“She won’t be coming tonight,” Ari said as he picked up Mano’s bag. “You can stay tonight, and then we’ll sort something else out in the morning.”
His father nodded and turned to Grace. “Good night, koukla mou, I will see you in the morning. There is much to be done in the next week, and I want to be at my best.”
“Good night,” Grace said as she watched both men leave. After working here for so long, she’d felt she knew everything about everyone, but seeing Mano’s heartbreak now, and watching the way Ari had so gently related to his father, had her questioning the way she’d been so ready to judge him. It made her want to do her very best for this family.
Half an hour later there was a soft knock at her apartment door. After she’d said good night to Mano and Ari, she’d double checked that all the doors to the Palace were locked, so she guessed it must be Ari.
“It’s me,” he said, confirming her thought. “I didn’t want to leave without saying good-bye.”
She raced to the tiny mirror above the hall table and raked her fingers through her hair. God, she was a mess. She straightened her blouse, yanked her skirt straight, and took a deep breath. When she unlocked the door to her apartment Ari was standing there like some kind of priceless Greek statue, one hand on her doorframe.
Her pulse fluttered in her throat. Did she have any beer in the house? Any coffee? Had she put on her comfy beige bra this morning, or the red one with the little bow?
“Hey,” he said. “Sorry if I disturbed you.”
“No, no,” she said. “I was…well to be honest I was making myself grilled cheese. Do you want some?”
His mouth tilted in a grin. “Grilled cheese sounds awesome.”
She stood back and waved him in. “How’s your dad? Is he okay?”
“He’s okay, I guess. He’s not going to find it easy to take a backseat while he’s here, but I’d like him to. He seems really tired, you know?” He stopped, his hands in his pockets. “Wow, you’ve done a lot to this place,” he said, looking around. “My grandparents used to stay here when they visited from Greece, and it was nothing like this then. My mom used to keep plastic over the furniture so that everything would stay really nice.”
The walls she’d painted a soft green, and the cute rug she’d got on sale—this place was really a part of her now. “I don’t go out a lot,” she said over her shoulder as she moved into the kitchen and he followed. “Work takes up most of my time, and I don’t like to have friends over when your parents are around, so I’ve spent a bit of time decorating.”
He picked up her yearly horoscope book, which had been sitting on the table, and thumbed the pages. “So, this is where you found out that Scorpios and Libras weren’t a good match?” He grinned. “You really believe this stuff?”
“Yeah, I do,” she said. “My grandma always seemed to understand people. She was such a good judge of character, and when I asked her about it one day, she said it was because she’d worked out their star sign. Of course, some of it’s hokey, but the more you read, the more it kinda fits.” She opened the fridge door. “I don’t have any beer, sorry. Wine?”
“Sure.”
She busied herself getting the wine and grilled cheese as he flicked through the book. He was quiet for a while then said, “Hey, listen to this. The Scorpio man has the need to always speak his mind, and in general, he will speak the truth. It could be said that his biggest joy lies in giving his observations of the hard truth that nobody wants to deal with. I reckon that sounds exactly like me, don’t you?”
She came back into the room and put a wine bottle and two glasses on the table then sat on the couch with her feet tucked up. “What sort of hard truths would they be?”
He tapped the book on the table. “What we were talking about before. About marriage and how it makes people unhappy. That if people could accept other people’s faults and not try to change them, things might work out better.”
He really believed what he’d said about marriage? Where did that come from? Was it just through his work, or had he been burned by a relationship in the past?
“Let’s see what it says about Libras in relationships,” he said.
She poured the wine, and Ari read again. “It can be hard to understand her position because she’ll rarely show her uncontrolled emotions and passions, so the right partner needs to know her deeply and intimately, including the things she doesn’t want to show.” His eyes sparkled. “Sound like you?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. I like to think I don’t keep my feelings too covered up, but maybe that’s true.”
“What star sign was your husband?” he asked, his attention still focused on the pages of the book.
Grace’s heart stalled, and her throat wouldn’t move to swallow the wine. When she didn’t answer, Ari’s chin lifted, and his face changed. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine,” she said, then took another sip of the wine to compose herself. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s mentioned him, that’s all.”
Ari’s gaze intensified. “I’m sorry if I upset you.”
He came and sat down beside her, and the scent of him—his raw, male presence—made her more conflicted about telling him this. It was precisely those physical things that she’d let rule her feelings with Mark, and here she was doing it all over again.
“We just didn’t end on very good terms, and thinking about it makes me angry,” she said as she twirled the glass in her hands. “I’d wanted to leave for a long time before I actually did, and I’ve pushed away a lot of those memories.”
He turned to face her, his dark, expressive gaze roaming her face. “Where did you live when you were married?”
It made sense that he’d ask lots of questions; he was a detective after all. But he didn’t need to know the whole truth. “Not far from here,” she said, thinking about the beautiful house she’d had, the pretty garden, the rules and the threats.
“Oh, I’d imagined you’d lived in the city,” Ari said. “When you said you didn’t have a car, I guessed it was because you didn’t need one.”
She took another mouthful, and this time the wine burned the back of her throat. “It’s not that I didn’t need one.” Should she tell him anything more? This was only a bit of fun, no attachments, no expectations. She didn’t need to know all about him, and he didn’t need to know all about her.
“So, you didn’t like the responsibility of driving?” he asked, misreading what she’d said. “Yasmin was a bit like that when she was younger, but now that she’s cheated death, she’s fearless. I kind of feel you’re fearless, too.”
She looked down at her hands then back up at him. “I’m not fearless at all.” She’d lost so much confidence in herself, living with Mark, that she hadn’t even trusted herself behind the wheel. Fearful, maybe. Fearless, no.
“But you’ve taken a chance on me,” he said, leaning further into the seat—making himself at home. “Maybe I’m your first step into throwing caution to the wind. Maybe in a few weeks you’ll let me help you find a car that really suits you.”
He did make her feel safe, but that was the problem. She’d gotten it so wrong in the past when she’d been attracted to someone with charisma and a strong sense of their own sexuality. Look how it had ended with Mark.
Grace smiled at him. “You’re different than I’d imagined,” she said.
He sat closer to her on the couch and touched her hand. Warmth surged into her chest, and she shivered when his rough hands skimmed across her skin. His voice dropped low, like aged whiskey, smooth and possibly lethal.
“How had you imagined me?”
“Kind of arrogant, I guess. You know, when someone is as good-looking as you are, it’s kind of off-putting. I remember when we had a wedding here once, and you arrived on your motorcycle. None of the female guests could keep their eyes off you.”
Including me.
He laughed out loud. “And here was me thinking you didn’
t consider me enough for you. When I kissed you on that date, I could’ve sworn you were backing away. I wondered if you rubbed off the taste of me with the back of your hand when you got inside.”
“It wasn’t like that,” she said, and dropped her gaze, the rush to be close to him scrambling her brain. “It was almost like you’re too beautiful.”
He brushed a strand of hair from her face, and she couldn’t fight the shiver. “You’re the beautiful one,” he murmured. “I remember the very first time I met you here. I was supposed to be coming home for Easter, but I’d been called out to a big job, and Mom was telling me how disappointed she was in me. And then you walked in with your hair all loose around your face. You were wearing a floaty white top and took my breath away.”
She touched his arm, and the strong muscles tensed beneath his navy blue shirt. Every part of him was taut, as if ready to spring, and it made her giddy with desire for him. She leaned in and placed her lips on his, and he kissed her back. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip, and when he found the inside of her mouth, she moaned. His hands cupped her shoulders, and he drew her closer so that her weight was resting against him.
“I’ve always noticed you,” he whispered when he’d ended the kiss. “The way you light up a room with your smile. The way you make people feel comfortable whatever the situation. When you stepped back from me on that first date it was like a stab in my gut.”
“It wasn’t you,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I can’t ever imagine you making me feel bad.”
As her heart rate spiked and a warm sweat inched its way up her body, she pulled back. Her head was spinning, her mouth was dry—all signs that soon she would lose her head and be at the mercy of her instincts and Ari’s touch.
As if sensing her hesitation, he slowed the kisses against her skin. “It’s only me,” he whispered. “We can take this as slowly or as swiftly as you like, you only have to say the word.”
“And if I wanted you to stop?” she asked breathlessly.
“If you wanted me to stop, then I would just hold you close until that thought passed and I could touch you again,” he said. “It’s you and me alone in this, Grace.” He reached down and squeezed her hand. “I’m willing to wait until you’re ready. Until you can really relax and just be with me in the moment.”
She’d never been spoken to like that. Given permission—no, encouraged—to take the lead, to decide how she wanted this to work. The trust he had in her, the belief and caring, was the biggest turn-on of them all.
Like a drowning woman, she reached for him and held him close. Tight. She pressed her lips against his again, but this time willing their bodies to be joined, and when he kissed her back, she groaned with the heady thrill of it.
Desperate to get closer, she pushed up his shirt until she met the warm firmness of his stomach, which trembled when she slid her fingers across the smooth muscle. And it was everything she’d imagined. Touching his flesh, getting close to the blood that ran in his veins to the heart she was now a part of. As he kissed her ear, his intake of breath was swift, and it was clear he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.
He pulled back and held her gaze. “I want you to want this as much as I do,” he said as his eyes sparked.
“You can’t know how many times I’ve imagined your hands on my skin,” she gasped. “Your fingers exploring every piece of me.” She raised her arms above her head, inviting him to take her blouse off—to get as close as he possibly could.
As he lifted the shirt over her head, she pushed every negative thought from her mind. He made her feel safe. He made her feel wanted and desired, and that was the greatest turn-on she’d had in years. With her blouse a puddle on the floor, he gently put both his hands at her waist, and a surge of goose bumps swept across her skin. Beneath her bra, her nipples contracted into painful peaks that yearned for his most intimate touch. Slowly, agonizingly, he trailed his fingertips up her torso, all the while keeping his gaze fixed firmly on hers.
When he reached her breasts, he let his fingers skim lightly over the fabric of her bra and then cupped his hands on her shoulders. It was as if she were in a trance, immobile with the power of his stare and the warmth radiating from his touch to her very core.
“Kiss me,” she whispered. “You make me feel alive again, and I want to know that this is all real.”
He leaned closer until his breath warmed her cheek. “Are you sure?” He turned his hands over so his nails were resting on her skin, then he dragged them, ever so softly, down the tops of her arms to her elbows.
“I’m ready,” she moaned. “I’ve never been more ready in my life.”
Chapter Six
The next evening, as she got ready for dinner, Grace glanced in the mirror for the sixteenth time. Pink blouse, navy skirt, and wedges. Was her outfit formal enough? Casual enough? Did she look like the wedding planner, or someone who was meeting her lover’s family for the first time? The whole of the Katsalos family would be there tonight, as well as some of Erin’s family—it was kind of a rehearsal of the rehearsal dinner—a chance for the two families to meet each other before the wedding.
And where do I fit in?
She shook her head. Of course, only she and Ari knew that they were lovers. And the reminder of that was her eyes, gritty from a lack of sleep last night, and the warm, languid caress in her body whenever she thought of herself wrapped in Ari’s arms. Polly had arranged everything for the dinner tonight while Grace was at O’Malley’s. When she’d got back, she’d initially said no when Ari had insisted she join them for dinner. But he was persuasive. She would be a good mediator between Mr. O’Malley and Mano, and she could answer any questions anyone had about the big day.
She laid a hand on her chest and tried to still her breathing. Ari had said he’d come early and bring her downstairs tonight for the dinner, but she wondered if that would be a giveaway. Whenever she was around Ari her skin burned. Maybe people knew that she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him. No, she reassured herself. This night was about Erin and Nick. No one would even notice that she came in with Ari.
When there was a soft knock, she collected her evening bag and opened the door. Ari stood in front of her in a perfectly cut, navy blue suit with a cream shirt that made his eyes even more deeply caramel. His skin shone bronze in the light from her hallway, and his teeth when he smiled were bright white.
He stepped forward and drew her to him. She breathed deep his clean, freshly showered scent, and immediately her rushing heartbeat skipped lighter. “You look incredible,” he whispered in her ear. “Thank you for being with me tonight.”
The way he spoke to her, as if she were the most precious thing in the world, made her want to melt into a pool at his feet. “You’re perfectly hot yourself,” she said as she stroked the cool cotton of his collar.
“The others haven’t arrived yet,” he said. “I knew you wouldn’t want to make an entrance with me, so I thought we could greet everyone as they came in.”
He leaned back when she adjusted her blouse, and scanned her face. “Grace Bennett, are you nervous?”
She dropped her chin. “Of course, I’m nervous. In these next few days, I need to pull off two hugely important weddings, I get to see your whole family again, and I have to pretend that you and I aren’t together.”
He stroked a finger down her cheek, and her whole body came alight. “I’m here to help you with those first two things, every step of the way. And you know that I’d be just as happy if my family knew we were seeing each other. It’s lucky that Mom insisted you be part of the dinner before I had to make some excuse.”
She blew out a breath. “Ari, have you ever had the feeling you were reborn? That the world suddenly looked completely different?”
His forehead wrinkled, but his mouth turned up in a smile. “Maybe. When I finally made it into the police force after I thought I’d never qualify. That felt pretty good.”
“It’s like that for me,” she said, tak
ing his hands in hers. “When I was finally on my own again after my marriage finished, it felt like I was born again, like my slate was clean. And that’s made me want to do things right this time. Not make mistakes, not settle for second best. I need us to keep this quiet until we’re both sure what it is that we have.”
Ari nuzzled her neck, and she leaned into him. “I think I know what we have here. Something pretty damn good.” He placed a kiss at the corner of her mouth. “Have you ever heard my sister’s mindfulness bell?”
“Yes!” she said. “It used to go off all the time and your uncle Leo could never get used to it. One time he thought it was an oven timer and ruined a prize soufflé.”
“That’s what I think you and I need,” he said. “A bell that reminds us to stay in the here and now, not compare anything we have now to our past, or try to imagine what sort of future there might be for us.”
“Okay, point taken,” Grace said and reached up to press her lips against his. “I’m enjoying what we have right now.”
“This is a pretty significant day for my family,” Ari said. “The first time we’re all back at the Palace. The first time Mom and Dad have been back together.”
“And I’m honored to be sharing it with you,” she said. “I’m going to miss them when I’m gone.” She meant that. Bone deep. The Katsalos family had not only helped her through the toughest time in her life, they’d also helped her believe in herself again—not only Ari, but all of them. Ironically, it was their love and support that had helped her make this leap to be with someone like Ari.
“How is your mom?” Grace asked. Pia had arrived yesterday, but Grace had been so busy over at O’Malley’s she hadn’t had a chance to catch up with her boss yet.
“She’s great. Happier than I’ve seen her in years, and surprisingly relaxed given that she’s about to be the mother of the bridegroom. I can see she loves Erin, so that’s made things easier, I guess.”
“It’d be pretty awful if a mom didn’t like the partner of one of her children.”
Four Weddings and a Fling (Weddings in Westchester) Page 8
