Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Roxy
I can practically feel the nervous energy vibrating off Grayson. Fuck. What in the hell was Al thinking? He knows Grayson detests me…and my store. Shit. I shouldn’t have agreed to this. Why didn’t I ask who the guy was? God, I’m so stupid.
Grayson’s Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. His eyes penetrate mine. Damn, he’s silently pleading with me. Fuck. I’m such a damn sucker. Even if he’s a total jerk, I can’t do this to him. I’ve heard for weeks now from everyone in the building about Grayson’s big chance. I know he had a post-filming party to attend this week. And looking around, this has to be it. I do not want to be the reason he loses it. I don’t need guilt added to my already broken self-confidence.
“Yes, hi. I’m Roxy Benedict. Nice to meet you,” I say as I extend my hand, trying to pull myself together and pretend to be…Grayson’s girlfriend, date, who knows?
“Pierce Pointer,” he says. “And this is my wife, Haven.” A stunning woman by his side holds out her hand and I shake it. He looks vaguely family and so does his wife. I’ve probably seen them online somewhere. I make a mental note to do an Internet search later.
“Nice to meet you both,” I say as I lean against Grayson. He tentatively wraps an arm around my waist.
“Hey,” he says, his voice low and gruff. What in the hell? Grayson has a sexy public voice. I did not see that coming.
“Hey, sorry I’m late,” I say as I lean up on my tiptoes and give his cheek a quick peck.
“No worries, baby. Everything OK?” he asks.
“Yep, just taking care of something at the store,” I explain because that’s actually the truth and you’re supposed to stick to truths in these situations. Or at least I think that’s what I should do.
“Oh? You have a store?” Haven asks.
I nod. “A romance bookstore. Over on Hearts Lane.”
She claps her hands together. “OMG! I love romance books. You’ll have to give me some recommendations.”
“Of course.” I nod and smile.
A man calls out to Pierce, and he turns and waves. “I’m sorry. It’s an old friend of ours. Will you please excuse us? It was great meeting you, Roxy. Hopefully, we’ll have more time to chat soon,” Pierce says.
“Sure thing,” I say with a smile. They walk away and I step back and turn to Grayson. “What the fuck is going on?” I hiss as I feel daggers shooting from my eyes to his.
He sighs and puts a finger up to the bartender who nods and pours more gin into Grayson’s glass.
“And…what would you like?” Grayson asks. I don’t answer. “Give us just a minute,” he tells the bartender who mutters, “OK” and walks away, tossing a towel onto his shoulder.
“I bailed your ass out. I’m leaving. You can tell Pierce we had a fight or something,” I mutter as I turn to leave. A hand grabs my wrist and I pause, spinning back around on my stiletto heels.
“Please stay, just for one drink. I feel bad. I didn’t know Al was…I didn’t know,” Grayson pleads. His eyes search mine and for reasons unknown to my conscious, I agree.
“Fine. One drink,” I state. “But only because I’m all dressed up, so I might as well enjoy a…” I look up at the board. “A kir royale.”
“One kir royale,” Grayson says to the bartender before turning back to me.
“I…” I look around us suddenly feeling super awkward. “I’m just going to run to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
I scurry away before he can answer me and head toward the back of the bar, which is where I assume they are. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the restroom sign with an arrow. Weaving around partygoers, I make my way there. Under normal circumstances, I'd be looking for celebrities and excited that I’m at a Hollywood party, but today, I’m just annoyed. I find one of the unisex single-person bathrooms unoccupied, and I step inside and lock the door behind me.
I press my back against it and pull my phone out of my small purse. I have no idea why, but I call Jocelyn because my siblings won’t understand, Tay is too many time zones ahead to be awake, and Carly and Cam are clearly on team Grayson.
“Roxy?” she answers, her voice filled with confusion. “I thought you had the big date tonight.”
“I do,” I whisper.
“Why are we whispering?” she asks in a whisper.
I groan. “I don’t know. I’m in the bathroom.”
“Is it that bad?” she asks.
“Worse,” I reply as I push off the door and walk in front of the mirror. I look good. Which now seems like such a waste of makeup and hair product.
“Does he have bad hair? Oh, wait, he’s like catfishing you. Is he seventy with missing teeth?” Jocelyn asks.
“It’s a blind date. How could he be catfishing me?” I ask with a frown as I set my purse down and pull out my red lipstick.
“OK, so what’s wrong?” she asks.
“It’s Grayson.”
There’s no response. The line is silent. I pull the phone away from my face and look down at it. “Jocelyn?”
“Yeah. I’m here. Just…processing. So, is this a hard-pass situation? Like, you could never date Grayson?” she asks.
“I mean…he’s my neighbor…and he sort of doesn’t like me,” I stammer as I try to explain myself.
“One, he’s your hot neighbor. And two, he doesn’t like noise. He never said he doesn’t like you ,” she points out and I hate that she’s right.
“Yeah. OK. But he’s so…just…you know,” I try to find the words, but I’m failing epically.
“Just give him a chance. You never know. Plus, this will make for amazing social media fodder. Like seriously, do it for the followers,” she says, her voice rising on the last statement.
“I don’t know,” I say as I chew on my lower lip. I don’t want to make things worse between Grayson and me. “I don’t really think it’s a blind date. I think he wants me to pretend to be his girlfriend. I remember Carly saying something about how he told some people he needed a fake girlfriend for this event, and then Al asks me to do him this favor by going on a blind date, and when I got here that producer came over to meet Grayson’s girlfriend ,” I explain in rapid succession.
“Shit. I still say do it. You get followers, he gets a fake girlfriend…I mean, have a talk with him about this whole fake-girlfriend thing, but maybe by doing this, he’ll warm up to you, and the store,” she says.
I stop chewing on my lip and stare at my reflection. “Fuck it. OK. You aren’t wrong. Maybe it will help. I mean, if I’m doing him this favor, then maybe he’ll lay off us about any noise we might make.”
“And for the followers,” she adds.
“Yeah, yeah. That too. OK, I’m going back out there. Wish me luck,” I say.
“You won’t need it. That dress you found is hot ,” she says.
“Fake girlfriend,” I remind her.
“Whatever you say,” she says and then hangs up.
I sigh, check myself in the mirror one more time, and pull out my phone, posting a selfie and asking my followers if they knew the blind date and weren’t sure if they liked the person, would they bail on the date or stay. I put my phone away and unlock the door. When I open it, I find Grayson standing against the wall. His eyes meet mine.
“Everything OK?” he asks.
I nod, hoping like hell he didn’t just hear my entire conversation.
He runs a hand through his messy dark hair, and somehow, it makes him look even hotter. So unfair.
“I’m sorry. I’m guessing Al didn’t tell you anything either?” he asks.
I shake my head and he blows out a long breath.
“I may have told Pierce I had a girlfriend. And I sort of felt like an idiot because, spoiler alert, I do not have one. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. And saying I just broke up with one seems…weird. I thought Al would explain it to whoever he invited…” He trails off and I’m getting lost-boy vibes. Shit. I’m a total sucker for that. I feel myself caving further.
I hold up a hand.
“OK, here’s how this is going to go. I will be your fake girlfriend. No touching beyond like a hug or something or a quick peck on the cheek. The store is opening soon, so I don’t have a ton of time to just go out randomly to events, but if you give me a little notice, I will do my best to be there. We can fake date for like…a month or two and then, we fake break up, comprendé?” I state.
He tilts his head a little and I’m wondering what he’s thinking. But I don’t have to wait long.
“Comprendé,” he says. “But what’s in it for you?” he asks.
“Not sure yet, but you can’t be too mad at your fake girlfriend if her store is noisy, can you?” I ask with a pointed look.
He chuckles. “I guess not.”
“Well, then.” I hold out my hand and he takes it in his. “We have a deal, Mr. Porter.”
He steps away from the wall and offers me his arm. I loop mine through his and we make our way back to the bar where a kir royale sits waiting for me.
He pulls back a barstool and I take a seat in it. Leaning against me, he whispers in my ear, “Thank you, Roxy.”
The feel of his warm breath on my earlobe gives me a shiver as I pick up the champagne flute and take a long sip of the drink. This should be interesting.
* * *
I bend over laughing as we approach the apartment building.
“You did not,” I manage to say after I compose myself.
He smiles at me, his aqua-blue eyes twinkling. “I did so.”
“And no one noticed that you put googly eyes on all the instruments?” I ask incredulously.
Shaking his head, he gives me another boyish grin.
“Wow. That’s hilarious,” I state. We walk a few paces in silence. I did not think my evening would be this fun. Gray, as he insisted I call him, is actually really nice. I admit, I had a little whiplash when I realized he wasn’t a monster, but I’m getting used to this side of him. We left the party around eleven and grabbed a drink at another bar before heading back here.
“Watch out,” Gray says as he takes my hand to help me over a puddle.
He doesn’t let go right away and I don’t pull my hand away either until we reach the apartment door.
“I…had fun tonight,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “You say that like you were forced to go to a birthday party for a kid you don’t like.”
“Well, I admit, I didn’t think I’d have fun, and honestly, I was a little worried when Al said he’d find me a date.”
I give a little laugh. “Fine, I was equally concerned when Al asked me to go out on a blind date with someone.”
We both stand there grinning at each other like two middle schoolers. Gray leans over and kisses my cheek and I blush.
“I had a good time with you, Roxy,” he says as he pulls back.
I go to lean in and kiss him on the lips because I’m sort of drunk and he smells good, and damn, he is hot. But then, a little voice calls out from above us.
“Are you guys going to kiss like in the movies?” Ava asks.
Gray’s eyes widen and I’m sure mine do too as we both look up and see Ava leaning out her window.
“Ava, be careful,” Gray says, and damn it if his protectiveness over this little girl doesn’t tug at my ovaries.
“Mr. Gray, I am being careful. I only have my head sticking out. The rest of me is on Mr. Pickles,” she explains.
I press my lips together to keep from laughing but my entire body starts shaking. Gray leans down and smiles at me.
“We were just saying good night, Ava. Go back to bed or I’ll have to come up there,” he says.
“OK, good night,” she says quickly and closes her window.
We both burst into laughter.
“Oh my God!” I say as I press a hand to my chest. “Who is Mr. Pickles?”
“Her giant stuffed donkey. Brayden got it for her when she turned three. She had a donkey obsession after visiting a petting zoo,” he explains with a laugh.
“Right. Well, good night…Mr. Gray,” I tease as I unlock my door and step through the threshold.
“Good night, Roxy,” Gray says as he waits till the door is shut and then goes inside the apartment building. I walk to the back of my store and into my small studio, smiling while I change into my pajamas. Maybe this Tin Man has a heart after all.