Chapter 8 #2
“Jesus,” Jace muttered.
“I sent him packing, but the incident really upset her. I opened my arms, and she stepped into them, and…I felt it.”
Jace rubbed the back of his neck wearily. “You felt it?”
“The legend is true.”
Jace didn’t respond to that. Instead, their gazes remained locked for a full minute before his brother looked away first. “I know it is,” he admitted quietly.
Grayson struggled with that response. It sounded as if Jace understood that truth personally, which didn’t make sense because before this conversation, he would have said his kid brother was happily single.
“Hey. What’s going on? Why does this bother you so much?”
Grayson had to hand it to Jace. Whatever he’d said that had knocked his brother off-kilter didn’t keep him down. He rebounded quickly, his expression clearing. “Tommy is my friend,” he said.
“So?” Grayson’s voice roughened possessively before he could stop himself. “She said it’s over, and I believe her.”
“She and Tommy have been together a long time. Over two years. He genuinely plans to propose to her,” Jace said. “He’s even taken me to the jewelry store to show me the ring he’s saving up to buy.”
Grayson didn’t know how to reply to that. One, because he didn’t think Jace would take too kindly to him saying Hell would freeze over before he’d let Lark marry another man. And two, even more disturbingly, he couldn’t understand why his brother was defending Tommy’s right to Lark over his.
“Lark told me her reasons for breaking things off. They were good reasons, Jace,” he insisted.
“Sounds like you two had a lot of time to chat. I thought the festival was crazy busy.”
“We talked Saturday night. In the hotel room.”
Jace stared. “Hotel room…”
“The hotel we were staying in flooded. Our reservation got downgraded from two rooms to one, so we shared.”
“One room?” Jace said.
“One bed,” Grayson clarified. “I asked her about Tommy, and she said it was over. We kissed,” Grayson added, recalling the way she’d melted against him. The way she kissed him back like she couldn’t help herself.
Jace looked away from him, jaw tight.
“Jace…I thought you’d be happy for me.”
Jace’s gaze flew back to him, and finally, it felt like his brother was at the table.
“I am,” he said quickly. “You just caught me by surprise. You’ve been pretty anti-Lark for a long while.
Hell, you’ve been anti-dating for years.
And I’m, uh, I’m worried about Tommy. Because he really is in love with her and planning a future for them. ”
Wow. That was a lot of word vomit. None of which felt right. Grayson knew his brother. Jace was lying. And not well, either.
That fact bothered him almost as much as this whole “he doth protest too much” routine, because their family didn’t screw around when it came to the love-at-first-touch legend.
Jace knew that. Moreover, he’d been thrilled when Levi, Theo, and Maverick had succumbed, so why was he trying to dissuade Grayson from pursuing Lark?
Before he could press his brother for a real answer, the door he’d been surreptitiously stealing peeks at swung open.
Lark hurried inside carrying an oversized purse and coffee, her dark sunglasses still perched on her nose. She spotted him immediately and froze. Just for a second. Then she quickly pivoted and walked into the kitchen like she hadn’t seen him at all.
Grayson tried to pretend Lark was avoiding Nora, who was standing behind the merchandise counter, restocking the shelves. Because—shocker—Lark was late.
Nora must have seen Grayson looking in Lark’s direction, because she walked over to their table.
Grayson opened his mouth instantly, ready to defend Lark. She’d worked herself into exhaustion all weekend. She deserved a little grace.
“I know she’s late,” Nora said, beating him to the punch, “but she worked that damn festival with you all weekend.”
“I was about to say the same thing to you. Why did you even schedule her?” Grayson asked.
“Don’t blame me. Lark insisted. She keeps asking for more and more hours.”
“She really wants to move out of her parents’ place,” Jace added. “Tommy was complaining about how many hours she’s been working. She never has time to go out with him.”
“Never had time,” Grayson corrected. “She broke up with him. Remember?”
“Really?” Nora asked, her love of gossip kicking in. “Good for her.”
Grayson and Jace both turned to Nora, curious about her comment.
“Good for her?” Jace repeated, wanting her words explained.
“Jace, I know he’s a close friend, but Tommy is as interesting as mud. Besides, he’s come here to spend Lark’s lunch hour with her enough that I’ve heard him say some stuff I didn’t care for.”
“Like what?” Grayson asked, unable to temper the malice in his tone.
Mercifully, Nora didn’t pick up on it, though Jace sure as shit did, scowling. But Grayson realized he was looking at Nora, not him.
“What did he say?” Jace repeated Grayson’s question with an equal level of heat. Enough that Grayson’s chest grew tight.
Fuck. Was Jace into Lark?
Nora glanced toward the kitchen door to confirm that Lark hadn’t come out yet.
“He was always giving her a hard time about being too loud or talking too much. One time, he was giving her shit for coming late to Sunday dinner with his mom and dad, and how much it had embarrassed him, how she needed to be more respectful of them by showing up on time. I got the impression she’d only been a few minutes late, so his chastising felt like a little too much. ”
“To be fair,” Jace said, a teasing sparkle in his eye, “you’ve been getting on her for being late too.”
Nora crossed her arms. “I’m her boss. Not her boyfriend. And I know Uncle Rex said I should let what I said to Lark stand, but I do feel bad about yelling at her.”
Jace and Grayson exchanged a glance. God help them if they ever had a truly bad employee, because Nora was not made for coming down hard or firing someone. Grayson had always figured if it came to that, someone else—either Theo, Maverick, or him—would have to do the deed.
While Mila was known as the sweet cousin, that was only because Nora’s quirkiness seemed to overshadow the fact that she was also an absolute sweetheart.
Truthfully, Grayson’s cousins were four of the kindest, most compassionate women he knew, and he’d be lucky to find a woman like them to settle down with.
“You should do what you think is best,” Grayson said.
While Nora hadn’t homed in on his tone before, those words had gotten his cousin’s attention. However, given Jace’s reaction, and the way Lark just avoided him, Grayson wasn’t about to tell anyone else about his feelings. At least not until he’d settled things with Lark.
“She did a great job,” Grayson clarified. “I think I’ve been too hard on her in the past.”
“Wow.” Nora’s response mirrored Jace’s enough that Grayson narrowed his eyes.
“I’m not that big of a hard-ass.”
Nora laughed and touched his shoulder. “I know you’re not, but you’ve been pretty vocal about Lark in the past.”
“It’s just like I said. She was amazing at the festival.”
Nora grinned. “I’ll admit I was worried about how things would go with you two, but…” She glanced around the room as if looking for someone, then she leaned closer to the table. “You and Lark sold way more bottles of wine at that festival than Maverick ever has.”
Grayson and Jace laughed loudly. Maverick often boasted—teasingly—that he was the best salesperson on the farm, crediting his endless charm and good looks.
No one had been able to counter that proclamation because the guy really did have the Midas touch when it came to moving bottles and cases of wine.
“Oh Jesus,” Jace said. “Please let me be there when you tell him that, Gray.”
Grayson nodded. “Might save that tidbit until Sunday dinner. Feels like everyone would like a piece of that action.”
Nora rolled her eyes, then giggled. “Competitive bastard. Although, for what it’s worth, I think Sunday is the perfect time.”
She gave them a little finger wave, then returned to the merch counter. Ten seconds later, Lark emerged from the kitchen. Her eyes darted quickly in his direction and just as quickly away again, when she realized he was looking at her.
He held his breath, waiting to see if she’d walk over to the table to at least say hello.
Again, he was shaken by just how quickly the tide had turned between them yesterday. One minute, it had been easy jokes and teasing touches, the next, she’d locked herself down like she was goddamn Fort Knox.
“Ladies!” Lark called out to three women who’d just walked in. “Welcome to your new emotional support winery,” she joked, leading the group to the tasting counter. “Here at Lightning in a Bottle, we have a wine for everything.”
The women laughed as Lark flashed them a dazzling smile that somehow looked off. Then she launched into a dramatic explanation of the tasting menu that attracted the attention of half the room. It was quite the show…and quite different from how she’d been at the festival.
He preferred the quieter version of her from the weekend.
Right now, she was too loud and too animated.
This wasn’t the woman who’d stepped into his embrace, who sank into his kiss in the dark.
This version of Lark felt…wrong. And for the first time, he was starting to question if he’d mistaken his feelings for her.
Was she truly the one?
The certainty that had resided inside him since Saturday wavered and unease crept along his spine. Because while they were only twenty feet apart, Grayson suddenly felt like he’d lost something special, something precious.
And he hated it.