He braced a hand on the back of her chair. “Are you sure that’s wise? Won’t it bring back painful memories?”
At the compassionate tone in her father’s voice, for his other child, a lump filled Avery’s throat. As if sensing her sorrow—or feeling some of it herself—Olivia reached for Avery’s hand under the table and squeezed tight. She had her family, the ones who loved her unconditionally, and that’s what mattered, she reminded herself. Even if looking into the face of the man who was supposed to lead that family caused her nothing but pain.
“Just the opposite, Dad. I was one of the lucky ones, thanks to Avery,” Sienna said, her grateful gaze landing on Avery’s.
Avery smiled at the young girl she thought of as her real sister. Sienna’s sweet personality and generous nature had to come from somewhere, and more often than not, Avery attributed them to her mom. She hadn’t known Robert Dare was married until long after they’d become involved. By then things were complicated. Avery didn’t agree with Savannah’s actions, but the blame for everything that had happened lay with Robert Dare.
“Well, I’m proud of you,” he said … to Sienna. “Have fun, girls,” he said, then walked away, his head no doubt already back on business.
Things grew quieter and more strained after his departure, and since they’d covered a lot about the prom already, they agreed to meet again in a week and see what remained for them to line up. Then Avery could take their plans, including a chosen date, back to Dr. McCann for final approval.
The sisters hugged good-bye, and Sienna headed back to the beach to meet up with her friends.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Olivia said.
“Sounds good,” Avery said.
She and her sister strode over to Rick, who was sitting at a neighboring table, discreetly keeping an eye on her.
“All set,” she told him.
He rose from his seat and slid a pair of aviators over his eyes. Even Avery had to admit, the man, with his muscles and good looks, was hot.
“Where to?” he asked her.
Avery sighed. Throughout the meal and other conversations, the reality of her situation had never been far from her mind. And after going over and over her options, she knew what she had to do.
“Can you take me home? I need to pack,” Avery told Rick.
“Are you going to move in across the hall from Grey?” Olivia asked, her tone clearly conveying she still didn’t agree with that choice.
Avery cleared her throat. “No. I’m going to move in with him.”
Olivia blinked, opening and closing her mouth in surprise.
Avery took advantage of the silence and leaned in to kiss her sister on the cheek. “I’ll call you tonight,” she said, not wanting to explain herself in front of Rick.
But she didn’t blame Olivia for being shocked. Avery had just made the decision herself, after realizing her choices amounted to slim … and none. She couldn’t stay in her apartment. She wouldn’t put a family member in danger, and she couldn’t stay at a hotel, not when Grey was offering her two viable alternatives. His extra apartment was nice, but she’d be fooling herself to think she could stay there, with him right next door. There was no reason. She was already invested in him … in them, and she’d be lying to herself to think otherwise.
Chapter Ten
Grey spent an hour at the gym in his building, taking out his frustrations with Simon and life in general on a punching bag. He let himself back into his apartment and immediately stripped off his sweat-slickened shirt and tossed it into the laundry pile in his bedroom. Towel wrapped around his shoulders, he headed for the kitchen, needing a cold drink. At least he felt better, having exerted energy on the inanimate object while pretending it was his ex-manager’s face, he thought wryly.
A knock sounded. He wiped his damp head with the towel and opened his door to find Avery standing there, surrounded by suitcases, plural, and Rick, her bodyguard, by her side.
Grey nodded at the other man, acknowledging him, then braced a hand on the doorframe and met Avery’s gaze. Before he could speak, the elevator opened behind Rick.
“Call if you need me,” the bodyguard said, then stepped back into the waiting car.
Grey looked from her bags, up her long, sexy legs, taking in her cute, flirty dress, before meeting her wide-eyed gaze once more.
“Is this what I think it is?” he asked.
“If you think I’m taking you up on your offer, then yes. It is.” She bent down and picked up one of the suitcases. “Help me?” she asked.
“Gladly.” She didn’t have to ask twice. Except he didn’t know where she wanted to stay. “You can keep your stuff in the guest room, where there’s more room.” He gestured behind him to his apartment. “Unless you want to stay next door?”
She bit down on her lip and shook her head. “No. I want to stay with you.”
He hefted the rest of the bags. “Guest room it is,” he said, attempting to play it cool and not show his relief at the fact that she didn’t want to be an entire hall and apartment and too many locked doors away from him.
He started for the extra bedroom when her voice stopped him. “Grey.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “You can put my bags in there, but I want to sleep in your bed. With you.”
His breath left him in a rush, pleasure and relief soaking into his pores. “Not that I’m not grateful, but what changed since last time I saw you?”
“Let’s get rid of the heavy stuff first, okay?”
He nodded and led the way. They unloaded her luggage, freeing their hands. He hadn’t been expecting company, and the bedroom was dark, shades drawn.
“Can we talk outside?” she asked.
“Sure.” He led her to the terrace, taking her literally, whether she’d meant it or not.
Though it was humid, it was nice to be outdoors. As always, the fresh air and the view of the city reminded him of how lucky he was to live here. And when Avery settled against one of the oversized loungers, looked up at him, and smiled, he knew his luck was holding.
He sat on the edge of her lounge and waited for her to talk, sensing she had a lot on her mind. She glanced up at the sky, her eyes narrowing, her cute nose wrinkled against the glare of the sun. Light freckles dotted the bridge, and he had the sudden desire to taste each one.
“I saw my father today,” she said.
Her words brought him down from the beginning of a light, fun fantasy.
“On purpose?” he asked. Because she hadn’t mentioned seeing the parent she had a difficult relationship with as being part of her day.
She shook her head. “You know Olivia, Sienna, and I had lunch at The Meridian. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but Sienna was already there at the beach with her friends. Like I told you, we were planning for the hospital prom, and my father walked over.”
She hesitated, and Grey gave her all the time she needed to gather her thoughts.
“I haven’t heard from my dad at all. Not when our picture was in the paper.” She gestured between them. “Not after the paparazzi swarmed my apartment or when some crazy person left a message on my door. And the family is big enough that someone had to have told him.” She raised her shoulder in a nonchalant shrug he wasn’t buying for one second. “He must have heard about it … and dismissed it from his mind.”
Shit, Grey thought, his heart clenching at the hurt she tried so hard to pretend didn’t exist. Her old man had no idea the emotional damage he’d caused all of his kids, but because Avery had been the donor to his other child, her emotions had been hit the most directly.
As someone who’d been belittled by a parent, Grey understood that no comment could be as painful as a negative one. Both kinds of behavior left a kid feeling unworthy and unimportant, two things he never ever wanted Avery to feel. But he had caused her to experience that feeling of abandonment, and he was coming to realize putting it behind her wasn’t as simple as he’d naively hoped it would be.
She
would never understand how much he regretted suddenly disappearing from her life all those years ago, how much he hated himself for doing it. He could have kept in touch, let her know she’d always been important to him, that out of sight wasn’t out of mind. He hadn’t. But the fact remained, he was here now, and he intended to make up for every last slight and hurt she’d ever felt.
“What did your father say today?” Grey asked, holding his breath for her answer.
Avery twisted her fingers together until the tips turned white. “He told Sienna he was proud of her for getting involved with kids with cancer after all she’d been through.”
“He’s an asshole,” Grey stated. He pushed himself up and straddled the chair until he sat closer to where she was curled into herself.
He grasped her hands, easing her grip and massaging the blood flow back into her fingers, holding on to her now, when she needed him most.
“I try and tell myself I don’t care, that I don’t need him, that it doesn’t matter whether or not he sees or acknowledges me.” Avery met his gaze, and tears leaked from her violet eyes. “But it does.”
“Of course it does,” he agreed. “Just like it matters to me that I never got my father’s approval. It matters that I know that, even if he’d lived, I still wouldn’t get approval or encouragement today. Doesn’t matter how successful I am.”
“Your father was crazy,” she whispered. “You’re an amazing man, Grey. It doesn’t matter if he saw it or not, knew it or not.”
“Exactly.” He grinned because she’d played into his hands, made his point for him. “Same applies to you, sugar. You’re an amazing woman. And you were a brave kid, giving bone marrow to your sister.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t really understand the magnitude of what they asked me to do. I just did what my parents wanted.” She drew a deep breath and looked down at their intertwined hands as she spoke. “And a part of me did it for selfish reasons, so my father would finally see me as something special.”
She spoke so softly he had to strain to hear her.
“I prayed that he would be so happy and grateful that I’d saved his other daughter, he’d come back home.” Avery bowed her head, her long hair falling over her face at the admission.
God, he hurt for her. “You were a kid. All those feelings, they were normal. You were just wishing and hoping for things every child should have. It doesn’t change the fact that you were brave then and you were strong afterwards. Like you told me the other day, your entire life shifted because of what your father did. The press coming after you, the panic attacks, the anxiety. You dealt with it all. Without him there to support you.”
Avery raised her head and met Grey’s understanding gaze. “You really believe that?” she asked.
“I do.” He squeezed her hands in reassurance.
Avery allowed his words and his belief in her to settle inside her. To warm her up where she’d always been cold. Because what she’d just admitted to him now? She’d never told anyone before, not even the therapist that her mother had sent her to.
Yes, she’d given bone marrow. But she’d always believed that her motives made her selfish. And though as an adult she donated her time to sick kids at the hospital and enjoyed seeing them light up and feel better about themselves, a part of her was trying to atone and make up for those selfish thoughts and needs she’d had as a kid.
But here was Grey, telling her that those old childhood feelings had been valid. For the first time, she pushed aside the juvenile view she’d tortured herself with for years and looked at things as an adult. As Grey did. And the heaviness that was always in her chest when she thought of that time, of her father or Sienna, lifted a little.
“Thank you,” Avery said.
“It’s just the truth, sugar.” He grinned, and she melted inside, the heat of the afternoon sun having nothing on the heat Grey generated inside her.
Because she was finally looking at him, and she was instantly aware of more than her own emotions. His tanned, bare chest filled her line of vision, and her pulse began a heavy beat in her veins. Desire kicked in, making itself known in telling ways, her sex filling with need, her breasts suddenly heavy and aching to be touched.
“Now let’s get back to what changed your mind about staying here, with me?” he asked.
“Oh, that.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah, that.”
She blew out a deep breath, forcing herself to concentrate on what he needed for a change, and that was answers.
They weren’t simple, but she owed him the truth. “On the one hand, there’s the practical consideration. I really do need to stay someplace safe.”
He nodded. “We all agree on that. But if safe is all you’re looking for, across the hall works just fine.”
He was right. “I know. But after everything that happened with my father at lunch, all I wanted to do was see you. I wanted to talk to you.” Her mind had been filled with thoughts of him. “I already knew I had to make a decision about where to go, and after talking to my sisters, I realized I’d be deluding myself if I thought I could stay anywhere but with you.” She drew a deep breath for courage and said, “We click, Grey. And I can’t run from that anymore.”
“Thank fuck,” he muttered and she couldn’t help but grin.
“I can’t promise what the future will bring,” she had to add. “But I’m here now, and I’m trying to give this thing a shot.”
It wasn’t something she’d consciously decided at lunch, but rather as she’d sat here unloading her burdens, letting him help her ease her pain, she’d understood running away was no longer an option. She needed to try.
* * *
At Avery’s words, Grey’s heart pounded hard in his chest. She was baring her soul in a way she’d never done before, because it pertained to them. She was admitting that she was as invested as he was … he hoped. But he also knew his own needs could be setting him up for a hard fall he wasn’t prepared to take. He heard what she was saying, but he had to make sure he processed correctly.
“We need to be clear, sugar. I want to see where things go for real. Are you on board?”
Her honest, open gaze met his. “I am.”
She’d just given him everything he’d asked for and all he needed to hear. He pulled her across his lap and managed to switch places so she straddled him now. The skirt from her dress flipped up easily on its own, her moist panties coming into direct heated contact with his rigid cock, which strained against his workout shorts.
“Mmm. You feel good.” She rocked her hips and, at the same time, placed her hands on his bare chest, skimming his flesh with her orange-painted fingertips.
Goose bumps and arousal hit him hard.
“You feel better.” He slid her dress up and over her head, tossing it to the ground at their feet.
“We’re outside,” she said, her eyes open wide.
“We are.” He flicked his wrist and divested her of her bra, adding to the pile, then cupped her breasts in his hands, squeezing the mounds with his palms before zeroing in on her pert nipples, tweaking and toying with each.
“Oh God.” She rolled her hips against his dick, moaning as she obviously hit the right spot.
He gritted his teeth, counting in his head, holding back the need pulsing through him at breakneck speed. If he let go, he’d come hard in his pants like a teenager with no control. And that wasn’t happening.
“I want to see you come for me. Right here under the warm sun and open air.” His apartment was high enough that nobody else could see her. Nobody could share in the bounty that was Avery.
“I need to,” she said in a hoarse voice, her nipples tight, body trembling.
He leaned in and pulled one of her nipples into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the distended tip before grazing the hard nub with his teeth.
She whimpered and arched her back, pushing her breast deeper. He plucked at her other one before switching it up, wrapping his lips around the oth
er nipple and playing with the damp one with his fingers. All the while, she moaned and sighed, rocking against him and keeping him riding the edge.
Unable to wait, he slid his free hand into the waistband of her barely there panties and cupped her wet heat. “Fuck, sugar, you’re soaking.”
“Just for you.” She rolled her hips back and forth, her sighs louder, music to his very attuned ears.
“Come for me now, and I’ll make sure it’s the first of many.” He felt confident making that promise since his cock pulsed in rhythm to her now-jerky moves, ready for action.
He slid his finger over her clit, rubbing back and forth, until she gripped his head, pulled at his hair, and screamed her climax as her body shuddered around his hand and over his confined dick. He kept the pressure on her sex until she collapsed against him.
“That was beautiful,” he said, bracing his hands around her cheeks and pressing a kiss to her lips. “You ready for more?”
Her heavy eyelids lifted, and she met his gaze. “Bring it on.”
He chuckled, liking this brave, open Avery. He lifted her up and moved her to the edge of the lounge. He slid his shorts off and kicked them aside, then reached for her panties and removed them with one quick pull.
“Grey!”
“No time for subtle seduction. I’m ready to come, and it’s got to be inside you.”
His normally more reserved Avery scooted back in the chair and spread her legs wide. Her shaved, pink pussy glistened and beckoned to him, which was clearly her intent. He met her open gaze, and he knew what a gift she was giving him. That she was willing to try a relationship, to put her insecurities aside, that was everything.
He moved over her. Her gaze dropped to where his cock poised at her entrance, her juices coating his head before he even slid inside. He’d never forget the sight, wanted her to take it in too.
But he also wanted her attention when he thrust home, inside the only place he belonged. “Look at me,” he said, barely recognizing his desire-roughened tone.
Her violet eyes met his as he inched into her body, slowly filling her up as completely as she did his heart. In her gaze, he saw acceptance of them, and everything he hoped for.
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