The Weight of Perfection: Grand Harbor - Book Three

by Randileigh Kennedy

  THE WEIGHT

  OF PERFECTION

  (Grand Harbor: Book Three)

  By: Randileigh Kennedy

  Copyright 2019 by Randileigh Kennedy

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, people, or places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are simply products of the author’s imagination, and any similarity to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any way whatsoever without written consent from the author.

  Chapter 1

  Where are you? I just met your next ex-boyfriend. A few of them, actually. Come quick.

  I stared back at the text from my best friend Olivia. She was hopeless, continually trying to set me up since the day I found out Nathan was cheating on me.

  I texted her back, keeping my hands underneath the conference room table. Stuck in a late meeting. Will get there as soon as I can. Only interested in guys who are at least six-foot-two, willing to watch chick flicks, and fluent in an exotic language. Start the vetting process now.

  I looked up, trying to appear interested in my bank manager’s diatribe about our monthly numbers, but I was too exhausted to care after working forty-seven hours this week. All I could think about was joining my friends for margaritas at the outdoor music festival down by Bristol Cove.

  How do you feel about subpar eighth grade level German? Is that exotic enough for you? I tried to stifle a giggle as I read her text.

  “And that’s it for tonight. Remember your new ID cards will be in next Tuesday. Sorry for the long meeting,” Rhonda said apologetically. We all murmured some cordial goodbyes to each other, and within minutes, I was bolting to my car in the back of the bank’s parking lot.

  Finally free! I still need to run home and change. See you in thirty.

  I pulled north out of the parking lot, prepared to head home first, but my phone rang immediately. No doubt Olivia was going to change my mind.

  “You can’t go home first, it’s the opposite direction! You’ll miss the opening act.”

  “Olivia, I’m wearing a pencil skirt and a blue polo shirt with the bank’s logo on it. That’s mortifying. I’m never going to meet a tall guy who speaks Italian and cries at Titanic while wearing this dumb shirt. Polos are made for celibacy.”

  “Aren’t you wearing anything under it?”

  “Well, yeah, a thin white tank top, but it’s not really…”

  “That’s perfect,” she cut me off. “It’s still eighty-eight degrees out. You won’t want more than that anyway.”

  “I don’t know, it’s like an undershirt. I don’t think I’ll be very comfortable…”

  “Lexi, trust me. Be uncomfortable. That’s when you have the most fun. You know I know that.”

  I giggled. “You’re a terrible influence, do you realize that? My mother would be appalled to know I’m at a concert drinking margaritas in an undershirt.”

  “Sounds like the perfect night to me.”

  She was impossible to reason with. It was one of the things I loved about her, but it also drove me crazy. I quickly turned my car around, heading toward the concert venue instead of my apartment across town.

  “I’ll be there in eight minutes. I look forward to regretting this for the rest of the night.” I hung up the phone, maneuvering my car in and out of Friday night traffic until I was finally pulled into the festival parking lot. The place was packed, and no doubt because I was late, I had to park in the back.

  I fixed my makeup in the car mirror, and then peeled off my collared shirt. My tank was definitely lower cut than I preferred, which was why I used it as an undershirt. “Olivia, you’re the worst,” I muttered as I stepped out of my car. Thank goodness I at least had some black flats on so my feet wouldn’t kill me all night.

  As I walked across the parking lot, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being followed. I casually looked behind me, taking note of two gross guys in dirty jeans, work boots, and shirts with cut off sleeves. They were walking right behind me, and it gave me the skeeves. I slowed my pace, expecting them to pass me, but they didn’t.

  “Hey pretty lady, do you want a man to walk in with?” He had a dirty black Def Leppard shirt on and chew in his bottom lip. “You’re lookin’ a little lonely out here.”

  “No thank you, I’m not alone. I’m meeting someone inside.”

  “A guy like me would never leave you alone, darlin’. I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. Whatdya say we go in together and get to know each other a little bit?”

  I picked up my pace, trying to be curt, yet still polite. “No thank you. I said I’m meeting someone.”

  The other man in the white cutoff shirt shot me a sleazy smile. “Girl, I’m the one you should be meeting. We could have some real fun together. Come on, I just want a taste.”

  We were finally standing in front of the ticket entrance. Surely the uniformed attendant scanning tickets heard what they were saying to me, but he didn’t look interested in trying to intervene. Instead he just scanned the ticket on my phone, quickly glanced in my purse, then motioned for me to proceed toward the concert area. There were beer carts and tiki drink huts and food stands everywhere.

  “I’m not interested,” I said squarely, as they continued to follow me in.

  “That tight white tank top showing off all the right curves is telling me otherwise, darlin’.”

  Thanks, Olivia, for making me wear this dumb, practically see-through shirt.

  “Look, when I meet up with my boyfriend in about thirty seconds, he’s going to be really displeased to see you following me around. Consider this your warning.” Okay, so it was a little lie. I wasn’t big on dishonesty. Really, I was straight as an arrow, but these guys were making me feel uncomfortable.

  “Are you sure you’re not here to meet another lady friend? My pal Jeremy here could use a pretty thing like you too.”

  A thing? It floored me that men like this existed. All I could focus on was finding Olivia and Sophia, but she still hadn’t texted to tell me what post they were standing next to. Why was cell reception always so bad at concerts?

  I looked up from my phone, spotting a giant guy in line at the beer cart. He had to be at least six-foot-four, and his biceps were huge. He had a broad chest and a pretty serious expression, probably not thrilled to be standing in a long line in ninety degree weather waiting to pay sixteen bucks for a tepid, crappy beer.

  I quickly walked over to the stranger, getting in line right beside him.

  “Hi, um, can you put your arm around me? Just for, like, thirty seconds?” I realized how dumb that sounded as the words left my mouth, but I felt too frazzled and uncomfortable to articulate my needs any other way.

  “Excuse me? You want me to do what?” His light blue-green eyes stared down at me, and although his expression looked confused, the right dimple in his cheek suggested he wasn’t going to run away from me.

  “Touch me,” I blurted out. “I mean, like, my hand or something, or my shoulders…”

  “This feels like a lawsuit,” he replied with a curious smirk.

  “For me or you? I mean, never mind. Not the point. There are just these two guys back there, don’t look now…”

  It was too late. He turned his head, locking eyes on the two louses who were just standing there, staring at me, no doubt waiting for me to move on alone.

  “Those guys?” He gestured right at them.

  “Yes,” I said awkwardly. “I politely told them to leave me alone, but they won’t.
I feel really…uncomfortable, and I panicked and you were the first safe person I saw. I mean, not that you look safe. Your arms are giant, you could probably crush me with just one of them.” I was completely rambling at this point, losing my focus. “What I mean is, you don’t look safe, because you’re massive, but I mean, like, I would rather be hurt by you than by them.”

  OMG. This still wasn’t coming out right. This was a disaster.

  He grinned back at me, as if he found all of this to be funny.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  “Because you’re oddly adorable.”

  Well, that was probably the worst compliment I’d ever received.

  “My paranoia over eminent danger is oddly adorable? What does that even mean? Never mind, my point is, I told them that I was here to meet someone. And I am, my friends are somewhere in the pit and I’m late, but I need those losers to think I’m meeting a big strong tough guy so they’ll leave me alone.”

  “Say please.”

  “What?” This guy was killing me. He had no sense of urgency. Maybe he didn’t understand what I needed. “Uh, okay. Please.”

  Out of nowhere, he wrapped one hand around my waist and the other touched my hair. His lips swept down toward mine, drawing me in for a lingering, passionate kiss. As he gently pulled his mouth away from mine, I just stood there, stunned.

  “I…uh…what was that?” I could barely get the words out.

  “Something believable.” He paused, looking back at me, trying to gauge my reaction. “It worked. Look.”

  I glanced back to see the two guys scowling, walking over to stand in a different drink line.

  “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  I was about to say no – of course that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. A reasonable shoulder squeeze probably could’ve gotten the job done as well, but who was I to judge his thought process on this one?

  “Uh, yeah, I mean, I wasn’t exactly expecting that to happen, but…”

  “You said please.”

  I giggled. “Right. I did. So, thank you? I guess that’s what comes next in this very polite, awkward exchange?”

  “It didn’t feel awkward to me at all.” His intense light eyes continued to stare back into mine.

  Right. Me either. That kiss was actually really good. Noteworthy. Okay, really hot.

  “Can I at least buy your beer? To thank you?” It was the least I could do.

  “Nah, I couldn’t let you. That doesn’t seem like a fair bargain. I’m just glad I could help.”

  “Me too.”

  Cue uncomfortable silence. I wasn’t really sure what to do after being kissed spontaneously by a crazy hot stranger. Part of me wanted hang around for a few more minutes – maybe learn a thing or two about him? But his presence made my nerves all tingly and I felt like I couldn’t have a normal conversation with him after a kiss like that.

  “Do you want me to walk you over to your friends? You said they’re in the pit? I only have a general admission ticket, I’m meeting some of my buddies up on the lawn, but I can walk you over to the gate if you need.”

  We finally made it to the front of the line. He held out two twenties and asked for two beers, promptly handing one of them over to me.

  “I’m guessing you could use one of these tonight,” he said politely, putting the rest of the change into his back jeans pocket.

  “Yeah, thank you. It wasn’t necessary, but I appreciate it. All of it, everything you’ve just done.”

  “I don’t usually get to be the hero, so that was kind of nice.”

  What did he mean by that? Those arms? That face? He would be the hero in every one of my dreams later, I was certain about that.

  “What’s your name?” I had to know more.

  He eyed me curiously. “Why, are you going to send me a thank you card?”

  “Are you mocking me?”

  “A little.” His lips curled. “Luke Beckett.” He clinked his beer can with mine as we walked over toward the main gate leading into the pit area.

  “I’m Lexi.” We’d reached the entrance already, but I wasn’t ready to end this conversation. “So, are you…” Before I finished my sentence, the two skuzzy guys from earlier walked past us, talking loud enough for us to hear them.

  “Of course, her boyfriend would be some dumb meathead,” the guy in the black cutoff shirt said to the other. “Easy tramps like that kind of…”

  Before he could complete his sentence, Luke lunged forward. His right fist flew out in front of him, striking the guy right in the face. Blood immediately poured out of his nose as he fell down to his knees.

  “You son of a…” The guy in the white shirt hit Luke in the left eye, but with one swift blow to the stomach, Luke was able to knock him to the ground as well. Before I could process what was happening, two security guards and a cop rushed over. One of them grabbed Luke, trying to shove him back from the two guys gasping for breath on the ground.

  Most impressively, Luke still had his beer in his left hand. I wasn’t sure why I even noticed that in all the commotion, but I did. The guys on the ground looked like they’d been through the ringer, yet Luke barely spilled his drink, as if the entire altercation was effortless for him.

  “I’m escorting you out of the arena,” the cop sneered, still pushing Luke back.

  “No, it wasn’t his fault,” I interjected, trying to clear everything up. “It was me.”

  “You sent these two jackwagons to the ground?” The security guard’s sarcasm wasn’t helpful. “Or you’re just offering to clean up the blood?”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

  “Come on, Ben, get these guys out of here.” The two guards each grabbed a guy from the ground, helping them up to their feet. They were swearing under their breath as one wiped his bloody nose and the other rubbed his knuckles.

  “I told you he’d be displeased,” I said snidely to them as the two dirtbags looked me up and down as they passed. I turned my attention to the cop shuffling Luke around. “Look, really, it wasn’t his fault. Those guys followed me in from the parking lot and they were being really crude. I felt uncomfortable. This guy helped me as soon as he saw what was happening.” I gestured toward Luke, trying to make it apparent that I wasn’t with him and had no other reason to defend him.

  “Always over a girl,” the cop muttered under his breath. “I’m taking you out. Move,” he barked.

  “Let him stay, or I’m filing a report,” I said confidently, unsure how else to fix this.

  “A report? With who, the band? The beer vendor? The ENT doctor who will have to fix that guy’s face? Seriously, lady, get out of here. Go watch the show. If you don’t know this guy, then why do you care what happens to him?” The cop began to shuffle Luke away.

  “I felt uncomfortable, and there were no guards around, and no signs directing me toward any sort of security office. I was being harassed, and the employees at the gate looked the other way, despite hearing what they were saying to me. This man stepped in and handled it, maybe not according to your concert procedure handbook, if you even have one, but he diffused the situation.”

  “He broke a guy’s nose,” the cop cut me off. “File your dumb report. I’m kicking him out.”

  “Don’t sweat it,” Luke said casually to me with a smile as he followed instructions. “I’d do it all over again.”

  “You shouldn’t be kicked out for helping me. It isn’t right.”

  “There are plenty of sins I’ve never paid for. This is nothing.” He winked at me and the cop dragged him away, back toward the entrance of the venue where I’d locked eyes on him only minutes earlier.

  Just like that, Luke Beckett was being escorted away from me by the police – and I’d never felt more smitten.

  Chapter 2

  “What do you mean he got in a fight over you?” Olivia begged to know more as I recounted what had happened before the main band took the stage. It was taking them forever to set up all of their e
quipment.

  “He wasn’t fighting over me. The guys offended him as well. They called him a muscle head or something, I don’t remember. But as soon as they called me an easy tramp, he lost it and sucker punched both of them.”

  “He was defending your honor,” Sophia said whimsically.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not exactly. We’d only known each other for about six minutes. He has no idea whether I’m remotely honorable. Look at this provocative shirt I’m wearing for heaven’s sake.”

  “That tank is perfect for an outdoor concert and you know it,” Olivia shot back.

  I was glistening with sweat in the sinking hot sun, so she was actually right. If I was wearing more clothes, I would’ve been miserable.

  “Your highlights look good by the way, they’re perfect for summer,” Sophia added, touching my hair.

  “I needed something new. I need to feel like a different person. This whole Nathan thing has really screwed me up. I need a start-over.”

  “I’m looking for your new beginning right now,” Olivia mused, glancing from side to side around the pit area where we were standing. She was relentless.

  I wish I could say that I forgot about Luke Beckett as the band played and the crowd screamed, but I couldn’t get him out of my mind. There was something about him. It wasn’t just his good looks – any woman would fall easily for a face like that and a body with those tight muscles – but there was something else that lured me in. Maybe it was that bad boy element that he was ever-so-slightly dangerous, beating the crap out of two thugs who looked at me wrong. I never would’ve thought I’d be attracted to that scenario, but after witnessing it firsthand, there was just something alluring about it. Or maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe it was the way he grabbed me and kissed me with authority, knowing it was exactly what I needed in that moment.

  What I needed now was more Luke Beckett.

  I glanced back to the lawn section numerous times throughout the show, on the chance he wasn’t kicked out after all, but I never saw him. No doubt Olivia tried to get me chatting with other attractive guys around us, but I couldn’t feign interest. None of them grabbed my attention the way Luke did – which was stupid, given there was a very real chance I would never see him again.