by Megan Ryder
Delaney laughed. “You can use all the big words you want, but that’s not the look of a man going along with a plan.”
Brigid glanced at Grady under her eyelashes. He stared at her, hungry like a man who hadn’t eaten in a long time and was looking at a buffet, but not sure he would be allowed inside.
Delaney swung her legs around and sat up. “Brigid, for what’s it’s worth, can I give you a little advice?”
“Can I stop you?”
“No, not really. For better or worse, he likes you. A lot. Who else do you have in your life, besides your work? For once, skip the plan and go with the flow. It’s only for one week. Enjoy yourself. You deserve it.”
“Is that what you’re doing?” Brigid countered, a bite in her tone.
“I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. But we’re both adults and we’re on vacation. It may not last, may not be forever. I can live with that. But I know I’d regret not having this moment. Will you?”
With the parting words, she stood, and dropped the wrap on the chaise lounge. “I’m headed to bed. See you in the morning.”
Brigid watched her go, thoughtfully. Grady and the guys were clustered on the other side of the pit, laughing and busting on each other about the golf game. They all seemed loose and relaxed, but only to someone who didn’t know them. Underlying tensions crisscrossed even the guys and they put on a good front but their shoulders were tense and mouths tight with strain.
Brigid caught Grady’s eye. She stood and dropped the wrap onto the lounge chair, stretching.
“I’m headed to bed. See you in the morning.”
Time to kick up her plan a notch and convince Grady to give them a shot.
*
Grady made up his bed on the floor and tried not to wince at the thought of another night on the hardwood. Not even the cushy comforter was a soft enough bed for his back. What was worse than the back-breaking floor, was hearing Brigid all night – her soft sighs, subtle shifts in the bed, her scent wafting in the room. He hardened just thinking about it.
And that was only one night. He had six more nights to go. He’d never survive.
Thinking about the kiss they shared that morning, and the intimacy from the carnival, a wave of desire swamped him. Maybe he should take Brigid up on her offer of stress relief and go for it. He’d get a comfortable bed and a bout of sweaty, hot sex, which would go a long way in relieving the tension that relentlessly pounded at him like the waves smashing into the beach outside the windows. But if he gave in now, he feared he’d never get her to see him as anything more than a sex partner and not as someone who could be more.
The shower shut off and the curtain jangled across the bar. In his mind, he saw Brigid stepping out, water sluicing off of her creamy naked flesh. He heard her moving around in the bathroom and resisted the urge to open the door and join her. The door opened and Brigid stepped out, framed by the bathroom light, dressed in a cute silky short and top set. He’d seen sexier lingerie but, in this moment, lust slammed into him hard and fierce.
She struck a pose against the jamb, leaning against the door and giving him a come-hither look.
He straightened and faced her, jaw clenched in an effort to not beg her to invite him to her bed for one night, for the week, forever.
It was that last word that made him pause. Forever, his ultimate goal with Brigid. He didn’t want her for a night or a week. Not anymore. He would settle for nothing less than everything.
He stepped forward, crowding her against the door. A smile teased about her lips and satisfaction shone in her eyes. She lifted a hand and stroked over his bare chest and he struggled not to grab her and throw her on the bed, he-man style. Her hand stroked lower and teased around the waistband of his shorts, darting under the band, igniting fire in his every nerve endings. His cock swelled and strained against his shorts, seeking her, his partner.
She tugged on the material and he leaned into her, bracing a hand on the door next to her head.
“You don’t need to sleep on the floor.” Her voice was low, husky with arousal.
“I think I do,” he replied, his own voice rough as if he’d been swallowing sand.
She made a sound of exasperation. “Why? Most guys would jump at the chance for no-strings sex. Why are you fighting this?”
“You want one night.” His gaze pierced her, willing her to understand his position.
“One night, one week. We don’t have to end it there.” She traced a finger down his bare chest, following the lines of muscle.
“But you only want us together in bed. I want more.” He was almost shaking from the effort not to throw her on the bed and sink into her warm heat. Why was he resisting again?
“What do you want?” Her voice was soft, hesitant, as if afraid of the answer.
He bent his head so his forehead brushed hers. “I want everything.”
She pulled back, a hint of fear in her eyes, and she shook her head, denying his words. “I can’t give you that.”
“You mean you won’t.” He lifted his head. “What are you so afraid of?”
She tried to duck under his arm but he lowered it, blocking her in, a gentle cage. She looked up at him, fear back in her eyes. “I need to get some sleep.”
“Stop avoiding this, Brigid.” He tilted her head to look at him. “Are you afraid that I don’t really care about you? Because I can answer that question right now.”
She shook her head. “Grady, it really isn’t you. It’s really me. Honestly. Any girl would be lucky to have you. But we can’t work.”
He pulled back. “Why not? We’ve been going round and round and you won’t answer me. Please, just give me an answer.”
“Because you’ll eventually hate me.” The words burst out of her and he blinked, shocked at the words.
“Hate you? I could never hate you.”
She pushed past his arm, surprise letting her go easily. “You think my hours are bad now? That doesn’t end, Grady, with my promotion. I will never ease up these hours. Dinner will always be very late. I may miss all sorts of events, dates, birthdays, anything. Work comes first.”
“So why does it come first? Plenty of lawyers aren’t so driven. Why do you need to do this?
She paced the bedroom, not looking at him at all. Finally, she spoke. “You know my older brother is a brilliant neurosurgeon, right? Barely had to even go to undergrad, just long enough to take his pre-med courses. He had his choice of hospitals and options.”
He resisted the urge to hurry her along, knowing this was something she had to say, had to get out. He sat on the bed and waited for her to speak.
“My parents constantly compared me to him.” Her voice lowered. “Why can’t you be more like Edward? Edward aced that class; why couldn’t you?” Her voice went back to normal. “They expected me to be so smart too, their second-born. Instead, I was normal.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being normal. Plenty of people are.” He spoke tentatively, knowing it was the wrong thing to say but having to do it anyway.
“Yeah, not for my parents. I just wasn’t trying hard enough. Then my beautiful younger sister came along. Model, interior decorator. Her spreads are in magazines everywhere and she married an executive and has two perfect children already. I’m the boring piece of cheese in the center of the sandwich of brilliance.”
“There’s a lot of kinds of cheeses. You don’t have to be boring.” His tone remained neutral, not wanting to stop her train of thought.
“I tried, Grady. I worked hard at school, college, at the firm. Failure is not an option.”
She finally stopped pacing, as if she had expended all of her energy with her words, and was now deflated like a balloon. She sagged onto the other side of the bed. Grady absorbed her words in silence, processing and figuring out his next steps.
“So, let me try to understand this. You need to be top at your firm because your parents say so?”
“It’s not funny.”
“I�
�m not laughing. I’m just trying to understand.” He heaved a sigh. “What happens if you don’t become a partner by the time you’re thirty?”
She stared at him. “Have you heard nothing? I’ve been disappointing my parents my whole life. I can’t do it now. I can become partner. I’m on the track.”
“Seems to me you’ll become partner no matter what, maybe not by thirty but within a couple of years. Is it really worth the stress, sleepless nights, the ulcer? What about your happiness? Will making partner make you happy?”
She glanced out the window, looking so defeated. “I don’t know.”
He stood and walked around the bed to stand in front of her. “I’m not going to pretend to understand the pressure you’re facing. I was lucky. My dad never put the pressure on me to be like Matthew, probably because our parents were divorced and it only seemed fair that I was like my dad and Matthew more like my mom. But, hell, my dad was never happy with how I ran his company, doing the historical preservations and working on lower income housing, only now he can’t really complain about it anymore. I chose to live my life and make myself happy.”
He sat on the bed next to her and nudged her with his shoulder. “You have a lot to offer and you need to accept that there are other important things in life besides success at work. Happiness for one thing. Your sister balanced work and family. Why can’t you?”
She tossed her head and glared at him. “You don’t understand. I have to prove to myself that I can do this. It’s not just about my parents. And once I get there, then I can figure out my next steps.”
He drew back. “But that will never happen, will it? Once you get partner, there’ll be another big hurdle, and another and another. When will it be enough? When you’re old and alone, with nothing except regrets to keep you company. Is that what you want?”
She stared at him, a thoughtful look on her face. “I’m not sure. But I have to do this. And a relationship takes my focus off of my goals. I’ll just have to see where I am then.”
He slapped his hands on his thighs and she flinched. He stood. “Unfortunately, I probably won’t be around to see it. I can’t keep waiting for that mythical time when you might be ready. What if it never comes?”
He grabbed the blankets from the floor. “I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs.”
And he stalked out of the room, anger and frustration riding him hard. How do you argue with someone like that?
Chapter Seventeen
Brigid waited for Grady to return but, in the early morning hours, she fell asleep, exhausted and heartsick and unsure of how to fix them or even what went wrong. She had been honest with Grady from the beginning. It wasn’t her fault that he changed the rules on her, he changed the parameters of their agreement. Yet somewhere deep inside, a seductive voice whispered, but you want him too. Take a chance, this once.
But she couldn’t afford to, not when she was this close.
Damn him for changing the rules.
She came awake slowly when Caroline banged on her door. “Rise and shine! Breakfast in thirty minutes.”
Brigid rolled over and buried her head under a pillow. But the banging continued until she yelled, “I’m up, you sadist.”
Caroline’s laughter faded as she walked down the hall.
The door opened and shut quickly and Grady stepped in the room, a blanket folded up in his arms. She sat up in bed and pulled the blanket up.
“Did you sleep okay?”
He shot a glance at her and laid the folded blanket on the bed. “Not really. You?”
“No.” She dropped the blanket. “Grady, we need to talk about this. There’s no need for us to be apart, for you to sleep on a couch or something. We’re adults. We’ve slept together before.”
He stared at her impassively for a long moment and her words trailed off. Finally, he grabbed some clothes from his duffel. “Do you mind if I take a quick shower?”
Without waiting for a reply, he strode into the bathroom and she sat numbly in the bed, even more uncertain of their path.
*
By the time she made it downstairs, most of the household were gathered around the kitchen table enjoying coffee and sticky buns from a local bakery. Anna and Delaney seemed more at ease with each other, but there was an underlying tension in the room. Everyone focused on the television screen and the weather report.
“What’s going on?”
“Nor’easter. Headed straight for us.” Matthew said, face creased in lines of worry.
Delaney frowned. “I thought that was headed east of us.”
Ethan stood up and pushed through the small group, running his hands through his hair. “It shifted. Should be here tomorrow night.”
“Well, that’s good, right? The wedding should be fine.” Delaney looked from face-to-face but everyone remained grim.
Caroline stood, tears sparkling in her eyes. “It’s an outdoor wedding at Oak Bluff Hotel. On the Gulf side of the island. It’s going to be destroyed. The gazebo. The tents. The gardens. All destroyed.”
Grady slipped past Brigid without touching her. He rested his hands on Caroline’s shoulders. “Look, the guys and I will head over and see what we can do to shore up anything they have. And anything that gets damaged, well, I can fix it. Don’t worry. The wedding will be fabulous. I promise.”
Brigid tried to catch his gaze and smile but he avoided her. “Thanks, Grady. Can we help?”
“We’ll head over right now. I think we’ll be all set. I’ve been working on the island so my tools are all here.”
“Really?” Caroline turned and looked up at him, arching an eyebrow. “Where are you working?”
He flushed, and spoke vaguely, being deliberately evasive. “Your father gave my name to someone for cottage renovations. Been mostly coordinating the efforts, but doing the historic preservation myself. I had planned on finishing up some of the touches this week.”
Caroline laid a hand on his arm. “And you gave up your work to play silly games with us. Thank you.”
“Anything for my favorite sister-in-law-to-be.” He hugged her briefly then looked at the guys. “Let’s head out.”
The guys filed out after him after downing the rest of their coffee, leaving the girls staring at each other. Caroline flicked off the television. “Okay, well, we have a ton of things to do today. No rest for us!”
“What could be left? Shouldn’t everything be done already or handled by the wedding planner?”
“I’m insulted you would even ask that. What kind of fund-raiser would I be if I didn’t plan my own wedding? We have party favors, guest bags, and more. Ladies, to the dining room.”
*
The day passed slowly for Brigid. She always struggled with girl things, never taking the time to do her nails, get a massage, or engage in idle chitchat. She felt out of her element and instead remained quiet and observant for the day. After the third time she screwed up the ribbon, Caroline shooed her from the room.
“Go, do your lawyer stuff. I didn’t bring an infinite amount of ribbon.”
“Why does she get to leave?” Anna whined.
“Because I promised she could get some work done while here and I can’t take the sighing and sad eyes any longer. And, no, it won’t work for you. Back to work.”
And with that invisible cracking of a whip, Brigid gratefully fled to the office and immersed herself in tasks she knew. The deal was heating up, even though it was supposed to be a few weeks away, but there was something in the emails, something in the urgency of the tone and tasks that made her wonder. Not that Peterman would ever respond to her with a revision. He was sticking to his word to let her be on vacation, even though he was still reviewing her work and sending revisions. He was playing the letter of the law, not reaching out first to her except on old business. It was a game and she felt like a chess pawn, knowing if she truly took the vacation at this critical juncture, she’d lose all chance of the promotion. So, she tried to focus and not get increasingly irritated
with the picky details Peterman was harping on.
But her ears kept tuning in for the laughter and merriment she could hear from the dining room. Yet again that week, Brigid wondered if there was more to life than law books and work.
And maybe she should make time for something else like friends or even Grady.
*
Grady headed for the cottage to pick up his tools, while the guys piled into Ethan’s truck and headed to the hotel to begin surveying the layout. He pulled in the driveway and saw Janine was already there.
Instead of just grabbing his stuff and leaving, he went inside to check in her progress. The painting was all done and lighting all installed. As he admired the lighting he had known would be perfect in there, Janine came to the top of the stairs.
“No one is supposed to be here. Oh, hey, Grady.” Her voice immediately went from unwelcoming to friendly, very friendly.
“Hey, Janine. Looks great! Thanks for all you’ve done. Sorry I haven’t been able to help out too much.”
She walked down the stairs, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder. “That’s okay. I’m just about done with my piece. With the storm coming, I’m going to have to focus on the other properties, inspections, and battening down the hatches for people not on the island. Hell, most people are leaving before the storm so I’ll have to do all of them.”
He frowned. “It’s not a hurricane. Will it really be that strong?”
She shrugged. “You never know. And based on years of experience, Dad and I know which locations are at risk.”
He glanced around the cottage and at the Gulf of Mexico, roiling just outside the window. “How about the cottage?”
She sighed. “The reason this was vacant so long is the high risk of damage. The ocean comes up pretty high and the dunes were destroyed in a hurricane a few years back, leaving this place exposed. I doubt this storm will cause significant damage but it might cause some problems. I can board it up before I leave, if I have time.”
“Do we have boards for that?”
“Yeah we stocked some in the garage for these situations.”
