When he did, he laid down on the bed beside me. He rolled onto his side so that he could face me and propped his head up on one hand. “You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”
I blushed and rested my right forearm across my eyes. Then I peeked over at him out of one eye. He was smiling at me. I giggled and turned to face him.
“What now?” I asked. “What does this mean?”
Greyson tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. His eyes traced my lips as he answered. “I have to take care of something in Vegas.”
I felt my eyebrows tug together. “How long will it take?”
“Not long. A day, maybe two. But I want you close to me. I don’t want to be apart again.”
I smiled and shifted closer to him so that my knees pressed against his thighs. “I want that, too. I don’t think Houston is where I want to be anymore. Not after everything. I think I need a change.”
“Me too,” Greyson said, and his eyes sparkled with ideas.
“So, you take care of business in Nevada,” I said. “And then we go from there.”
“And then we go from there,” Greyson agreed, taking my hand and lifting my knuckles to his lips.
I giggled and tried to pull my hand back to my chest. He followed and moved in on me, showering me in kisses before wiggling his fingers into my ribs to tickle me. I shrieked, and he laughed. It was a deep, joyful sound, and it was more than contagious.
I was beside myself with laughter as the man I loved tickled me, naked, shameless, and overrun with happiness. It was a high unlike anything I had ever felt, and in my soul, I knew it would last forever.
Chapter 39
Greyson
It had been two weeks since I surprised Skylar at the hospital in Houston. It had taken a little longer for me to get my affairs in order than I had expected. There were a lot of things one needed to attend to when selling an estate and a business the size of The Citrine.
Don Bravo was sitting in the chair across from me in my office. At least, it was my office for the next four minutes or so. As soon as I signed the papers, the ownership and rights would instantly transfer to Bravo.
And there wasn’t a single ounce of hesitation about it in my body.
I knew that this move was exactly what I wanted. All good things were on the horizon, and it felt like everything before this moment had just been a warm up exercise before my real life began.
Don Bravo nodded toward Meek, who was sitting in the chair beside him. “I recall you said you had some demands in regards of your associate here. What do I call you?”
Meek held out his hand. “Matthew.”
Bravo shook it. “Matthew. Nice to meet you. Call me Don, please. Bravo will not become a household name in this place. Not if I can help it.”
“You got it.” Matthew nodded.
Meek had warmed up to the idea of Bravo taking my place over the previous two weeks. It had been a somewhat rough transition. He wasn’t keen on the idea from the get go, but as he spent more time with the mob boss, he started to realize that he would do a decent, if not excellent, job at running The Citrine. Nevertheless, I had to make sure Bravo took care of my best friend where his career was concerned.
“Demands, yes,” I said, nodding. “His wage will increase by twenty-five percent as he will be taking on more responsibility. All of this is on page seventeen of the document. He will retain his title as Head of Security but will also work as your advisor, as he was mine. He gives sound advice. He won’t lead you astray, and he will be well worth the money.”
“Very well,” Bravo said. “I intended to speak to you about this anyway, Matthew. I wanted to let you know that I won’t be bringing in any of my personal employees to run the casino. I don’t want to see any staff turnover. Greyson has done a wonderful job with this place. I believe it represents the vision his father had all along. I don’t wish to see it changed. I want you to hold me accountable to this. If you think a decision I make will negatively impact this place, I trust you will bring it to my attention. Yes?”
Meek nodded. “Hasn’t ever been a problem before. Won’t be a problem now.”
I laughed. “Meek does have a tendency to speak whatever is on his mind.”
“Meek?” Bravo asked, his eyes swinging to me.
“Yeah, that’s what I call him,” I said.
Bravo arched an eyebrow as he looked back at Meek, who shifted in his chair. “Matthew is fine, Don.”
Bravo laughed and nodded. “Very well then. Greyson, is there anything else before we sign?”
I shook my head and passed Bravo a pen. I pulled the cap off mine and pressed the tip to the final document. I wrote my signature and spun the page to Don Bravo. He signed with a flourish of his wrist and handed me back the pen.
“Nothing else,” I said. “The Citrine is officially yours. Congratulations.”
The three of us stood and shook hands the way businessmen do. Bravo held mine for a beat longer than normal. “You can come back anytime you wish, Greyson. You will always be welcome here. I’ll even sell the place back to you if you change your mind. Consider the place forever yours.”
“Thank you for preserving her,” I said.
“Thanks for knocking some sense into my son,” Bravo joked.
The three of us burst into laughter. It was easy to forget that I was making a deal with the most dangerous man in the city. I was signing the papers with a man who felt like an uncle. A friend.
***
I got back to my place about an hour after signing the papers with Don Bravo. As I was letting myself in, my bedroom door clicked open down the hall. Skylar emerged wearing nothing but one of my gray T-shirts. It covered the tops of her thighs, and I could tell she was cold. Her nipples were pressing into the thin fabric.
She crossed her arms under her breasts and padded barefoot across the cool marble floors toward me. Her hair was a tangled mess, and I suspected she would be asking me to help her brush it out. The previous night had been particularly fun in bed with her.
When she reached me, she looked up at me. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were still heavy with sleep. It was only nine in the morning. I had met Bravo at seven. I had been too excited about the deal to wait for a more reasonable hour. I wanted it over first thing.
“Is it done?” Skylar asked, smiling up at me.
I nodded. “Sure is.”
Skylar squealed and clapped her hands together. “What do we do now?”
“Anything we want to,” I said as she followed me into the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of chilled champagne and some orange juice and poured us each a mimosa. It was early, but selling the casino was a thing to celebrate. I tapped my glass against hers. “Here’s to us.”
“To us.” She smiled as she took a sip.
Then she took my hand and pulled me through the kitchen to my sliding glass doors. She pushed them open and raced outside, giggling all the way as her feet slapped against the patio stones. She paused when she was at the very edge of the pool.
She walked along it and occasionally dipped her toe in to spray a wall of water into the pool. I watched her walk around it while she sipped her drink. She looked up every now and then to catch my eye.
By the time she had completed a full lap, she had finished her drink. She placed it on the patio near the corner of the pool and went to stand right in front of me facing the water. I was looking at her back when she pulled my shirt over her head. Her hair was momentarily caught up in the neckline, but when the shirt came free, her curls tumbled down to graze the dimples in her lower back.
She reached her arms over her head and made a show with her body. I watched with my glass raised halfway to my mouth, transfixed by her beauty.
She spun to face me. Her breasts bounced, and she smiled at me as her hair fell in front of her. She looked like a mermaid.
“Are you coming, or what?” Skylar asked. “This calls for a celebratory swim before we go wherever it is we’re going to g
o.”
I put my drink down and stripped naked as fast as I could. Skylar watched me the whole time. When I went to stand beside her at the edge of the pool, she made a show of checking me out.
She shrieked when I reached out and pushed her into the pool. As she hit it with a splash, I jumped in beside her. We broke the surface at almost the same time, and as soon as I had wiped water from my eyes, Skylar began splashing me playfully.
She squealed with laughter as I caught her in my arms and pulled her against me. I could touch the bottom here, but she couldn’t, so I held her in my arms and she locked her legs around my waist. She rested her forearms on my shoulders and played mindlessly with my hair and massaged the back of my neck.
“Let’s play a game,” I said as I turned in slow circles in the water.
“A game?” Skylar asked. “What sort of game?”
“I’m going to ask you a question, and you have to say the first word that comes into your mind. Literally the first thing.”
“I’ve played this before,” she said. “Isn’t this a kid’s game?”
“Hey,” I said. “Don’t be so hasty to shut it down. Just entertain me for a minute, all right?”
Skylar nodded.
“Okay,” I said. “Here we go. Types of condiments.”
“Mustard,” Skylar said quickly.
“Mustard? Really? Of all the options you had, you went with mustard?”
Skylar narrowed her eyes. “The rules are you say the first thing that comes to mind. Mine was mustard. I’m sorry that my answer doesn’t live up to your condiment standards.”
I laughed and wrapped my arms around her waist. “Okay, okay, you’re right. I’m being obnoxious. Next one. Any color.”
“Blue,” she said confidently.
“A name starting with the letter ‘L.’”
“Luke.”
“A city you’ve always wanted to visit.”
“Rome,” she said.
I smiled coyly at her.
Her mouth dropped open. “You tricked me!”
“Tricked?” I asked. “I merely found out what we’re going to do next. Unless, of course, Rome wasn’t a truthful answer and you’d really prefer to go somewhere else.”
Skylar kissed me. Her lips tasted sweet. When she pulled away, she was smiling. “Let’s go to Rome,” she whispered.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Skylar
The room was awash in the early morning light. Thin blankets were wrapped up around my legs as I arched my back and stretched, my knuckles hitting the wood headboard above my head. I looked around for Greyson when I discovered that he wasn’t next to me in the bed.
I spotted him after seconds of searching.
At the foot of the bed was a pair of French doors that opened up onto a small but functional balcony. Greyson was standing out there with his back to me. His hands were out to the sides resting on the balcony, causing his shoulders to bunch up beneath the thin fabric of his white T shirt.
Even now, a year after he arrived at the hospital in Houston to take me to that dinner, I was still astounded by his presence every single day.
I untangled myself from the blankets and slipped off the bed. I padded barefoot to the doors and stepped out into the morning sun.
The concrete of the patio was warm beneath my toes. The air was still and the sun kissed my skin. I wore nothing but my silk sleeping set, and as I hugged Greyson from behind the fabric grazed my nipples and tantalized my skin.
Greyson turned to face me and leaned back against the railing as he put his hands on my waist. “Good morning, gorgeous,” he said, his hands slipping beneath my silk tank top to touch my bare skin.
“Good morning,” I smiled, stretching upwards to plant a kiss on his perfect lips.
He nodded towards a small wrought iron table in the corner of the balcony. Two mugs of coffee sat there, along with a bowl of assorted fruit. A strawberry beckoned me, and I popped it into my mouth before taking my cup of coffee and sipping it greedily as I took up a spot beside Greyson to look down at the sprawling view below us.
We were in Rome, and Greyson hadn’t held back on the luxuries. Our room boasted a spectacular view of the city, and we were just a mere six or so blocks from the Coliseum, which stood like a proud beast above the Tuscan colored roofs of the other buildings.
“I still can’t believe we’re here,” I said softly, letting my hands graze his as he turned back around to face the city with me. “It has all been a dream.”
“That’s how a vacation should feel,” Greyson said.
I took another mouthful of my coffee and sighed happily. I tilted my head so that it was resting on Greyson’s shoulder. “I’m looking forward to being back in one place for a while,” I admitted. “It will be nice to come home to the same bed every night again. And to cook in the same kitchen.”
“Cook?” Greyson asked, amusement coloring his tone.
“Okay,” I giggled, “It will be nice to watch you cook in the same kitchen while I drink wine.”
“That sounds much more accurate,” Greyson chuckled. There was a long pause before he spoke again. It was a comfortable quiet that we shared, and when he finally gave voice to his thoughts he watched me out of the corner of his eyes. “You’re sure Nevada is where you want to head back to?”
We had discussed where we should eventually settle down over the last few months as we hopped from one European city to the next. Greyson had been more than willing to return with me to Houston. But something about that idea felt wrong to me. I wanted somewhere that would be a fresh start for me; somewhere that I wouldn’t feel like the shadow of my old life was following me around. I wanted to start new with Greyson.
So I had chosen Nevada. I knew how much Greyson loved it there, and away from the lights and noise of Vegas was actually quite pleasant. I liked the desert and how close it was for Renee to fly out to visit us every couple of weeks- on Greyson’s dime, of course.
“I’m sure Nevada is where I want to go,” I said confidently. “It’s where we’re supposed to be. Can’t you feel it?”
Greyson didn’t say anything.
“Greyson?” I asked.
He looked down and the corner of his mouth that I could see curled upwards. Then, slowly, he turned to face me. He let his coffee mug rest on the railing and then he took mine from me and did the same. He clasped my hands in his and held my gaze.
“I can feel a lot of things,” he said softly, “And you’re right. It is where we’re supposed to be. Skylar I’m ready for the next step with you. I want to return to Nevada with my fiancée on my arm.” I sucked in a sharp breath when Greyson dropped to his knee in front of me. He still held my hands in one of his. His other hand went to the pocket of his pants and he withdrew a royal blue velvet box. “Skylar Lindell, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life doing everything in my power to make you happy. Will you marry me?”
The fluttering feeling in my chest gave way to nervous laughter as a wave of emotion broke over me. I covered my mouth with a shaking hand as the tears started to come. I nodded vigorously but was unable to speak that tricky word: yes.
Greyson seemed to understand me anyways, because he popped open the box, and a blinding flash of light erupted in my vision as the diamond caught the sunlight.
The ring was dazzling. It was a halo cut on a white gold, diamond encrusted band. The centre diamond glittered like nothing I had ever seen, and colorful blotches of light danced on the cement at my feet as Greyson plucked the ring from the box and extended it towards me.
I gave him my left hand. He slid the ring onto my finger, and then pressed his lips to my knuckles. He closed his eyes and stayed where he was on his knee before me.
I took a mental snapshot of the moment before pulling him to his feet and throwing my arms around his shoulders with a joyful cry. His familiar smell of pine flooded my nose and I inhaled a deep breath of him.
“I have to call Renee,”
I whispered in his ear.
“You have plenty of time to call her,” Greyson said, pushing me away and wiping my tears away with his thumbs. “For now let’s just enjoy this moment. I’ve had that ring with me since Spain and I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask you.”
“Why today?” I asked, looking up at him like he was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen. Because he was.
He smiled and looked not out to Rome but back into our room, and to the bed of messed up white linens. “I rolled over this morning and watched you sleep for a while. I couldn’t wait another day to ask you.”
I hooked my thumbs in the waistband of his pants and tugged his hips towards me. He chuckled as I held him against me and tilted my head back to stare adoringly up at him. “How do you feel about getting married sooner rather than later?”
“Really?” Greyson asked, arching an eyebrow. “You’re not one of those girls who needs at least a year to plan the whole thing? Because if you are, I’m willing to wait. I’ll wait for as long as you need me to.”
“I’m not willing to wait,” I whispered.
Greyson lifted my chin and kissed me softly. “Then you won’t have to. Summer is just around the corner. How do you feel about that? Any venue you want, it’s yours.”
“I don’t care where we get married,” I said, “We can do it at your house. Outside. All I need are twinkle lights and candles and I’m happy. And my wedding dress, of course.”
“Of course,” Greyson said sheepishly. “The thought of you in a wedding dress…” Greyson trailed off, and his eyes did a slow sweep of my body.
I looped my hands behind his neck and bit my bottom lip in the way that I knew drove him wild. Greyson’s hands fell to my hips and he leaned in to give me a kiss so tender I thought I might melt. But his hands held me in place until the kiss was done, at which point he took my hand and led me back into our room.
He closed the French doors behind him and turned to face me as I perched on the edge of the bed. The sunlight streaming in through the windows at his back cast his whole front into shadow, but outlined his silhouette as he stood and looked upon me.
Deepest Desire Page 24