“Well, I like to jog and walk on the beach at sunset.”
What was he supposed to do with that? He’d already figured those things out. He was so out of his element. He’d never had to try to get a woman to notice him. They just did. Maybe she didn’t know him. “Really? That’s all you’re going to give me?” Her chuckled did funny things to his stomach.
“Pretty much.”
They dodged a child digging in the sand. Grey was desperate, and he did something he’d never done before—used his status to impress a girl. He swallowed, knowing it would leave a bad taste in his mouth. “Did you know that I own a multi-billion-dollar business building yachts for the rich and famous?”
Her pretty little nose scrunched up like she’d smelled an unpleasant odor. “I know, Grey. Mr. Bennett would be so proud of how far you’ve come. Who would have thought that working on that old wooden boat in his backyard when you were just a kid would lead you to where you are today?”
Grey stopped, his brow knit together. “Who are you? How did you know that?”
Her eyes sparkled, but she only shook her head and started walking.
Again, he fell in beside her, more confused than ever. “Come on, give me a hint. Have you always lived here?”
She shook her head, “No, not always.”
“Where did you live?” Maybe that would help jog his memory. He could see her deciding whether to tell him, then he was even more confused when she gave up that piece of information.
“I’ve lived in Raleigh.”
“Raleigh,” he repeated. Other than business associates, he didn’t know anyone in Raleigh. Had he ever hooked up with someone from there? Probably, but he’d bet his next super-yacht he’d never hooked up with her. He frowned—unless he’d been too drunk to remember. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
She shook her head again, bending to pick up a shell in the sand and giving him a very good peek down her cleavage. The thought of not looking never entered his mind, but he wished he hadn’t when he felt himself begin to react to the stolen glimpse. “Married?”
She held up her hand, “Nope.”
“Will you go out with me?” Grey blurted out and then could have kicked himself for sounding so uncool. But to his knowledge, he’d never said those words before. Do you want to have some fun? Where do you live? Take your clothes off or do I rip them off? On your knees or over my head? He excelled at those types of words.
She paused before she answered. Her gaze swept over the horizon and Grey knew she had wanted to say yes. “I don’t think so, Grey.”
His stomach fell. Was this what rejection felt like? He wasn’t a fan. “Why not?”
“Well, for one thing, you don’t know who I am. Do you make it a habit of going out with women you don’t know?”
That was a loaded question. First, because he didn’t go out with anyone. Why go through all the hassle of dating when he could cut to the chase and get what he wanted without all the bother. And second, because he had hooked up with women and never bothered to get their names. Why did his standard mode of operation suddenly make him feel…uncomfortable? “Obviously, you know me, so that means we’re not strangers.”
She stopped and turned to him, her blue eyes filled with mystery. He wanted to uncover every single one of them.
“Goodbye, Grey.”
Grey stood helplessly by as she changed her course and headed up the beach access. “Wait. Can I see you again?”
She waved before she disappeared behind the dunes.
Grey marched back to his parents’ house. He’d never had to work to get a woman to go out with him. Keeping her identity a secret was making him angry. He didn’t need that in his life. No more. He’d call Charley and they’d go to Red Dogs later, and all he’d have to do would be to snap his fingers, and he’d be leaving with at least two beauties before the night was over. No. That wouldn’t work. Charley was married and probably busy making babies before their biological clock said time’s up! Grey stomped up the first set of steps to the back patio, yanked the handheld shower from its hook, and turned the water on full blast.
“How was Gemma, dear?” Grey’s mom asked as he sprayed the sand from his feet.
His head jerked up. “You know the woman I was talking to?”
“Of course I do.” His mom looked at him strangely. “You know her, too.”
Grey turned the water off and climbed the steps to the deck, leaving wet footprints behind him. “That’s what she said, but I’m telling you, I have no idea who she is.”
“Honey, that’s Gemma.”
He shook his head, Gemma? Nope. That didn’t sound familiar. He took a seat by his mom. “Gemma?”
“Gemma Jackson, dear.”
Grey said the name over and over, but nothing hit. “I have no idea who Gemma Jackson is.”
“Grey, you went to school with her. Gemma is a sweet girl, I always did wish you would date her.”
“Mom. I’ll telling you I didn’t go to school with her.”
“Yes, you did. Don’t you remember when your dad and I caught you boys saying some very unpleasant things about Gemma, and we made you walk her to the bus stop for a week? We wanted you to get to know her and see her as more than her outward appearance.”
Grey did remember that week. He shivered at the memory. It had been one of the worst weeks of a fifteen-year-old’s life. But that girl had been overweight—that’s what Chase and the guys had been ragging on when his parents had overheard them. But her name was… Jean…Jenna…
His blinked, his eyes opened wide, and he pointed down the beach in disbelief. “That girl was Gemma?”
“Yes. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. She owns a fitness center in the Plaza East Shoppes, you know, just before you get on the Causeway, and she still lives with her grandfather on the island. Margery and I take one of her classes. It’s a lot of fun.”
No. His mom had to be wrong. That woman didn’t have an ounce of fat anywhere on her body, but his falling stomach said his mom was right. No wonder she didn’t want to tell me her name.
His mom stood and leaned over to kiss his cheek and rumple his hair like she’d done forever. “Your father and I are leaving now, dear, and heading back home. Be sure and lock up when you go.” His parents had a year-round home in Wilmington, but their beach house was pretty much in constant use, either by him or one of his four brothers.
“Yes, ma’am. I will. Love you, mom.” He kissed her cheek, still distracted by what he’d learned.
“Love you too, honey.”
Long after his parents had gone, Grey sat in a deck chair and watched the waves as they crashed ashore, now illuminated by moonlight. Maybe he’d stay the night. He didn’t feel like driving back home to his loft in Wilmington.
Gemma. He couldn’t remember very much about her, but he did remember his clique of friends making fun of the overweight girl in class. While he’d never initiated any of their rude behavior toward anyone different than what they perceived as perfect, he certainly never stopped them. He’d been cool and popular, and much to his regret now, he’d gone along to keep his standing in the group. He scrubbed his hands down his face. What an asshat he’d been.
The week his parents made him walk Gemma to the bus stop, he’d been sullen and obnoxious by ignoring her, even when she’d tried to be pleasant to him. He remembered she’d been physically unable to keep up with the fast pace he’d set to keep from looking like they were together. After that week, he didn’t remember anything else about Gemma. Until tonight. How could he have ever been like that?
He leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. Gemma would never give him a chance. And he completely understood if she wanted nothing to do with him, but he did owe her a long overdue apology.
Chapter 3
Gemma
Gemma looked again at the beautiful arrangement of flowers covering the entire top of the reception desk in the waiting room of Fit2Live and read the front of the card nestled amo
ng the petals. The card was addressed to her, but she had no idea who could have sent them. She’d never in her life been the recipient of flowers.
“Who would send me flowers?” She couldn’t stop staring at the colorful blooms. There were so many different types. Probably a hundred in all! She eyed the expensive-looking crystal vase that held them. Who could possibly have sent them?
Mellie nudged the vase closer. “I know one sure way to find out.”
Gemma turned her confused gaze to her best friend, Mellie. “Who?”
Mellie threw up her hands. “Open the card! You’ve been staring at it for five minutes. Come on, put me out of my misery and open it already!”
Carefully, Gemma took the card from the plastic holder and flipped it over, pulling the card from the envelope.
Please have dinner with me tonight.
Be ready at 7:00.
Grey
Gemma tapped the embossed edge of the heavy, expensive paper on her opposite hand. So, he’d finally figured out who she was, and now that he knew, she couldn’t understand the flowers. She would have thought that would have been the end of his pursuit. She eyed them again. That many flowers were a statement. But what was he trying to say? “Sorry for being a jerk when we were kids,” or “Now that I know who you are, I won’t bother you again”?
“Who’s it from?” Mellie leaned over the counter trying to get a peek at the sender.
Gemma handed the card over to Mellie, still mulling over the intentions of his invitation. She’d had such a crush on Grey in school. What are you up to, Grey? Penance? Sure, she wanted to go, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to put temptation in her path. She didn’t want to take a chance that those long-buried feelings of inadequacy might return. She never should have flirted with him, but it had felt good to be on equal footing with him for once.
The first time she’d seen him, on the Greenway, she’d been disappointed he hadn’t remembered her. But she didn’t look like the overweight girl from high school any longer. When they met on the beach, she should have told him who she was, but she hadn’t wanted to see the disenchantment in his eyes when he realized her identity. It felt good to have Grey Anderson’s attention pointed at her, and his interest would have fizzled faster than a nine-day opened Cheerwine. And that is why she was declining his dinner invitation. She refused to go back to the young girl whose feelings had been hurt much too often by people exactly like Grey Anderson. She was no longer insecure about the way she looked, and she’d been able to achieve a lot in her career. She was proud of herself.
“Are you going?” Mellie asked, handing the card back.
“No. No, I’m not.” She eyed the gorgeous blooms. They were beautiful, but she couldn’t let them sway her.
“Why not?”
Her somber gaze moved from the card lying on the desk up into Mellie’s understanding eyes. Mellie had been her friend since the first day of middle school—her only friend at the time. “Because, when he looks at me he’ll always associate me with the obese girl from school. I mean, when I say Arty Fletcher, the first thing you think of is the guy that almost blew up the chem lab. When I say Miranda Hudson, you think cheerleader with perfect hair. When you hear, Gemma Jackson, you think of the girl that couldn’t fit in a normal school desk. I don’t want to be that girl again.”
“That was a long time ago, honey. You’ve changed, and maybe he’s changed, too. Go out with him. Have some fun. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially when you know that’s all it would ever be with Greyson Anderson. You wouldn’t have to worry about things becoming complicated. Live a little, you know you always wanted to do him.”
Gemma rolled her eyes and gave her friend a smirky grin, but before she could comment on all the things wrong with what she’d said, the studio door opened and her next class started coming in. The Aerial Ribbon class would take all her concentration, then she’d stop by the grocery store on her way home. Without a way to call and cancel, she’d just make sure she wasn’t at home anywhere around seven. She didn’t focus on the fact that she would have counseled her clients that avoidance was a juvenile move.
The next day, after her first nutritional class was over, Mellie pointed to a white box tied with an aqua ribbon on the reception desk. Gemma got a small flutter in her stomach.
Gemma eyed the box and one brow rose. “Again?”
Mellie shrugged, “Open it and find out.”
She marched to the desk and jerked on the ribbon to untie the beautiful bow and then lifted the lid and pulled back the tissue paper inside to reveal a beautiful stained glass sun catcher of a sailboat on a calm aqua-blue sea.
Mellie peered inside, “Ahhh. It’s beautiful. That looks like Mona Crawford’s work over at Artistic Impressions. An art magazine did a piece on her stained glass last month. I hear she can’t keep up with the orders now. I wonder how he got this so quickly? Is there a card?”
Gemma took the white envelope out and pursed her lips as she read,
I missed you at dinner last night.
Meet me at Red Dogs at noon today?
Grey
“Dinner again?” Mellie asked.
Gemma shook her head. “No. Lunch.” Grey, what are you up to? Her heart skipped a beat at being pursued by Grey. She shut that thought down. “It’s a good thing I have a fishing cruise at eleven.” A very good thing. She had no idea why he was being so persistent. Didn’t he get the message when she was a no-show?
“Hey, I still say do him. Need I remind you of how long it’s been since you’ve experienced the big “O” with anyone other than yourself?”
Gemma rolled her eyes and started for the door, ready to put an end to Mellie and her meddling.
“Hey! You know it’s true. What do you want me to do with this?”
Her gaze ran over the beautiful work of art. “Put it somewhere.” She called over her shoulder as she pushed the door open. It was stunning. She came to a halt and turned back around. “Hang it in my office.” She hurried out the door before she could see Mellie’s smug grin. She needed to get down to the marina and get the boat stocked for the morning charter. She usually didn’t help Pops with the shorter trips, but he’d gone to Southport to meet his best friend at Locals Restaurant for their monthly get-together. He’d been almost giddy that morning and Gemma wasn’t sure if it was because he was going to see his friend Glen today or because he was going to eat at Locals. Since she moved back home when Pops had his heart attack, she made sure he ate healthy—but she overlooked his once-a-month indulgence with Glen.
The Robinson family arrived just as she finished filling the ice chest with bottled water. After going through safety rules and fitting them all with life jackets, she didn’t give Grey another thought. As she pulled away from the marina, her phone vibrated with an incoming text. She read the cryptic message from Mellie and her forehead furrowed at the one-word text. Sorry.
Gemma shrugged and tucked the phone back in her pocket—she’d call Mellie when she got back to the marina; signal strength, once they were in the open ocean, wouldn’t allow her to make contact.
After three hours of baiting hooks and unsnarling fishing line, Gemma pulled the Amanda Claire into her slip and knew instantly what Mellie’s text meant. Grey stood on the dock with his windswept hair and much-too-sexy smile, waiting on her. Other than narrowing her eyes and sending him negative vibes, she focused on sending the Robinson family on their way. When they left, she spent as long as she could cleaning and shutting the boat down, hoping Grey would get the message and leave.
“You might as well talk to me, Gemma.”
She dropped the coiled rope and turned around. Why does he have to be gorgeous? The years since high school had been exceptionally good to Greyson. He’d let his hair grow longer on top but kept the sides trimmed. He had a habit of running his hand through the dark brown locks, then each hair would miraculously fall into perfect placement. His chin was more angular and his lips were…why was she thinking of hi
s lips? “Why are you here, Grey?”
“I wasn’t sure you were getting my messages.”
She shielded her eyes from the sun like that would give her insight into his real agenda. “I got them. Thank you very much for the flowers and the sun-catcher. They were beautiful.”
Grey laughed. “You’re welcome, but you stood me up. Not once, but twice.”
“A novel experience for you, I’m sure,” she muttered under her breath. Then felt bad for her snarky remark, but he was making her nervous. She wanted to stand on her five-foot-five-inch tip-toes and hold on to his six-foot-something body and plant her lips right over his.
“You’re right. I’ve never been stood up, but then again, I’ve never asked anyone out, either. And both of those firsts were you.”
Gemma stopped rearranging the life vests in the hold, slammed the lid a bit more forcefully than she’d intended when she felt herself soften towards his very manipulative admission. Do not go there. “Why are you doing this?” She turned just as a flicker of wounded emotion crossed his face. Hurt? Grey?
“Can we go somewhere and talk? I promise—if you’ll just hear me out, I’ll never contact you again. If that’s what you want.”
Gemma gazed at his handsome face as she contemplated her options, trying to determine which would gain her the least amount of strife. Never seeing him again or finding out what his game was? “Fine.”
“I figured you didn’t have time to eat lunch, so I packed some food. I thought we could go to my parents’ beach house and sit on the deck.”
If her assumptions were correct, Greyson Anderson wanted in her size six panties. A smile played around the corner of her lips. He never would have touched her granny panties. Okay, Grey. Let’s see what this is all about. “Sure. I’ll meet you there.”
Billionaires On the Beach: The Anderson Brothers Page 25
