“Just security during some posh shin-dig. A masquerade deal for charity.”
“Those things normally need high security?”
“Apparently they’re auctioning off some high priced art donated by some prestigious gallery. They want that art secure.”
“Yeah, I could… shit. This weekend?”
“Yep. Not a good time for you? Wait! Don’t tell me you snagged a date with the hot brunette.”
Even though Greyson could hear the teasing in his friend’s voice, he was annoyed. Annoyed because it wasn’t true, and the truth made him cringe.
“I haven’t had a chance to ask, yet,” Greyson replied tightly. He decided he would conveniently leave out the part where Blaise wouldn’t even take the time to talk to him.
“So, what’s the hold up for the weekend?”
“I…” Greyson paused, knowing he was going to get shit for what he was about to say. “Nora asked me to take Pricilla to the gala. I think it’s the one you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit, brother. No way.”
“Cade…”
“No, Grey. Why would you be hanging with that… piranha when you have someone like Blaise waiting for you?”
“First of all, Blaise isn’t waiting for me. She shot me down, remember? Second, I’m not going to be hanging with Pricilla. I’m doing it as a favor for my mother.” He hated having to explain himself. To anyone. But Cade knew how Pricilla was. He knew what Greyson had to endure with that woman constantly hanging on him, calling him, telling everyone they were engaged, or talking about children. Pricilla was definitely the embodiment of a ball and chain. Smothering. Greyson hated it, and Cade knew that.
“Well, fuck, brother. Blaise isn’t going to wait for your sorry ass if it’s with some other piece. Especially that piece.”
“It’s a fucking favor, Cade.” Greyson’s voice was low and dangerous. If he had been talking to anyone else, they would have been intimidated enough to let the subject go. Unfortunately, Cade wasn’t intimidated at all.
“Your mother asks a lot of you, Greyson. You’ve already given up so much for her and that bastard of a father. But Pricilla? Brother, you have got to draw the line somewhere.”
“Appearances, Cade,” Greyson said, though it sounded stupid even to him. “I’m just escorting her to the damned party. Nothing more. And, since I’ll already be there, I can help you out as well. It’ll keep me occupied and out of Pricilla’s clutches.”
Cade sighed. “Fine. But I think you now owe me. If you’re using this work as an excuse to stay away from Pricilla, I want a damned beer as payment.”
Greyson laughed. “You got it. Just send me the info I need to know, and we have a deal.”
“Well, damn. I should’ve held out for more. How about you help me out with hot diner chick?”
“It’s no wonder you’re single, man. Hot diner chick has a name. Perhaps you should try using it.”
“When she says yes, I’ll use her name. Hell, I’ll use it all fucking night.”
“You’re a fucking Neanderthal,” Greyson laughed again.
“Works every time, brother.”
“Every time? Seems I recall it not working on Ellie.”
“She’ll come around. You’ll see. I’ll email you the shit you need to know. Thanks for the help, brother.”
“Anytime.”
Greyson clicked off the phone, glancing once again at Blaise’s shop. He could risk going back in there, or… Greyson smiled as he came up with his plan. It will definitely be the ‘or’. His phone chirped in his hand. Glancing at it, his mood suddenly went dark. Two people did that for him. Pricilla and Preston. This time, it was Preston demanding to know where Greyson was.
“Fuck you,” he muttered, sending one last glance over to Blaise’s shop before leaving.
“I WANT TO be mad at you, but I can’t.”
This was Blaise’s greeting from Ellie as she came into the diner for her nightly dinner/conversation.
“What did I do now?”
“You keep giving my name out for catering!” Ellie laughed. “I am not a caterer, Blaise.”
“Well, you could be. Your food is to die for!”
“Thank you, and that’s why I opened a restaurant. I make them come to me, Blaise, not the other way around.”
Blaise thought about that for a moment before nodding. “Fine. I will try to restrain myself next time. Now, why can’t you be mad at me?”
“Because you gave my name to the Eve Sumptor! Excuse me, Riley. She invited me to go to the opening of her new gallery!” Ellie did a happy little booty shake, making Blaise laugh.
“Oh! Did she tell you I was doing the floral arrangements for the opening? I’m so excited! And I was invited, too!”
“She mentioned that when she came back to ask me about the food. We have to go shopping. What in the hell do you wear to a gallery—no, a Sumptor Gallery opening?”
“Something really, really expensive and beautiful?” Blaise offered as Jessie bustled out of the kitchen with food that smelled divine. “Hey, sweets.”
“Hey, Blaise.”
“Someone’s a sourpuss,” Blaise commented when Jessie set the food in front of her, then left without another word.
“She’s mad at me.” Ellie slid into the other side of the booth. “I won’t let her go on some coed trip.”
“You’re terrible!” Blaise teased.
“She certainly thinks so.” Ellie sighed, leaning her head back. “She thinks it’s absolutely ridiculous that I don’t trust her enough to go. I try to tell her that’s not the reason, but she doesn’t believe me.”
Blaise tried to think what she would do in this situation, but the thoughts bothered her, so she focused back on Ellie. “So, what is the reason?”
“There will be boys there! I don’t know who will be chaperoning, or if anyone really will be chaperoning. She’s not old enough.”
“Honey, she’s sixteen.”
“Exactly! Too young to be sleeping over where boys will be!”
“Do you feel this way because you got pregnant at sixteen?” Blaise asked softly, wincing inwardly when Ellie glared at her.
“Now you sound like her. ‘Just because you were irresponsible and got pregnant at sixteen, it doesn’t mean I’m going to be like you!’.”
Blaise watched as Ellie’s eyes filled with tears. She reached over, placing her hand over her friend’s, squeezing it slightly. “You know she didn’t mean that, El. She was just upset.”
Ellie shrugged, swiping at an errant tear that got past her defenses that Blaise knew were very strong. Her heart broke for Ellie. Jessie was her mother’s life. There was nothing Ellie wouldn’t do for her daughter. Including taking the verbal hits an angry Jessie deals out if it means protecting her from potential heartbreak.
“I need to get you your tea.” Ellie stood abruptly, and was gone before Blaise could say anything else.
She shook her head sadly. This was hurting Ellie more than she would ever show, Blaise knew. Maybe she could talk to Jessie, she thought, then immediately pushed that idea out. It’s not her place. Yes, she was Jessie’s Godmother, but this was something that was between mother and daughter.
“Blaise?”
Blaise had been so lost in her own thoughts, that she hadn’t even noticed Greyson walking up to her. Shit.
“Mr. Steele.” Blaise shoved a forkful of food into her mouth, and began chewing slowly. She was willing to do anything to prevent her from having to talk to the sinfully magnificent man. But to her extreme dismay, Greyson made himself comfortable opposite of her in the booth. She continued to focus on eating, refusing to acknowledge her unwanted visitor.
“You didn’t have time to talk to me earlier, and you are constantly turning me down for coffee or lunch,” he stated, as if it explained why he would just join Blaise without her asking.
“That should tell you something,” she murmured around a full mouth.
“It tells me you’re trying
to avoid me for some reason. You can’t tell me you don’t feel something here.” Greyson said after a brief silence, and waggled his finger between the two of them.
And, there’s the arrogance again, Blaise thought, unamused. “I feel like you’re interrupting my dinner.”
“Then, I’ll join you. It’ll give us more time to talk. Get to know each other. And, if I’m eating, it won’t be awkward.” Greyson stood to grab a menu off the counter. “What’s good here?” he asked as he sat back down.
“Mr. Steele…”
“Greyson,” he corrected immediately.
Blaise blinked at him, but before she could say anything, Ellie appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
“Mr. Steele. Blaise didn’t mention you were going to be meeting her here.”
“Because I didn’t know,” Blaise answered before Greyson could respond. “He just showed up.”
Blaise missed the questioning look Ellie shot towards Greyson. She also missed the returned shrug.
“I see.” Ellie smiled sweetly at Greyson. “Well, since you’re here, would you like something to eat?”
Blaise scowled at Ellie, not caring whatsoever that Greyson could totally see her.
“Just give me what Blaise is having,” Greyson answered with a chuckle, handing Ellie the menu he had plucked from the counter.
“You got it. And, something to drink?”
Greyson eyed Blaise’s tea, then nodded towards it. “I’ll take one of those.”
“But,” Ellie began before Blaise interrupted her.
“He wants tea, give him tea, Ellie.” Blaise gave Greyson a charming smile, taking a purposeful sip of her tea. From her peripheral vision, she saw Ellie shake her head with a small smile, and walk away. “Do you always invite yourself to dinner with women who turn you down?”
“Women don’t usually turn me down.”
“Wow. You certainly have a healthy ego.” Blaise took another bite. She thought briefly that it may be a little rude to eat before Greyson got his food. But immediately dismissed the thought because it had been rude of him to sit down to dinner with her without being invited.
“Not ego, just truth.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “But to answer your question, no. If a woman turns me down, I am no longer interested.”
Greyson tapped his fingertips on the table in a beat she thought was familiar but couldn’t place. And, her traitorous mind began to wander, thinking there’s no doubt those strong hands would be able to make her body sing. Blaise groaned inwardly at the images that popped up in her head, and promptly changed her thought process. Blood Orchlips, she mused. Blaise began the mental process of breeding that peculiar flower, plotting out every detail in hopes it would calm her rapid pulse. And it worked amazingly. Until she watched him smile kindly at Ellie when she placed a cup of tea in front of him. God, that smile was killer. Perfect white teeth, full lips surrounded by stubble that was thicker now than she remembered. And, boy did she remember. Every detail. Blaise dropped her gaze, afraid that her resolve would crumble if she kept looking at that smile for too long.
“Your food will be right up.” Ellie’s voice mercifully forced Blaise out of her fantasy world.
“Thank you, Ellie.” He saluted Ellie with his cup before bringing it to his lips to take a drink.
Blaise barked out a laugh when Greyson started sputtering and coughing.
“Jesus! What the fuck kind of tea is this?”
“Jasmine.” Blaise gave Greyson a look of pure innocence.
“Jasmine and what? Gasoline?”
She clicked her tongue as Ellie laughed heartily. “I’ll have you know you are drinking some of the finest whiskey made,” Blaise told him, completely offended.
“Well, it certainly produces an interesting flavor,” Greyson commented dryly. “Why not just drink it straight?”
“Drink what straight?”
Jessie bustled up to the table next to Ellie, placing Greyson’s food in front of him. She blushed slightly when he grinned at her, making her seem even younger than her sixteen years.
“The whiskey,” he explained.
“Oh, that gross stuff Blaise puts in her tea?”
“It is not gross!” Blaise huffed.
“It is, too,” Ellie put in. “And, until Jessie is of drinking age, it will always be gross.”
“Mom!”
MOM? GREYSON ALL but forgot about the whiskey debate when the young girl called Ellie mom. He scanned their faces, noticing the similarities. Okay, they looked almost exactly alike, but he would have guessed sisters. Surely Ellie wasn’t old enough to have a daughter that age. He caught Blaise watching him curiously, bringing him back to the ongoing dispute of whether whiskey was gross.
“Scotch is my poison of choice,” he admitted. “And, I’m sure this is a fine whiskey. But pairing it with tea? That’s almost sacrilege isn’t it?”
He received the cutest glare from the gorgeous brunette, and couldn’t help but laugh. She had been doing that a lot since he ambushed her, taking the risk to invite himself to sit down with her. And, Greyson was glad he did since he was starving and the food smelled incredible. He just hoped he’d be able to swallow it after the unexpected burn of whiskey going down his throat.
“You don’t have to drink it,” Blaise responded. “And, you certainly didn’t have to make yourself comfortable here.” She waved her arm impatiently.
“I would hate to have to eat while uncomfortable.” Greyson took a bite of the most succulent pot roast he had ever tasted. It was so melt-in-your-mouth good, he had to close his eyes and just savor the moment. “I had enough of that in the Army,” he said, completely oblivious to Blaise’s slightly flared nostrils, and flushed cheeks.
“You were in the Army?”
Guiltily, Greyson angled his head towards Ellie. He had forgotten that she was there, and though he liked her well enough, he wanted Blaise to be the one asking more about him. “Yes. Fifteen years.”
“Wow. So were you like in war zones?” Completely enthralled, Jessie nudged over a stunned Blaise and sat down beside her.
“I was, yes.”
“What was it like?”
“Jessie,” Ellie cut in. “War isn’t something people usually want to talk about. Plus, Mr. Steele is trying to eat.”
Jessie shot her mother a glance, then blew out a short breath. “Fine. Maybe you can tell me about it some other time?”
“We’ll see,” Greyson said with a smile. When mother and daughter left, he took another bite, and studied Blaise. Her demeanor revealed nothing, but it was the look in her eyes that caught him. There was a fire there. Whether that fire was for what he knows to be a mutual attraction, or impatience, he didn’t know. But he would find out.
“You can’t still be holding a grudge because I parked in your spot,” he began. “If I recall correctly, I apologized for that.”
Blaise looked up sharply, and laughed mirthlessly. “Are you serious?” She shook her head when he frowned. “The one thing you didn’t say was sorry,” she informed him.
Greyson’s eyebrows shot up before he frowned yet again. He had said he was sorry, hadn’t he? Surely he hadn’t been that much of a dick to her. “I’m sure I apologized. Even so, holding a grudge because I inadvertently parked in your spot is a little overboard, isn’t it?” It was the wrong thing to say. He knew it was the wrong thing. As soon as the words were out, he wanted to take them back and replace them with the apology he apparently missed giving her before.
“It wasn’t just you parking in my spot, Mr. Steele. It was the arrogance and…”
“I’m sorry,” Greyson interrupted in a quiet voice. “I apologize for parking there, for not apologizing, for anything else I did that made a bad impression on you.”
Blaise’s mouth opened, then closed again. Greyson could only hope that he had surprised her, and impressed her enough to forgive him.
“Why are you doing this?”
Well, that certainly wasn’t the response he was lo
oking for. “What?”
“I’m sure you can have any woman you want. Why would you waste your time with me?”
“Maybe it’s you that I want,” he answered simply. It was an easy answer, because it was true. He wanted her. Blaise Knight was different from any woman he had known before. Women usually acted the way they thought he wanted them to act. Laughing at all of his jokes, even if they weren’t funny. Eating tiny salads when he took them to the expensive restaurants he knew they wanted to be seen at. He glanced at the plate in front of Blaise, piled with comfort food, and the large bite she just took from it. Probably so she wouldn’t have to respond to what I just said, he thought with an inward chuckle. “Why flowers?” he asked, deciding a change in topic was probably best right now.
Blaise cleared her throat as though the question caught her off guard. She placed a hand in front of her mouth—manners, he thought—before saying, “Excuse me?”
“Why flowers,” he repeated. “What made you interested in owning a flower shop?”
Blaise shrugged. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a love of all plant life. It just so happens that I’m really good at making things grow. When I was little, my parents used to take me on little hiking adventures around New Zealand. I’m not sure if they were amused or frustrated most of the time when I would stop to tell them what each plant, flower or tree was.” She chuckled softly, then stopped abruptly, taking a big sip of her tea.
She gave me more than she intended to, he mused. But, of course, Greyson Steele wanted more, and was used to getting what he wanted.
“Are your parents here in the States?”
Blaise glanced up, then focused on her food. “No.” She shoved another bite into her mouth, but that wasn’t going to deter Greyson.
“So, still in New Zealand, then?”
There was a slight hesitation. “Yes.”
“Are you still close, despite the distance?”
He saw something flash in her eyes, but it was gone before he could decipher what it was. Even so, before she could answer, or he could ask anything more, Ellie appeared at their table. Then he saw an unmistakable look of relief and gratitude Blaise shot Ellie.
Coming Home: An LA Lovers Book Page 6
