said, because let’s face it, who wanted to hear that he felt like crap after talking to Abby?
    She slipped an arm around Luke’s waist. “Want me to get you something to eat?”
    “I can do it,” he said with uncharacteristic shortness.
    His crankiness seemed to roll right off her shoulders. “I know you can, but I can do it easier.”
    Luke pressed a kiss to Syd’s temple. “Sorry, baby. I don’t mean to take it out on you.”
    “It’s okay,” she said with a good-natured smile. “I can take it.”
    Watching them, Grant was filled with longing. His gaze shifted to Stephanie, who chose that moment to toss her head back in laughter, exposing the sexy arch of her neck. A surge of lust fogged his brain, adding to his