19. Then
NINETEEN
then
I knew I was screwed the minute I saw her.
She looked so insanely gorgeous that I had to avoid looking at her for the first two blocks. Even after that, the way her dress clung to her body made me lose my mind.
I’d never seen so much of her peaches-and-cream skin at once. Her bare shoulders, chest, and neck were perfection. The lack of jewelry or straps just tempted me even more.
I wanted to burrow my face against her and kiss her throat. Peel the front of her dress down and find out if her nipples were the same pale pink as her natural lips or if they matched coppery bronze freckles dusting her naked shoulders.
Jesus, Grayson. Get a grip .
Somehow, I calmed down while we walked to the gallery. Mostly, I suspected, because of her temper and her jokes.
We were laughing about the gallery’s self-importance when a gust of wind swirled her sweet honeysuckle scent up into my face. When she trembled from the cold, I resisted the urge to pull her body to mine and bury my hands in her blonde waves, repeating the promise I made to myself all week.
I’m not going to touch her. No more pushing.
Never mind the fact that her hand was already twined with mine.
I blew out a frustrated, anxious breath. “You ready?”
“Sure.” Guileless, she smiled up at me through pretty, painted lips. “How bad could it possibly be?”
Muted house music greeted us when I held the door open. Ella walked ahead, letting her shawl drop down to her elbows as she stepped into the heated room.
Holy hell.
My mouth dried. She glanced over at me, sapphire eyes wide. “Wow.”
My sentiments exactly.
Oh. The gallery .
To me, it looked just like every other hip gallery in town. Basically, a big white room. I could tell Ella was impressed, though. Probably because of the size—this particular space had an echo-y, sprawling quality to it.
“This is really fancy,” she whispered. Her crimson mouth curved, but trepidation filled her eyes. The shy little smile warmed my chest. I bit back the impulse to tuck her close to me and relax her with a kiss.
Instead, I tried for an encouraging grin. “So are you.”
Her hands smoothed over the front of her black cocktail dress while she glanced around, clearly doubting my compliment. But, honestly, she looked every bit as elegant as any of the trust fund brats clustered throughout the room.
The dress was fine. It wasn’t her fault that she was so ridiculously sexy, no matter what she wore.
I could already feel my body tuning in to hers. When she turned, I turned. When she paused, I paused. The second she swiveled her face up to look at me, I stared right back.
Intensity surged between us, seeping down into me. Her eyes pleaded, beseeching but conflicted. For a second, it seemed like they were begging me to touch her.
No more pushing .
I blew out a sigh, trying to convince myself I was fine.
It didn’t work. I needed a drink.
My gaze broke from hers, scanning over her head until I located the bar in the back corner. “The wine at these places is usually terrible, but the champagne is probably drinkable.”
“You like champagne?” she asked, surprised.
I shrugged. “Not particularly. I usually drink gin. But I’ll have champagne with you. Let me go grab some.”
Ella clutched my sleeve. “No,” she replied. “These are your friends. Go say hi, and I’ll get our drinks. Gin, you said?”
I blinked at her, dumbstruck. I’d never had a woman get a drink for me. It just wasn’t the way people did things in our circle. Usually, the men gallantly offered to retrieve the drinks so they could cluster together at the bar and discuss the Dow or some other bullshit.
But she wasn’t thinking about social order or appearances. She was just being thoughtful.
Before I could argue, she tossed a smile over her naked shoulder and glided to the bar. I watched her go, my body tingling from the sight of her. I didn’t even notice my former roommate and current best friend, Graham, come up behind me.
“Who is that ?”
Here we fucking go. I needed the liquor more and more .
“My date,” I snapped, turning to glower at him. “Emphasis on my .”
“Eh.” He shrugged, unbothered by my possessiveness. “I can turn her.”
That night, he had on a blush pink blazer that irked me for some reason. Usually, I liked having one of my actual friends around at events. But my irritation made sense when I caught him eyeing my girl. His deep brown eyes glittered while he watched Ella rub the front of one ankle over her opposite calf.
“Where did you find such a snack?” he said. “I don’t recognize her from the usual roster.”
I should have had some lie up my sleeve, but it didn’t occur to me to be embarrassed about the truth until I saw the way Graham looked at her. He could tell she wasn’t one of us. No matter how gorgeous she was, she didn’t have the air of snobbery that set socialites apart.
I watched her smile sincerely at the bartender, looking him right in the eye. And decided on the spot that I didn’t give a fuck what Graham or any of them thought.
I didn’t want to lie. I didn’t want Ella to find out one day and think I was ashamed of how we met.
“The subway.”
Graham’s mouth dropped halfway open. “What the fuck is the billionaire heir to the biggest development company in Manhattan doing on the fucking subway?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, losing patience. “I was Downtown, and there was traffic.”
He followed my gaze back to Ella, who shared a laugh with the bartender as he handed her our glasses. Graham choked halfway through a sip of his scotch. “Holy fuck,” he coughed. “Is she getting your drink?”
I felt my hands fist in my pockets. “Yes.”
His eyebrows rose sky-high. “Damn. I need to start riding the subway. Maybe I’ll find a hot piece to fetch my cocktails. ”
He was kidding, but I’d never felt less like laughing. “She’s not a fucking servant,” I growled. “She’s nice .”
Graham didn’t seem overly impressed by that. “Ah. Nice. Novel, I suppose.” He squinted at Ella’s back, considering. “How is that—you know—in bed? Boring, I would think. Then again, you always were sort of vanilla. And sometimes the quiet ones can really bring the?—”
Ella turned back in our direction. I cut him off. “So help me God—be polite, or I swear I will tell everyone about the spring break trip when that jellyfish stung your balls and you cried like a bitch.”
His face darkened at the memory. “Killjoy.”
Ella was still smiling her innocent, beautiful smile when she rejoined us. “Is Hendricks decent for gin?” she asked. “They had another kind, but I wasn’t sure…”
“It’s great,” I assured her, taking the glass and gulping twice. “Thank you.”
Her nervous blue eyes flickered to Graham. “Hi, I’m Ella. Or Elle. Whichever.”
While he shook her hand, his stare skimmed over the peachy flush spilling across her breasts. “I like a woman who isn’t too particular. Graham Everett,” he told her, flashing a roguish grin. “Let me know when you’re ready for an upgrade, gorgeous.”
My fingers twitched around my glass. I expected shock or fear. Instead, Ella giggled.
“Ohhhh, you’re that guy.” Amusement lit her gaze when she glanced back at me. “He’s the shithead?”
A cleansing burst of laughter killed my nerves on the spot. “Yes,” I confirmed, chuckling. “That he is.”
Graham had the grace to keep smiling. “I see my reputation has, unfortunately, preceded me. So I’ll leave you two to...”
He winked at Ella, just in case his suggestive tone wasn’t clear enough. Then he tossed me a goading, mischievous look. “By the way, Grayson,” he said casually, turning to walk away, “I think Olivia is here somewhere. ”
My stomach dropped.
Fucking. Hell.
I’d been so pleased about finding a date Ella might enjoy, it didn’t occur to me to check the guest list. My eyes followed Graham’s mocking smirk to the crowd hovering in the back corner of the gallery. Olivia’s curtain of glossy dark hair stood out immediately.
Beside me, Ella traced my gaze across the room. She shifted on her heels and took a hasty sip of her champagne. “This is good,” she mumbled. “But I’m used to the four dollar kind you get at Trader Joe’s, so.”
Another unexpected laugh broke the tension crowding my lungs. Ella shrugged, giving an apologetic grin around the rim of her glass. I tightened the fist in my pocket, once again resisting the urge to reach for her.
It got harder by the minute. She was so endearing. Sincere and silly at the same time.
I loved how much she didn’t belong there. It was no wonder she immediately caught Graham’s eye—she was the only one in the room not walking around with a stick up their ass.
If I weren’t so distracted by her, I probably would have had the foresight to get us out of there. But instead of coming up with an excuse to bail, I fell into her dark blue eyes for a moment too long….
“Grayson!”
I might have cringed. Ella saw me bite back a scowl and turned to watch Olivia float across the wide, white space.
My date’s blonde brows furrowed, quizzical. There wasn’t enough time to explain the whole thing, so I used our remaining seconds to blow out a deep breath and stare hard into her eyes. “I’m sorry about this. Really.”
Ella looked even more confused. But when I turned my attention to the brunette approaching, she managed to do the same.
Olivia looked predictably chic in an asymmetrical white dress. Her black hair shone under the cold gallery lights, falling over her shoulders and curling at her waist. Diamonds the size of marbles winked in her ears, almost the same cool gray as her eyes.
She glided right up to me and kissed the air on either side of my face. “Grayson, love! I didn’t know you’d be here!”
Yeah fucking right .
Ever since our parents set us up two years earlier, Olivia Watts had somehow shown up at nearly every event I attended. The only child heiress of a supply chain mogul, she was as wealthy and well-connected as my family, maybe even more so. My father liked that.
Unfortunately, I found her borderline insufferable. Even more unfortunately, that had not stopped me from hooking up with her. A few times.
Olivia raked her cold gaze over Ella, then pointedly ignored her to grace me with one of her wide, whitened grins. “Stunning pieces, no?” she commented, gesturing around us. “Dunkin is tres talented.”
I knew damn well she hadn’t looked at the photos. No one had, and no one would. They were just props in a social farce masquerading as culture.
Yet I found myself agreeing. “Yes,” I said evenly. “Groundbreaking.”
I expected Ella to shrink back from the conversation. Instead, I caught her smirking into her champagne, clearly hearing the insincerity laced through my fake assessment. It was almost enough to make me smile. She always surprised me in the best ways.
“Olivia, is it?” she chipped in, smiling at her. “I’m Ella, Grayson’s date .”
Following her cue, my body drew closer to hers, coming to stand with my front left side pressed to the back of her right. The warm curve of her backside taunted me through my suit pants. I nestled against her automatically, and she pushed back, casting a small, knowing smirk over her bare shoulder.
Olivia’s eyes hardened while she watched us, her disapproval visceral. I couldn’t focus on anything she said, though. I was too busy with the teasing glide of Ella’s hips when she shifted on her feet. My free hand smoothed over her side, tingling when I felt her heat through the thin fabric.
I forced my attention forward just in time to tune in to the end of their exchange. “—nice to meet you,” Ella chirped, bright but dismissive. “Enjoy the show!”
Olivia scowled at us, her thin lips pulling down. “You as well,” she drawled, shooting me a glare. “Grayson.”
Pride and disbelief blurred together while I watched her retreat. I looked down at Ella’s amused expression. “You have to teach me how you got rid of her. I’ve been trying to get her to leave me alone for years .”
Ella did her best to look confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she replied. “I thought she was a lovely girl.”
While I laughed, I instinctively pulled her closer. The odd, glowing warmth seeped from her body to mine and swelled inside of me again. Our eyes locked as our laughter faded. We both froze instantly, realizing, too late, that we’d broken our pact not to touch each other.
I found myself bracing for some type of fallout, expecting her to run again. But she just smiled into her glass again, the expression more than a little rueful. “I’m blaming the champagne.”
Truthfully, she was already flushed from half a glass. Her glowing skin looked warm. So warm… especially in the cool, stark gallery light.
She caught me eyeing the blush on her chest. “I’m a lightweight,” she added, biting her lip and sliding her gaze down my body. “If I have much more... who knows what I’ll do?”
The subtle come-on hardened my cock instantly. “You don’t need to tease me,” I warned mildly, sipping my gin. “I’ve been fighting an erection since the second I saw you tonight. And I’ve been replaying that moaning sound you make in my head for two weeks.”
The skin along her neckline blazed while her thighs pressed together under her dress. Her sapphire eyes darkened as she licked her lips.
Unable to resist anymore, I ran my thumb over her mouth, lightly releasing her lower lip from her teeth before skimming my fingers down her neck and over her collarbone. Her breasts rose and fell while her breathing picked up.
“Gray.” The way she said my name—the name she’d given me—was enough to extinguish the last of my control. Even before she smiled. “This was a hopeless plan.”