Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Roxy
“I thought you said this was a lake house,” I state as Gray pulls onto the brick-paved circular drive in front of what is a monstrous home. You can see the lake beyond the house and what looks like a small building down by a pier.
“It is,” he assures me as he parks our car behind a BMW which is parked behind a Porche. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve met my share of wealthy humans, I just don’t normally mingle at their homes. I suddenly feel very self-conscious. Did I pack appropriate clothes? Will there be a butler serving dinner? Why was I not this nervous at their other house? I’m already stressed and anxious about Monday’s soft opening. Plus, I’m confused about what is happening between Gray and me. The last thing I need is to feel like an inadequate idiot.
“Come on, Roxy. It’s just Pierce and Haven. You’ve already met them,” he says, his voice low and calm as he places that big hand of his back on my thigh and gives it a small squeeze. I’m wearing a dress, and the material rides up just enough that his pinky finger brushes against my skin. Fuck, that feels good.
Sighing, I open my door. I need to get laid. I glance back at my fake boyfriend and consider the option of asking him if we can be friends with benefits.
“What?” Gray asks as he pulls both our bags from the trunk and pauses while inspecting me.
With a blush, I shake my head. Nope. There’s no way that would work out. I want a real happily ever after and Gray has made it clear he does not. I can’t handle getting hurt again, and I know myself well enough to know that sleeping with Gray would land me solidly in the broken hearts club.
“Nothing,” I mumble as I straighten my dress and walk up to the front doors, yes there are two of them, giant wooden double doors with some sort of frosted leaded-glass windows in them. I go to ring a doorbell but one of the giant seven-foot doors opens and Haven squeals as she sees me.
“Yay! I’m so glad you could make it!” she says as she pulls me in for a hug, crushing me with her very tiny body. Damn, someone does Pilates.
“Thanks for inviting us,” I manage before she pulls back and then steps around me to give Gray an equally big hug.
“Hey, Haven, thanks for the invite. Your lake home is gorgeous,” Gray says with a grunt as Haven hugs him.
With a warm smile, she steps aside and motions for us to come into her home. We step into a large two-story foyer. It’s not as flashy as I expected. There are a few paintings and lots of dark wood trim. I can see a two-story room past the hallway with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the lake. What must it be like to live their life? I mean, their home was insane but this is just a weekend house and it’s nearly as opulent as their main house. Plus, Haven told me they have another house in LA and apartments in New York and London.
“Your room is just up here,” she says as she starts up the large L-shaped staircase. “Pierce is getting the boat ready for a sunset cruise. Once you’re settled, I’ll take you down to the boathouse and we can get you some drinks.” She pauses as she opens a door, and I gasp. It’s a huge master suite with its own balcony and hot tub with a window overlooking the lake. “I hope this is alright.” She looks over at us. “Kallen and Amber are down at the boathouse bar. They can’t wait to meet you.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you,” Gray offers with a smile.
“Wonderful. I’ll leave you both to get settled and you can meet me downstairs in the kitchen when you’re ready,” she says walking back out of the room and shutting the door.
I swallow as I look around, my eyes landing on the most enormous bed I’ve ever seen.
“W-what kind of bed is that?” I whisper as I step up to look at the wooden headboard with metal designs on it.
“Alaska king,” Gray says as if the answer is obvious. I glance at him. He’s already unpacking and shoving some things in a drawer as if nothing about the opulence of this place impresses him in the least.
“Gray?” I ask as I unzip my bag but keep my eyes on him. He looks over at me.
“Yes?”
“Uh.” I pause as I look around the room. No sofa, just two chairs by a fireplace and this enormous bed.
“I’ll sleep on the floor if that’s the issue,” he mutters and walks into the bathroom holding what I suppose is his toiletry bag. What’s got him so grumpy? I’m here, aren’t I? I could be finishing things at the bookstore tonight, but nope, I agreed to spend the evening with Mr. Charming. I roll my eyes.
“That’s not the issue,” I state. “That bed is big enough for a family of five. We can both sleep in it and have our own zip code areas.”
He walks back out and places his bag on a small chest. “Then what’s wrong?”
I want to tell him that I think we should have rules about touching because if we do anything more than kissing like we did the other night, then I’m a goner and my heart might as well be put in a vise and squished until nothing is left of it.
I look around again. “Do you think we can use the hot tub later?” I ask instead of telling him we shouldn’t touch, ever again because I might combust.
“I don’t see why not,” he says with a shrug.
I nod.
I place my things in the closet which is essentially a small room.
“You ready?” Gray asks from behind me.
“Yes,” I reply, but before I can turn, I feel his heat against my back and his long arm reaches out and grabs a cardigan from a hanger. Holding it out for me, I slowly place each arm into the sleeves, and he pulls it taut around me.
With his arms encasing me, he whispers against the shell of my ear. “Don’t want my wifey to be cold down by the water.”
I feel goose bumps dot my arms and I clear my throat, desperately trying to be unaffected.
“Right,” I manage.
He steps back and I feel my body sway toward his before I catch myself. Jesus, I need to get laid. I haven’t gone on any dates since my ex and I broke up. Isla keeps trying to set me up with people, but I just haven’t felt like dating yet. But being around Gray is making me consider the possibility that maybe I am ready to date…just date, no serious relationships yet. My heart couldn’t take being broken again so soon.
“You coming?” Gray asks.
I nod, and as I follow him out, I take a photo of the giant bed and post it to the bookstore’s social media with the tagline, “single-bed trope.” Good thing every who knows me thinks I’m just doing a bit for my social media, otherwise these posts would be starting to cause even more issues.
I scurry down the stairs after Gray, whose long legs take leisurely strides as we walk through the house. My breath hitches at the giant living room with its two-story stone fireplace. And then I turn to see my dream kitchen. Haven is standing there organizing a tray of food.
“Oh, hey, perfect timing. Gray, could you help me carry these down,” she asks as she points to a second platter of wings and some kind of fried something.
“Sure thing,” he replies as he lifts the tray in one hand and grabs the second tray as if they weigh nothing.
“I can carry one,” Haven insists.
“No worries. I got them. Lead the way,” Gray states as Haven opens a sliding door and Gray walks out onto a deck and then down a few stairs to the lakefront. I follow them, feeling a little useless. The temperature drops as we reach the water, but the bar along the side of the boathouse has space heaters, which helps a little.
A man and woman are sitting at the U-shaped bar and Pierce is at the grill.
“Hey, welcome,” Pierce says as he puts down some tongs and comes around the bar to kiss me on the cheek and shake Gray’s hand.
“Thanks for having us,” I reply.
“This is my brother, Kallen, and his wife, Amber.” He turns to us. “And this is Grayson Porter and Roxy Benedict. Gray’s doing the score for my film.”
“Nice to meet you,” they answer in unison and then look at each other and laugh. It’s clear these two are very much in love.
“Roxy is opening a romance bookstore,” Haven says to Amber.
Amber’s eyes widen. “Really? Where? When does it open?”
I giggle and sit down next to her as Roxy takes the seat on my other side. We begin a discussion, where I have to pretend my social media story is fake. This just keeps getting more and more complicated.
“Hey, I thought you said you were bringing a kitten?” Pierce asks Gray. Gray’s face turns white. I can see the blood drain from it as I watch him talk with Pierce.
“You alright?” Pierce asks.
“Fuck, Licorice,” Gray blurts out and takes off running up the steps without saying another word. Fuck. How could we have forgotten the kitten? I mean, it’s only been five minutes and it’s not hot outside, but still. We are officially the worst pet parents. I stand to go follow him.
Kallen laughs. “Dude, he must really like licorice.”
“It’s a kitten,” I say. “I’m guessing you knew that we were bringing her?” I add as I glance over at Pierce.
“Yeah, he asked about it. Where is she?” Pierce asks.
Sighing, I start up the steps. “She’s in the car.”
Before anyone else can ask, Gray appears on the deck with Licorice swaddled in a blanket. She looks perfectly content and also like she just woke up.
I walk up to meet them. “She looks fine. It was only for a few minutes.”
He runs one hand over his face. “I can’t believe I left her in the car.”
“Well, it’s not hot out and it wasn’t for long,” I try to assure him.
“Thank God I have no kids. I’m the worst parent ever,” he chastises himself.
“It’s OK,” I insist reaching out to run a hand over his jaw, trying to placate him.
“No, it’s not,” he whispers from behind clenched teeth.
Damn, we’re quite the pair today. Maybe my moodiness has rubbed off on him.
I take a deep breath. “It’s new. We both need to do better. We’ll do better. OK?”
I mean that in so many ways, but Gray looks down at the kitten and back at me. “OK,” he finally says and we walk back down to the boathouse.
“There she is,” Pierce says. “Haven loves cats. Not sure if you saw our two at home when you came over.”
“I’d bring them here, but they hate the water,” Haven states as she motions to the lake.
Licorice, on the other hand, is completely unbothered by anything. She’s sprawled on her back in Gray’s arm, her eyes barely open.
“Is it alive?” Kallen teases.
Gray strokes Licorice’s belly and she purrs. “Yep. No thanks to her idiot parents, but she’s fine.”
“One time, we left our two-year-old at my parents’ house in our haste to get our twins home for a nap. He was so quiet, playing in their family room while watching a cartoon and we were so tired because the babies weren’t sleeping. Anyhow, my parents called us five minutes into our drive home. We had to turn around and go back to get him,” Amber admits.
“My parents left me at a funeral once,” Pierce laughs.
We all turn to him.
“My mom was upset. It was her dad’s funeral. I’m one of five kids and I guess everyone thought everyone else had me,” he explains with a shrug.
Haven pulls out beers and places them on the bar top. “I think we could all use these,” she announces with a smile.
And just like that we all laugh and grab drinks and food and go back to talking. Amber, Haven, and I spend the entire evening discussing our latest reads.
Every so often, I catch Gray watching me, but he looks away as soon as we make eye contact. I’m not sure why, but my heart flutters a little each time we lock gazes.
* * *
“How are we doing this?” Gray asks as we enter our bedroom after a fun evening of eating and drinking. Licorice did wake up eventually and everyone played with her until she ate and then fell back asleep.
Gray placed her litter box in the bathroom. We both look at the bathroom and then the bed.
“We’ll do a Licorice-up-the-middle formation,” I announce as I grab my bag and go into the bathroom, changing into my black cat pajamas, which seemed appropriate. When I finish and come back out, Gray looks over at me and chuckles.
“So, you’re saying you have a thing for black cats?” he asks.
But I can’t speak because Gray is wearing light sweatpants and only that and our kitten is curled up in one of his arms against his very naked chest while he reads something on his phone. He’s wearing glasses and fuck does he look sexy.
“You coming to bed?” he asks without looking up again.
“Yeah,” I manage as I shut my mouth.
“Stop staring. You’re going to give me a complex,” he states as he swipes his phone screen.
I look away and quickly crawl onto the bed, turning out the light on my side.
As I curl on my side facing away from him, I feel a warm little body press against the back of my legs. I look down and see that Licorice is making herself at home.
“Well, I see who is her favorite,” Gray grumbles as he turns out the light on his side.
“What can I say? The cat has class,” I tease.
“I guess.”
“Gray?”
“Yes?” he answers and I turn my head to find him facing me. I turn and place Licorice between us where she curls back into a ball.
“I had fun tonight. Let’s stay and go for a boat ride tomorrow. Pierce said it’d only be for a few hours. Then we can go home,” I say, surprising even myself. But it’s relaxing out here and the company is good and I think Jocelyn was right about needing a night off.
“If you’re alright with that,” he confirms.
“I am,” I say and I watch as he leans over and kisses my cheek. His five o’clock shadow brushes against my skin and damn it if my lady parts don’t come to life.
“Good night, wifey,” he says in a gravelly voice as he pulls back.
“Good night, husband,” I reply and I lean forward and plant a kiss on his lips for reasons I’ll never understand. Maybe I’ve wanted to all day? Maybe I’m caught up in the moment? Either way, I’m not ready to unpack any of that.
He doesn’t pull away and neither do I. Our lips stay pressed together for way too long.
“Gray?” I finally whisper against his mouth.
“Yes?” I feel his hot breath caress my skin.
“It’s a shame this is fake because you are a good kisser,” I admit with a blush. I’m happy it’s dark because he can’t see my skin.
“So are you, Roxy. Any man would be lucky to have you,” he replies as he places another small kiss on my lips while his left hand roves over my hip and side before caressing my ass.
I let out a small moan.
“We should…go to bed,” he says but I can tell he wants anything but that.
“We should…” I trail off as his hand presses my ass so that my hips collide with his, our bodies creating a “v” around Licorice.
“What if…” This time he trails off.
“What?” I ask, looking into his eyes in the dim light of the room.
“What if we changed our agreement?” Holy shit. Is he wanting to make this physical? Do we both want that? Do I really want that? I mean, yes, Gray is hot as fuck, but can I handle that?
“Like what?” I inquire.
“Like…we could be more physical,” he offers as his hand strokes my backside.
I lick my lips. “How much more physical?”
“You tell me when to stop,” he says as he picks up the kitten and places her on a pillow on the other side of him and then he pulls me flush against his body, against his erection. Shit, am I about to see all of Gray? God, I hope so.