Working It Out (A Romantic Comedy)

by Rachael Anderson

  Grace could count on one hand all of the truly perfect moments in her life—the kind where her happiness peaked, when everything around her seemed to click into its rightful place. That day at Whistler Blackcomb had been one of those times. But this moment—this one perfect moment, as Seth’s arms held her and his mouth explored hers—trumped them all. Only instead of everything around her fitting into place, Grace felt as though she was the one being snapped into place. And that place was with Seth—the only person who’d ever made her feel this alive, this happy.

  “I think I need to stop kissing you now,” Seth murmured against her lips.

  “Why?” Grace complained, tightening her hold on him. She wanted to bask in this perfect moment for as long as possible.

  “Because that bed behind me is way too much of a temptation.”

  “Oh.” Grace pulled back just enough to see his face. Her lips drew into a smile even as her heart warmed. Why had Grace ever worried that she’d be just another conquest for him to cross off his list? He was a gentleman through and through.

  “So . . . yeah,” Seth finally said, filling the awkward silence.

  The funny expression on his face made Grace giggle. As soon as the sound escaped, she couldn’t stop, especially when she remembered they were standing in her bathroom. Who would have thought that such a perfect moment would happen here? The giggles erupted into full on laughter.

  “Thanks,” said Seth, drawing back. “I actually needed that.”

  More laughter followed—so much that Grace had to hold on to the counter for support.

  Seth watched her with an amused expression. “Is this going to happen every time I kiss you?”

  Grace shook her head, taking a deep calming breath to force the giggles away. Finally, when she felt like she could speak, she said, “What do you say we go get that dinner now?”

  “Good idea.”

  SETH WAS ALL about being different. It had taken so long to finally convince Grace to go out with him that when she placed the responsibility for planning the date on him, he immediately vetoed boring in lieu of something a little more memorable. Like paintballing and dinner at the Bizzarro Italian Café in downtown Seattle.

  One glance at the wide-eyed look on her face when they entered the establishment, and Seth knew he’d chosen well. No one could enter this place and not gape at the eclectic, almost garish décor. Antique chandeliers hung next to old bicycles, and the walls were covered in mismatched frames that held everything from paintings to chalkboards to mirrors. For this particular restaurant, it worked.

  Seth breathed in the tempting smells and wrapped his arm around Grace’s shoulders. He tugged her closer, thrilled that he could do that without fear of her running away. He could hardly believe that she was here, with him. That he’d kissed her and she didn’t run. Or that she’d admitted to falling for him. His heart still thumped with warmth and excitement every time he pictured her looking up at him, telling him that.

  “What do you think?” he asked, glancing down at her.

  She looked around, taking in the restaurant with her beautiful wide eyes. “I have to be honest. When you said a nice restaurant, I pictured something a little . . . different.” She tilted her face up and smiled. “I should have known better.”

  “I’ve got to be different than the other guys.”

  Grace laughed. “Oh, you’re definitely different, all right.” She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “But in a good way.”

  Seth smiled. In his book, a “nice” restaurant was a relative term. It meant great food and service—which this place had, as Grace would soon find out. The moment she tried a bite, she’d be hooked. Guaranteed. Seth’s mouth watered just thinking about it.

  In no time at all, they were seated and waiting for their order. One perk of taking Grace out for an insanely late dinner was the lack of a long wait. This place was usually packed.

  “What’s good here?” Grace said as she examined the menu.

  “Everything.” Seth had tried every dish they offered. “But the clam linguini and elk Bolognese are my favorite.”

  “Elk? As in . . . ?” Grace made a face over the top of her menu.

  “As in the most incredible meat you’ve ever tasted in your life.”

  She lowered the menu and set it on the table, clasping her hands over the top of it. “You do realize we’re talking about Bambi’s uncle or cousin, right? Are you really okay with eating that?”

  “Bambi was a deer, not an elk. Big difference.”

  “Like I said—cousins.”

  Seth grinned. “Cousins or not, elk tastes nothing like deer.”

  “You’re impossible.” Grace took another glance at the menu and sighed. “I’ll try the linguini.”

  “Good choice.”

  Seth gave their order to the waitress then took Grace’s hand in his, playing with her fingers while they waited. The entire night still felt so surreal. Grace. Here. With him. At Bizzarro’s. He thought of the awkward phone conversation from a few days earlier and had to duck his head to hide his smile. Never before had a girl told him to ask her out.

  Grace leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”

  “Shoot.” Seth was all about asking and answering personal questions. It meant progress. It meant more distance from a term he’d come to hate—professional.

  Grace bit on her lower lip the way she always did when weighing her words. Finally, she blurted, “Are you a trust-fund kid or something?”

  The question caught Seth off guard, and he laughed. Only a few months before, Grace had said she didn’t want to know the answer to that question, but here she was, acting as though curiosity had finally gotten the better of her. It was kind of adorable.

  He shook his head. “No trust-funds for me. Far from it, actually. My parents were as middle-class as you could get.”

  Grace watched him, waiting. But when he said nothing more, she asked, “Did you win the lottery then? Publisher’s Clearinghouse? A grand prize from some sort of contest?”

  “None of the above.”

  She chewed on her lower lip once more before dropping her hand to the table. “Oh, I know. You played the stock market and won big.”

  “Isn’t that about the same as winning the lottery?”

  Grace frowned. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you? Do I really have to beg?”

  Seth continued to play with her fingers. They were long and soft and fit perfectly in his. “Once upon a time, you told me you didn’t care if you knew or not.”

  “I lied.”

  Seth laughed again then pulled her fingers to his lips and kissed them lightly before setting her hand back down. “You crack me up.”

  “Don’t you dare change the subject.”

  “Okay, okay.” Seth shifted in his seat and leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table. “Way back in high school, I learned about an interesting invention called the internet. It blew my mind, and I found myself reading everything there was to know about it. The more I learned, the more I realized it could go places someday—big places. So I used my entire savings to buy every big domain name I could think of that was available—Walmart.com, Stockmarket.com, Pier1Imports.com—you name it, I bought thousands of them.

  “Then I started to learn HTML and gradually created websites for some of the more generic ones. In time, I was able to recoup some of my initial investment through advertising, but it wasn’t until one of the companies approached me about selling them a domain name that I really started making money. I sold enough to pay for my MBA then waited for the internet to gain even more momentum before agreeing to sell more. It was crazy how much the larger companies were willing to pay for a little domain name.” He shrugged. “So I guess, in a way, I did play the lottery and won big, but I never really saw it that way. To me, it was a conservative investment opportunity. I just had no idea how big the returns would one day be.”

  Grace watched him with an unre
adable expression. Her eyes weren’t guarded or wary like they often were with him, but Seth had no idea what she was thinking. Did she chalk his fortune up to sheer dumb luck or did she understand all the time and effort Seth had invested into educating himself about the internet, learning HTML, developing websites, getting his MBA, and eventually negotiating some significant and intimidating deals as a fresh-out-of-college graduate?

  For whatever reason, Grace’s opinion of him really mattered.

  “Now that’s impressive,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about the internet until one of my teachers told me I could use it for research purposes. By then, it was pretty established.”

  Grace cocked her head to the side and studied him. “A lot of people in your situation would spend their days playing and lounging by the pool—not coaching soccer for underprivileged kids, buying them shoes, and turning their after-school building into a fun and safe haven.”

  Seth looked away, feeling undeserving of her praise. Before he met Grace, he’d been more the playing and lounging type. Yes, he’d donated money here and there to various charities or his alma mater, but only because they happened to call and he answered his phone. It wasn’t until Grace came along and forced him to see beyond his own life that he now knew what it felt like to be a real contributor.

  Seth shifted again in his seat. “Yeah, well, that was really all your doing.”

  Grace’s lips tugged up into a smile. “Really? Because I don’t recall telling you to buy shoes or stock a room with games or build a wall.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “You’re amazing, Seth Tuttle, and I feel very lucky to be here with you right now.”

  It was a rare thing for Seth to be at a loss for words, but he was now. He wanted to say “Likewise” or “Ditto” or “No, I’m the lucky one.” But the words all lodged in the lump in his throat. With a few simple and candid words, Grace had reached into his heart and touched it. Seth suddenly found himself wanting to be the person she believed he was capable of being.

  How could Seth possibly convey with words what he felt for Grace? It took massive self-control not to lean across the table and kiss her then and there.

  The waitress interrupted the moment by setting steaming plates of food on their table.

  Seth stabbed his fork into his food and lifted a bite-sized portion, wagging it at Grace. “Want to see what Bambi tastes like?”

  Her eyes widened slightly before she rolled them. “I can’t believe you just said that. You’re terrible.”

  “Don’t I know it.” Seth put the fork in his mouth and smiled.

  Grace took a bite of her own meal and started gushing about how amazing it was. After that, it didn’t take much convincing for her to give Seth’s elk a try—which she also loved.

  After dinner, Seth left the car in the parking lot and interlaced his fingers with hers. They wandered through the city streets, taking in the sights, smells, and lights. They told stories about their youth, laughed at embarrassing moments, and shared their dreams for the future. Seth took every opportunity to pull her into the shadows to steal a kiss and hold her close. The hours passed like minutes, and Seth never wanted the night to end.

  But when he caught her yawning for the fourth time, Seth finally led her back to his car and he reluctantly drove her home. Outside her front door, he held her close and kissed her long and hard, as though he were leaving on a year long voyage instead of merely going home to catch a few hours of sleep before seeing her again.

  Seth always knew Grace would be worth the wait, but until he paused to reflect on their time together, he didn’t know how worth it she really was.

  THE WARM AND beautiful summer days started speeding by, and Seth’s therapy sessions became fewer and farther between. He used to dread the day that happened, but not anymore. Now that his evenings and weekends were filled with Grace, the time he spent in her clinic as a patient became a perk.

  Seth took her paintballing again and again, and Grace attended all the games he coached. They helped to tutor those kids involved with summer school and doubled with Lanna and Alec. They jogged, hiked, sailed, kayaked, Grace cooked for him, and Seth cooked for her. Other than Seth’s contract work and Grace’s job, they were practically inseparable.

  At the six-month post-surgery mark, Seth arrived home from a consulting session completely exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to snuggle with Grace on the couch and watch whatever movie she wanted to put on. But as Seth walked inside his house, shouts of “Congratulations!” greeted him. Surrounded by all their friends, Grace stood in the center, holding a cake shaped like a mountain. A tiny skier stood at the top of a run with the words, “Way to go, Seth! You made it!” Then she kissed him on the cheek and officially pronounced him all better. No more therapy sessions were needed.

  Seth set the cake on the table, wrapped his arms around Grace, and hooted as he spun her around until they were both dizzy. His knee was healed, Grace was officially a part of his life, and the mountain biking season was still in full swing. Life couldn’t get any better.

  Later, after everyone but Grace had left, Seth came up behind her as she rinsed the dishes and turned her to face him, pulling her close.

  She lifted bubble-covered hands and laughed. “I’m all wet.”

  “I don’t care.” Seth lowered his mouth to hers. In no time at all, her arms wound tightly around him, dampening the back of his shirt as she responded with the same enthusiasm she always did. Over the past couple of months, Seth had learned that when Grace opened her arms to someone, she did so whole-heartedly.

  A raw and tender emotion tugged at Seth’s heart. Her beauty, charm, kindness, humor, and goodness had thrust their way into his heart and took over. Seth found himself falling more in love with her every day.

  “Marry me,” he murmured against her lips.

  Grace pulled back, her hands resting against his shoulders as she stared up at him with startled eyes. “What did you say?”

  “I said marry me.” Seth had never been more sure about anything. Grace had become part of him, and he didn’t want a life without her in it. He wanted to come home to her every day, or be there when she came home. He wanted to see her wake up, watch her curl her hair with those haphazard ponytails, and go to sleep with her every night. He wanted to walk down the aisle and commit himself to her forever.

  “Are you serious?” Grace breathed, still staring at him.

  “I’ve never been more serious about anything,” Seth said, his voice sounding hoarse and emotional. “I love you, Grace. More than I ever thought possible.” His fingers closed over hers, and he moved her hand to cover his heart. “Like it or not, this belongs to you and always will.”

  Tears pooled in her eyes at the same time her mouth lifted into a smile. She bobbed her head up and down in quick, jerky movements.

  “Is that a yes?” Seth asked.

  “Yes, it’s a yes.” She laughed and sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I love you, too.”

  Seth’s smiling mouth lowered to hers, sealing their agreement with a long, drawn-out kiss. No matter how many times he kissed Grace, it was never enough. The warmth of her lips and the way her body felt against his was like an addictive drug.

  “Want to go ring shopping?” Seth murmured against her lips.

  She pulled back. “Right now?”

  Of course right now. Seth wanted every current patient, future patient, or guy on the street to know that Grace was taken. “No time like the present.”

  Grace stood in her front room, half listening to the Today show on TV as she looked out her front window. The Saturday morning skies were bright and blue, promising a beautiful day. Seth would drive up any moment, and she couldn’t wait to see him—or discover what he had in store that day. “It’s a surprise,” he’d said. “Dress in something comfortable that can get dirty.”

  So Grace had donned some old workout capris and a t-shirt. Then she’d carefully, and regretfully, slid off her beautiful new diamond r
ing and placed it back in its box in her top dresser drawer. She’d only had the ring two days, and her finger already felt naked without it. But she wasn’t about to risk losing it during a hike or paintballing, or whatever Seth had planned.

  Which was what?

  Anticipation filled her stomach as she waited impatiently for his car to appear. When it finally rounded the corner, carrying two bikes strapped to the rack on top, Grace smiled. They were going biking—something she hadn’t done in years. The prospect thrilled her. She could already feel the wind lifting her hair and smell crisp humid air as she pictured them cruising around on one of the many biking trails Seattle had to offer.

  Seth had chosen well. This would be so much better than getting pounded with a bunch of paintballs.

  But when his car pulled to a stop in front of her apartment, Grace took a closer look. The bikes weren’t beach-type cruisers. They had large beefy tires, dual suspensions, and uncomfortable-looking seats. They were mountain bikes.

  Grace should have known that Seth would try to convert her to the sport, especially now that she’d proclaimed him fully recovered. But in the back of her mind, she’d secretly hoped that his ACL tear would make him want to choose the less-dangerous paved or graded dirt trails. Looking at those bikes, Grace knew he was here to take her on a “real” mountain biking expedition—one involving large rocks and uneven ground.

  A nervous pit filled Grace’s stomach. How many patients had wound up in her office because of an injury resulting from falling off a mountain bike? Whether it was recovering from a broken leg, arm, or torn meniscus, she’d treated too many to count. It was a dangerous sport.

  Too bad Seth happened to love it.

  “Surprise,” Seth said when she opened the door for him. “We’re going mountain biking.”

  “Yeah, got that.” Grace hesitated, not wanting to pull the plug on his enthusiasm. “Um, you do know I’ve never done it before, right? I’m not sure I’ll be any good.”