Seaside Lovers: Grayson Lacroux (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers)

by Melissa Foster

  “So, your changes weren’t because you were overthinking every little detail?”

  She shrugged. “Isn’t that overthinking? Only it wasn’t the designs I was overthinking. It was you.”

  He rose onto his palms and pressed his lips to hers again.

  “Then by all means, overthink me, baby. Overthink me all you want. That’s the very best news you could give me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I thought I’d misinterpreted the tone of your emails, that you hadn’t meant them to feel as personal as I took them. The only thing that held me back from asking you to video chat with me, like I would have done with any other client who requested a million changes, was the feeling that if we did, we’d have a hard time keeping our relationship professional. And I’m not sure why I worried about keeping our relationship professional, but I did.”

  Wonder filled her eyes. “All that time, you were feeling something for me?”

  “Feeling the possibility of something and wanting there to be something more. Yes.”

  “I was feeling that way, too. But you were stronger than me. I gave in to my feelings when I sent you the email about building the railing. I had planned to see Bert, then come here for a few weeks after filming. I wanted to see if…to spend time getting to know you in person. I didn’t expect to lose Bert, or to go into radio silence for two weeks. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be sorry, baby. I just wish I had done something sooner, asked you to video chat, or told you what I was feeling, because I could have been there with you when you found out about Bert. I could have gone to the funeral with you, been there when you went to the bank, when you needed someone to hold you and tell you everything would be okay.”

  “Grayson,” she whispered.

  She did that a lot, said his name like it contained all her thoughts. And he had a feeling that in those moments, it did.

  “I know, baby. We’ve got a lot of time to make up for.” He sat up and pulled her into his arms, where she belonged. “You’re an incredibly capable and strong person, and you were blessed with Bert for a long time, but in a sense, you’ve been on your own your whole life, finding your way to a great career and hoping for more. I’m here now, and I want to be your more.”

  **

  GRAYSON’S EYES WERE so full of emotions Parker thought he’d named them perfectly. More.

  “You already are,” she said, leaning in for a kiss. Her phone rang beneath Grayson’s leg.

  “Oh, baby, you make my whole body sing.”

  She laughed and shoved her hand beneath his leg to retrieve her phone. “It’s Luce.” She moved from his lap and answered. “Hi, Luce.”

  “I thought you were lying low?”

  “I am,” Parker said, confused by her comment. Grayson blew her a kiss and went back to the drawings. “I’m at the beach house reading the script Phillipa sent.”

  “And who is the stunning creature kissing you in the elevator?”

  Parker’s jaw gaped. “What?” Ohmygod, the elevator! Her mind whizzed through the possibility of hidden cameras, and panic spread through her chest.

  Grayson launched to his feet at her shriek and came to her side, eyes narrowed, worried. Possessive. She loved that.

  “Seriously, woman,” Luce said. “We’re friends. If you’ve got that artist, or any other hot and hard man for that matter, holing up with you, the least you can do is give me the juicy details so I don’t have to see it on the front of Us Weekly first.”

  Parker covered her face with her hand. “Oh God, Luce. How bad is it?”

  “Bad?” Luce scoffed. “Are you kidding? It’s smokin’ hot. I’m surprised you didn’t short-circuit the elevator.”

  “Are we…? Where are his hands?” She closed her eyes against the fierceness of Grayson’s stare, hoping Luce didn’t say, Beneath your dress.

  “Where were they is a better question,” Luce asked.

  “Luce! Hands! Where are they in the picture?” She held up a finger to Grayson, who was practically breathing down her neck. She wanted to know what she was dealing with before saying anything. He sank down on the couch a few inches away, giving her a little more space to breathe. She needed to stand in the middle of a deserted island to have enough air right now.

  Luce sighed the universal dreamy sigh that women used when something was overtly cute or romantic, and Parker breathed a little easier. She wouldn’t have sighed if his hand was between her legs. Her public-relations damage-control claws would have sprung out.

  “His hands, which are absolutely enormous, by the way, and which we’re definitely going to revisit, are on your neck. His thumbs are resting on your jaw, and the kiss is…intense. It’s perfect. It’s the kind of kiss that will have women yelling at their husbands for not kissing them like that.”

  Parker reached for Grayson’s hand. “I know that kiss well. So, give me the bad news. The caption?”

  “How could they write anything bad? You look like a couple in love. The caption reads, ‘Parker Collins Comes Out of Hiding with Hot New Man,’ and then it goes on to talk about Grayson winning the award for the foundation, and they speculate about this and that.”

  Parker was still stuck on looking like a couple in love, and Grayson was still watching her like a hawk. “Hold on, Luce.” She lowered the phone and said to Grayson, “Someone took a picture of us kissing in the elevator. It’s in Us Weekly.”

  “Christ. I already screwed things up for you?” He scrubbed a hand down his face.

  “No. Not at all. Let me find out more from Luce, but don’t worry. It’s fine.” She was surprisingly not as worried as she had been initially. It was a perfect kiss, and she could kiss anyone she wanted to. It wasn’t like they’d caught her with her Mustache Rides shirt, her butt hanging out of her shorts, and looking like she’d just crawled out from under a night of boozing it up.

  Grayson didn’t move. He stared straight ahead, a rigid statue of concern. Over me. An unfamiliar, safe feeling moved through her. Where had he been all her life?

  She lifted the phone to her ear, smiling as she hashed out the situation with Luce.

  “This is not a situation, Parker. This makes you normal.” Luce paused long enough for Parker to agree. “Now, let’s talk about where you thought his hands were. And is it true, the bigger the hands—”

  “Luce!” Parker laughed, and Grayson lifted his eyes. She mouthed, It’s fine. I promise. He rested his head on the back of the couch and sighed, like she’d just told him he didn’t have cancer. And she fell even harder because of it.

  She watched as he went back to the table and leaned over the drawings. A moment later she realized Luce was still talking.

  She’d completely lost track of their conversation and caught up as Luce warned her to expect more pictures to pop up. Not that Luce thought she’d be hounded there on the Cape. Luce said it was too far from the real gossip and not controversial enough of a story to warrant the paparazzi’s travel expenses. But now that they had the scent of something, they’d want to blow it up to sell magazines. She told Parker to expect random photos of her with other guys to pop up, claiming to threaten her relationship with Grayson.

  After the call, she joined Grayson at the table. He set his pencil down and opened his arms, and she settled onto his lap.

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I never would have kissed you in the elevator if I’d thought it would cause trouble for you.”

  She touched her forehead to his shoulder. “Yes, you would have.”

  He smiled and framed her face with his hands. Oh yeah, Luce, it’s true. Big hands, big everything. Heart, mind, and body.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He pressed his warm lips to hers. “So what happens now?”

  “Nothing. All they did was speculate that you were my new man, which is true. I mean, it puts us in the spotlight, and Luce said the photogs will probably try to take pictures of me with other guys to stir up trouble—and sales. But you know I’m not lik
e that, so I’m not worried.”

  “That’s a relief. We’ll be more careful from now on.” His eyes shifted away, the muscles in his jaw suddenly tense.

  “I don’t want to be more careful, Grayson.” His expression remained tense. “What is it?”

  “Who was your old man?” he asked in a low voice.

  “You’re jealous.” She poked his chest. “You! The most confident guy I have ever met is jealous? Over me?” She laughed, and he cracked a smile.

  “I’m not jealous. I’m curious.”

  Oh, this was going to be too much fun. “Well, there was Bradley Cooper, but we only dated for a few weeks because he sucked in bed and, well, who wants to deal with that? And Liam Hemsworth, but he was on the rebound from Miley, so I don’t count him.”

  Grayson ground his teeth together, and she couldn’t resist saying, “I guess you could call Christian Bale my old man, because he was the last one I slept with, but only to bide my time as I waited for—”

  “Christ, Parker. What the hell are you doing with me?”

  Taken aback, she pressed her hands to his cheeks and, in her most serious voice, she said, “You didn’t let me finish.”

  “Do I really need to hear who you were waiting for? I’m not anything like those Hollywood guys, Parker. This is me. This is my life. Going out to shabby bars with friends who don’t give a shit about what they wear, not caring who sees me because I’m happy as me, and…” He shook his head, and her stomach sank.

  “I was teasing, Grayson. I haven’t dated any of those guys, and I was going to say that I was waiting for you, but you’re really worried about this, aren’t you?” He’d knocked her completely off-balance, and she didn’t know how to right herself again. “What happened to all that stuff about this is our reality and dealing with things as they come up? I thought we were growing legs? I want legs!”

  Great, now she was on the verge of tears. She snapped her mouth closed and fought against the torrent. Grayson’s lips split into a wide grin, and understanding dawned on her, bringing with it a flash of anger.

  “You jerk!” She smacked his chest, and he laughed, which only made her angrier. “You scared the bejeezus out of me! Stop laughing!”

  He grabbed her face and kissed her right through her mini tantrum, until she was moaning and laughing intermittently right along with him.

  “Your pretty-boy actors have nothing on me, baby.”

  “I hate you a little right now,” she said. “And I’m concerned that you really are worried about those things.”

  His eyes turned serious again. “Not the men, baby. Never the men. But the other stuff? I think we both are, but as you said, we’re growing legs. And boy do I love these legs.” He slid his hand up her thigh.

  “But maybe we should figure it out,” she said. He kissed her again. “You’re really good at distracting us,” she said.

  “We’ll figure it out,” he promised, and brought his mouth to her neck—he knew just how to make her brain stop working.

  “I want…Oh, that feels good.” She struggled for focus. “I want you to come spend time with me next month in LA, after you’re done with the railing and before you go to Texas, and…” Ohmygod that feels so good.

  “Whatever you want.” His breath slid over her skin.

  Eyes closed, reveling in the feel of his lips on her neck, a memory of something he’d said in one of his emails came back to her. “But you hate LA.”

  “But I would do anything for you.” His tongue slicked over her bottom lip.

  “Me too,” she said breathlessly.

  He took her face in his hands and his eyes turned coal black. “Good, baby. Now stop overthinking. There’s nothing we can’t handle. We’ve got this.”

  He kissed her again, and she closed her eyes, trusting his promise and soaking up his confidence—and his glorious kisses—as the next one extinguished her worries, replacing them with something much sweeter.

  Chapter Fifteen

  OTHER THAN DEALING with a week of ribbing from his family and friends about the photograph of him and Parker kissing on the cover of Us Weekly, Grayson had had a damn good week. And it passed at a perfect pace, each day beginning and ending with Parker in his arms. Christmas adjusted well to Parker’s new bedmate. The smart dog waited until they were done with their evening lovemaking to crawl not so stealthily to the foot of the bed, where he slept until morning. They definitely needed a bigger bed, but Grayson didn’t mind the company. After all, Christmas had been there before him, and the big dog needed love, too.

  By Saturday the three of them had fallen into sync with other aspects of their lives as easily as they’d fallen into each other’s hearts. Grayson spent his days at Grunter’s working on the railing, which Parker had made only one change to—adding two birds for Christmas. Christmas had jumped into his truck and gone to work with him twice this week, and he had to admit he liked the company. He liked the railings even more as each piece was forged and the roots came to life, just as he’d noticed Parker coming into her own as time passed and she healed from her grief. She’d gone out with Sky and the girls twice this week, and now they were texting one another like old friends, which thrilled him to no end.

  Parker had loved the script she’d been given, and it seemed like that had started a flurry of activity, including a barrage of emails and phone calls, texts, and scheduling of future meetings. When her calls ran late, Grayson used that time to fit in a run. But he didn’t crave those runs the way he had before Parker came into his life. Now he craved their intimate mornings and shared evenings, when they walked on the beach with Christmas and watched the sunset, met friends for dinner, or talked into the wee hours, sharing their hopes and dreams. Lately Grayson found himself imagining a future with Parker. He had no trouble picturing the life they’d share or even the family they’d raise, as long as he didn’t try to figure out the logistics. He got hung up there every time.

  He pushed those thoughts away now, as sunshine and a cool bay breeze streamed through the open French doors, filling the living room with the promise of a beautiful Saturday. Grayson reached for Parker’s hand and sat down beside her at the table, where she’d spread out the contents of Bert’s safe-deposit box. He took in the numerous unopened envelopes, yellowing with age and dating back to the early seventies. He picked up a photograph of a man, Bert, he assumed, and a much younger Parker, getting his first glimpse of the girl she’d been and the man who had been her everything. Her hair was longer and all one length, not layered or styled, like she wore it now. She was smiling, but her eyes told of her worries—wariness, fatigue, hope, and beneath it all was the confidence she must have been honing her whole life. Bert was soft around the middle, his eyes the same gray-blue as Abe’s, though filled with welcoming kindness. No wonder Parker trusted him. If Grayson had met this man, he had no doubt he’d have trusted him, too.

  “That was taken the day he took me to meet the first modeling agent. Bert asked her to take it so we would always remember the day. I told him he could keep it. I think I knew even then that modeling wasn’t my thing.”

  She picked up another picture and smiled as she ran her fingers over her image, then handed it to him. “This was the first picture Bert ever took of me, at the park.”

  He felt like he was looking at a different girl than the one in the previous picture. She was laughing, and she must have just turned around, because her hair was blurry, swinging across her face and chest. Sunlight reflected in her eyes, accentuating the moment with a youthful, carefree exuberance. He didn’t recognize that carefree look, and he wondered if she’d been acting even then, or if in that moment she’d felt that way. He hoped for the latter, and even more, he hoped one day to see that carefree side of her firsthand.

  “That’s the picture he gave to the modeling agent. It’s one of my favorites.” She leaned closer. “He got all excited and told me to turn around and look at the balloons. I remember looking so hard, wanting to see the balloons. Not be
cause they were balloons, but because his excitement was contagious. So I’ve got my back to him, and I’m scanning the park and squinting up at the sky, trying to find them, but of course there was nothing there. He knew just how to trick me into getting the shot he wanted.” She laughed softly. “I loved that about him. Anyway, suddenly he yells Puppies! and, well, you know how I am with Christmas. I love puppies, and I spun around to see the nonexistent puppies. That’s why I look so excited. Bert was good, wasn’t he?”

  Grayson’s chest warmed with emotions for the man who’d had her figured out and had used that knowledge to help her. He hugged Parker, loving them both a little more, and kissed her temple.

  “He sounds wonderful. Are you okay? Are you sure you still want to go see Abe this morning?” They’d also planned to stop by his father’s hardware store afterward. He was excited to introduce Parker to his father, and he wanted to check on him. He’d sounded tired the last few times they’d spoken.

  “Mm-hm. I’m just deciding if I should bring the letters and the pictures, or if it would upset Abe to see the letters again.”

  She showed him more pictures of her and Bert from recent years, and a picture of Bert and Abe when they were boys. Someone had scribbled their names and ages on the back of the black-and-white photos, along with Mom, Dad, and boys on a family photo. She picked up another picture, of Bert and an older man arm in arm. The look of love in their eyes was undeniable.

  “This was Bert’s lover, Alan. They were together for forty-five years. Alan passed away two years before Bert and I met, but Bert didn’t tell me about him until months after the day he took that first picture at the park. He said he knew we needed each other. That he recognized the loneliness in my eyes.” She paused, and he knew she was probably remembering their conversation. “I’m glad they had each other for so long, and I’m glad Bert and I had each other for so long.”

  He thought of Abe, whose beliefs about what made a man strong were so off, and thought it would make sense that his ideas of what made a man weak were also misconstrued. “I wonder if Bert being gay had anything to do with Abe’s feelings toward him.”