by Melissa Blue
She closed her book and just enjoyed the view as he strolled over to her table. His movements were both loose and sure. She couldn’t look anywhere else.
“Is this seat taken?” he asked, sounding both hopeful and wary.
“No.” She worried her lip for a moment. “Felt like having coffee?”
“The seed had been planted after my message, and this place has the best bagels.”
Since she’d thought the same, she couldn’t fault him. She gestured to the seat. Grady was tall, thick in the neck and wide in the shoulders. So when he folded into the seat across from her, he upped the whole playing field on thoughtless sex appeal and made chair sitting sexy.
It was so unfair, but she almost asked him to stand up and do it again, this time unleashing his lopsided smile. A whole week had passed since they’d met and still she couldn’t get used to his unvarnished sex appeal in person. The possibility she ever could was slim.
He glanced down at her hands. She’d been clutching the book. Eva pulled them off the table into her lap.
He asked, “How are you?”
A simple question but where in the hell to start? He’d seen the argument, heard every word and he’d probably drawn his own conclusions. And still Grady wouldn’t know the half of it. “You mean how was I able to contain my urge to choke the shit out of my sister?”
The serious light in his eyes dropped away as he laughed. “Siblings.”
He didn’t hold back when he laughed so the lines around his mouth deepened, making his lips seem fuller…kissable. Heat rushed to her face. “Wade, right?”
“That’s the one. He’s the reason my grocery bill is so damn high. So I never feel bad when I steal money out of his wallet.”
She frowned. “I thought he moved out a few months ago?”
“He did, doesn’t stop him from loafing.”
There was no rancor in his voice. God, she wished she had that. She tried to think if she’d ever had that with her sister? Maybe when they were younger. Her sister had been a protector. It’s probably why Eva had the patience to deal with her now.
There was a backlog of memories of Lauren teaching her about make-up and boys, stealing each other’s clothes, staying up late watching horror flicks and laughing when they both jumped and screamed. Her sister sitting at her bedside when Eva had woke up in the hospital after attempting to commit suicide. Her sister holding her as they cried together.
So, no. Their relationship hadn’t been all bad, all the time.
After she’d bounced back from the epic fiasco in her early twenties, Eva had wanted to change. Recasting their relationship was tough though, because Lauren’s role had always been one of a protector. She’d lived that her entire life. And, sometimes Eva did like the idea of that net to catch her if she fell. Not as often though, and sometimes, like today, the conflict of that sisterly fight was too much.
“My life is a mess, Grady,” the words left her mouth without thought, but she knew he’d understand.
He shook his head. “I have three friends that I’ve found myself responsible for over the years. You want to talk about mess? Try coming home after a long day to find your house trashed. No one should have a key but all three friends are there along with your brother.”
She bit her lip to keep in the smile. “That’s not so bad. Do they at least clean up after themselves?”
“Occasionally, but the issue is they stole my keys one day and got copies made.”
She’d come into the coffee shop feeling sorry for herself and in less time it had taken to get settled into a brood, he’d made her laugh. “I will momentarily concede that’s pretty bad.”
He braced his forearms on the table. “Yeah. They have their moments of usefulness. Oliver is a cartoonist, but reliable in a crunch. Porter’s an engineer and can fix just about anything—computers, TVs, everything. Victor is our IT guy. My brother…just a pain in my ass.”
She didn’t entirely believe him from the way he’d said the words with a warmth in his voice. His eyes were still light from laughter as he talked about them.
“So,” she said, “why your house? Outside of the fact that you feed them.”
“I’m the only one with a house.”
“And?” she pushed.
“They’ve always come to me when they needed something. Wade’s the oldest but he’s been a certified genius since we were kids. Didn’t get out much because of it. So Oliver, Victor and Porter started off as my friends. Wade skipped about a thousand grades. No high schooler was going to hang with someone who should be in the sixth.”
She’d picked up on a lot of this during their conversations but hearing it from his deep timbre was so different. “He’s a year older than you, right?”
“Yeah, so we’d all hang. Oliver didn’t go to college. He went straight to a comic book shop after graduation, and then started drawing his own. Victor and I finished college first, stopping with a Master’s. Porter and Wade kept going until they received their Ph.Ds.”
He shrugged. “I’m a cheap bastard so I saved a lot. Didn’t fall for any credit card scams while at the University and just last year I finally was able to buy a house.”
He was home for his handpicked family, the glue that held them together. It made sense why he made the offer to just talk if she needed it. Did his brother and friends rally around him? What was that like?
“So you pick up strays, take them in and care for them?”
His glasses slid down his nose as he looked at her with a hint of disapproval. “I wouldn’t call them friends if they only used me. A good friendship, ones that last, are fifty-fifty. More when you need it or vice versa.”
Apparently she hit a sore spot. “Uh…”
“If I lost my house tomorrow, I still wouldn’t be homeless. If I lost my job and couldn’t find another one, they’d pull whatever strings they had. Or shit, float me some money until I did.” He leaned forward. “That’s the long answer. The short answer to the question you’re too scared to ask, no, when I look at you I don’t see a stray I need to take care in.”
Her face heated. “I wasn’t scared.”
He leaned back, relaxed and pushed up the black rims. “Right.”
She placed her hands back on the table, a thoughtless action, but now their hands were inches apart. Now her fingers itched to close that space and touch him. Even though he’d brought a measure of comfort, the chemistry buzzing in the background tempted her.
“You’re so different in person,” she murmured.
He frowned, seeming to consider her words. “How so?”
“More relaxed.”
“I’m just trying to contain all my dirty jokes. Makes me mellow.” He glanced around the shop. The evening crowd was pretty thick. “Do you want something to drink? Eat? On me.”
“Blueberry bagel with cream cheese. Coffee, but half of it cappuccino. No sugar, but topped with whipped cream. And they can put caramel on top of that.”
He laughed. “That’s specific and fast. How long have you been sitting here thinking about it?”
His laugh. Oh, God. Melt. “Since before you walked in.”
“All right. I got you.”
With his back to her, she let herself watch him. One, he had a nice ass. Not the first time she’d thought that. Wouldn’t be the last either. He’d write on the dry erase board in class, his shirt would lift, exposing the corded muscles of his back. On a good day, his pants would ride low enough, and if she strained hard enough, she could find the faint trail of sandy brown hairs leading below the waistband. Sometimes she’d even let herself imagine tracing that line of hair with her tongue.
Two, what the hell were they doing? Sitting here commiserating and laughing as though they were—What were they? She grabbed her book with the intent to make up some excuse to leave when he chose that moment to return with the order. The way his eyes narrowed, she knew she’d been caught.
She couldn’t help but laugh. “You gave me a moment to think
. You only have yourself to blame.”
He pushed her bagel closer. “Stop thinking and eat.”
Grady didn’t just leave it at that, he began telling her about his friends and brother and the trouble they’d gotten into while growing up. At some point her fingers inched closer to his. Grady didn’t pause or break his story as he brushed his thumb over her knuckles. He was as slick as they came, but she didn’t bother to break the innocent connection. His touch was soothing, drugging—a testament to her fortitude that she didn’t just loll her head back and gibber.
“Wait,” she said, a little breathless. He’d turned her palm up and drew his forefinger along her lifelines. “You’re telling me Porter took apart a car and then reassembled it in a classroom?”
His smile was slow and panty-melting. “He had help and it was mostly just the frame.”
“And the interior. How was he not expelled?”
“No one found out it was us. His mother would have killed him. But that professor was a dick. Class was canceled for a day. He’s a hero among men.”
He caressed his way up to her wrist, drawing slow concentric lines along the scar with his thumb. He hadn’t asked, hadn’t pushed for more about her past. If she didn’t know better, Eva could assume he didn’t know what her scars meant. She tried to tug her arm back to her side of the table but his hold turned firm.
Eva loved it when his eyes went dark and serious. When he looked at her like that, she felt like the only person in the world. His gaze tethered her and only an act of God would make him let go.
He murmured, “You’ll tell me, when you tell me.”
The rough tenor of his voice left goose bumps. She asked, “What difference would it make?”
“I’ll know you finally trust me.”
She curled her hand into a fist, hating how he could see straight through her. “Tell me the truth about Wade.”
He only paused his caress for a second before dropping her hand. “Come on.”
The abrupt changed made her head swim. “What?”
“Follow me.”
Eva glanced around the room, not that she recognized anyone but the truth of their situation slammed into her. Nothing had changed. He was still her professor. They were still flirting with disaster. They could ruin their lives and she’d just rebuilt hers.
A flash of irritation tightened his features. “I’ll be at my bike.”
She couldn’t get pissed at him for his annoyance, but he didn’t know the full story. Nothing is stopping me from telling him either. Yeah. If she discounted the shame, and remembering just how low she’d fallen.
One night, they could have one night where the complications didn’t matter. Right? Didn’t mean there would be more. For months she’d wanted to know Grady, in the flesh. Would they still spark, laugh and have an easy comfort between them? The consequences seemed so far away when she couched their circumstances in that light.
Maybe the inner debate was all lies to appease her conscience, but Eva grabbed her purse and followed him out of the coffee shop.
He revved his bike’s engine when she stepped out onto the sidewalk. She shook her head and walked over to him. “Let’s just announce to the world I’m leaving with you.”
Grady’s eyes were still guarded but he smirked. “Didn’t think you’d see me.”
He’d parked right outside the shop. She couldn’t have missed him. “Where are we going?”
His hands tightened against the bar handles. “To meet my brother Wade.”
Her heart shot into her throat. “What?”
His smirk somehow deepened. “You want the truth about him. I’ll let him tell you.”
She stuffed her hands into the back pockets of her shorts, trying to appear relaxed even though a storm of butterflies fluttered in her stomach. “What exactly will that do?”
The smirk dropped away from his lopsided smile. “It’ll get you on my bike, your arms and legs wrapped around me. Outside of that, we’ll play it by ear.”
All he needed was a James Dean leather jacket to perfect the bad boy statement. Then again, maybe not. He was lethal enough without one. “So you’re done being the kind, understanding nice guy?”
His smile transformed into a grin that promised a multitude of wicked things. Yeah. No jacket necessary. “You have to admit, it was wearing thin.”
Grady offered her the helmet. Taking it spelled trouble in all languages. Jumping on a motorcycle with a guy who wore a smile that had no good intentions behind it…Yeah. But the facts were different with him. He wasn’t just her professor. He didn’t prey on her vulnerabilities. And most importantly, he hadn’t made her feel broken once.
Eva took the helmet, fastened it and then climbed onto the back of the bike. She wrapped her arms around his chest. One could say she copped a feel as she ran her hands over his stomach. The soft cotton shirt hid taut muscles, but now she could feel every ridge. His stomach jerked beneath her hands.
“Eva?” he asked, his voice low and tight.
She leaned forward until her mouth was at his neck. “Yeah?”
He revved the engine again. “You might want to hold on really tight.”
She locked her fingers together. “I know.”
CHAPTER SIX
Grady had no idea what he was doing, but it made sense to take Eva up the winding roads that led up to the observatory. The sun had begun to set and soon they could see the entire city from end to end. Not to mention the night sky. He pulled into the small lot, parked next to his brother’s Tahoe, and then helped her off the bike.
He didn’t drop her hand even after she’d steadied. She’d felt him up the entire ride, so it was only fair. After he put up the helmet, he tossed his glasses into the small trunk. The low level headache meant he’d worn them too long already.
Finally, he said, “I’ve spent plenty of nights up here, looking up with my brother. There’s something almost sacred about it.”
She tilted her head back, glancing at the sky. “There’s still too much light out to see anything.”
He moved over to his brother’s car and then used his spare key to open the truck.
Eva hmmmed, the sarcasm clear in the sound before she spoke. “So, he’s not the only one who steals keys?”
“He made them for me.” A year ago when they’d first realized just how bad things could get for Wade.
“You’re that close?”
“You can say that.” He scanned the back, which held a toolbox. No blanket. Closing the trunk again, he faced the observatory. “We’ve always had each other. My parents weren’t horrible, but they didn’t know what to do with Wade. So often he felt left out. They overcompensated with me because I was ‘normal.’ Our childhood was just a shitstorm because of it.”
She squeezed his hand and didn’t add any commentary. He smiled at her silent comfort. The truth only stung every now and again. It was also a history they shared so she’d get the shorthand.
“You’ll tell me this, but not what’s wrong with Wade?”
“Not my story to tell, and you want to use not knowing as some kind of shield.”
She huffed. “You make it sound like—”
“The truth?” He raised a brow. “It’s not a judgment.” Her expression turned thoughtful so he added, “But we’re here to meet my brother so you can see and ask for yourself what’s wrong with him.”
She worried her lip before asking, “And then?”
No clue, but the possibilities made his smile widen. She laughed. Didn’t take a big leap to figure out his thoughts.
The security guard at the door waved him in without showing his California ID. He picked up visitor passes at the desk with the same ease and she took it all in. The place was huge. They did research and study. At least once a year they held a conference. It was nerd central. So he took her through the twist and turns of each hallway until they hit the observatory room.
His brother was often the first to arrive and the last to leave. Today was no
different. Wade stood with his back to them, bent slightly, peering through the big ass telescope that sat in the middle of the room. His white doctor’s coat was such a contrast to the blue shirt, board shorts and sandals he wore.
Eva fidgeted next to him. Grady seriously doubted she’d ask outright what Wade suffered from if given the chance to question the man herself. That wasn’t the point, or at least not the one he wanted to make. Life had bent both Eva and Wade past their breaking point. They’d shattered. They’d picked up their pieces and kept on living. That was more important than what made them break or the fact they’d shattered. So he slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close.
“Hey, Wade,” Grady said, “I brought company.”
His brother held up a finger then notated something on the small pad he held. He pushed his reading glasses up on his forehead and glanced their way absently before turning his concentration back to the telescope.
The gesture almost bordered on rude, but his brother said after a moment, “Eva, nice to meet you finally. I only have one question.”
She frowned, shifting closer to Grady. “Shoot.”
Wade turned a huge knob on the side of the telescope. “Has he told you about the one time we jumped into the lake?”
His stomach clenched in fear his brother would tell the story. “Swear to God, Wade.”
His brother laughed without straightening. “You’re no fun.” Seeming satisfied, he moved over to his desk and settled in.
Eva swung her attention to him, amusement clear in her smirk. “What story about the lake?”
Not even under the penalty of death would he tell that story. To anyone. He jabbed his finger toward the telescope to distract her. “Have you ever looked through a telescope this big?”
“That bad, huh?” she asked, but walked toward the middle of the room.
No need to answer. His brother ignored them, focusing on work despite the interruption, the usual when he was deep in thought. So Grady guided her to the telescope, gazed through it first to see what his brother had been working on. Took him a few moments to orient himself. He pulled back. “He’s currently obsessed with Orion’s Belt.”