Chapter Lexi
LEXI
She felt the pit in her stomach.
“Can I- can I get off your lap?” she asked, unsure why she was even asking.
But the little smile that played his mouth gave her a warm fuzzy somewhere inside, and settled as he nodded.
“Yes, thank you Miss Alessandra. Will you be okay for a few minutes?” he asked.
She nodded and snagged her nearly empty glass.
“I’m gonna grab another drink,” she said, shaking her head. It was like coming out of a fog, she decided, kissing him. Or whatever it was they were doing.
Grayson nodded, though she really hadn’t asked permission on that one, and walked away.
Lexi gazed around the room, staring at anyone who met her eyes. They had a problem? They could take it up with Grayson. He was the one who started all… that. And there was Randy, behind the bar.
Relieved to see a friend, Lexi snagged a jalapeno bite and her empty glass as she left the table. Randy waved his own face dramatically as she approached the bar.
“Girl, what ever that was, it was delicious.”
She rolled her eyes and felt more like herself. Licking the salt from her lips, she held out her glass.
“Manhattan please babe?”
Randy mixed her drink, sharing an anecdote from Eddie that morning.
“And then he looks at me like I’m the one who forgot,” he said as he reached for a handful of cherries.
Lexi laughed, the remaining intensity of her encounter with Grayson melting away. As he set the cocktail down in front of her, Randy leaned in.
“I mean it though, whatever was going on over there was hot. I have never seen that man lose it. What did you even do?”
“I just tied a double knot out of two cherry stems,” she said, shrugging.
Randy laughed.
“You use that tongue whatever way you have to, girl. I’m happy for you. Are you happy, sweetcheeks?”
“I…” the confirmation died in her throat. In the mirror behind Randy, she saw Byron in a group of people. He glared at her, a slender blonde glued to his side, before the huddle walked past the lounge. She pivoted on her stool.
“Did you see that?” she asked.
“What?” Randy looked around.
“That asshole with the collar. I could have sworn I just saw him.”
“The one you knocked out?”
Lexi nodded, still searching the people coming in through the hall.
“Isn’t he banned?”
“People like him don’t know how to take a no,” she reminded him. Seeing no sign of him, she made a mental note to ask Grayson about it. There was no way that scumbag should be here. But… he’d asked her to wait there for him.
She felt torn, the desire between doing what she wanted and what he wanted. In the end she waited. If Byron needed to be escorted out again, that could be Grayson’s problem. But if Grayson hadn’t cut Byron off from the club, they were about to have words. She turned back to Randy.
“Distract me.”
GRAYSON
As soon as he stepped into the blue lounge, Grayson noticed Lexi wasn’t at their table. But her voice - there, at the bar. Laughing with Randy and… some other guy.
Grayson approached in time for the guy to whisper something to Lexi, and the same jealousy from before ignited. It flamed brighter as she blushed, and Randy swatted at the guy, laughing.
Whether it was him specifically Lexi was attuned to, or just someone approaching from behind her, Lexi raised her gaze to meet his in the mirror before he got to the bar. The anger must have shown on his face because her spine snapped straight. She stopped smiling, and Grayson paused.
He never wanted to be the cause for her to stop smiling. Pushing the jealousy deep, deep down, he forced himself to relax. Nobody was touching her, she was having a good time - he needed to calm the fuck down. He approached more gently, stepping up behind her stool to place a kidd on her neck.
“Sorry I missed the joke,” he said as all eyes turned to him. “Alessandra, are you ready to head upstairs? Dinner is waiting for us.”
She twisted on her stool to measure him. Another Manhattan was half gone in her hand, and he frowned over the fact that he’d been gone longer than he thought. One of their security staff was trying to break into the liquor supply closet when Kris caught them and it had to be dealt with.
Whatever she saw on his face was apparently convincing, because she offered him a little smile and nodded.
He was glad. It was past eight o’clock and the floor was starting to get busy.
He wasn’t in the mood to share her anymore.
He held out a hand, happy when she took it without hesitation and hopped off her stool. Progress.
“You folks have a good night,” he said.
“‘Night Randy!” Lexi called around him.
“‘Night sweetcheeks! You remember what I said!”
Grayson looked down to see Lexi smiling.
That was enough. He needed her to himself.
Increasing his stride, Grayson shoved a couple of people aside in order to get to the stairwell.
They took the stairs two at a time. He preceded her into the big office, and she yanked her hand away as soon as they were through the door. So much for progress.
“Do you seriously have to pull me around like a dog on a leash? Is that a thing for you?” Lexi asked, rubbing her wrist where he’d apparently grabbed harder than he meant to.
Grayson winced. But that wasn’t the point.
“I want to talk about you blushing around other men.”
Lexi’s eyes popped wide and his favorite color was back.
The pretty pink rose high on her cheekbones, accentuating the angles of her face; angles he was still trying to fill.
Obviously she still wasn’t eating enough, but he’d ordered dinner.
He was looking forward to feeding her - among other things, but first things first.
“Well?” he asked.
“It’s nothing,” she said shortly.
Grayson raised an eyebrow and waited. Her head dipped slightly and her eyes wandered the room. He wasn’t about to let her get away from him that easily, he mused. They would deal with dinner and the contract later. He grabbed her chin and forced her gaze back up to his.
Green clashed with deep brown as she refused to back down.
He stepped up to her, and she braced. One foot went back and her shoulders turned to face him squarely.
Out of reflex, he supposed. Maybe when she was tense.
They would work on that too. Starting now.
He placed his palms on top of her shoulders and leaned in.
“No,” he said simply.
Lexi looked confused.
“You don’t brace against me, Alessandra.
You don’t tense, and you do not, by any means, square up to fight.
” He looked down at her feet and her gaze followed his.
Her right foot was behind her left, shoulder-width apart.
“You don’t even think about it anymore, do you?
” he murmured, pulling her forward out of the stance.
She frowned, and shook her head no. Of course she didn’t. She’d been fighting for years, in and out of the ring. How could he make her understand she would never have to fight him?
“Take your shoes off,” he said.
Lexi hesitated, staring at him warily. He waited. After a minute she stepped back from him to toe off her sneakers and edge them against the wall next to the door.
“Stay,” he said, and stepped up to back her against the door. With a flick of his wrist, the lights were only at thirty percent and he locked the door behind her. Grayson put his hands at her neck and squeezed slightly before running his hands to her shoulders.
“Turn around,” he said quietly.
Big brown eyes narrowed at him.
“Why?”
He stared at her silently until she huffed out a little breath.
She turned around and put her hands against the wall, feet spread like she was posing for a pat-down from cops.
That turned his thoughts to Marshall, which he squashed like a bug.
Not tonight. He couldn’t be angry right now.
She needed to relax. She’d almost had a full blown panic attack downstairs - this had to be about her. He could make her trust him.