Worth the Risk

by Karen Erickson

  “Well, well, well.” Rhett laughed and shook his head. “Sounds like I touched a nerve. A girlfriend of yours?”

  Hunter didn’t reply. Mostly because he didn’t know how, since Gracie was most definitely not his girlfriend.

  A woman he thought of nonstop, yes. A woman who drove him wild in bed and knew how to satisfy him with both her body and her mind, oh yeah. But could he say she was his girlfriend? Could he proclaim to the world they were involved and in a relationship?

  No. And that hurt more than he cared to admit.

  “You’re not making a claim on her, huh? So she’s up for grabs?” Rhett grinned, the bastard. Rhett was baiting him and, damn it all, Hunter was falling for it.

  They stood near the entrance of the Beverly Hills Worth flagship store, both of them watching as Gracie walked around the perimeter of the building with a tablet clutched in her hands, taking notes with furious little taps of her fingers.

  “No, she’s definitely not up for grabs.” At least, not for Rhett. Hunter would give anything to grab her at this very moment. She looked amazing, wearing a simple, navy blue, sleeveless sheath that clung lovingly to her slender body. Sophisticated New Yorker in the Southern California sunshine, that was his Gracie.

  Hunter scowled. No, not his Gracie, though he wished she was.

  Possessiveness rose in his chest, and he squashed it down. Going He-Man while in front of his irritating brother wouldn’t look good. And it’d give Rhett more ammunition to use against him later.

  “That’s too bad. She’s a nice change from the usual blonde, plastic Barbie dolls that troll the store,” Rhett said, his gaze running admiringly over Gracie yet again.

  “Nice way to speak of your customer base, bro,” Hunter said, the sarcasm heavy.

  Rhett shrugged. “You know it’s true. This town is full of them. There’s not a natural blonde in the entire Southern California region. Trust me, I’ve checked.” He waggled his brows.

  Hunter shook his head, stifling the laugh that wanted to slip out. For whatever reason, Rhett wasn’t irritating him as much as usual, despite his leering over Gracie.

  Maybe it had something to do with the life-altering orgasm he’d experienced last week in his office. Amazingly enough, the residuals of it still lingered, leaving him relaxed and open-minded.

  Still confused, though. Confused as how to approach Gracie, how to make this—them—happen. The days following the interlude in his office, it was business as usual on her part. She’d come to him first thing in the morning, asking when they would leave for Los Angeles.

  Stunned by her straightforward business manner, he’d carried on as normally as she. Swiping the moment under the virtual rug so to speak, as if what they’d shared never happened.

  Again.

  With every day that passed, he found it harder to confront her about it. He’d lost control and he never lost control over a situation, especially with a woman. Yet with Gracie, he lost control on a constant basis. Damn it, he wanted to change this weird relationship of theirs and make it real, damn the consequences.

  But she would have none of it. Or so it seemed.

  “How’s business?” Hunter asked, changing the subject. Needing to get his brain off of Gracie and more on why he was there in the first place. “Has it been busy?” He saw the sales figures on a daily basis since Alex forwarded him the report via email, but he wanted to hear it straight from the trenches.

  “All right. Slowed down a bit, but you know how it is during this time of year. Within the next month or so, sales will pick up.” The confidence in Rhett’s voice was convincing, and Hunter secretly admired it.

  Considering he was feeling less than confident lately, at least when it came to the woman standing not even twenty-five feet from him. She kept him off-kilter, on pins and needles, and he didn’t like it.

  That he allowed her to do so was even more frustrating.

  “Think this event will draw in a lot of people?”

  “Oh yeah.” Rhett nodded vigorously. “Everyone in Beverly Hills is ready for a gala event. Trust me. This will be huge.”

  Gracie approached them at that very moment, a smile curving her lips. “What’s going to be huge?”

  “Well, wouldn’t you like to know?” Rhett teased, and she laughed in answer, taking his leering remark in stride.

  Hunter’s gut burned. He was the charming, flirtatious one, at least with Gracie. It irritated him that his baby brother just usurped his usual role.

  “This building is phenomenal,” she said once her laughter died. “There are so many things I can imagine us doing with it for the launch.”

  “I agree. We have a lot of great space to work with,” Hunter chimed in.

  She flashed him a smile, and he felt it pulse through him. “I want to hire an event planner. I gathered up some names of some of the top planners in the area, did a little research, and I wanted to share it with you. We’ll want someone who knows the city, has contacts and can handle all the party-type details while we focus on brand marketing and integrating it into the new Worthwhile line. What do you think?”

  “I think that’s a great idea.” Damn, she was good. He couldn’t help but admire her business acumen, how on top of everything she was. She’d shared with him a few tentative ideas for the launch on the plane ride over, and he’d been blown away. “And I trust your opinion; you know what you’re doing. Just let me know who you want to hire and I’ll approve it.”

  Now that she’d seen the location, she could run with it even further. She fairly vibrated with excitement as she glanced about the room yet again. “This is such a great opportunity for Worthwhile to make a big splash on the West Coast. I know the line has Europe covered, and it’s doing well on the East Coast,” she said.

  “Yeah, but not so much over here, I know.” Rhett shook his head. “I sometimes wonder if it’s a bit too edgy.”

  “It’s new. And European trends tend to take a while longer to travel to the West Coast.” She smiled, a mischievous light dancing in her eyes. “We can’t help it if you’re a little ass backwards out here.”

  “Ah, she’s a feisty one. Just the way you like ‘em, Hunter.” Rhett shot him a grin.

  Dread filled him. Great. Now his brother made him sound like a complete player. Yeah, he’d certainly dated his fair share of women but not a one of them were anything like Gracie.

  Not even close.

  After more small talk and plans to meet with Rhett later for dinner, Hunter and Gracie left the store, taking a car back to the hotel they were staying in for the next two nights.

  “So you like them feisty, hmmm?” She plucked at an imaginary thread in her dress as they sat in the backseat, the hired driver making the trek over to the hotel. She kept her gaze cast downward. “According to your brother, that is.”

  “My brother doesn’t know anything.” He wished he could reach over and grab her hand, give it a reassuring squeeze. But that would be overstepping her boundaries, and he wasn’t about to push. “He says that sort of crap to rile me up.”

  “Did it work?” She looked his way.

  “Of course,” he practically growled, feeling like an ass. Did she really believe that shit Rhett spouted? “Rhett and I, we really don’t get along.”

  “Why not?” She turned toward him, sounding genuinely interested—and concerned. “I know you and Alex get along great.”

  “Yeah, we do. Rhett and I, we’ve always clashed.”

  “That’s awful.” She frowned. “Your brothers are the only family you have left, right?”

  “Well, we have some distant cousins and the like, but yeah. My parents are gone. Alex took over the role of patriarch, so to speak, especially for Rhett.”

  “He doesn’t seem to take life very seriously.”

  “Who, Rhett? You could say that.” Hunter chuckled and slowly shook his head. “He’s a troublemaker.”

  “How so?”

  Hunter looked at her, really looked at her. Her face was
full of concern, her gaze serious. It seemed like she really cared, not that she was looking to dig up information. He rarely spoke of his problem with Rhett to anyone, not even Alex. Alex knew how he felt, but they never really dealt with it.

  “He’s the baby, and everyone treats him like one. Alex works his ass off for Worth and he’s grown the company to what it is today. It would’ve crashed and burned without Alex taking over the reins so competently after my dad died.”

  “You were a big part of that too,” Gracie reminded him, her voice soft.

  He smiled fondly. “Yeah, I guess I was. But I couldn’t have done it without Alex. He’s the glue that keeps us, and Worth Luxury, together. Now, Rhett? He could give a shit about the business. He’d rather get drunk and get laid.” The bitterness was apparent in his voice even to Hunter’s ears.

  “He seems to be running his store well.”

  “Only because Alex threw him out of New York City, thinking it would be best to get him out of the limelight. He was causing too much trouble, and all the tabloids were starting to pay too much attention.” Since the move to California, Rhett had exhibited better behavior. Was it merely temporary, though? It always had been in the past. “I don’t know how much he really does out here. No one keeps tabs on him, and that’s just the way he likes it.”

  “Alex must trust that he’s doing a good job.”

  “Alex has a soft spot for Rhett. He always has. No matter what my baby brother does, Alex rushes forward and tries to fix it,” he said irritably.

  “Alex feels responsible for him,” Gracie said. “He’ll probably always feel that way.”

  Deciding to hell with it, he reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently. “You’re probably right. To me, he’s my irritating little brother who can’t get his shit together.”

  “And to Alex, he’s the brother he wishes he could fix and make it all better.” She smiled and squeezed his hand in return. “Don’t be so hard on him.”

  “Easy for you to say,” he muttered, but it was good-natured. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

  Slowly, she shook her head. “I was an only child.”

  “How about your parents? Where do they live?” She rarely revealed any sort of information in regards to her personal life. He’d revealed something he kept close so maybe she’d be willing to return the favor.

  She nibbled on her lower lip, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “Um, I’m not sure.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “We’ve got nothing but time.” He glanced out the window, saw they were stuck in typical Southern California traffic. A trip that should take no longer than twenty minutes could take forty-five if they were caught up in five o’clock traffic. “Spill, Gracie.”

  Hunter wanted to know, wanted to learn more about her life. Where she grew up, where she went to school, where she was from. He wanted to know it all.

  And she looked terrified to even utter a peep, which made him all the more curious.

  Fear rooted Gracie to the spot, made it hard for her to breathe. She didn’t talk about her family life to anyone. And it certainly wouldn’t be appropriate to share any of this with her boss. Hunter would think she was a freaking head case and worse, he’d tell Alex and then he’d think she was a head case as well.

  It was best to just leave well enough alone.

  “It’s a boring story.” Carefully she withdrew her hand from his, and she saw the disappointment flash in his eyes.

  “You’re anything but boring,” he murmured. “You don’t have to hide from me, Gracie. I won’t judge you.”

  She wished she could believe him. Everyone judged her, they always had. She hated to admit it, but she’d never felt closer to anyone else like she did to Hunter. Foolish, she knew this. What they shared was some hot sex and decent companionship, in bed or at work only. As soon as he found some other woman who was “feisty”, he’d leave her in the dust, barely able to hold her broken heart together.

  Yeah, so not the image she wanted to think about right now.

  “Okay fine, it’s a really—awful story.” The rest of the words clogged her throat, and she tried to swallow them down.

  He reached for her hand again, clutching it in his grip tightly so she couldn’t pull away if she tried. “Did someone hurt you?” The fierce warrior was back. His blue eyes dark and full of turbulence, his jaw tense, he appeared ready to kill for her.

  “No, not really.” She sighed. She just needed to spit it out and be done with it. Clearly he wasn’t going to give up. “My mom was young when she had me, in her mid-teens. I have no idea who my father is. I don’t think she did either.”

  Hunter watched her solemnly, nodding for her to continue when she remained silent for so long. “After I was born, we lived with my grandma, who my mom named me after. But she kicked us out when I was really young, so we moved around a lot. I don’t remember it much, but we lived in really awful apartments. Cheap motels. I—I think she was a drug addict. I was so young, I don’t really recall.”He held her hand tight, his expression urging her to go on.

  “When I was close to five, she finally gave up on me. Literally took me down to the local social services office and dropped me off like a bag of books you leave at Goodwill. Told them she couldn’t deal with me any longer and then left. Of course, they tried to find her, but since she hadn’t left her name and I didn’t know it, they had nothing. So I became a ward of the state.”

  “Jesus, Gracie,” he breathed. “That’s awful.”

  She shrugged and offered a phony smile. “It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. I went to foster homes. Met some nice people.” And some really screwed up people, but she wouldn’t bore him with those details. “I got a job when I was sixteen and worked nights and weekends. When the dad at the last place I lived tried to cop a feel, I bailed. I moved in with a friend at her parents’ house for a while, but that only worked for the summer. By the beginning of my senior year, I was living in my own apartment and going to school in the day and working at night.”

  He was shaking his head, disbelief written all over his starkly handsome face. “You had to grow up way too fast.”

  “You’re right. I did. I’m better for it, I think.” She shrugged, trying to play it off. Inside she felt like she was nine years old again, going to yet another strange foster home. Hoping like crazy they’d love her so much they’d want to keep her forever.

  But that never happened. She’d grown up with no one. She still had no one. Just her job. Oh, and Hunter, but he was temporary.

  “You really believe that?” He brought her hand up to his face and rubbed his jaw along her knuckles. The faint stubble that grew there prickled, spreading warmth throughout her limbs. “It must have been scary.”

  “It was.” Her mouth went dry when he held her hand against his mouth and kissed her there. Gentle, sweet kisses, one after another, that were meant to soothe her frazzled nerves.

  But those kisses didn’t necessarily soothe. More like amped her up and made her burn for more than just simple kisses on her hand…

  “No wonder you’re so tough.”

  She frowned. “You think of me as tough?” Did that please her? She wasn’t sure.

  “Oh yeah.” He nodded slowly and tugged on her hand, leaving her no choice but to lean closer to him. “Very tough. You wear your sleek sophistication like armor, but just beneath it you’re soft and warm. Like a cuddly little kitten.” He grinned.

  Which made her realize he was teasing, and she needed that so badly right now. She hated it when things got too serious. “I am definitely not like a cuddly kitten.”

  “Maybe when you bare those fangs and wield those claws, you are.” He laughed and shook his head. “That’s what Alex calls Tessa. Kitten.”

  “That seems terribly—sexist.” And quite romantic, if she were to be honest. A sweet, personal nickname. There was probably meaning behind it that no one else knew or woul
d understand. How she wished for that sort of intimacy with someone.

  Could that someone be Hunter? No, that was her dreaming the impossible dream. She’d be a fool to believe they could have what Alex and Tessa shared.

  “She seems to like it. Of course, she likes everything about Alex. Even his asshole-ish ways.”

  Gracie laughed, marveling at the intimacy they shared at this very moment. He was talking about his brother not in a professional manner, but as if he and Gracie were friends. Lovers. He’d shared pieces of himself, his history, and she’d done the same.

  Was he always so free when it came to sharing those personal bits of information? She doubted it. He had reason to keep most of it quiet, due to his being such a public figure and part of a famous family—at least in the fashion world.

  It made her feel special, that he would share so much of himself and his family with her. Did that also make her foolish?

  Probably so. But she was too enraptured with Hunter at the moment to care.

  She carefully extracted her hand from his grip, and he gazed at her pensively.

  “You’ll come with me to dinner with Rhett, won’t you?” He asked like he was afraid she might turn him down. Vulnerability flared in his gaze, his expression turned to worry, and she was touched that he wanted her there.

  Touched even more he was afraid she’d say no.

  “Yes, as long as you don’t mind taking me along with you,” she answered.

  His smile could’ve blinded the sun. “You’ll be a good buffer. Maybe we won’t fight with you there.”

  “Anything I can do to help keep the Worth family peace,” she joked.

  “You’re become far more valuable than you think,” he said, his voice serious, his expression solemn.

  She had the distinct feeling he spoke the truth. And that scared her to bits.

  Chapter Seven

  The restaurant was small but loud, with a giant bar that ran the entire length of one side of the building. Every stool was occupied and there was a large group of people waiting in the small lobby, yet Rhett somehow got them right inside. They ended up sitting at a fantastic table outside on the small enclosed patio, their waitress instructed by Rhett to bring them three margarita specials pronto.