Blackmail & Lace

by Tracy A. Ward

  My cell phone beeped faintly with a text, saving me for the moment from eating the godawful-looking eggs.

  “Sorry,” Grayson offhandedly said. “Your phone has been going off all morning, but you seemed like you needed sleep so I turned the volume down. I didn’t want it to wake you.” She reached for both plates of eggs. “We should eat by the fire, where it’s warm.”

  Another text alert sounded. I reached for my phone in the center of the island, where I’d left it the night before. There were five missed calls from Ty and double the texts.

  Hey asshole, if you’re going to send me on mission impossible to dig up dirt RE: Operation You Owe Me, the least you can do is answer your goddamn phone! Call me ASAP!

  After deleting that message and the ones similar, I tossed my cell aside and went to join Grayson in the den. There would never be a good time to tell her what I’d deduced from listening to Rebecca’s story last night. Best to rip off the bandage to lay it all out in the open, especially when we might still be here for days yet.

  I walked into the den just as Grayson took her first bite of eggs…and abruptly spit them back onto her plate.

  I grinned. “That good?”

  She set the plate aside. “I should feed these to Crutches. That cat will eat anything.”

  I reached for a pillow and tossed it on the hearth next to Grayson, preparing to sit. “Now it makes sense why she hates you.”

  Just before my ass met fluffy cotton, she yanked the pillow out from under me and swung it at my chest. Grayson squealed when I caught her by the wrists and yanked her body across my lap. My t-shirt had worked itself up in the process, exposing her backside, barely covered by the lace of her panties. I gave her ass a none-too-gentle smack.

  Her head turned and she looked up at me. The blue of her eyes darkened in a way that was becoming all too familiar to me. “Is this my punishment for not having breakfast prepared to your liking?”

  “If you think this is punishment,” I said, pushing her panties aside, my fingers exploring the wet heat between her legs, “I’m doing something terribly wrong.” My opposite hand came down, giving her ass another resounding smack.

  I ducked, narrowly missing being hit by the snowball that whizzed past my ear. I fired back one of my own. It exploded against a tree, five feet short of my target.

  “That all you got, Holder?” Grayson called from behind the protection of the wood pile. “You throw like a princess.”

  “Says the girl cowered in a bunker.”

  We’d been out here a while. I couldn’t tell if my face hurt from the cold or from smiling so damn much. If I’d known being blackmailed would be this much fun, I would’ve found a reason to be threatened a long time ago.

  Rolling up two perfectly packed snowballs, one for each hand, I doubled back behind the house, hoping to catch Grayson unaware. When I found her, she was doing her best to make a catapult from a fallen branch and the rusted out bottom of a bucket. I didn’t wait around to find out her ultimate plan for the evil contraption, though watching her finish her invention might’ve been entertaining as hell. Instead I invaded her camp.

  “Freeeeeedddddooooommmmmm.”

  Pelting her with the only ammo I had, I finished her off with a shoulder-tackle, picked her up and spun her around until she slid her icy gloved hand down the back of my jeans.

  I let out a high pitched squawk as snow connected with my bare backside. Then we collapsed, breathing heavy and laughing like fools.

  Grayson finally recovered enough to speak. “Nice Braveheart rally. Hope you saved some energy. We still have to fill the wood box or else we’re going to freeze tonight.”

  I tucked her against my side. “I bet we can find a way to make our own heat.”

  Comfortable silence settled as we watch the wind swirling snow above our heads. Then she said, “I can’t believe you ate those eggs. And cold no less.”

  “I can’t believe one person can cook so badly.”

  A fistful of snow in my face was her response.

  I spit out what had gotten in my mouth. “So what’s next after this?”

  “We’ve got board games, pool, naked ping pong...”

  I grinned. “As fun as all those sound, that’s not what I meant.”

  Grayson rolled to her side and raised on her elbow. She shot me a questioning look.

  “I mean on Rebecca’s list.”

  “Last is releasing her ashes over Machu Picchu…which will have to wait until spring. Not only is it the best timing weather-wise, but that’s how long it’ll take for me to save enough money. Rebecca left everything she owned to me, which has given me enough to be able to survive on odd jobs this year without going into debt. But since I’m not an active resident, I’m not exactly getting paid. Then there’s the training for a hike like that.”

  I’d never been to the landmark, but I’d known people who had. Grayson was right. The trek was no easy stroll. I admired her commitment to the challenge.

  “The diving, the dancing, even the Haitian High Priestess, those were fairly easily sandwiched into taking time off.” Grayson grinned. “But the possibility of having to track you down in D.C. was going to be an issue and one I hadn’t yet resolved how to do. Funny thing is, until Rebecca died, I never realized how seamed in to my commitments I’d been my whole life. I was raised to think and live like my parents.”

  “Which is?”

  “Work so hard you never have time to watch the snowfall, much less spend the money you nearly killed yourself to make. Because of Rebecca and her list, I’ve learned to see life differently. To enjoy the dance.”

  I reached over and brushed a random snowflake from Grayson’s eyelash. What she said hit close to home. Until now, when was the last time I’d taken a vacation for more than a weekend, just Elise and I? Maybe that’s why Allan felt the need to protect the firm’s investment, insisting on this sabbatical before I burned myself out. Truth was I’d been burning the dual-ended candle long before the Smith case. It was probably also why Elise’s friends were slowly becoming her family, making her less and less inclined to spend her time with me.

  “You think maybe that was Rebecca’s point in leaving the list to you?” I asked.

  Grayson rose up on her elbow and faced me. “What do you mean?”

  “You said yourself you never wanted to be a doctor. You’re living the life your parents want. Even now, you’re busting your ass, putting your whole life on hold to do what Rebecca wants. But what do you want, Grayson? What do you want for you?

  Chapter Eleven

  Grayson

  I loved to travel, but it was Rebecca who’d always been the thrill seeker. Always somehow balanced. I, on the other hand, was the perfect little clone of my parents—all work and very little play. The one who was fully expected to return for my final year of residency. But what if I didn’t?

  What did I want?

  A future that had been clouded yesterday was crystal clear today. I wanted Adam Holder.

  I reached over and touched his face. Did I dare say it out loud? And if I did, would I really mean it? Or was this some sort of transference of feelings brought on by my sister’s bucket list. Fact was I’d known Adam Holder for less than twenty-four hours. Had I subconsciously planned an entire future with him based on research and a few internet facts? Or did I feel this way because it had once been what Rebecca had wanted?

  If my sister was one thing, she was a pretty good judge in character. She’d liked Adam, which made me predisposed to like him too. Then there was the years of research I’d done on him, research that was made infinitely easier by the headline-grabbing LaKendrick Smith case. If there were skeletons in Adam’s closet, the media would’ve put them on parade by now. Plus I just knew in my gut that with him, what you saw was what you got.

  He put his hand over mine on his cheek and turned his lips to my palm. “There’s something I need to tell you.” But before he could, his cell rang, only this time it was a different tone. Adam
stood, took off one glove and reached in his pocket, then he mouthed, “Sorry.,It’s Rosie, my grandmother.”

  “Elise called you, didn’t she?” he said in greeting.

  “Hello, Adam.”

  I did my best to stifle a laugh. The overloud way Rosie spoke into the phone reminded me of my grandfather. Only Rosie’s voice was strong and regal, not the shaky and sometimes mumbled tone my grandpa used.

  “She’ll be here for Christmas,” I overheard Rosie say. “Let her enjoy her friends now. Once she’s at Northwestern, they may not see each other again.”

  “You mean Penn,” Adam corrected.

  After a seemingly uncomfortable pause, Rosie finally said, “Oh dear, Adam. You’re breaking up.”

  His voice dropped an octave. “Nice try, Rosie.”

  “Elise is your responsibility, Adam, who am I to meddle.”

  He burst out laughing. “Really? Isn’t that exactly why you called…to get me to let her go skiing with her friends?”

  “That’s not meddling. Letting it slip that Elise has no interest in going to the University of Pennsylvania and is afraid to tell you, is meddling. Maybe even just plain dumb.”

  Adam glanced over at me His expression told me he knew I heard every word. “Elise is seventeen,” he said. “All she knows is what she wants now. She’s not capable of thinking about how it will affect her future. That’s why she has me to do it for her.”

  Trying to conceal my disapproving expression over something that was none of my business, I began gathering wood. But I couldn’t stop judgment from stiffening my spine as I walked toward the house, leaving Adam alone in the snow.

  I put my armload of wood in the stone cubby next to the fireplace. Seconds later, Adam followed.

  The rigidness was back in his jaw. If I could see his shoulders through his coat, I was certain I’d find the same there. The energy he radiated was a one-eighty from what it had been prior to the phone call. And when he finally spoke to me, his tone was defensive. “I can tell you have something to say.”

  As someone whose entire life had been structured around the expectations of others, with absolutely no thought as to what I might want, damn right I had an opinion. But I left it with a simple, “It’s not my business, Adam.”

  “You don’t know my sister. UPenn will open doors for her, regardless of her career path.”

  I put my hands on my hips. Had he even paid attention to anything I’d said earlier? “You’re right. And if I’m being fair, I barely know you. But you don’t know what it’s like to have your future decided for you. To have your whole life predestined from birth." My eyes locked with Adam’s. “I went to a state school. So did you. We did pretty well for ourselves. Besides, Northwestern isn’t exactly community college, which, for the record, would be perfectly acceptable, too.”

  “I had to go the school that offered the least amount of debt, which in my case came with a football scholarship. Elise doesn’t have financial restrictions, so why not go to the best?”

  “Why are you getting so caught up in names and labels? Did the esteemed Georgetown Law go to your head?”

  “My parents weren’t doctors. I’ve had to fight to get and to keep everything I’ve got.” Frustrated, Adam raked his fingers through his hair. “But it’s more than just that, Grayson. My father was career military who was gone more than he was home. When he died, my mom went a little crazy. She battled depression, wouldn’t eat, slept all the time, and forgot to pay the bills. Elise was just a baby, and as a teenager, there was only so much I could handle on my own.”

  Hearing that, things about Adam started making sense. The competitiveness that seemed so deep-rooted it was like a fifth limb, the pressure he put on himself to succeed. His need for social and economic security. Sensing there was more he needed to say, I sat on the hearth of the fireplace and removed my gloves.

  Meanwhile, Adam paced. “Look, I love my mother and she’s trying. She’s doing her best to turn her life around. But I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that no amount of money in the world can make her better, because believe me, I’ve thrown good after bad at doctors, shamans, and every fucking rehab center from here to the west coast trying. I can’t help her. Which means Elise is my responsibility. Really, she always has been. She’s been cast aside time and again in her life.” He pointed at his chest. “But I make her a priority. I make sure she has the best of everything she needs because way too often she’s gotten the scraps.”

  Something in my heart broke open for this compassionate man who’d do anything it took to take care of what was his. And although I’d never met Elise, or knew the slightest thing about her, I did know from experience that being dictated to would eventually backfire. More than that, I knew the way Adam protected his sister had more to do with how his mother hadn’t.

  “No matter where she is or what she does, anywhere in the world, she’ll have that UPenn education and those far reaching contacts.”

  “Fancy degrees from expensive universities don’t make you invincible, Adam. And they don’t guarantee you’ll always win. But what you are guaranteeing are years of resentment when your goals are different for her than her own.” I spread my arms. “Look at me. I’ve had my entire life mapped out.” My arms dropped. “A life that’s become more stifling with each passing day. I know you love Elise, but do you want that for her?”

  Adam’s brows knit. “Of course I don’t.”

  “Then let her make her own decisions. Help her. But help her to find her own way. Let her make her own mistakes and learn her own lessons.”

  He stopped pacing, seeming to mull over what I’d just said. “This is all so easy for you to say, but what lessons have you learned, Grayson? You’ve traded living one person’s life for another. From doing what’s expected of you by your parents to fulfilling Rebecca’s last dying wish. You aren’t living your life. You’re still too busy living theirs. Right down to the very last check on your dead sister’s list.”

  Adam’s words cut through my chest and squeezed my lungs, almost to the point I couldn’t breathe. Why? Because he was absolutely right. Since Rebecca had died, I’d been living yet another sham. I might’ve flitted from city to city, traveling the world. Experiencing. Living. But I was doing nothing more than living a different version of someone else’s life.

  My sister’s death might’ve taught me that tomorrow was guaranteed to no one. But what was I doing about it. For me.

  My gaze rested on Adam. Though he’d been an integral part of this journey, my joy and happiness over the last twenty-four hours hadn’t been. Neither was how I felt about him right now.

  “I want you,” I blurted. “I know we don’t know each other well but I want to get to know you, beyond this cabin and what I’ve learned on the internet. I want to see where it leads.

  His knees bent as Adam kneeled in front of me. His hands slid over my thighs.

  “I think I could fall in love with you, Adam. That’s me. That’s real.”

  The color of his eyes deepened. His palm covered my cheek. Whatever he was about to say got lost over a loud pounding on the front door.

  Chapter Twelve

  Adam

  “Told ya you were overreacting,” my cousin Knox Beckinsale said to his brother, Ty, after I’d made introductions. Always a favorite with the ladies, I didn’t like the way Knox was eyeing Grayson, or the star struck way she was looking back. “After LaKen’s trial, he deserves a little downtime with a beautiful woman.”

  “If the asshole would’ve returned any one of my fifteen hundred calls or texts, I wouldn’t have had to track him down,” Ty said.

  “Hold on,” I jumped in. “What the hell are you two even doing here? Better yet, how did you find me?”

  Ty shot me a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look. “The fuck you think you’re talking to. I can find anyone.”

  Knox smacked Ty in the chest with the back side of his hand. “Language, brother. You’re in the presence of a lady.”

&
nbsp; Ty ignored his younger sibling. His eyes shifted to Grayson. “Mind if I have a word with Adam alone?”

  “I’d love a tour of the cabin,” Knox said. “I hear a famous architect designed it?”

  Grayson looked from Ty to Knox. “I don’t think John Holmes is exactly famous, but sure, I’d be happy to give you a tour.” Her eyes then shifted to me then Ty. “If you’ll excuse us?”

  Ty nodded.

  As they headed into the kitchen and toward the back of the house, I heard Grayson tell Knox, “I should probably warn you about the cat.”

  Once they were out of earshot, I stepped closer to Ty. “What the hell were you thinking coming here?”

  “You asked me to dig up dirt on Grayson Montgomery. That to me spells revenge, and something that could go sideways fast. That’s why I got worried when you didn’t reply to my messages. Even in the middle of trial you answered your texts within a few hours.”

  Ty had hit it on the head with his analysis of the situation. My accompanying Grayson to Swiss Mountain with a plan for revenge brewing in the back of my mind had netted only one result—my falling for a woman I could never have. Though Grayson might’ve said she wanted to be with me, to see where this budding relationship might go, her feelings were sure to change the moment she knew the truth about my mother.

  Ty placed a firm hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “I found something, Adam, but it’s not exactly dirt. It’s about—”

  “Corinne.”

  Ty blinked, then slowly nodded, giving me concrete confirmation of what I’d previously only been fairly certain about.

  I raked my fingers through my hair then squeezed the ball of tension that sat lodged at the back of my neck. “I already know. I pretty much figured it out for myself.”

  Ty’s hand dropped. “I don’t understand any of this. Care to connect the dots?”

  I didn’t know how to explain Grayson’s inheritance of her sister’s bucket list and her belief that Rebecca would be bound in purgatory until it was complete. I reached for the poker and shifted the burning logs in the fire. Then I turned to Ty again. Maybe if I started by leaving the last part out…