4. Tessa
Tessa
Good gravy, she was in so much trouble.
Tessa stood at the back of her parents’ Lexus, tablet and stylus in hand, as she tried to focus, desperately, on the task at hand. Knowing that she and Greer only had a few days to get up to Plattsburgh, find the necklace, and return, she knew their timeline had to be bang-on.
And she’d created a plan just for that.
But staring at the screen filled with beautiful, colorful checklists, all she could think about was his kisses.
Yes. Plural.
It began at the Bruins game, when he’d nearly devoured her in front of thousands of people.
She’d never considered herself an exhibitionist, and while she still didn’t, there was no denying what she had asked of him.
At the time, she thought it would be a perfect PR opportunity.
Who didn’t love couples kissing on the Jumbotron?
But when his lips touched down on hers, she could have sworn she’d felt a spark, and the smolder that followed nearly burned her from the inside out.
She thought that was a one-off, truly. Or perhaps just a gateway to getting them more comfortable around one another? In the eyes of all of Boston—or really, anywhere with an internet connection—they were now at a point where they were showing affection in public.
Totally normal relationship stuff.
But what had happened had secretly blown her mind. She’d never been kissed the way Greer had kissed her. He stole her breath. Her toes had curled. And she’d gripped his shirt so tightly it left wrinkles where her fists had been.
Things had gone back to normal, right up until Greer had stopped by the following Tuesday night. His kiss in her bedroom left her wondering what was going on with them. They were fake-dating, right? So kisses in public were expected.
This one, in the privacy of her bedroom, was not.
Despite rehashing the experience over and over in her mind, she could not find any logical reason for it.
They were in private. It wasn’t as if she was upset and needed the comfort of a friend, which is what she had been considering him since they’d started this weeks ago.
They weren’t strangers, and no matter what anyone said, when you lock lips with someone, you were most definitely not acquaintances any longer.
It had come out of the blue: one moment discussing her great-grandmother, the next him asking to come along on her trip, and then… bam.
One more spark-igniting, toe-curling kiss.
“Hey, babe,” a casual voice called. Snapping her head up and turning around, she saw Greer striding up next to her with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
He looked effortlessly cool in a pair of jeans, a dark green T-shirt that really brought out his eyes, and a black leather jacket.
She’d been too deep in thought to even hear him approach.
And also… babe?
“Hi,” she said lamely, turning her head back to the open trunk and casually looking back at her checklists. Using the stylus, she counted the bags. A large suitcase with a smaller bag for her toiletries.
Check.
Cooler filled with properly portioned meals and healthy snacks?
Check and check. After all, there was so much there she needed to pack two.
Med kit containing everything from painkillers to stomach upset medicine to cough syrups, as well as gauze, bandages, and a suture kit?
Check.
“What is all this?” Greer said, standing so close to her that she could feel his body heat and smell his light cologne on the breeze.
She furrowed her brow at him and looked at the trunk. “What do you mean?”
“Like,” he said, gesturing with one arm. “What is all this stuff?”
“My suitcase?” she asked. He had a bag, so surely he understood the need for fresh clothes!
“Not just that, though that thing is gigantic,” he said, switching his stance on the concrete driveway. “But like… all the extra stuff. The bags, the boxes… everything.”
“I’m packing for every circumstance, thank you very much,” she said, dropping her tablet and stylus to her side. “I’ve brought clothes for any kind of weather we have, as it can be unpredictable. Warm pajamas, light pajamas. A bathing suit. Extra towels in case there aren’t any?—”
“We’re going to a rental, right?” he said, correctly up to date on the details. “If we don’t have enough towels, we can just wash them.”
“Oh!” she said, pulling up her tablet and clicking through a few checklists. “Oh, phew, I did pack some detergent.”
“Tess,” Greer said, carefully reaching for her tablet and pulling it out of her hands. “We’re going for two nights, not two months.”
“You never know what could happen,” she argued, and she liked to be prepared.
Peering at his duffel as he lifted it with the barest of fingers off his shoulder and gave it a toss into the trunk, it hardly made a plop.
Like, maybe it wasn’t full? “What do you have in your bag? We are going for two nights, not two hours.”
He shrugged, giving her his wide smile, sliding his fingers into his pockets in a way that almost felt seductive. “Underwear and socks.”
“Underwear and…” She knew he had to be joking. “What about shirts? Pajamas?”
“I don’t wear a whole lot to sleep in,” he said, smirking and throwing a wink her way.
She could have chastised herself for walking right into that one, and as she felt the blush begin to crawl up her neck, probably the same color as her fiery red-orange travel sundress. But before she could retort, her parents appeared in the nick of time to say goodbye to them.
“Greer!” her father said, happy as anything to see him there. She knew he probably had a hand in convincing him to come along, especially given his talk with her about how he didn’t want her traveling alone. Still, he didn’t need to seem so happy about it.
Not while her emotions were all over the place when it came to Greer.
“All packed and ready to go?” her mother asked, tucking herself under her father’s arm and going in for a quick side hug as she peered into the trunk.
“Almost,” Tessa said, looking down at her tablet once more. “I’m just making sure I’ve got everything.”
“Oh, you don’t need to overprepare,” her mother said. “Go, enjoy yourselves.”
“I always say,” her father chimed in. “If you don’t have it when you get there, you can always buy it.”
Tessa let out a frustrated sigh, trying to make it sound like an exasperated laugh.
The last time the family was in Europe, her father had forgotten a pair of nail clippers, and they went all over the place, from shop to shop to shop, trying to find a set.
It was a pause on an otherwise lovely vacation, and if she didn’t have to stop for ridiculous things she should have thought of before she left, she didn’t want to.
“Tess is almost done with her lists,” Greer said, coming up to her and wrapping an arm around her, sliding her tablet back into her waiting hands. “We’ve got time. Go through what you need to.”
Tessa stood before him, stunned enough to fall over backward. Greer, on her side, after he’d just been teasing her about what she packed, was the last thing she’d expected. “Thanks.”
He smiled and gave her a wink as she lifted her tablet, enjoying the blessed silence as she checked through her bags quickly, made sure the covers were still tight on the coolers, and double-checked that they had everything they needed in the front.
“Okay, I think we’re ready,” she said, lifting her smartwatch and noting the time. They were actually eight minutes ahead of schedule, which was a blessed way to begin. “We should be pulling in by nine tonight.”
“Well, dear, let us know when you get there,” her mother said, enveloping her in a hug.
“I will,” she promised, letting go of her mother and leaning in to give her father a hug. Greer pulled up the rear, saying goodbye to her mother and then extending a hand to her dad, giving him a hearty handshake that made him smile.
Even though her parents were aware of the true status of their relationship, she had to give them credit. Her parents truly loved him. Now, whether that was out of the goodness of their hearts for participating in this plan, or because they just liked Greer as a person, it was hard to say.
Probably both.
She couldn’t help but like it, though. When she’d brought Troy home, the perfect presenting man in a polo shirt, dress pants, and expensive shoes, who drove a luxury car and knew all about high society, they didn’t love him.
But Greer? With his bouncing curls, wide grin, and a career in MMA fighting?
She wondered if he could do anything wrong in their eyes.
“You coming?” Greer asked, opening the passenger’s side door.
“Right, sorry,” she said, realizing she’d gotten stuck in her thoughts once more. She made her way to the driver’s side of the vehicle when she heard him call out to her again.
“What are you doing?”
She stopped, hand on the door handle as he rounded the front of the car. “I’m getting in.”
“Not there, you aren’t. I was holding the door for you,” he said, pointing his head in the opposite direction. “Over there.”
“You aren’t driving,” she said, aghast. This had been her trip from the moment her father had asked her to go.
She’d planned the route, loaded it into the GPS with options for plaza stops, convenience stores, and gasoline if they needed it.
She’d driven this car when she was a teenager to math competitions and the one time out to the Cape for Project Graduation with all her friends.
“What do you mean you were holding the door for me?”
“I’m a gentleman,” he said, wrapping his strong fingers around hers and pulling her away from the door. Walking her to the other side of the car, past the amused looks of her parents, he brought her to the passenger’s side and pulled open the door for her. “And you’re my passenger princess.”
“Greer, this is… wrong,” she said, trying to find the right words. “This is my trip, my family’s car, my…” She was quickly running out of thin excuses. Truth be told, she hadn’t expected Greer to want to take part in the trip.