Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security Book 1)

by Elizabeth Stevens

  Sure, I’d lost basically my only two real friends and my boyfriend in one fell swoop, left most of my belongings behind and found myself living with my walking wet dream. But my life was my own again, my stuff was with me, and I could actually hold a conversation with Kit without making a total twat out of myself.

  I squealed in disbelief and covered my face as I remembered that, for one brief moment, it had been even better because my lips had brushed his. I felt elated and terrified at the knowledge that I wasn’t the only one thinking things that probably shouldn’t be thought. I wasn’t the only one thinking about kissing instead of talking, the only one stealing glances. I wasn’t making up the sizzle. I just didn’t know how to take it from a brush of the lips to a kiss to make me forget my own name.

  I was also shit scared of what would happen after the kiss. And I simultaneously didn’t care at all as long as I got one taste of him.

  My head was a hot mess and I couldn’t wipe the ridiculous smile off my face.

  “I need a heavy dose of reality and a larger dose of caffeine,” I muttered to myself as I pulled on my glasses and dragged myself out of bed like the risen undead.

  I padded out to the living area and blinked to find Kit already up. He was wearing knee-length shorts and a hooded tank top both in tracksuit material. His feet were bare and his hair was still sticking up like he hadn’t been up for long or, like me, he didn’t really care what he looked like.

  “Morning,” I yawned as I slouched over to the breakfast bar.

  “Morning. Coffee?”

  “Ugh, please,” I mumbled, lying my head on my arms and watching him.

  He shot me a look over his shoulder and grinned. “How were you feeling about going over some self-defence stuff this morning?” he asked.

  I sighed. “Uh…lazy.”

  “I thought so.”

  “How detrimental to my health would it be if I took a pass on that?”

  He turned and leant on the bench so our noses were almost touching. An electric zing shot through me and I wriggled my nose. Kit looked me over and his smile was softer.

  “Depends on if you’re running away or okay, I guess.”

  I tilted my head to the other side. “Would you believe me if I said okay?”

  His look was more searching this time, like he could actually see into my soul or something. “I would.”

  I nodded. “Then I’m saved from exercise today?”

  He huffed a laugh as he stood up. “Sure. Why not.”

  I smiled as I spun myself on the stool. “Okay. Good.”

  “Do you need to study?”

  I looked at all my stuff on the table. “How much are we planning on drinking tonight?” I countered.

  He appeared beside me and rested against the bench. “Mondays are usually pretty quiet for us. Could be a lot.”

  I looked at him, his muscles and his ink tantalising me, his hands all strong but gentle as they held his mug. If I let him start teaching me self-defence then he’d probably have to put them all over me.

  Because that was a good idea. My already raging libido needed there to be excessive skin-on-skin contact.

  “I’d best get to studying then.”

  He nodded. “All right. I’ll leave you to it.”

  It was not what I wanted, but it was the sensible thing to do. Also, I hadn’t done any work the day before and I had a feeling I wouldn’t get any done the next day either. So I took my coffee from him, relishing the way my skin tingled as our fingers touched, and went to my pile of mess on his table.

  For the first few minutes, my eyes kept lifting and following him as he moved around doing whatever it was he did. But the next thing I realised was him walking into his room and telling me we’d have to leave soon and my dress was on the corner of the table. I was used to getting lost in my work to avoid the real world, but even that was impressive.

  I hurriedly packed up, had the quickest shower of my life, and pulled on the dress Petra had sent up for me. I felt ever so slightly out of my element but, when I caught a look at myself in the mirror, all doubts were gone. Just like Friday, when I saw myself in that dress, I looked like a freaking queen, a proper adult woman and I felt amazing.

  “Watch out, world,” I murmured as I took one last look at my arse, grabbed up my phone and a coat and hurried out.

  Kit appeared at his bedroom door and…

  “Damn,” I whispered.

  Kit was wearing a black tuxedo with white shirt and black tie. He took my damn breath away. He was like your renaissance romance all wrapped up in a delicious package. I was thinking heavily of giving that McLean’s thing a miss and to try that masturbation thing one more time. I was pretty sure I’d get it this time.

  But better than the way Kit looked was the way he was looking at me.

  Oh, I was going to sear this memory into my brain for life.

  As I walked over to him, he looked me over like I was anything other than his best friend’s little sister, like I was anything other than a geek who didn’t know what she was doing – either in the bedroom or in life. I could feel the heels making my hips sway more than usual and I was going to just soak up the adoration in his eyes.

  We met in the middle of the room, our eyes pinned to each other.

  It was one of those moments you were supposed to kiss. One of those moments you summed up your whole range of emotions in a single physical action. I wanted it. Badly. Kit made me feel things – want things – I’d thought I was okay without. He made me want to throw caution to the wind, to tell Patrick I could do what I wanted. But I knew what me kissing him would do to his friendship with my brother, and I wasn’t so far gone to do that to either of them no matter how much I wanted to.

  Kit’s eyes never left mine as he took my coat from my hands and wrapped it around me with a smile.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “You okay to walk?”

  McLean’s was on the same street as Petra’s and the Mayhew so I figured I could suffer the short-term wrath of the high heeled shoe. I didn’t wear them often. Actually, I couldn’t remember the last time I had worn them. But Farrah and Dannie had always told me I was a natural on them and they were completely disgusted at that.

  I nodded again. “Yeah, all good.”

  His hand went to my back as we walked to the elevator, then again as we walked through the foyer and out the Mayhew’s front door with a nod to Johnson.

  Kit’s hand trailed along my back and paused near my hand. Finally, he offered me his elbow and I took it, wondering what on Earth we must look like. Then I remembered I was dressed just as well as him and realised we would have looked like any normal couple heading out to dinner.

  Not that we were a couple, I had to remind myself.

  This stretch of road was a strange one. It had a mix of uptown and downtown; rich and barely getting by. Although Dannie’s building was one of the last of what we called the cheapo apartments and, even then, they were only cheap when you weren’t doing it alone.

  Kit slid his arm from mine as he reached to open a door for me and I realised we’d made it to McLean’s. He gave me a warm smile and I returned it before he stepped forward. He held the door open for me as I followed, then his hand went to the small of my back and I fought off the pleasant shiver down my spine.

  It was easy to pick out the Grace Grayson boys, sitting in a back corner of the restaurant. And that wasn’t just because I’d seen Patrick – not many tables had four huge guys sitting around it with two spare chairs.

  “Christopher,” a warm voice said and I pulled my eyes off Patrick waving his hands around to find a suave older gentleman in a black suit.

  “McLean. Thanks for fitting us in at such short notice,” Kit said as he shook the man’s hand.

  McLean beamed. “Nonsense. You know Grace Grayson are some of my best customers.”

  “We certainly like our food and dr
ink. This is Amber Grace,” he said as he helped me out of my coat.

  McLean turned that smile on me. “Patrick’s sister, I’ll wager?”

  I nodded, holding my hand out. But instead of shaking it, he kissed the back of it lightly.

  “Uh, yes.”

  He took my coat and Kit’s, then pointed to our table. “Wonderful to meet you. The others have drinks already. We’ll come by shortly to take your orders.”

  Kit smiled. “Thanks.”

  The hand on my back pressed forward and I let him show me over to our table.

  “Chaos!” Rollie cried as we got closer.

  But my eyes had fallen on Patrick who was looking me over with his mouth agape. “Bert!” he breathed. “You look… Wow. You look really wow,” he said as he helped me into a chair.

  Tank – also known as Gavin Hamilton – was just as big as I’d imagined. He had dark hair and light brown eyes that sparkled with humour. I could imagine he’d be a scary guy when he wanted but, between helping me pack up my stuff the day before and now, I hadn’t seen any of that.

  Rollie – who had been christened Ryder Andrews – was the smallest of the bunch and he looked as much the mischief maker as I’d been led to believe, and he’d more than lived up to his reputation since I’d met him. His auburn hair was longer than most, but shorter than Nico’s, and he had green eyes that did more than hint at the trouble his smirk suggested.

  Nico had lost some of his charm in his three-piece suit, but it also added a whole new level of hot to him. Unlike the others, he looked the most uncomfortable but he smiled when I looked at him and gave a little wave.

  Rollie grinned as he poured me a glass. “So, we made sure there was plenty of champagne in advance–”

  “We can’t call it champagne unless it’s from Champagne,” Tank interrupted, his glass looking comically small in his big hand.

  Patrick picked up the bottle Rollie wasn’t dishing out and looked at the label. “Champagne. France. So there.”

  I huffed a laugh but was unfortunately taking a sip at the time and splashed my glasses. As I took them off to clean them, the boys kept talking around me.

  “Remind me,” Rollie said, passing Kit a glass. “Champagne had that gorgeous little blonde?”

  Nico looked thoroughly unimpressed as he crossed his arms. “I think you’ll have to be more specific about the particular blonde.”

  “That can wait,” Tank said, leaning in and holding up his glass. “First, we need to make a toast to Amber.”

  “Yes!” Rollie grinned, holding up his glass as well, and the rest followed suit.

  Patrick cleared his throat as though he was about to make some terribly important speech. “To kickarse first draft chapters.”

  “To letting your geek flag fly,” Nico added sombrely, although there was a touch of a smile in his eyes.

  “To being with loved ones,” Tank said.

  “To beating the shit out of people who hurt you,” was Rollie’s contribution, which was met with a combination of humour and reprimand.

  “To finally adding Amber to the family,” Kit finished up, more sincerity in his tone and his eyes than I deserved.

  I looked around at them all, feeling one of those warm happy bubbles grow in my chest. It was hard to believe that Patrick and Kit and their friends had put everything aside to take me out to dinner. And by the looks on all their faces, they weren’t even regretting it.

  “Thanks for having me,” I answered.

  “Well, now you and Chaos don’t hate each other, it was about time,” Patrick said with a warm smile.

  I didn’t feel the need to correct him, knowing I’d probably just end up mumbling and blushing like an idiot. So, I just let them toast me.

  We all raised our glasses for a moment, then drank.

  The boys were all big and boisterous in their own ways and I sat and watched their interactions avidly the way I hadn’t been able to do much the day before. Kit and Nico were by far the quietest of them. Nico let very little out but a small smile or snort of laughter now and then, and Kit even less. With both of them, you could see the humour behind their eyes but it was like they couldn’t let themselves completely relax even among their closest friends.

  “All right. So, I want gossip,” Rollie announced, leaning for the champagne bottle again and staring right at me.

  “Gossip?” I clarified.

  He nodded and pointed at Patrick and Kit with the bottle before pouring more drinks for that side of the table. “Gossip. These two as gangly teens. Awkward haircuts. Girls who turned them down. I want gossip.”

  I looked between Patrick and Kit, trying to fight a smile. “Gossip?”

  “Amber…” Kit said, a teasing warning in his voice.

  “Nah. We’re right, mate,” Patrick said, all bluster. “We didn’t do gangly or awkward.”

  Kit nodded and I felt his knee bump mine as he shifted in his seat. “You’re so right,” he said as we caught each other’s eye.

  I didn’t let the moment distract me.

  “Yeah, but I remember the two of you fighting over Missy Fletcher in Year Nine,” I said.

  All eyes turned to me, most in interest, four in horror.

  “Who won?” Rollie asked.

  “My money’s on Chaos,” Tank said quickly.

  “Nah. Hawk for sure,” Rollie said. “Nico?”

  Nico shook his head slowly, his arms crossed over his chest. “No comment.”

  “What? Too scared to bet on the bosses?”

  The corner of Nico’s lips rose in the smallest of smirks, but his eyes shone behind his glasses. “Want to tell him?”

  I grinned, but Patrick interrupted me with a, “Bert…”

  “Neither of them won,” I told the table, ignoring the disgruntled sighs on either side of me. “She turned them both down for the captain of the chess team.”

  Tank snorted champagne out of his nose, Rollie’s mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide, and Nico looked smugly satisfied.

  “What?” Patrick asked and I felt him shrug. “Girl was a grade-A nerd.”

  “We didn’t speak nerd at fourteen,” Kit added, his voice smooth.

  “Oh, and you do now?” Nico scoffed.

  “How much do you need to get them in bed?” Patrick chuckled and I smacked him.

  “It’s not like we’re a different species. Thank you,” I huffed.

  “Oh!” Rollie laughed. “Baby Grace has got sass.”

  “Like you wouldn’t believe, man,” Kit chuckled as he tipped his glass to his lips.

  “It’s not like you were any better as a teenager,” Patrick huffed to me.

  I indicated the table. “Tell them anything you want, Pat. I promise you, you don’t know the most embarrassing stories.”

  Tank erupted in deep laughter as Rollie said, “And I doubt he wants to know them.”

  Patrick wouldn’t be dissuaded and stories flowed back and forth about the Graces and Kit when we were younger. Pat was horrified at some of the things I remembered, where Kit seemed happy to own his embarrassments. While I was pretty sure there wasn’t a single thing that would be more embarrassing than the way I usually was around Kit. Which didn’t seem to be a problem anymore…

  Even when Kit’s arm brushed mine or I unthinkingly put my hand on his arm while I said something, I didn’t feel as awkward as usual. I felt like I was holding my own. In public and everything. I didn’t know if it was the other boys, or the setting, the dress, or the way he’d reacted to it, but I felt good. Really good. Better even than when I’d woken up.

  When Kit’s elbow brushed passed me while we were eating, I turned and gave him a small smile and a nudge back. I blamed the amount of champagne I’d had. But all he did was give me a little smirk in return and went back to whatever he was saying to Tank.

  But…that little smirk. For the split second he’d given me that smirk, I’d felt something. It was something
that had been building the last few days. It made my heart beat wildly in my chest. It made my smile widen. It felt like there really was something more there. Something I wasn’t imagining and something even Patrick couldn’t stand in the way of.

  After we finished eating, Tank stood up and bowed to me, extending his hand gracefully. “Might I have this dance, Miss Grace?” he asked.

  I smiled. “You may, Mr Hamilton,” I replied.

  I let him pull me to standing and found my footing steadier than I’d been expecting. My eyes found Kit’s as I stood and a look passed between us that felt more charged than usual, felt more possessive. I bit my lip against the nervous grin that was trying to escape and pushed my glasses up my nose. As Tank led me to the dance floor, I was almost sure that I felt Kit’s finger trail along my leg and almost catch my fingers. But when I looked back at him, there was no indication he’d done anything of the sort.

  “I’m glad Hawk decided to finally let us meet you,” Tank said with a smile as he took my hand gently in his.

  “Me too. I think before with…” I’d been about to blurt out about me and Kit not getting on, but I didn’t seem to need to finish what I was saying as Tank nodded.

  “It’s no great secret that you and Chaos have never…seen eye to eye.” A deep chuckle rumbled through his broad chest and I was even more convinced that Tank was the perfect nickname for him. But with a smile on his face and laughter in those light brown eyes, there was nothing remotely scary about him.

  “Ah…that’s one way of putting it.”

  Tank’s eyebrows shot up. “You’d put it a different way?”

  I shrugged coyly. “No. No. That works.” I certainly wasn’t about to tell him the real reason I’d never been able to look at or talk to Kit. “We’re different people I guess.”

  Tank barked a short laugh. “That’s putting it mildly. But Chaos loves you like his own sister.”

  My stomach flip-flopped and my eyes slid to Kit. Suddenly I was second-guessing everything that had happened between us. Of course, it could be read as Kit just being kind to his best friend’s little sister. That was probably all it was and the rest was my horny imagination running away with me.

  In an effort to push the pang of disappointment down, I smiled and said, “And he’s yet another big brother I never wanted.”