Chapter 3
three
GRAY
“Who in the hell are you, and what have you done with my best friend? You sent a man a nude. Have you lost your mind, Gray?” Blair was so worked up that she was signing and speaking some of the words. “And if your dad found out. I shudder to think.”
Gray could only sit on the bench next to Blair’s back garden oasis with her shoulders slumped in mortification. Sending the picture had made her feel powerful last night, but with the morning sun came a boatload of regret.
She had to tell someone, and Blair was the likeliest candidate.
She refused to tell Mags because she would have kicked Gray’s butt after what happened to her in high school.
Mags had sent a picture to her boyfriend of her in a sexy bra and panty set.
The boy had shown his friends. Jonathan and Daniel kicked his ass.
Mags was so embarrassed because the whole family found out. Gray and Blair’s dads had explained that they should never put anything out in the world that could ever be used against them. A picture may start on your phone and end up on every social media site around the world.
Not that she was in any way worried about that happening. This was Ciar they were discussing, not that Blair knew that. Gray only said she’d been seeing the guy and that their back-and-forth messages had gotten carried away.
“I know, Blair. I trust him completely, though.”
“How can that be if your best friends haven’t met him?”
She should never have started this conversation.
If Gray explained who it was, Blair would be surprised but excited for her, the picture forgotten.
However, she wasn’t ready to say anything because Gray didn’t even know if Ciar was serious about seeing her or if she was just another woman in a long line.
“You’ll have to trust my judgment.” At Blair’s raised brows. “I had one lapse! Let it go. I wanted to tell you, not because I don’t really like the guy, I’m just…I can’t believe I did it. I did cover all the bits. Kind of.”
Gray felt her face blaze once again. Never had she ever sent a guy a nude, but after Ciar sent his, she wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.
His body was a work of art and not because he was covered in ink. The night in the kitchen, she caught glimpses, but nothing like his bright bathroom lights had shown. Just thinking about his ridged abdomen and sharp V-line had her panting.
She’d gotten a peek of trimmed, dark hair and the base of his penis above the marble countertop. She’d stared at that counter for hours, wishing it away.
Blair touched her leg to get her attention, leaving behind her calling card, a smudge of soil.
“You’re right. Sorry, I freaked out. If you trust him, then there’s nothing to worry about.
This isn’t high school. We are adults,” she grinned and patted my leg, leaving another trail of brown before kneeling between her plants again.
The reminder that Gray was, in fact, an adult did make her feel better. She could own her sexuality and not feel silly or guilty over it.
Blair twisted enough to ask, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Did he send you one back?”
Gray grinned. “He sent one first.”
Gray finished tying the bow on her favorite cream-colored wrap dress. She kept her hair long and wavy, with minimal makeup and jewelry, and a killer pair of nude heels.
Her mom surprised her dad this morning, flying in from Scotland. They were taking Gray out to dinner at a swanky steak restaurant that a friend of Bran’s owned. It was a good thing they had the connection. Otherwise, she and her parents would never have been able to get in at such short notice.
She was able to shake off her embarrassment about sending the sexy picture after Ciar messaged her before lunch. He’d told her that he’d dreamed about her. When she asked what he dreamed, he said that it was too X-rated to text a woman he hadn’t even taken out on a first date.
She’d been walking around with a stupid grin for hours now.
Her parents should be here any minute. Picking up her phone and clutch, she went to the front of the house to wait.
She had worked on a plan for opening Ciar’s new high-end pub.
He’d purchased the property a year ago and hired O’Connor Hospitality to help make his dream a reality.
It was an exciting project and one that she’d already spent countless hours on. Her mom had given her the project, of course, as she and Ciar lived next door to one another. They planned on finalizing a schedule over the Colorado holiday.
She received a text notification and assumed it was her folks. Her stomach flipped when it was from the man she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Ciar: I wish I could take you to dinner.
Gray: Me too, but it’ll be nice to spend time with my parents. I bet I’ll have a better time than your stuffy business meeting.
Ciar: Oh, you will. Can I call you tonight?
Gray: I’d like that. My parents are pulling up. Don’t have too much fun without me. x
She grabbed her purse and ran outside.