“Miss, are you ready to leave now?” George asked with a grin on his face. I didn’t see what was amusing. Grant giving me this gift was stunning and slightly scary.
“Elizabeth, dear. What’s going on?” My mom called from the couch. I turned to see her eyes beaming. She was clearly excited about what she had heard so far.
“A client has been gracious enough to send a car service to drive me back to the city.” I turned back to George. “My bag is over there. I’ll be out in a moment.”
Shutting the door behind George and my bag, I kissed my mother again and tried to ignore the questions in her eyes. I didn’t want to explain anything. I wasn’t even sure how I felt about all of it. This gift was beyond generous and extremely thoughtful. It went against the things I wanted to believe about him.
“That’s some gesture. Sending a car service,” she unfortunately hinted.
I nodded my agreement and straightened. “I best be going. It would be rude of me to keep him waiting.”
“Who was it that sent the car again, sweetie?”
I groaned. She was like a dog with a bone and there was no getting her to let it go. It’s amazing how much mothers know without you saying a word.
“Just a client, Mother. I have to go. Love you,” I called out and gave a small wave as I walked to the door.
“Love you too, sweetie. Be sure to thank that man.” I rolled my eyes again. How did I know she would have it all figured out?
When I approached the car, George held the door for me before getting in and driving us to the city.
For a while I debated doing it, but I just couldn’t help myself. I pulled my phone out and sent Grant a text message, going against my better judgment and using his number for a personal reason.
Thank you for the car. – E
An hour later as the lights of the city brightened the interior of the car as we drove, a simple text came to my phone. And when I read it, I couldn’t stop the flutters in my heart or the smile on my face.
Anytime. – G
It wasn’t until the next day, when I had read his note numerous times that I realized he had signed the note ‘Yours’.
Chapter Seven
What Does She Have?
“Good afternoon, Ms. Elizabeth,” Sal called to me as I walked into Grant’s building.
It was Saturday, and I hadn’t seen him all week. That wasn’t unusual, but it was sad nonetheless. I hated to think what it meant for me to want to see him so badly, because it made me feel weak and stupid for feeling that way.
There was a very real possibility that I would be seeing Grant today. I received a call from Madison asking me to pick up Grant’s tux for a charity ball tonight and deliver it to him. A small part of me was thrilled that I might see him.
It was just so I could thank him in person for his generous gift.
Yes, that was the reason.
“Hi, Sal! How’s your wife doing?” I stopped at the front desk and leaned against it.
Sal was a plump, older, third-generation Italian New Yorker. I adored his thick accent. But then again, I just plain adored him. He was the sweetest man, and I was sure he was a very loving father and grandfather. Sometimes I just wanted to give him a big old hug.
He gave me a wide smile, and his eyes lit at the mention of his wife, Judy, of fifty years. “She does well. You should come to dinner one day. She’d love to meet you. She really enjoyed the candy you brought for me to give her.”
“Aww. That’s so sweet, Sal. I’ll definitely take you up on that offer one day. Is the big guy in?” I asked, trying to sound innocent and not like I was dying for the answer.
“Yes, yes. Mr. Morgan is upstairs. Do you want me to bring that to him?” He tilted his head towards the garment bag I was holding pressed tightly to my body.
It was just to make sure nothing happened to it.
Yes, that was the reason.
“That isn’t necessary. I was hoping to speak with him anyway. I’ll see you later.” I squeezed his hand and headed towards the elevator.
The ride up seemed to take forever, such was the anxiousness I was feeling at seeing him.
I rang the bell and waited a few moments. When no one came to the door, I used my key to unlock it and called out as soon as I shut the door behind me. The last thing I needed was for a client, especially Grant, to be caught off guard by my presence. My body began to warm thinking about catching him wearing less than his boxers… as in nothing. Now that would be a way to catch a man off guard.
“Grant? It’s me. Elizabeth.”
I heard movement down the hall to my right, coming from the vicinity of the Great Room, so I started to walk that way and said, “Grant. You here?”
“Yes, I’m in the kitchen,” his deep voice floated over my skin, and I gripped the bag with his tux tighter to my chest. I was beginning to think I might be in over my head with this man. And I barely even knew him.
When I came through the doorway to the kitchen, I stopped in my tracks. Grant was standing at the island with a cup of coffee, wearing black lounge pants and a white t-shirt that stretched tight across his chest. And in one of the bar stools opposite him was a pretty brunette who didn’t look very happy to see me. Her long legs were crossed and quite visible thanks to her ultra-short skirt. When I looked at her face, I was taken aback by the twisted look of disgust on it.
Any fool could see that she was dressed in whatever outfit she was wearing the night before. My stomach churned knowing what that meant. That he was with yet another woman. Reality came crashing back to me, and I started to feel stupid for the excitement I had been experiencing, thinking and fantasizing about Grant since last weekend.
Just as I suspected earlier on, I was nothing in the life and times of Grant Morgan. And that sucked.
“Hello, Elizabeth,” Grant said, breaking my staring contest with the unknown brunette.
“Hi. I have your tux.” I lamely held up the bag for him.
“How did she get in here?” The woman asked with pure venom dripping from her words.
“A key?” I said without thinking.
Grant slowly closed his eyes and looked to be bracing for what came next.
“Key?” She shrieked. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “You gave her a key? I’ve been with you for almost two years and I don’t have a key. And even with a key, everyone is supposed to be announced. You never let anyone up here without the building concierge calling up for approval. What the hell does she have, that I don’t?”
“Becca, settle down.” His words were more a command than a request. “Elizabeth is my assistant.”
“Assistant? I’ve met your assistant, Grant. And she isn’t it.” Her thumb pointed over her shoulder towards me. “This is bullshit. I’m so over your issues. Find someone else to warm your bed when you’re lonely.”
“I’m sure he already has,” I mumbled under my breath and then clamped my hand over my mouth when I realized she heard me.
“What?” She shrieked again after she took in my face and knew I was telling the truth. “Is this true? Are you seeing more than just me?”
“You knew the score when we started. We aren’t exclusive by any means. You’re allowed to do what you want, and I’m allowed to do what I want. If that is an issue for you, maybe it’s a good thing you’re leaving.” His face was impassive, and his voice was level. I think that just served to upset Becca more. What woman wants to know the man she’s been sleeping with doesn’t care that she’s leaving? And it was quite clear he couldn’t care less.
“I knew you slept with random women. I’m not dumb. But you never alluded to the fact that you have other regular hookups.” She leaned forward on the island and tossed her head as she yelled at him. However, Grant gave nothing away. He stood with his body loose and his face entirely blank. He didn’t try to soothe her or try to reason with her. Hell, he didn’t even try to argue his point with her.
When Grant did nothing but stare at her in silence, she
grabbed her purse from the counter and stormed out of the apartment. I looked down at my feet, uncomfortable with witnessing that scene and knowing that my big mouth was probably about to get me into some real trouble. I couldn’t believe I was stupid enough to say that to her. Why did I keep acting inappropriately when it came to him?
It had to be the fact that his sleeping around with numerous women hurt far more than I liked to admit. Jealousy is an ugly emotion, and it drives us to do foolish things.
Thinking about how I was going to explain my actions, I was shocked when I heard Grant start laughing. I looked up to see his head was thrown back as his body shook with his mirth. I had to be standing there with my mouth wide open at the beauty of him when he finally sobered and gave me a breathtaking smile. Did this mean he wasn’t mad at me?
“Well, I think you successfully ran Becca off and left me without a date tonight,” he said with that smile still on his face.
“What do you mean?” I wasn’t following him. I was starting to be pulled into a fog. A hot guy laughing was too sexy for my own damn good fog.
“I mean, Becca was my date to the gala tonight.”
“Oh.” I looked back at my feet and mumbled, “Sorry.”
“I’m not.” His words were firm and full of conviction.
My eyes looked back up at him. “You’re not?”
He shook his head slightly. “No, I’m not. Because you’re going to join me tonight.” When I opened my mouth to argue, he quickly continued, “It’s the least you could do given the scene you just caused.”
I suppose he had a point. I had pissed his date off enough for her to storm out of the house. I couldn’t say I was too sorry about it though.
“I am?” Thrown with this turn of events, I couldn’t make myself rationalize with him that he should find another date. It was as if my brain had no control over my mouth.
He gave me a little grin and slowly walked to me. He placed his hands on my shoulders, and his thumbs rubbed circles on my collarbone. The gesture felt surprisingly tender and intimate. And God did I like it. “I want you to use the card that Madison gave you and buy yourself a dress. I’ll pick you up tonight at eight o’clock.”
“You will?” I was thoroughly confused by what was happening here. One minute I was dropping off a tux and the next minute I was buying a dress and getting picked up for a date… with Grant Morgan.
“You’re quite adorable when you’re bewildered.” He gave my shoulders an affectionate squeeze, and damn it, I liked that too. “Yes, beautiful, I will.”
“Thank you,” I randomly blurted out. I really didn’t want to let the fact that he called me beautiful again penetrate my fog. I just wanted to enjoy standing here with him and not thinking about how wrong it all was.
“What are you thanking me for?” He cocked his head and damn it. He was sexy doing that too. I was in so much trouble.
“For sending the car service.”
“You’re welcome. Is your mother doing better?” His lips tipped up slightly, and his body moved a step closer.
I gave a slight nod in answer. I couldn’t think with him that close. All I could do was stare at his mouth and his full bottom lip. God, I wanted to suck on that lip.
“I’m glad to hear that. Now, you better get going if you’re going to find a dress for tonight and be ready on time.”
I swallowed hard and looked back up into his eyes. “Yes, I better.”
He ran his hands down my arms and squeezed my hands. Then he stepped away. “Eight o’clock,” he reminded me.
“Eight o’clock,” I concurred and ended up leaving the building in such a Grant fog that I didn’t realize I did it with a goofy smile on my face.
♥♥♥♥♥
I’m not sure why I didn’t say no. Hell, I didn’t even put up a fight, which is so unlike me. Somehow I had let Grant mesmerize me into doing whatever he wanted. That was the only way I could describe it. I was a bumbling idiot who was completely under his control. It was exhilarating and yet it was completely terrifying, which was why I called in reinforcements.
Tina was the first person I thought of when considering my dress options. I wasn’t about to use Grant’s money to buy a dress, so I needed to look elsewhere. Some might conclude that the dress could be classified as a business expense, seeing as how he was my client, but taking his money made me feel like a prostitute. I was no Julia Roberts, and this was definitely not Pretty Woman.
A half hour after I hung up the phone with Tina, there was a knock on my door and a never ending line of dresses, bags, boxes, and women came traipsing into, what began to feel like, my tiny apartment.
“Okay, Missy! Sit,” Maya ordered after pulling a kitchen chair out. She pushed me into it before she turned to Nat, Mimi, Lola, and Tina, giving them their marching orders, pointing at each one as she spoke. “We have three hours! You plug in the curling iron and line up the hair products. You dig through the makeup. You start getting the dresses out, and you sit there and be pretty mama.”
Tina looked peeved at the idea that she couldn’t help just because she was pregnant. Soon enough, though, everyone was in motion. My hair was being pulled all which ways. I was having my face poked and prodded and call me crazy, but I had never felt better.
Tina stepped forward with a small, dark blue gift bag in her hands. With a sweet smile, she handed it to me and said, “This is a special occasion. And special occasions call for the best. Now I’m not trying to toot my own horn here…”
Mimi, Lola and Nat all chimed in at the same time, “Yes she is.”
Shooing them, Tina continued, “But Safira’s has a wide range of lingerie and you need new lingerie when you go to an event like this.”
I held the little bag tight and asked, “You do?”
All the women in the vicinity nodded and Tina smiled, “You do.”
I opened the gift bag and reached in, pulling out a black, strapless, plunge lace bra with an X holding the cups together in the middle. I gulped. Next was a sexy low-rise cheeky panty. Digging further, I found more… a garter to match, of course.
Swallowing hard, I choked out, “I can’t wear this. It’s too… It’s too…”
Mimi looked over at me and winked, “It’s sexy as hell.”
Lola agreed with a nod of her head. “Oh yeah, Trick would prematurely blow his load if I came to bed wearing that.”
Shaking my head, I thought to argue some more, but then something caught my eye.
“My God!” I breathed as I watched Nat uncover a bunch of dresses that they had wheeled into my apartment on a clothing rack, like they were going to a photo shoot. “You have like half of Saks Fifth Avenue on that rack.”
Tina shrugged, unapologetic, “Nik spoils me.” She looked up in thought. “Sometimes I think he likes those dresses more than I do.”
Nat scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Only because he gets to take them off of you. And like you said, occasions like these call for sexy lingerie.”
Tina nodded, brows raised, lips pursed. “This is true.”
“Sooooo…” Lola started, totally fishing for information. “I hear you’re going to the gala with Grant Morgan. What happened to not wanting to become a notch on his bedpost?”
Tina quickly added, “Grant is a gentleman.”
All the women in the room burst into laughter bordering on hysterics. And like chickens in a coup, everyone suddenly had a dirty statement to add.
Mimi smirked, “I hear he likes it dirty.”
Tina gasped, “Mimi!”
Mimi shrugged, “You were the one who told me that.”
Tina bent at the waist and whisper hissed, “You weren’t meant to repeat it!”
Nat grinned, “Hot damn, babe.” She added in a singsong voice, “Someone’s getting busy tonight.”
Lola looked at me, unabashed, “And you know he’ll want your mouth on him, right? When’s the last time you gave a blowjob? I’ve got some good tips…”
No more. I couldn�
�t handle this interrogation. And I did not need to be thinking about Grant and me doing dirty things together.
Yes… the more dirty, the better, the devil in my head snickered.
No… my sensible brain replied and locked the devil away.
“Look guys. This is strictly a business function. There will be no kissing, no touching…” Regardless of how much I may want to, I silently amended. “And definitely no fucking. I’m only going because my big mouth made it so that his date cancelled. I felt bad that he was in a pickle.”
Lola smirked, “Speaking of mouths…”
“Men like Grant Morgan have no problem going to a function alone,” Nat said over Lola.
“Actually, when was the last time you saw him attend something alone? In photographs I mean. He always has someone on his arm. Always,” Maya added.
Now that she mentioned it, I had to agree with that assessment. I had never seen Grant in a photograph alone, unless he was posing for a photo spread that is. Well, that was certainly perplexing. It was probably because he felt obligated to take the string of women he led on somewhere nice instead of just fucking their brains out. How debonair of him, I thought sarcastically.
“I think he asked her to go because he secretly likes her,” Tina said dreamily.
“E? You sure you know what you’re doing with this guy? I like him and all, but he is a client and you do have your rules. Plus he is experienced.” Maya held her hand up to silence my protest. “I’m not saying you haven’t had men in your life, because honey I know you aren’t a virgin. What I’m saying is he is worldly and as we just pointed out, never without a woman. I just don’t want to see him chew you up and spit you out. You aren’t a one-time kinda gal. And there’s nothing wrong with that. You just can’t hook up with a one-time kinda man and come out unscathed.”
“Don’t worry. It’s just one night. It’s not like I’m going to fall in love with him or anything. Besides, there will be no hanky panky in any form,” I declared resolutely. If I could keep that confidence throughout the night, I’d be set.
“Let’s start picking a dress, while they get down to business.” Tina started rifling through all the dresses in an attempt to get us all back on track.
Love, Your Concierge Page 7
