by Elley Arden
The ice water cooled the flush from the wine and Mom distracted her with a question about the red-headed realtor sitting to Will’s left.
The evening continued uneventful until Paul said, “Hey, that looks like Grey Kemmons against the back wall.”
To which Nel snapped her head away from the redhead at Will’s table with enough force she pulled a muscle in her neck. Ouch! She pushed a palm into the burning spot and tried to see, through watering eyes, the man who would make Paul say such a thing.
“It is Grey Kemmons,” Rick said before Nel got a good look, and then Rick stood, waving his arm overhead, blocking her view.
Nel leaned farther to her right, still cupping her neck, still trying to find this mystery guy her brothers thought was Grey. The pain in her neck no longer crippled her movement, but a strangling sense of anticipation robbed her of breath, and her head felt ten sizes too big.
Her father approached the table with a glass of wine and a tumbler of tonic water in hand, and then, over his right shoulder, Nel saw the most beautiful man, a vision dressed in a silver-gray tuxedo, a white shirt opened at his throat.
Paul was on his feet, walking toward Grey.
Nel hyperactively blinked and swallowed as she watched it unfold. Was this really happening? The vision dwarfed everyone else in the crowd as he made his way to the table, an almost bashful, crooked smile on his crisp clean-shaven face.
Sweet baby Jesus. Stunned. That’s what she was. Why was he here entered her brain, but as her brothers got up from the table to fawn over him, and her mother’s hand latched onto her wrist, Nel’s brain failed.
“Who is that?” Mom asked.
“Grey Kemmons?” Dad questioned, scratching his bald head.
“Who’s Grey Kemmons?” Mom released Nel and grabbed hold of Dad.
“Baseball,” Nel whispered.
“How does Paul know Grey Kemmons?” Dad stood, tossing his napkin to his seat.
The boys herded Grey closer to the table. His smile grew weaker then, and he looked downright scared as he made eye contact with Nel. She meant to smile to reassure him, but she was frozen stiff.
“Evening,” he said. “I apologize for crashing the party.”
Nel’s mouth hung open. Cool air from the room chilled the inside of her cheeks, and she tasted food she hadn’t eaten on her limp tongue.
Mom’s hand gripped her wrist again. “Good evening, young man,” Mom said.
“Take my chair,” Rick said. “I’ll scrounge up another.” Rick pulled out the chair beside Nel.
She closed her mouth and blinked as Grey made his way around the table to settle in Rick’s seat. And by the time he sat, staring at her expectantly, she was long overdue to speak.
A smile lifted her lips. “You came,” she whispered.
“I did.” His voice was just as low and intimate. “I hope that’s okay. I didn’t realize it was a family affair.” His eyes shifted away from her face, and his mouth twisted, but then he looked at her and ran his gaze from her head to her emerald silk-covered lap. “You look amazing,” he breathed.
Joy rushed Nel’s veins and for a split second, having forgotten where she was, she moved in for a kiss. But then Mom’s grip tightened on her wrist.
They had an audience. Crap.
Nel directed a wider, forced smile at her parents. “Mom and Dad, this is Grey Kemmons. Grey, meet George and Ellen Parker.”
Nel leaned back as Grey’s strong arm reached across her to shake her mother and father’s hands.
“It’s a real pleasure. I’ve been watching you play since you were with Cincinnati,” Dad said.
“How do you two know each other?” Mom asked.
And suddenly Dad’s eyes were sharp, full of inquisition, and directed at Nel. “Good question, Ellen.”
“We’re helping him renovate a house,” Paul said from across the table.
Paul probably figured he was helping the situation, but by the looks of Dad’s now-suspicious eyes trained on Grey, the interjection upped the apprehension.
“So you’re business associates?” Dad asked.
“Dad, please … ”
“It started out that way,” Grey interrupted, clearing his throat repeatedly.
His nervousness was endearing, while his directness was confusing. He’d never been the most forthcoming person.
Nel tossed him a raised-brow, inquisitive glance wrapped in a smile, when what she really wanted to do was ask point-blank, “What are you doing?”
With a shrug and a smile of his own, he rested a hand over Nel’s, laced their fingers together and lifted their joined appendages onto the table.
A little noise escaped from Mom, and Dad’s eyes widened. Nel didn’t even breathe. She had to be dreaming.
A clanging rose from the front of the room. “If you will all take your seats, we’ll get started with the awards presentations.”
That was it. The lights in the room dimmed, and everyone angled their chairs toward the podium as the room quieted.
Nel could finally breathe, but the breaths were shallow and unsatisfying. Her hand, still clasped in Grey’s, was resting in his lap. And although everything was incredibly confusing and surreal, everything felt one-hundred-percent right.
He came, and the things that that did to her. Stealing a glance at his clean profile washed in dimmed overhead lights, she swallowed a shot of desire and chased it down with some lingering confusion. He shaved. He appeared in public. He was risking recognition. For her? She couldn’t think about what that meant, not now, not when she was about to stand in front of three hundred people.
Later. She’d get the answer to all her questions later.
With a breath, she settled into her seat, trying her damnedest to pretend nothing about the night was extraordinary. When it was time for Nel to accept her award and say a few words, she spoke directly to her family, thanking them for their support in her business venture. Seeing Grey among the people she loved most doubled the size of her heart, making the muscle ache for lack of space in her chest. More than once, she itched to rub the spot beneath her left breast, but she worried she’d be transparent, so she dealt with the ache and swallowed all the mushy words her heart wanted her to say. For the rest of the evening, she talked, smiled, and laughed, while fighting tooth and nail to suppress the truth.
She loved him.
“Excuse me, Mr. Kemmons. Can I get your autograph for my nephew?”
The stranger’s voice struck dread in Nel, and she immediately looked at Grey’s face to see how he responded to the recognition. He closed his eyes briefly, so briefly maybe no one noticed it as anything more than a blink, but she knew. She saw the barely perceptible pulse in his cheek, too, but when he opened his eyes and inhaled, the only thing she saw was his generous smile.
“Sure,” Grey said, taking a pen and napkin from the man. “What’s your nephew’s name?”
“Mason.” The man beamed from ear to ear. “He’s a centerfielder, too. Little League.”
Grey nodded as he scribbled something on the napkin and then handed it back. “Good luck to him. Tell him the trick is getting a good jump on the ball.”
More people crowded the table. Grey’s smile never faltered. He signed autographs for everyone, making baseball-related small talk. The memorabilia seekers looked every bit as smitten as Nel. She’d never seen this side of Grey Kemmons before, and it was intoxicating.
There was no way he’d be going home alone tonight.
“I’m going to ride with Grey,” Nel said, leaning over Mom, making sure Dad could hear.
Her parents exchanged looks and then Mom patted Nel’s thigh. “Have fun, sweetheart. Be careful, and remember how proud we are of you.” She leaned in, placing a kiss on Nel’s cheek.
Dad’s untamed brows d
arkened his eye sockets. “You sure?”
Nel nodded. There were still so many things she was unsure of where Grey was concerned, but leaving with him tonight wasn’t one of those things.
“Okay then.” He reached across Mom and patted Nel’s hand.
Twenty minutes later, Nel and Grey were alone in the thinning crowd, trying to make their way out of the ballroom. Hearty congratulations for Nel and curiosity over Grey stopped them every few steps.
And then the voice she would’ve been dreading — but expecting — all evening had she not been so wrapped up in Grey slithered into her ears, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
“Congratulations, Nel.” Will stood with his arm around Tawny’s non-existent waist. His fingers looked as though they were digging into his date’s sequin-covered side, but they couldn’t possibly be holding her as tight as Grey was holding Nel.
With Grey’s arm locked beneath her breasts, crushing her back against his body, Nel couldn’t take a full breath. “Thank you,” she said, flashing a look at Will’s smug face, but letting her gaze settle on the chandelier dripping from the ceiling behind him. “Congratulations to you as well.” It was required to remain polite, and she did want things to be civil. Especially with Grey keeping watch, and especially now that Tawny was seeing Nel with Grey. The woman couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to not recognize him — even without the beard.
Nel hoped for stupidity anyway.
“You clean up well,” Tawny said smiling at Grey.
“I’m sorry. Have we met?”
Nel wanted so badly to wiggle her way around to see his face. Was he seriously trying to call Tawny’s bluff? And was it actually working? Tawny’s face scrunched, and she looked confused.
“We haven’t met.” Will thrust his free hand in Grey’s direction. “Will Fortune, broker extraordinaire.” He chuckled at his stupid joke.
“Greyson Kemmons, Gold Glove center fielder for the Nashville Argonauts.” He didn’t take Will up on the handshake.
Will’s upper lip twitched, something that only happened when he knew he’d been beaten. Seeing it gave Nel way too much satisfaction, and she had to get away before she unleashed a bitchy smile.
She craned her neck and lifted her chin to Grey. “We should go,” she whispered. And then she offered her most reserved smile to Will and Tawny. “Have a lovely evening. It was good seeing you.”
Which was a total lie, but honestly, Nel didn’t care. How could she worry about them when she had Grey?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“We’re staying here? But I thought we were going home? I don’t have clothes or my toothbrush or … ”
Grey touched his finger to Nel’s moving lips. “I had the concierge take care of the critical things.”
“Oh.” Her sparkling eyes pulled him in for a kiss, despite them being in full view of people leaving the ballroom.
After the run in with Good Old Will, Grey felt extra-possessive of Nel, and in an uncharacteristic display of his personal life, he didn’t care who saw him kiss her outside the elevators.
On the other hand, what he wanted to do to her once they were inside the elevator required a bit of privacy.
“What about the dogs?” she asked when the kiss ended.
“Fed, watered, and let out before I left. They should be good until morning.”
She nodded, blushing shock still on her face. “I can’t believe you did all this.” She reached up and touched fingertips to his cheek. “And you shaved.”
He smiled as she trailed her nails over the ball of his cheek. “The beard looked a little shabby with the tux.”
“Excuse me, but you’re Grey Kemmons, aren’t you?”
Grey dragged his gaze away from Nel’s beautiful face to the wrinkled face of an old man. He should’ve been used to the recognition after the onslaught of admirers in the ballroom. And didn’t he attract more attention by kissing her? But still … Being out in the open again caused a little patch of hives to spring up beneath his collar. He tucked a finger between the clothes and skin for a good scratch, and then managed a gracious smile. “I am.”
“You’re a good ball player. Got power like Puckett.”
The elevator bell chimed, and Grey placed his hand on the small of Nel’s back, urging her inside. “That’s quite the compliment, sir. Thank you.” Hopefully the guy had detoured from wherever he’d been heading to talk to Grey, and he wasn’t planning to follow them.
The man stepped onto the elevator.
Grey bit back a sigh as Nel pressed into the corner, a goofy grin on her face. She’d been looking at him like that a lot tonight. He wondered what it meant while he punched the number six and asked, “What floor, sir?”
“Five.”
It figured. So much for the high-intensity groping session Grey had planned. He didn’t figure he could do much more than kiss Nel again in the space of one floor.
“How old are you?” the old man asked, staring hard at Grey’s face.
“Twenty-nine.”
“Used to be that was getting up there for a ball player, but these days guys are playing when they should be home watching on TV.”
Grey nodded, laughing on the inside, thinking about how Nashville’s forty-one-year-old shortstop would feel about that.
“Whatcha doing in Pittsburgh?”
Grey tensed. He knew fielding this question was only a matter of time, but now that the time had come, he wasn’t terribly confident of his answer. He glanced at Nel, and there was a tight worry on her face. She pushed away from the wall, and any minute he expected her to come to his rescue. He loved that about her — she was fierce.
With his eyes locked on hers, Grey relaxed. “I’m here, spending time with my girl.” Sure, they were words that took the heat off his real purpose for being in Pittsburgh, but right now, standing in this elevator, the words were also true.
The old guy nodded as the bell chimed for the fifth floor. “Have a nice evening, and good luck this season.”
“Thank you,” Grey called as the doors slid shut behind the man. And then Grey turned on Nel, hauling her to him with arms around her waist.
She gazed up with wide, bright eyes. “You’re so nice to everybody.”
“You look surprised.” He played with a couple curls that escaped her sexy-as-hell hairdo.
“I am. I thought you hated being recognized, and you weren’t that nice to me when we met.”
Even though the elevator door slid open behind him, he cupped her face in his hands and brought her lips to his. “That’s because I knew you were trouble.” He backed her against the elevator wall and kissed the breath right out of her.
The door behind him slid shut, and still he kissed her. The elevator dropped into motion, surprising him with the downward direction, but still he kissed her. Only when the car jerked again did he come up for air — just in time for the doors to drag open and guests to step on.
Grey put an inch of space between him and Nel, his eyes glued to her reddened face. He had no idea how many people stood behind him or where they were going. It was hard to think rationally when the head in his pants was in charge.
Nel stretched past him on the wall side, probably to re-punch their floor number into the panel. He didn’t much care. With her silky, full skirt crowding his body, he saw the perfect opportunity to prolong the pleasure.
When she settled back against the wall, he leaned closer, sliding a hand around her, using the miles of fabric from her gown to hide his destination and keep her decent. There was absolutely nothing wrong with a man putting his arm around his date while they stood face-to-face in a crowded elevator. Now, a man maneuvering his hand beneath the silky fabric covering his date’s ass? That might be questionable. But with Nel wedged into the corner and blocked by the wall, her overflow
ing dress and his formidable body, who knew? By the look of her unreadable face, no one — except Grey. He knew, because his fingers were tracing the crack of her backside, and he saw her eyes glaze over, felt her breath hitch. And knowing made it hard for him to think straight. To keep it from going too far, too fast.
The elevator chimed its arrival, and there was movement behind him. He stilled with his hand cupping her ass, his fingers barely between her legs.
“They’re gone,” she whispered, her voice mixing with the sliding door.
He kissed her then, slipped a finger inside her warm, wet. She gasped into his mouth and arched against him.
The next stop was their floor, and they rushed through the hall in silence, hand in hand. A welcomed tension tightened Grey’s body, and anticipation quickened his breathing. This woman managed to do something to him only baseball could ever do — when he was with her, he lost himself, lost the drama of his life, the disappointments, the tears, forgot every damn thing that didn’t feel good, and she left him feeling better afterward.
Grey shoved into the room, pulling her behind him, but she stopped, giving resistance to his stride. “What?” he asked, turning to her, hoping he wouldn’t see second thoughts playing out on her face.
She stared, wide-eyed, into the room. “This is amazing.”
He looked where she was looking and admired the gentle glow of the fireplace flames flickering around the room. He wasn’t one for fancy digs, so he wasn’t one to debate the décor, but if Nel liked it, he liked it. Besides, once she was naked, he wasn’t going to have eyes for anything else.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, tugging on her hand, pulling her deeper into the room. “I wanted to celebrate you.”
“Us,” she whispered, staring at him, something melancholy creeping across her face.
His heart twitched, and he knew she was thinking about him leaving. She had to be, because he was thinking about leaving, too. Wasn’t that why he’d really done this? It wasn’t about sex or some real estate award. It was about making damn sure she remembered him. When he was gone. When the Wills of her world came sniffing around and there wasn’t a damn thing Grey could do about it.