12. Elise
12
ELISE
Elise
I woke up slowly, not opening my eyes until I could gauge where Grant was in the room. I slept terribly, caught up with dreams about him. Then about pirates. And then a weird, psychedelic half-lucid nightmare about pirates in Chicago. I wasn’t sure how to interpret them. Was my present life merging with my past? Was I supposed to treat this as a combination of how I saw Grant at home and now, in a different location?
On that note, I was clueless. We were playing a dangerous game of kissing and flirting when we both knew it wasn’t supposed to last.
Maybe my dreams were a premonition of how messed up it would be when this fake engagement was over and we would need to return to how it was in the office.
If that’s even possible.
Each time I stirred enough to wake up for another episode of tossing and turning, I peeked at him sleeping soundly on the couch. His feet hung over the armrest, and I swore that angle couldn’t be comfortable for his neck against the pillow, but he was out. More than once, I tired my eyes by staring at him and wondering how he could be the same man starring in my naughty dreams—the ones sans pirates—and the guy who was my stuffy, anti-fun-loving boss back home.
Not hearing him, I opened my eyes fully. Whew. I was alone. Relieved that he wasn’t in the room, I saw the time on the clock and realized I’d slept in later than I had in the last ten years.
“Wow.” I sat up and rubbed my eyes, stunned that I'd pulled off a teenager move of staying in bed almost until one o’clock. With how lousy I slept, it made sense.
I grabbed my phone, curious what Grant had gotten up to, and I saw his text immediately.
Grant: Vince wanted to talk with me for a bit. I’m going to meet with him at the beachside café for a while.
Uh-oh. If he was chatting with him about the deal, I’d be slacking and not there as his assistant when I should be. Then again, what else could those two talk about? All day yesterday, I focused on entertaining Ginny to free up Grant and Vince to do their talking while we enjoyed the island.
Grant: P.S. You snore.
I rolled my eyes.
Elise: I do not.
I knew I did. Claudia teased me about it often and claimed it was one of the reasons she was dreading living with me again. We shared an apartment for the first month in Chicago, but when she met Keith a couple of weeks after being here, she moved out into a place with him.
I added a GIF of someone pouting.
Three dots appeared, showing that he was typing back now.
Grant: It’s cute.
I stared at his reply, dissecting it with an obsessive curiosity. Grant thought I was cute ? Would being delegated to cute count as an upgrade or a demotion after the hot make-out session at the museum?
Definitely a demotion. After feeling his lips against mine and his hands grabbing me, I wanted him to view me as a sexy woman, an irresistible woman he couldn’t wait to be near again. It made zero sense with how desperate I was to avoid him in this room. Something about being alone with him here, without the buffer of anyone else whom we were supposed to pretend around, felt so risky and dangerous.
But he wasn’t here now. Free to do as I pleased until the rehearsal dinner later, I hurried to go to the gym and get a little workout in. All my life, I battled my short height. I never lacked confidence in my body. I loved who I was, but there was no denying that being short meant my weight only had so many places to show. Being on this island and around everyone in bathing suits made me more self-conscious than usual, but I didn’t work out to be slim. It was a simple factor of being as healthy and strong as possible.
After my workout, sweaty and tired, I passed the windows to the café where I spotted Grant and Vince still chatting over iced drinks. I doubted they were on to alcohol already. We had to make it to the rehearsal dinner, at least. We’d only be there as guests, in the background, but Vince would need a clear head.
Not paying attention to where I walked, I bumped into someone. “Oh! Sorry!”
It was Samantha. Of course, it was. I would’ve preferred avoiding her for the rest of the weekend, but it seemed fate had other plans.
She sneered at me, giving me a slow once-over with disgust. When she noticed my sweaty appearance, she curled her lips and wiped at her arm where I’d knocked into her. “Gross.”
Your attitude is.
“I just got done at the gym.”
She huffed. “You sure you did enough?”
I deadpanned at her.
“You could stand to lose a little more. You know that, right?”
I wiped my brow, wondering if it was a crime in the Bahamas to slap a bitch to last week. She had no right to talk to me like that, but I knew better than to cause a scene. She wasn’t worth my energy.
“There’s no way Grant will actually end up with you.”
I showed her my finger, letting her watch the sunshine sparkle off the ring he gave me. I only had it as a prop. He wouldn’t marry me. But I’d be damned if she thought she was right about that.
“You’re nothing but a rebound after me.” She smiled smugly. “ I’m who he belongs with.”
“I doubt he’d agree with that.” I raised my brows. “Not after he caught you sleeping with someone else.”
She shrugged. “There’s no denying that I’m the kind of woman he should be with. He’s not the sort of man who would really want someone like you .” A grimace marred her face. “Chubby. Frumpy.” A little laugh left her when my glasses slid down, too slippery this wet. “Low maintenance to the degree that she’s an embarrassment.”
I shook my head and walked off. I didn’t care if she gloated by having the last word. Fuck her. And screw her opinions. She only had power over me if I wasted my time to listen to her, and I had better things to do.
Still, after I showered and waited for Grant to come back to the room before we’d leave for the beach, Samantha’s words played over and over in my head. They stung. She hurt me, despite all my confidence and stable self-esteem. No woman wanted to hear that kind of ugly criticism. That kind of nastiness hurt.
I did my best to get over her unsolicited negativity when Grant came to the room and picked me up.
“Have a good morning, Sleepy Beauty?” he quipped.
Beauty. Ha. “Sorry I slept in so long.”
He furrowed his brow as we walked toward the beach to meet up with the Newmans as planned. This sexy man was too damn attuned to me. He could read me that well. Already, he was eyeing me with concern, detecting that I wasn’t acting like my usual self.
On the beach, I tried to distract myself from thinking about what she'd said. I read my book. I walked along the waves and looked for shells. I participated in a little beach volleyball with them too, but the second Samantha took Ginny’s spot, leaving me and Grant to face Samantha and Vince, I faltered in my tough exterior.
Compared to all her saves and graceful hits, I felt uncoordinated and clumsier than usual. I wasn’t suave. I wasn’t tall and athletic. I was…
Argh! I was letting her get to me, dammit. And I wondered if I wasn’t so busy pretending to be someone I wasn’t that I’d be able to shrug off her attitude.
When I tried to save a ball and nearly faceplanted in the sand, I held my breath and winced at how close I came to crushing my glasses.
“Are you okay?” Grant asked as he helped me get up.
“Yeah.” I tried to smile through the embarrassment of how clearly I couldn’t measure up to the buxom volleyball superstar over there who didn’t show a speck of sunburned skin. Just pearly white teeth in her perfect, victorious smile as she cheered with her boss for winning that match.
“Not sure about my glasses, though.” I settled them back on my face and headed back to the tented blanket area where we’d set our things.
“Let me see.” Grant came with me, then framed my face to look at me closely. “A little smudged…”
I slipped out of his touch and used my towel to clean them. Clear and able to see him better, I noticed his frown.
“What?”
“You’ve been acting funny all morning.”
“I was sleeping all morning.”
He sighed. “All day, then.”
I shrugged. “Just thinking.” And hating that Samantha is right. She was the kind of woman for him. Not me. Realizing that made my heart ache. And that pang of pain showed me how much I’d come to feel for him over the last couple of days.
I wanted him. Really wanted him. The reminder that he’d never be mine bothered me. All I could have was this fake engagement.
Forget about it. I had to keep this tidy and organized. My feelings had to stay on track. I had no business wanting him. I was only supposed to pretend.
“You’re distracted.”
Stop reading me so well.
“Are you… freaking out about yesterday?”
I tilted my head to the side, feigning ignorance. “What happened yesterday?”
“You seriously need a reminder?” He smiled cockily as he leaned in. Framing my face again, he kissed me soundly.
“Oh, I remember that part,” I replied, hating how breathy I sounded.
“Then what’s wrong?” He frowned again.
“Nothing. I’m just…” I looked away and pulled the corner of my lower lip between my teeth. “I’m just doing my best to play along with all of this.”
“It didn’t seem like you were merely playing along yesterday at that museum.”
Too true, mister. Too true.
“I’m doing my best to look like someone you’d want to be with. Someone you should be with.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What?”
I winced, looking away again. He didn’t let me hide. He gripped my chin and tipped my face up so he could pierce me with that serious stare. “You are. You are, Elise.”
I nodded, hating that I couldn’t take his word for it.
“Want me to prove it?”
Are you serious? I raised my brows at him, wondering if he understood what he was saying here. Until this weekend, he’d never, ever suggested that he desired me or could care about what we looked like together.
“What?” I peered at him closely.
He kissed me, deeply and slowly, before he took my hand and urged me to follow him back out to the sunshine. I was addicted, pulled to the force of not wanting to lose this touch of his lips against mine.
“What are you—” I lost the rest of my words in a squeal as he lifted me without warning. The muscles in his arms bunched with the ease of his movement. Before I could react or know what was going on, he set me over his shoulder as he ran into the water.
“Grant!” I wasn’t alarmed as much as I was shocked. His playfulness had been creeping out all weekend, but this spontaneous race into the water was extra fun. Thrilling. I held my breath as my stomach dipped from being swept up.
But not for long. He dropped me into the water with him. Slanting to lie back, he brought me under, keeping me in his embrace. The rush of being cooled off in the water felt good. After the heat on the sand, the cool contrast soothed me. That burn of desire stayed hot and potent within me, though, further teasing the sensation of being under the surface.
He didn’t let me go, keeping hold of me as we surfaced. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d willingly escape him.
His laughter reached me as I splashed at him. While I wasn’t sure how this was proving that I was someone he’d want to be seen with, that I was someone he’d want, I was tempted to keep up this goofy moment.
As we swam further into the water and he hauled me flush to him, we treaded water together even though I could tell he was still touching the sand.
He seared me with that smoldering gaze as he dipped his head toward mine.
I shivered under the gentle brush of his smiling lips against mine. Kissing him back was instinct, and soon, I was the one taking charge. I wrapped my arms around him, too stuck on sucking on his tongue and smashing my lips to his. He didn’t disappoint, crushing me to his hard chest as the waves kept us mostly buoyant.
“When I first got the idea for this fake engagement,” he whispered between kisses, panting and breathing as roughly as I was, “you were the only woman who came to mind.”
I grinned as we locked our lips again. It was praise, high praise from him.
“You are the woman I want to look like I belong with, Elise.” He paired his promise with a harder kiss, dipping me back. I didn’t let go of him, but I followed the slack that I needed as he arched me with his dominating need.
Leveraged like this, I felt the ache throbbing between my legs. Despite the steady ebb and flow of the water we hid our bodies in, I noticed the hard, long length of his erection under his swim trunks too.
“The woman I want to fit with,” he continued as he caressed my ass under the water. His big hands roved over both cheeks, and he lifted my left thigh. I tried to stand on my tiptoes with my right foot, but I was too short. Half on him, mostly against him, and now with my left leg hooked around his waist, I let myself float. I let him keep me held up against him as he slid his fingers beneath my bikini bottoms and stroked the folds of my pussy.
“Oh—”
He silenced my surprise, my excitement, with another possessive kiss. Dizzy with the need to taste him and explore alongside his tongue, I savored the dual hits of pleasure.
His lips on mine. His fingers rubbing back and forth beneath my bottoms.
This was a huge, naughty step past the line that labeled him as my boss and me as his assistant.
And I was ready for it. I wanted it. I wanted him . Most of all, I grew impatient for him to ramp up this teasing into a rush to an orgasm.
“You hear me?” he whispered as we parted to suck in air. “I want you , Elise.” He growled as I ground against him, kissing him harder.
He didn’t miss the message I wasn’t brave enough to say aloud. Slowly, torturously steadily, he pushed his finger into me and teased my entrance. My pussy ached at the touch, and I gasped into his mouth at the pressure.
“I want you just like this, Elise,” he growled.
I swallowed hard, straining to catch my breath as I nodded. “Yeah.”
“ You ,” he reiterated as he thrust his finger into me and then pulled it out. “No one else.” The next time he pistoned in, it was with two fingers.
I moaned, latching on to a drugging, sloppy kiss as he fingered me beneath the waves. It felt too good. It was so taboo, letting my boss cram his fingers into my pussy in the ocean. It felt naughty and risky to let him start building to an orgasm with everyone oblivious on the beach.
Back and forth, he played with my pussy, angling his fingers in and out. The second he eased his thumb to my clit, I was so close to screaming that he grunted and kissed me with a brutal force I couldn’t get enough of. With the rocking, rolling sway in the waves, I began to rock against him, riding his hand until the first sweeping hits of bliss cut through me. I came with a blinding intensity, clenching around him and groaning into his mouth.
Spurred on by my orgasm, he held me close and kept his lips closed over mine to quiet the cries I would’ve otherwise let everyone on the beach hear.
My heart thundered so fast in my chest that I swore it’d never slow. Panting for air, I rested my forehead on his and prayed that no one would know what we’d just done. Streaks of pleasure sent tingles through me, and I shivered as he kissed my shoulder and removed his fingers from my creamy pussy.
I hadn’t done anything but die and go to heaven. He set out to prove to me that he wanted me, and now that he had, now that he’d convinced me this confusing, forbidden chemistry between us wasn’t an illusion, I felt further from knowing how to navigate these waters with him.
Literally and figuratively, as he hugged me in the waves until I calmed down from the rush of coming so hard and fast.
For him.
Because he wanted me to understand that he wanted me , no one else.
I sighed as I leaned against him and tried to process my scattered emotions.
If only he could mean it for real. Not just this weekend…