Skirt Chaser

by Stacey Kennedy

  “No, you wanted to tie them up.”

  He barked a laugh. “Truer words have never been spoken.”

  Evie hesitated and drew in a deep breath, pondering his relationship history. Her life had simply been so different. She’d been madly in love up until college. But Grey was right, it was young affection. She knew that her forever relationship would look a lot different than what she had with Seth.

  In the silence, Grey’s eyebrow arched. “Does hearing about my past upset you?”

  “No,” she replied, softly shaking her head. “I actually appreciate your honesty. It’s refreshing.”

  “It’s refreshing to you because you’ve been hurt before,” Grey said, giving her a measured look. “That’ll leave a mark.”

  She stopped with her wine halfway to her lips and frowned at him. “Are you saying that I’m damaged goods?”

  He grasped her chin, tilting her eyes to meet the amusement in his. “What I’m saying is that there’s a mark on your soul because of what Seth and Holly did to you. Marks like that either make you stronger or weaken you.”

  “What’s my mark? The latter or the former?”

  “You know the answer to that question, not me.” He lowered his hand, glanced out at the water again, resting his arms on his knees. “But no matter what, we can’t be strong all the time. Sometimes, you need to break fully in order to heal.”

  Evie took a sip of wine, and while citrusy hints lingered on her tongue, she realized now that the mark Grey mentioned had weakened her for years. She had reacted defensively for a long time. And if she were honest with herself, she could feel, even now, that sore spot on her soul that told her why she hadn’t had a solid relationship since Seth. It wasn’t that she still loved him, it was that she no longer trusted anyone.

  That’s what she liked the most about Grey, she realized. His world was solid. That meant something. “So, back to you,” she said. “You’ve never broken a heart or two?”

  “Upset, probably,” he said, “But have I left a woman heartbroken? No, it’s not my way. I’m clear with what I want, and I don’t get involved with women who I don’t think can handle the arrangements we set.”

  “Like ours?”

  He gave a knowing smile, tipping his wine glass at her. “With you, there was a little more on the line because you’re not the type of woman to have a one-night stand with a guy like me.”

  “Which brings us back to my original point,” she said. “You’re not a ladies’ man with me. That part hasn’t come out when we’ve been together. Not since you first suggested joining me this weekend. It’s why I agreed to the arrangement. You’re different.”

  His brow winged up again. “Do I truly act differently, or are you perhaps seeing me in a different way because you’re finally letting me in?”

  She paused and sipped her wine, stumped.

  Could that be true?

  Was he softening, or was she simply opening up to him? “It’s both,” she decided after a minute of thinking it over. “You’re definitely not the cutthroat, stern, far too arrogant businessman I’ve known these past weeks. You’re not the overly charming ladies’ man either. But, yes, maybe I see life differently than before.” The moment her mouth shut, she realized he’d distracted her again from digging a bit deeper into his life. “And will you stop trying to change the subject?”

  He chuckled, shaking his head. “Honestly, Evie, there’s not much to know here. It wasn’t that I never planned to date long-term or find that special someone. When I finished college, I hit the ground running to make my company successful. There wasn’t time for a steady relationship, and if I did have a girlfriend, they always broke it off because I picked work over them.”

  “You never once chose them?”

  He finished off his wine. “No. Never,” he finally answered.

  “You don’t think that’s kinda cold?” she asked, quickly looking at the birds soaring overhead.

  “I think it’s very cold,” he agreed, “but business is a cold thing. I didn’t have time to worry if I was hurting a woman’s feelings. So, I was always clear. If they wanted sex, I could give them that. Hell, I could even date and take them out sometimes. But if business came up, they came second. That was the deal they had to accept.”

  She sipped her still half-full glass of wine to pause the conversation, giving her time to think. It was hard to see Grey the way he described. He simply didn’t seem like the cold guy who only cared about his job. He had more passion in his pinky finger than Seth had in his whole body. But could he turn it off so easily? “I’m beginning to see why some women in your past had a problem with that.”

  He nodded. “I never said it was fair, only that it happened.”

  The boat rocked against a small wave, and she watched her wine swish in her glass before she addressed him again. “Do you regret how you treated women in your past?”

  “Regret?” He paused, brows drawn, then shook his head. “No, I don’t regret anything I’ve done. I did it for a reason, and I trust my instincts. But I also never hurt anyone like you’ve been hurt because we never got that close. It simply never happened. At the end of the day, my business was my priority.”

  “And now?”

  “Now, my business is solid.”

  There were a lot of things unsaid between them, and all the unspoken words felt heavy in the air.

  Obviously, he felt it too since he broke the silence. “You, angel,” he said, reaching for her, “are looking far too serious.” He wrapped an arm around her back, guiding her to straddle him. “Now come here and kiss me before we start dissecting my past and breaking it into all my painful memories.”

  “Were there painful memories?”

  He chuckled and flipped their positions until she was lying on her back against the deck and he was resting between her thighs. Hovering over her, he frowned. “Evie, what did we agree upon?”

  “Your game. Your rules. My surrender.”

  “Precisely,” he said firmly. “Now, kiss me.”

  This time, she listened.

  Chapter 10

  With the sun now nearly set, Grey held Evie’s hand, passing door after door until they reached room 1089. He wanted her with him tonight, and he didn’t particularly enjoy handing Evie off to Holly, even if he understood the reasons behind it. Today had been a good day…a great day, even, and he wasn’t thrilled that the night was ending without Evie being naked and beneath him.

  When they reached the door, before she could knock, he tugged her against him, nice and close. She angled her head back and wrapped her arms around his waist, smiled. “Thank you for earlier,” he told her, brushing his knuckles across her cheek where the light from the sconce on the wall cast a soft glow across her skin.

  “Thank you for earlier,” she said with a laugh, leaning into his touch. “It wasn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “Not a bad way?”

  “Yeah,” she said slowly, then after a couple strode by with their young son, she winked. “You know, because men always hand deliver paradise and orgasms to me.”

  “So spoiled you are.” He chuckled, sliding her hair off her shoulder and cupping her nape.

  “Totally spoiled,” she retorted, grabbing the back of his tank top. Something changed in her expression then, becoming a little sweeter, maybe even more honest. “I can’t really thank you enough for today. It was pretty spectacular.”

  “It was certainly that.” He dragged his thumb up her neck, watching the way heat rose in her eyes. Her reactions to him were unlike anything he’d seen before from any woman. He had yet to figure out if it was him or if she simply held this level of passion naturally. Whatever it was, he found her heated reactions addictive, tempting him to stay in Punta Cana longer, simply to hold onto it.

  Unable to help himself, he licked his lips and brought his mouth to hers. Before, whenever he’d kissed Evie in front of others, it was to prove a point, to show them that wh
at he and she had was real. Maybe to even prove to Evie what he could do to her. Now, he took her in his arms and sealed his mouth across hers only for himself. His kiss was sweet but possessive, and she melted into every second of it.

  “Oh, good, you’re here,” said Holly, whisking her door wide open. “Did you knock? I didn’t hear you.”

  “Not yet, no,” Evie rasped, her heated eyes on Grey. Then she blinked and smiled at Holly. “Are you ready for some girl time?”

  Holly smiled. “Don’t you know it.”

  The moment broken, Grey released Evie and stepped back, fighting against the heat pinging between them. “Until tomorrow,” he said.

  She moved inside the room, holding the door. “Until tomorrow.”

  Her sweet smile was the last thing he saw before he was staring at the closed door. His chest was tight, shoulders tense. Christ, was it the romantic atmosphere, the lack of stress, or was it simply her that made him…anticipate missing her?

  Silently pondering this new development, he moved toward the open doorway that led back to the pathway toward the beach. Exercise always centered him, and the ocean shouted to him for an evening swim before calling it a night.

  Just as he neared the beach, an unusual ringtone on his cell phone had him reaching into the pocket of his swim trunks. Immediately, he understood why the ringtone sounded so different. He’d never Facetimed anyone on his cell phone before, only on his computer. “Hello, Mother,” he said, answering the phone and taking a seat on the bench facing the beach.

  “Where are you?” his mother asked. Short, shiny, silver hair, a soft coat of makeup against skin that appeared younger than her sixty-five years due to some well-placed Botox, Anne Crawford looked like a movie star more than one of Seattle’s socialites. She squinted her bright blue eyes, clearly trying to examine the view behind him.

  “I’m in Punta Cana,” Grey answered, stretching his arm out across the back of the bench.

  “Punta Cana, how strange,” Anne said, eyes wide with surprise. From the big bay window behind her, she was clearly sitting in her favorite rocking chair out on the porch of her mansion overlooking Lake Washington. “Why are you there?”

  “Yes, Grey,” a low voice said. “Please do explain.”

  Grey chuckled, recognizing the voice. “Hello, Maddox.”

  The phone angled, the screen blurring for a moment before Maddox’s angular face filled the screen. His appearance was not a surprise. Maddox spent more time with Anne than Grey did. Grey appreciated that, too. Anne had loosened her tight grip a smidgen once Maddox came into the picture.

  “Hello, Grey.” Maddox smiled, crinkling the corners of his blue eyes, a strand of gelled light-brown hair falling out of place.

  At the gleam in his closest friend’s eyes, he got right to the point. “Now, before either of you start drilling me, I came here to attend a wedding with a friend—Evie.”

  Maddox gave a shit-eating grin. “Oh, Anne, he’s with a woman. This sounds serious.”

  “Give me back that phone.”

  More rustling, then Anne’s frown appeared on the screen. “Who is this Evie and why have I not heard about her before? Are you serious? How long have you been dating? Why haven’t you brought her to see me?”

  Maddox laughed.

  Grey sighed. “Mother, take a breath.”

  Anne simply stared back at him. “You haven’t answered me, Greyson.”

  Another sigh as Grey hesitated while a couple strode by him on the beach. Then, “Evie is an interior designer who lives in Seattle,” he explained, keeping to the facts and hoping that’d be enough for his mother. “No, we’re not serious, it’s a new thing. That’s why I haven’t brought her out to see you.”

  “But you had no problem taking her to the Dominican Republic?”

  “Well, that’s complicated.”

  Maddox interjected, “Complicated doesn’t sound like your speed, buddy.”

  Grey heaved another long sigh. “We’re here for the weekend. This isn’t a big deal.”

  Anne took a few long seconds to clearly absorb the information and then her eyes narrowed. “You’re lying to me, but we can talk more about this when you get home. Maddox and I need more sweet tea.”

  The screen somersaulted again before Maddox’s face appeared. “I have to agree with Anne. This Evie”—he gave a sly smile—“she’s got you ruffled.”

  “I am not…ruffled.” Grey snorted.

  “I call bullshit.” Maddox grinned, pointing at the screen. “You like this one. Dare I ask…is that a twinkle in your eye?”

  “I can see it, too,” his mother called from a distance.

  Grey shook his head and glanced out at the beach, taking in the ocean for miles around. What he’d give to be in that water and not being grilled. “All right,” he said, glancing back at Maddox, ready for this to be over with. “You got your revenge.” Which was his due, considering Grey had put Maddox in a similar hot seat with Anne when he met his now wife, Joss. “You can stop encouraging her anytime.”

  Maddox chuckled and nodded, then waited, glancing to his left, then back to Grey again. “She’s gone inside now.” He leaned in closer to the screen, brows furrowed, concentrating on Grey intently. “We don’t have long, so be quick. Why are you there with the woman you told me was hands-off?”

  He’d mentioned Evie to Maddox, more than a few times. “Well,” he said, choosing his words carefully, keeping in mind that his mother might overhear what he said. “Her contract with my company ended, which made the dynamics of our relationship change. She needed an escort for the wedding of her best friend and Evie’s ex-boyfriend, and I’m her date.”

  Maddox frowned. “Whoa. You’re right. This is complicated. Sounds like there’s a story there.”

  “There is,” Grey agreed, crossing one ankle over his knee, watching a mother chase after her child running away from her on the beach. “Regardless, it’s been quite the trip.”

  Maddox’s stern eyes searched Grey’s before he added, “Is a date all that you are to her?”

  “I’ve enjoyed her, if that’s what you’re getting at.” It was all Grey was prepared to say on the matter. “But this woman…she’s…good.”

  Maddox began to grin. Before he could say anything more, Grey’s mother’s voice suddenly sounded off in the distance, telling him that she’d come back outside. “When are you coming back?” she asked.

  “Monday afternoon,” Grey replied, not minding the interruption. That smile of Maddox’s had been sly enough that Grey knew Maddox’s next comment would likely only annoy him. “After the wedding—”

  “The wedding?” His mother’s face suddenly filled the screen; obviously, she’d stolen the phone from Maddox. “Greyson Crawford, you’d better not be getting married without me there.”

  “Mother.” He sighed.

  “Don’t let him off the hook,” Maddox called out, clearly wanting to stir up shit in the way Grey had stirred things up for Maddox before. “Seems to me he’s hiding things. I bet he is getting married.”

  “Are you?” Anne asked sternly. “Oh, you’d better not be. I will be so angry at you.”

  Again, Grey sighed. “Mother, I love you, and I would never get married without you there. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

  “Greyson—”

  “Goodbye.” He ended the call and smiled down at his phone. His mother was fiercely protective and intrusive, a total helicopter parent. He loved her, but he also didn’t tolerate it. Somehow, over the years, she’d accepted it.

  He drew in a long, deep breath and looked out at the water, staring at the bright moon and twinkling stars. As a pelican flew out over the water before dipping down and scooping up its dinner, he realized every woman in his past had been more trouble than not, except for one.

  Evie.

  * * *

  The door clicked shut, and Evie smiled, closing her eyes as a flurry of emotions pinned her to the spot. How unexpected all this was. Originally, she’d t
hought coming to the wedding would be emotionally taxing. Yet, somehow, she’d flourished here in ways she never dreamed of. Life was so full of funny surprises—good surprises.

  “Thanks for coming to stay with me tonight,” Holly said from behind Evie.

  She snapped herself out of her personal euphoria, reminded that this time was for Holly, and she turned around. “Don’t be silly. I wanted to stay with you.” She kicked off her flip-flops, as Holly jumped onto the king-size bed in the bridal suite.

  Evie moved farther into the room. She’d never thought of herself as a materialistic person before, not caring about those things much. But she couldn’t help but notice that the room Grey had gotten for them made this room look small in comparison. That realization, matched with her entire weekend with Grey, and she thought: finally, my grass is greener.

  She’d never once pitied herself when it came to Seth breaking her heart all those years ago. She kept her head down and worked hard. But her heart reminded her now that it was nice when someone spoiled her. That someone appreciated her enough to put her first. Maybe she even forgot how that once felt.

  When Evie neared the bed, spotting the wedding dress still in the bag hanging above the balcony doors, Holly added, “I imagine being away from Grey must suck.”

  “It’s okay, really,” Evie said, stopping near the mini bar beneath the television set. “Grey rented a boat and we spent some time together on the water. He got lots of me, and I’ve barely had any time with you.” Which was the truth.

  The old Evie would have given Holly all her time. With Grey here, he hadn’t allowed that to happen, and she rather enjoyed that. She liked this new version of herself. She didn’t feel like she was giving too much to anyone. More so, she was giving more to herself. “Want a drink?” she asked Holly.