Wanderlust and Found

1. Greer

Greer

Greer pulled open the doors to the skybox above the rink, voices in conversation and laughter exploding all around him.

Glasses and bottles clinked from the makeshift bar, while the music in the arena pounded a heavy beat.

The glass wall at the front of the room looked directly out onto center ice, the flashing lights reflecting off its dull surface as the hockey teams burst on, and the audience roared in response. He couldn’t help but grin.

How far he had come, indeed.

The first time he’d been to this arena was on his tenth birthday.

His mother had saved every last penny she had for God only knew how long in order to buy her, him, and his brother tickets to a Bruins game.

They’d come during an afternoon and sat so close to the ceiling he thought he could probably touch it.

He couldn’t even remember the name of the team they played, but he remembered the fun the three of them had together. The cheering. The excitement.

And now, here he was, a VIP in a skybox.

“Greer?” a soft voice next to him asked. Turning his head, his eyes fixed on the beautiful woman whose hand was locked in his.

Talk about something else that was unfathomable. The idea that he’d have someone like her holding onto him.

“I’m going to grab a drink. Do you want anything?”

“Yeah,” he said, giving her a full-on grin. How could he not? “I’ll take a beer if you’re heading in that direction.”

She leaned into him, her breath tickling his ear. “Go talk with your coach,” she instructed in a quiet tone. “I’m going to start up a conversation with a guy my family knows. If he’s here for fighters to sponsor, I’ll put in a good word for you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he said, pulling back slightly. “I can do my own talking.”

Anyone else would have seen the logic in that and simply agreed. But clearly not Tessa, as she shook her head, breaking into a devious grin of her own. “That’s not how the game is played.”

His eyebrows hiked a fraction as she locked eyes with him, taking a step backward and letting her hand slowly slide out of his.

How he’d gotten lucky enough to be paired up with her was the question of the millennium.

While he had never lacked female companionship, especially after joining his local MMA fighting gym, the kinds of women that were attracted to him were all out for the same thing.

Either a good time, but not for a long time, or a wedding ring and someone to support them for life. Nothing in between.

And it got old.

Fast.

Which was probably why, when his roommate’s girlfriend asked if he’d be up for helping out a client of hers, posing as her fake boyfriend, he agreed.

Truthfully, Greer was always down for trying something new, and he liked the idea of helping this woman whose ex apparently hadn’t gotten the message.

But when he found out the guy was the dirtbag he was slated to fight later on this month?

Oh, that was absolutely mint.

Troy Emerson was shady at best, having no qualms about fighting dirty.

The only reason that Greer’s coach agreed to the match was because Troy was primarily a psychological fighter with zero skill set.

He talked big, but his form was terrible, and he wasn’t necessarily quick enough to anticipate further than three steps ahead of his opponent.

Greer had been watching his past fights, and of the ones he did win, it was usually because he’d worked up his opponent with some trash talking and gotten him off his game.

All bark, no bite.

Luckily for Greer, ignoring trash talk had been something he’d been doing all his life. But he hardly had to say anything now that he was Tessa’s “boyfriend,” needing to just let the relationship speak for itself. Rumor had it that Troy knew they were together, and he was rather unhappy about it.

They didn’t call Greer “Firebrand” for nothing.

“Greer, there you are,” Coach Matthews called to him, striding across the suite with a lowball in hand.

When his coach had told him about this event, he knew how important it could be to take his career to the next level.

He had the stats already and was known on the circuit as a solid fighter.

Heads had already started to turn in his direction, and commentators had started calling him the one to keep an eye on in his weight class.

It didn’t hurt to get out there, and being a member of the gym invited to the skybox tonight was certainly a way to do that.

But more? If he was going to climb in his career, he needed sponsors.

“‘Sup, Coach?” he asked, grinning as he shook the man’s hand.

Matthews was a two-time champion on the circuit, and even though he had been fully retired from fighting for years now, he created what was long described as the best fighting gym in all of New England.

He didn’t take just anybody to train, and it took a hell of a lot more than grit and determination to get your foot in the door.

You had to have something that apparently only Coach could see.

And somehow, he saw it in Greer.

“Have your eye on anyone tonight?” he asked, taking a sip and looking around the room, knowing the place was a practical buffet for local businesses. Not only were there potential sponsors there, but also other local celebrities. Actors, musicians, sports figures, and socialites.

Greer’s gaze swung around the room, landing firmly on a short-haired blonde who was casually chatting with an older gentleman in a suit, seated at the makeshift bar.

Her pose was casual, as if the conversation was flowing easily, and he wondered how she did that. Small talk had never been easy for him.

“Going to have to get your head in the game, son,” Coach said with a hint of humor. “Having a girlfriend is fine, but you need to make sure you can compartmentalize. Focus.”

“Sorry,” he said, wanting more than anything to tell the man what was really going on.

Even though he wasn’t sure himself at this point.

The only relationship he was allowed to have with Tessa was friendship, but over the past few weeks, it’d become harder to hold that boundary line.

Especially with everyone thinking they were this loved-up couple. “I’ll do better.”

“Don’t worry about it. She’s good for you. Having a good support network will get you far.” Coach clapped him on the back, a grin on his face. “The fact that your relationship has already gotten Troy steaming is going to bode well. I’d keep her around if I were you.”

“Yeah,” Greer said, as if the whole idea was to drive his opponent to distraction in the first place. It was definitely a benefit and a motivating factor to go ahead with this fake relationship. But over the past few weeks, he’d started seeing things differently.

Seeing her differently.

Watching Tessa accept her martini and a bottle from the bartender, he recalled the first night they’d met. When his roommate’s girlfriend, Andrea, told him about Tessa.

Andrea was a Breakup Specialist, and apparently, she’d been helping this woman with an ex who couldn’t get the message that they were through.

Tessa had broken up with him once he started showing her his true colors and demonstrating what a real sleazeball he truly was.

Controlling. Rageful. Dismissive of her.

But when Troy refused to leave her alone after she told him they were through, she reached out for help.

In Andrea’s opinion, she needed a big, intimidating guy to scare the weasel off, and she thought Greer would be the perfect man for the job.

And even though she had mentioned Tessa was beautiful, he nearly fell over in his chair when she walked in.

The short, blonde powerhouse was the most stunning woman he’d ever seen.

But more than that, she was classy. Poised.

She was well-dressed and walked into a room commanding it.

She had the tiniest dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose that you wouldn’t see unless you were looking (and oh, he looked).

He’d found her to be the most capable woman he’d met, handling any situation with grace and ease.

Plus, when she found something truly funny, her nose crinkled.

He wasn’t sure if she knew that, but it was just one of his many favorite things about her.

When Tessa came over to join them, handing Greer his beer, she greeted him as if they were old friends, despite having only met a few weeks ago. As always, the conversation flowed lightly until Coach was pulled away, tapped on the shoulder by some guy in a suit.

Man, there were a lot of guys in suits here.

For a moment, Greer wondered if he was dressed okay. He had on a new pair of jeans, a white button-down shirt, and a pair of brown boots that cost more than a paycheck at his old job.

But suddenly, he wondered if that was good enough.

“Earth to Greer,” Tessa’s voice teased in his ear, but it wasn’t abrasive. She wasn’t making fun. She was… amused. And he loved that, to some degree, he made her laugh.

His arm came around her waist in response, almost an automatic reaction that had developed over the past weeks.

He was aware he needed to keep up appearances, but…

something about her just brought it out naturally.

He hadn’t put his arm around anyone since middle school, and he certainly hadn’t had any noteworthy girlfriends since then.

“Sorry,” he said, coming back to himself and giving her a full grin. He took a look around the busy room again, wondering for the thousandth time how he’d managed to get into a swanky place like this. “What was it you just said?”

“I said that I just got done talking to an old family friend of ours. Cyr Gates.”

Greer nodded, figuring that was the man at the bar. “Okay.”

She lifted her brows, waiting for recognition. “Cyr Gates.”

He nodded. “I got nothing.”