The Dating Series

by L. P. Dover

  Mouth gaping, I scroll down through all the different media sites that have covered our wedding story. There are so many headlines.

  Real or fake? Is Greyson Jennings married?

  Enemies to lovers. Greyson Jennings and sister of archenemy Bryan Nelson are married.

  Sorry, ladies. Your #1 Sexiest golf bachelor is TAKEN!

  Congratulations to the new Mrs. Greyson Jennings!

  The list goes on and on. Our picture already has millions of likes and thousands of comments. Greyson hasn’t posted that it was all a joke yet. As I look at the picture, my mother’s words come back to haunt me. The look on Greyson’s face as he stared at you wasn’t malicious. It’s of a young man in love. It’s not hard to see.

  I can still feel Greyson’s lips on mine as he kissed me, and the way his hands gently caressed my skin as he made love to me. I want Eli to be right about him, that it was all just stupid words Greyson said. Just words and that’s it. Because the man I was with last night would never do that to me. Or would he?

  The next morning, I call my supervisor at the hospital and request to come in. I’m actually supposed to still be on vacation, but I need to work to get my mind off of things. It’ll be a welcome distraction. My phone is charged, but I have yet to turn it on. By now, not only does the world know about Greyson and I getting married, but I have no doubt my friends at the hospital do as well.

  Then again, there could be a slim chance that no one got on the internet over the past couple of days. When I show up at the hospital and see the balloons with the words Congratulations and Happily Married on them in the break room, I know I’m screwed. Luckily, Lindy, a fellow nurse and friend is the only one in the room.

  Lindy rushes up to me and flings her arms around my neck, squealing so loud it hurts my ears. “Oh my God. You go off on vacation and come back married? How the hell does that happen? You’ve ignored my calls.”

  I hug her. “I’m sorry. It’s been a crazy few days.”

  She lets me go and bounces on her feet. “The picture was so cute. I didn’t even think you liked Greyson Jennings. The media has been going on and on about his rivalry with your brother.”

  Groaning, I walk over to the table and sit down, only to find a huge cake with mine and Greyson’s name on it. You have got to be kidding me. I turn away from it and focus back on Lindy. “Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind.”

  She claps her hands and squeals again. “Everyone’s dying to talk to you. When you called this morning and said you were coming in, I went out and got the balloons and Dr. Hannaford’s wife got the cake. You know he loves golf. I think Greyson is his favorite.”

  After everything they’ve done, I don’t have it in me to tell the truth. Hopefully, once things calm down with the media, it won’t be so hard.

  Lindy rests her face on her hands, grinning at me. “You know, the paparazzi is going to be all over this place when they find out you’re here. Last I saw on the internet, they were trying to figure out where you were after your Las Vegas trip. People are dying for an exclusive interview with you two.”

  Heart stopping, I hang my head and groan. Greyson never posted publicly that he was in Charleston. That’s how we stayed away from it all. But now that I’m involved, they’ll trace me here. It’s not a secret that I work at the hospital.

  “I didn’t think about that. If they find out I’m here today, they’ll be waiting for me.” Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to come into work.

  Lindy squeezes my arm. “Why do you look so sad? Greyson Jennings is smoking hot and he’s rich.” Then her mouth drops open. “Oh wow, I didn’t even ask about your family. How are they taking it? I bet your brother is pissed.”

  I belt out a laugh but there’s no humor in it. “You could say that.” It’s almost time for me to clock in. I stand and take my purse over to my locker.

  “All right, my darling. I gotta get back to my patient. I want to hear all the details later.”

  I glance at her over my shoulder and smile. “Sounds good.” Once she’s gone, I stare at my phone and turn it on. There are over a hundred text messages. My finger hovers over the envelope and when I press it, my eyes focus on Greyson’s texts. There are three words that stick out above the rest.

  I love you.

  Nine

  Greyson

  It takes me about thirty seconds into my conversation with Eli to realize Leah is heading back to Charlotte. One thing struck me as odd though—the fact that she didn’t have any luggage with her. No one leaves without their belongings, especially women. They always travel with something they can’t live without. Knowing where she was headed, well where I thought she would head, I finally drag my ass away from her door, but not before her mother comes sashaying down the hall. She smiles brightly when we make eye contact.

  “Good morning, Greyson.”

  “Morning, Mrs. Nelson. I was just uh—”

  “Leah’s an adult, you don’t need to explain why you’re standing outside her room. But I will warn you, she’s not coming back.”

  I hang my head. “I thought as much.”

  “But you’ll find her at work tomorrow, I’m sure.”

  I glance at Mrs. Nelson. She gives me a half shrug and a sly smile. “In fact, if you’re heading that way, maybe you can take her stuff to her?”

  “I’d be happy to. I don’t want you to leave your vacation because of something I did.”

  Mrs. Nelson laughs a bit. “It wasn’t just you, Greyson. Bryan can be a handful too.”

  I stand there while Leah’s mom goes into her room. She comes back twenty long minutes later with Leah’s bags and hands them to me. “You should know—”

  “You don’t need to explain anything to me, Greyson,” she cuts me off again. I have a feeling she likes to interrupt people and finish their thoughts for them. “I saw the pictures. I get it.” She winks and walks down the hall, leaving me confused. Am I to assume her mother is okay with Leah and I dating? If so, she’d be our only ally.

  With her luggage in hand, I opt for the elevator this time and go back to my room. I start to pack and call Eli. I tell him about my encounter with Leah’s mom, and what my plan is and what I need from him. He promises to deliver and wishes me luck, which is good because I’m going to need it. I’ve done some crazy hairbrained things before in my life, but this one is going to take the cake.

  Thankfully, the hotel sends a bellhop to my room to help in getting all my luggage downstairs. The only thing I don’t have are mine and Leah’s golf clubs, but we’ll be close enough to Charleston that we can drive back and get them. I force myself to think nothing but positive thoughts when it comes to Leah. One negative thought and I’ll start second-guessing myself. I do know for certain—she is worth it. She’s worth all of what I’m about to face. Not only today, but in the days and weeks to come. I want more than anything to run back to Vegas and sign our names on the dotted line, sealing our marriage as real.

  While I follow the bellhop toward the elevator, I open my phone and look at my Instagram. I fully expect Bryan to have released a statement of his own about his sister and me. Media outlets are commenting that they want an interview. Women are commenting that they’re bummed. Men are giving me virtual high-fives, the likes on the photo are crazy, and the tags are too many for me to look through. I go right to Bryan’s account and find people leaving comments. He’s replied to a few by saying, “I have never spoken about my sister’s love life and I’m not about to start now. Please respect their privacy.”

  Their not hers.

  Is it possible Bryan has had a change of heart?

  Nope, not in a million years. I’m not even remotely foolish enough to think he’s changed his mind.

  “Mr. Jennings, we’ve brought your car around back. There is a lot paparazzi out front and we thought it would be better if you weren’t attacked as soon as we walk out of the hotel.”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate this.” I reach into my pocket, pull out my wallet and o
pen it, pulling out a couple hundred-dollar bills and handing them to the bellhop. “Share with whoever had the idea and is making this possible.”

  He nods his head. “Thank you, sir.”

  “No, thank you. I wouldn’t have thought about the paps being outside.”

  He chuckles. “Ever since you and Mrs. Jennings returned, they’ve been camped out front.”

  Mrs. Jennings. I really like the sound of this.

  We take the elevator down to the basement, walk down a long corridor, and get into another one to go up one floor. When we step outside, the heat is suffocating. The bellhop and another employee load mine and Leah’s luggage into the back of my SUV and bid me goodbye before they shut the trunk door. After setting my GPS, I groan at the time it’s going to take me to get to Charlotte. Traffic is going to be a bitch.

  “The things men do for love.” I sigh and head out of the parking lot but not before I glance at the swarm of photographers camped out in front of the hotel. I almost feel sorry for them, especially with how hot it is outside. Almost.

  By the time I arrive in Charlotte, it’s late so there’s no choice but to wait until morning. My original plan of showing up at her door and falling to my knees has been scrapped and a new one set in place. Thanks to Eli’s super sleuthing, he discovered that Leah is at work just like her mother told me she would be, which could make things a bit more difficult. But thanks to Eli, my business manager, and my very deep checkbook, I’m hoping to pull off something rather epic.

  When I arrive at the hospital, I call Chuck. He’s the orderly shift supervisor and has agreed to help me, along with his wife who is a nurse on Leah’s floor. Chuck meets me outside and ushers me into one of those non-descript doors people often wonder where they lead to. The one I’m in, leads down a very long hallway of concrete blocks.

  We walk, turn down a hall, go through a door, walk some more, another door, turn, and turn again. By the time we get to the last door, there is a lone hospital bed waiting for us in which Chuck tells me to lay down on it. I do as he says and while my heart beats rapidly, to the point I’m certain it’s coming out of my chest, he pushes me through another door. I’m forced to close my eyes because the overhead lighting is going to make me pass out. It’s like strobe lights only you’re the one moving.

  Every so often, someone says hi to Chuck or asks him to do something once he’s done moving his current patient. One even stops and asks what I died from because I have my face covered. Chuck saves the day with, “he doesn’t like the lights and I don’t want to clean up puke.”

  He finally pushes me into a room and closes the door. The soft click is a relief, although I’m still slightly nervous. I don’t know how Leah’s going to react when she sees me. The thought of losing her for good terrifies the shit out of me. I sit up and drop the sheet from my face and find a woman staring at me. Her mouth opens, closes, and opens again until Chuck tells his wife to knock it off. She shakes her head and gets to work by hooking me up to a fake IV, puts an oxygen thing in my nostrils—talk about uncomfortable—and makes me put on the gown so it covers my shoulders. After Chuck wraps my head in a bandage, he tucks me in, sets the bed at an incline and Chuck’s wife turns on all the machines.

  “They’re set to demo mode. By the time I get Leah, they’ll be beeping. She’ll rush in to check your vitals,” she says.

  “Great, thanks.”

  They leave, leaving the door open. For a minute, I watch people walk by. They peer into the room out of curiosity, which I don’t understand. Like, what are they expecting to see, someone dying? A leg suspended from the air?

  “Leah, new patient in 302,” I hear Chuck’s wife say. I close my eyes and wait until I hear someone enter the room. Papers are being flipped and I moan. As if on cue, the monitors start beeping and then she’s by my side.

  “Mr. Jones, I’m Leah. I’m going to be taking care of you. It seems . . . what the heck?”

  I open one eye to barely a squint and see her looking behind the machine. Her hand touches my wrist, where the IV is and mutters a curse word.

  “Why is your IV not right? What the hell is going on here?”

  “Well,” I say as I start to sit up and pull my head bandage off. Leah steps back and places her hand over her heart. “I’m not really injured.”

  “What the...” Mouth gaping, she stares at me and then glances around the room, looking shocked. “What the hell are you doing here, Greyson?”

  I finish taking everything off and slip out of the bed. I stand there, a few feet from the woman I love and hold my hands up. “I know I’m the last person you want to see, I get that. But I wanted you to hear my side of things before you write me off for good. You see, back in college, your brother and I went head to head, a lot. Naturally, a rivalry formed. We would jab at each other every chance we could. About two years ago, we found ourselves at the same party, but we keep our distance, until Bryan bumps into me. One time, it’s an accident, but to do it repeatedly, it’s bullshit. He wouldn’t stop so I snapped and told him I was going to fuck his sister, so he’d leave me alone. Thing was, I had only heard of you, hadn’t really seen you until the next tournament. There you were, rooting him on. I thought the universe was playing a cruel joke on me because one look at you and I was done for.

  “I pursued you, not because I told Bryan that was my plan but because I wanted to be with you. I knew it bothered him but as time went on, I honestly forgot about the threat I had made. You and I formed this odd connection. We’d flirt. The banter was great. And over time, I realized you are the one I want to be with. Am I stupid for saying what I did to Bryan, you bet? In my defense though, I had no idea who you were or that he even had a sister. It was just my mouth saying shit to piss him off and when I got the reaction from him, I knew I had touched a nerve.

  “So, now I’m here, begging for a second chance. One date. You and me. You decide what we’re going to do. I want an opportunity to show you I’m not the guy your brother makes me out to be.”

  Leah stands there, staring. I can only hope she’s listened to everything I’ve had to say and believes me. If not, I have to live with what I said and move on.

  “And what kind of man is that?” she asks.

  “The kind that goes to really odd extremes to see the woman he loves.” I take a chance and step closer to her. When she doesn’t move, I take another step.

  “No one has ever done something so outlandish to see me before. Honestly, I expected to hear my name shouted over the loudspeaker or to find you sitting at my front door.”

  “All things that went through my mind, but there are photographers outside and I didn’t want them or you to know I was here.” I step closer to her, putting us within arm’s reach.

  She glares at me and then her lips lift up in a smirk. “Pretty clever.”

  I nod. “That’s me, always thinking on my toes, and possibly regretting things later. Hospitals are dungeons.”

  Leah laughs and it’s the most amazing sound to hear right now. I close the gap and play with the ends of her ponytail. “I’m really sorry, Leah. I should’ve told you about the stupid comment but it’s not like it’s something you can throw out into a conversation.”

  She shrugs. “No, I guess it’s not.”

  My fingertips trail down the side of her face and she turns into my touch. “I love you,” I tell her. “I knew my feelings were strong, but I had no idea I was in love with you until you stood across from me and professed your fake love for me. Everything I said, standing there holding your hands at the altar, I meant. When I look at you, I see my future. I see the mother of my children, my partner in life and everything else that comes along. But I understand if you don’t feel the same way.”

  “I do,” she says, leaving me confused.

  “You do see a future or don’t feel the same way?”

  Leah smiles and cups my cheeks. “I love you too, Greyson, and I don’t care what my family thinks.” She presses her lips to mine and instantly d
eepens the kiss. When we part our foreheads rest against each other’s.

  “Your mom is our advocate, Leah. She gave me your luggage and your address.”

  Leah stands tall and chuckles. “That figures. She said she saw something in the way you looked at me in our wedding photo.”

  “She’s right. You’re the one.”

  “That’s good to hear because I really like the idea of being your one, Greyson.”

  I pull her back into my arms and hug the shit out of her until someone clears their throat. Leah sighs and says, “Come on, I have a gaggle of giddy nurses who want to meet you and probably some doctors too.”

  “That’s fine,” I tell her. “As long as you introduce me as your husband.”

  Leah doesn’t say anything, but she rolls her eyes and pulls me toward the door. “Everyone, this is my husband, Greyson Jennings.”

  Now, the only thing to do is to find out how to make this marriage legit.

  Ten

  Leah

  Thanks to my awesome co-workers, Greyson and I were able to sneak out of the hospital without being seen by the paparazzi. I decided to leave my car in the parking garage for the night. For the first time in my life, the media was focused on me. I never thought I’d be their center of attention. I’m not a stranger to evading the cameras. The media has always tried getting pictures of my father and brother, both on and off the golf course, and with that, me and my mother. I’ve had my picture in the tabloids ever since I was a little girl.

  As soon as we get to my house, I change out of my scrubs and into a pair of gym shorts and a bright pink tank top. Before I walk out, my mother texts me.