by Hart, Hanna
"Am I sure!" Mirna repeated with a howling laugh. "Of course, I'm sure! Her gyno is the same one my aunt goes to."
Grace drew back at the comment. She wanted to ask how her aunt would have pried that information out of her doctor, but couldn't bring herself to delve deeper into Mirna's mysterious ways.
"Uh-huh," Grace said absent-mindedly. "That's weird. She had champagne at the wedding last night."
"Is that professional?" Mirna asked, tilting her head.
"Uh, no," Grace shrugged. "But, it's Turkish."
"Right," Mirna said. “I wonder who the father is. Do you know if she’s seeing someone?”
“I have no idea,” Grace said. It was true. If Turkish had a suitor, she hadn’t confided as much in Grace. If anything, Turkish seemed more attached to her ‘single-life’ persona than seemed healthy.
Mirna waved her off. "Well! That's all I have for you today. Go and spread the gospel of Mirna! Oh, and if you find out anything else about the pregnancy, let me know!"
"That's all that's going on?" Grace repeated happily.
"That's it! Now go! Work!" Mirna laughed and busied herself in her papers.
Grace practically skipped back to her desk. If that was all of Mirna's gospel for the day, then she was still in the clear about her deal with Cooper. Once she entered her cubicle she was surprised to see a giant bouquet of long-stem red roses that had been delivered and placed in an embellished glass vase.
Was it from Shane, Grace wondered hastily. Maybe there were still some feelings there after all. But could this seriously be his way of apologizing for the mess he had left in his wake? Some roses?
She grazed a thumb along the velvety petal of the flower and her eyes were immediately drawn toward the sparkling silver card that was embedded in the stems. She pulled it out and flipped the card over.
"You're taking the day off. Come into my office as soon as you get this."
Grace blinked in surprise. It was from Cooper?
Her ears flicked back instinctively as she heard Mirna coming up to the side of her cubicle.
"Oh yeah, and one more thing," Mirna said, leaning in towards Grace looking like she was keeping a juicy secret. "Congratulations," the woman winked.
Grace swallowed and felt a nervous energy fork through her stomach. "For what?" she asked uncomfortably.
“I couldn’t help myself,” Mirna said with a sheepish chuckle, “I read the card. Are you and Cooper hooking up?”
“No!” Grace said with no small amount of offense taken. “He must have heard about my… my wedding! He’s just giving me the day off to recuperate.”
“Aw,” Mirna said, admiring the roses and sounding genuinely touched. “That’s so sweet.”
“Yeah, well, he’s a sweet guy. Now go back to work!”
Ignoring her co-worker, who was still hovering around the bouquet of roses, Grace made her way over to Cooper’s office. She pushed through the glass doors and looked up at her boss. The man she had agreed to marry.
“You have no idea how refreshing it is to have someone come through those doors who isn’t ready to scream at me,” he said with a wink. “How’s my beautiful wife-to-be?”
Grace blanched. “Nice flowers,” was all she could think to say.
“Yeah, well,” he shrugged, “they were a lot fresher a couple of hours ago.”
“Oh, right,” she muttered and could feel her face going twelve shades of crimson. “I’m so sorry about that—”
“What? Don’t worry about it,” he said dismissively. “I barely made it here on time myself.”
“So, I’m supposed to take the day off?” she asked almost uncomfortably. “For what?”
"Well, before we get into that I just wanted to make sure you're still comfortable with our little agreement we made last night," he said with the biggest smile on his face.
She was just about to say that he wasn't, but something about his smile had absolutely captivated her. Saying no now felt like taking a toy away from a toddler or smacking a puppy. She couldn't bring herself to say the words.
"Because I thought about it all night and I really think we have something here," he said with enthusiasm. “We’re both through with love. I need a wife, and you need to recuperate from your financial woes. This is mutually beneficial. Besides, I can’t imagine doing this with one of the mainland girls my mother was trying to push on me.”
“Your mother knows about this?” Grace asked and wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be appalled.
“Oh yeah,” he said somewhat comically. “She was a big proponent of me tying the knot.”
“Why wouldn’t she?” Grace said without thinking, “She’s trying to save her island.”
Cooper blinked and pushed himself away from his desk. “Can I assume from that tone that you’re having second thoughts?”
Grace grit her teeth. Was she having second thoughts? On the way here, it seemed clear that their idea was completely ludicrous. But, now that she was standing in front of her gorgeous boss, suddenly it seemed once again like the best idea since sliced bread.
“No, of course not!” she announced cheerfully. “Sign me up!”
“Oh, great,” Cooper said and mimed wiping sweat off his forehead. “Please, sit.”
She sat down in the plush chair across from him and directed her attention to the paperwork he had spun around for her to read.
Maybe this was a good idea, she thought. After all, she had no intention of letting what happened with Shane repeat itself. Getting that close to someone again seemed more like a life sentence of heartache than a joy you dream about as a little girl.
And he was right. She had been struggling financially. Her life savings was blown on the wedding, and she had been an anxious wreck thinking of how she was going to pull of paying all of her debts off.
Besides, Grace thought, this was a million dollars they were talking about. At work, she was still considered just an assistant to Mr. Grant and Turkish. And assistants didn’t make big money.
She couldn’t fathom the idea of having a million dollars at her disposal. She could bank that much money and live off the interest forever. Or invest it in her future somehow. Whatever she decided to do with it, she’d be set for life.
Yeah. This was a good idea. In fact, it was a great idea.
And besides, what were the odds that a sexy bachelor like Cooper Grant wouldn’t end up married again in a couple years? She remembered that he told her not to bank on that, but she couldn’t help but find the prospect of him staying single to be utterly ridiculous.
She would do it. She would marry him.
“This is the prenup,” Cooper explained and began to run her through all of the sections and paragraphs. “Really, you should go over it with your lawyer.”
“I don’t have a lawyer,” she said with a laugh.
“Get one,” he said. “Or, I’ll give you the money, and you can hire one. Whatever you choose, you should have some council on your side.”
“What, I shouldn’t trust you?” she teased.
He matched his brown eyes with her blue ones and offered her a wry smile. “You, Grace Stevens, can always trust me. But I want to make sure you’re comfortable.”
“Feeling more comfortable by the minute,” she smiled.
“And like I said, this is a time-sensitive issue so, if you’re sure then we’re going to need to have this done by the end of the week.”
“Wow!” she laughed. “Fast!”
“Fast, or no time like the present?” he smirked. “Brielle is already filing to take part of the island away, so I need to get this done as quickly as possible.”
“Right, for sure,” Grace said, nodding as she thumbed through the paperwork. “Whenever you need me. You know my schedule. Literally.”
“Great,” he said. “Now, for your big day off, I was hoping to take you out, if that’s alright?”
Grace’s heart flipped at the thought of it. She couldn’t remember the last time she was asked
to leave work for an adventure. “Sure,” she said with a broad smile. “What did you have in mind?”
“I’d like you to meet my parents.”
“Fast,” she commented with a breath.
He laughed. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure meeting the parents usually comes before getting engaged so. Slow, actually.”
Her round eyes went wide as she asked, “Do you think they’ll like me?”
Cooper smirked to himself. “Do you know what?” he asked.
Grace blinked. “What?”
“For once,” Cooper said with a relieved sigh, “it really doesn’t matter.”
“No pressure. I like it!” Grace said with a laugh. “Alright!” she continued, slapping a hand down on his desk. “Let’s do it!”
Chapter Ten
Cooper
The Nani Makai island, where Crystal Beach Romance Resorts was located, could be split into two sections. The first was a resort, decorated with rich wood and stunning marbles, topped off with royal blue accents. It was a masterpiece.
The second half was where the islanders lived. A small community just a small distance away from the resort. They lived in beautiful beachfront houses on either side of the island. It cost a fortune to live there, which is why the island was
The island was only accessible via your personal boat or a ferry, which was taken from the mainland.
Cooper's mother, Tilly, wasn't a fan of going to the mainland. She was very old-school in those ways. Crystal Beach was a place to go to relax and revel in your riches. The mainland was for commoners. Cooper didn't share this sentiment, nor did his brother.
This did not by any means make his mother a bad person or signify that she treated others as less than her. She was just set in her ways.
Which is why bringing her to The Flora, a garden-themed waterfront restaurant on the mainland, was a bit of a struggle. The only thing that had encouraged her to come along was when Cooper told her that he'd found the woman he was going to marry.
"I feel like I’m not dressed right,” Grace said as they approached the restaurant. She wore a gauzy white dress with light brown gladiator sandals, and her hair was down with a French-braid crowning her hair.
Cooper wouldn’t have guessed it from the way Grace followed their formal dress-code, but she dressed like a hippie.
The shoe straps that tied up around her calves would almost have seemed suggestive if it weren’t for the flowing loose dress she paired with it.
“Oh, stop,” Cooper said. “You look very pretty.”
Grace shrugged. Clearly, he hadn’t said what she was hoping to hear. Should he have substituted the word gorgeous or stunning?
“Should I be nervous?” she asked as she stood on her tip-toes, trying to find his family in the mix of people heading toward the restaurant.
Cooper set his hand on the small of Grace’s waist and pointed his parents and brother out to her from behind a crowd of tourists.
“No,” he assured her. “And besides, we already agreed this was a ‘no big deal’ type of meeting, remember?”
She clamped her hand onto his and blurted out, “Oh gosh, I’m nervous. Parents notoriously do not like me.”
Cooper laughed. “What do you possibly do that offends them so much? Swear like a sailor?”
“No,” she said through clenched teeth. “I’m just highly unlikeable. It’s like they know me or something.”
“I find that hard to believe,” he said, squeezing her hand back and enjoying the feel of the connection. “It doesn’t matter. It’s just a formality.”
“Yeah, well, if they don’t like me?” she asked. “Will they tell you I’m not suitable for the position?”
Cooper thought about it. The answer was yes. If there was the hint that this may not be a good social match, his mother would nix it before the drinks came.
“We’re talking about the same people who approved Brielle,” he said with humor. “What are you even worrying about?”
Grace smiled bashfully at the comment. He knew she didn’t know Brielle personally, but she’d certainly been witness to enough office storm-ins to get a hint of what kind of person she was.
They met his parents and brother at the front of the restaurant and exchanged handshakes and hugs before reporting their reservations to the hostess.
“So, do you enjoy sailing?" his mother asked Grace as they were finally seated on the patio.
“I love it. I don't get much time to do it, attending to the weddings and all,” Grace said.
His mother gave a puzzled stare, and her eyes swept the group until they reached Cooper’s.
“Grace works with us, mother,” he clarified.
“Oh, isn't that nice," she said in a tone that said exactly otherwise. His mother folded her napkin carefully in her lap and gave him a pointed look. "Will that be wise? To marry in-house?"
"She's not a wine, ma," Levi said with a playful roll of the eyes.
"I know that,” his mother said with a squeaky laugh. “I just don’t want it to look bad to the other employees. You know we have strict policies about inter-office dating.”
Grace’s eyes went wide at this and Cooper laughed. They both knew there were enough office romances happening at work to fuel a whole soap opera.
“It’s fine, ma,” he said, waving her off.
“Besides,” his father piped up, “it might be better this way. Keep it close to the vest.”
“I love how we’re talking about you like you’re a bomb we’re hiding,” Levi said, making eye contact and smiling at Grace. “How about we start here: you like sailing? Are you going to the regatta?”
Grace took a sip of her water and nodded enthusiastically. “Of course!” she said happily. “I’ve gone to the regatta all my life, even before I lived on the island.”
“Where did you live before?” Cooper’s father asked.
“I lived in Vancouver, in Canada, but we moved to the mainland when I was really young. Five, I think. Me and my dad would always go to the regatta. It was our thing when I was little. Come out to the resort, get ice-cream at the Marble Manor, then find a seat at the marina. He always liked the rowers,” she said.
At the mention of rowing, Levi nudged Cooper in the arm. Cooper laughed and shook his head.
“It’s still not cool,” Cooper said under his breath, and his brother nudged him harder.
“—Prefer the boat races,” Grace finished.
“Sounds wonderful, darling,” his mother said. “I used to have a tradition with my father as well, sailing, of course. You know us islanders.”
The waiter came then and went around the table, taking everyone’s order. Grace looked panicked when he reached her. On the way there, Cooper had told her if she got stuck, just repeat whatever he ordered. Though he couldn’t for the life of him think of why she was so nervous.
“Yeah, my dad loved it so much here that we packed up from Hawaii and moved everything here,” Grace said with a laugh.
“We being you, your father, and your mother? No siblings?” his mother asked.
“Uh, just me and my dad, actually. We were sort of on an escape mission,” Grace said.
Cooper narrowed his brows at this and asked, “Witness protection?”
“Of course,” Grace said with a wry laugh. “No, we were actually leaving my mother. We took off in the night.”
“Oh,” his mother said in surprise, setting a hand on her chest. “How dreadful. The poor woman.”
“Ma,” Cooper reprimanded under his breath.
“Well, I’m sorry, if your father took you boys while I was sleeping I would knock his block off!” his mother said in a shocked defense, looking at Herbert as though it was he who kidnapped their children in the night.
“Yeah,” Grace said awkwardly, rubbing her arm. “My mother was…” she trailed off and looked at Cooper for help. Not knowing where the story was going, he wasn’t sure how to assist her.
“A pirate?” he joked.
“A
double agent?” Levi added.
Grace laughed and waved them off. “No!” she giggled. “She was an alcoholic.”
An awkward lull swept the table, and Tilly darted her eyes toward Cooper. She was not impressed.
“She was spending all of our money to fuel her addiction. It was just, it was awful. My dad decided he had to get me out of there. We were so broke when we first arrived on the mainland that we actually lived in this weird converted boat shed at my dad’s friend’s cottage. It was really small.”
“Oh, isn’t that quaint,” his mother Tilly said with a lilt in her tone.
“A true hero, your dad,” Cooper’s father finally interjected. “You never know what kind of bravery is hidden down there until you have kids. You know? I’d battle a shark to save my boys.”
“That,” Cooper said with a finger pointed at his father, “I would like to see.”
“I would have!” his father continued with a laugh.
“I have a question,” Levi said, leaning back in his chair. “How in the world did my sorry brother manage to get you to marry him?”
Grace laughed at this and looked at Cooper before she answered, “He just asked.”
“Wow, is it that easy?” Levi teased and snapped his fingers as though he should have thought of that.
“He found me after the wedding last night, and we were both commiserating, I guess, about relationships. It just seemed like the perfect fit,” she said with a smile.
“She charmed me,” Cooper said out of nowhere. His father and brother gave a passing glance at this, but his mother looked at him with intrigue and cocked her head to the side.
The food was amazing and well worth the price. After sitting down together for a few hours, Cooper could see why parents might be put off by Grace’s stories. She wasn’t a secret-keeper. If you asked her a question, she told you the answer straight-up. No frills.
She spoke openly about her mother’s addiction, growing up poor, and her love for the water. Her parents, amazingly, had reconciled two years after they’d left. It sobered her up in more ways than one, Grace had said.
In a way, the stories made Cooper think of his parents. Aside from the struggle of starting the business back up, neither of them had ever had to live in squalor or deal with any serious health concerns, addictions, or affairs.