“Why not?”
“Because my father was never the same.” He stared at the Persian rug underneath his coffee table. “My father always had so much money and power, he thought he was invincible. And then the love of his love died of cancer and there was nothing he could do. His money and his power meant nothing to those cancer cells. My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer and died within three months.” His voice grew thoughtful. “In a way, I suppose that affected me more than I thought. I saw the devastation that my father went through, that he still lives.”
“He never got over your mother?”
“He loved her too much.” He sighed. “But he also never got over the fact that he couldn’t do anything. He’s a bloody titan, but he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop the cancer from spreading.”
“It sounds like she must have been pretty far along if she passed away so quickly.” I looked at him and he nodded.
“Cancer’s a bitch.” He spoke the words with such contempt, that part of me wanted to laugh, but I knew it wasn’t a laughing matter.
“What was your life like after your mother died?”
“I was sent to boarding school.” He shrugged. “I didn’t mind, it was fun and I met Brandon.”
“I didn’t know he went to boarding school.” I looked at him in surprise. “I thought you knew each other from college.”
“Well, we did know each other in college as well.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “But, we knew each other in high school as well. Brandon was always my best friend.”
“Are you still best friends?”
“No.” He shook his head and his eyes looked at me with a pained expression. “No, we’re not.”
“Brandon is an asshole, huh?” I looked at him with a pleading expression. “Please tell me the truth. My best friend is dating him again. He really hurt her a lot the first time. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“Brandon’s not the worst guy.” His eyes were bleak. “Let’s just say I’m the devil and he was my apprentice.”
“What do you guys do here?” I almost begged him to tell me. I just needed to hear the truth from his mouth. I wanted to understand how they could have gotten into this business.
“We have a strip club.” He paused for a second and his eyes were light as he looked at me. His hand fell to my leg and he started squeezing my knee. “I thought that was obvious.”
“So we’re all training to be strippers?” I raised an eyebrow. I knew my face was turning red because I could feel the heat in my cheeks. I was angry. Really, really angry. I knew this was much more than a strip club.
“No.” He shook his head.
“So the girls who aren’t strippers are going to be…?” I continued, ignoring the lust building up in me as Greyson’s hand flew to my thigh.
“Why is this so important to you?” Greyson sighed and leaned in towards me. “You don’t want to know, Meg.”
“Or do you mean, you don’t want me to know?” I pulled away from him. His eyes were a mere two inches from mine and I could feel the heat of his breath on my lips as he spoke.
“I mean that it’s not important. What’s important is what we have.”
“What are you talking about?” I whispered.
“The hot sex.” His tongue licked my lips. “I’ve never been so attracted to a woman before. Never thought about and wanted a woman so badly.”
“Well, you’ve had me already.”
“I want you again.” His lips pressed against mine softly and he kissed me with such a gentle sweetness that I found myself gravitating towards him. Our lips and tongues explored each other, both of us looking for answers in the depths of each other’s mouths. “I’ve never met a girl like you before, Meg.” He sat back after a few minutes with a dazed look in his eyes.
“What do you mean?” I said, trying not to blush.
“I’m 42 and I’ve never met a woman that was as beautiful, honest, fearless and intelligent as you.” He frowned and jumped up. “You’re messing up my mind.” He muttered and I saw him walking to a wet bar. He picked up a decanter and poured some more whiskey into his glass. “Would you like a drink?”
“I don’t do hard stuff.”
“I’ve got chasers.”
“I’ll have a tequila sunrise if you have the ingredients.”
“Let me see… tequila, check, orange juice, check, and Grenadine, check.” He smiled at me. “Would you like a cherry on top as well?”
“Yes, please.” I nodded eagerly and he laughed.
“Sometimes, I look at you and I can’t believe you’re only 25 because you seem so much wiser that that. But other times, when you’re excited or petulant, you remind me of a little child and I’m left wondering if you could really be 25.” He walked back towards me with our drinks in his hands.
“So you’re saying that I remind you of someone much older and much younger, at the same time?”
“I guess so.”
“I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
“Good. I didn’t intend it to be a compliment.” He handed me my drink and sat down.
“Oh, well, that makes it all better.” I shook my head and laughed. “I’m not sure what the point of your little talk was, then.”
“Just to tell you that you confuse me.”
“How can I be confusing you, if you don’t even know me?”
“You’re confusing my thoughts.” He muttered. “Or maybe I should say complicating them.”
“How am I complicating your thoughts?”
“Meg, you have far too many questions.” He placed his glass down on the table. “Now, tell me something about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.” His tone was light, but he looked serious.
“Why?” I stared at him with bated breath.
“I don’t know.” He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t place. “I really don’t know.”
“That’s helpful.” I laughed, but I felt light inside. “Um, let’s see. I went to Columbia for undergrad.”
“No, no.” He grinned and moved closer to me again. “I don’t want to know what’s on your resume. Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”
“I don’t know.” I made a face and sipped some of my drink. It went down my throat smoothly and I was instantly warmed inside.
“What’s the craziest sexual experience you’ve ever had?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.” He nodded.
“Today, tonight with you.” I said honestly. “Nothing else comes close.”
“In more ways than one, I hope.”
“No comment.” I grinned back at him.
“Okay, what’s the next one?” He shifted closer to me on the couch.
“I mean, it wasn’t crazy, but when I was in high school I had a boyfriend and we had sex on his couch once under a blanket.”
“What’s so crazy about that?”
“His dad was sitting in a chair in the room with us.” I laughed, and Greyson joined in.
“Okay, that’s pretty risqué.”
“What about you?” I asked curiously.
“I’ve got so many, I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“That’s not fair.” I protested.
“Life’s not fair.” He laughed and leaned forward to kiss my neck.
“Tell me, Greyson.” I moaned slightly as he bit down hard. “You’re going to leave a mark.”
“I know.” He laughed and then kissed along my neck to my lips. “I don’t think you want to know my craziest.”
“I do.” I nodded and he sat back and grinned.
“When I was in college I used to date this girl. Or rather, we used to fuck. I don’t date. One night, I slipped into her dorm room to have sex. I got into the bed and kissed her and she moaned against me and whispered my name, telling me how glad she was that I was there.”
“What’s so crazy about that?” I shrugged, feeli
ng slightly jealous.
“It had been dark when I got into the room.” He continued. “So anyways, we start having sex and her roommate comes into the room and turns on the light.”
“Oh, let me guess. You guys had a threesome?” I interjected.
He shook his head and placed a finger on my lips, then grinned. “No, we didn’t have a threesome. The girl turns on the light and starts screaming.”
“Oh no, why?”
“Shh.” He laughs. “So, I look up and see the girl I thought I was fucking standing at the door. Beneath me, I see her roommate grinning up at me and clutching my hips.”
“Oh, my God.” My eyes widened. “That’s crazy. What did you do?”
“What do you mean, what did I do? I kept fucking until I came and then I left.”
“You kept fucking?” My mouth dropped open in shock. “Even after you realized you were with the wrong girl?”
He nodded at me and bit down on my lower lip hard. “I already told you before, Meg. I’m no angel.”
“But what about the girl you were seeing. What did she do?”
“I have no idea.” He shrugged. “After she stopped screaming, I continued doing what I was doing.”
“You really don’t seem to care about women’s feelings, do you?” A part of me felt sad.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I guess maybe your mother’s death really affected you. Maybe you were so hurt by your mother dying and your father withdrawing into himself that you vowed to never fall in love.”
“What are you? A shrink?” He rolled his eyes. “I enjoy my life, Meg. I’m not looking to hurt anyone, but I’m also not looking to fall in love.”
“So you just go from bed to bed and from fuck to fuck and you don’t care who it’s with.”
“Of course I care.”
“It doesn’t seem that way.” I pulled away from him, angry at myself. I jumped up off the couch. “Look, I have to go. I should get to bed.”
“I never lied to you, Meg.” He jumped up as well.
“I never said you did.” I tried to walk past him, but he reached out and stopped me.
“I want you to spend the night with me.”
“I don’t want to.” I lied, trying to push past him.
“Liar.” He pulled me towards him. “You want me as badly as I want you.”
“You’re so full of yourself.”
“Deny it, then.”
“Why would I deny it? You obviously know that you can have any woman that you want. It doesn’t mean anything.” I shrugged.
“I don’t want just any woman. I want you.”
“Am I supposed to feel special? Woohoo, I’m your flavor of the day.”
“Brandon and I wanted to rule the world.” His eyes glittered into mine as he changed the subject. “We wanted to be omnipotent.”
“Why?”
“Why do boys generally want to rule the world?”
“I don’t think you’re like most guys.”
“I’m not better than them.”
“I don’t think you’re better either.” And then he laughed and shook his head.
“So honest, Meg.”
“I wish you were as honest.”
“I’ve never lied to you.”
“But you’re not telling me everything.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“Put me in my place, why don’t you?”
“I’m not perfect, Meg. I’m 42 years old and I’ve lived a life driven by the pursuit of not caring.”
“How can you be driven by not caring? Most men are after money or power or women or whatever.”
“I had money. Money brings power and, well, women have never been a problem for me.”
“Because you’re so handsome, right?” I rolled my eyes.
“I can’t help it if women find me sexually attractive.”
“Give me a break.”
“I also can’t help it if I find you sexually attractive.” His fingers stroked my cheek.
“I’m not that girl, Greyson. I know, I know. I’ve acted like that girl, but that’s not me.” I took a deep breath. “I’m not comfortable here.” I mumbled the words, scared to see his reaction. “There’s too much going on. I think I want to leave.”
“What are you scared of?”
“I’m scared of the things I’m hearing. I’m scared that you really are the devil. I’m scared I’m going to lose myself and my perception of good and evil.”
“Do you think I’m evil?”
“I don’t know.” I answered honestly. All signs pointed to yes, but I didn’t want to believe that he was capable of such evil. I didn’t want to believe that I could be so attracted to and consumed with someone who was pure evil. I’d always prided myself on my common sense and ability to see who people were when I first met them. My people radar had never been off before, but I had never had this sort of attraction to a man before.
“I suppose that’s better than a yes.” He gave me a wry smile. “Will you stay?”
“Why do you want me to stay?”
“I don’t know.”
“Neither of us seems to know a thing.” I sighed and he wrapped his arms around me.
“Dance with me.”
“What?” I made a face. “Really?”
“Not dance for me, dance with me.”
“I’m not much of a dancer.”
“You don’t have to be much of a dancer.” He grabbed my hands and spun me around. “You just have to move.”
“We’re going to dance to ‘La Vie En Rose’?”
“Why not?” He smiled and put his arm around my waist and started humming. We spun around the room and I tried to match his footsteps and not step on his feet as we waltzed. “Da da da da da da, da da, da da, la vie en rose.” He hummed and sang and I smiled up at him as we glided together. We started laughing as we nearly hit the coffee table and I fell against him in my quick attempt to avoid his feet.
“Sorry, I told you I sucked.”
“No, you don’t.” His eyes were full of mirth and we continued dancing in silence, with only the music and his humming filling the room.
“You’re a good dancer.” I finally spoke after the song had finished.
“I used to dance with my mom.” His smiled. “She wanted me to be a ballroom dancer.”
“She what?” I looked up at him in surprise and he laughed.
“There are many things you don’t know about me.”
“But now I do. Well, I know some. You wanted to be a comedian and your dad said no, and your mom wanted you to be a ballroom dancer.”
“Which I never wanted, by the way.” He laughed. “I absolutely hated dancing with my mom every week. Now, of course, I’m glad she made me. I’ll always carry those memories with me.”
“Was she a good dancer then?”
“The best,” he said simply, and then held his hand out and twirled me around and around. “She was a ballet dancer when she was younger. In fact, that’s how my father met her.”
“Oh?”
“His girlfriend dragged him to the ballet.” He laughed. “My father saw my mom on the stage and she captivated him. He fell in love with her as he watched her dance.”
“Wow.”
“It was The Nutcracker as well. Not cliché at all.” He smiled and I could hear nostalgia in his voice.
“So how did he meet her?”
“He went back to the ballet the next day. In fact, he went back to 59 performances and then he went backstage and talked to her.”
“And what did she say?”
“She ignored him.” He laughed. “Well, she thanked him for the flowers he had brought and dismissed him.”
“Oh no.” I felt my heart thudding. “That’s sad.”
“The story has a happy ending, Meg. I do exist, remember?” He laughed. “He went back to the ballet for three more months and every other week he went backstage and took her flowers. He didn’t go every da
y because he didn’t want her to think he was a creep.”
“And what happened?”
“One day he went back and she was crying.” He looked away from me then. “And he took her into his arms and let her cry. After about ten minutes, she stopped and they went out for watee.”
“Watee? Huh?”
“That’s what they called it. She had water and he had coffee.”
“Oh, that’s cute.”
“Yeah, they went out for watee for the next two weeks and then my father proposed.”
“What?”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “He knew from the first night that she was the one.”
“That’s so romantic.” I sighed wistfully. Why couldn’t Greyson be like his dad?
“I’m sure you’re wondering what happened to me.” He laughed and I blushed at how clearly he had been able to read my thoughts.
“Well...”
“It’s okay.” He pulled me back to the couch with him. “Sometimes, I wonder what happened to me as well.”
“I’ve never heard a man say that before.”
“As you get older, you begin to wonder what you’ve done with your life. Who you’ve hurt. Who you’ve helped. If the bad outweighs the good. If the good can ever outweigh the bad.” His tone was deep and he pulled me onto his lap. “And then sometimes, you just want to lose yourself and forget it all.”
“Can you?”
“Forget it all?”
“Yeah?”
“No. Never.” He pulled my head down to his. “And in moments like this, I never want to forget.” I wrapped my arms around his head as he kissed me and I melted into him. I knew what he meant. This moment would stick with me forever and I never wanted to forget it. Even if I found out he was as bad as I thought he was. In this moment, he was wonderful. He was my dream guy. This was a perfect moment. A snapshot moment. It was one I would come back to in my mind and my dreams for years to come.
Greyson smelled divine and I felt myself losing myself in him as we kissed. When his lips were on mine and his hands were on me, there was nothing more important to me than being with him.
“Oh, Meg.” Greyson groaned as I massaged the top of his head and pulled the tips of his hair. He pushed me back down on the couch roughly and positioned his body on top of mine. I stared up at him and he smiled down at me sweetly, so sweetly that I thought my heart was going to break. “Stay the night, Meg.”
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