Beyond Beautiful (Love in Providence Book 2)

by Heather MacKinnon

  I knew I should probably mind my own business, but that wasn’t my strong suit. “Everything okay?”

  He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “Yeah. I’m just anticipating an ass chewing when I get to Gramps’ later.”

  “How come?”

  He stuffed a forkful of food in his mouth and chewed before answering. “I had a new A.C. unit delivered and installed for him today and he’s bitching about it.”

  “Why would that make him mad?”

  He pulled his phone back out. “Here’s a direct quote. ‘If I wanted a new goddamned A.C. I would have bought it myself.’”

  I chuckled as Remy set his phone down and piled some more food on his plate. “So, he likes to be self-sufficient.”

  “To a fault.”

  “And you like to take care of him,” I guessed.

  Remy shrugged. “If I don’t, who will?”

  My heart clenched at the underlying tone of his voice. “Does he need taking care of?”

  He sighed and rested his plate on his lap. “I don’t know. I mean, he’s as healthy as an eighty-five-year-old with high blood pressure and high cholesterol can be. I make sure he sees his doctors regularly and at least has a good dinner every night, but I wonder if it’s enough. If I could be doing more.”

  “Remy, that’s more than most people would do for their grandparents.”

  He shook his head. “He’s half of the only family I have left. I’d do anything for him.”

  My chest felt like it was constricting around my heart as I listened and watched the sad expression on his face. It was clear how much he cared about his family and that just made him so much more attractive. Which he didn’t need help with. At all.

  Damn it. The more I learned about this guy, the more I wanted to know. The deeper our friendship went, the harder it was to keep our relationship on that level. Even now, I wanted to pull him into my arms and just hold him. Which was a completely foreign and irrational thought that I worked to exterminate from my brain as soon as it popped up.

  I cleared my throat and looked back down at my plate. “He’s lucky to have you.”

  Anyone would be lucky to have you.

  I glanced up to find him smiling at me. “It’s what you do for family, right?”

  It felt like he was trying to downplay everything he did, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. “Remy. Most people don’t even call their grandparents, let alone go over to their houses every night to cook them dinner. And it’s not like you’ve got all the time in the world. You’re a busy guy with a demanding job and you still find time to look after your grandfather. Don’t try to minimize everything you do because you’re amazing and you should know it.”

  He watched me for a long time, his chocolate eyes burning with something I couldn’t name. Or maybe I didn’t want to name. Either way, it made my stomach flip and my hands sweat. Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I looked down at my plate, hoping he’d say something soon, so it wasn’t my words that were still ringing in the silence of the room.

  “Thanks, Belle.”

  His voice was so quiet and rough and did nothing to calm the riot in my stomach. I shrugged and picked up my chopsticks, hoping my shaking hand wasn’t too obvious.

  Now that we were in this place that was far too deep for it only being lunchtime, I didn’t know how to get us out of it. I wracked my brain for something to say, a subject change of any kind, but each idea was lamer than the last.

  Finally, Remy cleared his throat and my eyes jumped to him. He smiled softly. “You should come meet him sometime. I think you two would get along.”

  I could feel my lips curling into a smile. “Why’s that?”

  “You’re both ball busters,” he said without missing a beat.

  My head fell back with a loud laugh. When I looked at Remy again, his smile was still soft, and it was clear his eyes hadn’t left me. “I’d love to meet him.”

  I didn’t think through the repercussions of my words, I just said them. It seemed like I did a lot of that around Remy. Which was probably something I should work on.

  “If you’re not busy this weekend, you could come with me to see him one day.”

  My stomach knotted as my brain scrambled for an appropriate answer. Was this what roommates did? Were we crossing a line?

  No. I’d met Bailey’s family before, and it wasn’t a big deal. That meant this wasn’t either.

  The difference was, meeting Bailey’s family didn’t cramp my stomach and make my heart race.

  I swallowed harshly. “Um. Yeah. I’ve got nothing to do on Sunday.” My voice was weaker than I’d intended, but hopefully he didn’t notice.

  His smile widened. “Sunday is perfect. I was planning to clean his gutters that day, anyway. You can keep him company so he doesn’t spend that time bitching that he could pay someone else to do it for him.”

  I shook my head. “You really do a lot for him, don’t you?”

  Remy readjusted himself in his chair, looking uncomfortable. “I just do the stuff he can’t do anymore. It’s not a big deal.”

  It was a huge deal. But I’d already opened my big mouth once today, and I wasn’t going to do it again. Even if the thought of him devaluing his dedication to his grandfather bothered me.

  Which it shouldn’t have.

  It wasn’t my business, and I needed to remember that. Remy wasn’t my business. He was just my roommate and now it seemed like he was my friend too. That was all he was, and that’s all he was going to be.

  When I’d sufficiently stuffed myself, I unearthed my phone and pulled up my Uber app. “I should probably get going. I bet you’ve got work to do.”

  Remy shrugged. “Work will always be there.” He busied himself with packing up our leftovers. “Let’s get this cleaned up and I can drive you back.”

  With great effort, I straightened myself up and started to help him collect the food we hadn’t eaten. “It’s okay. I just called an Uber.”

  “Cancel it.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “You bought and brought me lunch. The least I can do is give you a ride back to work.”

  “It’s fine. You’ve probably got meetings and spreadsheets and shit to take care of.”

  He snorted and shook his head. “The spreadsheets and shit can wait. Cancel the Uber.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him but did as he asked. I guess it wasn’t unreasonable to catch a ride from him after buying lunch. Even if his bossy tone irritated me. And also, kind of turned me on.

  That meant it was time to get the hell away from him.

  When we were finished packing up the food, Remy turned to me. “Did you want to take this back with you? If not, I can offer it to the secretaries on this floor.”

  Ugh. He was charitable too.

  I pulled my lips into a thin smile. “That’s fine, you can give it to them.”

  Remy smiled and pulled his office door open for us, gesturing for me to walk through first.

  “Helen, we’ve got some leftover Chinese here. Do you want to share it with the other secretaries?”

  The friendly woman who always greeted me at the elevator smiled and accepted the bag. “Of course, Mr. MacAlister. Thank you.”

  He waved her gratitude away and placed a light hand on the small of my back. “I’m running out for a few. I should be back in about a half hour. Push any meetings back until then.”

  Helen frowned as her pale blue eyes darted between us. “Of course.”

  Remy’s hand on my back seemed to burn through the thin material of my blouse as he led us toward the elevators. Thankfully, he let go once we were inside, and I took a discreet breath of relief. I needed him to keep his hands to himself, especially in this tin box where we were all alone with twenty whole floors to go.

  I clenched my purse strap tighter in my hand as I watched the illuminated numbers count down to one. When we stepped out of the elevator, the nosey receptionist at the front desk eyed us both
with barely concealed contempt. Remy ignored her and directed me out a side entrance that led to the parking garage.

  “Are you sure you’ve never slept with her?” I blurted once the door was closed behind us.

  “Who?”

  “The receptionist in the lobby.”

  Remy snorted. “Yes. I’m sure.” I shrugged and followed him, but a moment later he turned to me. “Why would you ask that?”

  I shrugged again. “Just a vibe I’m getting from her.”

  He shook his head and turned around again. “Believe me, I wouldn’t have slept with Brianna even given the opportunity.”

  Why did I like the sound of that so much? I needed to get my head on straight and remember it was none of my business who Remy did or didn’t sleep with. Because, regardless of what he did, it wouldn’t be me he was sleeping with again.

  Thankfully Providence traffic didn’t suck too bad and about ten minutes later, Remy was pulling up to my gallery. He put the car in park and turned to me, his warm brown eyes serious. “Thanks again for lunch, Belle. I owe you.”

  “I guess you’ll be picking up dinner then.”

  His eyes widened in shock for a brief moment before he smiled. “My pleasure. Text me what you want, and I’ll grab it on the way home from Gramps’.”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot you go there every night. Don’t worry about dinner then.”

  “I won’t be there late. Just text me what you want, and I’ll get it.”

  Damn. Why was a bossy Remy so sexy?

  “Fine. I’ll text you. Thanks for the ride.”

  I climbed out of his car before he could find a new way to be more attractive. That was seriously becoming a problem.

  I’d thought being his friend would desensitize me to his charms, but it seemed like it was having the opposite effect. The more I learned about him, the more I liked him, and I could not afford to like Remy MacAlister. At least not more than I already did.

  With my head still spinning, I didn’t even notice Sonia until I almost walked into her.

  “Hey, Belle. Who was that dropping you off?”

  I turned to see Remy’s car still idling at the curb. “Oh, that’s my friend Remy.” It was weird calling him my friend, but that was what he was, right?

  “Just your friend?”

  I turned to look at the dark-haired woman. She’d only been working here about a week, so I hadn’t gotten a good read on her yet, but I was certainly picking something up now. “Yeah, he’s just a friend.”

  She turned to look back toward Remy again and I ground my teeth together as I searched for my keys.

  “Oh, yum.”

  My eyes narrowed on their own, but I kept my gaze on the inside of my purse. The words back off were right on the tip of my tongue, but with great effort I swallowed them. I had no right to Remy. No authority over who checked him out or who didn’t. That fact grated on my nerves almost as much as Sonia was.

  “Do you know if he’s single?” she asked.

  And I’d had enough.

  I turned to her with a forced smile. “Yeah, he’s single, but I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”

  Sonia’s expression instantly fell. She took another look behind us at Remy’s car before shaking her head. “The hot ones always are.”

  My teeth ground together again as I finally got the door opened and ushered her inside. I shot Remy a wave over my shoulder, only feeling slightly guilty that I’d lied about his sexuality. I reasoned it was because I didn’t think Sonia was a good match for him, but even I could admit that excuse was pretty flimsy.

  With a shrug, I tossed that thought out of my head. I didn’t feel even an ounce of guilt over the lie. What that said about me and my state of mind wasn’t clear, and I wasn’t going to think about it too hard. I figured it was better that way.

  Chapter 16

  Remy

  “What’s with the smile?”

  I looked up from my phone to find Gramps staring at me. “What smile?”

  He pointed an arthritic finger at me. “The stupid one that’s all over your face.”

  I rolled my eyes and shoved my phone in my pocket. “What? I’m not allowed to smile?”

  Gramps narrowed his eyes at me, and I knew the questions were coming. I turned to face the television, hoping to prolong the inevitable, but of course I wasn’t that lucky. “It’s the girl, isn’t it?”

  “What girl?” I asked, my eyes still stuck on the screen. Maybe if I downplayed this as much as possible, he’d move on.

  Ha. Fat chance.

  “What girl? You know damn well the girl I’m talking about. You’re smiling about her, aren’t you?”

  I sighed and turned to face him. “Her name’s Belle.”

  He clapped his hands as a rusty laugh shot out of him. “I knew it!”

  I shook my head. “It’s not what you think. We’re just friends.”

  Gramps’ expression fell. “So, you settled.”

  “I didn’t settle.”

  “That’s what it sounds like.”

  I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. “What was I supposed to do? She doesn’t want a relationship. I can’t force her to go out with me.”

  “Of course not, dummy. But you can convince her!”

  I blew out a deep breath and leaned back against the couch cushion. “I don’t think it’s in the cards, Gramps.”

  “Nonsense!” he yelled. “That just means you need to stack the deck.”

  I turned to him with a frown. “What are you talking about?”

  He shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face. “You know how I feel about dishonesty in a game, right?”

  “Yeah, you hate it. You always got mad if Ryder or I tried to cheat when we were younger.”

  He nodded once. “That’s because I wanted the two of you to grow up with some integrity. But when it comes to relationships, Son, there are no rules. You wanna win, you do everything you can. If that means fudging the rules, then that’s what you do.”

  “I don’t think I’m following.”

  “I thought you were smarter than that.” I shot him an unimpressed look, and he sighed. “Remy, you’re an intelligent, accomplished, good-lookin’ guy. You like this girl, so you need to do whatever it takes to get her.”

  “But she just wants to be my friend.”

  “Then you be the best damn friend she’s ever had! I guarantee that won’t be where your relationship stops.”

  I turned back to the screen, but I wasn’t seeing anything. My mind was whirling with everything Gramps said, wondering if he was right. Could I make this friendship of ours into something more?

  I shook my head. “Gramps, I’m not even sure I want a relationship. I’m so busy with work and taking care of things around here, there’s no time left over for a girl.”

  His lips thinned as he pointed another finger at me. “Don’t you dare use me as an excuse. I’ve told you dozens of times I’d hire someone to do whatever needs doin’ around this house. I know you’ve got an important job, but if you want to, you’ll find time for her.”

  I pursed my lips and looked down at my lap as I thought that through too. Was I using Gramps as an excuse to not get close to someone? Sure, I was busy, but was I really too busy?

  I think the better question was, is Belle worth it?

  My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.

  Belle: I’ve changed my mind again.

  I chuckled and shook my head. This was the third time she’d texted me to say she wanted something different for dinner.

  Belle: Now I’ve decided you may bring me a sub from Little Tony’s. I’ll take a chicken parm with extra cheese. If there is no extra cheese, there will be consequences.

  I laughed again and typed out a quick response.

  Me: Yes ma’am. Leaving soon.

  When I looked up from my phone, Gramps was staring at me again with the ghost of a smile on his lips. “That her?”

  I thought about lying but knew
the chances of getting away with it were nil. “Yeah. That was Belle. I’m picking us up dinner when I leave.”

  Gramps made a shooing motion with his hands. “Then get the hell out of here.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “Yeah, I’m going. Can I get you anything before I do?”

  “Hell no. I’ve got legs.”

  I sighed and stood up, taking his dishes with me to the kitchen. His grumbling could be heard over the television, but I ignored him and stacked them in the dishwasher, anyway. When I was done, I washed my hands and stuck my head back into the living room. “The A.C. working all right?”

  He shot me a look and folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not sure I properly chewed you out over that yet.”

  I laughed. “There’s always tomorrow, Gramps.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  I turned to go when I remembered something I wanted to run past him. “Hey, Belle was gonna come by with me on Sunday. Is that okay?”

  His eyes lit up as he sat straighter in his recliner. “The girl? You’re bringin’ her here?”

  I shrugged, suddenly second-guessing this decision. “Only if you promise not to call her the girl.”

  He waved my words away. “Why’s she coming here?”

  I stepped further into the room and leaned against the doorframe. “We were talking about how I come over here every day and I mentioned I thought you two would get along and asked if she wanted to come this weekend.”

  “And she said yes? Just like that?”

  I shrugged again. “Yeah, I guess.”

  Gramps laughed and clapped his hands together loudly. “Oh, Remy, that girl is practically yours.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Doubtful.”

  He pointed another finger my way. “Mark my words, Son. A girl doesn’t come to meet just any guy’s grandpa. You’ve got a shot there, boy. Don’t blow it.”

  I kept the eye roll to myself this time.

  “Why’d you think we’d get along anyway?” he asked.

  “Because you both like to bust my chops.”

  Gramps’ grin widened. “I like the girl already.”

  I jabbed a finger in his direction. “No more calling her the girl.”